Sir, - To my great surprise I find myself in agreement with Aine Ni Chonaill (April 26th) of the Immigration Control Platform, at least on the subject of Nigeria. ("No one in their right mind would want to live in Nigeria .. . It is almost impossible to convey the difficulty of life in Nigeria at the moment"). She then criticises me for not wanting "to deport failed Nigerian asylum seekers" (April 14th). What she does not say is why life in Nigeria is so difficult at the moment nor does she specify for whom. All the Nigerian asylum-seekers I have met in Limerick have been Christians - Protestant, Catholic, Pentecostal, or "house church". All have been strongly committed to their faith and have been very active in our city centre. Every one of them has been forced out of their homes, provinces or states by extremist militant Muslim groups agitating to have Shari'yah (a form of Islamic law based on the Koran) introduced in their state. In the north, the mainly Muslim states have adopted Shari'yah already but the southern, mainly Christian, states are resisting its imposition.
The government, which is dominated by tribes from the Muslim north, is encouraging its adoption as a means of uniting this huge country, which has over 300 different languages. The move has already provoked severe civil unrest causing the deaths of thousands.
I was speaking the other day with the vice-provincial of the Nigerian province of a worldwide religious order, himself a Nigerian. He told me that his native province of Jos, which is in the north central part of the country, is overrun with refugees seeking asylum from the states which have imposed Shari'yah.
The conclusion is obvious. Nigeria itself is full of refugees. And they are fleeing from religious persecution. Those who can afford to are leaving the country. That would explain why most of the asylum-seekers I have met are middle-class. But, middle-class or not, they cannot leave the country legally. Thanks to the pressure from Ireland and the EU, emigration controls have been stepped up so that it is difficult even for people on legitimate business to leave the country. So they leave it illegally and in secret, leaving families, jobs, and houses, with no possibility of legal return. By any definition these are refugees seeking safe asylum in our country.
Perhaps it is not politically correct to complain about Shariyah. Perhaps our Government is afraid to complain to a mainly Muslim government about its internal policies. So it ignores the situation on the ground and decides to "repatriate" all Nigerians. That means to send them back to jail for "illegally" fleeing religious persecution.
And it is persecution. Under Shari'yah a Christian becomes a second-class citizen tolerated by the state. Any form of public display of Christianity, or indeed of any other religion, is forbidden. To convert to Christianity is a capital offence. To talk to a Muslim about Christianity is a crime. To criticise Islam, the Koran, or even Islamic institutions (which could include the state) is a crime punishable by death. The "excesses" of the Taliban in Afghanistan with which we are now familiar are repeated in Ambon, Indonesia, in Iraq and Iran, and in many Muslim countries. I have been told that Shari'yah is not regarded as orthodox by many Islamic authorities. That is little comfort to those who are suffering under it. - Yours, etc.,
David Blake, Dept of Philosophy, Mary Immaculate College, South Circular Road, Limerick.