THE ARAB SPRING AND THE ASCENDANCE OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA

George I.J. Obuoforibo

Department of Political Sciences and Administrative Studies

University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt

ABSTRACT

We found out in the course of this paper that the Arab Spring and the ascendance of Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle-East was due to a reaction to the modernizing instincts of post-colonial leaders of the Muslim dominated Arab countries. After independence the modernizing elites of virtually all predominantly Muslim countries undertook radical reforms of family law, notably to empower women. They targeted inter-alia the aspects of Islamic family law relating to polyandry, unilateral repudiation distribution of inheritance. A host of new laws were adopted to promote women’s right including the criminalization of polygamy. This however, did not go on without some level of opposition and resistance. To achieve the goal of re-Islamizing post-colonial Muslim societies, they adopted diverse strategies, from peaceful proselyzation to armed opposition. Their ultimate ambition is to capture political power. It is true that the Islamists ascendance through the ballot box is the most visible outcome of the Arab Spring. There is however, more to it than what meets the eye. Of particular importance is their strong opposition to secular ethos in favour of fundamentalist Muslim ethos that would not be in the interest of non Muslims and other secular minded Muslims. It is against the background of the above scenario that one have to appreciate the ascendance of Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle-East and the contemporary challenges in Nigeria being made visible by a Muslim Sect the Boko Haram. It would therefore not be out of place for one to say that Boko Haram sect and its heinous crimes against the people and nation was more of a dangerous diversion of real issues that impinges on the national project. It is the fuel subsidy crises that one could say tend to strike a code with the Arab Spring in the Middle-East and North Africa. A popular disenchantment and demonstrations against the Nigerian government on removal of fuel subsidy with the subsequent revelation of the rot that has engulfed the entire fabric of the Nigerian state structures at all level, have unfortunately ended whatever legitimacy the Nigerian project might be said to have had in the past. In actual sense the Boko Haram’s major preoccupation is to Islamize the entire northern region and make its states to be governed in accordance with Islamic laws and injunctions which is very much in line with the fundamentalist struggle in the Middle East and North Africa.