By Association of Nsukka Professors

It is generally believed that Nigeria is at a crossroad. The year 2020 has witnessed unprecedented as well as unpredicted events at both the international and local levels. 

These happenings occurred also at alarming and unimaginable rates. For Nigeria, both the Covid 19 Pandemic and the EndSARS Youth Protests marked turning points that 

will not be forgotten in a hurry. Indeed, the results of these two tsunamis are reverberating in the country and cannot be said to have even come to an end. It is 

therefore very difficult to predict their final outcome.

The small university town of Nsukka witnessed more than its own share of these great phenomena, especially the latter. However, what shook the university town turned out to be something not quite related to these two events. On the 1st of October 2020, a

seemingly innocuous disagreement between an indigenous Muslim woman and an indigenous Christian keke tricycle driver concerning the nonpayment of N300 by the 

woman nearly turned the usually quiet university town into a theatre of war. 

The events of that day started with Aisha agreeing with Kelly, the Keke driver on a Keke drop to Barrack’s junction with her goods, for a sum of N300.

 On reaching her destination, Aisha brought out N200 to settle a fare of N300 and insisted that for her to pay a balance of one hundred naira, Kelly the keke driver should as well drop her in her house. Of course, Kelly refused and insisted on his N300 being paid as agreed. Aisha stubbornly refused to pay the agreed sum, and went on to call for assistance from her son Sabiru. Sabiru on arrival did not seek to 

ascertain the issues in contest, but drew a dagger knife and cut through Kelly’s body. 

The spilling of blood on a matter as mundane as N300 was beyond what the onlookers could stomach as this was strange and vexatious to the culture and tradition of Nsukka people. Within a short while of rushing Kelly the Keke driver to the hospital, the issue took a life of its own following a wild report that the keke driver had died 

while on the way to hospital. 

Thanks to the timely intervention of the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka, the Very Rev Bishop Godfrey Onah, who issued a statement calling for calm and restraint which fortunately and immediately, calmed strained nerves on both sides of the religious divide. 

The situation could have taken a different and dangerous turn. Unfortunately, instead of commendation and acknowledgment for a noble and patriotic job, the immediate concern of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs was to call for the 

questioning of Father Bishop Onah. One wonders what could have led to this irony of thinking from the Muslim hierarchy in the country.

As it has turned out to be the case, the call for the arrest of the Father Bishop is connected with his usual stand on issues of national concern, particularly his advocacy for equal treatment of Muslims and Christians in the country, which some high-ranking members of Muslim leaders in the country have found disturbing. Those who hold this view strongly believe that the incidence of 31st October which started as a misunderstanding between a keke driver and a passenger and dovetailed into a skirmish between the two indigenous individuals from both sides of Christian and Muslim divide may have provided a good opportunity for those seeking for the head of the Father Bishop to call for his arrest.

But as many have asked, what is the relationship between the event of the 31st October 2020 and Fr Bishop Onah’s sermon on equal treatment for Nigerian citizens? Rather than the call for the arrest of Fr Bishop, the expectation from any rational and unbiased 

intervention, particularly, one which is not acting on a mindset is to first condemn the murderous and mad behaviour of Sabiru and his mother, before objecting to the degeneration of the altercation to attacks on a mosque. To have done otherwise in targeting the Bishop shows that the challenge of citizenship in this country is more 

serious than currently appreciated.

What a twist of fate for the peace-loving and patriotic Bishop who at his own risk personally intervened during the crisis by confronting the protesting young Christians 

who wanted to take revenge over the injured Christian keke driver on innocent Muslims typical of such situations in the country. It is pertinent to note that Father Bishop Onah was able to achieve this singular feat of calming strained nerves during the crisis due to 

his personal and cordial relationship with Muslim community leadership in Nsukka and its surrounding communities in Enugu state. Those playing Gods due to their access to 

the levers of power in the country should know and must be made to know that nothing meaningful and lasting can be gained by encouraging and disparaging meaningful dialogue and peaceful coexistence between the two dominant religions in the country. 

Father Bishop Onah should be therefore commended and indeed emulated for his consistent and enduring efforts to ensure that this ultimate goal is achieved in the country. It is the need to realize this objective that has always driven Father Bishop Onah to seek and preach equal treatment of every Nigerian with equity and fairness in 

all aspects of our national life. It is our prayer and hope that this attack on the person and mission of the Father Bishop should not dampen his missionary and patriotic spirit.