Category: Femi Abbas

By Femi Abbas

Monologue

From all observable angles, the Nigerian media, as championed by the South West axis of professional journalism, is the main arena to which Nigerian Muslims are regularly drawn into a spiritual war. And, of course, Islam is the main target of its satanic missiles. If there is any religious tension in the country, at any time, the media is where to search for its cause. The bellicose news reports deliberately aimed at maligning Islam and denigrating the exemplary personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), directly or indirectly, can only be read on the pages of Nigerian newspapers or heard on Nigerian radio station. The act is a typical obnoxious way of practising journalism as a profession.

Preamble

In response to a particular question coming incessantly to this column from various sources, yours sincerely decided to recall an article published in this column in 2007, which answers the recurring question. The enquirers wanted to know why Muslims and their activities were not as prominently reported in Nigerian media as those of their Christian counterparts.

Excerpt

An excerpt from the article with which I provided an answer to that question went as follows:

“Information is power. It can make or mar. An informer must be informed. He must know what kind of information to disseminate. He must know, not only when and where to disseminate such information but also how to disseminate it. These are the factors that make journalists professionals in their calling.

Journalism as a profession is not about news gathering, news reporting and news dissemination alone. It is also about the methodology of disseminating information and transmitting   education as well as dishing out entertainment randomly, to the public, at the right time and in the right manner. That is why a journalist is universally considered to be a professional who knows or should know something about virtually everything.  To be a thorough professional, therefore, a journalist must be an all rounder in various fields of discipline. He cannot report the space exploration without some scientific knowledge of astronomy. He cannot report war without some knowledge of weaponry and the geography of the war areas as well as the socio-cultural history of the warring groups or nations involved. Besides, no well trained journalist can report a religious activity without knowing some jargons of the religion in question.

And, of course, in the process of filing his reports, a professional journalist must be conscious of the technical sequence to be followed. This is generally known in the profession as ‘five W’s and H’. The coded cliché here is interpreted as follows: “Who (does) What? Where? When? Why? and How?” Without practical knowledge of that sequence, a journalist cannot be qualified to be called a professional.

The Norm of Journalism

From whatever angle journalism is viewed, therefore, knowledge remains the main axis around which its practitioners’ activities must rotate. No ignorant person can be genuinely accommodated in that noble profession. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had foreseen this before he recommended knowledge seeking to his companions. He said: “Seek knowledge even if you will have to travel to China”. That was at a time when China was known to be the farthest place from Arabia.

Essence of Knowledge

Nothing in the life of man is comparable to knowledge. As a matter of fact, life is worthwhile only if it is based on knowledge.

That was why the first revelation in the Qur’an started on the premise of knowledge. The very first chapter of that Sacred Book commenced thus: “Read in the name of your Lord who created; He created man from clots of congealed blood. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, who taught by the pen, He, (Allah) taught man what he (man) did not know…”.  And, to further emphasize this, the Prophet said that “knowledge is missing, Muslims should search for it wherever they can find it”. He did not restrict such knowledge to that of religion alone. Without knowledge, there can be no right information.

How  Journalism began

Contrary to the falsehood documented and disseminated, by the Western world that journalism started in Germany in the 15th century, it was the Muslims who actually started journalism in Arabia over 1400 years ago. Although, they did not call it journalism, it was they who started what we now call journalism through the process that the early Muslims followed in documenting Hadith (the tradition and rightly guided statements of Prophet Muhammad).

In order to prevent false documentation of any fabricated statements in the name of the Prophet, some Muslim researchers took up the task of ascertaining what the Prophet actually said or did as against what some prominence-seekers were trying to attribute to him. It was a thorough investigative job voluntarily done by certain individuals to retain the authenticity of Islam through Hadith. Foremost among such great researchers were Abdullah Bn Abbas, Abdullah Bn Mas’ud, Malik Bn Anas, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisai, Ibn Majah and a host of others.

For the purpose of authenticity, those great scholars introduced what they called the ‘Chain of Narrations’ (Isnad). Through that Chain, they were able to trace the source of every reported Hadith to the Prophet who was quoted to have expressed it. Such narrations were graded as: Sahih (perfectly authentic); Hasan (genuine); Hasanun Sahih (genuine and authentic); Munqat’  (broken); Garib (strange) and so forth.

Thus, from its final documentation through this process, Hadith was transmitted from generation to generation just as we transmit news stories today in journalism profession. Without the great effort of those researchers, the world would have been flooded today with all sorts of fabricated expressions credited to the Prophet. And, such fabrications would have thrown the Muslim Ummah into total confusion even as Islam itself would have been shrouded in doubt.

The First Minister in Islam

The very first Minister appointed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was that of information.

The black man from Abyssinia, called Bilal, who was charged with informing Muslims of the time of Salat by making ‘Adhan’, was Minister of Information. That shows how important information is in Islam.

Inception of Journalism in Nigeria

When journalism, as we know it today, was introduced to Nigeria, by the colonialists, at Abeokuta, in 1859, it was through the Christian perception and mentality of the colonial masters. Although, the earliest Nigerian journalists were quick to realize the power of the Press which they used to fight for Nigerian independence, they nevertheless, inherited some colonial traditions which are still causing disharmony in our society today. One of such traditions is religious sentiment, which was an instrument of negative evangelism that pervades Nigeria today. For instance, an average Nigerian journalist does not see anything positive in Islam as a religion because he/she is so blatantly ignorant of its tenets according to the level of the introduction embedded in the training of the profession.  This is not to say that journalists cannot understand Islam if given the opportunity and the right professional orientation, but the colonial tradition they inherited is such that they must not see anything good in any religion other than Christianity, which is the religion of the colonialists. And, for this reason, they had to follow the colonial Orientation in reporting Islam and the Muslims

according to their masters’ perception until very recently when that perception began to change in the West for various reasons.

Abuse of privilege

Even for well over a century after the introduction of journalism to Nigeria, the word ISLAM and MUSLIMS were reported in Nigerian media, like in European media, as Mohammedanism and Mohammedans respectively. It took the few Muslims in Europe at that time to counter that obnoxious but deliberate imposition before it was changed. Even as of today, and against the ethics of their profession, most Nigerian journalists take pleasure in writing or pronouncing ‘MOSLEM’ rather than ‘MUSLIM’ knowing fully well that the earlier is derogatory and abhorrent to Muslims.

In news reporting and even editorials of many newspapers, some journalists have ridiculously embarrassed themselves, their employers as well as their Muslim readers by confusing Eidul Adha with Eidul Fitr during Muslim festivals out of deliberate refusal to want to know anything about Islam. On the contrary, no Muslim journalist will ever confuse Christmas with Easter as Christian journalists do report Eidul Fitr during Eidul Adha festival.

Another instance is the seeming malicious manner in which some journalists do report the outbreak of events and occurrences in the country particularly at very sensitive times thereby compounding any religious problem at hand. It has virtually become a tradition in Nigerian media to describe youths who engage in any disturbing activities in the north as ‘fanatics’ or ‘fundamentalists’ or ‘zealots’ even before the details of whatever happened become known. And, in other parts of the country, such restive youths are merely reported as miscreants or militants or bandits by the same Christian journalists. The implication here is that any disturbance in the Muslim dominated area in the country must automatically be clad in the garb of Islamic religion which is perceived as the breeder of fanaticism.

These and other religiously insensitive reporting can be potentially dangerous for the corporate existence of this volatile country. We had witnessed many crises that were precipitated by such journalistic insensitivity in the remote and recent past. But the big question is: why are Nigerian Muslims apathetic to media employment?

Muslims in the Media

Muslims in the media must have good knowledge of Christianity and the culture of its adherents just as Christian journalist must know the dos and don’ts of Islam and the Muslims. Arabic is not a language meant for the Muslims alone. There are Christian Arabs who speak no language other than Arabic. And, there is no record anywhere to show that Prophet Isa (Jesus) ever spoke English which is the primary language of the Bible in Nigeria today.

Observation

Both Islam and Christianity came to meet us here in Nigeria. Why must we use them to destroy ourselves on the pages of newspapers or on the radio and television stations?

One of the responsibilities of the media is to ventilate a peaceful atmosphere for harmonious co-existence of the people. Thus as supposedly educated and civilized professionals, Nigerian journalists must not shirk such a fundamental responsibility at this age of the internet.

Admonition

For the sake of our collective survival, no combative or provocative journalism should be extended to religious sphere. We all need to live in harmony before we can expect any individual to be patriotic to our country. God save Nigeria!

By  Femi Abbas

Monologue

This article has to be repeated because it was not published in ‘The Message Column’, in ‘The Nation’ newspaper, on two consecutive Fridays, after the demise of Alhaji Lateef Jakande.

Many readers, especially, those living abroad, have been asking why the column was not published last Friday, hence the repetition here because of the message it carries. Please read on:

It was another  moment of global reference to archival diary of history, on Thursday (February 11, 2021).  The media waves suddenly throbbed, with breaking news announcing the demise of a frontline Nigerian Statesman, Journalist and political colossus,  Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande. That un-refutable breaking news could not be appealed because it was instigated by the verdict of destiny. However, what the announcers failed or forgot to add to the broadcast was that the man’s footprint, on the sands of time, would remain indelible for centuries.

That news, which reverberated across the length and breadth of the entire world, immediately became a reminder to Nigerians, that death is truly the leveler of mankind.

Jakande’s Prowess

Besides sheer political propaganda, through the media, if any Nigerian politician of the contemporary time is genuinely qualified to be described as “The President that Nigeria never had”, it should be Alhaji Lateef Jakande and not anyone else.

As a notable professional Journalist and a vertical politician of note, this man can be classified as greater in death than in life, through his non-such dedication to the service to humanity which has now become an unprecedented legacy in Nigerian democracy.

By all standards, Jakande was, naturally, a personification of service to humanity, not only as a Nigerian patriot but also as an exemplarily contented Muslim.

Evidence of Performance

As the only Muslim among the five Governors of the Unity party of Nigeria (UPN),  in the country’s second republic, Alhaji Lateef Jakande convincingly proved the worth of a real Muslim in thought and in action, by glaringly surpassing the performance records of most other Governors of his era in the country.

Without an iota of doubt, Alhaji Lateef Jakande was UPN’s undisputable model Governor and pace setter in service oriented performance, which earned him the appellation of ‘ACTION GOVERNOR’.

His Vision-Based Actions

When Alhaji Lateef Jakande became the Governor of Lagos State, in 1979, eight years, after  the Military Government that preceded his own government, took over schools in Lagos State, (in 1975), he knew that the people of Lagos would suffer educational setback because the few schools that were available in the State, at that time, could not effectively satisfy the educational yearnings of those people.

He therefore, quickly designed an education program that could put Lagos State ahead of all other States in Nigeria, at the primary and secondary school levels.

Within the 51 months (i. e. October 1, 1979 to December 31, 1983), of his stay in office, as Governor, Alhaji Jakande established hundreds of primary and secondary schools that provided the children of the grassroots people the privilege of attending schools, free of charge, in their various localities.

Proof of Dynamic Leadership

To prove the genuineness of his dynamic leadership with impeccable sincerity, Governor Jakande made sure that his own children also attended the same grassroots schools that he established for the children of the masses.

And, to the amazement of all and sundry, in Lagos State, Governor Jakande built over 2000 classrooms within the period of 51 months that he spent in office as Governor, and limited the number of pupils in each classroom to 40 even as he canceled the school attendance shifting system which many people had thought to be impossible.

His Conception of LASU

For the first time ever, at the State level, Governor Jakande conceived the idea of Establishing a State University, at Ijanikin, near Badagry, and executed it with immediate effect and automatic alacrity in 1983. It was named

Lagos State University (LASU).

Not only that, as alternative tertiary institutions for secondary school certificate holders, who might be unable to gain admission into LASU or any other University, he also established a Polytechnic called Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) at Isolo and a College of Education (LACOEDU), near LASU, which was later renamed Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education. All of these were reasonably made cheap for students from poor homes, whose parents might not be able to afford the cost of tertiary education. And, as a Governor with human feeling, he ensured the boosting of scholarship and provision of bursary for indigent students in those tertiary institutions. Today, most of the graduates of those institutions constitute the bulk of the State’s civil servants and the hub of man power in the private sector of the State as well as that of the country and, even, many other countries outside Nigeria.

Other UPN States

It is historically notable that the pace of giant strides set by Alhaji Jakande, in Lagos State, became the model of emulation in governance which other Governors had to vigorously follow in what seemingly looked like a progressive competition among their States.

Thus, such institutions as Ogun State University which was later renamed as Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State; Bendel State University, which was later renamed Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State and Ondo State University, which was later renamed as Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State, sprang up in those States.

Exception

It was only in Oyo State, where no State University was established by Governor Bola Ige, because of the two existing Federal Universities (i.e. University of Ibadan (UI) and University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University), respectively, that no University was renamed after any Governor in that State.

Befitting Secretariat

To create a conducive environment and progressive reasoning for the State’s civil servants Governor Jakande established a befitting secretariat for the State and a State House of Assembly at a very convenient place, in Ikeja, to ease people’s access to the seat of the government.

His Housing Scheme

As a people’s Governor who knew the negative implication of homelessness on the psyche of the people, in his State, Alhaji Jakande designed a massive housing scheme through which he provided over 30000 houses for both the lower and middle class income earners across the State, within the four years and three months that he spent in office as Governor. Without the provision of those houses, at that right time, only God knows the extent of accommodation problem that would have overcome Lagos by now.

His Metro Line Plan

One of the visionary measures that Governor Jakande  took to ameliorate the problem of bottleneck  transportation, in Lagos State, was to design an intra-city mass commuter rail system called metro line, the first of its type in Africa, at that time, which would have commenced full operation by 1985, if the military coup that abruptly terminated the country’s second republic had not occurred to turn the pleasant social dream of that metro line plan into a social nightmare. That the military government which terminated Nigeria’s second republic cancelled that great project and diverted the funds earmarked for it, was one of the social misfortunes obviously unleashed on Lagos State, the agony of which is still being felt  by all and sundry today. Actually, the cancelation of a metro line plan, at that time, in a water-logged State, like Lagos, was nothing less than an economic lockdown for Nigeria.

His Information Management Program

As a veteran Journalist, who knew the value of information dissemination, Governor Jakande also established a Radio Station which he named Radio Lagos and followed it up with a Television Station which he branded as Lagos State Television (LTV). That was in the same year of 1983. Today, the vibrancy of those media outfits are unquantifiable in terms of information dissemination, mass mobilization of the people and mass human empowerment.

In all these, most other progressive Governors in the country had no choice but to copy some of Jakande’s great plans as evidence of action governance, if only to show that democracy was more responsive to people’s yearnings than any dictatorial military governance.

His Health Program

When Alhaji Lateef Jakande first assumed office as Governor of Lagos State, in October 1979, one of his first areas of concern was the health of his people. He knew that no progressive plan could be pursued or executed successfully,  without sound health for the people.

He therefore established General Hospital in each of the six zones in Lagos State with free treatment for the patients.

As a matter of fact, Governor Jakande’s record of performance is a peculiar reference point for the present and future Governors or even Presidents of Nigeria.

If Nigeria had been fortunate to have a personality like Governor Jakande as President, it would have been a golden opportunity for Africa to raise its head, with confidence, as a  hopeful region in the global setting.

Personal Observation

As the pioneer Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande was like an elephant surrounded by a group of blind men. Each of those blind men can only be able to describe the part he is able to touch on the body of that mammoth animal and not the whole of it. We pray the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss with mercy and grant his family the needed fortitude with which to cope with life after his demise.

Recommendation

Now, without prejudice to whatever the Lagos State government, under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu may be planning, as a show of appreciation to this great man, ‘The Message’ column hereby recommends that LASU be renamed Lateef Kayode Jakande University (LKJU) in appreciation of his historic giant strides and in encouragement of future leaders in Lagos State.

Today, the Universities which the other UPN Governors established for their States, in emulation of Governor Jakande’s action governance, have been renamed after those Governors following their demise.

If the Universities established by the pioneer civilian Governors in other South West States of Nigeria could be named after those Governors, that of LASU must not be an exception. What is good for the goose must also be good for the gander.

God bless Lagos state, God bless Nigeria!

God bless Lagos State, God bless Nigeria!

By  Femi Abbas

Monologue

Nights are pregnant. They give birth to wonders in the days. The paradoxical issues between days and nights are like those of the cloudy sky which is earnestly expected to pour down rain water for crops to grow. If rain falls, it is not because of any expectation. Rather, it is because the Almighty Allah has a message to pass to a section of the world through the rain water. After all, the cloudy sky could have throbbed through the environment either with a wild storm or a devastating tempest, if not for Allah’s mercy.

Preamble

As human beings, we do many things without noticing the role of a third eye around us. It is only when the effect or outcome of such a role is pronounced to the hearings of the world that we try to adjust, either by increasing the tempo, for posterity sake, or by relenting, out of complacency. Two remarkable events came up during this week, each of which warranted profound appreciation to people who played distinguished roles in them, directly or indirectly.

One was a special prayer which the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (USWEN)  organized for the success of a trusted brother, Barrister Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, the Chairman of National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), in piloting the affairs of Hajj operations in Nigeria and in ivoking the mercy of Allah to bail out Nigeria from the malti-faceted calamity that is currently threatening her corporate existence as a united and indivisible country.

The second event was the recognition of yours sincerely as the ‘Nigerian Muslim Media Person of the Year 2020’. The selection of yours sincerely for that spectacular recognition was done by a foremost Nigerian Muslim Social Media called ‘The Muslim Media Faculty’ in collaboration with the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN). The latter is the highest professional ‘Muslim Media’ body in Nigeria. Although both events came up during the days of Sunday, February 7, 2021 and Monday, February 8, 2021, respectively, the ratification of their conceptions had been done in the serenity of the preceding nights. The details of the two events will be published in this column, in a foreseeable future in sha’Allah.

The Third Eye

Who could have thought that the paltry messages dished out to the world from this column every Friday has been attracting the attention of some observers with a mark of notice?

Last Monday, February 8, 2021 was a rare day of a uniformed message from various countries around the world. And, the message had only one tone: CONGRATULATION!

That message was in reaction to the fortuitous announcement of the name ‘Femi Abbas’ as ‘Nigerian Muslim Media Person of the Year 2020’. The announcement was made through the blog of ‘Muslim Media Faculty’.

The magnitude of the barrage of congratulatory messages that bombarded me through the throbs of android phones, the Gmail and Social Media, generally, from all parts of the world, cannot be vividly described here. Although I am personally averse to conferment of awards, as a matter of principle, the fact that a fast growing Muslim Media outfit like ‘Muslim Media Faculty’ came up with such  recognition could not be ignored if only to encourage excellent media work by Muslim professionals. It had always been my fervent wish and prayer to see a well groomed, vociferous media outfit like ‘Muslim Media Faculty’ to come up as a competent and surpassing successor to ‘The Message’ column. Thus, when ‘The Muslim Media Faculty’ emerged with an incredible ability to keep the flag flying, I considered it as an act of ingratitude to Allah not to acknowledge the laudable activities of that outfit with a befitting appreciation. After all, it takes only a sound performer to recognize good performance in other people. And, in journalism, it is your work, rather than your boastful words of mouth that shows who you are in meaningful terms.

Growth of Ability

Ability to speak or write is a special gift from the AlmightyAllah. With time, such ability may grow to become a hobby which may be developed into a specialized   skill. And, with further training and advanced experience, the skill may become an appreciable profession that will be emulated by thousands of others.

Speaking, no matter how eloquently it may be, cannot be as important as getting audience for it. A speaker can be classified as an orator only by his audience. Radio and television broadcasters as well as public motivational speakers can testify to this assertion.

Writing Skill

The similitude of an orator, on a radio or television station, is like that of an author of books or a weekly columnist in reputable newspapers or magazines. Thus, as a writer, he/she can be celebrated or denigrated only by his readers. However, any writer who takes his readers for granted can only do so at his/her own peril. Such a writer may not be qualified for an author or a columnist.

Reminiscence

Ever since the privilege of writing this column (The Message) came to yours sincerely, in The Nation newspaper, in September, 2006, no week has passed by without receiving a barrage of reactions from many countries. Even on some occasions, when the column was not published, for one reason or another, reactions never ceased to come in torrents.

The reason for this was not just because I called the column a participatory one in its maiden edition but mostly because some ardent readers who had long been familiar with it, since its inception, in the now defunct Concord newspaper, in 1982, appreciate its quality and acknowledge the methodology with which it is presented to showcase Islam, to the world, every Friday. For instance, on a particular article entitled: ‘NO! MR. PRESIDENT, NO!’, which was published in this column, on February 2, 2007, when a onetime Army General, (Chief) Olusegun Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo was at the twilight of his second tenure of four years in office, as a Nigerian President, and, he was alleged to be clandestinely planning for an unconstitutional third term in office, I received 189 phone calls, 107 text messages and 143 written comments through the e-mail, all in one day. That was about five months after the commencement of this column in The Nation newspaper, in 2006.

Comment

After I left Concord newspaper, in 1989, most readers of this column followed it to other newspapers such as Tehran Times, Vanguard, the Monitor and ‘The Nation’. Some even followed it to some foreign magazines such as The Inquiry, Al-Afkar, Africa Now, At-Tawheed and a host of others including academic journals. Thus, questions, observations and comments were consistently coming into the column from various parts of the world in form of reactions.

This is a confirmation that it is only a bad writer that will close his ears or eyes to readers’ comments, even if such comments are  reprobative.

Reactions

It should be noted that the few reactions received over some publications, more than a decade ago, and published here below were randomly selected from the piling chunk in my kitty at that time. Those reactions were, however, not necessarily better or more important than many others which were not published then.

While thanking all the readers of this 39 year old column, particularly those who have been reacting to it from home and from abroad, since its inception, for their encouragement and well wish. I pray the Almighty Allah to appreciate their good intentions and encouraging spirit, as He (Allah) alone, can reward them abundantly.

First Meeting With the Sultan

It came as an undreamt surprise when my telephone rang at exactly 11.50 am on the first Sunday in February, 2007. My first reaction after picking the call was: “who is on the line, please?” especially when the call came without a recognizable   identity. In answering my question the caller only identified himself as SA’AD ABUBAKAR. I immediately searched my brain for a possible familiarization with that name. But while doing that, I did not know that I was repeating the name ‘Sa’ad Abubakar’ in a seeming soliloquy until His Eminence said: “Ah! Don’t you know anybody bearing that name?” And, in my reaction, I said “well! the only person I can think of, that bears that name is the new Sultan”. It was then that His Eminence said: “alright, this is the Sultan”. At that moment, I became so dumfounded that I did not know what to say again. The only clear words that I could utter were “Your Eminence!” before I went stammering. I was simply overwhelmed. In that telephone conversation,

His Eminence expressed deep appreciation of my writings with a tone of royal commendation saying he had been reading my column since its days in the now defunct Concord Newspaper. He counseled me never to relent, especially in calling a spade a spade as I had been doing. And, as the Commander of the Muslim faithful, (Amirul Muminin), he showered me with royal prayers and promised to be calling again in future.

That was one telephone call that made, not just my day, but probably my year. It was one reaction that confirmed my observation expressed in this column about this new Sultan shortly after his installation in 2006.

By that surprise call alone, the new Sultan added to the chain of “FIRSTS’ which I had listed in the mentioned article. In my 25 years of experience in journalism, as at that time, I could not remember an occasion when any public figure of Sultan’s status ever made a similar call to any ‘common journalist’ except when seeking a media favour.

A Lunch With His Eminence

About two weeks after the above narrated encounter with him, His Eminence called again to invite me to Kaduna from Ibadan for a launch with him. And, at his palace in Kaduna, This great Sultan sat down with me on bare carpet where we took a special launch together. That was my first experience of royal conduct in Nigeria’s Sultanate.

By his conduct and actions so far, since he came to the exhalted throne, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has shown, by all means, an exemplary leadership for other Nigerian leaders or aspiring leaders to emulate. With him, we are being reminded of the Caliphate time of Umar Bn Khattab and Umar Bn Abdul Aziz as a confirmation that leadership is neither by vicious display of force nor by crude bully and animalistic brutality. May the Almighty Allah be merciful to Nigerian Muslim Ummah by preserving the life of this Sultan for the good of this world and that of the Hereafter. We also pray that the flame of His Eminence’s crescent glows brazenly for a long, long time to come without experiencing an eclipse. Amin.

More Reactions

Femi Abbas! It is unimaginable that a one time obscure Arabic pupil who never had the opportunity of a secondary school education could become suca global tutor of knowledge and discipline as you are today. I remember how we used to make jest of you by calling you Alfa. Our thought then was that going to Arabic school was the dead end for anybody to achieve anything through education in life. How I wish we could realise our folly then. Your case has further confirmed that greatness in life is never tied to Western type of literacy. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) never attended any school at all. Neither was he literate in any language. Yet he became the greatest teacher that the world has ever seen. Who can thwart the work of Allah? Femi, all my friends and I read The Nation every Friday because of you and it is as if we are back in the classroom. It was Yakubu Oorelope, I hope you still remember him, who drew my attention to your column. You are doing us proud. Please, teach on. You have students in us. One day we shall meet again and compare notes. I am sure none of us will have the courage to call you by your first name that day. God give us life and time. I hope you can still remember Taoreed Adeshina Aderibigbe, the stubborn goal keeper at Ogba, Agege stadium in the hopeless days of the late 1960s? Until we see physically let me continue to see you in The Nation.

‘Shina Show’, Agege, Lagos.

I can no longer be surprised by your standard in writing. You have proved your mettle as you once told me that you dropped Foreign Affairs job for Journalism after the NYSC service, to prove a point. And, indeed, you have done that beyond any reasonable doubt. I only wish to remind you once again that you should compile all these invaluable articles into a book form as an indelible legacy. May God help you.

Idris O. Gasper, Abuja.

“Femi, thank you for your brilliant Friday sermons, coming up in form of a column. Without a gun or sword, you have voluntarily chosen to be the people’s soldier defending us fiercely against the raging tsunami of the satanic forces who, unfortunately, happen to be our rulers today. I particularly enjoy your writing on Mr. President’s perception of national security and of course, the one on EFCC. If columnists like you were many, who can call a spade its real name, perhaps Nigeria would not have slipped into the hands of devils. Please fire on. Your pen is mightier than their missiles”. Bayo Jemitan, Ilorin .

6″Hello! Femi, Reading your column every Friday is like drinking cold, fresh water after a long trek in a hot desert. I am not a Muslim, but I see your column as one for all good Nigerians and not Muslims alone. With your article: ‘NO! MR. PRESIDENT, NO!’ published on February 2, 2007, you have endeared me to The Nation Newspaper. If what you are doing in that column is what Muslims call Jihad then I am for it. Don’t rest on your oars. May God strengthen your fortress in all directions?” James Ahamisu, Asaba.

“Thank you for reminding us of the late great leader, General MurtalaMuhammed, in your article of last Friday titled-‘EFCC: LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD’. If anybody is qualified to be called the father of modern Nigeria it is General Murtala Muhammed and not the leopard called Obasanjo, now parading himself as such. Through your article, we still remember that great leader (MurtalaMuhammed)’ revolution, reformation and reorientation of Nigeria within six months of his governance. Murtala was an impartial creator and executor of ideas. He was an exemplary leader who started reformation of our society with himself. He surrendered his personal property to the state because he believed that he wrongly used his office to acquire it before he became Head of State. And, he never sold any state property to himself at give-away price. Neither did he flout the law of the land despite the fact that he was a military Head of State. That was a leader by all standards. He, and not an impostor, self-styled messier, should be called and recognized as the father of modern Nigeria” .Ademola Atolagbe, Owu, Abeokuta .

“Hello! Femi, you are not alone in your opinion on President Obasanjo’s misconception of national security. Having moved from the prison to the Presidency without rehabilitation and reorientation, the man lost touch with modern reality and ruled with a prisoner’s vision. He has forgotten how Abacha started and ended. Such is the characteristic of African leaders. By the time he leaves the office very soon, and joins the league of former Presidents, God willing, his eyes will be open to the reality of what Nigeria is. Those who refuse to learn from history will surely bear the brunt of history”.

OkeyIbeabuchi, Owerri.

By FEMI ABBAS 

Monologue

From all observable agles, the Nigerian media, as championed by the South West axis professional journalism, is the main arena to which the Muslims are regularly drawn into a spiritual war. And, Islam is the main target. If there is any religious tension in the country, at any time, the media is where to search for its cause. The bellicose news reports deliberately aimed at maligning Islam and denigrating Prophet Muhammad (SAW), directly or indirectly, can only be read on the pages of Nigeria newspapers or heard on Nigerian radio waves. The act is an obnoxious way of practising journalism.

Preamble

In response to a particular question coming incessantly to this column from every conceivable angle, yours sincerely decided to recall an article published in this column in 2007, which answers the recurring question. The enquirers wanted to know why Muslims and their activities are not as prominently reported in Nigerian media as those of their Christian counterparts.

Excerpt

An excerpt from the article with which I provided an answer to that question went as follows:

“Information is power. It can make or mar. An informer must be informed. He must know what information to disseminate. He must know, not only when and where to disseminate such information but also how to do it. These are the qualities that make journalists professionals in their calling.

Journalism as a profession is not about news gathering and news reporting alone. It is also about the methodology of disseminating information and transmitting   education as well as dishing out entertainment to the public. That is why a journalist is universally considered to be a professional who knows or should know something about virtually everything.  To be a thorough professional, therefore, a journalist must be an all rounder in various fields of discipline. He cannot report the space exploration without some scientific knowledge of astronomy. He cannot report war without some knowledge of weaponry and the geography of the war areas as well as the socio-cultural history of the warring groups or nations involved. Besides, no trained journalist can report a religious activity without knowing some jargons of the religion in question.

And, of course, in the process of filing his reports, a professional journalist must be conscious of the technical sequence to be followed. This is generally known in the profession as ‘five W’s and H’. The coded cliché here is interpreted as follows: “Who (does) What? Where? When? Why? and How?” Without practical knowledge of that sequence, a journalist cannot be qualified to called a professional.

The Norm of Journalism

From whatever angle journalism is viewed, therefore, knowledge remains the main axis around which its practitioner’s activities must rotate. No ignorant person can be genuinely accommodated in that noble profession.

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had foreseen this before he recommended knowledge seeking to his companions. He said: “Seek knowledge even if you will have to travel to China”. That was at a time when China was known to be the farthest place from Arabia.

Essence of Knowledge

Nothing in the life of man is comparable to knowledge. As a matter of fact, life is worthwhile only if it is based on knowledge.

That was why

the first revelation in the Qur’an started on the premise of knowledge. The very first chapter of that Sacred Book commenced thus: “Read in the name of your Lord who created; He created man from clots of congealed blood. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, who taught by the pen, (He) taught man what he (man) did not know…”.  And, to further emphasize this, the Prophet said that “knowledge is missing, Muslims should search for it wherever they can find it”. He did not restrict such knowledge to religion. Without knowledge, there can be no right information.

The beginning of Journalism

Contrary to the falsehood documented and disseminated by the Western world that journalism started in Germany in the 15th century, it was the Muslims who actually started journalism in Arabia over 1400 years ago. Though they did not call it journalism, it was they who started what we now call journalism through the process that the early Muslims followed in documenting Hadith (the tradition and rightly guided statements of Prophet Muhammad).

In order to prevent false documentation of any fabricated statements in the name of the Prophet, some Muslim researchers took up the task of ascertaining what the Prophet actually said or did as against what some prominence-seekers were trying to attribute to him. It was a thorough investigative job voluntarily done by certain individuals to retain the authenticity of Islam through Hadith. Foremost among such great researchers were Abu Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas’ud, Malik Bn Anas, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisai, Ibn Majah and a host of others.

For the purpose of authenticity, these great scholars introduced what they called the ‘Chain of Narrations’ (Isnad). Through that Chain, they were able to trace the source of every reported Hadith to the Prophet who was quoted to have expressed it. Such narrations were graded as: Sahih (indisputably genuine); Hasan (perfectly authentic); Hasanun Sahih (genuine and authentic); Munqat’  (broken); Garib (strange) and so forth.

Thus, from its final documentation through this process, Hadith was transmitted from generation to generation just as we transmit news stories today in journalism profession. Without the great effort of those researchers, the world would have been flooded today with all sorts of fabricated expressions credited to the Prophet. And such fabrications would have thrown the Muslim Ummah into total confusion even as Islam itself would have been shrouded in doubt.

The very first Minister appointed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was that of information.

The black man from Abyssinia, called Bilal, who was charged with informing Muslims of the time of Salat by making ‘Adhan’, was Minister of Information. That shows how important information is in Islam.

However, when journalism, as we know it today, was introduced to Nigeria at Abeokuta, in 1859, it was through the Christian perception and mentality of the colonial masters. Although the early Nigerian journalists were quick to realize the power of the Press which they used to fight for Nigerian independence, they nevertheless, inherited some colonial traditions which are still causing disharmony in our society today. One of such traditions is religious perception. For instance, an average Nigerian journalist does not see anything positive in Islam as a religion because he/she is blatantly ignorant of its tenets. This is not to say that journalists cannot understand Islam if given the opportunity, but the colonial tradition they inherited is such that they must not see anything good in any religion other than Christianity, which is the religion of the colonialists. And, for this reason, they had to follow the colonial Orientation in reporting Islam and the Muslims

according to the latter’s perception until very recently when that perception began to change in the West for various reasons.

Abuse of privilege

Even for well over a century after the introduction of journalism to Nigeria, the word ISLAM and MUSLIMS were reported in Nigerian media, like in European media, as Mohammedanism and Mohammedans respectively. It took the few Muslims in Europe at that time to counter that obnoxious but deliberate imposition before it was changed. Even as of today, and against the ethics of their profession, most Nigerian journalists take pleasure in writing or pronouncing ‘MOSLEM’ rather than ‘MUSLIM’ knowing fully well that the earlier is derogatory and abhorrent to Muslims.

In news reporting and even editorials of many newspapers, some journalists have ridiculously embarrassed themselves, their employers as well as their Muslim readers by confusing Eidul Adha with Eidul Fitr during Muslim festivals out of deliberate refusal to want to know anything about Islam. No Muslim journalist will ever confuse Christmas with Easter.

Another instance is the seeming malicious manner in which some journalists do report the outbreak of events and occurrences in the country particularly at very sensitive times thereby compounding any religious problem at hand. It has virtually become a tradition in Nigerian media to describe youths who engage in any disturbing activities in the north as ‘fanatics’ or ‘fundamentalists’ or ‘zealots’ even before the details of whatever happened become known. And, in other parts of the country, such restive youths are merely reported as miscreants or militants or bandits. The implication here is that any disturbance in the Muslim dominated area in the country must automatically be clad in the garb of Islamic religion which is perceived as the breeder of fanaticism.

These and other religiously insensitive reporting can be potentially dangerous for the corporate existence of this volatile country. We had witnessed many crises that were precipitated by such insensitivity in the remote and recent past. But the big question is: why are Nigerian Muslims apathetic to media employment?

Muslims in the Media

Muslims in the media must have good knowledge of Christianity and the culture of its adherents just as Christian journalist must know the dos and don’ts of Islam and the Muslims. Arabic is not a language meant for the Muslims alone. There are Christian Arabs who speak no language other than Arabic. And, there is no record anywhere to show that Prophet Isa (Jesus) ever spoke English which is the primary language of the Bible in Nigeria today. Both Islam and Christianity came to meet us here in Nigeria. Why must we use them to destroy ourselves on the pages of newspapers or on the radio or television?

One of the responsibilities of the media is to ventilate a peaceful atmosphere for harmonious co-existence of the people. Thus as supposedly educated and civilized professionals, Nigerian journalists must not shirk such a fundamental responsibility at this age of the internet.

Admonition

For the sake of our collective survival, no combative or provocative journalism should be extended to religious sphere. We all need to live in harmony before we can expect any individual to be patriotic to to our country. God save Nigeria!

By FEMI ABBAS

Say oh Allah! The Sovereign Lord of all dominions; You grant dominion to whoever You will and take away dominion from whoever You will; You exalt whoever You will and abase whoever You will; In your hand alone are all good things and You are capable of doing all things. You cause the night to enter the womb of the day and You cause the day to enter the womb of the night; You bring forth the living from the dead, just as you bring forth the dead from the living; Yours is the sustenance of existence and You alone can grant sustenance to whoever You will beyond reckoning….” Q. 3:26-27

Monologue

By next Tuesday (January 20, 2021), God willing, it will be exactly four years since a reincarnate of Adolf Hitler emerged in the United States of America (USA), in the name of Ronald John Trump. His mission was to replay Hitler’s drama of calamity that gripped the world by the jugular between 1939 and 1945 with a virtual change of destiny. But as usual, the gracious will of Allah prevailed to signify safety for mankind.

The fortuitous drama that beclouded American democracy in the past two months was not for America alone. It was for the entire world, not as spectators, but as students in the classroom of the Qur’an as quoted above.

From the contents of those quoted two verses, it should ordinarily behoove any sensible student to learn the vital lesson that attainment of power, in any field of human endeavour, is neither by mortal wisdom nor by demonic arrogance. The same Allah who deposed the Egyptian Pharaoh of yore with unimaginable disgrace and destroyed the destructive power of Adolf Hitler of the 20th century, is still alive and will remain alive forever. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. Allah Akbar!

Preamble

This article is a reminder of an article written and published in this column, by yours sincerely, on Friday, January 20, 2017. In that article, I predicted what would become of the United States of America (USA) at the instance of that country’s newly smuggled President, called Donald John Trump, who found his way into the White House with no respect for fairness or merit. The article was entitled ‘Welcoming a Trump of Sadism’.

Two weeks before the publication of that article, an earlier article appeared in this same column which was also written by yours sincerely on January 6, 2020. It was entitled ‘Waiting for January 20’, 2017.  Through those two articles, the ardent readers of this column must have been able to confirm that an intuitive person does not have to fraudulently claim to be a prophet before predicting certain future occurrences of this world, based on foresight. For the rightly guided people, prediction is surely not the same as prophecy. It is only fraudsters that can claim to be prophets while expressing their unattainable demonic wishes. And, it takes gullibly blind believers to be followers of those fraudsters.

Excerpts

Some excerpts from the two mentioned articles above are as follows:

“….Like the hands of a clock, many democratic countries in the world do swear a new President into office every four or five years at the expiration of a previous tenure. Now, it is the turn of the United States of America to do that again. And, the man to take charge, presidentially, as from today, (January 20, 2017), for the next four years, all things being equal, is called Donald John Trump. That is a man who most people in the world, including the

Americans who voted for him, have seen as a wild bull surging furiously into a china shop. From his conduct even before assuming office, they had realized that this wild bull could become a nemesis of the world’s champion of democracy”.

In an earlier article entitled ‘Waiting for January 20’ and published in this column on January 6, 2017, yours sincerely cited the example of Adolf Hitler’s oath of office and his inaugural address of 1933 that culminated in the World War II which started in 1939 and ended in 1945. The dramatic events within that period of 12 years (1933-1945) were the main determinants of today’s world history”.

Excerpts

An excerpt from that article goes thus in part:

“…All eyes, across the world, are on the 20th day of January 2017.  That is the day that the new American President elect, Donald John Trump, will be formally ushered into the ‘White House’ in Washington, with a swearing in ceremony. He will be the 45th American President. That the entire world is waiting for this event is a confirmation of America’s leadership of the contemporary world. There is no doubt that this event will be historically electric, positively or negatively, depending on the personal conduct of the occupier of the White House. A similar wait had taken place in February 1933, in Germany, when Adolf Hitler was sworn into office as the Chancellor of that country. The speech which he (Hitler) delivered on that occasion eventually altered the destiny of Germany and reshaped the geography of the world.

Incidentally, Donald

Trump’s ancestral origin is Germany. He can therefore be called a grand cousin of Hitler.

Now, will Trump of the 21st century replay the posture of Hitler of the 20th century to put the world on the path of another World War? That is a major question that the unfolding events of the days ahead may have to answer fundamentally about how an untamed shrewd can cope with the delicate situation of the China shop.

The Meaning of Trump

The name TRUMP is a short form of trumpet, a musical instrument with which the decision of a tyrant is often announced in a local cultural setting. Ever since he was declared the winner of the American Presidential election of November 2016, this Trump has been trumpeting his tyrannical plans, arrogantly, as a threat to the world, just as Hitler did during his early days as the German ‘Furah’. And, the jitters he is rolling out of that trumpet have started to grip the world with an icy hand. That an American President elect had begun to overrule his still serving predecessor even before taking the oath of office is a clear indication of what the world should expect from the china shop in which a wild bull will start to operate as from today (January 20, 2020)”.

History as a teacher  

History is a well known phenomenal teacher. It teaches the old and the young alike. Its students are always drawn from far and near. It examines those students from time to time and gives them examination results periodically, either as a symbol of promotion or that of demotion. History’s lessons are as generational as they cut across races and cultures. Yet, it has no peculiar language of communication. But then, it faces a fundamental problem. That problem is not in the repetition that has characteristically become the culture of history but in getting mankind to understand its repeated lessons as well as in heeding its warnings”.

“In virtually all celestial religions, history plays such a prominent role that gives it the permanent identity of a teacher. And, from its beneficial teachings, human beings build ladders of experiences with which they mount the pyramids of life”. Incidentally, a laughable aspect of the tragic drama currently unfolding in America, over that country’s 2020 presidential election, is the silhouette of a Nigerian ‘Orubebe’ that was ridiculously displayed by Trump himself in his desperate bid to truncate the results of his own conducted election. Who could have imagined that such a third world drama as ‘Orubebe saga’ could be so attractive to the self-appointed model of democracy that the principal bull in that country’s Cnina shop could become a student in Nigeria’s ‘Orubebe’ school? And, as that unfathomable drama was running, a retinue of satanic ‘prophets’  queued up, here in Nigeria, as potential actors, dishing out satanic prophecies of victory for an obviously sinking Trump in America’s political mud.

Now, with America’s eventual riddance of evil, where are the Nigerian agents of the Lucifer whose wishful demonic wishes had pervasively throbbed the Nigerian media waves with deafening effect? And now, as America becomes demystified democratically so have Nigeria’s satanic prophets have been derobbed psychologically.

Irony of life

Who could have imagined, in 2017, when Trump was surreptitiously smuggled into American White House, as President, that the same arrogant Trump could be indefinitely banned along with over 70,000 of his supporters, from the global web of Tweeter? Does that not confirm to the world of today that if a Pharaoh of yore could be disgraced with deposition and Red Sea sinking, a Trump of the modern time can also be disgraced with indefinite Tweeter banning and legislative impeachment with permanent official deprivation of public office? Allah Akbar!

The reality of Allah’s existence

For sensible people who are not astray, today’s American political drama is a pregnant incident with a variety of issues which call for thorough analysis. Since January 20, 2017, when the wild bull strayed into the China shop in America, a glaring indication  had  become manifest that another thorny bud was  wildly growing under the armpit of an American bitter tree in the 21st century. That proverbial human bud is an avowed racist and morbid hater of Islam that assumed office as President in that country on January 20, 2017. His irritating posture and his filthy utterances alone, anywhere, have proved to be a vivid reminder of the unbridled atrocities of a onetime originator of Nazism, Adolf Hitler, who brutally terrorized the entire continent of Europe with his tyrannical ambition.

And, for the first time ever, majority of Americans who voted to choose Trump as President started to express fear of uncertainty about their choice even before he assumed office.

Thus, from the beginning of his four year presidential tenure, Trump had been perceived as an unpredictable incubated egg waiting to be hatched democratically.  However, the kind of chicken that would come out of that incubated egg was a matter of guess. Nevertheless, such a perception in 2017 might have been too early in the day for the eagerly agitated Americans. But now, they have all seen the reality of the political folly which they thought they ride in form of a horse.

Future shock 

From the foresighted perception of yours sincerely, the narration above was a virtual indicator of a future shock that the world could have been ignorantly waiting to grapple with after  America’s riddance of evil.

Now, the ongoing occurrences in the United States, besides COVID-19, have come to vindicate my perception and predictions. The only aspect of that perception that is still eagerly awaiting vindication is what will eventually become of today’s sadistic Trump by the time he parts way with his vainglorious presidential history.

Factors of influence

Like Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump must have been satanically influenced by the weird poems of two European racial poets of the 19th/20th century. One of them was William Butler (WB) Yeats of Ireland, who coined the poem entitled ‘The Second Coming’, upon which Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe’s famous book entitled ‘Things Fall Apart’ was based. Here is the poem:

“Turning and turning round in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold….”

Observation

If the above quoted stanza serves as an impetus for Trump to behave like a typical dragon dancing on the surface of an ominous brook, another poem by Rudyard Kipling may equally serve as an intoxicant that can help him to exacerbate the already dangerous situation of the modern world for which he, as a onetime  American President, will be remembered. Incidentally, both Yeats and Kipling were contemporary literary men of about the same age. They were both born in 1865 but died differently within a gap of about three years apart. Below is Kipling’s own further divisive poem that strengthened the unwarranted enmity between the West and the East:

“Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat…”

History’s role tomorrow

Today, we know where a two times impeached American President belongs in the chapters of history. But where he will belong, tomorrow, without a Nigerian ‘Orubebe’ is left for the tomorrow’s generations of the contemporary time to determine. We pray the Almighty Allah to save us from the evil machinations of this period.

FEMI ABBAS

Monologue

The ongoing raging calamities in form of terrorism, banditry, armed robbery and serial rape in Nigeria, today, are cultivating a variety of focuses, ironically, from the agents of the Lucifer, who are clandestinely engineering them. The calamities are virtually turning those  agents into thirsty entities searching for water in a chronic desert where no oases are available. The world is passing through a trying period which needs to be studied with caution and candour. And, those who will sincerely be involved in such a study must thread softly. The continuity of human existence is dependent, not on selfish destruction of the lives of others but on ventilating the atmosphere for all and sundry through universal peace. It is rather a deceptive bid for certain people in a part of the world to engage, surreptitiously, in the annihilation of another part of the world on a satanic assumption that the survival of the their own part. In their search for the root cause of terrorism around the world, some Western countries began, some years ago, to  beam their searchlights on madrasah (ie Arabic/Qur’anic school) in the entire world in an errorneous belief that only such school could serve as as the main bastion of  extremism and breed terrorists in various societies. While this satanic remains un-established, the occurrences which led to its germination are far from making it a justifiable cause of such an allegation.

Preamble

Whereas madrasah has been in existence in Nigeria since the 9th century CE, terrorism in this country is a recent phenomenon engendered by certain imported circumstances clandestinely imposed mostly on third world countries. To genuinely identify the causes of terrorism, a thorough and unbiased study of the circumstances that warrant it should be a sine qua non.

Since 2009 when Muhammad Yusuf, the founder of a religious group that came to be called ‘Boko Haram’ was killed in cold blood by Nigerian Police, no single case of terrorism has been linked directly to any madrasah either in the Middle East or in Asia or in Europe or in America or even in Africa. Most of the persons who were arrested and judicially tried for terrorism in Nigeria, in the past one decade or thereabout,  attended formal, conventional schools and not madrasah. In fact, most of those criminals have been found to be professionals in various fields of human endeavour.

It is thus, clear, in reason and logic, that anybody who would handle such sophisticated weapons of mass destruction must be reasonably educated in sciences and technology. And, the secrecy of training such criminals, as well as the intellectual and material resources required for their training, are far beyond the level of any local madrasah boys and girls.

Madrasah (the plural of which is madaris), is a school where Qur’an and Sunnah are taught and learned in Arabic language. And, the purpose of learning in those schools is to thoroughly comprehend Islamic law and jurisprudence for acquiring deep Islamic knowledge and for worshipping Allah, based on such knowledge.

Locations of Madaris

Wherever Muslims are found, madaris must be found. Madrasah is the primary source of acquiring Islamic education. All other serious religions also have similar schools for similar purposes and they are not subjected to any persecting harassment through the media. For instance, there was nothing like Boko Haram in any part of Africa, in 1988, when a group named ‘The Lords Resistance Movement’ (LRM), was established in Uganda. That Movement of an heterodox Christian group, which was destructively operating in Northern Uganda, was led by one Joseph Kony. Its objective was to overthrow the government of Uganda and establish a Christian government in that country as a model in Africa. For 24 years, from 1988 when that terrorist movement was established to 2014, when its leader, Joseph Kony, went into hiding, LRM remained a painful whitlow on the thump of Uganda. Yet no Musli media linked it to any Chritian cathechism.

Reminiscence

For the information of tose who are venomously labelling madrasah as a breeder of terrorists, it is on record that the very first University in the world (the University of Cordoba, established by the Muslims in Spain, in the 9th century, sprang from madrasah. And the three oldest Universities in the world today, (Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia; all of which were established in the 10th century, emerged from madrasah. It was from those Universities that the West first came in contact with the idea of tertiary education.

Attestation

Attesting to the above fact in a lecture he delivered at Oxford University in 1993, Prince Charles of England said as follows: “If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt which our own culture and civilisation owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure which stems, I think, from the straight jacket of history which we have inherited. The mediaeval Islamic world, from Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished”.

“But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society and system of belief, we have tended to ignore it or erase its great relevance to our history. For example, we have underestimated the importance of 700 years of Islamic society and culture in Spain between the 8th and 15th centuries. The contribution of Muslim Spain to the preservation of classical learning during the Dark Ages, and the first flowerings of the Renaissance, has long been recognised”.

Traits of Civilisation

In his 1993 educative lecture at Oxford University, which drew applause from renowned intellectuals, Prince Charles continued as follows:

“Many of the traits on which modern Europe prides itself came to it from Muslim Spain. Diplomacy, free trade, open borders, the techniques of academic research, of anthropology, etiquette, fashion, alternative medicine, hospitals, all came from this great city of cities”. “Medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time allowing Jews and Christians the right to practise their beliefs, and setting an example which was not, unfortunately, copied for many centuries in the West….”

Comment

If this was the Muslim situation in medieval Europe and it all came through the madrasah, why should the same madrasah become a hunted institution in the 21st century?

A Professorial Analysis

It was for the purpose of answering the above question succintly that the role of ‘madaris’ in the modern world caught the attention of LAI OLURODE, a renowned Professor of Sociology at the University of Lagos, who wrote a well researched book on that subject, which was publicly presented on Wednesday, January 13, 2009 at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

Comparative Analysis

In the book entitled ‘Glimses of Madrasah in Africa’, Professor Olurode did a comparative analysis on the function of madrasah in Nigeria and Kenya pointing out the similarities and dissimilarities in the methodology of teaching Arabic language/Islamic religion in both countries as well as the impact of those madaris on the peoples of both countries.

Professor Olurode, a onetime Dean of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Lagos and now the Chairman of the that University’s Muslim Community, also looked into the structure of ‘madrasah’ system of learning in the two mentioned countries of study with regards to ownership, student enrolment, gender and age distribution, curriculum, location and environment of madrasah. He did not stop there as he went further to examine  teachers’ qualifications and remunerations as well as funding and parents’ expectations from those schools.

Strength and Weaknesses of Madaris

Using Iwo (in Osun State) and Ilorin (in Kwara State), two Yoruba speaking cities in the Southwest and Middle Belt of Nigeria and two coastal towns of Mombasa and Lamu in Kenya, as study cases, Professor Olurode went into thorough analysis of strength and weaknesses of madaris pointing out what ought to be done in those institutions as against what was on ground at the time he presented his book.

In that book, he also looked at the phenomenon of madrasah in the medieval time as well as the contemporary time, vis a vis the conventional modern day schools and, he traced the  connection of madrasah  to the current global geo-politics.

Excerpt

Below is an excerpt from what he said in the book:

“The American war against the Soviets in Afghanistan could not have recorded much success without the collaboration of Muslim coalition forces that were determined to oust the pro-Russian regime in Afghanistan. The US conveniently courted the friendship of those Muslims and their organisations that were willing to fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan so as to roll back the evil of communism.

“The research findings of M. Mamdani (in his book published in New York in 2004: Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: ‘The Cold War and the Roots of Terror’) suggested a strong possibility of a CIA connection in the recruitment network that prosecuted the war in Afghanistan. There were also traces of religious and charitable organisations involvement in the recruitment drive and on an international scale too. Mamdani went further by insisting that: The Tablighi Jamat was neither set up nor functioned as a terrorist organisation. This main stream religious group was, however, among those used by the CIA as a conduit in its recruitment.

“In the United States too, the CIA took cover behind legitimate charitable and religious Muslim organisations…one instance will suffice to highlight this development thus: “According to Cooley, the Al-kifah Afghan refugees center on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, was turned into a key center for “recruiting and fund raising for the Afghan jihad” and came to be called “Al-Jihad center by those who worked there. (See pages 13-15 of Mamdani’s book).

Also, after touching deeply on such areas about madrasah like: Centrality of Early Child Education to Poverty Reduction; Connecting Madrasah to Public Education and Empowerment; Advocacy and Public Support for Madrasah; Penetrating the Worldview of Madrasah Pupils and Teachers as well as Cultural Heuristic and Moral Considerations, Professor Olurode concluded as follows: “The theory which drives this analysis, as outlined before, was that which subscribes to the centrality of culture in development. On several occasions, when culture has been ignored, development action, even where it manifests, is patently unsustainable. In a world that is characterized by turbulence, social prejudice and stereotype, violence, restlessness, profound uncertainties and insecurity, the madrasah system as a cultural heritage of the Islamic world has endured”. “This, it has done because it provides a shield from the perceived global siege on Islam and its practitioners”.

“Muslims are generally of the view that Islam and Muslims are under siege and there exists a conspiratorial theory against Islam by the West and their allies. But the survival of Islam and the Muslims in the context of globalization is not without noticeable changes on its fringes. The retention of the core features of madrasah in the Islamic societies under study underlines the importance and the wisdom in working through this heritage, rather than by-passing it in the efforts to open up Muslims to effective participation in modern education. The typical madrasah should therefore be courted….”.

When Professor Olurode’s social theory of madrasah and his recommended conclusion are juxtaposed with the thinking in the West, there is tendency that keen observers will settle for Rudyard Kipling’s couplet in which he concluded that “West is West and East is East; never will the twain meet”.

The issues bringing the East and the West together are more mutually suspicious than friendly. And no amount of pretext can erase this fact. The lopsidedness in that relationship however is the main cause of the current global turmoil. There are much more fundamental causes of wonton destruction of lives and property than the principal actors therein are presenting to the world.

Conclusion

Now, there seems to be much more trouble ahead than currently being witnessed. America is engaging many countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia in a counter-terrorism war. And she wants to win on all fronts. The Iraqis and the Afghans are calling on the US to withdraw her forces from their land. Yemen and Pakistan are grudging over America’s usurpation of their security managements. Saudi Arabia and Syria are not pleased with the master’s role which America is playing in the Middle East. Iran and Lebanon are almost in readiness for war with the US. Nigeria and Kenya are watching very carefully, the step being taken by the US in blacklisting them over isolated cases of attempted or suspected terrorism link.

This is the same situation that paved way for the doom of Germany in the World War II when Adolf Hitler lost to arrogance of power rather than inferiority of arsenal. In a situation where the United States in collaboration with her Western allies is pulling dozens of countries into a war arena whither the world in the 21st century?

FEMI ABBAS

This is the month of December, a month of paradoxical tradefair in which lies, fabrications and falsehood are, invarably, the wares displayed for exhibition. This is the month in which ostentation displaces faith and deception replaces conscience. How and why are these case? Please, read the story of facts and fictions below.

Preamble

An axiomatic Yoruba adage came to mind

Again recently, when a so-National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) of octogenarians published a fabricated statement in Nigerian media and falsely credited it to the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The statement was quoted from a false publication by some Biafra agitators of Igbo extraction, as a justification for their thoughtless secession bid. The adage goes thus: “Any slave that is desperate to forcefully usurp an estate bequeathed to an innocent orphan must fabricate a rootless history to justify his/her inordinate ambition for usurpation”. For people who can read between the lines, this adage needs no interpretation. It is self-explanatory.

Record of history

Here is a season in which recalling certain aspects of Nigerian history, if only to put the records straight, is a sine qua non. History is a living phenomenon that is common to all people around the world, in time and in space. No matter what interpretation or misinterpretation is given to it, in certain quarters, the fact remains that history is not anybody’s personal property and can, therefore, not be anybody’s enclave of monopoly.

Memory lane

Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first and only Premier of Northern Nigeria was not just one of the foremost political icons in Nigeria’s First Republic. He was also a patriarch of the political party called Northern People’s Congress (NPC). This man of colossal status became the Premier of Northern Nigeria in 1954, the same year in which his political counterparts and arch-rivals, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, became Premiers of Eastern and Western regions respectively. The trio assumed office as Premiers, in 1954,  through party-based elections. They were later joined by Chief Denis Osadebe as the fourth Premier in Nigeria. The latter became the Premier of Midwest region, in 1963, when that region was created. However, barely five years after Nigeria’s independence, Sir Ahmadu Bello was calously killed, as Premier, on Saturday, January 15, 1966, by some Nigerian military coup plotters whose real intent was to obliterate all traces of Islam in Nigeria. Virtually all  those coup plotters were of Igbo extraction and no single one of them was a Muslim, an indication that the coup was religiously motivated. That devilish coup was led by one Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, an Igbo man from the present day geographical area of Nigeria, called Delta State. Those coup plotters had killed the Muslim leaders in government, inclding Premier Ahmadu Bello, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and several other poltical leaders of other tribal extractions, in that year’s sacred month of Ramadan, before they started looking for reasons to give as a justification for the heinous termination of those leaders’ lives. The three reasons that they gave after killing those leaders were corruption, tribalism and religious bigotry. It was a matter of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

Analysis of their reasons

Among the four Premiers in Nigeria during the first republic, only Ahmadu Bello, was a Muslim and he could not, in any way, be evidently linked to corruption. Unlike the other Premiers who lived opulently in expensive affluence, Ahmadu Bello was an ascetic personality who served his people deligently and patriotically without an iota of blemish. At the time of his gruesome murder, that Northern Premier had only a small residential bungalow in his home town of Raba in Sokoto Province, which he built with a loan and nothing more has been traced to him as property till today. He had not even completed the payment of the loan he obtained for the building of that bungalow before he was murdered.

Who else among his peers can be said to have left such a flank behind?

Sir Ahmadu Bello, the only Premier from the North, at that time, could also not be singularly accused of being tribally inclined because tribalism was the basis of all the existing political parties of the time. No Premier, in Nigeria, from 1954 to 1966 could be exonerated from tribalism directly or indirectly. They were all guilty of it.

Genesis of Tribal Politics in Nigeria

It can be recalled that certain tribal groups such as Ibiobio State Union (IBU), Ibo Federal Union (IFU) Egbe Omo Oduduwa (EOO) and ‘Jam’iyyar Al-Ummar Nigeriya ta Arewa’ translated as Northern Elements Progressive Association (NEPA) which later transformed into Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) were all tribal socio-cultural organizations that metamorphosed into political parties. All those parties preceded ‘Jam’iyyar Mutane Arewa’ meaning Northern People’s Congress (NPC), to which Ahmadu Bello belonged. Many other ethnic-based political parties later emerged to broaden tribalism in Nigerian politics. If anything, therefore, Ahmadu Bello was the least tribally inclined Premier of his time. If he was actually a tribalist and religious bigot as he has always been maliciously painted in Nigeria’s political history, by the Sothern Nigerian media, he would not have appointed Sunday Awoniyi, a Yoruba Christian, from the present day Kogi State, as his Private Secretary. Which other Premier appointed his private secretary from another tribe or from a religion other than Christianity? And, why did his killers link him alone to tribalism and bigotry?

His 1959 Christmas Message

Among the four Premiers in Nigeria’s first republic, only Ahmadu Bello was bold and sincere enough to allay the fear of the minority groups in his (Northern) region by making a public policy statement about his government’s stand concerning tribalism and religious bigotry. Here is an excerpt from what he said while sending a Christmas message to northern Christians at the time of Christmas in 1959:

“…We are people of many different races, tribes and religions, who are knit together by common history, common interests and common ideals. Our diversity may be great but the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us. On an occasion like this, I always remind people about our firmly rooted policy on religious tolerance. Families of all creeds and colours can rely on these assurances. We have no intention of favouring one religion at the expense of another. Subject to overriding need to preserve law and order, it is our determination that everyone should have absolute liberty to practice his belief. It is befitting on this momentous day, on behalf of my ministers and myself, to send a special word of gratitude to all Christian missions”.

“Let me conclude this with a personal message. I extend my greetings to all our people who are Christians on this great feast day. Let us forget the difference in our religion and remember the common brotherhood before God, by dedicating ourselves afresh to the great tasks which lie before us….”

That was the Christmas message that Sir Ahmadu Bello delivered in a radio broadcast on Thursday, December 24, 1959. And, it remained intact in Nigerian historical archive until 18 years ago (2002), when a Yoruba agent of the Lucifer came up with a fabricated statement that is now being devilishly quoted and circulated spirally by mischievous elements in Nigeria, who have been  crediting it to Sir Ahmadu Bello.

The fabricated version

Decades after Sir Ahmadu Bello’s unjustifiable assassination, some evil elements in the media, in active conspiracy with certain political demagogues, who were passionately pregnant with morbid hatred for Islam, went to fabricate another ‘Christmas Message’ and credited it to the late Northern Premier as a justification for his murder. The concocted statement was purportedly culled from a non-existing newspaper called ‘The Parrot’. Below is the fabricated Christmas Message:

“…The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their future….”

Now, should that senselessly fabricated statement said to have been made by Sir Ahmadu Bello on October 12, 1960, be quoted blindly by any reasonable individual or group? How can a Christmas message by a Premier of Ahmadu Bello Status, be delivered in October, two months before Christmas? Haba! Is that not a confirmation that liars never think of the implications of their lies before they fabricate them?

Truth and falsehood

“Truth has come and falsehood has vamoosed; surely, falsehood is meant to vamoose in the presence of the truth”.  Q. 17: 81

Comparison

Now, looking at both (genuine and fabricated) statements quoted above very carefully, shouldn’t any sensible person be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood? The Premier’s original Christmas message, earlier quoted above, was made on the eve of Christmas on Thursday, December 24, 1959, through a radio broadcast and it was published by all newspapers in the country including the vociferous ‘West African Pilot’ owned by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the boisterous ‘Tribune’ owned by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the clamorous ‘Daily Times’ jointly owned privately by certain prominent Nigerian individuals at that time. That original statement was equally published by many other smaller newspapers in Nigeria. All those newspapers are identifiable in Nigeria’s media history even though most of them are now defunct.

On the other hand, the place and occasion of the fabricated statement credited to Sir Ahmadu Bello was not indicated and cannot be traced in Nigeria’s newspaper history.

Evidence of fabrication

The first time any genuinely existing newspaper ever made reference to that fabricated statement was on November 13, 2002 (42 years after it was purportedly made by Sir Ahmadu Bello. And, ‘The Tribune’ newspaper that published it on that date only claimed to have culled it from an online column published on October 24 2002 by a fraudulent Yoruba Journalist (name withheld) who entitled it ‘The Northern Agenda’. The referred online was actually named ‘Nairaland’, and it can still be found on the internet today if googled.

It can therefore be confirmed that the statement was actually fabricated, not in the 1960s but in October 2002, by the so-called online columnist who credited it to a newspaper that never existed. The objective was to give it an undeserved credibility. What a country! What a people! What a shame! This is a typical case of an obvious mischief by heartless mischief makers just to fetch ephemeral fame and illegal income.

The belief of such fraudsters was that once such a fabricated article appears on the internet and is ignorantly quoted by some inconsequential mercenary writers, it would automatically become a document of fact. And, true to that assertion, a self-acclaimed Nigerian Christian Elders Forum’ (NCEF) has shamelessly quoted that fabricated falsehood, as usual, to justify its baseless allegation of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria. That is Nigeria for you.

The 1966 Coup Episode

January 15, 1966 was a Saturday like no other one in the history of Nigeria. It was on that day that the bitter political seed which germinated and grew into the thorny political tree that is now feeding Nigerians with bitter political fruits, was planted. The evil planting of that seed marked the beginning of an agonizing voyage of destiny on which Nigerians embarked without a compass. Coming up in the sacred month of Ramadan, the day, (January 15, 1966) actually came to confirm the axiomatic thought of an Arab poet who once asserted in a couplet thus: “Nights are heavily pregnant; they give birth to wonders in the days….”

The major casualties

The real target of the heartless coup ploters in  military uniform, who struck on January 15, 1966 coup was Islam. Although they (the coupists) killed virtually all the major key players in the then Nigerian politics except those of Igbo extraction, most of the victims of that coup were Muslims and some non-Igbo Christians who were then in prisons. The Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir AbubakarTafawa Balewa and the Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh were killed in Lagos. The Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was killed with his wife and some other people in Kaduna, the then Headquarters of Northern Nigeria. The Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, was killed in Ibadan, the then Headquarters of the South Western Region, while some military top brass of non-Igbo extraction were killed in different military barracks across the country.

Except for Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe who was killed for being too close to one Brigadier-General Zakariya’ Maimalari, a top Muslim military officer from the north, and could not be trusted, no other Igbo man of note, civilian or military, was killed in that coup. As a matter of fact, if there was any feeling of the coup in Nigeria’s Eastern Region at all, it was that of victory and heroism. The top military officers who were killed in the senseless coup included: Brig. S. A. Ademulegun (South West); Brig. ZakariMaimalari (North East); Col. Kur Mohammed (North West); Lt. Col. J. Y. Pam (North Central); Col. S. A. Shodeinde (South West); Lt. Col. Largema (North Central); Lt. Col. A. G. Unegbe (South East); S/Lt. James Odu (Mid West) and a host of others.

The False Allegations

After the dust had settled, it became evident that virtually all the planners of that coup as well as its executors were soldiers of Igbo extraction and Christians. Thus, other Nigerians whose relatives were severely affected saw the coup not only as tribal but also as religious, the killing of some Christians like Chiefs Akintola and Okotie-Eboh notwithstanding. This was because the then Governor of Eastern Nigeria, Sir Francis Akanu Ibiam was as deeply involved in religious matters as Sir Ahmadu Bello. The one was a Vice-President of the World Council of Churches. The other was the Vice-President of the Muslim World League. If religion was therefore the reason for the coup, the two of them ought to have been killed for bigotry. But history entails a variety of interpretations especially in a society where conscience hardly plays any meaningful role.

Beneficiaries

It is historically notable that the chief beneficiary of the coup (Major-General Johnson AguiyiIronsi) was also of Igbo extraction. Almost all the military appointments after the coup were for men of Igbo extraction. Among those appointees, only Hassan Katsina and Muhammadu Shuwa were Muslims. How else could a coup be tribal and religious? After all, as far back as 1953, a frontline Igbo politician (name withheld) had set such agenda for his tribe’s men when he reportedly said that “Ibos’ domination of Nigeria is a matter of time”.  That statement was allegedly made at a cocktail party in Lagos. If this remains the yardstick for driving democracy in Nigeria, for how long can such democracy last?