Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

From: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of moses <meoc...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Friday, April 14, 2017 at 3:26 PM
To: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

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Abdul Salau

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Apr 14, 2017, 4:43:07 PM4/14/17

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SEXUAL REPRESSION AND EXTREMISM IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A PROVOCATION

I have to confess that I did not read this subtitle: a provocation I will not have commented on this write up if I had seen this. These are the specific remarks requested Olayinka Agbetuyi below.

Assertion # 1

"Muslim-majority Northern Nigeria houses a sexual economy in which access to sex and the female body, whether mediated by marriage or concubinage, is almost exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men."

The reason I found this assertion troubling is because of the focus on sex and the female body. If find this to be debasement of the complementary relationships that exists between male and female within African culture. The notion of sexual economy undermines our culture and makes marriage and relationships to be transactional between men and women. These are concepts that are borrowed from Euro-American scholarship which is undermining our contemporary scholarship. Marriage or relationship with women is not exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men. What is marriage in African culture must be understood; marriage is a cultural obligation for all African people regardless of their religion and location on the African continent.

Marriage in African culture is a cultural obligation as a result of this it is an activity which involves two families. Because families have interests in their own immortality they assist young men and women financially and morally so that families can have future; children born into these marriages become future members of the family. Schooling from primary to the university level involves many years of preparation males and females who not involved in formal schooling marry earlier and have children.

Marriage is between families even young, uneducated, and unemployed Muslim youths are married even sometimes to more than one woman. That is the reason why recently the emir of Kano advised; poor men should not marry more than one wife because they end up having more children that they cannot take care of. In most African cultures men and women are supported to be married because it is considered a foundation for building a better life.

I am offended by the notions of making women to be sexual objects for men by preoccupation with the notions of female bodies. One desires a woman for marriage to create a family which is a cultural obligation for African people men or women regardless of their religion. A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man who will not marry her because she is regarded as a slave; it is a Euro- American concept which you used uncritically.

Assertion # 2

"The region, moreover, is home to a culture of sexual repression in which the expression and pursuit of desire is constrained by status and financial resources. The result is that sexual frustration coexists with and is exacerbated by the inability of young, uneducated and thus unemployable Muslim youth to access sexual resources and other benefits of heterosexual relationships. Even Western educated youths lacking viable footholds in Nigeria's secular economy have found themselves unable to fulfill this cardinal Northern Nigerian ritual of masculine accomplishment."

Northern Nigeria is the home of African people including different religious groups; with healthy and unhealthy culture of sexual expressions this acknowledgement humanizes the people of Northern Nigeria. Everywhere in the world expression and pursuit of desire of marriages and relationships are constrained by status and access to financial resources. It is nothing peculiar to the youth of Northern Nigeria regardless of their professed religious affiliation. The poor may not marry daughters or sons of the rich but they marry each other. Culture of sexual repression is a feature of religious communities; this should be something which humanizes Muslims youth in Northern Nigeria with religious groups worldwide. The writer needs to interrogate notions of culture of sexual repression, uneducated, western educated and masculine accomplishment; these concepts are subjective concepts and means different things to different people. “Western education” in the enlightened African literature is considered brainwashing. The writer confuses the notion of schooling with education. Concepts need clarifications to make the readers. May be your target audience may be different Africa USA DIALAGUE.

Assertion # 3

"This rejection of Nigerian secular society and the concomitant allure of a terrestrial caliphate or an extraterrestrial paradise intensified when the indoctrinated Muslim youth sees Western educated coreligionists and Christians engage in both licit and illicit sexual relationships with women. This is one of the silent but rarely acknowledged drivers of youth vulnerability to extremist indoctrination in Northern Nigeria. This frustration catalyzes a jealous rage directed at those who are perceived to have monopolized the sexual and marital resources that are the markers of healthy Muslim masculinity in this society."

The rationalizations and ideological posturing is most obvious in the paragraph cited above. ‘The indoctrinated Muslim youth rejection of Nigerian secular society and the concomitant allure of a terrestrial caliphate or an extraterrestrial paradise is intensified when they see other Muslims and Christians express themselves within licit and illicit sexual relations’. This essentialization of Muslim youth by describing them by their so called ‘essential features’ culture of sexual repression, uneducated, western educated, masculine accomplishment, allure of terrestrial caliphate, and extraterrestrial paradise based on the writer’s ideological partisanship is what obscures reality and frames the truth from the writer’s ideological framework. The real drivers of youth vulnerability to extremist indoctrination in Northern Nigeria may not be known, because you did not satisfactorily argue your point of view.

The term Muslim- majority of the Northern Nigeria used by the writer; is a concept to delineate majority-minority; and may be it makes sense in the context of United States; however, it is problematic in Nigeria because people don’t see themselves in these terms. In the American context this concept is used to rationalize means people defined as "majority" can monopolize power against minorities. The concept is used to justify majority oppression and abuse of politically dominated minorities. Northern Nigeria was a concept developed during colonial era.

However, in the contexts of our time there are dynamic events, like migration, diversity of people, and complexity which makes the concept is obsolete. Today Northern Nigeria it is area that contains more diverse people, and nineteen states of Nigeria, people from Africa, and different parts of the world. Northern Nigeria is a geographic area where many experts make assertions and declarations which should be challenged.

Knowledge is the domain of everybody who chooses to exercise their minds, not only self-appointed knowledge producer. Together each one contributing to knowledge production we can understand reality better. The truth is that we cannot allow self-appointed knowledge producers and experts to monopolize knowledge production. We make these critical inputs to strengthen debate and critical analyses for intellectual ameliorations; and to take responsibilities for active knowledge production rather than being passive consumers of knowledge production. The reactions of Ibrahim Abdullahi to your claim that he called ‘himself is a "minority" he denies this view violently, this supports my point of view; these concepts are not useful for discussing political issues in Nigeria, it is used exclusively for neo-colonial project of dividing our culturally united people.

I don’t know whether my ‘younger brother is a good friend of yours or not, and I was not aware he once inexplicably advised you to stop writing on political and cultural issues in Nigeria’. I don’t understand your reason for bringing this up. I have my own views and my brother has his own views, I am responsible for my own views.

On my part I sent you private comments when I agreed with your point of view and kept quiet when I disagreed with your point of view. Yes your views do not align with mine this time; I hope these honest comments have made my position clear to you. My current responses have been made to deal with these on a rational and not on emotional basis; all my efforts have been refocused to dealing with substantive issues which you raised in your writing. An atavistic African sense of morality charges us to defend against African people any alienating influences.

Olayinka Agbetuyi

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Apr 14, 2017, 4:53:22 PM4/14/17

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Moses

Jibrins contribution in the posted article actually serves as the springboard for your response.

But lets leave this storm in a teacup as it is. The moderator may be mixing up personalities involved. The moderator is human...

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>

Date: 14/04/2017 21:27 (GMT+00:00)

To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

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Okey Iheduru

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Apr 14, 2017, 5:44:34 PM4/14/17

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Dear Prof. Falola:

First, we drove away non-Africans from the USAfrica Dialogue forum. Next, Sierra Leoneans and Ghanaians took flight, followed by Nigerians who crave for more civility. Now, more Nigerians are complaining that they are finding the Forum too toxic for active engagement, just as many who have remained "on the sidelines" have long moved/are moving on to newer and intellectually more refreshing/nourishing media. Would the Endowed Abusers-in-Residence at USAfrica Dialogue forum be putting out the lights?

I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who said that only fools write for for free. If folks will voluntarily forego food on their tables to engage with this forum, the least we can all do is to insist on illuminating civil discourse, and not condone incivility or cut anyone slack for their past accomplishments when they contribute little and/or even relish in squelching the conversation.

It would be worth reflecting on these historical snippets: Years ago, IBM was mass-producing "Selectric Brother Type-Writers" while Apple and Microsoft were making PCs. Look at where and what we are today! USAfrica Dialogue forum (outliving its usefulness?) vs. new social media? And, as a historian, you remember Elder Dempster Lines as the preferred passenger service vehicle on the River Niger?

Listen to the humming bird; it might be saying something interesting :).

Regards,

Okey

Peace as always!

Ibrahim Abdullah

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Apr 14, 2017, 6:03:33 PM4/14/17

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Abdul:

Just a footnote.

There is a politics inherent in how we frame our problematic: the categories we deploy and how we tease the narrative with respect to the subject.

Is there any notion of Nigeria in the minds of those who claim to be Boko Haram adherents? Do they think in so-called northern terms or are they driven the local speaks: arewa and kasar Hausa and jihadist notions of "justice"?

If we divorce Boko Haram from it's lineage--from MSS to Maitestine to Bulunkutu---do we then make it Kanuri-specific or still talk of northern Nigeria or Arewa?

I would imagine that these questions are central in our understanding of the phenomenon. The alleged sexual repression equally applies to Senegal and Mali sans war. If they are a constant in quotidian existence what has changed and how have these changes shaped the war and it's continuation?

Sent from my iPhone

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Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Apr 14, 2017, 6:04:35 PM4/14/17

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Abdul, thanks for your honesty in admitting that you did't see the word "provocation" in the title. This is a provocation, a think piece. I was expecting a vigorous discussion on it. You've mixed up many things in your clarifying post. It was you, not your brother who advised me to stop writing on political, controversial, and divisive issues, but that's just an aside. Also, I never said Ibrahim calls himself a minority. Out of the blue he accused me of harboring an ethnic agenda and of waving a minority flag--whatever that means. He said he knew where I was coming from. Well, since I had not advanced any ethnic or minority/majority script, I had to remind him that in fact he is also a minority in the Nigerian identity system that was his frame of reference in calling me a minority. I was merely inverting his own invocation of "minority."

1. I used Muslim majority because that is the term that is used in scholarly discourse to describe societies that have a Muslim demographic majority. The term Muslim majority countries or region is commonplace and is simply a designator, nothing more. Northern Nigeria is a Muslim-majority region of Nigeria, factually and demographically speaking.

2. I used the term concubinage simply to refer to the culture in Northern Nigeria of married women having mistresses that they provide for. Boko Haram also permits certain top members to also have concubines or sex slaves, who are mostly captive women.

I hope this clarifies some of the points you raised.

Toyin Falola

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Apr 14, 2017, 6:16:56 PM4/14/17

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Abdul and Moses:

The line below calls for a lengthy discussion—the linkage between access to sex and the female body and older, mostly Western educated, well off men.

This political economy issue, with serious policy implications, is totally new to me. Indeed, I am hearing about it for the first time. Can this happen in a predominantly agrarian economy?

Whenever I pose a question, it is just because I don’t have an answer and I am also profoundly confused. If this thesis were true, it would lead society to a permanent state of violence.

"Muslim-majority Northern Nigeria houses a sexual economy in which access to sex and the female body, whether mediated by marriage or concubinage, is almost exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men."

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

From: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of moses <meoc...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>

Date: Friday, April 14, 2017 at 4:49 PM
To: dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

Abdul, thanks for your honesty in admitting that you did't see the word "provocation" in the title. This is a provocation, a think piece. I was expecting a vigorous discussion on it. You've mixed up many things in your clarifying post. It was you, not your brother who advised me to stop writing on political, controversial, and divisive issues, but that's just an aside. Also, I never said Ibrahim calls himself a minority. Out of the blue he accused me of harboring an ethnic agenda and of waving a minority flag--whatever that means. He said he knew where I was coming from. Well, since I had not advanced any ethnic or minority/majority script, I had to remind him that in fact he is also a minority in the Nigerian identity system that was his frame of reference in calling me a minority. I was merely inverting his own invocation of "minority."

1. I used Muslim majority because that is the term that is used in scholarly discourse to describe societies that have a Muslim demographic majority. The term Muslim majority countries or region is commonplace and is simply a designator, nothing more. Northern Nigeria is a Muslim-majority region of Nigeria, factually and demographically speaking.

2. I used the term concubinage simply to refer to the culture in Northern Nigeria of married women having mistresses that they provide for. Boko Haram also permits certain top members to also have concubines or sex slaves, who are mostly captive women.

I hope this clarifies some of the points you raised.

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 3:39 PM, Abdul Salau <salau...@gmail.com> wrote:

SEXUAL REPRESSION AND EXTREMISM IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A PROVOCATION

I have to confess that I did not read this subtitle: a provocation I will not have commented on this write up if I had seen this.   These are the specific remarks requested Olayinka Agbetuyi below.

Assertion # 1

"Muslim-majority Northern Nigeria houses a sexual economy in which access to sex and the female body, whether mediated by marriage or concubinage, is almost exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men."

The reason I found this assertion troubling is because of the focus on sex and the female body. If find this to be debasement of the complementary relationships that exists between male and female within African culture. The notion of sexual economy undermines our culture and makes marriage and relationships to be transactional between men and women. These are concepts that are borrowed from Euro-American scholarship which is undermining our contemporary scholarship. Marriage or relationship with women is not exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men. What is marriage in African culture must be understood; marriage is a cultural obligation for all African people regardless of their religion and location on the African continent.

Marriage in African culture is a cultural obligation as a result of this it is an activity which involves two families. Because families have interests in their own immortality they assist young men and women financially and morally so that families can have future; children born into these marriages become future members of the family. Schooling from primary to the university level involves many years of preparation males and females who not involved in formal schooling marry earlier and have children.

Marriage is between families even young, uneducated, and unemployed Muslim youths are married even sometimes to more than one woman. That is the reason why recently the emir of Kano advised; poor men should not marry more than one wife because they end up having more children that they cannot take care of. In most African cultures men and women are supported to be married because it is considered a foundation for building a better life.

I am offended by the notions of making women to be sexual objects for men by preoccupation with the notions of female bodies. One desires a woman for marriage to create a family which is a cultural obligation for African people men or women regardless of their religion. A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man who will not marry her because she is regarded as a slave; it is a Euro- American concept which you used uncritically.

Assertion # 2

"The region, moreover, is home to a culture of sexual repression in which the expression and pursuit of desire is constrained by status and financial resources. The result is that sexual frustration coexists with and is exacerbated by the inability of young, uneducated and thus unemployable Muslim youth to access sexual resources and other benefits of heterosexual relationships. Even Western educated youths lacking viable footholds in Nigeria's secular economy have found themselves unable to fulfill this cardinal Northern Nigerian ritual of masculine accomplishment."

Northern Nigeria is the home of African people including different religious groups; with healthy and unhealthy culture of sexual expressions this acknowledgement humanizes the people of Northern Nigeria. Everywhere in the world expression and pursuit of desire of marriages and relationships are constrained by status and access to financial resources. It is nothing peculiar to the youth of Northern Nigeria regardless of their professed religious affiliation. The poor may not marry daughters or sons of the rich but they marry each other. Culture of sexual repression is a feature of religious communities; this should be something which humanizes Muslims youth in Northern Nigeria with religious groups worldwide. The writer needs to interrogate notions of culture of sexual repression,uneducated, western educated and masculine accomplishment; these concepts are subjective concepts and means different things to different people. “Western education” in the enlightened African literature is considered brainwashing. The writer confuses the notion of schooling with education. Concepts need clarifications to make the readers. May be your target audience may be different Africa USA DIALAGUE.

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Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Apr 14, 2017, 9:10:23 PM4/14/17

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Professor Falola,

That's what you may call an ecology of sexual envy. Just as material envy is sometimes invoked to explain conflict between some immigrants and their host communities. But you're right that it needs to be explained further, substantiated, and developed.

On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 5:16 PM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Abdul and Moses:

The line below calls for a lengthy discussion—the linkage between access to sex and the female body and older, mostly Western educated, well off men.

This political economy issue, with serious policy implications, is totally new to me. Indeed, I am hearing about it for the first time. Can this happen in a predominantly agrarian economy?

Whenever I pose a question, it is just because I don’t have an answer and I am also profoundly confused. If this thesis were true, it would lead society to a permanent state of violence.

"Muslim-majority Northern Nigeria houses a sexual economy in which access to sex and the female body, whether mediated by marriage or concubinage, is almost exclusively reserved for older, mostly Western educated, well off men."

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/

http://www.toyinfalola.com

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa

http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue

Olayinka Agbetuyi

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Apr 14, 2017, 9:12:40 PM4/14/17

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Thank you Abdul, Moses, the moderator and Ibrahim for your responses:

When I decided to time out for my dinner after Abdul's response to my question before engaging these problematics it was because I knew a guerrila response would not suffice in these intellectual problematics.

Disclaimer:

Moses is my friend and I do not disown my friends just because they are pilloried but would rather follow them to the gallows just as Adekunle Fajuyi did to his friend and C in C Ironsi. ( He -Moses-still owes me that pounded yam remember, Ill sneak in the dead of night to claim my pound of flesh ( sorry pound of pounded yam.)

Having said that when it comes to matters of public discourse sometimes we just have to give it straight to bosom buddies. And that sums up my bias in the following.

First let me thank Abdul for the robust response to my query. I can now appreciate why he gave his cryptic response since I dont belong to facebook.

Moses needs no apologias for his minority ideological position since this has been the backdrop to his scholarship about Nigeria to date for which he has received plaudits. As such he need not be defensive about this position since the excerpts reveal evidence of this. Intellectuals have the freedom to take whatever intellectual position that suits them without being subject to attacks.

Abdul cannot maintain in one breath that majority/minority discourse is not extant in Northern Nigeria politics (we know it is) and at the same time accuse Moses of pandering to this discourse.

One just has to show by superior arguments why a position is indefensible as Abdul has tried to show. Two ideologies are subsumed in Moses argument: religious and psychoanalytic. The religious is the predictable war between the two dominant monotheisms: Islam and Christianity.

In view of the fact that my first graduate scholarship is in the history of sexuality and psychoanalysis I can understand Moses' engagement and application of the theory of sexuality to northern Nigeria. There is nothing wrong with this engagement per se. At the same time I can understand Abduls objection to wholesale application of this theory to the African environment.

The cogent questions for me are: Biologically and psychosomatically do northern Nigerians function differently from the rest of humankind? Do northern Nigerians youths not suffer from repression of libidinal impulses just like the rest of human kind that could be exploited by others for whatever purpose?

A more cogent question directed to Moses by Abdul should have been that do northern religious and ethnic minorities not suffet the same fate?

I certainly know from the experience of growing up in the south west.that south westerners experience the same impulses which are promptly exploited by the pentecostals who channel such energies into repressed and sublimated energies for worship. We have found examples of youths in which sublimation was not successful having carnal knowledge at the back pews of the chapel!

I must confess that I faced some of the cynicisms exhibited by Abdul here from my supervisor when trying to turn my thesis in so its normal to face queries of how you are so sure of making the links between psychosomatic experience and outward acts. But that doesnt mean such attempts are forbidden and must be ridiculed.

Yes Abdul is right that such cynicism forms the site of the contestation of the production of knowledge.

However repressed libinal impulses universally incontrovertibly affect youthful behaviour and is tapped into universally in recruiting adolescents into cannon fodders from the time of Alexander the Great to the first and second world wars, the Nigerian Civil War and now the Boko Haram insurgency.

There may be inaccuracies in Moses" thesis regarding family life revolving around sex and deprivation except for the older Western educated elite but I lived in the North and I know they dont live puritannical existence there

Having lived precisely in the Boko Haram region myself (Bauchi/Maiduguri axis) I can confirm that the religious uprisimgs dating back to the Maitatsine uprisings when I was there may not be representative of all of the North in every material particulars.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Abdul Salau <salau...@gmail.com>

Date: 14/04/2017 21:43 (GMT+00:00)

To: toyin <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sexual Repression and Extremism in Northern Nigeria

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Ibrahim Abdullah

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Apr 14, 2017, 9:36:55 PM4/14/17

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E se poh!

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Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Apr 14, 2017, 10:06:15 PM4/14/17

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Probably my last word on this. Three points in response to Yinka.

1. I do not go into these inquiries with any ideological positions on my mind whether it's a religious or ethnic script. Some Hausa-Fulani Muslims agree with me and say that I may be on to something. And some Hausa Muslim scholars are beginning to dig into Boko Haram's own ideological and theological self-representations to unearth the group's positions that illuminate its elaborate investment in sexual enslavement. I'm not the only one pushing this issue, so the minority canard is at best distracting. But all writings are ultimately autobiographical, so inevitably as with everybody, my socializations may seep into my positions subconsciously. Everyone's perspective is shaped by their experiences whether consciously or subconsciously.

2. I completely reject the condescending tone of the minority invocation, as well as its hegemonic undertones. First of all, the concept of minority is a powerful hegemonic creation of majority political and ethnic formations. Naturally, those that this narrative consigns to "minority" status appropriate it as a source of their own mobilization and identity. And then the same majority discusive formation becomes suspicious of the minority discourse it created through its Othering politics. It is a hegemonic cycle that I reject.

If a scholar from an ethnic majority group (to stick with the Nigerian parlance that was used to introduce this extraneous idea into this conversation) is never accused or suspected of writing or thinking from a majority ideological position or script, a scholar from a minority ethnic constituency should NOT be accused of it. It is a strategy of devaluation, dismissal, and blackmail. Let's examine ideas and arguments purely on their own merits and stop speculating and imputing motives and ideologies to people. So, again, this canard of minority ideological position is a distraction. I don't read a piece of writing from a scholar and immediately try to pigeon-hole them into a majoritarian or minority ideological discourse. I expect the same courtesy. If I want to make an ideological statement, I will do so boldly using the language of polemics. And I will declare it as such.

2. Again, Boko Haram and ISIS have built a sexual economy of Jihad that is undergirded by a theological enterprise of justifying and rationalizing of sexual slavery of "infidel" captive girls. This is peculiar in our world to Jihadi-Salafist groups. Perhaps other examples of religious warfare from the past may reveal similar constructions, but secular warfare does not exhibit this characteristic of a developed ideology of sexual entitlement and sexual slavery.

Olayinka Agbetuyi

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Apr 14, 2017, 10:34:34 PM4/14/17

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Everything you say here about Boko Haram is correct to the best of my knowledge. There in may lie your scholarly position: how this old wine in new skein is being deployed by Boko Haram and Iagree with those you cited that it would be a welcome refreshing scholarly position which would be useful to policy formulators on how to tackle specifically the Boko Haram menace.

You may have been inadvertently writing from a minority politics perspective. It is for others to analyze what they found implicit and explicit in your writings. To varying extents major scholars show these propensities. All Im saying is they need not be grounds for castigation and personal attacks. We wont always agree on everything but we should at least respect each others views even when they are imperfect.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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Date: 15/04/2017 03:06 (GMT+00:00)

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Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Apr 15, 2017, 11:23:26 AM4/15/17

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Yinka, my point is that ALL writings are ultimately autobiographical, shaped by socialization, upbringing, and ways of seeing, including yours, including that of those who claim dishonestly to have transcended ethnic and other bounded identities--identities that are not inherently bad but can be deployed either positively or negatively. Saying that we all leave a piece of ourselves in our writings is really an obvious point that only the most delusional scholar would deny, so it is irrelevant to invoke it. My other point, which you did not respond to, is that we never accuse scholars from majority ethnic groups of "inadvertently writing from a majority politics perspective." Why? We seem to reserve such non sequiturs and distracting and devaluing techniques for scholars who have been interpellated into a so-called minority identity. That should tell you that it is an unscholarly strategy of deflection, a subconscious item of majoritarian intellectual hegemony, and sometimes the product of a misguided and self-contradictory Marxist leaning. How can you be a Marxist and privilege or invoke the lexicon and categories of ethnicity anyway?

Anyway, I just want people to be aware of the dangers of throwing out such irrelevant debate-killing labels instead of focusing on the points raised. Let's focus on the message and not speculate on the motive or ideological leaning of the messenger.

Here's a very elaborate exploration of Boko Haram's theological justification of its sexual enslavement of "infidel" women, its vast architecture of sexual entitlement. It is written by Abdulbasit Kassim, a Hausa-Fulani Muslim and a learned scholar of Islam, and a PhD student. Hopefully, now that this is coming from an ethnic majority scholar and Hausa Muslim, we can discuss the issue without hiding behind the distraction of minority ethnic agenda. No more avoidance or escapism. This is taken from Abdulbasit's Facebook Page.

"In his keynote address which I came across on the wall of my beloved mentor and brother Adamu Tilde, Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi depicted a poignant dissection of the multifarious gender-specific issues that are now manifest as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency. Notwithstanding his excellent statistical breakdown of the problem, Emir Sanusi's keynote address evaded the burden of history and theology and there is a reason for this evasion. Revisiting how the burden of history and theology played a major role in Boko Haram's legitimation of sexual slavery will broach some thorny and ethical issues of the conduct of Northern Nigeria's aristocratic suzerainty which is the genealogy that produced Emir Sanusi.

Indeed, the sexual slavery of Boko Haram has a historical precedent and Boko Haram leaders are nimble enough to claim that their action is a continuation of an extant praxis whose roots can be traced back to the pre-colonial Islamic caliphate and emirates in Northern Nigeria as well as the praxis during the era of Prophet Muhammad. So Shekau and his ilk asked: "Why the outrage over the Chibok girls? What exactly have we done that is new to the people of this region?" The Chibok kidnapping is often presented by scholars and pundits as an event that evolved out of a vacuous space. This rendition is far from the reality and I will explain my point by making reference to Boko Haram leaders.

In the aftermath of Post-World War 1, the institution of slavery in Islam was gradually suppressed and outlawed. Several Muslim-majority countries promulgated laws that abolished slavery starting with Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 1962, Oman in 1970, to the last country to abolish slavery in the world, Mauritania in 1981 and 2007. Although the institution of slavery in Islam was sealed for further debates from the 20th century when several Muslim-majority countries outlawed slavery, de Facto forms of slavery continue to exist in Mauritania and neighboring countries in the region such as Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan amidst criticism from anti-slavery organizations.

The debates on slavery in Islam was re-opened by Abubakar Shekau in the aftermath of the Chibok kidnapping. After the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls began to trend on twitter, religious leaders in Nigeria and the Arab world, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, and the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, `Abd al-`Aziz Al al-Sheikh, condemned the kidnapping of the girls. The condemnation of slavery was also the 12th issue addressed in the "Open Letter to Baghdadi". Notwithstanding the international outrage against Boko Haram, the Islamic State and theologians who share the group’s ideology lauded Boko Haram for the kidnapping of the girls. In its official English magazine Dabiq issues 4 and 5 (October and December 2014), the Islamic State cited the kidnapping of the Chibok girls as a justification for its own sexual enslavement of Yazidi women in Iraq.

In a Q&A session posted on JustPaste, Musa Cerantonio, an Australian convert who supports the Islamic State, also cited Imam Shinqiti Adwa' al-Bayan Volume 3/387 as a theological justification to support Boko Haram’s action. Abu Malik Shaybah al-Hamad, the Tunisia-based Anṣār al-Sharī`a member, who facilitated the union between Boko Haram and the Islamic State also cited the kidnapping of the Chibok girls as the major event "that strengthened his belief that Boko Haram is indeed a genuine jihadi group based on the group’s revival of the Sunna of taking unbelievers as captives”.

In his piece "Time to Debate the Texts Used by Extremists", Hassan Hassan argued that ISIS did not bother to present a religious justification for the immolation of the Turkish soldiers because Muslim clergy failed to respond adequately to the religious justification they provided when Muath al-Kasasbeh was burnt alive. The same case can be applied to Boko Haram. The reason Boko Haram sexual slavery persisted before and after the Chibok kidnapping rest on the fact that the logic behind the group's legitimation of slavery through history and theology was hardly refuted and the reason for this lies in the burden of history and theology.

On March 26, 2014, less than a month to the Chibok kidnapping, Abubakar Shekau delivered a video where he hinted on the group's mission to enslave women and girls. In the video where he also claimed responsibility for the killing of al-Albani, Shekau said: "By Allah, you should hear this again, western education is forbidden. University is forbidden. You should all abandon the university. I totally detest the university. Bastards! You should leave the university. Western education is forbidden. Girls! You should all go back to your various houses. Enslaving the unbelievers’ women is permissible. In the future, we will capture the women and sell them in the market.”

Shekau's hint corroborated with the hint that Muhammad Yusuf gave during a lecture he delivered on September 9, 2008, 6 years before Chibok kidnapping. In the lecture, Yusuf said "If you are fighting jihād, then anyone you see is an enemy of Allah. The same way you detest the sight of a beast, that is the same way you should detest the sight of their women. However, if you stay back and admire their women, then you should be prepared for a disaster. I hope it is understood. How will you prepare to fight and admire their women at the same time? Even if they are gathered together, they should be viewed as beasts. They are property and booty."

So, it never really came as a surprise for those who are studying Boko Haram closely when Shekau announced his kidnapping of the girls in his video titled "Message to the Umma" delivered on May 6, 2014, where he said: "Yes, we will capture slaves. Who told you there are no slaves in Islam? What are human rights? Bastard liars! The One who created His slaves is the One who does not know his rights? Any female who has attained the age of 12, I will marry her off. Any girl who has attained the age of 9, I will marry her off, the same way they married the Mother of the Believers, the daughter of Abū Bakr, `A’isha, to the Prophet Muhammad at the age of 9."

Professor Moses Ochonu discussed how sexual repression fuels youth extremism and recruitment into Boko Haram. Although I don't totally agree with Prof's provocation, I concur with him that the ideologues of the group often fetishize the kidnapping of "female captive concubines that could be sexually enslaved lawfully in the warped doctrine of the sect".

So how did Boko Haram leaders legitimized slavery?

In his May 6, 2014, video Shekau said: "O people! You should know that there is slavery in Islam. Allah’s Messenger captured slaves. In the Battle of Badr, Allah’s Messenger captured Naḍr b. al-Ḥārith and `Uqba b. Abū Mu`ayṭ as slaves, and he ordered that they should be killed." In the same video, he said: "Imam Shinqītī said in his tafsīr none doubt the permissibility of capturing slaves except unbelievers. Please go and check the tafsīr of Imam Shinqītī. There are also several verses in the Qur’ān: “But if you fear that you cannot be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own.” (Q4:3) You should go and check the interpretation of “what your right hands own” [=concubines]. You only intended to prevent us from Allah’s religion by claiming that there is no slavery."

Shekau further said: "So where did you derive the evidence to capture and imprison people? What are your reasons? You are doing your own incarceration, but do not want us to follow Allah’s command. “But those favored will not give their provision to those [slaves] whom their right hands possess.” (Q16:71) This verse is in sūrat al-Naḥl in the Qur’ān, and it concerns slavery. “Do you have among what your hands own partners in what we provided for you so that you are equal therein?” (Q30:28) You will find this verse in sūrat al-Rūm. As such, my brothers, if there is no slavery, can you practice the religion? By Allah, we should open a market and sell people. Whoever refuses to follow Allah and prefers to be an unbeliever, he is a ram ready for sale. Jonathan, Obama, and Bush, if I capture you, I will sell you. I will put you in the market for sale, even though your monetary value as unbelievers is small. Does an unbeliever have value? I am the one who has value. […] If you repent, Allah will accept your repentance. However, if you do not repent, then you should know that you are a ram ready to be sold in the market. Afterward, I will slaughter you, but I will not eat you because we do not eat human beings"

Elsewhere Shekau said: "Today, the people who are saying there is no slavery or the verses concerning slavery have been abrogated are secularists who aid Bush and Obama. Allah says and His Messenger explained that you must wash the plate from which an unbeliever before you use it to eat. However, you are holding hands with Bush and Obama. You are here standing and laughing with them, accepting them as your advisers. I am referring to you, King of Saudi Arabia. I do not have any business with this type of people. My brothers are the likes of Zarqawi, Abu Yahya al-Libi and the brothers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham. Our brothers are the people of Afghanistan, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Mali. Our brothers are those who implement the laws in the Qur’ān. We do not follow Saudi Arabia. Until the day, we see the Islamic State of Saudi, we will have nothing to do with Saudi Arabia. This is my own revolt. I will not fear anyone. I will call anyone who does not follow Allah’s laws an unbeliever. You can eat me, but I will not leave my religion."

Despite the detailed justification Shekau and his ilk provided to legitimize their obnoxious acts, little or no attempt were made to refute their logic. Shekau was nimble enough to reiterate how his sexual slavery fit into a pattern of slavery spearheaded by the Aristocratic establishment in Northern Nigeria. Because his logic was left without refutation, Shekau and his ilk embarked upon their campaign of sexual slavery and many more women and girls were abducted by the group."

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Apr 15, 2017, 2:52:33 PM4/15/17

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Moses, can you direct me to any study that identifies the percentage of wealthy men in Northern Nigeria that are Western educated.

I have often thought the opposite of the wealthy in Kano etc. Now is time for a reality check.

Do we know the ratio of males to females in the region?

Men often have "outside" women, girl friends, lovers and so on, in addition to wives. Do men in northern Nigeria differ from their counterparts elsewhere in the country or the world in this regard?

Now that the Chinese have 30 million more men than women, due to lingering patriarchal tendencies and femicide etc.,

should they anticipate the rise of movements like Boko Haram?

Child brides are common in the so-called " Muslim North" but there is also another trend, instigated by Prophet Mohammed, who married a woman

15 years his senior, Khadijah, in the 7th century, and by doing so, set off another trend that Muslim men occasionally pursue.

Why is Boko Haram killing so many females through suicide bombs? Many of the recent bombings have been carried out by women

who may have been forced to do so. You would think that each "female body" will be considered functional

by this group of sexually deprived miscreants.

Gloria

gloriaemeagwali.com

.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html

Chief Editor- "Africa Update"

vimeo.com/user5946750/videos

www.africahistory.net

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Toyin Falola

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Apr 15, 2017, 4:06:38 PM4/15/17

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Gloria:

You already know the answer to the first question! But for the minority vs hegemonic identities and Moses’ being offended by it, he has instigated a revolutionary project. He posed a question that is excellent, but outside the boundaries of observable data. Only a well funded, honest, non-corrupt research can reach the conclusion that he reached.

I have spent a lot of money on just one element that Moses taught me— that a small percentage of Africans migrate outside of economic and political reasons. I am conducting research in Atlanta to test his hypothesis. He came up with an observable data, and I snowball it.

TF

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Apr 15, 2017, 5:03:39 PM4/15/17

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Gloria,

Professor Falola is correct. It would be a major research undertaking to get all that data. The Nigerian bureau of statistics is notorious for its inability to collect and store accurate data, and Nigeria's census figures have very few breakdowns at the state level.

I'll do my best to provide brief answers to your other two questions.

1. I think the culture of men, middle class and well to do men, monopolizing the sexual space by keeping multiple mistresses/concubines is common all over the country. Therefore, the ecology of sexual envy that I am delineating can also be found in Southern Nigeria. The difference is simply that this sexual envy has not been harnessed or exploited by extremist groups in the South. It has not been channeled into a jihadist insurgency. Islamists have not targeted youths who may harbor this sexual jealousy and frustration in Southern Nigeria. It would be difficult for them to do that in Southern Nigeria, even in Southwestern Nigeria where at least half of the population is Muslim, because the society is more religiously ecumenical and has no history of the type of Islamic reform and Salafist mainstreaming that produced Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria.

2. On the question of Boko Haram's killing of young girls through their use as suicide bombers, I think it should be understood as part of the ideology of Boko Haram conception of females and female war captives, a conception which is enunciated in many sermons by both Muhammed Yusuf, the group's founder, and Shekau, its current leader, sermons that are excerpted in the long piece by Abdulbasit, which I posted today. In these matters, my preference is to always try to find out from the group itself what it thinks of women, especially women and girls considered war booty. Fortunately we have many sermons from the group that give us a clear idea of this. In a nutshell, the group consider females to be expendable in the context of jihad, and "infidel" female captives as property, chattel. There are many examples of of this, but here's how Muhammed Yusuf put it in a September 2008 Sermon:

"If you are fighting jihād, then anyone you see is an enemy of Allah. The same way you detest the sight of a beast, that is the same way you should detest the sight of their women. However, if you stay back and admire their women, then you should be prepared for a disaster. I hope it is understood. How will you prepare to fight and admire their women at the same time? Even if they are gathered together, they should be viewed as beasts. They are property and booty."

This quote I believe gives us some clarity regarding your question. In addition to several other related sermons on the subject (see my post from earlier today) this quote gives us a glimpse into the group's theological/ideological justification of its vast sexual enslavement system, which is built around so-called Kufr (non-Muslim) women and girls.

On Sat, Apr 15, 2017 at 1:48 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Moses, can you direct me to any study that identifies the percentage of wealthy men in Northern Nigeria that are Western educated.

I have often thought the opposite of the wealthy in Kano etc. Now is time for a reality check.

Do we know the ratio of males to females in the region?

Men often have "outside" women, girl friends, lovers and so on, in addition to wives. Do men in northern Nigeria differ from their counterparts elsewhere in the country or the world in this regard?

Now that the Chinese have 30 million more men than women, due to lingering patriarchal tendencies and femicide etc.,

should they anticipate the rise of movements like Boko Haram?

Child brides are common in the so-called " Muslim North" but there is also another trend, instigated by Prophet Mohammed, who married a woman

15 years his senior, Khadijah, in the 7th century, and by doing so, set off another trend that Muslim men occasionally pursue.

Why is Boko Haram killing so many females through suicide bombs? Many of the recent bombings have been carried out by women

who may have been forced to do so. You would think that each "female body" will be considered functional

by this group of sexually deprived miscreants.

Gloria

gloriaemeagwali.com

.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html

Chief Editor- "Africa Update"

vimeo.com/user5946750/videos

www.africahistory.net

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>

Toyin Falola

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Apr 15, 2017, 6:02:41 PM4/15/17

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Moses:

I am fascinated by this project. For instance, what we call “traditional” marriage practices, in some cases, were actually the consequences of the demographic changes of the Atlantic slave trade. It always takes a long period for us to see the pattern very clearly.

For the contemporary, we need to know the percentage of Western educated men—single and married. The no. of women—single and married. The ratio in relations to those who became connected with the Western educated, and the balance, before we can then begin to struggle to understand how violence distributes that balance. It is very complicated.

Let us forget all the asides; we use ethnicity to halt significant research, and it is unfortunate in this regard.

However, we can take a small town and do a snowballing….

And I have an agenda that I need to reveal: I have been making a case for polygamy where concrete data on demographic ratio has been presented before me, but I will make this public in due course.

TF

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)