THE National Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged politicians and other Nigerians to be nationalistic in anything they do by putting the country first, as the nation moves towards the 2019 and other elections.
MAN, which gave the counsel through its First National Vice President Dr. Dhikirullah Yagboyaju, urged politicians and the citizenry “to be conscious of the consequent of their actions in whatever they do for Nigeria, for Nigerians and humanity as a whole”.
He spoke after the association’s National Officers meeting to discuss the report of its 2018 Ramadhan lecture, entitled: “Education for national integration in Nigeria”, to assess the socio-economic development as well as the state of the nation.
Yagboyaju said: “If we are going into politics, we should try as much as possible to eschew violence, shun disaffection. We will also want to advise politicians to de-emphasise the unbridled or unregulated use of money for politics.”
On the stance of the association on national issues, Yagboyaju said: “The name of our association is the National Association of Nigeria (MAN). It means if we take Nigeria out of what we do, MAN itself may not exist, meaning that the focus of MAN is both for the advancement of Muslims and Nigeria as a whole. We cannot advance the interest of Muslims at cross-purposes with interest of Nigeria.
“As Muslims and as Nigerians, we must do everything in the ambit of the law. When we pursue the interest of the Muslim Ummah, we must purse those interest in compliance with rules and regulation of Nigeria. Being nationalistic means that we must put the interest of Nigeria and fellow Nigerians, whether they are Muslims or not, in mind, so that we don’t do anything at any particular point to injure the feelings of fellow Nigerians. Nigeria is the only country we have.”
On herdsmen, Yagboyaju said: “The position of MAN is very clear. Herdsmen being migrants is not a new thing. It is a global phenomenon. It happened in Botswana, Uruguay and Brazil, Kenya and in so many parts of the world, where cattle rearers or herdsmen moved from one location to the other in search of greener pastures for their animals.
“And such movements over the years have caused problems. We must be able to draw examples from where such situations were addressed effectively. On behalf of MAN, I will like to draw the example of Botswana and Uruguay, where ranching was adopted as a means of addressing the problem of cattle-rearers moving from one location to the other.
“As a matter of fact, if cattle-rearers stay in permanent locations, it’s better for them economically because their animals would be better fed and they would produce more milk. The position of MAN is that Nigeria should learn and borrow the example of Uruguay and Botswana, where ranching was adopted.”
The university don told politicians that if they were indeed out for service, everything they do must exemplified selflessness.
“If truly we want to serve people, we should not consider selfishness. And to that extent, it means that if truly we want to serve, we cannot rely so much on unbridled use of money to buy votes and voters,” he said.
Yagboyaju added that the meeting was also held to discuss the report of the association’s reconstituted the board of board of trustees as well as reposition of the association’s schools for effectives.
Some of the members of the MAN’s Board of Trustees have passed away and some new trustees have been appointed.