This is a full transcript, in the original English, of my interview with Fr. Gideon Obasogie, director of communications in the Catholic diocese of Maiduguri, in the extreme North East of Nigeria, bordering
Niger, Chad and the Cameroon. The news report, in Portuguese, can be read here.
Your diocese has has been badly affected by Boko
Haram...
Sure. It
is the epicenter, the birthplace of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has slightly disappeared from the
news cycle. Is the threat still as real as it was a few years ago?
From
your question I can take two important facts. You say it seems to have disappeared,
but no, it has not. But journalists do not go in there to get news, it is
difficult, it is dangerous and sometimes they don't have security cover.
On the
other hand, it is quite true that compared to 2014, Boko Haram has been reduced
to a small corner. They were pushed to the fringes of the Sambisa forest and to
the Lake Chad region.
Though
there have not been attacks in the city of Maiduguri, as we had in 2014, we
have attacks on the fringes of the Sambisa forest every other day.
Are there Christian communities in that area?
There
are Christian communities which have returned after the displacement of 2014
and the diocese, the bishop, has sent priests to work with them. As priests we
get firsthand information from those on the ground, and even from our friends.
Have you ever been in this area which is more
affected by the terrorists?
The
parish I worked in until 2013 was displaced, attacked and burned down by Boko
Haram. Though we fled, we were not killed, but we have a lot of friends, family
and parishioners who were kidnapped or killed, and there was 100% structural
destruction, because the priest's residences were burned down, one of the
priests who was on a break for two weeks had his house looted and burned while
he was away.
In the
diocese we have 26 priests who were displaced in 2014-15.
Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists. Has
the persecution affected relations between Muslims and Christians on the
ground?
As you
said, I also do not believe that every Muslim is a Boko Haram terrorist. While
we have some who are sympathizers, there are still Muslims who are very good at
heart. As far as the relationship between Christians and Muslims, there seems
to be some clear and quiet relationship, on a very good note, but people have
fear in their heart.
There
was a boy who lost his father to Boko Haram, when he was very young, and his
mother found it very difficult to explain to him that his father was caught up
in a bomb attack. When she was able to explain to him, at the age of 8, after
four years of not hearing about his father's whereabouts - because there was no
corpse to bury, he was cut up in the bomb blast - she told him that Boko Haram
had killed his father. And the young boy, who was only 8, told his mother that
when he grew up he would kill Boko Haram.
That is
the situation we are faced with now as a diocese.
Besides the situation in your diocese, there
has been violence between Fulani herdsmen and Christians in the rest of the
country.
Nigeria
is a very wonderful nation, a complex reality, a blessed nation. I still
believe it is the giant of Africa. We still have attacks everywhere. In the
northeast Boko Haram, in the South we have kidnapping, Fulani herders who have
killed a lot of priests in Nigeria, Northwest, South, every part of Nigeria has
its own bit of conflict and crisis. All this is a result of poor governance and
bad leadership.
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| O pe. Gideon com uma das alunas vítimsa do Boko Haram |
When we
have good leadership, people ready to protect the interest of the nation, they
should put security in place, so people can live in peace and harmony. So, we
still have attacks every other day, people are being kidnapped, insecurity...
People say its poverty that is responsible for these attacks, which I refuse to
believe... Poverty has been there from time immemorial. Poverty cannot be the
reason for kidnapping, where was kidnapping before? It could be, on a very
social economic level, but I think the Nigerian leaders need to do more.
There have been accusations that the President,
who is Fulani, has not been doing enough.
What the
Catholic bishops said was just the blatant truth. The Government should stand
up and do what it is supposed to do... protection of the life and property of
the citizens. And any government that is short in that should really pack and
go. The Government has been doing its best, we can say, but it needs to do
more. President Muhammadu Buhari, when he came on board, made a lot of
promises... But perhaps due to his ill health the status quo is still as it was
in the beginning.
Are there also Christian Fulanis?
From the
word go Fulanis have been very, very peaceful people. All of a sudden we see
Fulani men carrying AK47s. In my opinion there is some influence of Boko Haram
infiltration into the Fulani system.
I have
never met a Christian Fulani, but I'm not saying they don't exist, there should
be some. But what we are interested in knowing is at what point did the Fulani
men start carrying arms? They carried sticks to protect their animals, but of
late the conflict between them - which I know, people will say it has been
there for a very long time between farmers and herders - but there should be a
positive way of reconciling this crisis, it shouldn't lead to the loss of
lives.
So do you believe there is outside infiltration
by Boko Haram... Do you believe there are also other forces from outside
Nigeria, trying to destabilize?
If you
have been following the news of Boko Haram of late, it has a numeric strength
of about six thousand fighters, which has been divided into two factions. There
is ISWAP, Islamic State of West Africa Province, which has pledged allegiance
to ISIS and we have the JAS - amā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād -,
under Ahubahar Shekau. The Shekeu group are in the Sambisa forest, the rest are
in the Chad border area. So, if there is a faction called ASWAP that tells you
all you need to know, that it is linked to international bodies. We hope and
pray that it should be exterminated and cleansed, because Nigeria is known to
be a place for peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims. So, we
still hope that we shall come to see days when we shall live without terrorism.
What has been the importance to ACN in Nigeria?
I am
here at the invitation of ACN, about to present their report Persecuted and
Forgotten? We, in Nigeria, dare to say that we are persecuted but never
forgotten. Why? Because of ACN. Aid to the Church in Need has assisted not only
my diocese, but most dioceses, almost every other diocese in Nigeria. They are
rebuilding our structures, providing skillful acquisition agencies, medical
health, schools for our orphans, because the diocese has about 15 thousand
orphans and 5 thousand widows. The bishop is left to see how they are fed and
taken care of medically, and ACN has been a very serious support, it has
assisted the diocese in reconstructing our structures, in training the priests,
in providing relief materials for Internally Displaced People. And I think that
the diocese of Maiduguri would be nowhere without agencies like ACN.
Fr. Gideon visited Portugal at the invitation of Aid to the Church in Need
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