RE: Violent Retaliation Against South Africans And Their Assets In Nigeria -By Muhammed Bello Buhari

We can no longer lend our cooperation to the evil of ‘Evil for evil: An eye for an eye.’

Our mission on the xenophobic attacks should never resort to redeeming evil with evil, but to redeem them through love, so as to avoid a legacy of bitterness. I must confess that I’m in total disagreement with the call for violent retaliations.
We know through painful experience that violent retaliation is never a solution to xenophobic attacks on our brothers and sisters in South Africa, instead it multiplies evil and violence in our dear countries.
As despicable and condemnable as the xenophobic attacks in South Africa are, we, Nigerians, must NOT descend to the same level of mindless criminality, despite the provocation. We must instead meet the forces of hate with the power of love and task both the Nigerian Government & the South African Government to address the issue not drastically but diplomatically.

I remember some years ago, my family and I were driving from Jos to Kaduna after my passing out parade from Air Force Military School Jos. For some reason the drivers that night were very discourteous or they were forgetting to dim their lights, and every time we passed a car for some reason the lights stood there with all their force. And finally, my brother, Mubarak, who was driving, looked over at me and said, “I’m tired of this now, and the next car that comes by here and refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to refuse to dim mine.” And I said, “Wait a minute, don’t do that. Somebody has to have some sense on this highway. If somebody doesn’t have sense enough to dim the lights, we’ll all end up destroyed.”

And I’m saying the same thing for us here. We’re moving up a mighty highway toward a united Africa. There will be meandering points. There will be curves and difficult moments, and we will be tempted to retaliate with the same kind of force that the xenophobians will use. But I’m going to say to you, “wait a minute. Somebody’s got to have some sense.”

I believe that xenophobia is totally un-Islamic & un-Christain, and that it’s against everything both of the religions stands for. This, however, does not at all cause me to hate those who believe in ‘xenophobia’. I feel that we should seek to persuade the perpetrators of xenophobic attacks through love, patience and understanding good will that it’s wrong.
I came to realise that ‘nonviolent approach’ is one of the most potent weapons available for us and our fellow Nigerians in South Africa.

“Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts,” as Martin Luther King, Jr argued, and he further postulated that; “Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar but can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.”

And contrary to popular opinion, nonviolence is never a way for the weak and cowardly but for the strong and courageous. That’s why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it’s better to fight.

So I call on the Nigerian Government to take a proactive stance and measures.
And to all Africans, “we must learn to live together as brother or we will perish together as fools.”
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

#SayNoToXenophobia #Nonviolence

Muhammed Bello Buhari
embbuhari@gmail.com
Faculty Of Law,
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
Associate,
Centre For Social Awareness, Advocacy And Ethics, CSAAEInc.