Vol 21. No. 91 Saturday, 10th of JANUARY 2015 Pages 8, Price 2.00 NFA

Reports from the National Union of Eritrean Youths and Students (NUEYS) stated that it is making preparations to host a regional meeting in Asmara from 21 to 23 of this month in collaboration with

A seminar was conducted for students of Mai-Nefhi secondary school as regards the objective situation in the country and the role of educated youth in the nation-building process.

Mr. Samson Kifle, head of the NUEYS branch in the Central region, noted the vital role of the youth towards the implementation

About 200 youths from Berikh sub-zone, Central region, said that tour of historic trenches plays vital role in enhancing patriotism and living up to expectations as regards fulfilling national responsibility.

They made the remarks following a tour of trenches in Adi-Begio where the invading forces of the TPLF regime were dealt a crushing blow by members of the Eritrean Defence Force in May 2,000.

In the course of the tour, the visiting youth members exchanged

Reports indicated that the Assab city Administration has accomplished encouraging development tasks in 2014 in which members of the community demonstrated active participation.

The Administrator of the city, Mr. Girmai Tekle, presented a report regarding the achievements registered in the political, social, economic and other domains at

Reports indicated that the election of local Administrators, managing directors and village administrative committees has been conducted in 10 Administrative areas of Dige sub-zone through active community participation.

The election took place in the Administrative areas of Hashakito, Ad-Ibrahim, Tekreret, Ad-Sheik Al-Amin, Girginai, Lekoch, Gimeil, Keru, Hawashait and

NUEYS makiNg prEparatioNS for hoStiNg rEgioNal mEEtiNg

the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY).

Representatives from 30 to 50 youth organization heads from over 20 Sub-Saharan countries are expected to participate in the meeting. According to the report, the meeting would make significant contribution to portray Eritrea’s correct image and its rich cultural heritage and living style of the people.

Meanwhile, the NUEYS has finalized preparations for the holding of Youth Week of Gash-Barka and Sudan’s Kessala region in Barentu city from 17 to 19 January. toUr of YoUthS iN hiStoric trENchES dEScribEd

vital towardS ENhaNciNg patriotic Spiritexperiences with counterparts from Adi-Quala sub-zone, and

voiced readiness to honor the trust of martyrs.

the assessment meeting for last year. The work accomplished included ensuring potable water supply, afforestation and road repair, among others.

The participants of the meeting put forth views dealing with the need for exerting more effort to upgrade community welfare, enhance supply of consumer goods and overcome constraints in the transport sector.

SEmiNar for StUdENtS of mai-NEfhi SEcoNdarY School coNdUctEd aS rEgardS rolE of EdUcatEd

YoUth iN NatioN-bUildiNg procESS

ElEctioN of local admiNiStratorS, maNagiNg dirEctorS aNd villagE admiNiStrativE

committEES coNdUctEd iN digE SUb-zoNEAfhiembol.

Mr. Hummed Ali, Administrator of the sub-zone, pointed out that the election is aimed at replacing the outgoing administrators and called on newly elected nationals to live up to expectations.

Similarly, Mr. Hintseab Woldu, Managing director of the sub-zone, urged the newly elected citizens to provide effective administrative service.

The branch of the Eritrean National War-disabled Veterans Association (ENWDVA) in Stuttgart city said that its support to disabled nationals would continue with added vigor. It made the pledge on the occasion of

SUpport to thE diSablEd woUld coNtiNUE, SaYS ENwdva

braNch iN StUttgartof national development programs. In this connection, he stressed the need for equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skill. Mr. Samson also expressed the branch office’s readiness to exert the required input to this end.

Likewise, Lt. Tekeste Musie, Commander of police station in Gala-Nefhi sub-zone, emphasized

the significance of active parent and community role towards nurturing youth with virtuous qualities and called for joint efforts on the part of pertinent bodies in this regard.

Mr. Yemane Andewerki, school director, called on the students to make good use of the available educational opportunity accorded them.

preparations to send 6 containers for the same purpose.

The donated items include bicycles, wheelchairs, sewing machines, motors for agricultural purpose and clothes, among others.

aSSab citY admiNiStratioN SaYS ENcoUragiNg dEvElopmENt taSkS iN

2014 accompliShmENtS oN thE baSiS activE commUNitY participatioN

2Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015

Published Every Saturday & WednesdayManaging Director Azzazi Zeremariam

Acting EditorAmanuel Mesfun

Amanuel@zena.gov.er

P.O.Box: 247Tel: 11-41-14Fax: 12-77-49

E-mail:profile@ zena.gov.er

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azieb habtemariam

“The PeoPle is The Army – This is our unwAvering

DocTrine”: PrEsiDEnt isAiAsit is to be recalled that President isaias Afwerki conducted an interview

with the national media outlets mainly focusing on domestic affairs in connection with the new Year on the 30th of December 2014. in the interview that was broadcast live through Eritrean television and Dimtsi Hafash highlighting all-round national and regional developments, as well as future prospects, the President shed light on the implementation and progress of development programs, nation-building programs set for implementation in 2015 and other domestic and regional issues. Here is an excerpt of the third part of the interview.

Your Excellency! in last year’s official celebrations of independence Day, you said that a new constitution would be drafted. What exactly does this mean, putting in to consideration the 1997 national constitution? And what action has so far been taken in this regard?

As everybody knows, there is no constitution. I cannot say there was a constitution which existed or died…I do not even want to bring any excuse about the challenges we have been facing in the last 15 years that were woven to intimidate our existence, sovereignty and development. Majority of our political progress has been under such consistent external ploys and havocs. Thus, the constitution could taken as an already died document before it was declared. Before over ten years, many were suggesting us to declare a state of emergency. But, what they are saying now is another story. However, the constitution is practically a dead document before its declaration. Was it necessary to declare it or not, I think it is of no use to open a platform for an argument. As for us, we do not want to put ourselves in such meaningless issues, but we rather opt to go beyond. Who drafted it, how was it drafted, what was it aimed at? well, we have learnt too much about this issue in the last 15 years. We have learnt many things and upgraded our political maturity. The awareness

and the anticipation we had back then comparing with what we are having now is completely different. At that time, due to emotions and goodwill, many things might have been seen. But now, we are highly matured. So, putting in to consideration what we have learnt from our last experience, there must be a Governmental System which helps not only to narrow the gabs among societies but also to protect the recurrence of any sort of gab. Above, the system should ensure the living standard of every national is improved. Based on this, a body is formed to work on it. It is another issue whether the formed body is declared or not. Because, the main concern is the task. This is not a public relations agenda. Since we are well aware of our situations, we perform our job without needless propaganda. As I have said during the Independence Day celebrations, there is a body formed to take charge of it. When it is announced, you can interview this respective body.

There is a methodology that serves in the drafting of the constitution. The most important thing is, when and how would the constitution be prepared and become operational. The former one has become outdated. Since we have learnt too much in the past 15 years, the new one should be better and that serves for the future. The document is just a means but not an end. In this country, where huge sacrifice of life and time has been paid, what we prefer is a system that takes us to the path we aspire to go and that could lead us towards achieving the big objectives I have mentioned earlier.

Since, the system is not by itself an end; the process is progressing without any hasty in the right time. We do not want to put ourselves in an argument about how and what it would look like. This is our domestic issue and the document is not for external political gain. The document we are drafting is aimed to serve for the huge sacrifices we paid for a number of generations, to take us to the journey we aspire to reach and to the chapter we are looking to be in. Thus, it is not an issue where we ask for external support or acclaim. So, it would be practically prepared passing through needed research and preparation and without any publicity. Everybody is ought to understand the document in the fact that it is aimed to sever neither individuals not to minorities interest. This document takes in to account the future of this country and not the interests of individuals. There is nobody who works on the document to make it perfect and without any errors. But, there should be a document that serves for the transformation that is in the near horizon. There is a procedure on how to rectify or make amendments. Thus, for the time being, it is suffice enough if we understand the document is not a perfect one but it would rather continually revised. Everybody who wills to make contribution is the country is most welcomed. Many have been sending their suggestions and shared their views in different forms. I am stating this in a time where we entered to a new transitional chapter. So, we could make humble deliberations in a time where we are setting up or drafting a system that serves the people. A body has been set up in the last six months and we would steadily publicize on how this body operates.

Mr. President, contrary to recurrent talks about the mass exodus of Eritrean youth, the majority of them remained steadfast

in their homeland dedicatedly working for the rebuilding and sovereignty of the nation. Are there any tangible plans regarding their compensation or their future?

I don’t want to talk about something that doesn’t exist. Many have been plunged into quagmires in consequence of their actions (motivated by their families and environments) to go somewhere where they would supposedly find riches and change their lives. This is nothing short of a promulgated war. Different measures have been taken in an attempt to control the situation; and these will persist in the future.

Generally speaking, those who have gone to these “dream lands” will eventually regret their actions. Many of them mistakenly fled because their desired state of affairs didn’t come overnight in this country. This is quite a big topic. Detailed studies on the issue have been documented, along with the entailing legal and economic ramifications. Other related conspiracies are also documented. And what’s saddening here is the fact that the youth are the victims of this organized crime. And this cannot be dealt with only emotionally; but it rather needs a well-planned handling. Regardless

of their mistakes, these citizens are part of the nation and the people and as such the government, the nation and the people should be able to look after them wherever they end up.

Regarding the endeavors that has been so far implemented, or those in the process or those planned for 2015, we have more than enough human resource capacity. It wasn’t a military war that was waged upon us in the last 15 years. It was instead one that, on top of the economic, diplomatic and political smearing, held our minds and capacities hostage crippling our development endeavors. These ploys played a role in hampering our economy by limiting the growth of individual productivity. Nevertheless, we were not totally oblivious to these ploys. The intention was to keep us in the dark as hostages of a continued “tension.” But we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be in such a state. We are presently under constant harassment, with our sovereignty still violated. We therefore should be focused and clear in our objectives. And because we chose to rebut any ploys determined to plunge us into desperation, we have reached our present standing.

The issue of the youth needs to be addressed separately. The mass media should be focusing on how we achieved such big endeavors. It wasn’t because we imported machineries or invested the foreign currency we had in buying fuel. It was because we had people working. There are also people here who don’t work, who are disoriented and don’t know what they are doing.

If we talk about the active youth, one is tenfold because he’s not being assessed by the number of hours he worked, but rather by the kind of work he is doing and its end result. If we consider how this trend will go in 2015/2016, the important

Continued on page 5

3Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015

Dear readers ‘On the Table’ always welcomes your outlooks on any of the issues raised on this column. Please mail us your comments opinions and views; we will entertain them.

On the Table: http://www.profile.gov.er Daniel Semre - danisemere@gmail.com Solomon Mengsteab sollion8555@gmail.com

Prologue: Profession and professionalism can best be achieved when we are engaged in works we love. But some argue that it is better if we devote our time to work we are good at in our professional life. Today’s ‘On the Table’ shall look into these two prospective briefly.

Profession

Daniel semere

In whatever field we are engaged in our ability to make that particular field our profession depends upon our commitment towards it. Now it is true that the commitment can be much stronger when we happen to love the work we do. Love in this context can be translated to devotion of much time, concentration on what we do, always looking for ways of improving our work, and so on. And this can be the right ingredient that we need to build our professions and follow it as our career. However it is not always the case that we may be or indeed should be engaged in work we love. Especially when what we love is not necessarily the work that we are good at.

We can argue, of course, life is too short and we should engage in work that makes us happy. This might be true at one level. However, if we are not good at the work we are engaged in then we would eventually find it very hard to get by in just about every aspect of our life. And in this era of intense competition being good at our work comes as one of the foremost requirement to survive in our line of profession. This is also the only way that we can produce more and hence helping not only ourselves but also our society and the world in general.

The other most important thing of doing what we are good at is the fact that doing so can spare us much needed time to engage in other activities. When we are good at what we do, that means we are efficient and effective. This would help us save and reserve time to our social life, leisure and other tasks. We can even use the time to engage in work that we love. This is just like having time for our

Doing what is necessaryhobby.

To put this argument in a simple example, one might love writing literature but might not be that good at it. Now there are two options for the person. One is to stick to writing as a fulltime job and hence as one’s profession. The risk is that the person might not be able to support himself or his family with writing and hence he might have to give it up sooner or later. What’s worse the

person might not even contribute that much to the field and thereby rendering his effort meaningless. But the person can also engage in some other work that he is good at. This way not only can he support himself and his family but also afford to engage in writing in his spare time. Since he doesn’t have to rely on writing for survival there would be no pressure to produce a good work. That means he can take his time and devote as much time as needed without any rush to produce something he would be proud of and would still be of some significance to others.

So I say, it is better to engage in something we are good at. It would allow us to contribute more to ourselves and our society and indeed to the world. On the other hand it would also give us the opportunity to explore the things we would love to do. This is the best way to be successful in both. What do you say?

solomon mengsteab

Most recently there was a jaw dropping news in the world of the Barclays Premier League. The most illustrious legendary captain of Liverpool, Steven Gerard, announced that he is going to leave his club to which he had been incredibly loyal over the years despite so many temptations. The news was a surprising one, as I mentioned, and inevitably did it grab hold of the attention of the football world. Many great names form the family of football including giants of Gerard’s heydays, such as Ronladino, Zidan, Henery, etc. gave all kinds of opinions on the news. But one man whom I don’t remember gave an opinion that had me reflecting. This man stated that he supports Gerard’s decision to leave Liverpool, arguing that if the captain is not happy there, he should depart. I may not remember the exact words of the commentator but their gist goes “Gerard should not work to live but the other way around.”

Do you remember as children what we used to say when we were asked what we wanted to become when we grow up? A pilot! A doctor! A professor! A president! But how many of us have actually are what we really wanted to be then. Well, it might be said that those were only a naive puerile declarations, arguing that we didn’t really know what we really want to be now back then. And it might be fair enough an argument. So let me rephrase the inquiry; how many of us are what we want to be right now doing what we want to do?

I am going to be, perhaps, a little too personal here.

I do not wish to sound queer but us a child I never really aspired to be a pilot, a doctor etc. Growing up, my passions changed as quickly as traffic lights. I would be engrossed in something and soon that passion evaporates away like dew in a sunny morning and gets replaced by another in no time. One week I am practicing painting, the next I train gymnastics. Some days I try gardening, on others I would be sculpturing. I remember, in high school I read The God Father by Mario Puzo and I wanted to become a gangster, you know Italian mafia style. And then, I watched a war movie about some hero and I dreamed of becoming a soldier. So long as I can trace my memory back, however, the most persistent passions in my life have been football, music and poetry. As far back I can remember my childhood, I was always playing football, I have always been attracted

the Heart Desires What it Desiresto music and I have always been quick and keen in memorizing poems. It might seem hard to believe but there are poems from my elementary textbooks that I can recite today,

some word to word, some partially, although I haven’t had the chance to read them for more than two decades. There are children songs that I can still sing, despite the lack of the pleasure of savoring them for years. And there are football games that I still vividly remember some of them we lost and others we won. I don’t play football anymore but I still watch it with passion. I neither sing nor play instrument, but there is barely a thing I enjoy more than music. And poems, I still read them but now I also scratch a word or two of my own.

Nevertheless, it was not until after I joined the university that I found the most significant passions of my life, reading writing and teaching. Although I had already developed the passion of reading in high school, it was in the university that I truly began to grasp the power and significance of literature and so was infected by its frenzying passion then to never really recover, ever again. I think Achebe’s narratives and Keats’ and Shelly’s verses played the most significant part in alluring me into depth literature. And as for teaching, my professors handed the torch to me in an informal non-ceremonial manner. I loved and revered most of them; and, ever since, being able to influence, enthuse and fire up others, youngsters, have become one of the most profound aspirations in my life.

Till this day a lot of people can never get my passion for teaching, my love and dedication for literature. Well, we live in material world and people, for the most part, see things from that perspective. I myself know that there are a lot of things I can do better, easier things, that could get me way more money in a short period of time, more than I could ever make by doing what I do now. But for me a life spent away from the things loved is a life wasted. It is not I am denying the economic impediments forcing people to do things that they really don’t want to do, but still the heart desires what it desires. What do you say?

4Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015 ADs

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The other main anti-establishment Islamist organization in this second wave was the Shi’a Moslem Brothers led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. He was a leading member of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) during the Iranian revolution, and was inspired by the developments in Teheran. He remained active in the Sunni fold of the Yan Izala movement, with the ikhwan (Brothers) movement he established from

his days at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In 1994, during the downturn of the Yan Izala movement, he made an open turn to Shiism. “Under military rule, corruption, economic stagnation, and repression of opposition forces… encouraged increased Shia Muslim activism in northern Nigeria”. This was partly because “Shiism, with its history of activism and martyrdom, has provided an attractive alternative to the stagnant, corruption-tainted traditional religion” (Aymer 1996). This naturally resulted in conflicts with the Sunni

congregation and on August 5, 1996, altercation led to violence that claimed one life and left dozens wounded. While there was an expansion of Shi’a groups in the subsequent period, El-Zakzaky’s group has tried to forge unity within radical Islam with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria platform.

Beyond organized platforms of radical Islam, the 1980s and 1990s were filled with spontaneous episodes of mayhem supposedly in the name of God, in the key northern states stretching from Kano in the mid-north west to Borno in the far North East. These raged in the urban centers, including the universities. While the elite never failed to appropriate the mask of religion, it was becoming clearer at the same time that in its turning and turning, the falcon of the mask could no longer hear the falconer of the elite, not unlike W.B. Yeats’ Apocalyptic sphinx.15 Organized militant Islamist platforms were becoming the heirs of the moderate political Islamist bodies who had been much more malleable allies (and even members) of the ruling elites.

The lethal third wave; a closer look at Boko Haram

The last thirty-odd years have witnessed rising incidence of ethnic and, particularly, religious-based conflicts, which have gone beyond the elite-propelled manipulation they used to be, while still being closely related to it. There have been several cycles of such conflicts. But none of these was as sustained or systematic as the campaign of terror which the Boko Haram has waged, particularly since 2009. The rise of this group is part of a broader upsurge of religiosity in general and political Islam in particular. This has established the context for increasing tempos of inter- and intra-religious conflicts. As Salawu observes (2010: 345), “about forty percent (40%) of ethno-religious based conflicts” in Nigeria occurred between 1999 and 2010.

The period since 1999 has indeed witnessed the flourishing of religiosity and with it ethno-religious conflict. This obviously is not unconnected with the fact that it is also when pauperization of the masses has been most rampant, in the face of the ostentatious living of a few. The promotion of religious identity is not limited to Islamism. The two Presidents (out of three) that have been Christians from the southern parts of the country have both gone to Pentecostals’ revival grounds to seek God’s forgiveness for their re-contesting office after losing popularity in the eyes of the citizenry in their earlier tenures. And increased blind faith in the Church by an increasing mass has contributed significantly to the purchase of private jets by quite a number of Pentecostal bishops.16 The hope which spurs such devotion might not hinge on a better life after death. There are welfare projects for the poor as part of a broader evangelical mission. There is also a fervent promotion of the ideology that “salvation leads to prosperity even here on earth.”

In the “core North,” starting with the far north-western state of Zamfara in 2000, Shari’a law was introduced in twelve states.17 But the origin of Shari ‘a in Zamfara was actually anything but religious. It was introduced as a campaign platform by Alhaji Yerima in 1999 when it seemed obvious that his All People’s Party was unlikely to secure victory at the polls (Tertsakian 2004: 93). It was latched onto by other governors as a basis for guaranteeing their hold on power. But this was at a great cost in some instances. The first major religious explosion in this period was in 2000 when Kaduna State, which has a significant proportion of Christians in its southern parts, introduced Shari’a. It left not less than 1,000 people dead. The violence consumed Moslems and Christians alike, but arguably, most of those felled were non-Moslems considered as infidels by the ravaging hordes of déclassé elements mobilized around the political Shari ‘a agenda.

But there was a limit to how far the mask of religion could keep a lid on seething mass anger. Despite huge allocations from the Federal purse, the immiseration of the poor in the northern states worsened and they could see their supposedly Islamic governors as living anything but Islamic lives.

It was in this context that Boko Haram emerged in 2002, the same year that spontaneous riots against the “sinful” Miss World pageant in Nigeria led to the death of hundreds of persons and the

relocation of the pageant to London.18 This was when Mohammed Yusuf took over what used to be the Shabaab Muslim Youth Organization, formed earlier in 1995 at the University of Maiduguri as Ahlulsunna wal‟jama‟ah hijra, and led by Mallam Abubakar Lawal, an Islamic cleric. The sect worked with Senator Ali Modu Sheriff during his bid for the gubernatorial seat of Borno, with the aim of establishing Shari ‘a in the state.

Boko Haram was not very impressed by the Shari ‘a as introduced by Sheriff when he became governor in 2003, as they did not consider it far-reaching enough. Considering the lessons he might have learnt from the earlier carnage in Kaduna state, this was not surprising as the southern parts of Borno state also has a significant proportion of indigenes that are Christians. But the sect had acquired funds from Sheriff during the period of its collaboration with him.19 With these resources, it established its own enclave with mosque and school for Koranic education. In 2004, it relocated to neighboring Yobe State and dubbed its enclave “Afghanistan.” That same year, the group’s leaders “established links with the Algerian Salafist Group, now known as Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)” (Ajayi 2012: 105). But its activities remained largely peaceful for a few more years. Interesting also is the fact pointed out by Isa Yuguda, governor of the North Eastern Bauchi State, that while Yusuf railed against “western civilization” and “corruption,” he lived an ostentatious lifestyle.

The ranks of the sect also swelled with “respectable” members of society at this stage. These included the Borno State Commissioner of Finance who resigned to join the sect and urged the Governor to do likewise (Danjibo 2009: 7). Tertiary institutions students, including many from prominent homes in Borno and Yobe States also “withdrew from school, tore their certificates and joined the group for Qur’anic lessons and preaching” (Lawal 2009: 34). Boko Haram’s membership thus comprised a broad array of persons from amongst the new elite, the middle class, youth and the poor, bound by a radical Islamist ideology.

The sect has razed schools (and churches) starting in Borno state. But it has with as much if not more vehemence attacked institutions and establishments that are secular and have nothing to do with education. These have included military, police, civil service, electoral and press establishments. That these bodies are part of the apparatus of a Western-inspired state of infidels, in the view of the group, has been only one reason for these attacks. The sect has not hidden its quest to avenge the assassination of its founding leader in police custody after the mayhem of 2008 which brought it to global attention. It has also accused media houses such as This Day of slanted reportage and the “crime” of “dishonoring our prophet” ten years earlier.20

As of 2012, the sect’s insurgency had claimed about 3,000 lives (Balogun & Sessou 2012), with perhaps almost the same number being killed by the security forces. Most of the killings occurred since 2009. This period could be considered the second phase of the sect’s development (Cook 2011: 12-21). The Federal Government’s response to this phase of the sect’s activities has been one of dilly-dallying between further repression and “dialogue.” “Serious abuses, including extrajudicial executions, by the Nigerian police and military in response to the Boko Haram violence” (Human Rights Watch 2011), which have been rightly condemned, have accompanied its repressive steps. Meanwhile, until recently, its efforts at dialogue have been shrouded in lies. While the government turned down (a faction of) the sect’s proposals for talks in Saudi Arabia, it secretly met with it in Senegal, with both the Senegalese and Malian governments playing “significant roles” (Okpi 2012). But even at that, some members of the ruling class including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President, seem to be of the opinion that the carrot has not been utilized as much as it should have been with the stick (Somorin 2013).

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Continued from page 8

5Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015 Youth

“Life is but ups and downs” goes the reality of existence. You can’t expect to go through life without meeting problems, difficulties, perplexities, or frustrations. They are an inevitable part of human experience. Hence before anything and everything we should accept this idea of the inevitable. While accepting the inevitability of problems, however, we should avoid a spirit of defeatism or pessimistic fatalism. You may have to face problems, but that does not mean that you are to be helpless in dealing with them and tossed like a leaf on a river. Courage, clear thinking and faith will enable you to negotiate the stormy seas of life, and the experience will make you wiser and mature. You shouldn’t succumb to your problems; rather they should make a contribution to your development.

When confronted with a problem, the first things to do are to gather all relevant data. Get acquainted with all the facts of the case. Then write

successfully Dealing with Our Challengesdown exactly what the problem is, state it simply in black and white. This gives you something definite with which to deal with. The enemy is assessed and you are no longer fighting a ghost whose very indefiniteness worries you. Once you do this next give serious thought to the problem. Worry accomplishes nothing. Aim at clear and have unemotional thought view on the problem as if it was a friend’s and not your own. Look at it from all angles and from the viewpoint of all concerned. And know that it doesn’t serve to be entirely selfish in your outlook.

After the problem is examined broadly and impartially write down all the possible solutions or courses of action. The knowledge that you have done this will keep you from useless regrets later when you can remind yourself that all possible courses were examined and you took what appeared to be the best at the moment. Having drawn up your list of possible solutions,

weigh them without prejudice. Again bear in mind the claims and reactions of all concerned and avoid courses which are likely to stain your conscience. Act in accordance with the highest ideals. No step is a solution if later it is going to burden you with feelings of guilt or self-reproach.

Next, eliminate all proposed solutions which are seen on further thought to be impracticable. You will now find that your list has been downed to two or three possibilities. At this stage it is often a good plan to review the problems afresh. You will find it much less formidable. Friends often are a big help in such circumstances. If you have a friend you think is capable of giving sound advice, consult him or her. Do these before you decide. Talking things over with another is always a great help. It enables you to isolate the problem and to decide which the important factors are. Even though the friend may offer no advice, a sympathetic ear will

help you. Further, as you describe to your friend you will see the courses open to you in a clear light; some will appear impossible even while you speak. Alternatively, one will appear most attractive. Now turn to the remaining solutions and decided which you are going to follow. As you go to sleep that night let your last thought be upon your decisions. If in the morning you feel it is the best one to take then go ahead. Another possible source of help may be gained from books. Experiences of humanity are a guarantee that whatever problem you may have it is not unprecedented and there are always guides that we can refer. And books are invariably rich with providing invaluable lesson. Such services are reliable and generally free or at nominal cost only.

Having decided on a course of action and carried it out, avoid useless regrets and hold on to the thought that you looked into the matter thoroughly and carried out what seemed at the time the best solution. In dealing with problems, remember the time factor. Some get more complicated the longer they are left hence we should get to grips with them immediately. Other problems are solved by themselves with time, and thus delaying tactics might be the best form of action. But whichever is the case reasonable foresight and imagination can prevent many problems ever arising. Tact, thoughtfulness and responsible conduct can also keep life largely problem-free.

Promise yourselfPromise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel like there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living person you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, and too strong for fear, and to happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The Optimist Creed From The Optimist International

factor is not adding machineries, but building the youth’s capacity and boosting its experience so as to make it work with increased motivation.

Regarding the compensation, we need to first and foremost build a stable ground and favorable environment. The sacrifices we are paying are intended to take us there. If we can achieve the desired level in our development endeavors, agriculture, industry (manufacturing) services, our investments will have returns, and those returns will be our compensation. And that compensation is earmarked not for a few individuals only but for the whole people.

Everyone who is working to implement the endeavors is not being compensated. How many have access to potable water? Limited places may have all services but others have not had adequate water or electric supply or transport services since independence. So like I said, work is being done. We have no invisible resources, what we have everybody knows it.

There are life-changing development programs planned for execution at the national level. And these will take time and efforts. If we ask ourselves why people paid so many sacrifices, it is because they wanted to reach a desired level. Independence is good but not enough. You need more sacrifices to ensure an equitable and adequate

living standard. When talking about compensation, we need to talk in terms of the collective efforts we are making. It would be wrong to assume that one can live off the government paycheck, because even the government is included in that collective effort. Hardships and sacrifices may occur along the way, but in the end, the compensation comes from the returns of the collective investments. These returns need to be able to improve the living standards of the people.

We should not be giving soothing promises of salary increase or improved conditions because compensation doesn’t come from anticipation. Instead, it takes hard work, investment and sacrifices. We can say our vision is to change the people’s livelihood. And since this entails hard work, now is not the time for compensation. For those who choose to go abroad and live off charities without working, or those who constantly worry they will never be rewarded, time will definitely teach them.

excellency, the guarantee for the existence and growth of a nation is its defense force. Are there any plans to embolden the defense capacity? related to this is the issue of the reserve (people’s) army. how can the tasks of the reserve army (training and other activities) be carried out without hampering productivity?

I know this question is directly related to the harvesting season. But we don’t need to talk about the

military conditions. When talking about the army, be it the reserve, regular or the defense forces, the people is the ultimate army of the nation. In simple words, and not for the sake of political consumption or public relations, that’s what our doctrine says. Under any conditions, the ultimate army that defends the nation and safeguards its sovereignty is the people. But this should not be confined to words only and needs to be observed in practice as well. The people need to be ready at all times. The imposed sanctions, conspiracies and different economic ploys waged against us in recent years all emanate from the enemy quarters’ inability to understand what this people is made of.

For the last 15 years, we have been sitting in trenches in the eventuality of any provocations. Those soldiers scattered along the frontlines are citizens of this nation, and despite their dedications, they are definitely not mercenaries. So where is the justice for them to stay out in the open while others sleep safely in their homes? What about those who are working day and night? It’s not because they have more obligations…

There is also the issue of national service. For 6-7 years, members of the national service were not deployed to the army, because we thought we could fend against any provocations or hostilities with the defense forces already in place along the frontlines. While that consideration is still in place, we need to at least secure our reserves.

One of our losses last year was that the national service members were fruitlessly scattered. The proposed vocational trainings failed and those who didn’t score passing marks to colleges were left wandering pointlessly. What’s important here is to make sure that these youth not only shoulder the responsibility to safeguard the nation’s security and sovereignty, but also be productive and help themselves, their families and their country.

The training of the reserve armies that was recently announced was supposed to be done in every district and region long before the harvest season. The whole concept of the reserve armies is nothing new. It caused agitation only because its timing coincided with the dissemination of threats of war from Ethiopia (which meant nothing for me personally). Other than that, a reserve army, regardless of age or gender, needs constant training and exercise so as to be able to go into action whenever necessary.

This training program started later than expected and as such it

Continued from page 2“The PeoPle is The Army...

collided with the harvesting season. There was a good rainy season and subsequently a good harvest, and thus crop ricks were still out in the field. And because threshing is still conducted traditionally (with oxen) and demands hard work, the program posed a problem. So we had to prioritize between the harvest and training programs. Plans to incorporate both didn’t work out. The choice had to be made at a national level. The training that ensured the preparedness of the reserve army was chosen as a priority and is being implemented. While the implementation of the training program was a huge advantage, I don’t consider the delays in the harvests were a big loss. I know there are still haystacks seen alongside the roads and they would all be destroyed if it rained, but I think that’s a problem we can live with. And this is solved out in the field and has nothing to do with the issue of reserve armies or the nation’s general preparedness for defense, dignity and safeguarded sovereignty.

6Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015

Conscious Cloud part II

RiCO Inspirational Quotes

“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” _John Wooden

“Again and again the impossible proplem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.” _Robert Schuller

_Quotes Shared by Miriam Michael (ASLI): 07/01/2015 7:42 PM

“What happens to you forms part of 10 percentage of your life – How you react it makes 90 percentage of your life. Good or Bad? Joy or Sorrow?Success or Failure? It is how you perceive.” _

“I Have Not Failed. I found 10000 ways that won’t show results” – THOMAS ALWA EDISON

“All of us, at certain moments of our lives,needto take advice and to receive help fromother people.” _ Alexis Carrel

Teklehaimanot Yemane

Conscious Cloudpart II[Dialogue on current innovations, future

Technology,and Prospective Human wellbeing with somehow

highly projected characters]***

“…I have many instances. When I say instances I mean occurrences. I could happen to be a passionate reader (Mr. R) or at some time instant I could be an aspiring writer (Mr. W). As time goes by, there are also moments when I feel the companionship of an artist me (Mr. A) and a narrator instance of myself (Mr. N). There happens also moments when none of these instances occur in me. I just happen to be a combined result of them. These instances of me, which I believe they are infinite of their kind, are the soul components of my wholeness. Yet, I am closely familiar with only few of them (Mr. R, Mr. W, Mr. A, and Mr. N) – but to some extent. Still I feel the presence of one abstract instance which I named him as Total Manager (Mr. TM). Though it is a bit complex, I have come to conclude that life with my instances is the life I desire to live in and experience. There are moments when my instances debate autonomously and other times when they collectively defend an outside argument. And now they are into a complex discussion about something they named it as Conscious Cloud…”

***Initiating my instances and

experiencing the beauty and variety of life with them is an opportunity that is rarely found. I pass hard times to get into them. And once I am into the core of their existence I see the beauty of their variety. Their complex entanglement is a challenge of entertainment. I really get delighted when I am trapped in their complex cage. But the most frustrating moment is when I badly need them and they seem to be unreachable. On certain moments of the times I think and question myself: ‘What could be the best mood for their appearance?’... I as a matter of fact, don’t want their mere existence; what I want is to interact with them, communicate with them, and be in their shoes f I ever happen to have the chance.

Although as my instances are derivatives of myself, it is obvious that the core of their life is me, so it is only is my expectation that they have human nature, except

that they are projected in and out so that to dynamically change the images of their appearances. They attempt to get to human extremes and sometimes they fall into human limitations. They watch everything from within. If they realize things are set to their mood, they slide out and appear on the stage one by one. They have their own art of management. But as their host I sometimes notice that this happens if I don’t seem to give value to their basic desires. And of course they need enough time. By time I mean, time to enlighten them, time to feed them, time to refresh them and time to let them discuss and consolidate things on their own. Now I know that my instances need tranquillity. They need a mood with calmness at its core. Sometimes they call it a state of extreme solitariness. They believe that such solitude feels them with energy to think, consolidate and do surprises.

Most often I get confused on how to fulfil their requirement of solitariness. At first I thought they must be in need of a calm and lonely place. So I dragged myself to faraway places, isolating myself from any sort of noise – droning cars, roaring lions, shouting kids, falling rocks, yelling nuts,

vibrating devices and the like. When I get into far and wide, I see I have successfully blocked the senses of smell, sight, touch, taste and auditory. Yet, I hear some noise

that dwells in me. My instances are not into the mood. My conflict with them arises from my failure to achieve extreme solitude. At the verge of my foolishness, I thought

I must wake up at midnight – when there is no any sort of noise. I have also attempted to impress them by creating many new terms like – midnight enlightenment, midnight energy, midnight dreams, midnight speech, midnight thinking and more. But still I feel the existence of the noisemy instances hate most. Solitude has become the master key to find them – which I have never achieved at any cost. Thinking all about this I immersed myself into the world of solitude – unintentional.

What is within solitariness? I asked to myself. ‘Contentment!’ my instances replied in one voice. I felt their presence. And above all I was glad to know they have the ears to listen to what I say. ‘Ultimate contentment dwells within extreme solitariness,’ added one of my instances whom I didn’t identify who he was. Soon I felt the appearance of our Smart Table and we were all around it within the CC conference Hall. I saw Mr. N, the narrator, on stage displaying an illustration entitled ‘Computing + Consciousness’. My thoughts got collected in flashes of time slides. I found myself as alert as I were at the beginning to watch, listen, learn, share and reflect in consciousness.

***

7Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015solomon Mengsteab

Procrastination and its aftermath

Postponement is not so uncanny to the human world that making excessively excited fuss out of it, would be, I’m afraid, blowing the issue out of proportion. In fact, under normal circumstances, postponement is just another ordinary part of human life. For some reason or another, at a point of time or another, people review and reschedule different tasks, errands and responsibilities in their lives to some other time. But, putting off the things that have been planned to be done at a certain point of time to some other time in future isn’t, always necessarily procrastination. In actual fact, at times, especially when done for concrete reasons, postponements are good prioritizations rather than procrastination.

In order for a certain postponement to be considered as an act of procrastination, first it ought to be deliberate and second the individual or the party making the postponement should be definitively worse of the aftermath of the putting off. Moreover, procrastination is also characterised by poor, inadequate, or inefficient planning and/or an impulsive and uncalculated, as opposed rational, change or postponement of plans. But people still, many a time, putt off things without any good reason; sometimes out of mere laziness and some other times out of impulsive miscalculation. Yet still, even such postponements made without deliberate forethought are not that big of a deal under normal circumstances, in normal frequency. However, procrastination becomes a problem when it becomes impulsively chronic and impedes doing one’s day to day job and carrying out one’s responsibility on regular bases. When procrastination is repeated too many times and develops to become a habit, it has several consequences on people’s lives that are manifested in psychological, social and economic aspects of life.

Procrastination is mainly a psychological problem and, thus, its effects are mainly psychological. Major effects of procrastination in terms of psychology are stress, anxiety and crisis. These could manifest due to two major feelings; one is fear and the other is guilt. As discussed in the previous parts of this article, procrastination, for the most part, is deliberate. The individual putting off the given task, errand or responsibility knows that he/she is being unreasonable in postponing it and also, at the same time, understands that that particular act of postponement would have undesirable effects in one way or another. And quite naturally people avert the undesirable and, therefore, they developed fear;

“If Not Now Then When?”Part iV

they fear the progress of time towards to the deadline and they fear what would happen after the deadline is at hand or is past before they take proper care of the issue and finished it. And this fear results in stress, anxiety and crisis.

Moreover, guilt is also another powerful emotional strain that could occur as a consequence of procrastination and could be the cause of major psychological tension. People normally have expectation of their own concerning their personal achievements based on their wishes, potentials, resources, time, etc. Naturally, the feeling of the failure of these personally set expectations as potentially plausible is not the kind to look forward for. Even worse, when the failure or set back is caused by their own fault, people regret both the delinquency that caused the failure and the corollary of it. Regret, sense of guilt and/or blaming oneself, arguably, are among the major causes for stress, anxiety, despair and other psychological crises, argue psychologists. Yet again, as procrastination is a deliberate action, people would, without difficulty, become aware of their misconduct of procrastination. Therefore, whenever failure is conceived as consequence of one’s own procrastination it is likely to engender a sense of guilt which could be the root of various psychological strains.

There is certain misconception that results from certain faulty analysed observations by people novice to the issues concerning the relationship between psychological strains and procrastination. Here is the case; people who have the habit of procrastination, many a time, seem to be more relaxed, at ease with a little or no stress at all, as is the case with people that are not engaged in any particularly demanding and/or important task. However, the fact of the matter is this relaxed state of mind of the procrastinators often is the case only when these people are not stipulated by pending by deadlines. Indeed, when deadlines are distant procrastinators worry very little and, in fact, may even show less stress than that of non-procrastinators. However, the thing is as deadlines get closer this relationship between procrastination and stress changes. When deadline is at hand, procrastinators stress goes up and

that of the non-procrastinators falls down.

The psychological strains that are alluded to above, stress, anxiety, fear, guilt and crises could be considered mild when they do not occur chronically. Every now and then everyone may have a feel of one or all of them, at a time or all-together. However, sometimes, procrastination could be the cause of severe depression. Moreover, procrastination is referred as a disorder a sickness by itself not just as a symptom of other disorders. This notion of characterising procrastination as a disorder is counter argued by many, though. This disagreement is not groundless, nevertheless, as these days it seems that every little bad habit, repeated misbehaviour or faulty personality seems to be related with a disorder or another or as often as disorder itself. Indeed “our world today is quick to diagnose all kinds of human behaviours as disorders when in reality a lot of detrimental behaviours stem from undisciplined lives”. Therefore, this camp of thought argues that although there are a lot of personalities or behaviours which result from neurological disorders, many more are simply bad habits. Moreover, even these personalities and behaviours proved to be consequences of disorders on some people are normally found on others who do not have any major neurological disorder whatsoever. And when it comes to procrastination it is argued that the largest percentage is just a result of lack of discipline and resolution rather than some sort of disorder.

All the while, psychologists argue that there are cases where procrastination grows in to chronic and extremely and alarmingly disrupting and disconcerting case. In most of these cases procrastination is found to be a symptom for some psychological disorder. Moreover, procrastination is associated with several psychological strains and disorders such as excessive anxiety, alarming low self-esteem and self-loath, severe depression, chronic stress, irrational behavior, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and the likes. Whether caused by such and/or other psychological or neurological disorders however, procrastination in some cases becomes out of control. It

becomes impulsive, chronic and incapacitating, preventing subjects from functioning in a normal way or even worse preventing them from any form or meaningful functioning altogether. In such cases it is strongly advisable that subjects seek therapy.

When procrastination is repeated too many times and develops to become a pattern it stems a lot of social problems on the individual with the habit. The social problems resulting from procrastination can result from different deferent stems while all have similar roots, the very habit of procrastination. To begin with, the psychological and mental strains that could result from habitual procrastination could result in affecting the social skills of the individual in question and result in making him/her social outcast. In addition, the economic inconveniences that could result from the lessen productivity of the individual in question could also affect the social status to that person individual negatively. However, the above referred social problems could be rather rare as they only apply for those who are affected by the psychological, mental and economic consequences of habit

procrastination. In addition to these, however,

procrastination also has another effect that can disrupt the social equilibrium of the individual in question, and this one got to do with social expectations. Society has its own expectation about the achievement of its members. When individuals meet these expectations or exceed them they are applauded by the people around them. However, when the achievements of individuals are below the expectations of the society there often is a problem. Underachievers are usually met with different forms of social stigmas. Even worse, when the cause for this under achievement is too much procrastination, the social disapproval aggravates. This is, mostly, the result of the common conception that the “task-aversion” manifested by procrastination resulting in underachievement is caused only by laziness, lack of willpower, and ambition. As a result individuals who procrastinate have the problem of social disapproval for the failure of meeting their responsibility, commitment, expectation, etc.

8Eritrea Profile, Saturday 10th of JANUARY 2015

Context: http://www.profile.gov.er Daniel Semre - danisemere@gmail.com Solomon Mengsteab sollion8555@gmail.com

Dear readers, should you have any opinion on the column ‘Context’ and suggestions of articles you think should be printed here please do not hesitate to contact us. We shall welcome, value and entertain them.

many a time important events in the global arena are not presented in their entirety in mainstream media as there is lack of context in most of the information they cover. in response, this column sets out to question this trend by presenting diverse perspectives from as many sources as possible with the underlying aim of bringing to fore context that is culturally, historically, politically and economically relevant to any given topic.

limits of the game of masks: class, ethno-religious identities, and the Rise of Salafi-Jihadism in Northern Nigeria Part i

The intermediary bourgeois (our ruling elite) cannot claim political leadership openly on the grounds that he is, or wants to be, an exporter, shareholder, rentier or rich bureaucrat. he has to take over as a muslim or christian. he has to take over as an Ibo, Hausa, Idoma or Efik… The manipulation of religion in Nigeria today is essentially a means of creating the context for this fancy dress ball, for this charade of disguises. This game of masks.– Yusuf Bala Usman 1979: 88-89

Part II

The colonial roots of ethno-religious identity politics in northern Nigeria

The legacy of divide and rule by the colonialists, relics of which still survive, was not limited to the legal system. Physical segregation was encouraged, indeed enforced, in the urban centres of northern Nigeria. Ironically, this started when the Southern and Northern protectorates of Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914, when integration should otherwise have been the colonial administration’s watchword, given the commitment to nation-building implicit in the act of amalgamation. Southerners and even other “northerners” who had been living as traders and artisans within the walled centers of Hausa-Fulani cities were then relocated to quarters on the outskirts of these cities.

All together, six different urban residential settlements emerged, consisting of: (a) European Reservation Areas (ERA or GRA); (b) Bariki, Lebanese/Syrian areas (found in Kano and Zaria); (c) Walled City, housing the indigenous population; (d) Tudun Wada, established by the British for northerners who were not indigenous to the town; (e) Sabon Gari, for those the colonial administrators called ‘native foreigners’ who were largely Christians from southern Nigeria; and (f) satellite village settlements. (Abdu 2010: 66)

As Independence drew closer, though, and subsequently during the First Republic, the old Caliphate-based elite in the region was constrained in more ways than one; it had to maintain the divisions it had forged with the colonialists, as a junior partner, and yet it had to transcend them somewhat. The ideology of “one North” was a central element of its power. But the “non-Muslim fringes” of the region, in the North Central (better categorized in today’s power calculus by the country’s elite as the Middle Belt), had become largely Christian due to aggressive proselytizing by missionaries. The United Middle Belt Congress of new elite from these areas faced severe persecution from the state apparatus under the control of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), led by Sir Ahmadu Bello.

Also, in breeding the new elite, the Caliphate base of the old “Northern” elite systematically worked towards incorporating the emerging middle class from the north-eastern base

of the emasculated Kanem Bornu Emirate (see Paden 1986). While in many superficial ways projecting the mirage of a monolithic North8 as the country’s dominant power base,9 Islamism remained a central tenet of the old Caliphate-based elite’s ideology. With this tenet it seemed to be more successful for decades in incorporating the emerging elite in the North East.

But as the decolonization process took on added steam, secular resistance took the form of a challenge to the NPC, which was the establishment’s party that was dominant in the region. A major development in this direction was the formation of the Borno Youth Movement (BYM) in 1954. It won two seats in the 1961 elections and teamed up first with the radical Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and later with the social democratic Action Group which held sway in the Western region. Within the immediate enclave of the Caliphate, apart from NEPU, which spoke for the talakawa,10 winning seats in the metropolis of Kano, there were small, localized left-leaning parties such as the Zamfara Commoners Party and alliances such as the Northern Progressive Front. With the shift to a Presidential system and the introduction of stringent rules for registration of parties, the field of play for secular parties was reduced. The constraints on popular left parties had become even more disempowering by the Fourth Republic.

The first wave of political Islamism in post-colonial (northern) Nigeria

Meanwhile, the traditional Islamism of the old Caliphate elite flourished through internationalization as the more radical Islamism of Boko Haram would half a century later, even if in a different manner. “[Ahmadu] Bello’s commitment to ‘dip the Holy Koran in the Atlantic Ocean’” in the south of the country was popularised internationally (F. Ajayi 2009: 42). He was not only “in the second position, after King Faud, amongst the founders of the World Muslim Leaders League, in 1962”; speaking in Medina at the 1964 World Muslim League, he declared his “Endeavour to expand the religion of Islam” as the central cause of his life and asserted that “I have been able, by the grace of Allah, to convert some 60,000 non-Muslims in my region to Islam within a period of 5 months [November 1963-March 1964]” (F. Ajayi 2009: 41).

But behind this grandstanding with political Islam lay a more worldly pursuit: the forging of a new Northern elite built around the scions of the Caliphate from the north-western zone of the ‘one North’. These were sent to some of the best schools in the world.11 The ideology of a monolithic North was also of immense value for the Caliphate-based old elite to wield control over the army. A very significant proportion of the men and officers were from the non-core “North.” Being “northerners” though was quite useful for their career progression. With this scenario, the two military interregnums were seen largely as periods of continued “Northern” hegemony, even all the long-serving juntas in these periods were led by officers from the “Middle Belt,” with the longest serving being led by General Gowon, a Christian who prosecuted the civil war against the Eastern region (“the Republic of Biafra”), which had a predominantly Christian population.

“Many analysts date the beginning of Nigeria’s religious crisis to 1978, when the Constituent Assembly for a Presidential Constitution was holding deliberations” (Falola 1998: 2-3). The issue of contention was the inclusion of Shari ‘a in the 1979 Constitution. The ripples of this debate led to clashes between Muslim and Christian students in the Ahmadu Bello University, resulting in the death of six students. Subsequently, during the presidential elections that ushered in the Second Republic the following year, the National Party of Nigeria, whose stronghold was in the North, had campaigned that its one-finger sign reflected monotheism as against the two-finger (victory) sign of the Unity Party of Nigeria, which was seen largely as a Yoruba party, while Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, an influential Islamic cleric12 urged the umma on national television not to vote for a non-Muslim candidate (Falola 1998: 3).

Militant Islamism: the second wave of political Islamism

It was however not just in the terrain of partisan politics that the impact of Islamism was on the rise in this period. On the contrary, political Islam waxed stronger in and was intertwined with establishment politics. The watershed in this direction was the establishment of the Jama’t Izalat al Bid’a Wa Iqamat as Sunna (Society for Removal of Innovation and Re-establishment of the Sunna), otherwise known as Yan Izala,

in the north central city of Jos, in 1978. Its founder was Sheikh Ismaila Idris, and it had the staunch backing of Sheikh Gumi in its anti-Sufi crusade. Yan Izala promoted a modernizing Islamist ideology which placed a premium on Western education alongside Islamic education, providing scholarships for its adherents and their wards to pursue higher education in Saudi Arabia. It has been the centre-piece of militant Sunni Islamism despite a series of schisms in its ranks.

The first of these was in the mid-1980s over the movement’s closeness to the federal military government: “both Abubakar Gumi and the Yan Izala leadership were highly supportive of the Babangida government, despite its agenda of economic liberalization and its conservative foreign policies” (Loimeir 2012: 144). By the 1990s Yan Izala was obviously in crisis. Allegations of embezzlement, disillusionment by a younger generation which discovered to its chagrin that modern education was not providing them with jobs, and the demands for greater autonomy by different sections of the movement in different parts and states led to the withering of its central leadership’s authority.

In this milieu, an emergent generation of Yan Izala leaders broke out of the movement with new agendas of reforms as Islamic teachers/preachers, leaders of new sects or Islamic NGOs (Umar 2012). Doctrinal disputation was, not surprisingly, a feature of the process of such separation. One group that emerged was the ahl al-sunna sect in Kano. Its ideas and strategy were rooted in Yan Izala’s Sunni traditions. It was however less stridently anti-Sufi, as it stood for pan-Islamic unity (in the face of expanding Christian missions in the north) and the more active participation of Moslems in partisan politics (Kane 2003). Its most outspoken leaders were Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, the medical doctor who chairs the Supreme Council for Shari ‘a in Nigeria, and Ja’fae Mahmud Adam, the Saudi-trained intellectual who represented the British alMuntada al-Islami (Islamic Assembly) organization in Nigeria. Adam was the teacher of Muhammad Yusuf in Kano. They parted ways with much acrimony in 2004. He was assassinated in 2007, most likely by Boko Haram activists (Brigaglia 2012: 18-23).

Anti-establishment militant Islamism

was not mainstream in this period. The most resounding group was the rabidly anti-modernist movement led by Mohammed Marwa (Maitatsine) which went on a rampage in Kano in 1980.13 This Yai Tatsine movement tends to be the “natural” pair for comparative analysis of “militant” (i.e. violent) Islamism with Boko Haram.14 This is because of the sheer magnitude of fatalities from its rampage (4,179 persons killed and hundreds of buildings razed in just 11 days of riots – Isichei 1987) as well as its anti-modernist ideology and its anti-establishment politics. But these similarities mask very sharp differences.

The Yai Tatsine blended syncretism with an anti-technologist ideology that condemned the use of anything modern from cars to wristwatches, radios and even spectacles. Its leader denounced parts of the Holy Koran, criticized some of the practices of Prophet Mohammed, and even declared “himself to be an annabi; a prophet with divine power and a mission to save the world” (Falola 1998: 143). Boko Haram on the contrary holds that Salafist ideological purity is not anti-technology (especially with regard to weaponry), but anti-Western education. It is also noteworthy that the acme of violence unleashed by the Yan Taitsine was largely spontaneous, starting on December 18, 1980, as a backlash against attempts by the police to stop them from preaching, ostensibly because they had not secured a police permit. Boko Haram violence has been a more organised and methodical form of urban guerrilla warfare with the intent of overthrowing the state.

An interesting similarity between the two groups can be found, however, in the elite’s political manipulation of religion. In response to the report of a Federal Commission of Inquiry (set up by the National Party of Nigeria) which indicted it, the state government of Kano (led by the Peoples Redemption Party) accused the NPN of commissioning the Maitatsine sect “to create the conditions that would guarantee the declaration of a state of emergency in Kano by the NPN controlled Federal Government.” It went on to assert that, it was the “NPN Kano aristocracy and the propertied class that organized, sustained, equipped and shielded the gang of religious fanatics from the period of its gestation, birth and infancy” (Zahradeen 1988: 113).

Continued on page 4