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| Former Oyo State Speaker, Rt. Hon. Kehinde Ayoola. |
In the Christian tradition, Gamaliel is recognized as a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 5 speaks of Gamaliel as a man, held in great esteem by all Jews, who spoke to not condemn the apostles of Jesus in Acts 5:34 to death.
The Apostles had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that turned the world upside down.
As with any religio-social recrudescence, the Early Christian Church pioneered by the Apostles had threatened the Jewish establishment. The traditional Judaism, as a religion and a socio-political force faced the daunting prospect of losing its relevance and being supplanted by Christianity.
The Sanhedrin or the Grand Council in Jerusalem therefore ordered the arrest of the Apostles. They wanted to proscribe Christianity. They put them in prison and sought the right charges to hang them with. But having found that they broke no law, they caused them to be beaten and warned to stop preaching in the Name of Christ.
The Apostles defied the Sanhedrin and continued to preach. Their fame spread all over the country and they gained very many converts.
The Council now had them arrested again and wanted them to be put to death.
At the hearing, Gamaliel (Doctor of Laws) arose and addressed the Council.
He delivered what amounted to an allocutus as follows:
"Men of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people. Some time ago, there arose Theudas. He claimed to be someone important, and collected about 400 followers; but when he was killed, all his followers scattered and that was the end of them.
And then there was Judas the Galilean,at the time of the census, who attracted crowds of supporters; but he was killed too, and all his followers dispersed.
What I suggest therefore, is that you leave these men alone and let them go. If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin, it will break up of its own accord; But if it does in fact come from God you will be unable to destroy them. Take care not to find yourself fighting against God".
His advice was accepted.
When, two days ago, the Nigerian Army declared the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a terrorist organization, there was muted indifference and even cold complicity in places across Nigeria not named Igbo land.
The Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB has carried its sacrifice beyond the mosque (pardon my Yoruba-English).
You cannot dare a sovereign Nigerian State without dire consequences, they said. So, the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization is a just dessert for them, they reasoned.
A little while later, all 5 Igbotic State Governors (Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo) proscribed the IPOB.
A massive manhunt by the military (which had commenced an 'Operation Python Dance' in the whole of the SouthEast geopolitical zone) was launched for Nnamdi Kanu.
But Nigeria's Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, perhaps feeling a sense of duty as our Number One Lawmaker spoke up like Gamaliel did, 2000 years ago.
He said the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist group did not follow due process and was therefore null and void.
What I didn't hear him say was to go as far as Gamaliel did by pointing out the failed secessionist bids of Major Isaac Adaka Boro, who had wanted a Republic of Niger Delta out of Nigeria around 1968 or the first Biafran secession bid under Lt.-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu between 1967 and 1970..
He did not mention also, the annexation of some Local Governments in Borno State two years ago by the Boko Haram sect and designating them as a Caliphate under strict Sharia Law.
These three examples failed, as we all know. Whether Saraki's own brand of Gamalielian Allocutus will have effect in Nigeria today remains to be seen.
In fact it is doubtful.
Saraki neither possesses the piety of Gamaliel nor his esteem.
Then there is the APC as a party on one hand, the Executive arm of the government it birthed under President Muhammadu Buhari on another hand and the Legislature controlled by majority from the APC on yet another hand.
They have not, and I say this with every emphasis at my disposal, demonstrated the cooperation and synergy that you expect from two arms of government produced by the same party.
I have had occasion to write that the APC is like a single parent whose two sons keep behaving like 'omo ìyá awùsá' (seeds in walnut fruit that, though are in the same pod but do not see eye to eye because they are separated by a membrane always).
The APC has failed woefully in exercising control and discipline over its members in government.
This is the reason why the Army (now under the command of an APC President) would be openly contradicted by an APC Senate President on a matter that is so sensitive as categorization of IPOB as a terrorist organization.
It is a crying shame.
I pray God shall give wisdom to our leaders so that they may maintain peace and not lead us to war.
Omi Tuntun, Igba Otun!
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