Literature

Shehu Sani?s recipe for peaceful co-existence

To say the security situation in Nigeria has reached an alarming rate is to understate the obvious. For, unlike the recent past when only some parts of the country were identified with incessant crises, everywhere across the country today is either in crisis or sitting on a time bomb that might soon explode. In fact, sensitive crisis-prone issues are being toyed with on daily basis by both government and individuals without regard to the fact that lives and property are being lost to preventable and senseless violence. While the causes of the widespread bloodshed could be traced to many factors, the major root-causes are, ironically, religion, politics and ethnicity, which are supposed to be unifying factors. Specific examples are the recent post-election violence that engulfed most parts of the Northern part of the country, the Boko Haram saga, which has claimed many lives and the Plateau State ethno-religious crisis which has refused to go away. Only recently there were cases of bomb blasts and attacks on some villages, claiming innocent lives, including women and children.

This is no doubt a cause for concern. It is no wonder, therefore, that well-meaning Nigerians have expressed their concern. Some have even gone a step further to produce books that would sensitise the public on the need for peaceful co-existence irrespective of ethnic, political or religious differences. One of such concerned Nigerians is Comrade Shehu Sani, the renowned human rights activist and writer. In the past few years the president of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria has produced close to twenty books dealing with this contentious subject-matter. He has written and published works on this theme in all the genres of literature; poetry, prose, drama and essay. The latest addition to his relentless fight against violent crisis in Nigeria is a children?s book titled The Children of Jos.

The work, which is aimed at educating children on the issues of peace and is distributed free to children in Jos, is not the usual run of children?s book where acquisition of language skill is the main focus. As the author himself pointed out in the introductory part of the book, the motivation for writing the book is to inculcate in the children the ethics of peace building and good neighbourliness, serving as their brothers? keepers and vanguards of peace.

To this effect, the 120-page book is roughly divided into seven sections. The preliminary pages comprise Introduction, Motivation, What is Peace? Why Do We Need Peace? Who Can Promote Peace? When there is No Peace? Who are Those That Hate Peace? The topics span from page i to vii. They are treated briefly (each occupying just a page) in essay form and in simple language that could be easily comprehended by children of school age. The introductory pages are obviously meant to serve two purposes ? to serve as a teacher?s guide and to introduce the child to the aims and objectives of the reading exercise.

The main body of the book consists of quotations on peace from famous personalities like Thomas Jefferson, coloured illustrations on effects of violent crisis on adults and children and quotations from scriptures; the Bible, the Qur?an and Hadith. While each of the quotes by famous figures and the nearly full-page illustration (with caption) occupy every left-side page, each quotation from scripture, which actually form the main body of the work, takes the right-side (equally coloured) page. This segment covers page 1 to 94.

From 95 to 118, the book features photographs of historical personalities like Mahatma Ghandi on the left-side page and their statements on the left-side page. Then the remaining two pages (119 to 120) feature the letter of Prophet Muhammad, S.A.W, to King Negus of Ethiopia and quotation from Qur?an chapter 29 verse 46, where Allah says to the people of the book, Christians and Jews, that ?Our God and your God is one and it is to Him we bow in Islam?.

Among the outstanding quotes from the scripture are:

Let the peace of

Christ rule

in your heart

(Colossian 3;15).

Faith is a

restraint against
all violence,

Let no mu?min

commit violence

(Hadith)

These are on page 6 and 8, respectively.

Outstanding quotes from historic figures include ?A person is a person because he recognises others as persons? by Desmond Tutu, page 114; ?We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom? by Wight D. Eisenhower, page 63; and ?You can?t shake hands with clenched fist? by Indira Gandhi, page 53.

The strength of this book lies not just in its content, which fulfils all the requirement of children?s literature, but its topical nature. This, like the author?s other books, has come at the right time when all hands should be on deck to reverse the dangerous trend that is threatening to wipe out the entire nation. The target of the book is also quite timely because children, as they say, are the leaders of tomorrow. Catching them young will, therefore, go a long way in ensuring a peaceful future. The book is a must-read, especially as a supplementary study material on for pupils and students. Even adults can gain from the rich harvest of this masterpiece.

Reviewed by Sumaila Umaisha.

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Literature