- I—A conflict averted
- II—Origins of the meeting at Bukuru
- III—Keynote address part 1: Jesus and Mohammed; Forgiveness
- IV—Keynote address part 2: Peace, the gold prize
- V—Other speakers; conclusion; afterward
Origins of this peacemaking effort
I asked Pam how all of this had started and he told me his own story. He was the Plateau State chairman of CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) in 2001 when President Obasanjo made a trip to Jos, shortly after our first major crisis in Jos. Apparently during their meeting with the president, Pam said something that the president did not like and the president publicly rebuked him and called him an “idiot.” That obviously was a great embarrassment to him but it also made him a hero in the eyes of other people. Whether because of this incident or not, some people from the United Nations came to see him and asked him if he would be willing to attend a peace course in New York. Pam agreed and attended the course.
The course changed his life. He told me during our lunch that before he went to New York he thought the only thing that could change the minds of “these Muslims” was violence. He believed what many express here in Jos and that is “the only language they understand is force.” However, his course in New York and a subsequent follow up course convinced him that something should be done and that Muslims were indeed capable of and interested in peace.
Rev. Pam came back to Nigeria and started working to put together an organization called “Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Inter-Faith Foundation.” He got Solomon Lar, former governor of Plateau State, Professor Danjuma, the director general of NIPSS (Nigeria Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies) and the former governor of Kaduna State to become trustees of his peace organization.
These are obviously well-placed men who had some financial resources to help him start working to register the organization. They had been working to get their official registration complete and only the day before our lunch they had gotten word that the certificate was out. The first official activity of this body was the event that they sponsored at the Kwarafa Cinema in Jos on Tuesday, 23 March 2010 that Katrina and I participated in.
More Contact with the Youth Leaders
While we were eating lunch, Pam’s phone rang. He looked at his phone and smiled and said, “This is Magaji, the Muslim youth leader in Bukuru.” I encouraged him to answer the call. They talked in Hausa and afterward he told me with a big smile on his face that Magaji had come back from Kano a day early because of this peace initiative.Magaji had gone around all over Bukuru and met with about thirty other Muslim youth leaders who were under his leadership. He had told them about a meeting that Pam had promised to have at the Bukuru cinema with the Christian youth. He was very happy about this meeting and was giving it his full attention. He said that he wanted Pam to come to Bukuru that afternoon and go around and meet these youth leaders. Pam agreed that he would do so as soon as he finished lunch.
Pam called me about 5:30 PM that same evening. He had gone down to Bukuru and met Magaji, the Muslim youth leader, who was apparently very happy to see him. There was even a little cheer that went up when he arrived, as if a real celebrity had come.
Magaji then took Pam to several of the Muslim areas in Bukuru so he could meet with the various youth leaders. At the present time, Christians are not going into certain Muslim areas because of the possibility of secret killings. However, Magaji took him to all those “off limits” areas to show him that nothing would happen to him.
Pam had originally told me that the earliest they could have a public meeting in Bukuru was on the Wednesday after Easter. That would be almost two weeks away. I urged him to try to find a day that would be closer. He consulted his calendar and thought that they might be able to do something on Thursday before Easter. When he called me late that afternoon, he confirmed that they had set up a meeting for Thursday at the cinema in Bukuru. He spent all day Saturday going around to the Christian groups to get their support for the meeting. He had already talked to them on the phone and they agreed to come to the meeting.
Pam and I were in contact several times during the week. He confessed, “This peace work is very hard work.” He also said that he was having more trouble with the “Christian youth” than with the Muslims. He asked me if I would be the “guest speaker” for the occasion. I was more than happy to do accept his invitation.
At our lunch on Friday, I had suggested to Pam that we would be happy to put together a little certificate for the Christian and Muslim youth leaders that could be given to them publicly on the day of the meeting. Pam was happy about that and later forwarded the names of the recipients to me. Mary put the certificate together and we printed it on very nice paper we reserve for special occasions.
The Bukuru Meeting
I had to teach an 8 AM class on that Thursday morning. Also, I had a 9:00 AM class with my HIV/AIDS students. However, I had arranged to have a guest speaker so it worked out well for me to get away by 9:45 or so. I stopped by the house and picked up Katrina and we headed to Bukuru.
We missed the proper turn the first time but eventually found the cinema. It was right next door to the Division B police headquarters which was encouraging. It was also within a block or so of the market that had been totally destroyed. I was happy to note that there was a small, rubber-wheeled armored personnel carrier out front with several soldiers in their desert camouflage uniforms standing around holding their AK-47’s.
Pam was smiling very widely when he met us. He took us immediately into the Cinema. This building was not quite as big as the Kwarafa Cinema but perhaps two-thirds the size. It was a very old building, at least 50 and perhaps 75 years old. The lower part of the building was painted green and the upper part was painted orange. The very high ceiling was made of asbestos sheets, several of which had pulled loose on one end and were hanging down. Small fans near the ceiling were pulling the hot air out of the building. A gigantic screen painted on the front wall was probably 100 feet wide and perhaps 30 feet high. There were two sections of 15 seats across and I would guess that there were at least 35 to 40 seats deep.
About 150 people were sitting around when we arrived. That was a good start, certainly enough to have the program for, but would there be more? The Kwarafa event had raised our expectations.
The atmosphere was relaxed. We went up front and sat down a minute or two. Then I got up and moved down the front row greeting the people in Hausa. One of them teased me about being a Fulani man. I said, “What is it that makes me look like a Fulani man?” He said, “It is the thin nose.” I said, “But what about this hair?” They all laughed.
I walked over to the other side and started greeting the people on the other side. They refused to speak to me in Hausa and insisted on speaking in Berom. I had heard that there were some of the local tribes who were refusing to speak Hausa because of this conflict with the Hausas. However, everyone seemed to be friendly enough.
The program was supposed to start at 11:00. By 11:30, the people were still coming. I would guess that there must have been 300 to 400 by that time. That was good. The program finally started about noon. The MC got everyone’s attention, then introduced the people at the head table. After that, a Muslim and a Christian were called to pray. That was civil enough.
The first substantive item on the agenda was a general overview by Rev. Yakubu Pam, the program's founder and executive director. He spoke in English and explained what this program was trying to accomplish. After this, a young man named Ahmed gave a quite excellent presentation on the history of Islam. He explained that when Mohammed was being persecuted by the pagans it was the Christians who had received them in Abyssinia. It was a very forceful and dynamic presentation calling on Christians and Muslims to come together and stop the fighting. At one time, Ahmed even got down on his knees and begged the warring parties to stop the fighting.
Next it was my turn to speak ...
See the next part of this blog to read my address to these Christian and Muslim Youth
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