COMING OUT SOON

With Foreword by Prof Pat Utomi

Chapter Four

ISLAM, IGBO CONVERSION FOR MONEY AND WHY A CHRISTIAN CANNOT MARRY A MUSLIM WOMAN

1. Monetary Reasons as the Basis of Igbo Conversion to Islam
2. Basis of Islamic Opposition to Marriage between a Christian Man and Muslim Woman
3. The Muslim Fulani Response to Igbo Christian Igbo on Interreligious Marriage
4. A Question of Eternal Islamic Confrontation with Christianity

1. Monetary Reasons as the Basis of Igbo Conversion to Islam

The Islamic status of Igbo converts to Islam is well expressed by the Hausa saying, “kwo ya tuba be tubaba”, which translates to, “Igbo Islam is a mere word of mouth and not in the heart?[1] The Fulani and Hausa Muslims are fully aware of this fact but have to contend with it since Igbo Muslims do the dirty job of stealth jihadists among their people.

The Quran in Sura 4 verse 91 explicitly describes Igbo Muslims and what will befall them in the event of any sign of return to Christiaanity in the following words:

Ye will find others who desire that they should have security from you, and security from their own folk. So often as they are returned to hostility they are plunged therein. If they keep not aloof from you nor offer you peace nor hold their hands, then take them and kill them wherever ye find them.[2]

Indeed, the Quran sets a condition to test hypocrites in Islam, which an average Igbo Muslim cannot under normal circumstances meet. This is the condition of fighting their people who are unbelievers by Islamic definition. Quran Sura 3 verse 167 specifically states in reference to the Igbo:

And that He might make evident those who are hypocrites. For it was said to them, “Come, fight in the way of Allah or [at least] defend.” They said, “If we had known [there would be] fighting, we would have followed you.” They were nearer to disbelief that day than to faith, saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts. And Allah is most Knowing of what they conceal.[3]

The recent appointment of Professor Iliyasu Usman, a supposedly Igbo man as the Chief Imam of National Mosque, Abuja, is a farce that clearly defines the in-depth strategy of this stealth Islamization of Igboland. Professor Iliyasu Usman who hails from Ibagwa-Aka in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State is not an Igbo but rather of Hausa immigrant settlers popularly known as Hausa-Ibagwa. So he is a Northern Muslim by every definition of his identity. The Hausa-Ibagwa still live a quarantine system of like apart from the Igbo natives of Ibagwa-Aka.

So, announcing that he is the first Igbo Muslim to be appointed Chief Imam of National Mosque, Abuja is nothing but a shambolic display of stealth islamization of Igboland. Even the supposed second Igbo Muslim appointed as Imam for the National Mosque Bar Haroun Muhammad Eze, is equally from the same Hausa-Ibagwa ethnic stock and not Igbo.  Bar Haroun Muhammad Eze hails from Alor-Agu in the same Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State. Alor-Agu is another base of Hausa-Ibagwa immigrants.

The Fulani will never appoint a truly Igbo Muslim to lead them in Jumat; otherwise there are many experienced well-educated prominent Igbo Muslims like Alhaji Yahaya Ndu who are better qualified by experience to occupy that position than the Hausa-Ibagwa Professor of Islamic of Islamic Studies. Even for a truly Yoruba Muslim to lead the National Mosque as Chief Imam will be unacceptable to the core Fulani Islamic jihadists.

This is the case of Ogbuagu Major General Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu (rtd), whose father married the daughter of the Emir of Katsina Alhaji Usman Nagogo. Ike Nwachukwu’s mother, daughter of the Emir of Katsina had fallen in love with his father, then an Igbo Christian of Methodist Church from Ovim in the present Isu-Ikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State.

Ordinary, such an act by a Fulani woman to an Igbo Christian unbeliever (Aruni) was an outright haram (sin) which could have intolerably led to honor-killing. However, being an Emir’s daughter only her father had the sole authority to decide her fate. That was the case of Ike Nwachukwu’s mother. According to General Ike Nwachukwu, his maternal grandfather— the Emir having confirmed from her daughter that she was in love with the unbeliever fell to her daughter’s passion, but with the proviso that the Igbo man must convert to Islam before the marriage.[4]

Ike Nwachukwu’s father eventually converted to Islam from Methodist Church and married the Emir’s daughter. Ike Nwachukwu’s father named him Ikechukwu, while his maternal grandfather named him Omar Sanda. But the interesting aspect of this union is that Ike Nwachukwu’s father later reverted to Christianity together with General Ike Nwachukwu, thus underscoring the fact that the said conversion to Islam was not spiritually-driven but materially guided. This is the general trend among Igbo converts to Islam.

But the fact cannot be denied that it was this maternal background that readily gave Ike Nwachukwu the opportunity to be easily recruited into the Nigerian Army on the quota of Northern Region and why he subsequently fought on the side of the Federal Government against Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. Ike Nwachukwu recalled how the then Military Governor of Western State Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo would jokingly mock him saying what encouraged you to fight against your people, without knowing his background.[5]

This further explains why he was spared during the July 29, 1966 anti-Igbo purge in the Nigerian armed forces. As Hector-Roosevelt Udunna Ukegbu revealed:

“At the 5th Battalion, Kano, was a certain Lt. Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu who had been sprung from the barracks by his maternal uncle Lt. Col. Hassan Usman Katsina, the military governor of Northern Nigeria, and taken to a “safe place.”[6]

But the fact remains that even with his Fulani background, his Igbo blood acted as an ethnic incubus against his progress in the army. According to Prof Ikechukwu I. Mabubuihe, when he was a Minister under President Shehu Shagari during the Second Republic, he discovered that Ike Nwachukwu then a Colonel was not promoted along with his mates because he was first and foremost considered an Igbo, notwithstanding his Fulani blood. Consequently he had to intervene.[7]

However, in on his account, General Nwachukwu denied ever being denied promotion in the army at his rightful time. He however acknowledged that when it was the turn of his corps in the Nigerian Army to produce the Chief of Army Staff and as the highest ranking officer in his corps at the time he was was supposed to be appointed, he was denied the position because he is Igbo.[8]

Conversion from one religion or faith to another has many faces as much as it is guided by many reasons; as in the case of Ike Nwachukwu’s father who converted because of the love of a woman and possibly given her royal background. In other words, while theoretically, some people convert because of inherent spiritual benefits, others do so for material benefits. Thus as Tolupe and Nathaniel put it:

People convert to a different religion for various reasons, including: active conversion by free choice due to a change in belief, secondary conversion, deathbed conversion, conversion by convenience and marital conversion, and forced conversion such as conversion by violence.[9]

In Nigeria, conversion from one religion to another is often manipulated as a political weapon to upset or uphold a given political balance in figures and influence. In other words, in Nigeria to the Muslim conversion is a tool to confront and to some extent rival the threat of ever increasing Christian evangelism.

A Christian who converts to Islam is often celebrated among the Muslims; but a Muslim who converts to Christian is deemed to have committed Haram, and thus liable to fatwa that requires death. Describing this political face of conversion program under Sir Ahmadu Bello the Northern Nigeria-based Carefronting organization wrote:

With State money and donations from Arab countries, the Premier of the Northern Region launched a conversion campaign among the inhabitants of the Middle Belt, first among the pagans and later among Christians too. In the process, he relied on local chiefs and village heads who were answerable to his administration. For example the Chief of Kuta declared that the inhabitants of his own town had collectively decided to adopt Islam. In order to severe the links to their traditional faith once and for all, he had the old ‘idols’ buried. The Premier personally attended the conversion ceremony at which 1,357 inhabitants of kuta embraced Islam. As with other mass conversions, the occasion was organized as a public festival at which the new converts received small gifts or honorary titles from the Premier’s hand.[10]

In the same report the Premier was reported in 1964 to have boasted to the Muslim World League that within the short space of five months, he had converted a total of 60,000 infidels to Islam, stating further in his words: “I hope when we clean Nigeria we will go further afield in Africa.”[11]  The Premier and scion of the Sokoto Caliphate, was thus able to record the above quoted successes in conversion by the combined means of political patronage and intimidation.

Notable examples were the father of General Theophilus Danjuma, who immediately re-converted to Christianity soon after the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello. Attah of Igala, His Majesty, Ali Obaje, was once a Christian with the name “Christopher”, but his conversion to Islam was made a pre-condition for him to ascend the throne by the Premier after the uneventful death of Attah Ameh Oboni I following his refusal to subject himself to the authority of both the British Colonial administration and Sir Ahmadu Bello. That Ahmadu Bello’s islamization project has remained the official framework of political conversion to Islam in Nigeria till date.

Succeeding Northern Military Heads of State through their respective policies of political exclusion and patronage against Nigerian Christians similarly systematically enforced such conversions to Islam on Christians. This was especially notable among the Igbo who suffered extensive political and economic marginalization after the Nigerian civil war. For instance, pockets of indigenous Igbo Muslims like Alhaji Sulaiman Onyeama and Alhaji Abdulaziz Udeh were in fact influenced into conversion by their quest for economic gains supposedly through political patronages during the hey-days of military regimes, which were successively headed by Northern Muslim Generals.

Prominent among the present Igbo Christian converts to Islam include: Senator Chinedu (Ned) Munir Nwoko from Idumuje-Ugboko in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State; Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, a former Presidential Candidate of the African Renaissance Party (ARP), who hails from Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State; Alhaji Ustaz Christian Isah Okonkwo from Akpugo, Enugu State; and Eze Abdulfatai Emetumah of Umuofor, Imo State, among others.

There is no doubt that it was the quest for quick money that motivated the conversion of these people to Islam. But what is most striking about these conversions from Christianity to Islam is the often sensational and celebrative manner with which Muslims receive every conversion. These converts were generally received with sumptuous gifts and promise of better lives which sooner than later faded away. This is however not the case with conversion from Islam to Christianity which is often done without any form of fanfare or financial inducement but by individual spiritual conviction.

In fact not many people today are aware that quite a number of renowned Pentecostal Pastors in Nigeria were converts from Islam to Christianity. Among these people are Bishop David Oyedepo who was born Hasan Oyedepo, Pastors Tunde Bakare, Matthew Ashimolowo, Yemi Balogun, Paul Jinadu, Apostle Johnson Suleman and Yinka Yusuf among many others.

Ironically, most Christian converts from Islam often end up as intrepid soldiers of Christ against their former religion. To most Muslims, this prominent carriage as vanguards of Christian evangelism by their erstwhile members of Muslim Umma is often considered as a slight to the integrity of Islam in Nigeria. As the American convert from Christianity to Islam Kareem Abdul-Jabber put it:

For most people, converting from one religion to another is a private matter requiring intense scrutiny of one’s conscience. But when you’re famous, it becomes a public spectacle for one and all to debate. And when you convert to an unfamiliar or unpopular religion, it invites criticism of one’s intelligence, patriotism and sanity. I should know. Even though I became a Muslim more than 40 years ago, I’m still defending that choice.[12]

On April 23, 2013, there was a “Breaking News” report by Nigeria’s News Express titled: “Popular Reverend converts to Islam in Kaduna (Nigeria)”; with bold picture of the retired Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, Most Reverend Peter Jatau boldly on the front page. Garba Ahmed reporting the event in the usual journalistic sensational manner wrote:

There is excitement within the Muslim circles in Kaduna, North-West Nigeria, following news of the conversion to Islam by a popular Christian cleric. There was a palpable tension in the State yesterday following speculations that Arch-Bishop Peter Jatau, the former Bishop of Kaduna has converted to Islam in Zaria. News Express can however authoritatively report that it is another Jatau – Rev. Bitrus Jatau – who converted to Islam and not Bishop Peter Jatau. Painting a clear picture of what happened, the deputy Chairman of the Izzalatul Bidi’a Waikamatul Sunnah Zaria Local Government Branch, Imam Khadir, told News Express: ‘There was a mix-up in the name whereby some people thought that Rev. Bitrus Jatau was the former Bishop Peter Jatau. What happened at Alhaji Haruna Danja’s Mosque on Sunday was supposed to be a meeting with Ulamas and confession to be made by Reverend Bitrus Jatau, but the event was disrupted by people who came to witness the confession. Because of the confusion the name Jatau generated, a lot of people who came from far and wide thought that it was Bishop Peter Jatau that was to receive the kallamantu-Shahada at the Haruna Danja’s Mosque situated at Kongo, Zaria on that Sunday night’.[13]

On January 14, 2013, CKN Nigeria online reported in a headline, “Why I Converted to Islam— Igbo Monarch”, which was a reference to conversion to Islam from Christianity by an Igbo traditional ruler from Imo State. According to the news report:

Vice Chairman of the Council of Village Heads in Imo State, Chief Sylvester O. Dimunah, has said he accepted Islam due to the truthful nature of the Religion and the steadfastness of Muslims. Speaking during a visit to Abuja yesterday, the traditional ruler whose name is now Musa Dimunah, said he was particularly influenced by the good nature of the former secretary of the council and executive secretary of Justice Maman Nasir Islamic Centre for Peace and Research, Malam Ibrahim Biobo Nlomije. ‘I did not accept Islam, I only revert (sic) to the religion that our forefathers practice and the universal religion of humanity. I’m impressed by the good nature of Muslims’ love for everybody and hatred for none apart from the way they revere Allah and all the Prophets without discrimination’.[14]

It is instructive to note that this singular conversion received wider sensational media coverage in a number of news media. For the Muslims, it was a big success in their Islamic conversion project for a traditional ruler in the predominantly Christian Igboland to convert to Islam, as in the case of Reverend Bitrus Jatau from the predominantly Christian Middle Belt. But the question again is what motivated this transfer of religious allegiance outside the quest for money?

The same account of Muslim conversion success was equally expressed when six Nigerian Nollywood actresses were reported to have converted to Islam. These were Vivian Metchie now Fareedah, Liz DaSilva now Aishat, Laide Bakare, Moji Olaiya, Lizzy Anjorin now Aishat and Kemi Korede. According to the report the reasons for their conversion was due to scarcity of Christian husbands.[15]

Beyond willful conversions, there have been instances where prominent Igbo political leaders who profess Christianity encourage or rather sponsor the conversion of Igbo Christians to Islam as a means to curry favor from their Fulani political masters. The cases of Governors Orji Uzor Kalu and Rochas Okorocha of Abia and Imo States respectively who claim to be devout Roman Catholic Christians in 2015 are worth mention.

On June 17, 2015, these two Igbo State Governors organized in conjunction with two Northern State Governors— Sokoto State’s Aliyu Wamakko and, Bauchi State’s Isa Yuguda the sensational conversion of nineteen (19) young Christians, mostly Igbo    to Islam at Abuja. The two Northern State Governors were said to have doled out the sum of five million naira each to the converts, with their Southern colleagues respectively donated the sums of two and one million naira. Revealing the identities of the new converts, Nigeria’s popular news media Naijanews wrote:

The new Muslim converts are 17 Igbos, one Yoruba, and a Northern Hausa Christian: Chief Suleiman Nwachukwu, Ibrahim Uchenna Uka, Muhammad Sani Stanley Uzoigwe, Bello Kelvin Nmadu, Habibullah Kosoro Ofolete, Jamilu Osita Agocha, Haruna Chichebem Nwabirika, Abdulazeez Pascal Iroegbulam, Suleiman Ifeanyi Uzoma, Adam Ndukka Nweko, Dawuda Nnaemeka Uzoma, Aliyu Prince Onyekwume, and Musa (Anayo) Adugbaa, all of Imo State. Others are Abdulmalik Bongo Edet (Cross River), Hassan Babalola Shegun (Ondo), Nasir Peter Ndubuisi (Anambra) and Bashir Dulla (Akwa Ibom).[16]

The question is what motivated these young men to convert to Islam if not the quest for quick monetary gain? From the foregoing it is clear that the major impulse for Igbo conversion to Islam is the acquisition of material gains. Indeed, most of these converts later discovered that the expected wealth for their conversion never materialized. It is this material impetus that makes them remain isolated among their people who generally view them as opportunistic Muslims.  

• Basis of Islamic Opposition to Marriage between a Christian Man and Muslim Woman

The fundamental difference between conversion in Christianity and conversion in Islam is that the former is predicated on peaceful means, while the latter is predicated on violent means. In the case of Islam, where violent means is not practicable, subtle political intimidation and monetary enticement are applied.

Thus, by the nature of conversion and counter-conversion between Christianity and Islam, it becomes obvious that inter-faith marriages would act as one of the major points of conflict between the two religions.  Marriage, it is believed, forms one of the effective means of informal conversion to any religion. Inter-faith marriages thus possess the capacity of a breeding ground for mutual inter-religious suspicion and socio-cultural conflict between Christians and Muslims.

The irony of this conflict is that Islam permits a Muslim man to marry a Christian or Jewish woman but forbids a Muslim woman to marry a Christian or Jew. This injunction clearly defines their rigid policy over the issue of interreligious marriage between a Christian and a Muslim. Thus while the Muslim Hausa-Fulani see the marriage of any Muslim woman to a Christian as haram (sin), they go on to rely on Sura (Chapter) 5 verse 5 of the Quran to encourage their men to many Christian women. The Sura states:

Lawful to you are the free believing woman and the free women from among those who were given the Book before you, provided that you give them their dowries and live in honour with them, neither committing fornication nor taking them as mistresses.[17]

Although the Quran is silent on whether a Muslim should allow his daughter to be married to a Christian, the fact that the same Sura describes the Jews and Christians in verse 51 as enemies clearly implies that a Muslim is not permitted to allow his daughter marry either a Christian or a Jew.

 Permitting such therefore would mean contravening the injunctions of the Qur’an for not only befriending one’s enemies but bringing them as part of one’s household as one’s in-law is definitely a member of his family. Thus the Quran puts it: “Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends and protectors. They are friends and protectors of one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship and supports them shall become one of their number.”[18]

The reason why the Muslim will encourage the marriage of a Christian woman and opposes the marriage of his daughter to a Christian is not unconnected with their pattern of family succession, which implies that the religion of the father is the religion of the children, who are his de facto inheritors. It does not therefore matter if their mother is a Christian or Jew?

For instance, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar married his first wife from Ilesha a Miss Titilayo Albert in 1971 and converted her to Islam, while he ostracized his first daughter for more than ten years for marrying a Christian. Similarly, General Ibrahim Babangida married Rosemary Ndidiamaka Okogwu a Christian from Asaba Delta State and converted her to Islam, while refusing his daughters to marry Christians.

However, the patterns of reaction to both interreligious conversion and marriages differ markedly among the different Nigerian ethno-religious groups. These differing patterns are in effect inextricably bound to the equally differing cultural, historical and religious backgrounds of the people.

Taking the issue in the context of the broader geo-political spectrum of the Nigerian nation, one could clearly identify three major patterns of approach and reaction. These include the dominant Muslim Hausa-Fulani, including the associated groups of the North, the mixed Christian-Yoruba of the West, and the dominant Christian Igbo and associated groups of the East. Each of these three groups provides a unique pattern of reaction which draws its strength from their respective subsisting cultural and historical backgrounds

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[1] Evidence of Ikechukwu Ugwu, 38 years, Vulcanizer, Umuezeokoro-Amaebo, Ibagwa-Aka, December, 30, 2015

[2] The Quran Beirut-Lebanon: Dar Al-Chura, 1980

[3] The Quran Beirut-Lebanon: Dar Al-Chura, 1980

[4] Interview with Ogbuagu Major General Ike Nwachukwu, Gregory University, Uturu, October 29, 2016

[5] Interview with Ogbuagu Major General Ike Nwachukwu, October 29, 2016

[6] Hector-Roosevelt Udunna Ukegbu, “Biafran War Hero Col. Ihenacho Passes Away” West African Pilot August 11, 2020, https://www.westafricanpilotnews.com/2020/08/11/biafran-war-hero-col-ihenacho-passes-away/

[7] Interview with Prof Ikechukwu I. Madubuihe, Gregory University, Uturu, October 30, 2016

[8] Interview with Ogbuagu Major General Ike Nwachukwu, October 29, 2016

[9] Aina Tolupe and Nathan Nathaniel “Why Do Muslim/Christian Convert” Nigeria Films.Com, 2015, 1 www.nigeriafilms.com/news/27722/7/why-do-muslimchristian-convert-religion

[10] Carefronting, “Religious and Ethnic Supremacy”, www.carefronting.org/religious-and-ethnic-supremacy, 2015, 8

[11] Carefronting, “Religious and Ethnic Supremacy”, 8

[12] Kareem, Abdul-Jabber, “Why I Converted to Islam”, Aljazeera America, March 29, 2015 www.america.aljazeera.com/opinions.2015/3/why-i-converted-to-islam.html

[13] Garba Ahmed, “Breaking News: Popular Reverend Converts to Islam  in Kaduna (Nigeria)”, News Express, April 23, 2013, 1

[14] CNK Nigeria, “Why I Converted to Islam— Igbo Monarch”, Monday January 14, 2013 www.cknnigeria.com/2013/01/why-i-converted-to-islam.html

[15] Naija.com, “Governors Shower Cash on Muslim Converts in Abuja” 2015 http//www.naija.com/52165.html/june-18-2015-22:30

[16] Naija.com, “Governors Shower Cash on Muslim Converts in Abuja” 2015 http//www.naija.com/52165.html/june-18-2015-22:30

[17] The Quran Beirut-Lebanon: Dar Al-Chura, 1980, 74

[18] The Quran Beirut-Lebanon: Dar Al-Chura, 1980, 80