Background: As part of the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Fellowship, Christopher O'Connor interviewed Yusuf Arrigasiyyu, executive director of the Muslim League for Accountability (MULAC). Yusuf Arrigasiyyu, who oversees the association’s initiatives, believes that good governance will ultimately lead to a more peaceful Nigeria.
In your own words, could you tell me what the Muslim League for Accountability is, and what it is that MULAC does?
At MULAC we are promoting better governance and accountability, two goals that are absolutely essential if we ever hope to achieve peace in Nigeria. If you have corruption, if you have a lack of accountability, there is more likely to be violence. Any society that lacks good governance, any society that is imbibed with the epidemic of corruption, will be engulfed in chaos. It will be engulfed in flames. With a good government there will be no corruption, no hatred. We are engaged in conflict management, especially as this relates to the electoral system and electoral monitoring. We have been sensitizing religious leaders from both sides in the north about conflict management for electoral monitoring. We want average Nigerians to realize that the leadership belongs to them, that politicians and government officials should be answering to them.
Before we delve into MULAC’s involvement in peacebuilding efforts in Nigeria, could you tell me why you were drawn to this line of work, how you got involved with MULAC?
I come from a poor background. When I was growing up there was no justice in Nigeria. I grew up in a time of corruption where state resources were equated with the personal wealth of the political leadership at the expense of the masses. With this perspective driving me, I decided that I wanted to cleanse Nigeria of corruption. Transparency International convinced us that Muslims needed their own organizations for promoting accountability, and I became personally motivated to join these efforts. I realized that I needed to sacrifice so that others...so that Nigeria’s youth could have a better childhood than I did, so that the youth would have a brighter future than I could have imagined growing up.
In your opinion, what are the primary conflict catalysts in Nigeria?
Nigeria is faced with several domestic and internationally crises that drive conflict. Domestically, Nigeria is plagued by ethnic, religious, political, and economic challenges that all compound one another. While Nigeria is blessed with immense ethnic diversity, poverty has turned this ethnic diversity into a curse. With poverty, people are struggling to survive. As some people are seizing control of resources, ethnic groups begin to fight, to compete. This is especially true in a corrupt governmental system where few benefit at the expense of many.
Likewise, there is religious competition. Some of this competition is directly linked to ethnic and economic turmoil, but it has another dimension. Both sides view the other side with suspicion. There is a severe lack of understanding, a lack of dialogue, an environment in which Muslims think that the Christians are trying to convert them, and Christians think that the Muslims are trying to convert them. Additionally, some religious leaders don’t know how to preach properly, and they create enmity. In Islam we should invite with wisdom. We should not force people to believe as we do. Jesus and Muhammad left this world with other religions intact. No prophet has ever come to this world and left with everyone believing in him.
Tied in with all of this is a political crisis. In areas where the population is ethnically and/or religiously mixed, politicians often manipulate identities and play on the extreme poverty for their own benefit. Often these politicians intentionally stir up trouble to conceal their own misdeeds, their own exploitative actions. They fuel these misperceptions, these misunderstandings. In some cases there is also a land issue, but this ties into the resource issue. We lack equity and justice here. Politicians are using those in abject poverty, the illiterates, to kill their own brothers.
There is also an international dimension to conflict in Nigeria, at least as it relates to religion. Many in the Muslim community here view the West as biased against us, against the Muslim world. Western involvement in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine are huge issues for Muslims here. Some Muslims in Nigeria feel that the West is anti-Islam—not everyone, mind you—but the West’s interactions with the Islamic world have created, and can create, issues.
What has MULAC been doing to promote peace in Nigeria?
We have trained imams to go out and preach peace and accountability. People in the communities trust their religious leaders. We organize seminars trying to educate people about voting and political participation. A large part of this is advocating that people vote by issue, as opposed to voting along tribal or religious lines. We discuss the issues with a broad constituency, inviting religious leaders, women, students, community leaders, and the youth.
Our election monitoring programs take a similarly inclusive approach, and we focus on articulating what constitutes free and fair. In 2007 we successfully trained 5,000 monitors including women, youth, and the elderly. We are hoping to train 10,000 for the next election. The National Democratic Institute, based in Washington, D.C., was a partner in the past, and we hope to team up with them again.
Currently we are also advocating the passage of the Freedom of Information Act. This is a really big campaign for us, and we are collaborating with Christian organizations on it as well. Greater access to information will help reduce corruption and promote accountability. We also want a similar state bill in Kaduna, as the federal bill has stalled. At our last conference in May of this year we trained 618 participants from both Muslim and Christian communities. In many of our programs we try to work with other NGOs, government agencies, and international donors. [The Catholic Church's Justice, Development, and Peace/Caritas agency] has participated in several programs.
What is the role of religion in promoting peace in Nigeria?
Nigeria is a multi-religious state, not a secular state. Religious organizations are the biggest stakeholders in Nigeria. They have a lot of authority, and they are respected; therefore, they can mold their followers and the government to a large degree, but they need to be focused and engaged constructively. They must be more involved in promoting humanity. Unfortunately many are not educated, and we must train them to understand democracy, leadership, and different perceptions, religions. It is imperative that we educate them to view democracy positively. The religious leadership in Nigeria has the greatest potential for promoting peace, but as of right now, it is not fully tapped.
What challenges do you confront when trying to promote accountability and peace in Nigeria?
One of the greatest challenges confronting us is the issue of funding. We can always use more, and unfortunately the poverty in Nigeria limits our capabilities. A second major challenge is the dichotomy that exists between Islamic and Western ideology. There is a common perception that Western ideology is opposed to Islamic principles. Justice and equity should be the top issues, and we must work to construct justice and equity while remaining sensitive to religious beliefs. We sometimes feel that the West wants us to adopt their ideology without compromise. We need to shape our own interpretations of these values. Currently, we need a dialogue with the West to promote a mutual understanding. I would love for the United States to actualize and embrace President [Barack] Obama’s Cairo speech.
What lessons have you learned through your peacebuilding work at MULAC that might be useful for other organizations trying to build peace in Nigeria, or in other areas affected by violent conflict?
First and foremost, capacity building is very important. Organizations must work to build human capital, which requires growing involvement and training. Second, people that you think are fanatics, well, you can reach them through their own people. Dialogue changes a lot of perceptions, creates understanding, and reduces conflict everywhere. Third, people should be allowed to practice their religions the way they understand them. Fourth, external factors will always affect your work. For MULAC’s work to have a more positive outcome, these external factors need to change. American foreign policy needs to be African- and Muslim-friendly. The United States was here for the 2007 elections when MULAC announced that there were serious flaws in the electoral process. A week after the election the United States offered its congratulations to [Umaru Musa] Yar’Adua despite our claims of fraud and tampering. The United States needs to enforce the principles it claims to live by. It needs to be less hypocritical and call black black and white white.