Category: Femi Abbas

Man is nothing but history after his demise. Therefore, endeavour to be a veritable archive of reference from which others can learn lessons after you might have left the stage”.  – Arab poet

Observation

What is true of man in the above quoted poem is equally true of a nation. As a matter of fact, nothing is qualified to be called a nation or a country in the absence of man.

Monologue

Professor Anthony Ijaola Asiwaju is a Nigerian celebrated historian of international repute. Any time the title of one of his books

‘Partitioned Africa’, published in 1984, comes to mind, it quickly serves as a reminder of the history of Nigeria. Thus, the thought of that famous book can be called the motivator of today’s article in this column.

  Preamble

Man is both a product and a producer of history. He lives by history and leaves history behind, as his legacy, at the time of his exit from this ephemeral world. This confirms the fact that man and history are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. The symbiotic relationship of both of the two makes them look like a pair of scissors in which one blade cannot effectively function without getting firmly attached to the other.

Necessity of History

This is a period, in Nigeria, when recalling history is a necessity. And, that necessity has raised some vital questions which require some cogent answers.

How did the African   territory called Nigeria become a country? How and when was she named Nigeria? Does this name befit our country? Can the name be changed? And, if it is changed, can there be any sensible difference? These are some of the questions that ‘The Message’ column seeks to answer here today. The venerable readers of this column can also provide answers from their own thoughts as they may deem fit.

Accident of History

The seed of Nigerian history was planted on January 8, 1897. That was the day that this country was named Nigeria. It was on that day that an article appeared in The Financial Times, of London, which suggested a name for the vast area of land, around river Niger, here in Africa. Shortly before then, the territory that now bears that name was colonized, by a British company called ‘Royal Niger’ Company, on behalf of the British Government. The suggested name given to it in the referred article was Nigeria. And, that name was coined from two words: Niger and Area. How the word Niger itself came into existence is another story to be told on another day in this column.  Meanwhile the author of the said article was one Miss Flora Shaw, a 45-year old British journalist who was then the colonial editor of The Financial Times of London who was also a weekly columnist. The   title of her column, in that newspaper, was ‘The Colony’.

In coining the name ‘Nigeria’, Flora Shaw logically took certain facts into consideration. Those facts were as follows:

1. At the time of her writing, the colonized vast area of West Africa which came to be named Nigeria had no specific name, by which it could be called, other than a protectorate of the ‘Royal Niger Company’ which Miss Shaw considered inappropriate.

2. She also considered an earlier suggested name, ‘Central Sudan’, as aberrational since that name had already been given to a particular area around River Nile, which was occupied by a population of Black Africans now called Sudanese.

3. Miss Flora Shaw  also examined the appropriateness of a name ‘Slave Coast’, which the British colonialists had attempted to give to the vast land in question and found it  derogatory. Finally, after a lot of efforts, Flora settled for ‘Nigeria’, which she coined from ‘Niger Area’.

Who was Flora Shaw?

The British   woman called Flora Shaw was born at N0 2, Dundas Terrace, Woolwich, England, on December 19, 1852, as Miss Flora Shaw. She was the fourth of her parent’s fourteen children. She grew up to become a novelist and a versatile female journalist, who gained fame through her pungent analyses of African colonial economy. She was later to become  Honourable Dame Flora Lugard, the wife of Frederick John Deatry Lugard of Abinger who colonized the southern and northern parts of the area now called Nigeria, and later merged them together in the name of amalgamation, in 1914.

Flora was six years older than Frederick Lugard who was born in India on January 22, 1858. The two historic personalities married in 1902 and lived together without children for the rest of their lives.

Profile of Fredrick Lugard

Lord Frederick Lugard was a military adventurer and an ardent administrator who played a major part in Britain’s colonial history between 1888 and 1945. He served in East Africa, West Africa, and Hong Kong. His glorious name, in history, is particularly associated with Nigeria, where he served as High Commissioner (1900-1906) as well as Governor and Governor-General from 1912 to 1919. This man was knighted, in 1901, and promoted to the peerage in 1928.

His Military Incursion

As at the time of Lugard’s military incursion into the territory now called Nigeria, in the late 19th century, most of the vast land of over 300,000 square miles or 800,000 square km was still unoccupied and even unexplored by Europeans. In the southern areas, at that time, were mostly animists while in the northern areas were multitudes of Muslims with city-states and large walled cities.

After colonizing the the two areas, Lugard’s intention was to merge the occupants of the areas together, to enable him manage them as a single people in a single nation despite the diversity of their cultures and traditions. Thus, within three years of his expedition, he had established a British control over the vast territory using diplomacy on the one hand, and effective mobilization of the meager military force at his disposal, on the other hand.

His policy, at the time, was to forbid local slave raiding and impose severe punishments for recalcitrants while seeking a central comtrole over the area through the native rulers.

The Lugards’ Historic Marriage

After Lugard’s marriage to Flora Shaw in 1902 and the latter could not cope with the Nigerian climate, he (Lugard) felt obliged to leave Africa and accept a junior position of the Governorship of Hong Kong which he held from 1907 to 1912. It was like stepping down as president, to accept the position of a Governor.

Thereafter, Lugard and his wife managed to come back to Nigeria with the purpose of joining the Southern and Northern parts of this country in a way that makes that merger a repeated talk of the town till today.

But to worsen the situation, a tribal military incursion was brought into the scenario with a strong intention of domination in January 1966. Since then, Nigeria has not been a country of comfort again. Now, after almost 63 years of independence, Nigeria continues to wallow helplessly, in a paroxysm of despair, despite her abundance of wealth. It became so bad that at a time, we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where figure 16 was officially declared higher than figure 19 and theft was officially defined as a lesser crime than theft in the framework of politics. On a daily basis, billions of dollars were declared missing from our national or State treasuries just as our foreign reserves are recklessly being depleted with fiat. Where are we going from here?

Democratic Tenure

Four years is a long period in a democratic tenure of a nation. It is long enough to lay a solid foundation for a nation. It is long enough to build a formidable edifice that can be inherited from generation to generation. If 24 years of democracy can not do any of these in Nigeria, can one century do anything? If a journey of one year cannot take a traveler to the port of embarkation, who says 10 decades will take him to the port of disembarkation?

As an OPEC country, we have abundant oil wealth but we must import refined fuel for domestic consumption. We have a massive army of unemployed youths and we cannot provide electricity and security to enable them to be self-employed. Yet, we are insisting that we must continue like this even as billions of dollars are being funneled out of the country daily, by the means of corruption. Where are we going from here?

Obama’s counsel

In his direct presidential address to Nigerian populace on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the then American President, Barrack Obama said something quotable about a Nigerian election that was to come up the following day (March 25, 2015). Here is how he put it: “Hello.  Today, I want to speak directly to you-the people of Nigeria.

Nigeria is a great nation and you can be proud of the progress you’ve made.  Together, you won your independence, emerged from military rule, and strengthened democratic institutions.  You’ve strived to overcome division and to turn Nigeria’s diversity into a source of strength.  You’ve worked hard to improve the lives of your families and to build the largest economy in Africa.

Now, you have a historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s progress-by voting in the upcoming elections.  For elections to be credible, they must be free, fair and peaceful.  All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear.

So I call on all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place in democratic elections-and that they should not incite, support or engage in any kind of violence-before, during, or after the votes are counted.

I call on all Nigerians to peacefully express your views and to reject the voices of those who call for violence.  And, when elections are free and fair, it is the responsibility of all citizens to help keep the peace, no matter who wins.

Successful elections and democratic progress will help Nigeria meet the urgent challenges you face today.  Boko Haram and Bandits-brutal terrorist groups that kill innocent men, women and children-must be stopped.

Hundreds of kidnapped children deserve to be returned to their families. Nigerians who have been forced to flee deserve to return to their homes.  Boko Haram and Bandits want to destroy Nigeria and all that you have worked to build.  By casting your ballot, you can help secure your nation’s progress.

I’m told that there is a saying in your country: “to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done”. Today, I urge all Nigerians-from all religions, all ethnic groups, and all regions-to come together and keep Nigeria one.  And, in this task of advancing the security, prosperity, and human rights of all Nigerians, you will continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America”.

Conclusion

No country in history ever came into existence with monotribe or monotongue by design. Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, all countries are inhabited by diverse people of diverse cultures. The continued existence of such countries is just by management by reciprocal understanding, tolerance, endurance and sacrifices through dialogues. Every famous country is like a currency which recognition and validity depend on its intact posture. If it is torn, there can be no fame for it any more. Nigeria cannot be an exception. This a fact which those agitating for secession should note very carefully in their own interest. GOD SAVE NIGERIA!

The world has drastically changed from what it used to be. And, it continues to change rapidly, especially, with dynamic advancement in technology. Incidentally, what most people do not seem to notice, with deserved consciousness in the changing features of the world, is the effective role which the media plays in that trend of change. As a matter of fact, one of the principal agents of distinction, between the primordial and the contemporary world, is the function of the media. Without the media, no coded causes of war or disguised factors of peace could have been effectively deciphered by today’s mankind, as every sensitive action or insensitive reaction within  the society would have been influenced by baseless rumours and unfounded speculations. And, today’s world would have been like George Orwell’s Animal Farm’ in which all animals are presumed to be generally equal when, actually, some of them are more equal than the others.

The case of Israel

Today, there is a country called Israel, the mere mention of which instantly engenders an impactful feeling. Until 73 years ago (1948), that country was neither in existence nor even known to the world with any recognition.

Its making as a country, through a clandestine establishment in the heart of the Arab land, and, its subsequent colossal existence, with a master stroke of audacity, could not have occurred in the absence of the media. How many people knew, except through the media, that Israel is rather a Zionist than a Jewish State? And, besides going through the media, how could the informed elites, around the world, have been able to distinguish between Judaism as a religious notion and Zionism as a political movement?

In retrospect

For well over a millennium, the Caucasian Jewish tribe was not known to the world more than  a group of wonderers and marauders, just like the Egyptian gypsies of yore. It took only one foresighted man, in the late 19th century, to change the course of history for that tribe at the least expected time. The name of the man was Theodore Herzl. He was an Austria-based Journalist/Lawyer, who initiated a militant political movement that was formed in 1879 and named Zionism. Being the founder of that movement, Theodore Herzl, was then   made its leader. The main focus of that movement’s agitation was to seek a permanent home for the Jews anywhere in the world. And, the instrument used for that vociferous agitation was the media.

As a Journalist, Theodore Herzl’s had recognized the effective power of the media, and he had acknowledged it as the most effective weapon with which to make his dream of getting a permanent home for the Zionist movement a reality. And, in truth, that was the magic that fetched his founded  Zionist movement a permanent home, in the name of Israel, in Palestine, at the expense of the then ‘sleeping Arabs’ called Palestinians.

The balfour declaration

At the climax of the Zionists’ agitation for a permanent home, Theodore Herzl publicly made an historic demand that turned out to be the changer of the Jewish destiny. The demand was voiced out in the following words:

“Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation. The rest, we shall manage by ourselves…”

The follow up to that demand was then left to the media which fleshed it up with unimaginable propaganda that caught a magnetic attention of the British Colonial government of that time. And, then, the response which greeted that demand was unprecedentedly electric. That response strangely came in form of a policy that was officially adopted by the British Parliament and named after its formulator, Arthur Balfour, in 1917. It was therefore called ‘Balfour Declaration’. Apart from the eagerness which propelled the implementation of that declaration, there was also a hidden feeling that  it could also serve as an incentive for the Zionist Movement to establish a government of its own, as well as to connive with the imperialist West to police the excessive wealth of the Middle East and checkmate the Arabs’ effective access to that wealth.

 And, within three decades (1917-1948),  the Zionists’ dream for a permanent home became a reality.

Today, there can be no world map without Israel as a country.

Demographic stragety

 Despite Israel’s claim of an exaggerated population of about 8.655 million inhabitants, the remaining Palestinian Muslims within that demography is still about 17% of that figure. And that does not include the demography of West Bank and Gaza Strip. After settling down and became patially recognized as a State, the first step taken by Israel was to ensure the manipulation of the mentioned demography of that land by evicting most of the real Arab dwellers from the land and replace them with Zionist settlers. Thus, relying heavily on media propaganda, the immigrant Zionist minority forcefully displaced the Arab majority and replaced the latter while still leaving the rest to the media propaganda which began to sing-praise the courage of the   aggressors  vilify the timidity of the oppressed owners of the land. In a nutshell, it was the media that championed the yeoman’s job which fetched the Zionists a permanent home on Palestinian land. That is the power of the media for you. And, unless that power is strategically managed to one’s advantage, there may be no alternative to it in the foreseeable future.

The media as a weapon

Even in this 21st century, when it is obvious that the most prominent   instrument of change is the media, most Muslim individuals and corporate bodies still do not see the need to give the media the priority it deserves. If the Machiavellian theory of using attack as a form of defence is anything to tacitly agree with, the media must be seen as its practical example. But ironically, any good observer can vividly see a manifest apathy to the media in Northern Nigeria. And, the cost of such a lackadaisical attitude towards a weapon like the media, in this age, cannot be quantified psychologically and spiritually. Whether we realize it or not, it is a fact, universally acknowledged, today, that a world without the media is like the carcass of a mobile corpse waiting to be interned.

Genesis of the media in Nigeria

When the print media first arrived in Nigeria in 1859, its first point of call was Abeokuta, in   the South-West of Nigeria. And, that was because the part of this country, adopt literacy in Roman letters, at that time, was the South-West. For several decades after the arrival of the media in Nigeria, newspaper publication and readership became solidly domiciled in the South-West. Anybody who wanted to read newspaper or express an opinion in it, at that time, was to get in touch with Lagos/Ibadan axis of the media, directly or indirectly. And, with Lagos being the seat of the colonial master at the time, that situation was considered a further impetus, for the people of the South-West, to advance, ahead of other regions, in literacy and education. However, with time, the people of some other sections of the country, especially from the South-East and the South-South, began to key into the media scheme after realizing its covert and avowed power. That was the situation that made the Southern Nigeria generally, the foremost custodian of information and education in the country.

Electronic media

With the coming of electronic media (Radio and Television) to Nigeria in the early/mid 20th century, it became evident that the Southern part of Nigeria was the main habitat of the media in the federation called Nigeria.

It therefore took the people of the South-South to study he instrument used by Nigeria’s freedom fighters in their struggle for independence, as well as that of the tortuous efforts of Jews to get a permanent home for themselves at the heart of  the Arab world. The combination of both studies then became a template for them to copy in order to get their own voices heard around the world for the purpose of sympathy and assistance. It can, therefore, be concluded that without the media, a Goodluck Jonathan would never have emerged from the South-South as a Nigerian President. It was also the media that helped the agitation of the Southern oil-producing States to change the formula of income derivation from oil in their favour and to demand federal character in the process of federal appointments. Today, those oil producing States are enjoying 13% derivation against the hitherto pittance that they were getting even as the adoption of federal character in appointments has now become a political norm, courtesy of the media. Thus, as a result of the tremendous success achieved by using the media for agitation, the South-South has become a model for other minority groups to speak up in demand for their needs and wants, as a matter of right, in Nigerian federation.

Today, whether in the print or electronic sector of the media, no one can brush aside the prominent role that the people of the South-South are playing for the benefit of their tribal kiths and kin. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian media, today, is incontrovertibly dominated by the South-South.

Northern Nigeria apathy to the media

From all indications, the people of Northern Nigeria are grossly apathetic to media function in the country. And, this is adversely affecting, not only the geographical North but also Islam and the Muslims, socially, economically, politically and psychologically. Yet, our Northern brothers do not seem to be ready to alter that posture. If the oil producing States in the South can use the media to agitate for increased derivation on oil, what prevents the Northerners, also, from using the media to demand huge derivation on the solid minerals that are abundantly available in various parts of the North. Besides, are there no big dams like Kainji Shiroro and others, in the North, that are being used by the federal government to generate electricity for the entire country? Why can’t those economic features be used as causes of demand for bigger derivation? One other serious issue that our Northern brothers do not seem to notice with agility is the use of the Southern media to categorize the the entire North as a unit in Nigerian federation while the South is being strategically positioned as different separate regions economically.

Religionisation of Nigerian politics

Usually, the reference to the Middle Belt, North-West and North-East, by the Southern media, is a mere political strategy to stratify the North psychologically, in readiness for an incoming demand that could warrant the support of the Northern Christians. 

That strategy, which began during the first tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo, was politically instructive. It should be recalled that Alhaji Bubakar Atiku was the elected Governor of Adamawa State in 1999. But when Obsanjo became the President, the same Atiku was his choice as Vice-President just to pave way for a Christian, Boni Haruna, to become the Governor of a Muslim- dominated  state and aid the well-planned tacit strategy of Christianizing some parts of Northern Nigeria. A similar scenario later played out in Kaduna, when, after becoming President, Goodluck Jonathan chose the then Governor of that State, Architect  Namadi Sambo, as Vice President to pave way for Sambo’s Deputy, Patrick Yakowa, to become the Governor of the State. It looked like a normal political design. But the motive was to use such strategy as a means of  empowering the Christian minority of that State politically to strength in the Christian minorities of those States to the detriment of Islam. And, it worked very well in giving those Christian minorities in the North a strong voice of agitation as well as a technical tunnel of incursion of stronger Christianity into the North. But, contrarily, in the South, all the States in the South-East and the South-South often invariably have gubernatorial Christian/Christian tickets without any media brouhaha coming from the North. Is there any State in Nigeria without Muslims who can serve as Deputy-Governor? These are some of the fundamental issues in Nigeria that the media can be used to exhume if the North is strong media-wise. There are many more examples which can be used to checkmate the reckless incessant noise of ‘Islamization’ in the Southern media.

The BBC and Al-Jazeera

The similitude of the current apathy of Northern Nigeria to the media is like that of the Arabs to the media in the past. Today, most television viewers around the world, including the Westerners, are delighted to find a better alternative to BCC and CNN in Al-Jazeera, in terms of qualitative news dissemination, news analyses and prompt exposition of facts and figures around the world. But what most of those viewers do not know is how Al-Jazeera came into existence. Before the establishment of Al-Jazeera, the entire Arab world was heavily dependent on the Western media for publicity which they never got without paying for it heavily in coins and in kind. It took the BBC which was established in 1926, to take a fundamentally erroneous and regrettable decision, to pave way for the establishment of Al-Jazeera.

If the BBC had not taken its Arab viewers for granted by closing down its Arabic section and by sacking the Arab Journalists that were working in that section, perhaps a qualitative cable network TV station called Al-Jazeera would not have come into existence to the psychological relief of Muslims worldwide. It was the fortuitous reaction to that obnoxious BBC action that brought Al-Jazeera into existence. Thanks to foresighted moneybags in Qatar.  What the rich Qataris did at that time, in establishing Al-Jazeera to challenge the BBC can also be done effectively by some rich Northern Nigerian Muslims as a master strategy for the defence and promotion of Islam. After all, there had once been an example of such in Nigeria’s print media, when the Northern government established New Nigeria newspaper as a counter force to the scores of Southern newspapers then led by the ‘almighty’ Daily Times. And, the excesses of those Southern newspapers were effectively checkmated by New Nigeria newspaper alone.

  Electronic media in Nigeria

Today, the situation of the media, generally, in Nigeria, is such that the North is not reckoned with at all, on matters of media function. And, the complacency of our Northern brothers which is seen as an encouragement for the Southern media to constantly ride roughshod over the North does not help the matter. If only the New Nigerian newspaper could stand up vertically to checkmate

the scores of Southern Christian newspapers in the past, why can’t the same be done through electronic media now that the Muslim North needs very strong media mouth piece most?

Media ownership in Northern Nigeria

One major concern about the media that often amazes most Southern Nigerian Muslim Journalists is the seeming permanent complacency of the Northern elite about the functions of the media in the country. While there are scores of privately owned electronic and print media in virtually all parts of the South, the Northerners seem unperturbed by the incessant bashing coming out of those Southern media houses against the North. This has become so embarrassingly disturbing that some of us, Muslim veteran Journalists are left with no choice other than to remain aloof.

Whenever we come to the North and lodge in hotels, we are always given the privilege of switching from one 24 hour cable network television station to another. But most, of those stations, such as The Channels, TVC, AIT, Silverbird, Kaftan, Calaxy and a number of others are based in the South and owned by Southerners who are mostly Christians. Wcable network television stations here is equally true of     

Radio Stations. Now, why is this so, is a vital question which requires a vital answer as to be provided by the North, as a matter of urgency. One fact that must be seriously noted is that most of the media outfits in Southern Nigeria are taken as political, tribal and religious arsenals with which to fight the North from all conceivable angles. This situation is one of the breeders of inter-tribal and inter-religious hatred in Nigeria, which  makes the country look like an impossibility.

Conclusion

Based on the above media analysis in Nigeria, the North must wake up from its slumber in terms of consciousness about the media if only to avoid the Palestinian experience. God bless you sirs!

The world’s greatest teacher that ever lived, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) will never cease to be a teacher of teachers even in death. It was he who first recognized communication as the greatest means of fulfilling temporal desire as well as attaining spiritual satisfaction. Thus, he recommended it to the Muslim Ummah.

One of the features of Ramadan fast is I’tikaf which simply means seclusion. It comes up during the last ten days of the sacred month.

Its purpose is to completely abstain from all sinful acts and enhance one’s spiritual standing. I’tikaf or self seclusion is adopted by any Muslim who wants to get closer to the Almighty Allah through the spiritual realm.

With I’tikaf, a Muslim can attain inner composure and equanimity while he is absorbed in eternal reality. For the eight years of fasting (624-632 CE that he spent in his latter period in Madinah, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) regularly observed I’tikaf in the last ten days of every Ramadan.

And, after his demise, his wives and succeeding companions adhered to that tradition as a means of purifying their hearts and attaining peace of the mind.

I’tikaf is mostly done in the Mosque. But it can also be done in a house especially by women, if the house is clean and free of disturbance. While in I’tikaf the Mu’takif or recluse is expected to observe all the five daily prayers and other Nawafil (supererogatory genuflections). He is also to engage in the recitation of the Qur’an and the glorification of Allah. He seeks forgiveness and shows gratitude to the Creator and Protector of the universe for all the countable and uncountable good things of life with which he has been endowed.

While in I’tikaf, one is not expected to move around beyond the vicinity of the Mosque or house in which he/she is secluded. Foods and drinks are brought to him by his wife, children or relatives. He goes to the toilet and takes a bath as necessary. But he is not to go about in vehicles during the time of I’tikaf except when he is compelled by an emergency or necessity.

I’tikaf is Sunnah (voluntary) and not obligatory for anybody. Only those who have the time and the means can go into it. It is not advisable for daily paid workers who must provide for their families as well as salary earners, who are not on leave, to go into I’tikaf. Wives and children must not suffer from lack of domestic provisions just because the family bread winner has gone into I’tikaf. And, women are not permitted to go into I’tikaf leaving their husbands and children at home. That can only happen with the permission of the husband who must assume the matrimonial duties of his wife.

But where a woman is unmarried or is old and has no responsibility of providing for the husband or children, she can go into I’tikaf with pure intention.

People in I’tikaf can cook their food and wash their dresses. All these must, however, have been taken along from home. A recluse is not supposed to break the I’tikaf by going to the market in search of needed provisions. A sick person is not expected to go into I’tikaf. But if a person suddenly falls sick while in I’tikaf, it is necessary for him to break the I’tikaf and go to the hospital. He may return to I’tikaf when he becomes well.

Also, if there is any emergency in the matrimonial home of the recluse or even in the neighbourhood, which requires his urgent attention, the recluse must break the I’tikaf and attend to such emergency promptly.

I’tikaf does not extend to the day of ‘Idul Fitr. It must be terminated as soon as Ramadan fast ends. A woman’s I’tikaf terminates automatically with the commencement of her menstruation. We pray to Allah to accept our I‘tikaf as an act of ‘Ibadah Amin.

It is an undeniable fact that the entire world is kept in suspense, once every year, when the spiritual Guest of all seasons is about to perch on earth for the liberation of mankind from the manacles of Satan.

In any year, the arrival of Ramadan in the world may coincide with that of any season. And, that is what eminently qualifies it as the Guest of all seasons.

With Ramadan as a non-such Guest, therefore, not only the Muslims but the entire humanity is consciously or unconsciously engaged in hospitable activities as a show of respect for that great Guest. Even non-Muslims who do not fast in that sacred month do take advantage of its presence to readjust their social conducts by taming the brute in them even as some of them engage in buying and selling of some relevant needs either for the purpose of humanitarian gesture or for strengthening their social acquaintances with the Muslims. Thus, there can be no indifference to the awful presence of Ramadan in any part of the world in any season.

Indices of Recognition

Although the indices of recognizing the beginning and the end of the month of Ramadan are naturally vivid to those who care, sighting the crescent of hope is foremost among those indices.

Ramadan is not preceded by two glorious lunar months of (Rajab’ and Sha’ban) for fun. The number of days in those two months is to enable any serious -minded Muslim know the time of the arrival of Ramadan and, therefore, prepare for it. In Islam, no lunar month exceeds 30 days and none is less than 29 days.

Thus, crescent or no crescent, it is very possible and easy to know when to start Ramadan every year even without waiting to be prompted. The regular confusion often created by the sighting or non-sighting of the crescent, especially before the commencement of Ramadan, is therefore avoidable especially where Allah’s instruction in Q. 5:59 is sincerely abided by.

Preparation

Islam is neither a religion of spiritual levity nor that of commercial venture. The spiritual seriousness of this divine religion is such that everything which needs to be done in it requires adequate preparation.

For instance, to observe daily prayer (Salat), Muslims do prepare by performing ablution (Wudu’) or even special bath (Ghuslu) when necessary. To pay obligatory annual charity (Zakah), Muslims do prepare by calculating their annual income and by working out the ordained net end of that annual income (Nisab) from which the payable amount of Zakah should be deducted. And to perform Hajj, Muslims do prepare by knotting a spiritually guided intention to that effect and by settling any outstanding debt as well as by taking care of the home front to guarantee food and social security for the family members to be left behind before proceeding on pilgrimage. It is that same spiritual concept of preparation that warrants the monitoring of the appearance of the crescent as a precursor of Ramadan fast.

Spiritual Seclusion

The last segment of 10 days in the month of Ramadan also grants a rare opportunity to some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), to either go for Umrah in Makkah or take to spiritual seclusion (I’tikaf) locally, as a way of reaffirming their total submission to Allah. Following this is a session of charity (Zakatul-Fitr) made obligatory for all Muslims to pay irrespective of age, gender and status. Such charity is given to the poor and the needy especially in the neighbourhood or in a  larger vicinity. That charity is given out in the very early morning of Ramadan Festivity called ‘Idul-Fitr’ or the night before it, to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the Ummah in a real festive mood.

Anti-climax

The first day of the month of Shawwal, which is traditionally spent in great celebrations with rejoice and observed as ‘Fast-Breaking Festival’ (EidulFitr) by Muslims through a congregational prayer is the anti-climax of the sacred month of Ramadan. That festival itself has its own preparation and methodology.

Paradise and Hell

In the sacred month of Ramadan, all gates of Paradise, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), are wide open for all those aspiring to gain entry into it while the gates of Hell are tightly closed. That is a mark of Allah’s mercy for remorseful Muslims who do not want to remain fettered to the manacles of Satan.

Questions

Looking at the uniqueness of Islam as a religion in terms of constant hygiene, decent dressing, spiritual discipline in observance of Salat, the spirit of charity which Zakah and Sadaqah represent, the rules and regulations guiding social interaction during Hajj performance and the codes of the divine law that govern the lives of Muslims as accentuated by the month of Ramadan, one cannot but ask some salient questions as follows: 

Where else can one find a Guest like Ramadan? Where else can one meet a Guest that serves as the host to his supposed hosts and becomes a supernatural Doctor that heals mankind of ignorance, poverty and physical diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said thus in a Hadith: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guests”. That is why Muslims often greet one another in this uniquely great   month thus:

 ‘RAMADAN KARIM!

Ordinarily, today’s article would have focused on two historic events that came up early this week both of which deserve readers’ attention. One of those events took place in Ilorin the capital city of Kwara State where a nomadic settler was honourably given the key to the city by the indigenes. The other occurred in Osogbo, the capital city of the State of Osun where for the first time after Prophet Musa (Moses) a tablet of knowledge was distributed to each of over 150,000 Senior Secondary School pupils as a takeoff of a gargantuan educational project. Yours sincerely was a witness to the one and just heard news about the other. But since both would be better taken together, the need to get the details of the one not witnessed has compelled the deferment of writing on both as hitherto planned, hence today’s topic. As often mentioned in this column, the problem of any genuine newspaper columnist is not a dearth of ideas but a deluge of them. Thus, choosing a theme from those ideas alone out of the many that are throwing themselves to you (as a columnist) vigorously and competitively is enough a problem. By the grace of Allah, ‘The Message’ will vividly bring the happenings in those two events to the readers in the very near future. Meanwhile, today’s article is equally very important. Please, come along:

Strange Episode

Our world is mysterious. And the more we make efforts to demystify it the more complex it becomes. Not even humanity’s greatest footprint (science and technology) has succeeded in demystifying the phenomenal web we call ‘the world’. While browsing through the internet recently, yours sincerely stumbled on a strangely amazing episode. A young man of about 28 years was reported missing for some days by his parents in Thailand. By the time his dead body was found somewhere in a bush, journalists in that country were jumping up to write an exclusive story. Bruises of snake bite were found all over his body. And, surprisingly, a monstrous python was also found lying lifelessly by his side. Examining the python, the police also discovered human bites all over its body. The conclusion then was that perhaps a furious duel between man and reptile had led to mutual death. But the story did not end there. The young man was also found to be pants down with a dangling condom firmly fixed to his manhood. This suggested the possibility of a sex attempt. Could he have attempted to rape the python? That was a mysterious question begging for a mysterious answer.

On a personal reflection, yours sincerely guessed that the man might have lured a young, beautiful damsel into a hideout perhaps for a marathon sexual orgy. But on getting to the point of action, the damsel decided to show her true self by turning into a python, and a duel ensued. Or why would a young man wear condom and remain half naked in such a circumstance with such a brutal reptile? This story quickly reminded me of a topic I wrote in this column some years ago which was entitled ‘THE WORLD OF JINN’. Linking that topic to the episode just relayed above may provide a possible clue to the mystery surrounding the death of a man and a python almost arm in arm. I therefore decided to recall the article if only for the benefit of those who did not read it when it was first published. Please read on:

The Terrestrial World

“We live in a world of mystery. A world in which things don’t look what they seem. Yet we base our daily lives on mere assumption. How we sleep, how we wake, how we escape dangers around us, all these are known to Allah alone. The forces of this terrestrial world are numerous and mysterious. Some are visible, some are hidden. The planet inhabited by man is a garden not meant for man alone. There are kingdoms of other creatures: the animals, the birds, the reptiles, the plants, the insects, the worms and the aquatic creatures all of which exist interdependently. And through their coexistence, the ecosystem gains its harmony. For each of the above creatures there are races and tribes which in technical language are called species. Yet there are other creatures that cannot be seen by the naked eyes of man without the aid of technology. Some of these include the viruses and the bacteria. Unknown to man, every one of these creatures has its way of glorifying Allah. And, if asked to describe the features of Allah, a vivid description of itself will be given. This shows that every creature perceives God in its own image. Allah Akbar!

The World of Jinn

The world of Jinn is another world entirely. It is a world wrapped completely in mystery. The details of how man and Jinn came to share the planet called the earth are known only to Allah. But who actually, are the Jinn? Jinn are beings created by Allah from the flames of fire and given free will. They live on earth in a world parallel to that of man. But they are invisible to human eyes in their natural form. The Arabic word “Jinn” is from the verb “Jannah” which means to hide. Some other words from the same verb root are given names such as Janin and Janan which mean embryo and heart respectively to reflect their hidden nature. Jinn, like human beings, are in races and tribes. Their activities are elicited by their various cultures and traditions. Some of them are called fairy. Some are called demons and some are called devils depending on their roles in the lives of human beings. In Islam, the unbelievers among Jinns are called Shaytan (Satan) the plural of which is Shayatin and their paramount king is called Iblis. We first heard of Iblis in some verses revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by Allah in the Qur’an.

Shortly after the creation of Adam, Allah asked the Angels, with Iblis in their midst, to prostrate to him (Adam). They did but Iblis refused. And, when asked why he refused to obey the command of Allah, he said he (Iblis), created from the flame of fire was superior to whatever was created from the soil. That was the beginning of hostility between man and Jinn as declared by Iblis on the premise of envy. Noting this hostility, Allah warned Adam and Hawau (Eve) to steer clear of the antics of Iblis and his disciples in order not to be lured to perdition. But with cunning and intrigue, Iblis succeeded in demoting the first human couple. The rest is history.

Types of Jinn

Jinn are of various heights, sizes and colours just like humans. They also have different languages and cultures depending on the race or tribe to which they belong. But one unique feature with which they are commonly endowed and, which man lacks, is the ability to change into anything they want at will. Jinn are believed to have lived on earth for millions of years before the creation of man. It was from the experience of their lawlessness and bloody existence while they held sway on earth that the Angels got the idea which informed their initial objection to the creation of man. Without such experience the Angels would not have attempted to advise Allah “not to put on earth again those who would vandalize it and shed blood therein” as contained in Q. 2, Verse 31. Neither would they have known what is called blood.

Jinn are everywhere in the world today. They are in every home, community, country and continent. Jinn live in people’s homes as much as they live in people’s hearts and wombs. It is possible to marry jinn as a wife or as a husband without knowing. It may sound odd but the truth is that most people keep jinn in their homes in the name of children. There are Jinn in the schools, in the markets, in the industries, in the offices, as well as in the Mosques and Churches.

The Jinn in Human Environment

The constant human tampering with the ecosystem has compelled the Jinn to change their style of living. Hitherto, they lived in the forests, in the mountains, in rivers, in trees and in certain animals. But as towns and cities emerge from the ravages of the forests and mountains the Jinn take to human homes as abodes thereby sharing from man’s immediate environment in all aspects. Today, Jinn do not only live in human houses, farms and offices, they also live inside their hearts, brains and blood. If there is anything called colonisation in the real sense, it is the occupation of human space and time by the Jinn. That human marriages which were once sacred do not last any longer and societal harmony, once taken for granted, has become a luxury are a sign of Jinn’s demonic grip on earth. Most people in authority who we call Presidents, Kings, Queens, Governors, Ministers and law makers have significant traits of Jinn which have transformed into humans. Politicians particularly fit very accurately a Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) which described a hypocrite as a person who lies while speaking and reneges on promise and betrays trust. Here in Africa, only a few Heads of States do not show the traits of Jinn, judging by their utterances and actions. And that is why decisions of those so-called leaders were based on ‘a do or die’ affair as in the case of Nigeria and Zimbabwe in recent times.

In Arabic language, a person is said to be demonised (majnun) when his/her conduct is devoid of human feeling. To be demonized is to act deliriously especially where human touch is expected to take the front burner. It is not a surprise, therefore, that some people in authority reflect some traits of megalomania in their bid to display power. Such people are, no doubt, from the yoke of Satan. However, Jinn, as special creatures, do not represent all that is bad. There are good ones among them. Some of them are even more pious than human beings. In Islam, the good Jinn are said to be the disciples of Ifrit.

Jinn in the Qur’an

In the Qur’an, Jinn are mentioned about 35 times in relation to their activities and good or bad nature. A whole chapter of the Qur’an (chapter 72) is dedicated to the Jinn especially the good ones among them. It is about this category of Jinn that Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “Say it is revealed to me that a group of Jinn listened to Allah’s revelation and said: “We have heard a wonderful revelation (The Qur’an) giving guidance to the right path. We believe in it and shall henceforth serve none besides our Lord. Exalted is His glory. He has taken no wife neither has He begotten any child. The ignorant ones amongst us have uttered wanton falsehood against Allah even though no man or Jinn is supposed to tell what is untrue of Him…” Q.72, Verses 1-7. Just as good people are scarce so are good Jinn. The latter associate only with good people and relate to them as comrades in faith. In the same vein, the evil Jinn relate to evil people in the spirit of give and take. No evil Jinn can be so friendly with any human being as not to demand 10 advantages in return for only one he has offered. Men who cultivate friendship with Jinn for the purpose of getting rich quick usually and invariably pay dearly for such. When you hear of mysterious death of a wife or that of a husband or even that of a child, watch out, a Jinn is at work somewhere around. Such Jinn are not known for serving man for free. They see us as permanent rivals who must be dealt with for displacing them on earth. And their active way of dealing with human beings is to offer carrot which they know that evil men will not reject. To them, carrot is not a free offer. It must be followed by stick. It is not by accident that children are born these days with two heads, four legs and at times without faces. The workings of Jinn are more effective in the dead nights or in the day when the sun is at its peak. Pregnant women who wander about at these odd times are likely to have encounters with the evil Jinn. And, in such a situation, the Jinn easily supplant the fetus in them leading to the bearing of strange monsters in the name of children.

Cohabiting with the Jinn

While good Jinn live or mill around Mosques and cemeteries with the intention of cleansing those environments, the evil Jinn live in the toilets, refuse bins and the like. That is why Muslims are not supposed to talk inside the toilet except for emergency. And they should not stay a second longer than necessary therein. Most people do not know the danger inherent in leaving the toilet doors of their homes ajar especially when such toilets are un-kept. It is an ignorant way of providing abode for evil Jinn who fuel matrimonial crises from time to time and use reptiles and insects like spiders and wall echoes to harass the inhabitants. The situation of the world today is such that human beings are the ones living in the midst of Jinn and not vice versa.

Using wealth, women and wine as fetters, Satan seems to have conquered the world from the orient to the occident by gild-washing evils and trivialising good even as his agents are active in furthering his course on all fronts. Today, there are men everywhere but no husbands are available. Women are as numerous as the sands of the desert but only a few of them can be called wives in the Islamic or African cultural sense. Today, parents are scorned by their children. Students treat their teachers with disdain. Teachers take undue advantage of their students before letting them cross the huddles of examinations. Doctors and nurses who were once seen as good Samaritans are now the merchants of death and sellers of foetus and human parts. People who are designated judges are the custodians and incubators of injustice. Religious sanctuaries have been turned into satanic shrines where men and women are duped or satanically hypnotised daily. Those we once venerated as clergy have audaciously become Lucifer reincarnate. Fathers impregnate their daughters. Mothers seduce their sons into abominable sex and gays are consecrated as Bishops.

Allies of Jinn

All the abominations against which we were warned in the Qur’an and the Bible have now been turned into ‘profitable’ trades and professions. And the yardstick for measuring which crime should be punished and which should not is the social status of the criminal. If, for instance, you are not a legislator, a minister, a Governor or a chief executive of a bank or a politician of note, do not pilfer. If you do and are caught, you will liable to the full wrath of the law. And on the other hand, you can only be said to have embezzled and not stolen if you are one of those wielding power in the country. In other words, embezzlement is for the upper class while theft is for the pedestrian masses. And the one deserves official forgiveness while the other must forced to pass through the whole length of law process. The law of the land has no meaning to the satanic forces governing the country. Once you belong to the right cult you are above the law. As a result of this, Nigeria, a country of natural boom is now a nation of satanic doom.

The Big Question

Who will rescue this land from the scourge of demons? Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had proffered solution to all these evil forces when he asked the Muslims to listen to the words of Allah by reading the Qur’an and speak with Him (Allah) by prostrating in prayer. Those are two things that the evil Jinn do not want to see or hear of. They flee from where the Qur’an is constantly recited and from where human beings often prostrate to Allah. As Muslims, which of these can you not do to save the future from the bondage of the present?

Preamble

History is an invisible object with two wings flying across generations in time and space. One wing is positive, the other is negative. With history, the present becomes the heritage of the past even as the future awaits the baton of continuity from the present. No living nation or tribe or even individual can dream of a realisable future without a viable present based on the experience of the past. The web of life is like a magnet which no iron element can bypass on its way to ornamental glory.

What is Nigeria going through today?

Against what ought to be her heritage, Nigeria is, today, passing through a fabric of uncertainty as she rolls back the fibres of the future into those of the present and weaves both into the vestiges of the past. Such is a sign of a dead nation waiting to be buried. What war is not ravaging Nigeria today in spite of Allah’s abundant bounties? The forces of the present seem to have connived with those of the past in planning to wrestle the future aground thereby depriving the generations yet unborn of any hope of existence. From all indications, Nigerians live in a country where the ruled are evidently enslaved to their rulers.

For decades, this country had been forced by her so-called rulers to fight wars ranging from political to economic to social and to ethnic without winning any. Now, a religious war with political ember is being added. Religion is likened to opium in human beings because of its seeming addictive effect on an average believer. Literally, opium means a brownish gummy extract from unripe seed of the opium poppy that contains highly addictive narcotic alkaloid substances like morphine and codeine. When such a substance is mixed with an unstable powdery matter, it turns it into a disadvantageous hardened substance.

Thus, like a billow vigorously storming around at the instance of an invisible tempest, a melee of religious hullabaloo engendered by a vicious political Pandora has virtually turned Nigeria into a land of curses.

The Role of Religion

Ordinarily, by its design and intent, religion is supposed to be not only a panacea for all human psychological ailments but also a soothing balm for any spiritual ache. Ironically, it has been turned into a poison in our society which seemingly has no provision for an antidote. And through our attitudes, we seem to be bent on swallowing the pill of that poison.

The factors that culminated in what we now variously call religious militancy, extremism, fanaticism and terrorism emanated only from the yoke of ignorance which bad governance has come to aid. And could anything have influenced bad governance as much as ignorance? Yet ignorance would not have had a role to play in our religious or political lives if we had demonstrated the will to genuinely follow the tenets of our religions and learned from the lessons of history without banking on mere assumption and rumour. History as a teacher always has a lesson to teach those who are ready to learn. But unfortunately, most human beings especially Nigerians refuse to learn any lesson from history and the price is what we are paying today.

Zik and Ahamdu Bello

In 1962, Nigeria’s Governor General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (who later became Nigeria’s first President), paid a three day official courtesy visit to the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello in Kaduna. He was accompanied by his wife, Flora. The host Premier mobilised all the paraphernalia of office in honour of his guests whom he gave an unprecedented, flamboyant hospitality. The visit enabled their wives to become so familiar with each other that Flora also invited the Bellos to the East on a similar visit. By the end of the visit, Dr. Azikiwe had become so much impressed that at the point of departure he held Ahmadu Bello’s hands and gently told him to “Let us forget our differences”.

In response to that emotional but infatuating gesture however, Sir Ahmadu Bello said in an equally gentle but emotional baritone voice: “No sir! Rather than forgetting our differences, let us understand them. I am a Muslim and a Northerner. You are a Christian and a Southerner. It is only by identifying and understanding those differences that our friendliness can truly endure”. There and then, Dr. Azikiwe nodded in agreement with his host’s logic and accepted the fact that one could not forget what is not understood.

The lesson to learn from this experience is that of mutual understanding without pretentiously sweeping anything under the carpet. That is the principle upon which the marriage of political strange fellows who find themselves in the same political party is often based in Nigeria. It is also the principle upon which the partnership of many Nigerian businessmen and women is based despite their cultural incompatibility.

Witchcraft in Religion

For thousands of years, peoples of all races and tribes across the world thrived vaingloriously on cultural ignorance attributing their calamities to mysterious forces and blaming such mysteries on what they called witchcraft. Here in Nigeria, millions of children were forced to die in infancy by their own parents out of sheer ignorance while the same parents turned round to blame what they called ‘ABIKU or OGBANJE’ for the mass infanticide. With time, however, education and knowledge of science brought about the invention of various vaccines with which children are now immunised against all diseases thereby giving them the opportunity to survive. And this has enabled us to know today that the mystery once called ‘ABIKU or OGBANJE’ was a euphemism for ignorance in the days of ignorance.

And now that the days of cultural ignorance seem to be over, Nigerians have devised another means of restiveness by shifting to religious ignorance which enables them to replace the infanticide of the yore with modern day genocide in the name of religion. It is however hoped that one day, knowledge will also help us to overcome the spectre of religious ignorance and enable tomorrow’s generations to tell the story as we are doing today about ‘ABIKU or OGBANJE’.

One Religion

If it had pleased the Almighty Allah to make all human beings one single race with one colour, one tongue and one religion, He would have done so without receiving any query from anybody. But as the Omnipresent and Omnipotent, His decision to diversify His creatures cannot be faulted as it is from that diversity that all creatures have consistently derived benefits. In the world today, there are different races and tribes of human beings with different colours, languages and cultures each functioning as predestined and yet they all interact positively with one another to the benefit of all and sundry. This is in accordance with the words of Allah in Chapter 49 verse 13 of the Qur’an thus: “Oh mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and classified you into races and tribes that you may interact with one another (and thereby draw from the advantages therein). Verily, the most honourable of you before Allah is the most pious among you. Allah is All-knower and most acquainted with all things”.

What is true of human beings here is equally true of other creatures. For instance we can all see that on a single arable plot of land, a variety of plants may grow to form an orchard but each with different foliages and fruits. Some of those fruits may be sweet, some may be bitter and some may be sour. Some plants may be fruitful and some may be fruitless. On that same plot of land some may grow to become trees of gargantuan posture while others may not grow beyond ordinary shrubs and legumes. Yet they are all fed by the same soil, watered by the same rain and photosynthesized by the same sun. Their different foliages, sizes, heights and tastes notwithstanding, they all function effectively and advantageously according to the purpose for which they are created.

In the ecosystem, no tree in an orchard will ever accuse another of bearing fruits different from its own and no animal will blame another for carrying a different feature or wearing a different colour. Neither will a whale denigrate even a fingerling in the ocean for sharing the same water with it. Ditto the world of birds and that of insects. Even as plants, animals, aquatics, birds and insects they all know that for everything Allah creates there is a purpose which may not be known to them as creatures. It is only among human beings that discrimination and segregation exist based on ignorance.

Religion like Embassy

In Islam, all revealed religions are believed to be like an embassy established by a nation in another nation to strengthen her relationship with the host country. The Ambassadors appointed to manage such embassy, may be changed from time to time just like the foreign policy which guides those ambassadors but the embassy remains intact barring any unforeseen circumstances. So is the case with the Prophets of Allah. They might have come at different times, and from different lands and tribes. They might have brought different books and spoken different languages but their mission was one and the same.

Muslims believe that all the Prophets and Messengers who have come into the world to guide mankind were from one and the same God who created and sustains the universe. Thus, Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael) Ishaq (Isaac), Musa (Moses), Daud (David), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) as well as others who preceded them or came in-between them brought the same message of monotheism through which mankind was counselled to worship one God and be upright in conduct.

As a Muslim, you cannot believe in one of those Apostles and disbelieve in others. Neither can you believe in one of the revealed Books while disbelieving in others. That is why no true adherent of Islam will ever express foul language against the person of Jesus. Though the modalities for worship may differ from faith to faith and from sanctuary to sanctuary this does not change the course of their faith in only one God. Thus, the rivalry between Muslims and Christians especially in Nigeria over who is spiritually right or wrong is a product of ignorance.

Areas of Cooperation

As taught by Christianity and Islam through their respective revealed Books, the areas of life that need our cooperation are by far more comprehensive than those in which we differ. For instance, both the Bible and the Qur’an counsel humanity to worship one God. They preach good deeds to neighbours and other fellow human beings in public and in private irrespective of religious lineage. They advocate good care of our parents, our children, the aged ones amongst us and the handicapped. They urge kindness to our wives and leniency with our adversaries. They admonish us against cheating and any form of corruption. They forbid theft, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and above all the killing of fellow human beings extra-judicially for whatever reason. They also warn us against provocation, aggression, exploitation and transgression even as they emphasize the ephemerality of this world and the eventuality of the hereafter. In all these, we have a common affinity to jointly guard.

The few areas in which we differ are abstract and quite personal. They are not areas in which human beings are given the power to pass judgment. Only the Almighty God can judge on them. Such are the areas which we believe will pave our ways towards the Paradise. But since paradise is for individuals and not for religious blocks why are we fighting each other? After all, the journey to Paradise or Hell is a matter of choice for every individual. And no one can tell with precision who will go to Paradise or go to Hell. Such is the prerogative of God which He has not assigned to any human being and which no human being can and should arrogate to himself or herself except one who wants to play God.

Perceiving God According to Faith

As an adherent of a religion, you can only perceive your God according to your faith and that should not cause any rancour between you and adherents of any other religion. As Nigerians, we dwell in the same country, eat the same foods, drink the same water, wear similar dresses trade in the same markets and spend the same money. Our children attend the same schools, write the same examinations and obtain the same certificates. We intermarry across tribes and ethnicities as well as religions. All these form a stronger bond that ought to unite us much more than the abstract ones which often threaten to separate us. In a situation where the factors of life that unite us grossly surpass those that divide us will it not be stupid to sacrifice unity and cooperation?

This is the time for change. We cannot wait any longer. Let the Christians in Nigeria engage in Crusade and the Muslims in Jihad against all vices in the society which their two revealed Books (Bible and Qur’an) abhor. Let all of us jointly work towards upholding the values of life as contained in the Bible and the Qur’an that we may find ourselves in a new world of peace and harmony in the very near future.