The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Abbas

  • Dear Muslim parents,

    Dear Muslim parents,

    Assalam alaykum wa Rahmatu Llah wa Barakatuhu!

    This is not a parents/teachers association meeting in which new school fees or new calendar year is often discussed. It is rather a meeting of positive and constructive minds over the most fundamental issue in the life of man. And it is to be moderated by the guideline divinely put in place in the name of ‘Al-Qur’an’ by the Almighty Allah.

    Your joys as parents are secret, so are your grief and fear. Hardly can you hide the one or openly express the other. Happy are those of you parents whose children are fortunate enough to tread the path of your divinely guided dream. And sorrow is the portion of those of you whose children are unfortunate to deviate from the rightly guided path. All of you will account either for what brings you joy or what pushes you into sorrow.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had admonished on this when he said: “all of you (parents) are shepherds and all of you shall be asked to account for your herds”.

    Children are the most invaluable gift of Allah to man. They can neither be bought nor sold. Even adoption or exchange of children for money (otherwise called child slavery) is only a temporary act which will become a permanent question later. One day, the child will ask of his real parents or get to know that the foster parents who have been caring for him in life are not his biological parents. Then he will ask the permanent question: “whose child am I? This is why adoption of children in the Western sense is prohibited in Islam. You can only help to bring up abandoned or stranded children who are not biologically yours for humanitarian reason but not for the purpose of turning such children into your own.

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    As a parent, you may give your biological or adopted children your love and your ideas but surely not your thoughts. Because they (children) learn more and understand better from what they see than from what they hear. Children of today have their own thoughts which you may never be able to take away from them or even alter. You may clad them in the best attire and house them in the most comfortable residences. You may send them to the best schools and endear them to a world of unlimited affluence. But hardly will you ever be able to influence their thinking faculty in any way.

    While you are busy interacting closely with their physical beings today, you will discover that their thought dwell in the abode of tomorrow which you can neither see in your dream nor perceive in your imagination.

    Children are a bundle of joy. But they can also be a load of grief. At least, they form the source of both in the life of man. No man or woman becomes a parent without first being a child. What is perceived as experience in any human being today sprang from the childhood pranks of some years past. And the cycle continues.

    Manual of Life

    Everything in life has its own manual. For Muslims the general manual of life is the Qur’an; that anchor message of Allah leaves no stone unturned in the life of man. In chapter 31 verse 13 of that divine Book Allah relays to us how Prophet Luqman counselled his son. The verse goes thus: “And (remember) when Luqman admonished his son saying: ‘My son, associate none with Allah, for associating something with Him is a grievous iniquity’…. (Go and know that) Allah will bring all things to light, be they as small as a grain of mustard seed or hidden inside a rock or even in the earth. Allah is all-wise and all-knowing”.

    “My son! Be steadfast in offering Salat; enjoin justice and forbid evil. Endure with fortitude, whatever befalls you. That is a duty incumbent upon you. Do not scorn fellow human beings nor walk arrogantly on land; Allah does not love the arrogant and vainglorious ones. Be modest in your gait and lower your voice when talking because the harshest of voices is that of the braying of an ass….”

    The above verses of the Qur’an are a good example of how Allah wants us to rear good human beings in every society by bringing up our children in exemplary manner. Prophet Luqman and his son were just used symbolically. Nothing concrete can be achieved in this without the fear of Allah which every parent is expected to preach practically to his or her children from the very early age as did Prophet Luqman. And the only concrete substance in life is what forms the visa with which man is admitted into the hereafter. The evidence of that substance in any man or woman is contentment.

    Elite Parents

    It is however unfortunate that most Nigerian parents, especially in the elite class, do not see life as a queue which ought to be followed scrupulously. They rather believe that any queue, at all, is a fool’s route to success where short cut must always be available.

    Those are the parents who create special class for their children right from birth. They show those children how superior they are to other children and tell them the category of children with whom they should be friendly not on moral but on material grounds. They provide for them what those children do not need. They take them to schools in very expensive cars and create in  them the impression that money is not their problem. Thus, when occasionally, their children refuse to ride in old cars brought for them by their drivers, the parents quickly apologise and send new cars to convey them from the same schools attended by some children of paupers.

    These are children who have never worked for one kobo in their lives. All they know is that money is abundantly available and meant for them to spend. They cannot fathom where the money is coming from and how their parents acquire it. And here are parents whose main source of income is stealing directly either by the use of pen in their offices or indirectly by deceit. With such dirty money, they sponsor their children in the most expensive schools abroad or at home. They follow them to school to grease the palms of their teachers to ensure that their children secure the required marks for promotion into the next class or certificates that will be used as meal tickets in life.

    It does not matter much to them whether or not those children understand what they are taught in school. What matters to them is the short cut that will ensure the passage of those children through the University as early as 19 or 20 years of age so that by the age of 23, such children would have become Chief Executives of banks or multinational companies in which they (the parents) had fraudulently acquired major shares. And, with that, the cycle of corruption would continue unabated in the family.

    Now, why wouldn’t such a brazing desperation pave way for mass cheating in school examinations and eventual monumental corruption in the society as now being experienced in Nigeria? Are the children to blame? What else is expected of them when you parents are prepared to buy anything for them including live examination papers? And the children of the less privileged parents would also want to take advantage of the terrible rot to succeed in life. Where such advantage is denied, they become desperate and plan to stand in the way of those who deny them. That is how criminal tendencies escalate in the society.

    Some of you parents often forget that no amount of fraudulent spending can make any child rich except by the grace of Allah. Today, where are the children of yesteryears’ moneybags?

    For such shallow-thinking parents the Qur’an has the following admonition: “Are they the ones who apportion your Lord’s blessings? It is ‘WE’ (Allah) who apportion to them their livelihood in this world; He exalts some in ranks above others so that the ones can take the others into their service. Your Lord’s mercy is better than all their hoarded treasures”. (See Q. 43: 32).

    Today’s World

    The misfortune or calamity afflicting the world today, especially, that of Nigerian society, is caused by the elite parents. Right from infancy, most children of the elite, particularly the white-collar jobbers, have been given the impression that they are born to be masters. And they behave as such at every stage of their lives.

    It all starts with unwarranted lavish spending on children’s birthday which have virtually become the past-time of those parents,especially women. Sometimes millions of naira is spent by parents to celebrate the birthdays of their children in a society where many families can hardly afford one meal per day.

    The implication of this is that such spoilt children are being practically taught how to spend money without being taught how to make money. And by the time they grow up, they would have been fully used to easy money while the parents would have then forgotten how they initiated the innocent children into the world of corruption through stupendous extravagancy.

    Today, what used to be ordinary examination cheating in the primary and secondary schools has grown monstrously to become the national calamity called corruption even at the highest level of a government in power. We now have black market certificates issued in most of our higher institutions both at federal and state levels at the instance of naira. We also have criminal election rigging practically supervised by political vampires who wear the garb of umpires. There are law makers in our country who must take bribe before voting for or against any bill. There are law enforcers whose main source of income is nothing but audacious bribe. There are unrepentant civil servants who live like kings and queens while milking the society shamelessly without any regard for their pedigree. There are half-baked lawyers who are feeding fat on fraudulent opportunities while capitalising on the deliberate lapses created by our so-called constitution.

    In all these, who will curb the ever-rampantly growing monster called corruption in Nigeria? Is it the parents who are so desperate that they would do anything, including illicit sex, to see their children through? Or school principals, proprietors and lecturers who are the real architects of examination fraud and certificate rackets? Or the officials of the various examination bodies who often facilitate and help to perfect the act? Or the secret security agents whose orientation is to call a spade a hoe where money is involved?

    All of these and others not mentioned here are elite parents who can hardly come up with a clean hand on anything legitimate. How can they curb the largess from which they benefit so tremendously?

    Unfortunately, some of you Muslim parents, in defiance to Allah’s instruction, have joined this terrible cartel. You feel satisfied with your children’s fraudulent mundane lives even as you are evidently indifferent to the spiritual lives of those children. This has caused some temporal agony in certain lives and spiritual melancholy in others.

    An Elderly Parent’s Experience

    Yours sincerely was in an Islamic meeting with some other brothers in Lagos sometime in the mid 1990s. While we were about to reach a consensus on a vital matter, a septuagenarian parent of four grown up children suddenly burst into tears. He subbed painfully like a house wife who just lost her first child at the point of delivery. Surprised and embarrassed, we enquired from the old man what the matter was since the issue under discussion in that meeting had no sad angle. In his response after calming down, the man who was a former Nigerian Ambassador said he had lost his entire life. He narrated his pathetic story in a very sober mood and concluded that he had lived his entire life in vain.

    He told us how three of his children (all boys) had their secondary and university education in London. The fourth child who was a girl joined them immediately after she completed her secondary education. And after graduation, they all got juicy jobs and settled permanently in England. But by then, they had all crossed over to the other side of the spiritual bridge haven adapted to a non-Islamic life style.

    This was, however, not the cause of his regret. The real cause of his regret was the attitude of those children to his own religious life which he claimed to have cherished so much. First, the children never thought it right to pay him any visit in Nigeria, despite his old age. Secondly, whenever he visited them, in London, none of them would oblige him the chance to observe his daily Salat as they often told him that such was uncivilised. After all efforts to persuade them failed, he had to abandon them and live like a man without children.

    The old man’s most agonising point was in seeing the children of his friends who practised Islam very well in the same country (England) even as they were all doing fine in their various careers. The difference was that the parents of those other children had cared for their spiritual lives from the very beginning. That is the plight of a man who had the courage to voice it out after admitting his guilt. There are thousands of others like him who would prefer to lick their messy wound secretly till death comes to strike.

    If this can still happen in a Muslim home at this age, despite the Qur’anic lessons abundantly available for those who want to learn, what is the value of life? Why would any sane person want to lose his life and his life hereafter just to gain vanity? See what avarice is doing to some Muslim parents?

    It is only for the reason of avarice that most Muslim parents do not see any necessity in giving their children such qualitative Islamic education as they do in the Western way. But Allah has a wonderful way of doing things. Some of the children who could not be given formal secondary education some years past, because their parents were too poor, are professors in the universities or top professionals today in their own right and yet they remain solid Muslims. What else? Train your children in the way of Allah and leave what will become of those children to Allah alone who provides even for ants. Let your children know that the only antidote against greed and avarice is contentment which gives man absolute rest of mind and enables him to appreciate Allah’s endowment in his life. Anything else is sheer vanity that invariably fetches regret. It is only with contentment that any form of corruption can be eliminated. For you Muslims, there is a lesson in this to learn and disseminate to others.

  • How muslims write will

    How muslims write will

    One of the obligatory Islamic duties which most Muslims take for granted is the writing of will. For every Muslim adult, male or female, writing a will is not a matter of choice. It is statutorily obligatory. But not many Muslims know this.

    The general thinking is that writing a will is only for old people who are close to death or those who are very rich. This does not only contradict the concept of Islam about death, it also contravenes the principle laid down in Islam about will writing. No one knows when death will come. An octogenarian may continue to live while a man or woman of twenties or thirties may die. The healthy may die while the sick lives.

    The circumstances of life in this age of technology which cause death are very unpredictable. Thus, death may come to anybody at any time.

    One of the advantages of Tafsir in the sacred month of Ramadan is to disseminate knowledge especially on sensitive but fundamental issues often over-sighted by most Muslims. Writing a will is one of such issues. Will in Islam is called wasiyyah. It is a very significant means of providing a flexible instrument of transferring estate or a fraction of it to those who not heirs.

    Wassiyyah basically means a bequest of assets and debts to others after one’s death. It depicts the differences between gift given out personally and one’s behave. Unlike hibah which means a gift in one’s life time, wasiyyah is a gift delivered to the beneficiary after the death of the giver.

    In Islam, writing a will is not about bequeathal of wealth per se. It is rather more about the explanation of certain things in the life of the will writer which were not known to his or her family members, relatives and close associates. For instance, if the concerned will writer did not pay Zakah when he was able to pay it, or he was indebted but did not disclose it to his relatives or if something is entrusted to him in confidence or even if he made a promise to someone without the knowledge of his relatives, it is incumbent upon him to include such matters in his will. This is to clear any possible ambiguity or doubt about his relationship with other people while alive.

    Writing of will by Muslims is ordained by the Almighty Allah in Q.2:180 thus:

    “It is decreed that when death approaches, those of you that leave wealth shall bequeath it equitably to parents and kindred. This is a duty incumbent upon the righteous. He that alters that (the will) after hearing it shall be accountable for his crime. Allah is all-Hearing, all-knowing.”

     Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was also reported by Bukhari and Muslim as saying that “Any Muslim who has something to bequest should not pass two nights without writing his will”. And Ibn Majah also reported a narration from Jabir quoting the Prophet as saying those who die leaving will behind died in the path truth and righteousness and they shall receive the forgiveness of Allah” 

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    Ordinarily, in Islam, a Muslim has no right to share his property among his off springs or relatives by his own whim. The Islamic way of bequeathing inheritance has been divinely spelt out clearly in the Qur’an. And that is a different topic entirely not to be lumped with the issue of writing will.

    Who should write a will and how?

     If a will must be written according to Islamic prescription then the writer of such a will must be a Muslim. He must have attained the age of maturity. He must be sane. He must use an understandable language and clearly identify himself in his will. He must also append his signature and date to every page of such will. There must be witnesses to the writing of the will and those witnesses must also identify themselves clearly and duly sign the space left for them in the will.

    But if the will is to be orally recorded, the voice of the will recorder must be very audible with understandable language. The executors as well as the trustees of the will must be clearly named and if necessary, described to avoid any confusion that may arise from similarity of names. In the case writing, four original copies must be produced. And one each must be given to the four appointed executors. No one of the executors must know another and no photocopy should be produced for any reason. This is to prevent any possible leakage or connivance that may lead to betrayal of trust. Every appointed executor must be an acknowledged trustworthy person of integrity.

     Contents of the will

     An Islamic will should contain the following facts as a matter of necessity:

    •Listing the all assets

    •Listing all liabilities including debts, unpaid Zakah, promises made but not yet fulfilled, entrusted property, illegal acquisition in the possession of the bequether. 

    •Listing the wives, the children and other legitimate beneficiaries including the parents and siblings. All these must be clearly spelt out without mentioning the amount or share due to each beneficiary. 

    •Listing of special bequest and testamentary transfer and endowment as well as the names of the beneficiaries. All these must be clearly spelt out.

    •Appointing a guardian or trustee for minor children until such children attain maturity

    •specific sections of the will may be addressed to the wife/wives and children

    •The will must be updated from time to time and each latest copy must be given to the trustees and the old ones withdrawn for destruction.

    •The executors must not know the trustees. And the trustees must not take part in the execution of the will. Their duty is to ensure that the executors comply with the letters of the will.

     Outside the will

     Some facts not to be included in the inheritance aspect of the will of a Muslim are as follows:

    A non-Muslim child of a Muslim will-maker or an illegitimate child or a murderer (one who kills his parent) should not be included in the list of those to inherit because they are not qualified to inherit a Muslim parent under Islamic law. If, however, the will maker feels strongly about giving his non-Muslim child something from his estate, this may be contained in the aspect concerning testamentary transfer. Ditto the non-Muslim wife and illegitimate child. But the total aggregate of what a Muslim can will out to those not qualified for inheritance should not exceed one third of the entire estate after the deduction of debts.

    The idea of one third came about from a conversation between Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Sa’d bn Abi Waqqas. The latter had sought the Prophet’s permission to bequest his entire estate to certain people and groups.

    The Prophet said ‘NO’. He, (Waqqas), then said what of half? And the Prophet said ‘NO’. Then he said what of half? The Prophet at that stage reluctantly gave a go ahead indicating that even the one third was too much concluding that “it is better to leave your heirs rich than poor”. Thus, the final approval became a Prophetic tradition which Muslim must abide by. This means that one third is the maximum a Muslim can bequest to anybody in his will outside the inheritance bracket. 

    Islam does not allow Muslims to write bequest or make will for those who are legitimately eligible as heirs.

    Therefore, anybody who is qualified to inherit cannot be included in the will for any gift.

    The copies of the will may be given to banks or any other corporate institutions like courts for safe keeping without the knowledge of the beneficiaries. But there must be witnesses to the keeping of such document in bank or court. A Muslim must not wait until death approaches before he writes his will. Neither should he wait until he becomes rich before doing same. Writing a will for a Muslim must begin as soon as he marries. And what is applicable to men in this case is equally applicable to women.

  • Challenges to peace-building

    Challenges to peace-building

    Sultan

    The words of elders are words of wisdom. If they do not materialise in the morning they will surely materialise in the evening”.

    The above quotation is a Yoruba axiom that can only be faulted at one’s own peril. Now that reasoning seems to be finding its wayback to Nigeria’s base of power especially in respect of insecurity problem and its possible solution, it becomes necessary to take a realistic recourse to that adage.

    The news that President Goodluck Jonathan belatedly met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja last Wednesday to discuss the way out of the Boko Haram insurgency problem is a confirmation of that adage. Hitherto, sheer ego and whim of powerhad prevented that meeting even when sensible advice and suggestions were offered to the government by well-meaning

    Nigerians. Among such advice was that of His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar the Sultan of Sokoto.

    Voice of Reason

    As far back as October 3, 2011, the Sultan of Sokoto and President- General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), had delivered a lecture entitled ‘Islam and Peace Building in West Africa’ at Harvard University. When the lecture was published in this column a few weeks thereafter, it was re-entitled ‘A Voice from Harvard’. In the 33 page lecture, His Eminence enumerated the

    causes and effects of violent crises in the West African sub region with particular reference to Nigeria. He blamed such crises on three major issues: (1) political struggle for supremacy between the elite and the poor masses (2) bad governance on the part of the ruling class and (3) primordial ethno-religious sentiments. The most prominent of these three issues is bad governance which engenders corruption, joblessness, poverty, exploitation, suspicion and general

    bitterness in the land. Three years after that lecture, Nigeria is still in rigmarole searching for a possible oasis in a self-inflicted wilddesert.

    For the benefit of those who did not read it at that time the lecture is being brought here again because of its relevance and the possible solution it may proffer to the multifaceted problems confronting Nigeria. An excerpt from the lecture is as follows: Impression

    “….Many people (outside our country) consider Nigeria as a theatre of absurd conflicts and interminable crises.  They may be justified in holding this view; with the Jos crises festering for years, with post-election violence and suicide – bombings, it is difficult to think otherwise.  When we consider Nigeria’s population of more than 150 million, half the population of West Africa, its over 250 ethnic and language groups, its regional and geo-political configurations, its landmass and its diversity in religion and culture, we may be constrained to reach different conclusions. Nigeria may, after all, be a paragon of stability which, as God Almighty has willed, shall undergo all the trials allotted it early enough in its national history.

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    But in all fairness, systemic ethno-political and religious crises, like the ones we witnessed in recent years or are witnessing currently, do not have a long history in Nigeria.  They all began in the late 1980s, following the intense competition for power and influence especially among the western educated elite; the Kafanchan crisis of 1987, in Southern Kaduna, was quickly followed by the Zangon Kataf and other crises; all in the same vicinity.  The democratic dispensation, which began in 1999 also came with its own set of problems, the most visible being the Shari’ah crisis and the first Jos crisis which led to the declaration of state of emergency in Plateau State.

    Primacy of Politics But these crises, varied as they were, reveal the multi-dimensional

    nature of Nigeria as a political entity. We witness the primacy of politics in almost all these conflicts.  In the struggle for power and

    political supremacy as politicians exercise no restraint in aggravating the socio-religious and ethnic cleavages, which characterise the geo-politics of the Nigerian state.  It should not be forgotten that the second Jos crisis of November 2008 was also ignited by a botched Chairmanship election in Jos North Local Government.

    The second dimension to these crises, especially in Kaduna and Plateau States, is the indigene/settler dichotomy, which is yet to be

    addressed properly by the Nigerian state.  Many ethnic groups in these conflict areas see the other ethnic groups as foreigners who should not enjoy the full rights of bona fide residents.  Most of these disenfranchised Nigerians also happen to be Muslims.  However, those who oppose this dichotomy argue that these so-called settlers had spent more than two hundred years in the areas they reside. 

    Moreover, as Nigerian citizens, they have the full right to reside wherever they wish and pursue their legitimate business without let or hindrance.

    After all, they cannot be settlers in their own country.

    The third dimension of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises is their potential to become a systematic national crisis.  When a person is

    killed in any of the areas of conflict, his co-religionists, especially in the cities react violently and begin to kill anyone they think is

    related to the killer(s).  This often triggers further reprisals from other parts of the country where victims come from.  It took a lot of

    effort by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) which I co-chair, and other state authorities, to treat each crisis independently

    and reduce the risk of systemic reprisals.

    The fourth dimension of Nigeria’s crises is poor leadership and the bad governance usually associated with its management.  Many of those charged with authority in the states where these conflicts occur are also parties to the crises.  They make feeble efforts to control the violence and do so only when much of the damage has been done…

    “….The issue of poor leadership and bad governance also explains how the Boko Haram movement has been able to transform itself from a small Hijrah group in Yobe State, escaping from the uncertainties and contradictions of the Nigerian state, to a militant movement able to wreak havoc and destruction once provoked. 

    Those in authority were prepared to court the leaders of this group when it suited them and to trample on them like flies when they

    were no longer useful…However, the recent bombing of the United Nations Office in Abuja has introduced an international dimension to terrorist’s activities, a development, which is hitherto entirely new to Nigeria.

    The promise of dialogue “….When I became the Sultan of Sokoto in November 2006, some of the major problems I found on ground were the after-effects of the riots, especially in Kaduna, Jos and some parts of the North East as well as a disturbing atmosphere of mistrust, fear and hostility, especially between the leaderships of Nigeria’s two major religions: Islam and Christianity.

    To resolve these knotty issues, we chose the

    path of positive engagement, which we thought would engender

    meaningful discourse, improve communication and understanding

    and change the dynamics of our operating environment to that of

    trust and confidence…

    Role of NIREC

    “….The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) provided the

    right platform for this engagement. The Council, itself a product of

    Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises, was composed of 25 members each

    from the two religions and co-chaired by myself, in my capacity as

    the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic

    Affairs, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria

    (CAN). The approach of NIREC was simple and practical. Firstly,

    we affirmed the sanctity of human life, Muslim and Christian, and

    insisted that anybody who takes the law into his hands, regardless of

    the circumstances, must bear the full legal consequences of his

    action.

    You cannot believe it, but despite the frequency of these

    disturbances, only a few people have ever been punished for

    perpetrating any act of violence. The masterminds go scot-free.

    Secondly, while appreciating the fact that we are required to look

    after the interest of our co-religionists, we must pay attention to the

    other dimensions of our conflicts. As many were preparing to

    declare a religious war in Jos, for example, we laboured hard to

    draw attention to the other dimensions of the crisis. It was a conflict

    between Muslims and Christians quite alright, but it was not a

    conflict between Islam and Christianity. When Nigeria’s President

    called for a parley among stakeholders, we made bold to declare the

    Jos crisis a political crisis. Thirdly, we adopted a tactical approach

    to conflict resolution. Whenever, there is a break-out of violence, we

    work together to restore law and order and ask the quarrelsome

    questions later. We take this approach to minimise loss of life and to

    ensure that the crisis is contained in the primary area it occurred.

    Also, we devised a quarterly meeting schedule that took us to all

    parts of the country. It was heartening to many to see us working

    together and preaching peaceful co-existence and religious harmony

    even in areas, which never registered an ethno-religious conflict.

    Recommendation

    I must point out that it was also our view that inter-faith action

    should transcend conflict resolution. For it to be effective, it must

    affect the life of the common man. NIREC floated the Nigeria Inter-

    Faith Action Association (NIFAA) to take up this challenge and

    NIFAA has been very active in the control of the dreaded tropical

    disease: Malaria. We also find that we must act together to address

    issues related to electoral reform, good governance and anti-

    corruption. I am also glad to state that the goodwill and

    understanding which these activities were able to generate, have

    given impetus to the development of inter-faith dialogue to a new

    level. I always remember, with happiness, the seminar organised by

    the CAN in April 2010, on ‘Knowing Your Muslim Neighbour’,

    where I presented a paper on the topic. The Nigerian Supreme

    Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) gracefully reciprocated by

    inviting CAN members to its formal meeting in Kaduna, where the

    CAN representative gave a lecture on Islam in the eyes of a

    Christian and both Muslim and Christian scholars, gave inspiring

    responses on the scriptural basis of mutual co-existence. Despite

    serious setbacks in recent months, many of us remain committed to

    this positive engagement and to the promise that dialogue offers the

    resolution to Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises.

    Looking ahead

    ‘’…Understanding the multifarious nature of Nigeria’s ethno-

    religious crises should strengthen our resolve and determination to

    deploy all the energies and resources at our disposal to see to their

    resolution.  Our inability and reluctance to take meaningful action

    go to challenge not only our common humanity but also our self-

    worth.  It is, therefore, important for us to appreciate, first and

    foremost, the importance of consensus building within the polity,

    with a view to ameliorating the current state of political polarization

    in it.  The Nigerian political class must be able to speak and

    understand one another as well as to develop a minimum national

    agenda to chart the way forward.  The political class must also be

    able to open dialogue on a variety of national issues, including the

    perennial problem of power rotation and willingly enter into

    agreements that they can honour with dignity….

    Governance

    “….Also, governance, at all levels, must translate into tangible

    benefits for all Nigerians, regardless of their ethnic and religious

    affiliation.  Nigeria has the resources to make life more pleasant for

    its people.  It is equally imperative to address the poverty problem

    as well as the needs of the youth population both in all the geo-

    political areas of the country.  In a situation where over 50 per cent

    of our population is jobless at less than 19 years of age, we are

    definitely sitting on a time bomb much deadlier than that of Boko

    Haram unless we take urgent action to defuse it….

    “….Furthermore, there should be renewed determination to address

    both the Jos and Boko Haram sectarian crises.  The Federal

    Government must take seriously its security responsibilities and

    effectively contain these crises.  But beyond that, a genuine dialogue

    must be initiated, to begin healing festering wounds and to bring

    genuine understanding and reconciliation amongst the entire people

    of Plateau State and beyond.  The social dimension of the Boko

    Haram cannot also be resolved by the mere use of force.  This is the

    reason why I have consistently suggested dialogue and education to

    counteract its message, especially those aspects dealing with modern

    education.

    Millions of Muslim pupils are already outside the school system.

    Millions more will definitely follow if urgent intervention is not

    undertaken to enlighten the younger generations.  And the question

    I have always asked is What kind of society can we build in the

    21st century when our youth turn their back on science and

    technology and are unable to produce the next generation of

    doctors, engineers and other specialisations necessary for sustaining

    the socio-economic development of the society?….

    Conclusion

    “….Finally, we should not neglect the impact of the international

    environment on Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises.  Happenings in the

    United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, Norway, Netherlands, the United

    Kingdom and France are as current and relevant as events in Jos,

    Maiduguri and Abuja. We must preach international tolerance and

    moderation. The fight against extremist groups should never be

    perverted to become a fight against Islam and its doctrines.  We

    should all remember that in the final analysis, it is not what the

    perpetrators of violence do that really counts.  It is the actions we

    take, individually and collectively, that would (eventually) shape the

    fate of humanity….”

    Now, with this new development, in which a volunteer for

    negotiation is being granted governmental authority, the hope of

    redeeming Nigeria from impending disintegration may be rekindled if

    the motive is not political especially with the 2015 elections becoming

    fast-approaching.

  • Solution to terrorism

    Solution to terrorism

    Preamble

    No professional builder of worth will ever commence the roofing of a house without first taking a cursory look at the structural design of such a house including its foundation. In the same token no good columnist will want to proffer a solution to a mammoth problem like terrorism without first examining the circumstances that brought it about in the first instance.

    Some few weeks back or thereabout, ‘THE MESSAGE’ has engaged in analysing terrorism from every conceivable angle revealing its genesis, exposing the role of some nations and individuals in it as well as unmasking the identity of a related kingpin called Osama Bin Laden.

    Terrorism is not a new phenomenon peculiar to modern time. It has long become a part of human lifestyle especially since man’s wants began to outweigh his needs and thereby creating greed in him.

    Since about 2000 years ago when the first act of terrorism was perpetrated, no single year has passed by without an incident of terrorism in one part of the world or another. That first act was perpetrated by a radical offshoot of the Zealots (a Jewish politico-religious sect during the 1st century AC) active in resisting the rule of the Roman Empire over Judea.

    Zealots emerged in 6 AC when Judea was put under direct Roman rule and the authorities ordered a census for the purpose of taxation. The Zealots’ argument was that acknowledging the authority of the pagan Roman Empire would mean repudiating the authority of God and submitting to slavery.

    Led by Judas of Galilee, a Zealots’ faction called Sicarii (‘dagger men’) adopted a terrorist tactics assassinating Romans and even Jews who were in favour of Roman authority or sympathetic to it.

    Although that rebellion was eventually put down, and many members of Sicarii probably including Judas, were killed, others continued to advocate uncompromising resistance to the Romans. One of Jesus’ disciples, Simon, was a Zealot (see Luke 6:15).

    According to a renowned Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, the Zealots played a major role in inciting and sustaining the general Jewish uprising that began in 66 AC against the Romans. Although they continued to attack other Jewish groups, they fought bravely in defence of Jerusalem until its fall in 70 AC. Thereafter, another group of Zealots held the fortress of Masada against besieging Roman troops until 73 AC, when they all committed suicide rather than surrender.

    From that experience, the aggrieved peoples of the world began to borrow the idea of terrorism as a method of demanding for their rights. And thus, through the annals of history since then, terrorism has become like a triggered gun which can be fired deliberately or accidentally at anytime and anywhere.

    Based on the same experience, an Islamic movement known as the Assassins used similar tactics in their struggle against the Christian Crusaders who had invaded what is today part of Syria. That was between 1090 and 1272 AC. The Assassins embraced the same notion of self-sacrifice and suicidal martyrdom evident in some Islamic terrorist groups today. They regarded violence as a sacramental or divine act that ensured its perpetrators would ascend to a glorious heaven should they perish during the task.

    Read Also: Shettima inaugurates NCGC board, says new firm will unlock MSME financing

    In modern time, the word terrorism was first used in France to describe a new system of government adopted during the French Revolution in 1789-1799. Called regime de la terreur (Reign of Terror), the then new regime was intended to promote democracy and popular rule by ridding the revolution of its enemies and thereby purifying it. However, the oppression and violent excesses of the terreur transformed it into a feared instrument of the state. From thence, terrorism has had a decidedly negative connotation. The word, however, did not gain wider popularity until the late 19th century when it was adopted by a group of Russian revolutionaries to describe their violent struggle against tsarist regime. Terrorism then assumed the more familiar antigovernment slogan it has today.

    According to Encyclopedia Encarta, terrorism is by nature political because it involves the acquisition and use of power for the purpose of forcing others to submit, or agree, to terrorist demands. By unleashing terror, terrorists intend to generate publicity and draw attention to themselves in their bid to generate power. And in the process, they foster an environment of fear and intimidation that they can exploit to their advantage. As a result, the success of terrorism is best measured in terms of the attention it draws to the terrorists as well as the psychological impact it exerts over a nation and its citizenry. Terrorists typically attempt to justify their use of violence by arguing that they have been excluded from, or frustrated by, the accepted processes of bringing about political change. They maintain that though their method is reluctantly chosen and even regrettable, terrorism is the only option available to them. Agreeing or disagreeing with this logic depends on the side of the divide to which the sympathizers belong. This is what brought about the aphorism “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” which underscores how the use of the word terrorism can be highly subjective depending upon one’s interest.

    Although terrorism is generally believed to be a primordial development, its intensity in modern time is strengthened by technology which engenders corporate or state sponsored terror. Prior to the invention of bomb, terrorism was limited to individuals and groups of aggrieved persons. It was only the climax of reactions by aggrieved people to negative policies of authorities or their misrule.

    All terrorists share one and the same characteristic: They never take actions randomly or senselessly. Every terrorist wants an attack to generate maximum publicity because media attention helps to achieve the intimidation needed for the success of terrorism. Accordingly, terrorist acts are carefully planned. Testimony by a terrorist convicted in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya revealed that al-Qaeda spent nearly five years to plan that attack.

    Several essential elements go into planning a major terrorist attack. Planning begins with gathering of detailed reconnaissance and intelligence about a target: its defenses, vulnerabilities, and patterns of daily activities. Meanwhile, logistics specialists ensure that all the supporting tasks are accomplished. These tasks include assembling the weapons and other supplies and communications equipment needed for the operation, arranging for safe houses and transportation for the terrorist attack team, and mapping escape routes. A bomb maker or other weapons expert often joins the final planning phases. And after all the preparations have been completed, the operation is handed over to the team that carries out the attack.

    For security reasons separate teams that do not know one another execute each step, from planning to logistics, attack, and escape.

    All terrorist groups share another basic characteristic such as secrecy about their operations. Terrorists operate underground, concealed from the eyes of the authorities and from potential informants among the populace. To maintain secrecy, terrorist groups are often organised into cells, with each cell separate from other cells in the organisation but working in harmony with them. A terrorist cell can be as small as two or three people, with only one person knowing someone in another cell. Should the authorities apprehend a member of one cell, they can obtain information only about the activities of that cell—or at most about an adjacent cell—and not about the entire organisation. For this reason terrorists prefer this organizational structure of interconnected cells. The structure narrows up in pyramid fashion, as it rises toward the group’s senior command structure and leadership at the top, to whom very few have access.

    Terrorism often targets innocent civilians in order to create an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and insecurity. Some terrorists deliberately direct attacks against large numbers of ordinary citizens who simply happen to be at a particular place at the wrong time. More selective terrorist attacks target diplomats and diplomatic facilities such as embassies and consulates; military personnel and military bases; business executives and corporate offices as well as transportation vehicles and facilities, such as airlines and airports, railways and railway stations, buses and bus terminals as well as subways. Terrorist attacks on buildings or other inanimate targets often serve a symbolic purpose: They are intended more to draw attention to the terrorists and their cause than to destroy property or kill and injure persons, although death and destruction nonetheless often result.

    Despite variations in the number of attacks from year to year in the past few decades, one feature of international terrorism has remained constant: The United States has been its most popular target. Since 1968 the United States has annually led the list of countries which citizens and property were most frequently attacked by terrorists. Several factors can account for this phenomenon, in addition to America’s position as the sole remaining superpower and leader of the free world. These include her geographical scope and ambitious imperialist tendency as exemplified by her many military bases around the world.

    Although most terrorist groups have failed to achieve their long-term, strategic aims through terrorism, their adoption of violence has on some occasions brought about significant political changes that might otherwise never be possible. Moreover, despite the claims of governments to the contrary, terrorism has sometimes also proven successful on a short-term, tactical level like winning the release of prisoners, wresting political concessions from otherwise resistant governments, or ensuring that causes and grievances that might otherwise have been ignored or neglected were addressed.

    Terrorism was used by some nationalist movements in the anti-colonial era just after World War II, when British and French empires in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East were dissolved. Countries as diverse as, Cyprus, Kenya, and Algeria owe their independence to these movements.

    Evidence of terrorist success has come more recently in the examples of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in Northern Ireland and Yasir Arafat in the Middle East. Adams, the president of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland, and his deputy McGuinness both won election to the British Parliament in 1997. Arafat, as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), won international recognition for the PLO. Through tactical victories and political achievements, each of their organizations has demonstrated how a series of terrorist acts can propel to world attention long-standing causes and grievances.

    The most spectacular terrorist incident of the anti-colonial period was the 1946 bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, by a Jewish underground group known as the Irgun Zvai Le’umi (National Military Organization). The hotel was attacked because it served at that time as the military headquarters and offices of the British administration in Palestine. Ninety-one people were killed and 45 others injured: men, women, Arabs, Jews, and Britons alike. The Irgun’s commander at the time was Menachem Begin, a future prime minister of Israel and 1978 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner.

    Begin is not alone among those once called terrorists who later attained the highest levels of power in their newly independent countries. Others include Kenya’s president Jomo Kenyatta, Cyprus’s Archbishop Makarios, and Algeria’s president Ahmed Ben Bella.

    During the late 1960s and 1970s terrorism assumed more clearly ideological motivations. Various disenfranchised or exiled nationalist minorities—as exemplified by the PLO—also embraced terrorism as a means to draw attention to their plight and generate international support for their cause. The PLO sought to create a state in what was historically known as Palestine: the land that became Israel in 1948 and the West Bank and Gaza Strip—territories occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.

    A Palestinian group, in fact, was responsible for the incident that is considered to mark the beginning of the current era of international terrorism. On July 22, 1968, three armed Palestinians belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an Israeli El Al commercial flight from Rome, Italy, en rout Tel Aviv, Israel. Although commercial planes had often been hijacked before, this was the first clearly political hijacking. The act was designed to create an international crisis and thereby generate publicity.

    But perhaps the most conspicuous terrorist act that formed a catalyst in the Palestinian cause was that of 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany at which some Palestinians stormed the Israeli camp and murdered 11 of the Jewish athletes in cold blood. That dastardly act though held the world nonplused and sent jitters to most governments it nevertheless paved way for the global recognition of Palestine as a waiting independent State.

    Two years after that tragic event, (1974) the United Nations invited the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader, Yasir Arafat to address its General Assembly and consequently granted observer status to the PLO. Thus, within one decade, the PLO as a political entity without a state had established formal diplomatic relations with more than 86 countries as against Israel’s 72. The PLO would likely never have attained such recognition without the attention that its international terrorist campaign drew to the plight of thePalestinians in refugee camps.

    It must be remembered that the World War I was precipitated by terrorism through the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Serbian nationalist. And it was as a result of that war that the Bolshevik Group seized the power in Russia which culminated in what came to be called Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The ripples effect of that development later polarized the world into the Capitalist and Communist camps with emergence of countries like Cuba and China and their entailed armament race.

    Because religion was used to justify, legitimize, and even encourage, violence in the assassinations of Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat in 1981 by a group of Islamic fundamentalists and that of Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 by a group of Jewish extremists, the world tends to attribute terrorism to religion more than anything else. This is a wrong focus considering the various examples cited above. And besides, terrorism is now basically of two major types-internal and external both of which are inter-related. When these two are compared, one will discover that external terrorism can be more easily tackled than the internal one. But generally, what is the solution to terrorism? Read on next Friday In sha’a Llah. 

    3 Responses to “Solution to terrorism “ 

    TATA Rating:     

    said this on 05 Feb 2010 1:40:38 AM CDT

    thanks for the lesson, but i doubt with such illustrious history and rate of success, there could be a solution to terrorism…

    (Reply to this comment)

    Lumumba Rating:     

    said this on 06 Feb 2010 6:32:56 AM CDT

    You created a confusion between military tactics and strategies of national liberation movements and acts of terrorism as a weapon of war. That they both share violence in their methodologies does not make them the same. Linking Ben Bella or Mau Mau with terrorism is flying in the face of history and turning it upside down. Even going by your history, you stated terrorism started 2000 years ago. Before then nko? Or was that the beginning of history as we know it?

    (Reply to this comment)

    TATA Rating:     

    said this on 07 Feb 2010 3:43:03 AM CDT

    lumumba…first acknowledge his premise..one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter…that dismisses your confusion…as for the 2000 years, he had to start from somewhere, or at least where there is a semblance of recorded or dated history…it is called historiography…

    (Reply to this comment)

  • Happy New Year

    Happy New Year

    Preamble

    The appearance of today’s title in this column once in a year often looks strange to most readers since this is not January.  In Nigeria, like in most other African countries, the idea of ‘New Year’ is ignorantly believed to be peculiar to January which is the first month of Gregorian calendar. That is the effect of colonialism in our continent. From whichever angle it is viewed, European colonialism has a thick Christian coloration that still paints African culture in the rainbow of colonial tradition.

    Islam has its own calendar. And, like other calendars of the world, there is a beginning and an end for every Hijrah year. Unlike other calendars which are manmade however, Islamic calendar, otherwise known as Hijrah calendar, is divinely ordained. This is confirmed in chapter 9, verse 36 of the Qur’an as follows: “Surely, the number of months ordained by Allah when He created the heavens and the earth is twelve. Therefore, do not wrong yourselves in them….”

    The twelve Islamic months are as follows: Muharram; Safar; Rabiul Awwal; Rabiu-th-Thani; Jumadal Ula; Jumada-th-Thaniyah; Rajab; Shaban; Ramadan; Shawwal; Dhul Qadah; and Dhul Hijjah.

    The four months specifically designated as sacred months are the last four months of Hijrah calendar. They are Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul Qa’dah and Dhul Hijjah. Some of these months have 30 days. Others have 29. No more, no less.

    Yesterday (June 26, 2025) was the first day of Hijrah year 1447. It follows the last day of Dhul Hijjah which ends last Wednesday. Dhul Hijjah is the last month of Hijrah calendar. It takes a well educated person to understand this and relate to it as such. This is what distinguishes then Osun State Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola from all other governors, especially in the Southwest of Nigeria. The declaration while in office then by him of public holiday for the event is a clear evidence of justice which had hitherto been denied to the Muslims in the state.

    To demonstrate similar justice, it was hoped that other governors in the region will follow suit as a mark of civility.

    Genesis

    Hijrah calendar took its name from Prophet Muhammad’s emigration from Makkah to Madinah in 622 C.E. The use of Hijrah calendar began when Umar Bn Khattab, the second Caliph, suggested that Islam should have its own distinctive calendar saying Hijrah, the Prophet’s emigration, was so much a significant landmark in Islam that it could not be overlooked. As a matter of fact, Hijrah is one of the three main factors responsible for the survival of the religion of Islam. The other two were the victory of the Muslims in the battle of Badr which was waged by Makkah pagans against them in Madinah shortly after the Prophet’s emigration. And the third is Allah’s great promise that became an everlasting fulfilment. That promise is contained in Chapter 15 verse 9 of the Qur’an thus:

    “It was ‘We’ (Allah) who revealed the Qur’an and We will preserve it…’ and who can doubt the Almighty Allah the Creator of the entire universe and its preserver”. But for these three fundamental factors, perhaps Islam or the Qur’an would have joined the legion of defunct religions. With Allah, all things are possible.

    Significance

    In Islam, the first day of the first Hijrah month (Muharram) is more significant than Mawlidun- Nabiyyi (the birth day of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Prophet had existed for 40 years before ‘The Message of Islam’ came to him and nobody celebrated his birthday. Thus without

    ‘The great Message of Islam’ he would have had no cause to emigrate.

    And if he had lived for 40 years without being known in history before he became a Prophet, why should his birthday now take precedence over ‘The Great Message’ which made him the greatest man that ever lived?

    Basically Hijrah institutionalised three important aspects of life: social, economic and political. In the social aspect when the first revelation was made to the Prophet (SAW) a period of twelve (12) years was devoted by him towards inculcating the religion in the minds of individuals while no pattern of a collective life based on true religious concepts could be presented to the world. The status of the Muslim individuals in Makkah gave rise to the misconception that Islam, or rather, believing in the mission of the prophet was one’s personal affair. This was believed to pertain only to the hereafter which had nothing to do with people’s collective life.

    Social Effect

    It was only after the Prophet’s emigration (Hijrah) that people began to see Islam clearly as a way of life which paid attention to and reformed every facet of human existence. It then became evident that Islam was the religion that gave directions regarding almost every moment of a believer’s conscious life. Hijrah also enabled the Arabs in particular to see what a Muslim’s matrimonial home should be in a Muslim society. Hence, it was only after this event that the world could see the aspect of human social decency and decorum prescribed by Islam.

    The second reason for the importance of Hijrah is its economic significance which manifested in the lifestyle of the pioneer Muslims’ emigration to Madinah led by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself. The unsurpassable hospitality of the people of Madinah towards the Muslim emigrants did not only provide a new peaceful home for the newcomers.

    It also showed the hosts’ passionate self-sacrifice. And with Hijrah, the Makkan emigrants who became immigrants in Madinah vividly came in contact with advanced agricultural acumen and ingenuous artisanship never experienced before.  These resulted in an unprecedented economic revolution for the city. Since the hosts shared virtually everything they had with the immigrants when the latter first arrived, a lesson was learnt by the immigrants not to continue to be a burden on their brotherly hosts. Thus, every one of them adopted legitimate ways of earning righteous income.

    Moral Effect

    Initially, the Muslim Immigrants in Madinah worked as labourers in the fields, gardens and construction works. But later, they, being traditional traders, started small trading activities which brought them into an economic competition with the Jews of Madinah. One aspect of the economic revolution was that the Muslim immigrants paid the right price for every product they consumed since the Prophet had forbidden the practice of acquiring products on reduced prices in return for loans given to the artisans or to the land cultivators. The practice was prohibited because it was considered to be a form of usury.

    Thus, it was only after Hijrah that agriculture, industry and trade freely helped the Muslims to bring about an integrated, balanced and unfettered economy for the Ummah.

    Judicial Effect

    The third reason which made Hijrah a very important event is the political freedom for the Muslims. Before Hijrah, the Muslims in Makkah had no say in any matter, internal or external. They were a minority against whom the hearts of the majority were full of enmity simply because they were an insignificant part of the dominating unbelievers’ society in Makkah.

    It was Hijrah, therefore, that made the Muslims Masters of their internal affairs, external relations and matters relating to war and peace. If there was any disagreement between the Muslims and the non-Muslims, the final decision was to be made by the Prophet. This indicated a kind of autonomy to be enjoyed by the Muslims for the first time. And it was the nucleus of a city-state which, within a period of ten (10) years in the lifetime of the Prophet expanded to the entire Arabian Peninsula. It is thus evident that the event of Hijrah turned a few hundred Muslims resident in Madinah into a highly successful society.

    An erroneous act

    If the Nigerian Muslim leaders were adequately informed at the time they were negotiating religious holidays for Nigerian Muslim Ummah they would have asked for Hijrah rather than Mawlidun-Nabiyyi. Apart from coming into the world through birth like any other human being, there is nothing the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) contributed to the unprecedented revolution called Islam. And, the Prophet himself did not believe in the aristocracy of birth which celebration of birthday is all about. That was why he (the Prophet) never celebrated his own birthday the way some Muslims do on his behalf today. What is more, the Prophet’s birthday is never celebrated in Saudi Arabia where he was born. What is rather celebrated in that country is Hijrah Day.

    Whereas Mawlidun-Nabiyyi is about the personal life of Prophet Muhammad alone, Hijrah Day is about Islam and the entire Muslim Ummah.

    While celebrating Mawlidun-Nabiyyi, you can only praise the Prophet and nothing more. But when celebrating the Hijrah day, you are celebrating not only the Prophet’s migration but also the triumph of Islam as the everlasting password of the Universe. That is why we exchange pleasantries by congratulating one another and by chanting the slogan HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    Compared to Hijrah calendar, the Gregorian calendar is not only artificial but alien to Christianity. It was only adopted some centuries ago as a way of distinguishing the religion of Christ from whatever preceded or succeeded it. While writing about how Gregorian calendar came into existence, a British writer and newspaper columnist, Ben Snowden said in a descriptive article entitled ‘The Curious History of Gregorian Calendar’ thus: “September 2, 1752, was a great day in the history of sleep”.

    That Wednesday evening, millions of British subjects in England and the colonies went peacefully to sleep and did not wake up until twelve days later. Behind this feat of narcoleptic prowess was not just some revolutionary hypnotic technique or miraculous pharmaceutical discovered in the West Indies. It was, rather, the British Calendar Act of 1751, which declared the day after Wednesday the second day of that month to be Thursday the fourteenth day of the same month.

    Other calendars

    Prior to that cataleptic September evening, the official British calendar differed from that of continental Europe by eleven days—that is, September 2 in London was September 13 in Paris, Lisbon, and Berlin. The discrepancy had sprung from Britain’s continued use of the Julian calendar, which had been the official calendar of Europe since its invention by Julius Caesar (after whom it was named) in 45 B.C.

    Caesar’s calendar, which consisted of eleven months of 30 or 31 days and a 28-day February (extended to 29 days every fourth year), was actually quite accurate: it erred from the real solar calendar by only 11½ minutes a year. By the sixteenth century, it had put the Julian calendar behind the solar one by 10 days.

    In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the advancement of the calendar by 10 days and introduced a new corrective device to curb further error: century years such as 1700 or 1800 would no longer be counted as leap years, unless they were (like 1600 or 2000) divisible by 400.

    If somewhat inelegant, this system is undeniably effective, and is still in official use in the United States. The Gregorian calendar year differs from the solar year by only 26 seconds—accurate enough for most mortals, since this only adds up to one day’s difference every 3,323 years.

    Despite the prudence of Pope Gregory’s correction, many Protestant countries, including England, ignored the papal bull. Germany and the Netherlands agreed to adopt the Gregorian calendar in 1698; Russia only accepted it after the revolution of 1918 and Greece waited until 1923 to follow suit. And currently many Orthodox churches still follow the Julian calendar, which now lags 13 days behind the Gregorian.

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    The use of calendars

    Since their invention, calendars have been used to reckon time in advance, and to fix the occurrence of events like harvests or religious festivals. Ancient people tied their calendars to whatever recurring natural phenomena they could most easily observe. In areas with pronounced seasons, annual weather changes usually fixed the calendar; in warmer climates such as Southern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, the moon was used to mark time.

    Unfortunately, the cycles of the sun and moon do not synchronise well.

    A lunar year (consisting of 12 lunar cycles, or lunation, each 29½ days long) is only 354 days, 8 hours long; that is unlike a solar year which lasts about 365¼ days. After three years, a strict lunar calendar would have diverged from the solar calendar by 33 days, or more than one lunation.

    The Muslim calendar is the only purely lunar calendar with widespread use today. Its months have no permanent connection to any particular season. Muslim religious celebrations, such as Ramadan, may therefore occur at any date of the Gregorian calendar.

    To compensate for the difference in the solar and lunar year, calendar makers introduced the practice of intercalation (the addition of extra days or months to the calendar) to make it more accurate.

    Gregorian calendar

    Despite its widespread use, the Gregorian calendar has a number of weaknesses. It cannot be divided into equal halves or quarters; the number of days per month is haphazard; and months or even years may begin on any day of the week.

    Since the time of Pope Gregory XIII, many other proposals for calendar reform have been made. For instance, in the 1840s, philosopher Auguste Comte suggested that the 365th day of each year be a holiday not assigned to a day of the week.

    The French Revolution also made an attempt to introduce a new calendar. On October 5, 1793, the revolutionary convention decreed that the year (starting on September 22, 1792—the autumnal equinox, and the day after the proclamation of the new republic) would be divided into 12 months of 30 days, named after corresponding seasonal phenomena (e.g. seed, blossom, harvest).

    The remaining five days of the year, called sans-culottides were considered feast days. In leap years, the extra day (Revolution Day) was to be added to the end of the year. The Revolutionary calendar had no week; each month was divided into three decades, with every tenth day to be a day of rest. This clumsy calendar, however, perished with the French Republic because of its clumsiness.

    Conclusion

    Of all the existing calendars, only Hijrah has been generally acknowledged as unique in effect and in workability. In commemoration of the great occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) emigration from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE, both the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) have sent messages of felicitations to Nigerian Muslim Ummah just as ‘The Message’ column also says HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  • Trojan Horse

    Trojan Horse

    Preamble

    Nigeria is said to be over 100 years old as a country. She became an amalgam of nations in 1914 at the instance of the British colonialists who christened her Nigeria. In her tortuous journey towards the centenary age, this so-called giant of Africa had crawled and trotted through the labyrinth of life. But she remains in the trapping maze of uncertainty even as a predicted pendulum continues to swing over her head in what is generally seen as a possible political guillotine. Can this static and stagnant country survive and transform into a nation? This is a billion dollar question anxiously begging for a satisfactory answer.

    Margaret Thatcher’s Wish

    In the twilight of her life, a former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, sarcastically alluded to Nigeria’s precarious situation in a press interview some years back while celebrating her 80th birthday. She was casually asked by journalists to indicate her preferred nation if she had opportunity of coming back into this world. In her response to that curious question Thatcher said she would like to come back into the world as a Nigerian ruler an answer that threw the interviewers into a sarcastic laughter. And when asked to explain what she actually meant by that conclusion the Iron Lady said: “Nigeria is the only country in the world where people can be pushed to the wall by their rulers and they would rather enter the wall than turn back to confront those rulers”.

    Thatcher’s statement here may sound like an impetus to a parochial government, but any reasonable person will know that Thatcher was merely speaking in parable the meaning of which is that elasticity has limit.

    Good Governance

    In Islam, nothing else is held more sacrosanct than good governance which can be likened to a magnificent umbrella under which people are supposed to take cover during torrential rains or burning sun. In a democratic environment, such umbrella is owned, not by those who hold it in their hands but by the citizenry who handed it over to the holders. Its bearers are just servants holding it in trust for the people. It is only through good governance that security, law and justice can be guaranteed. For the wise who can sincerely read between the lines, Islam is the only genuine and ready antidote for the contemporary poison of life which humanity seems to have swallowed in their quest for material wealth.

    Mighty Ocean

    If Islam had just been a religion and not a way of life, it would have become like other creeds in the world today. Panel beaters would have worked on it. Painters would have re-sprayed it to suit their tastes. Fine artists would have added drawings of beauty to it for marketability. And, then, it would have become an all-comers’ trade fetching money day and night for merchants of fortune.

    But this divine religion is like a mighty ocean flowing ceaselessly towards all directions and watering all plants around into life through the deltas of adjoining rivers. It will be suicidal for anybody, government or nation, therefore, no matter how technologically advanced, to want to change its course. Those who attempted it in the past ended up drowning in it only to become meals for ‘whales’ and ‘sharks’.

    Looking at the emergence, the spread and the triumph of Islam in the midst of empires and at a time when might and nothing but might alone mattered, any right-thinking person will surely be amazed. How did a desert illiterate man of little means come up with an ideology that captured the world slaves and kings? How did he become a law giver without any training in a law school? How did he become a General without enrolling in any army? How did he become a scientist without attending any school? How did he become a doctor without undergoing any medical training? How did he become a ruler without receiving any tutelage in politics? What can be more amazing, historically or contemporarily, than to have all these roles and more combined in a single human being who rose from such a crude background?

    The great revolution which the great Prophet of Islam brought into the world cannot but beat the imagination of any sensible mortal being. There were hundreds of Prophets before him. Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and a host of others had all come as prophets preaching peace and harmony to mankind in different tongues and at different places. But none of them combined the qualities that made Prophet Muhammad (SAW) a unique exemplar that he was. Prophets Daud (David) and Sulayman (Soloman) who were kings could though be called Generals in their own right, but they were neither scientists nor doctors. Yet, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) never claimed any miracle by magical wand.

    Emergence of Islam

    What makes Islam a unique way of life is the uniqueness of Prophet Muhammad’s personality which derived from the uniqueness of the Qur’an as the most comprehensive revealed ‘BOOK’ of Allah. If the Orientalists who were accusing Prophet Muhammad (SAW) of being a war monger were not ignorant or hypocritical, they would have known that no empire or civilisation has ever emerged or survived without fighting wars.

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    How did such old empires as the Mesopotamian, the Greek, the Assyrian, the Persian and the Roman emerge? How did the French and the Russian revolutions succeed in the 19th and 20th centuries? And, even in the contemporary time, how did America emerge as the world’s strongest power? Was it just by preaching human rights and democracy?

    The reality of today as presented by the history of the past has exposed the hypocrisy of yesteryears. Islam has transcended a stage in life when it could be intimidated or blackmailed into surrendering its identity to any spiritual charlatan.

    When the West talks of democracy today, the impression it gives is that democracy is a Western invention.

     This is very far from the truth. Despite the lengthy and speculative Platonic theories on democracy, the West did not come in contact with it, practically, until it had a political encounter with the Muslims in Spain. That was in the 8th century A.C. And even with that encounter, it remained a mere spectator in the field of democracy until expediency brought about what was called ‘Magna Carter’ in England in 1215 A.C.

    What the West calls democracy today was what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had called ‘interactive government’ which he practiced as far back as the 7th century. At the time when he established the Islamic State, there was no single empire or nation in the entire world without a monarchical system of government. The idea of democracy, which the West came to adopt as its heritage, is purely Islamic.

    As Head of State, the Prophet never imposed any policy on the people without impute from his able disciples except such a policy came in form of divine revelation.

     In other words, he was neither a monarch nor a despotic ruler. And, as a ruler, he never saw himself as more important than any other citizen or resident in the state. That was why he was so indigent even as Head of State that his household could carry on for months without cooking any food under their roof.

    In Nigeria, this is not the case. There is no clear demarcation between democracy and autocracy. All it takes to authenticate dictatorship is to add the word ‘executive’ to either President or Governor. For instance, sometime ago, the federal government announced what it called modalities for the proposed controversial National Dialogue, which it said would now be known as “The National Conference” with the following features:

    The total number of delegates will be 492. Out of this, the Presidency alone will nominate about 141 which is almost 1/3 with fiat. Then the rest will be as follows: 15 slots for every socio-political group in each geo-political zone which amounts to about 90 slots. This means that the conference is being organised basically because of the ethnic groups in the country. The guidelines also gave two slots to each of five political parties with representation in the National Assembly.

    Speaking to journalists in Abuja,  the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, said that all socio-political and nationality groups in  the country have been given 15 slots from each geo-political zone just as five political parties will get two slots each in the proposed National Conference. According to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Anyim Pius Anyim who announced the details of the National Conference, the venue will be Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, while the duration will be three months. He added that there would be no go areas except for the indissolubility of Nigeria and concluded that and concluded that decisions would be reached by consensus but where consensus cannot be reached 75% majority will be used. He further disclosed that the conference would have an unimpeachable chair person, a deputy chair person and a secretary without explaining how these officials will emerge. The nominations, according to him would commence on January 30, 2013 and end on February 20, 2014.

    The breakdown of the composition of delegates would be as follows: The Federal Government would directly nominate 20 people out of whom six must be women. Nigerian Labour Congress 12; Trade Union Congress 12; Civil Society Organisations 24; the military six on the principle of one per geo-political zone; police six one from each geo-political zone; State Security Service (SSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) six one from each geo-political zone; National Council for Women Society (NCWS) 12 giving two to each geo-political zone; Market Women Associations 6 one from each geo-political zone.

    Then, FIDA, NAWOJ, WINBIZ all together six one per organization; Elder Statesmen 37 one per state and FCT; NECA two; MAN two; NACCIMA two; NESG two; NUJ two; Nigerian Guild of Editors two; Newspapers Proprietors Association two; People Living with Disabilities six one per geo-political zone; Christian Leaders six; Muslim Leaders six; Traditional Rulers 13 two per zone plus one from FCT ; retired civil servants six one per zone National Youth Council of Nigeria six; NANS six; Other Outstanding Youths and Role Models six; Nigerians in Diaspora Europe, America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East one two per location; Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria two.

    Summary

    Socio –Political/Cultural and Ethnic Nationality Groups 90 which should be 15 per geo-political zone with nominations reflecting Ethnic and Religious Diversities; Professional Bodies: NBA,NSE,CIB,NMA,NIM,NIA,ICAN, ANAN,NIPR,AAPN,NIESV 13; Nigerian Environmental Societies one per organization; National Academy 5; One each for Academy of Science, Academy of Engineering, Academy of Education, Academy of Letters, Academy of Social Sciences; Judiciary six person not currently serving on the Bench; former political office holders; former governors six; Senators Forum six; House of Reps 6; Association of Former Speakers 6; State Government and FCT 109 three per state and one for FCT based on Senatorial District at least one of whom shall be a woman; Former LGA Chairmen six one per Geo-Political zone; Chairmen, Deputy Chair and Secretary three. The cost of the conference will be N5billion-N6billion but one can be sure that the maximum will be overshot.

    Picture of Democracy

    In Islam, democracy is not about voting and power alone. It is fundamentally about justice in all its ramifications according to the rule of law. It is about tending the lives of others for the overall good of the nation. It is about providing the needs of the people according to the available resources in the nation. It is about protecting the interest of the weak against the oppression of the strong. It is about managing the wealth of the nation with diligent sense of accountability. It is about securing the lives of the citizenry in terms of jobs, feeding, shelter, health and education. It is about boosting the horizon of the youths and sharpening their hope against the future. It is about guaranteeing adequate income per capital and ensuring a standard life expectancy. Governance, whether democratic or monarchical, is fundamentally a function of culture. That is why countries like Britain will claim that their constitutions are partly written and partly conventional. Borrowing a foreign culture to practice democracy is like borrowing another man’s mouth to eat. Into whose stomach will the food go?

    When people of different tribes and tongues are forcefully fused together, the tendency is for multi-dimensional crises to remain with them perpetually. The only exception however is genuine federalism which must be adopted to enable every tribe or region conduct its affairs according to its culture. Prophet Muhammad had long warned against misplacement of issues. He said: “When the thrust of an issue is misplaced fundamentally, expect the end of time”.

    To continue to pretend that nothing is fundamentally wrong with Nigeria democratically is to hide behind one finger. And, for how long can a country do that? The Soviet Union played to the gallery in such self-deception for about 74 years before it finally collapsed into oblivion. It was hoped that the proposed Nigerian National Conference will not be a Trojan Horse that may pave way for a journey to ‘Moscow’ out of which a Nigerian Gorbachev may emerge.

    “Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If He seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, none can ward it off. Besides Him they have no protector”. Q. 13:11.

  • The seed of terror

    The seed of terror

    Preamble

    Yoruba language may have no plural or gender in its structural syntax.

    It may be poor in vocabulary and clumsy in grammar. But it is surely not lacking in proverbs and mythology. In that language, you can hardly express a sentence without enriching it with two or three proverbs. One of its famous proverbs has become an axiom in theory and practice. And many other languages have borrowed it for a token of experience. It goes thus: “A toddler who insists on preventing his mother from sleeping will surely not enjoy the serenity of the night rest”. This subtle axiom has its equivalence in English language. “A drastic problem requires a drastic solution”.

    Language is the root of all human cultures. It is the means of communicating thoughts, ideas and experiences. A people without language can be said to be without culture. Take a man out of his culture and he will immediately become like a fish out of water. His next action will be to rebel against the new but strange environment.

    That is the kind of situation that is cloaking the world in form of terrorism today.

    Language and Culture

    From time immemorial, language has been like a double edged sword. At a time it is used to attack. At another, it becomes an instrument of defence. Concord and conflict as well as love and hatred emanate from the use of language. Without language, there can be no marriage or divorce. Neither can there be business or even government. As a matter of fact, no tribe or nation can lay claim to civilisation in the absence of language.

    In Islam, language is everything human, including life and death. That is why a stammering prophet like Musa (Moses) would need an interpreter like Harun (Aaron) in his mission. Buddhists, Hindus, Judaists, Christians and Muslims, all proclaim Holy Books in one form or another, through their endowed languages. Not only must a prophet possess the power of language, he must also be eloquent in it. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognised the enormous power naturally embedded in language and warned the Muslims thus: ‘Tongue is like sword, if you fail to hold it, it may hold you”.

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    A person’s first language is called mother tongue while a standardised dialect within a tribal language is said to be ‘received’. If there is one aspect of culture that is not substitutable, it is language. The greatest havoc ever done to any group of people in history, especially through slave trade and colonialism, is language substitution. Nothing is more enslaving than substitution of language. Once language is renounced or substituted, nothing else is left of culture. The black citizens of the world, outside Africa, otherwise classified as Diaspora, are victims of this indelible psychological trauma.

    There are only four countries in the world today with English language as their mother tongue. These are Britain, the United States, Australia and Ireland. What would have been the fifth country is only partially English speaking. And that is Canada. All other countries that speak English as lingua franca only adopted it. Believing English to be the language of modern civilisation, the rest of the world have tacitly adopted it either as a lingua franca or as language of business. Yet the natural speakers of the language don’t seem to be satisfied with this development.

    Evil Axis

    With the role which America played in bringing an end to slavery in the 19th century, the world had expected the self-styled ‘God’s own

    Country’ to be the messiah of the modern age. But that expectation has turned forlorn. Rather than championing the course of peace and tranquility, America has replaced Germany as the greatest threat to humanity in the 21st century. And she has found an inseparable ally in Britain to form an ‘Evil Axis’ of untamable aggressors.

    Both English speaking countries had jointly piloted the modern world into a technological civilisation culminating in what is now known as global village. But they have used the same technology to turn themselves into ‘policemen of the world’.

    There is no part of the world today where a suffocating effect of their presence is not felt. Like a pair of scissors, both countries have jointly subjected many nations and races to untold terror and humiliation forcing countries to disintegrate and compelling friendly tribes to become foes all to further the course of their capitalist interest. Thus, they have planted the seed of terrorism in all corners of the world either in the name of capitalism or under the disguise of democracy.

    In the process of doing this, they have drawn the wrath of many nations, groups and individuals who now tend to react with venomous reprisal. If the militant liberators in Ireland or the patriotic defenders of motherland in Falkland are quiet today, it is not because they have been placated. The fact is that they have not got the power with which to demand for their rights. When they do, the situation may change.

    And, from Vietnam to Cambodia; from Panama to Korea, the feelings are the same. Even Germany and Japan which were de feated in World War II by the American-led Allied Forces in 1945, are still nursing their wounds. Isn’t it amazing that, 69 years after that devastating war, American and British forces are still stationed in those two countries under the cover of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Claiming to be maintaining regional security, these aggressive allies continue to lay siege on those countries despite throat-cutting reparation they had forced them to pay. Today, the entire Middle East is engulfed in a ceaseless turmoil at the instance of the ‘Evil Axis’, and the whole world has become hopelessly restive.

    Propaganda

    Now, using their propaganda machinery to bully the rest of the world, the US and Britain have almost succeeded in branding any revengeful reaction to their brigandage as religious terrorism. What is the religious connection in Britain’s claim of the Falkland Island far away in Argentina?

    What is religious in America’s capturing of the ruling President Noriega of Panama in his country and taking him for trial in the US where he was jailed and had to languish in prison for years? What is religious in forcing monolingual countries like Korea and Cambodia to break into North and South? What is religious in invading Iraq even after it became evident that the poor country was not harbouring any deadly weapons as alleged? What actually qualifies the US, Britain and other Western countries to be nuclear powered and disqualifies others?

    Even if a country chooses to use religion as her guide in governance as in the case of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran how does that affect Britain and the US thousands of miles away? Is Northern Ireland not a Christian country like Britain? Why the aggression against that country? And is Britain not using religion as an instrument of governance? Why does the Queen of England combine the two designations of Head of State and Head of the Church of England?

    If the truth must be told, the real problem of the world today is the greedy willingness of Britain and America to dominate the economy of other countries in a manner of brigandage. And that has led the duo to adopt military might as a means of cowing down some countries while subjecting others to terrorism.

    It is rather unfortunate that those who are bearing the brunt of the evil actions are innocent people going about their businesses legitimately. Otherwise, neither America nor Britain would have deserved any sympathy for the various terrorist attacks on certain targets in the two countries. Their plight would have been taken for merely reaping the fruits of their labour.

    Religion is being used as a scapegoat in the world today, not by Afghanistan or Ireland, but by Britain and the US because that is their most convenient alibi for unbridled aggression against weaker countries.

    Who wants to die?

    No one loves to die deliberately in Palestine or in Iraq or in Afghanistan or in Ireland. But when you are forced to live without essence, the tendency is to ask yourself the need to live at all. And, to answer such a question some people might desperately conclude that if they must not live, those who are forcing them to die must also not live.

     “Man is not innately wicked, but when an attempt is made to consign him to the scrap-heap he shows resentment in no uncertain terms”. Terrorism begets terrorism. But what is one nation’s terrorism is another nation’s heroism. And it is the innocent world that will pay the price of peace. Unfortunately, what Nigerians know how to imitate most is evil machinations of other countries. That terrorism has become a conundrum in Nigeria today is an evidence of this assertion. But one fact is very clear about terrorism. It is incontrovertibly a product of corruption and the latter is a bigger terrorism. Those who want to end terrorism therefore must first endeavour to end corruption.

    Allah warns against corruption and the acts of brigandage in chapter 8:25 of the Qur’an thus: “And guard against calamity that may afflict not only the wrong doers (but even the innocent ones among you). Know that Allah’s punishment can be very severe”.

    Solution

    How can we change this evil trend? This, perhaps, is the new reality which dawned on the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, when he was about to exchange baton with his predecessor, Tony Blair, some years ago. In a chat with Labour Party members in Manchester shortly before he assumed office as Prime Minister, Brown said he recognised the fact that global extremism could never be defeated by military force alone.

    His words:

    “Our foreign policy in the years ahead will reflect the truth that to isolate and defeat terrorist extremism now involves more than military force….it (terrorism) is a struggle of ideas and ideals that in the coming years will be waged and won for the hearts and minds here at home and around the world”. Many well-meaning, foresighted Nigerians have drummed the same warning to the ears of Nigerian government. But a government that is wiser than its subjects will never heed such a warning.

    When he was making the above statement, Brown never thought that Britain would soon come under a new terrorist attack. But just a few days after that famous speech, Glasgow Airport became a target of terrorist attack. And that was on the very day he formally assumed office as Prime Minister. What became clearer especially with September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, was that no country is actually immune to terrorist attack.

    History has not cited a single example of terrorism which was conquered on the battle field. Thus, since no power on earth can claim to have monopoly of terror peace would better be achieved by sharing the wisdom of others through dialogue in ending terrorism.

    Reality

    That is the reality to which the West, especially Britain and the US, had deliberately been blind. If that reality now becomes the spectacle with which the West wants to view the world, then, peace may return to its rightful place as the reigning force of human universe. But then, the idea of manufacturing and supplying weapons to some people against others will have to stop permanently.

    The religious world was once peaceful until America renounced her policy of isolationism in 1945. It took that country to join Britain in using the Press to invent labelling names and acronyms to derogate certain religions (particularly Islam) and demoralise their adherents.

    The misfortune in this which the world is yet to realise is that every religion is built on the foundation of culture.

    Therefore, no religion can be attacked to the exclusion of its culture. And nothing in the life of man is called civilisation outside culture. That is why some people are ready to die when their religion comes under a violent attack from those who are ignorant of it.

    The Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians and the Persians of the ancient world did not fight wars because of religion. Their motives were material but today they have all gone into irreversible oblivion.

    Those of today will eventually follow their way. Materialism is nothing but vanity which is invariably ephemeral. That is why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his disciples never crossed swords with Christians when they were alive.

    The very first international wars fought for religious reason which by necessity pitched Muslims against Christians were the Crusade Wars.

    And these were caused by sheer miscarriage of information. Yet, about one thousand years after those unwarranted wars, their scar still remains indelible in the world today.

    Violence on the basis of religion can terminate lives. It can destroy properties and ruin cities and towns as well as cause dislocations and relocations of people and settlements. But it can never win hearts nor change conviction. Truth is bitter and thus abhorrent to people of falsehood. But no matter how much it may be suppressed, Muslims are ready to join other oppressed people of the world in welcoming a new initiative from the West with a view to forging peace for all and sundry.

  • Language of worship

    Language of worship

    “To grasp the meaning of the world of today we use a language created to express the world of yesterday. The life of the past seems to us nearer our true natures only for the reason that it is nearer our language”.

    By Exupery, from his book: ‘Wind, Sand and Star’, (1939).

    Monologue

    Every celestial or terrestrial creature is like an exclusive enclosure with a special master key that can open it in a peculiar way. That master key, as far as human beings are concerned, is the effective but invisible substance called language. 

    Preamble

    In a clime, language is not just a means of communicating ideas and experiences to facilitate understanding, it is also an instrument of documenting events through which the occurrences of the past and those of the present are related to the future.  In another clime, language is the prima-facie symbol of any culture. A culture without   language is a culture without identity.

    Every language is primarily spoken either by words of mouth or by gesticulation. But it becomes converted into writing for the purpose of recording sounds and preserving history. Language is, in a nutshell, the foundation of all civilizations in all human eras. It is man’s greatest invention without which all other inventions would have been impossible.

    Analysis

       Whether in spoken or written form, language serves as the main intermediary among the races and tribes of mankind.

    Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, language has stood out as a distinguished entity that serves the same purpose in all eras throughout the epoch of history. The birth and death of humans; the rise and fall of empires; the migrations and settlements of races and tribes are all recorded chronicled in languages. Even some inanimate objects like stone, water and glass speak onomatopoeically sometimes to the admiration of man.  

    It is with language alone that every human thought germinates and is turned into reality from dream. Not only that, language is also the cultural law that governs the wild life, be it agro or aqua. The nature of language, its importance, its complexity and its role in human life are such that, this world would have been meaningless without it.  

    Allah tells us in Qur’an 49:13 thus: “Oh people! We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may interact with one another. Surely the noblest of you before Allah is the most righteous of you all. Allah is all-wise and all-knowing”.

    The idea of this topic arose from a question posed to me sometimes ago by a Lagos Muslim socialite. He said: “rather than observing Salat in Arabic language which we do not understand, why don’t we do it either in English or vernacular which we understand very well?” He cited the example of the Churches where Christians worship in various but understandable languages and concluded that such an innovation might bring more converts to Islam and more people to the Mosque. He did not stop there. He went further to advocate for reduction in the number of times we (Muslims) observe Salat daily saying that that might be ‘more realistic’ and ‘more convenient’ especially for busy and travelling people. You can see, from that question, the extent of naivety which ignorance is capable of conferring on its victims. Or how else will you judge a mortal being who wants to amend the constitution of his Immortal Creator? And our brother is not the only one with such a parochial idea. There are some others like him.

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    In my response, I asked the enquirer to tell me why Islam remains the fastest growing religion in the West today despite the worshipping by Muslims in ‘understandable’ languages in the Churches in that part of the world. I made a particular reference to Britain where Churches are sold to Muslims in scores to be converted into Mosques and asked him to tell me any religion he knew that was ever revealed in English language.

    I did not stop there. I also went further to ask him whether it was reasonable to let his employees work for only three days in a week instead of six days while he pays them fully for the whole week. I then took advantage of the glaring evidence of confusion on his visage to put burner in my fervour as a student of English language and tutored him a little on the fact that English which he parochially perceived as an ideal language was not original. I told him how England was colonised severally for centuries by various countries and empires including France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. I let him know that English only emerge as an adopted language from a combination of the languages of England’s colonial masters in the 10th century (A.C). I pointed out to him that not only about 9,700 words of the modern English language were borrowed from French and Anglicized but also that most of the clustered consonant words in English are either German or Scandinavian in origin. I cited examples of such words as ‘acknowledgement’, psychology, knight, pseudo, gnash, rhythm, solemn etc. There is also a great influence of some other Indo-European languages, especially from the Upper and the Lower Germanic on English language. Besides, I pointed it out that the country called Britain today, which is a combination of England, Scotland and Wales , is not a monolingual country as sometimes misconceived by most people. Other languages like Celtic and Welsh are still very much spoken in that country today, though restrictedly.

    I then settled him down to religion proper and called his attention to the original common language of revelation of the ‘Tawrah’ (Talmud) of Prophet Musa (Moses), the Zabur (Psalms) of Prophet Daud (David) and ‘injil’ (Bible) of Prophet Isa (Jesus) which is Hebrew. The Jews still worship in that language today.

    In countries like China, Japan, Korea and India, where religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto and Hinduism are in vogue, the languages of worship by the adherents are Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Hindu. And, in terms of numerical strength, no religion in the world today enjoys so large follower-ship as Buddhism which is closely followed by Hinduism because of the huge populations of China and India. Yet the worship in those religions does not go beyond their countries of nativity.

    In the West where Christianity holds sway, no single language was adopted for worship after the death of Latin which was the official language of the Roman Empire. While the Germans worship in German, the French, the Spanish, the British, the Americans, the Italians, the Swedish, the Danish, the Russians, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Portuguese and others, all worship in their respective languages.

    This means that no French or Russian man can worship with understanding in a Portuguese Church except he understands Portuguese language. This is not the case with Islam. The fulfillment of Allah’s global will for mankind is a universal reality today. That will is contained in Qur’an 21:107 thus: “We have not sent you (Muhammad) forth but as a mercy to the entire world. Say it is revealed to me that your God is one God. Won’t you submit to Him?”

    It is only in Islam, of all religions, that adherents from Brazil, Finland, Nigeria, Pakistan and Australia can easily walk into any Mosque in China or Japan or Saudi Arabia and worship jointly behind an Imam without any fear of language discrimination. And that is what makes Islam the universal religion that Allah wills it to be. This is made possible by Arabic language which is the language of the revelation of the Qur’an. In all other religions of the world, adherents, irrespective of their populations, do worship only locally according to their languages.

    To call for the abandonment of Arabic language in Salat, therefore, is to call for the reduction of Islam from a universal religion into a local one. Not only that, such a call is a way of advocating for the dismantling of global Muslim unity.     

    What our pitied socialite brother does not know is the fact that worshipping in Arabic which is the language of the revelation of the Qur’an is the main cause of antagonism against Islam by those who have lost the originality of their own religion. That “Allah is all-wise and all-knowing” as quoted above is not in vain. All divine religions were deliberately revealed in the languages of their ‘Messengers’. And no Messenger was sent to the entire world except Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    Arabic, as a language, has become assimilated into Islam as a culture. As a matter of fact, it is with that language that the Muslims imbibed   the formidability and courage of resistance which enabled Islam to survive all intrigues, aggressions and intimidations of many empires through the centuries.

    As a culture, Islam remains irrepressible for two main reasons. One reason is that it is a spiritual rather than a physical nation with an everlasting ideology. Even if its adherents are conquered, the idea that makes that religion a nation can never be conquered because it is invisible. The other reason is contained in Qur’an 15:9 thus:  “It was ‘We’ (Allah) who revealed the Qur’an and it ‘We’ (Allah) who will certainly preserve it”.

    Formidability of a culture depends very much on the tenacity accorded its language by the speakers of that language.

    Sometimes a culture may get absorbed into another culture without losing its accompanying language. Sometimes, a language may be assimilated into another language even as the culture is retained. Islam has resistance for both. The early Muslim Arabs did not take only Islam to all conquered nations, they took Arabic, the language of the Qur’an as well. The only exception is Persia (now Iran) which was equally strong linguistically. Countries like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia were not Arabic speaking until Islam spread to them.

    We have similar example here in Nigeria. The Fulanis, who, led by Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, re-introduced Islam in its purified form to the conquered areas now called northern Nigeria, had to compromise their language in favour of Islam which was their culture. The Hausas, on the other hand, preferred to sacrifice their pagan culture in favour of their language. Thus, the combination of both has come to give the northern Nigeria a foremost cultural veracity that is almost second to none in Africa. Not only has Hausa language become an international language spoken in the media of most civilized countries, Shari’ah has also been imbibed as the Islamic cultural law of the region.

    Today, while most parts of the Southern Nigeria have enslaved themselves irredeemably to foreign cultures, the north gives a new hope of cultural renaissance to Nigeria and even Africa. From the cultural way the northerners dress and eat, from the way they insist on speaking Hausa language irrespective of where they find themselves, it is becoming clearer that adoption of that language in the UN is just a matter of time. Already, virtually all the countries that matter in the world today have Hausa programmes on their radio and television stations. And far from the self-deception of the southern people who want to eat their cake and still have it, the long expected African civilization may start from northern Nigeria. The numerical strength of that region is an added advantage.

    It is rather unfortunate that the southern Muslims have had to join non-Muslims in replacing their cultural language with the colonial language. The tragedy of this development is that while they are losing their own language, they are unable to grasp the foreign language for which they are craving. In both ways, they are the losers not only today but tomorrow as well.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) though counseled on the need to understand languages other than mother-tongues, he never preached the abdication of one’s own language.

  • Details of Hajj (HAJJ)

    Details of Hajj (HAJJ)

    Preamble

    This is the season of Hajj. It comes up in the month of Dhul Hijjah every year. Hajj means aspiration towards a higher pedestal in spirituality. It is, divinely, a pillar of Islam made obligatory by Allah for Muslims who can afford it once in a lifetime. Hajj is an ordained pilgrimage and not a mere tourism. Thus, the visa issued to Muslims who perform Hajj annually is that of pilgrimage and not of tourism. Whilst pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise, tourism is a pleasurable journey.

    Similitude of Hajj

    The similitude of Hajj in the life of a Muslim is like that of pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. The experience may vary from woman to woman as the foetus in the womb undergoes various stages before reaching the stage of delivery. By the time the child is finally delivered, the mother feels a relief of her life while the child assumes a tabula rasa (clean slate) that makes him absolutely innocent.

    Spiritually, a pilgrim is like a newly born baby if he strictly performs Hajj as prescribed by Allah. But if he returns into the world of vanity after Hajj, he automatically becomes like a person in snow-white attire who finds himself in a palm oil market. Unless he spiritually guides his loins, he may immediately become a tainted person both in body and in soul.

    Rigours of Hajj

    Muslim pilgrims who are going on Hajj must be prepared to go through series of rigour both spiritually and physically. The rigour of getting the money with which to perform Hajj; the rigour of getting the travelling documents including visa; the rigour of taking care of the home front before embarking on the Holy journey; the rigour of boarding the plane with a sense of high risk; the rigour of going through the security checks at the embarkation point at the home of residence as well as the disembarkation point in Saudi Arabia;  the rigour of performing the Tawaf and Sa’y; the rigour of moving from Makkah to Mina on the 8th day of Dhul-Hijjah, then to Arafah on the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah, and back to Mina via Muzdalifah on the 10th of Dhul-Hijjah; the rigour of locating the tents at Arafah; the rigour of throwing the pebbles at the Jamrat in Mina on the three or four days known as Ayamu-t-Tashrik; The rigour of performing Tawaful Ifadah at the Sanctuary in Makkah after the first day of throwing pebbles; the rigour of shaving the head (by men) and slaughtering the rams by all; the rigour of performing the farewell circumambulation otherwise known as Tawaful Wida‘i all in the midst of millions of people can be too much to forget so soon  after Hajj.

    Whoever is not bothered by the money spent on Hajj should at least be bothered by the various stages of the rigour involved including that of visiting Madinah. To lose all these to the forces of Satan after Hajj is like losing one’s travelling passport after obtaining visa. The prayer of every genuine pilgrim is to retain the validity of Hajj forever.

     Conditions for Hajj Performance

    Performance of pilgrimage must be based on certain fundamental conditions. These include genuine intention and high spiritual standard. An intending pilgrim must have attained puberty. He must have been an ardent practitioner of the first four pillars of Islam: (Salat, Zakah, and Sawm) all of which are fervently based on faith (Iman). Hajj without these pre-requisites is like a tree without roots. Money is a major pre-requisite for Hajj but it is not absolute.

    Hajj, the last pillar of Islam shows very vividly, the similitude of what mankind will experience on the Day of Judgment. Looking at the unique way in which pilgrims dress for Hajj and how they assemble at Arafat leaving their luggage behind in Makkah, one will realize how ephemeral this world is.

    Purpose of Hajj

    The various stages of preparation through which pilgrims pass before arriving at Arafat are symbolic of our peregrinations in life as human beings. Like the Day of Judgment, Arafat is the climax of Hajj performance. Anybody who misses Arafat misses Hajj. But Arafat is not by physical appearance alone. It takes a combination of factors to participate effectively in that great assembly which serves as the climax of Hajj.

    For Hajj to serve its spiritual purpose in the life of a pilgrim, certain steps must be taken before leaving home. They are as follows:

    •Fine-tuning the first four pillars of

    Islam very sincerely

    •Packaging the intention to perform Hajj

    •Ascertaining the security of the way

    •Providing adequately for the family and dependants

    at home

    •Paying all outstanding debts

    including promises

    •Ascertaining the condition of health

    •Perfecting immigration procedures

    •Undergoing all necessary medical

    services including inoculation

    •Assuming a mood of humility like that

    of a servant approaching his Master.

    •Readiness to endure hardship and to

    tolerate fellow pilgrims’ attitudes.

    While admonishing Muslims on spiritual journey including Hajj

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    Prophet Muhammad once said: “Actions shall be judged according to intentions. Whoever embarks on a spiritual journey for the sake of Allah will be adjudged on that basis. And whoever bases his/her intention for pilgrimage on marriage or material gains should not expect any reward beyond that for which the intention is based”.

    The steps to follow in the performance of Hajj are as follows:

    The Miqat

    Miqat is the specified place for the wearing of Ihram dress. There are five of such places in all. But the one earmarked for pilgrims from Nigeria cannot be reached by pilgrims travelling by air. It is over-flown while crossing the Red Sea. What most Nigerians do therefore is to wear their Ihram dress in Jeddah which has now been adjudged right through a Fatwah. Thus, Nigerian pilgrims can now wear their Ihram dress on arrival at the pilgrims’ airport in Jeddah. However, pilgrims whose first destination in Saudi Arabia is Madinah have no problem with Miqat. Such pilgrims should just wear their Ihram dresses at the Miqat in Madinat.

    Tawaful-Qudum

    Tawaf means circumambulation of the Ka’bah. The very first Tawaf to be performed by any pilgrim on entering Makkah is called Tawaful Qudum (meaning welcoming circumambulation). It is performed before a pilgrim settles down in any residence. Tawaful Qudum is an obligatory Sunnah from which only residents of Makkah among pilgrims are exempted.

    Residence in Makkah or Madinah

    Most Nigerian pilgrims often seek their accommodations in Makkah or Madinah close to the Haram. This is to enable them to walk to from the Haram conveniently at the time of any Salat. To minimise pilgrims’ regular occurrence of missing their ways, they are provided with hand bands bearing the addresses of their residences. Pilgrims are therefore advised to wear such bands at all times to enable them show it to either the official Saudi Hajj guides or Saudi policemen when the road is missed. It is also important for pilgrims to always be with their identity cards provided by Nigerian Pilgrims’ Commission or private agents. This is to enable them to be identified in case of sickness, accident or even death.

    Movement to Mina

    Pilgrims’ statutory movement to Mina is on the 8th of Dhul Hijjah. Such pilgrims must spend the night of the 8th of Dhul-Hijjah in Mina where they must observe Salatus-Subhi of the 9th day of Dhul Hijjah which is Arafah Day before proceeding to the Plain of Arafah. Pilgrims must be ready to undergo some rigour in the process of moving to Mina from Makkah. The rigour which normally affects all pilgrims is engendered by limited time available for millions of   pilgrims who must move to that spiritual camp before the sunset on the day preceding Arafah day.

    Such movement must commence from Makkah and after Tawaful Qudum. There is movement to Mina from Madinah since there is no Tawaf in Madinah.

    The Day of Arafah

    All pilgrims proceed to the Plain of Arafat are advised to stay under their tents and concentrate on the spiritual activities that take them to the place. They must reach Arafat not later than mid day when Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr should be observed combined. Anybody who is not at Arafat by mid day is considered not to have taken part in the assembly and therefore missed Hajj.

    Immediately after observing the combined Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr the Imam who led the two Salat is expected to give a sermon. Listening to such sermon is as compulsory as giving it by the Imam. The great assembly of Arafat terminates shortly before sunset (Magrib) while the pilgrims return to Mina via Muzdalifah.

    Muzdalifah

    At Muzdalifah, pilgrims are expected to halt their journey to observe Magrib and ‘Ishai combined. They are also expected to pass the night there and observe the Salat-s-Subh of the following day before proceeding to Mina. Muzdalifah is adjacent to Mina and a walking distance to the Jamrat (the stonning place).

    Jamrat

    Stoning of the devils (Rajmu Jamrat) begins a day after Arafat and continues for the next three or four days that the pilgrims are supposed to spend at Mina. This exercise is obligatory and without it Hajj is considered incomplete except when and where a pilgrim is hindered by certain inevitable conditions. There are three points at which stones are to be thrown. Seven pebbles are to be thrown at each point on every one of the three or four days to be spent in Mina.

    While going for the pebble-throwing exercise, pilgrims are advised to take their pebbles along with them. On the first day of stone throwing, only seven stones are thrown at only one spot. On the subsequent three or four days, pilgrims are required to throw twenty-one pebbles each day with seven stones thrown at each of the three spots provided. These amout to 21 stones each day.

    Picking such pebbles at the point of throwing them is forbidden. All pebbles must have been picked before leaving the tent for the ‘Jamrat’ or on the way to the ‘Jamrat’. For pilgrims who deside to spend three days in Mina, the total number of pebbles to be thrown is 49 (7 for the first day, 21 for the second day and 21 for the third day). For pilgrims who choose to spend four days, the total number of pebbles to be thrown is 70. 

    Majzarah (Abattoir)

    Slaughtering of all sacrificial animals is done at the abattoir in Mina. Pilgrims do not need to bother themselves by going to the abattoir for the purpose of carrying out this compulsory obligation. They can simply buy the guaranteed ticket sold by designated Saudi agents. The ticket is the evidence that one has performed that duty. The slaughtering is done on behalves of the pilgrims by some authorised artisans who are paid by the Saudi Hajj authorities from the money paid for those animals. The animals to be slaughtered at Jamrat range from rams to camels. A pilgrim should slaughter one ram or more while seven pilgrims may combine to slaughter one camel or five of them may jointly slaughter on cow.

    Tawaful Ifadah

    For pilgrims who can afford to go to Makkah after throwing the first seven pebbles, it is good to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. For those who cannot, the exercise can be deferred till the end of Tashrik.

    Pilgrims who have performed Tawaf-ul-Ifadah are free to shave their heads and change from their Ihram dress into civil or traditional dresses.

    The only reason for any pilgrim to go to Makkah from Mina during the camping period is to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. No pilgrim should break camping rule by going to Makkah without performing Tawaf-ul- Ifadah. And after performing Tawaful Ifadah, no pilgrim should remain in Makkah or elsewhere without returning to Mina before sunset.

    With the completion of the camping days in Mina which is climaxed with Tawaful-Ifadah and the arrival of all the pilgrims in Makkah, Hajj has been completed except for Tawaf Wida‘i  otherwise called farewell Tawaf. That Tawaf is also obligatory.

    It is then left for pilgrims to decide whether or not to go to Madinah. Visiting the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah is not obligatory. But it will be spiritually odd for any pilgrim to choose not to visit the Prophet’s Mosque before or after performing Hajj in Makkah and its environs.

    Conclusion

    Throughout the Hajj exercise, what should be uppermost in the mind of a pilgrim is the spiritual benefit. Hajj is made compulsory only once in a life’s time for those who have the wherewithal to undergo it and can satisfy the conditions attached to its performance.

    On arriving home finally, pilgrims are not expected to start organising parties in celebration of a successful Hajj performance as ignorantly done by some Nigerians. Maintaining Hajj is a necessity for those who know the value of doing that. Whoever is privileged to perform Hajj once should forever be grateful to Allah as no one is sure of getting another chance.

  • The Hornet’s Nest

    The Hornet’s Nest

    “Conscience is an open wound; only the truth can heal it”. 

    By Usman Dan Fodio

    Preamble

    This article is not new. It was first published in this column in 2013 as a reaction to an outburst of some Nigerian political demagogues whose aim was to aggravate the confusion in the land. It is being repeated here today due to popular demand by ardent readers because of its relevance. Here it goes:

    Nest, to the hornet, is a sanctuary. Whoever wants to stir it must be ready for some painful stings. It was the words of Nigeria’s lotus eaters against those of the former American President, Bill Clinton, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, sometime in December 2013 where the latter was the guest speaker at ThisDay’s award ceremony. The theme of the lecture was something like ‘Causes and Solution to Insurgency and general insecurity in Nigeria’.

    When Bill Clinton opened up on the causes of insecurity in Nigeria, particularly concerning Boko Haram, hardly did he realise that he was stirring the hornet’s nest. As a man who knew because he was in a position to know, Clinton emphatically identified poverty as the main cause of insecurity in Nigeria. He was frank in canvassing some ways by which Nigeria could effectively deal with Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity in the country without caring about whose ox might be gored.

    Among the ideas he suggested as solution were poverty alleviation, thorough education at all levels, equitable distribution of wealth and job creation for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths. Highlighting some desired programmes urgently necessary for curbing the spate of violence and general insecurity in the country, Clinton said:  “You have to somehow bring economic opportunity to the people who don’t have it. You already have all these political problems — and now violence  — that appears to be rooted in religious differences as well as all the rhetoric of Boko Haram and others, but the truth is that poverty rate in the North is three times that of Lagos”.

    Economic Management

    Counseling on the need to re-design the country’s economic management to the delight of all and sundry while pointing out that “too much inequality” was capable of limiting growth and opportunities among the citizens of a country, Clinton stressed that only a redistribution of wealth would go a long way to address the prevalent violence and insecurity in Nigeria. He went further to say: “You have about three big challenges. First of all, like 90 per cent of the countries who have one big resource, you have a number of ways with your own money. It shows you have different ways. Now you are at least not wasting the natural gas, you are developing and selling it through the pipelines. You have to do better job of managing the natural resources…..”

    “Secondly, you have to somehow bring economic opportunities to the people who don’t have. This is not a problem peculiar to Nigeria. In almost every place in the world, prosperity is heavily concentrated in and around urban areas. So you have all these political problems for now even violence. There appears to be political and religious differences and now, the rhetoric of Boko Haram and all that. You have to build a powerful state and local governments as well as a national policy that works along. If you just keep trying to divide the power into loosening strategy, you have to figure out a way to devise a strategy that will help share the prosperity.” The President-Elect may find some of these ideas useful in his blue print on governance in Nigeria.

    Clinton then went further to advise that education should be used as a tool to tackle poverty among Nigerians, saying that if citizens were well educated they would be economically empowered and hence have less inclination towards violence. He added that: “Nigeria, which earns billions of dollars from her oil industry and is a major supplier to the US, must not take a “divide the pie” approach towards attacking poverty”. He therefore advised that governments at all levels needed to tackle youth unemployment which, according to him, is a major source of instability across the world.

    Bill Clinton was not the first experienced international figure to make such truthful but painful comments about Nigeria and her style of governance. As far back as January 27, 2010, the former US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hilary Clinton, who incidentally is the wife of Bill Clinton had spoken in the same manner about Nigeria in Nigeria. And the reactions that followed her statement were not in any way dissimilar from those that greeted Bill Clinton’s statement of 2013. While the wife spoke in official capacity, the husband spoke in private capacity. But the coincidence in their speeches was not just in the similarity of their thoughts but also in the similarity of the reactions that greeted both speeches. Speaking in blunt terms at a “town hall” in a meeting with Nigeria’s State Department officials in Abuja Mrs. Hillary Clinton said:

    “….The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at the federal, states and local levels … Lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embraced violence and rejected the authority of the state.”

    Government’s Failure

    “Nigeria”, she continued: “Africa’s biggest energy producer and second-largest economy, “faces a threat from increasing radicalization that needs to be addressed. Describing corruption in Nigeria as unbelievable, she reiterated that the government’s failure to deliver basic services helped foster extremism in young people…adding that: “The failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood that democracy can’t just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of alienation in that country and others”. She lamented poor governance and deteriorating living conditions which she said made Nigeria’s disaffected young people ripe targets for militants looking for recruits to attack the West.

    Substantiating her assertion, Mrs. Clinton said, when she met with a group of Nigerians in the capital city of Abuja, “people were … standing and shouting about what it was like to live in a country where the elite was so dominant, where corruption was so rampant and criminality was so pervasive”. And “that”, according to her, “is an opening for extremism that offers an alternative world view”. After all, poverty knows no tribe, religion, gender or age. It cuts across all strata of human life. That was the idea imbibed by one time Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, in the 1960s, which came to transform China into a formidable nation today.

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    Official reaction

    However, rather than pontificating on Mrs. Clinton’s analysis some members of the then ruling party virtually told her to shut up and mind her own business by leaving Nigeria alone. The arrogant resentment particularly came through the mouth of the then Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, who, in a swift statement, said Mrs. Clinton’s remarks were baseless.

    In his words: “Although the ‘ruling party’ saw Mrs Clinton’s “visit to Nigeria as a further expression of the age-long strong cordial diplomatic relations between both countries, we are at the same time concerned that some of her remarks are not only way off the mark but also based on misinformation. Her sweeping statement on what she calls a ‘failure of leadership’ does not correspond with the reality of present day Nigeria where a committed leadership operating within the realm of the rule of law holds sway”.

    Professor Alkali said the ‘ruling party’ found Mrs. Clinton’s “condescending statements against our country and leaders not contextualised,” adding that she “seems to have taken her briefs from individuals or groups and other failed politicians who have an axe to grind with the government of the Federal  Republic of Nigeria”.

    He added: “It is a fact that the present administration inherited a lot of challenges that were entrenched in the body polity for a long time since assumption of office in May 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has demonstrated a rare but firm commitment to right the wrongs of the past, using constitutional instruments in order to strengthen democratic governance in the country”.

    Observation

    Despite leaving a bad taste in the mouth, Alkali’s statement did not bother Mrs. Clinton who knew Nigeria better than the respondent Nigerians. Her reaction was a reminder of a Yoruba adage which says ‘a dog that refuses to respond to the warning whistle of the hunter is surely destined to stray into permanent perdition’. That adage has now proved to be a prevailing destiny on the then so-called ruling party that took impunity for law.

    Were Bill or Hillary Clinton a Muslim, some fanatics especially in Nigerian media would have characteristically accused him/her of wanting to ‘Islamise’ (sic) Nigeria just for telling the naked truth. However, to the great delight of reasonable and patriotic Nigerians, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), in a statement signed by its then President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said it wished “to align itself with the statement credited to the US Secretary of State the summation of which was that corruption, amongst other factors, has caused failure of governance in Nigeria”.

    Akeredolu concluded that: “We cannot agree less and note that President Yar’Adua admitted that Nigeria was facing challenges in its war against corruption and bid to reform its electoral system, which has underscored failure of governance at the federal, state and local government levels,” it said, adding: “This intervention could not have come at a better time than now when agents of the government are on the prowl, deploying viciously the weapon of blackmail against the leadership of the NBA who has long identified this and continues to clamour for change”.

    He continued: “Secretary Clinton having reiterated the position of the Bar, it would, perhaps, not be out of place for those who are quick to stand logic on its head to satisfy greed, to conclude that the top diplomat, being a lawyer, must also belong to Action Congress or any of the opportunistic organisations dubbed parties.”

    Nothing is strange

    It is not strange therefore, that the comments by Bill Clinton in 2013 drew similar parochially partisan reactions from those who are benefitting directly from the then ongoing rot in the country. It seems that politics in Nigeria is like an animal carcass on which idle vultures must feast without caring about the pollution which the odour there from would cause to the environment. Even a blind person can perceive the poverty in Nigeria or smell its odour. It is rather an added assault on the public to say that Mrs. Clinton in 2010 and Mr. Clinton in 2013 must have been briefed by certain individuals who were antagonistic to the ruling government. Such a statement could only have come from people of feeble minds who exemplified the ineptitude of Nigeria’s government of the time.

    In retrospect

    On December 22, 2012, the Nigeria Muslim Forum,  UK, held its 22nd Annual Winter Conference at Stamford Court, University of Leicester. At that conference, retired General Abdur-Rahman Dambazau delivered a paper that electrified the Hall. The paper which was entitled ‘Poverty Alleviation, Security and Stability’ addressed the Nigerian situation from social, economic and political points of view. In the paper, he made the meaning of poverty clearer, using verified statistical indexes to buttress his arguments. The retired General also looked at the ranking of Nigeria on the poverty table which showed Nigeria as one of the 20 most poverty-stricken countries in the world; and the Northwest as the most hit and Southwest of the country as the least affected. Generally, the situation is by far worse today than it was then.

    Religious Angle

    “In his own contribution to the discussions the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Dr. Mathew Kukah stressed that poverty was one of the main causes of intolerance in the society, which in turn often leads to conflict and insecurity. He said people react to poverty in various manners and that they respond to conflict in ways they feel would bring them justice. He also blamed the deterioration of the situation in Nigeria on injustice and warned that injustice would continue to breed violence in the country unless something was quickly done to ensure equitable dispensation of justice. He explained that diversity should be seen as an advantage to the society as it enhances growth, “although in Northern Nigeria the reverse is the case due to the failure to manage it well in view of the crises the region now faces….”.

    Frank Talk

    In an earlier similar statement he made in January 2012 about Boko Haram and causes of insecurity, Bishop Kukah said inter alia: “We live in a state of ineffective law enforcement and tragic social conditions. Corruption has destroyed the fabric of our society. Its corrosive effect can be seen in the ruination of our lives and the decay in our society. The inability of the state to punish criminals as criminals have created the illusion that there is a conflict between Christians and Muslims. In fact, it would seem that many elements today are going to great extremes to pitch Christians against Muslims, and vice versa, so that our attention is taken away from the true source of our woes: corruption. As Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, we must stand together to ensure that our resources are well utilised for the common good. This is why, despite the hardships we must endure as a result of the strike, the Fuel Subsidy debate must be seen as the real dividend of democracy”.

    “Religious leaders across the faiths must indeed stand up together and face the challenge of the times by offering a leadership that focuses on our common humanity and common good rather than the insignificant issues that divide us. We therefore condemn in very strong terms the tendency by some religious leaders to play politics with the issues of our collective survival….”

    Conclusion

    With all these issues still prominent on the national table it may be interesting to ask a very vital question as the so-called National confab was put on the front burner as a matter of priority despite the overwhelming opposition to it by the well informed sectors of the society. Now, besides wasting another colossal sum of money on mere political patronage what has become of that jamboree? There is a great lesson for the incoming government to learn from all these. For things to take a proper shape, not as it is but as it ought to be, a ‘CHANGE’ for the better must be vivid and practical. The euphoria of the recent electoral victory has created such an unprecedented hope in the generality of Nigerian populace that the new government must not allow such hope to end up in another paroxysm of despair. God guide our leaders aright.