By Stephen Ojapah MSP
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). The Bible is filled with inspiring passages about friendship. Jesus refers to us as friends (John 15:12-15). He no longer calls us servants but friends, Jesus says, because a servant does not know his master’s business. “Instead,” he continues, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18: 24). When Job lost all his wealth, his friends stood by him when everyone deserted him: My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend (Job 16: 20- 21).
Amongst so many other factors of building a family or a community, friendship stands out as the most effective. Friendship that cuts across religious and ethnic divide is what we need as a people. Over the years, we have seen how religious and political leaders have tried to show this great example to the world. On the 4th of February 2019, Pope Francis signed a historic document on human fraternity alongside the grand Imam of Al-Alzhar, Sheikh Ahmed el Al-Tayeb. Pope Francis and the Grand Imam were of the opinion that friends don’t fight. If they develop friendship at the time of peace, they may not pick up arms against each other if war ever breaks out. What a noble wish and prayer!
This wish and prayer is what the John Paul II center for Interreligious Dialogue (Vatican City, Rome) is seeking to fulfill on the 8th of September 2021 in collaboration with the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Diocese of Sokoto. The two organizations are holding a one day peace conference titled: Walking together: Religious and Community Leaders Escalating or De-escalating Tensions. This is an inter-faith initiative for peace in a community modeled after Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed. This initiative will gather close to a hundred participants, beginning from the traditional ruler of Malumfashi who is the Galadiman Katsina Hakimin Malumfashi, Honorable Justice Abdullahi Saddik Mahuta, to the Local Government Chairman of Malumfashi, Honorable Tsoho Mustapha. As you may recall, Malumfashi is the town where two priests were kidnapped on the 21st of May 2021 and one was eventually killed in the person of Fr Bello Alphonsus Yashim. Terrorists have tried hard to set us against each other. But we must rise against religious and ethnic sentiments to walk together, to de-escalate the tensions currently engulfing our land. Last week, we saw viral videos of some Muslim clerics calling for the death of Christians in Plateau state and some northern states if the federal government doesn’t respond to the killings in Jos of some Muslim pilgrims on their way from Bauchi to Oyo.
Looking at how bad things are at the moment, it is almost impossible to imagine that real friendship once existed between Christians and Muslims; relationship that was devoid of any political or religious coloration. Audu Bako and the Christian Community in Kano can teach us something we are currently missing in our interpersonal relationships. When he was appointed military governor of the old Kano State in May 1967, Bako undertook reforms of the local governments which had been dominated by the traditional emirs. He sought to improve professionalism among local government employees while transferring some responsibilities to the State government. He said the reforms would strengthen the position of the Emirs in their traditional role as religious leaders.
Bako built most of modern Kano’s landmark structures. The state Government Secretariat and the Audu Bako School of Agriculture in Dambatta were named after him. Bako was a strong supporter of women’s education. Using the teachings of the Shehu as justification, Bako established primary, secondary and teachers training colleges for women and children. He produced the first plan for developing and promoting tourism in the state in 1967. He established the Trade and Industry Division under the Ministry of Finance in 1968.
In 1969, Bako started construction of the Bagauda Dam to supply the Kadawa Irrigation Project, precursor to the Kano Irrigation Project. Between 1970 and 1973, his administration built the much larger Tiga Dam, aiming to boost agricultural production through irrigation. He has been called the father of Kano’s green revolution. However, although well-intentioned, the dams caused considerable problems in the downstream Hadejia – Nguru wetlands, and turned out to have negative net economic value. His Tomas Danbatta Water Supply Scheme was later abandoned, only to be rehabilitated in 2008 and used to provide drinking water to communities in Dambatta, Makoda and Minjibir local government areas.
Recently I took an extensive tour of the city of Kano. A city filled with incredible history and fascinating artifacts. At the Catholic Secretariat, I listened to a heartwarming story of the former military governor, Audu Bako. He is still loved and respected by the small Christian Community in Kano. He did a lot of good things for the people of Kano, but the one that stood out for them is his refusal to handover the Missionary Schools to the government as was the policy across the country during the takeover of schools by the government. Because of his friendship with the Irish Missionaries, Audu Bako saw beyond the political decision of handing over the schools to the government. St Louis Girls Secondary School Bompai and St Thomas Boys Secondary School Bompai are living testimonies of this gesture. Friendship most times does for us what official policies cannot achieve. Let’s build friendships across religious and ethnic divides. Long live the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue, Long live the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Diocese of Sokoto.
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Fr Stephen Ojapah is a priest of the Missionary Society of St Paul. He is equally the director for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, a member of IDFP. He is also a KAICIID Fellow
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