Category: Femi Abbas

It was another turn of accountability last Monday when His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, led a group of frontline Muslim Hajj Gurus including the Chairman of National Hajj Commission, Alhaji Musa Bello, to submit the 2012 Hajj report to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The Sultan undertook the mission in his capacity as the permanent national Amirul Hajj.

The report contained a number of issues ranging from last year’s preparation for Hajj; to cost of Hajj and exchange rate; to the issuance of visa; to airlift operations; to the movements and conducts of Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia; to the hiccup fortuitously caused by the Saudi’s new policy of ‘Mahram’ (a legitimate male company for every female pilgrim); to the number of deaths recorded during Hajj; to the issue of crimes and defection by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia; to the issue of luggage and final return of pilgrims to Nigeria.

The report was a thorough analysis of the entire 2012 Hajj operation which included the challenges encountered, the new experience garnered, which could help in tackling possible future problems in Hajj sphere as well as observations and suggestions towards further improvement on the official performance of Hajj.

Reacting to the report, the President praised the delegation under the leadership of Amirul Hajj and expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the immigration issue involving over 1,000 female pilgrims unaccompanied by legitimate male counterparts, as required by Saudi law, was resolved.

He, however, expressed worries about the increased crime rate by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia as contained in the report and he indicated the government’s intention to take immediate steps in collaboration with the Saudi authorities to address the ugly trend saying:

“I have noted the issues you raised; the issue of exchange rate, the rising crime rate by Nigerians who are residing there (in Saudi Arabia). He then asked the media to note that they (the criminals) are not people who went to Saudi Arabia for religious obligation, but Nigerians who are living in Saudi Arabia….I think we have to come up with your recommendation to see how we can work with the Saudi authorities to reduce that trend because it is bringing some stains to the image of this country, especially for those who will go to Saudi Arabia regularly for their religious obligation.’’

Earlier in his speech the national ‘Amirul Hajj’ had listed the mentioned increased crime rate by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia as one of the recurrent challenges hindering the efficiency of Hajj operations. Consequently, the delegation recommended the revival of the Presidential Committee on Illegal Nigerian migrants in Saudi Arabia which was constituted in 2009, but never took off due to official bureaucracy.

The delegation also requested the government to continue to provide the concessionary exchange rate for pilgrims as a demonstration of its support, goodwill and assistance towards Hajj operations and asked the government to assist the National Hajj Commission with more funds to complete the long abandoned Hajj reception centres otherwise called Hajj camps across the country.

Thanking Mr. President for sparing time to receive the report, His Eminence, the Sultan said: “We wish to convey our appreciation and that of the entire Muslims in this country for your continued support and commitment to efficient Hajj by Nigerians just as we applaud your Excellency for the approval you granted for the concessionary exchange rate for the 2012 Hajj transactions and 55 per cent waiver on all charges payable as tariffs through government agencies. We have since commenced preparations for the 2013 Hajj operations and the Hajj Commissioner had already gone to Saudi Arabia to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this year’s Hajj operations”.

Meanwhile, in a separate but related interview with newsmen, a member of the delegation, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, commended the leadership of the National Hajj Commission and that of the Sultan saying there had been significant improvements in the religious exercise with the leadership of the Sultan and the Commission. “I was a member of Rivers State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board for four years and I know the lapses that existed therein. Hajj operations, since the inception of the present National Hajj Commission, have been smooth. Our pilgrims are no longer waiting for months; they are no longer stranded at the Holy cities of Mecca, Medinah and Jeddah. The National Hajj delegation led by the Sultan of Sokoto has also put in a lot of efforts in making Hajj performance hitch-free. The Sultan is down to earth; he is very humble in his interaction with all the members of the delegation and the leadership of the National Hajj Commission’’.

The history of Hajj performance in Nigeria is long and tortuous. According to a historical account relayed by Kabir Sani Anga in a schorlarly paper presented sometime ago, the earliest recorded pilgrimage from West Africa was championed by Nigerians. It can be recalled that the Kanem Bornu Mai, King Dunama bin Umme of the Sayfawa dynasty performed Hajj as early as the 11th century C.E. And in H. R. Palmer’s Diwan (1926), Mai Dunama was said to have performed pilgrimage twice between 1098 and 1150 and died while returning from a third journey from the Holy Land. Yet, Mai Dunama might not be the first pilgrim of the Sayfawa dynasty who embarked on such spiritual journey since Diwan also relayed the episode of the latter’s father, Mai Umme bin Abdel-Jalil (1058-1097) who died in the land of Masr (Egypt) on his way to or from Makkah.

Many centuries later, pilgrimage continued in Sayfawa dynasty as documented by the great scholar, Muhammad Bello, who was also a son and lieutenant to the Islamic revolutionary, Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodiyo. He recalled the longstanding Islamic reputation of the Sayfawa in his book entitled ‘Infaq’ (translated in 1957) that Sayfawas’ ancient ancestors were good and devout Muslims who encouraged many pilgrims among the eighteenth century Mais of Bornu including Mai Dunama bin Ali, Mai Hajj Hamdun bin Dunama, and Mai Muhammad bin Hajj Hamdun.

However, Hajj performance from West Africa through many centuries before the arrival of the colonialists was neither formal nor organised. The first seemingly organized pilgrimage caravans from Kano only dates back to the early nineteenth century when caravan businesses started in the city. According to the Kano Chronicle, the Islamisation of Hausa land began in the middle of the fourteenth century by Malian Wangara traders. Although Hausa land was at that time already on the pilgrimage route from the Western part of the Sudan, nevertheless, available historical accounts do not suggest any pilgrimage interest of the Hausa ruling class in contrast to the Mais of Bornu.

As stated in Anga’s paper, when, eventually, a pilgrimage highway otherwise known as the Sudan route was open to Hausa land it ran from the cities of Katsina and Kano through Aïr (Agades), the Fezzan and Aujila across the Nile into Egypt. The leader of a caravan then was called Madugu under whom intending pilgrims congregated and travelled on foot to the Holy Land. In short, in Nigeria’s pre-colonial period, there was little formal organization of travelling to Hajj as the journey was usually undertaken at the discretion of private individuals and groups without formal documents like passport, visa and inoculation papers. Thus, arrangements of Hajj were often informally assigned to Madugu, on trust, who was usually an important personality such as a scholar, a wealthy merchant or a notable person who automatically assumed the status of the Amirul Hajj (Pilgrims’ Commander). That was the trend until the beginning of the 19th century when groups of pilgrims from the south, especially Yoruba Land where Islam had reached Ilorin, Oyo and some other notable cities partly through the influence of North African merchants and partly through Fulani jihad. They travelled northwards to Kano or Bornu in order to join the caravan heading for Makkah.

In confirmation of this assertion, an early English explorer, Barth, who travelled to Kano in 1857, estimated the city’s population to be 30,000 but added that the figure doubled during the main caravan season of Hajj.

At that time, pilgrims usually visited the rulers in the capital cities of the lands to solicit for alms and escorts for safety, in case of any danger on the road as they also requested for standard letter of introduction with the name of the recipient and the seal of the issuer. However, formal visits to the rulers were not always necessary. In some cases, well-to-do volunteers played host to the passing pilgrims while Ulama‘u (Islamic scholars) offered ‘du’a’ (prayers) for safety.

Though the British colonial occupation of what later came to be called Nigeria lasted effectively for about a century from 1861 to 1960, the real colonial rule did not begin until 1906 when the British administration formally annexed the northern Nigeria to the British Empire and commenced direct rule therein. And becoming aware of the potentials of hajj in forging global solidarity among Muslims, the colonial government embarked on a tactics to curb the flow of pilgrims in order to protect their own interests in Nigeria. Through that tactics, strict rules were imposed to minimize the number of pilgrims while surveillance by escorts at strategic posts along the pilgrimage routes up to the Sudan was mounted. Such colonial policy was meant to discourage contacts among the various national and international segments of the global Islamic Ummah. Some of the measures introduced by the British colonial government were modern travel requirements such as passports, immigration control, health regulations and payment of deposits for services in the holy land. All these were hitherto unknown to the pilgrims.

However, a positive aspect of those measures was the introduction of motorised trucks, buses and, finally, aircraft which served as comfortable mass transit. With time, as the pilgrims’ transportation facilities were making the journey easier and quicker for pilgrims, the British authorities became convinced that pilgrimage was not much of a threat to their rule after all. Thus, new travel formalities, combined with modern travel facilities, brought revolutionary changes to Hajj operations in Nigeria.

According to Anga’s paper, a major boost came to Hajj by Air during the budget session of the Federal House of Parliament in Lagos early in 1953 when a member, Alhaji Abubakar Imam, tabled a motion for the establishment of a ‘Nigeria Office’ in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to cater for Nigerian pilgrims. The motion was accepted with minor amendment and Imam was asked to submit a proposal on its actualization. As the motion was proposed out of concern rather than personal experience, Alhaji Imam decided to perform that year’s Hajj himself in order to study the real problems and report back to the House. He departed Kano on July 27, 1953 in a plane chartered by the Nigerian Pilgrims’ Aid Society Limited, which started operating in Kano in 1951. Nevertheless, the prosperous airline business did not stop Hajj by Road as both continued side by side through the 1950’s. However, by the end of the decade, Hajj by Road had started to decline as air travel became more popular, safer, faster, cheaper and less rigorous.

Shortly after his return from Hajj in September 1953, Alhaji Imam made the following recommendations to the federal government: (1) an official appointment of a Commissioner to accompany the pilgrims yearly; (2) the establishment of a dispensary at the major pilgrims centres; (3) the provision of accommodation for the pilgrims in Mecca and Medina; and (4) the control of indiscriminate fee charges imposed on Nigerian pilgrims. He also recommended the recognition and commendation of meritorious services rendered to the pilgrims by officials and volunteers in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. All the recommendations were accepted in principle. And for the purpose of implementation, the Government appointed a three-man Hajj delegation led by Alhaji Isa Kaita, a Northern Nigerian Regional Minister. The delegation submitted its report Northern Regional and Federal Governments in 1954 when there were only about 300 to 400 official pilgrims from Nigeria. Impressed by this development and coming face to face with the issues involved in Hajj operation, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Regional Government, became so much interested in Hajj affair that he led a four-man delegation to Saudi Arabia in 1955 to personally investigate Hajj conditions and to advise his regional government as well as the federal government on how it should be handled. The commission focused on several thorny operational problems such as the mutawwif (local guide), the agency responsible for guiding Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land, the absence of accommodation for Nigerian pilgrims, the lack of medical facilities, and arrangements for reception at Jeddah’s sea and air ports. Meanwhile, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki (who later became Sultan) was assigned to Kano as a pilgrims’ officer to assist Nigerian pilgrims at Kano airport on matters of Hajj operations especially relating to passports, visa, customs, immigration formalities, health requirements and foreign exchange. In 1958 the Federal Government of Nigeria became fully involved in Hajj operations. Its concern at this stage was the welfare of some 21,000 Nigerian pilgrims of uncertain diplomatic status in the Sudan as well as some other 20,000 West Africans of various nationalities but mostly Nigerians, who were facing deportation from Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the federal government appointed a goodwill mission under the leadership of the Sardauna to find ways of solving the problems of the Nigerian pilgrims in both the Sudan and Saudi Arabia. In this manner, the pilgrimage began to assume the characteristics of a high-level diplomatic delegation. Today, Nigeria is a frontline country in the performance of Hajj every year. More facts about Hajj operations in Nigeria especially the formal establishment Pilgrims Board at the federal or regional level may be written in details in this column soon.

“And beware of a calamity that may afflict not only the transgressors amongst you but also the innocent ones and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe…..’’

Q. 8:25

Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy. For the drama to be practically actable, the writer must take into consideration not only the theme, the setting, the characters and the complications of such a drama as they build up spirally to the climax. He must also think of the anticlimax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

Nothing shows the ingenuousness of a playwright as vividly as the crew of actors who put into action the script that gives birth to the drama in question. It is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker. And that is when a drama is said to be tragic.

Brilliant students of literature must have perceived today’s entire world as a paradoxical theatre in which over seven billion human beings, including Nigerians are watching a drama. For either ecstasy or dismay the viewers may randomly roar into controversies or anxiety as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer is what may become of his favoured character.

In the ongoing global drama against which we had been warned in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist in today’s article is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria. This is not just because the colony is my immediate and paramount constituency but also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa. And if anything negative happens to her, the whole of Africa will cease to be at rest.

Currently, the Federal Government of Nigeria is half-heartedly preparing for the centenary anniversary of the country’s existence as a unified entity as designed by the colonialists in 1914. The anniversary is expected to come up in 2014 when the country will be 100 years old, God willing. But no one except the Almighty Allah, is cock sure of what may happen to Nigeria subsequent to its centenary anniversary. This is because the same deliverers of Nigeria as a country have prepared a mausoleum in anticipation of her funeral. A clandestine script was unveiled in 1995 predicting a tragic absurdity awaiting the most populous African country. The contents of the script revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by the year 2015 when she will be 101 years old. The designers of this devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without proffering any positive alternative. And to portray their dream as a realisable one they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project citing some hazardous occurrences in the land as reason.

For students of International Relations, such a prediction cannot be strange. It is part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonise some old colonies or to scoop on and dominate their economies in a typical capitalist style. As a result of such an imperial strategy, Poland had once ceased to be a country for about 123 years when it was partitioned about four times by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1792 and 1795. And for well over a century thereafter, the country did not exist. But the Polish people never gave up the resilient spirit of regaining their independence until the country was fully revived after the World War I in 1918. In contemporary time, the modern day imperialists have been doing the same successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Countries like Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, China, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter share of the subtle pillage can testify to this assertion. It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884/1885 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonisation of the black continent. If any of the above countries had resisted that obnoxious project at the planning stage and stood their ground in resistance to imperialism, perhaps the world would have been spared the throat-cutting threats posed today by the United States and her allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

Incidentally, the US had also once been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain. Yet, the cult of capitalism which has now become their common bond would not allow the duo of Britain and US (which had been mutually antagonistic) to dwell differently because it is only in such collaboration that the gains of their common interest can be accomplished. Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had been tricked into toeing the imperialists’ path hook, line and sinker.

Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did in her time of resistance to oppression, our own government does not beckon to Uncle Sam for solution even to a minor problem but also cries out randomly to the collective body of imperialists for help. The official behaviour of Nigerian government is just like that of a baby who has adapted to being spoon-fed at all times even while asleep. Today, Nigerian government can hardly think on anything without reference to American or European example.

Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise, this has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in year 2020 even when it is crystal clear that such aspiration will only end up being forlorn. No truly progressive country in modern time has ever indulged in such empty and wishful propaganda. What would have ordinarily justified such propaganda is a surprise zooming into the global economic stage as the above listed countries had done.

It can only take a shameless country with so much wealth and without any visible progress in place to embark on such hopeless propaganda even as over 75% of her citizens wallow in penury.

What our government ought to have told us is how billions of Dollars allegedly voted for revamping our electricity was spent without any resultant availability of power or the billions of dollars allegedly recovered from General Abacha’s loot or multi-billion naira realised from the so-called privatisation policy that threw our national economy into taters or the scandalously embezzled billions of naira realised from the arbitrary and callous increase on fuel price and many others of the like. On the other hand, the government ought to have shown Nigerians the blueprint that qualifies us for such empty propaganda about year 2020 since it is a Nigerian project.

Now, by inviting foreigners, including the US and Israel, to help resolve the problem of insecurity in Nigeria, has the government not only admitted its incompetence in protecting the citizenry thereby surrendering its authority to the invited countries? And with that has it not also begun to compound the existing problems by externalising those internal affairs? After all, are these same invited countries not the manufacturers of the instruments of insecurity in our land? Security of a country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s fortuitous death. No serious government will ever trivialise the existence of its nation to that extent. We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. Iraq, Libya and Pakistan are living examples confirming that in diplomacy, a friend today may become an enemy tomorrow.

Yes, in the name of solving Nigeria’s problem even when they have been unable to solve theirs, the invited countries may bring their arsenal to subdue some government’s perceived and imaginary enemies. But what is likely to happen thereafter is the question which many generations of Nigerians may not be able to answer for decades in future. This has happened in most of the countries which had solicited for military intervention of the imperialist countries. Today, those countries are licking their fingers in total regret. Yet, Nigeria’s ruling class which sees power as a matter of life and death is bent on forcing the country into the league of hopeless nations.

A government is said to be in power only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defend the territorial integrity of the concerned nation. Any government that is incapable of doing this and rather decides to throw the gate of the nation’s security open to foreigners for whatever reason is unfit to be called a government.

Globally, the US and Israel are known for their belligerence and implacable transgression against nations that refuse to comply with their imperialist policies. And it is probably in reference to such imperialist powers that Allah had warned mankind in the Qur’an over a millennium and a half ago thus: “When imperialists enter a territory they audaciously pillage and brutally destroy it even as they subjugate the juggernauts therein to the level of servitude”. Q. 12: 22

The real problem of Nigeria is neither the destructive anti-economic activities of the Southsouth militants, nor that of the greedily callous Southeast kidnapers nor even that of the heartless Boko Haram bloodletting vandalism. Rather, it is the willingness of the so-called government to turn the country into an incubator of problems while relying on foreign imperialists for solution even when such imperialists cannot solve their own domestic problems. It is like the case of an infamy who consumes poison while depending on an antidote for safety. In an axiomatic stanza, an Arab poet once opined thus:

“We all blame time for our misdemeanour; whereas, the misdemeanour blamed on time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleans us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment on us; it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; No dog eats fellow dog; it is only men that eat fellow men’’.

The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria on the face are traceable mostly to the corridors of our government. Of all the vices that constitute seemingly insuperable problems for Nigeria today particularly corruption and injustice, none originated from a source other that of the government. The various high profile corruption cases since 1999 have confirmed this assertion. How, on earth, can any sensible person justify the case of immunity clause deliberately injected into our constitution to protect stealing of public funds either by the President or Governors in a country where overwhelming majority of people are so wretched that they can hardly afford even one meal per day despite the enormous wealth with which we are naturally endowed? And this so-called constitution was never subjected to any referendum as a way of assessing its general acceptability in the first instance.

The real absurdity in that immunity clause is not just in chasing around the protected public thieves after vacating office but also in setting up anti-corruption agencies as a political camouflage. For God sake, if a person aids a thief in the casting away of his property has he not become an accomplice in stealing that property? What justification will such a person have in wanting to prosecute such a thief? Those who injected immunity clause into our constitution as well as those who are in position to remove it but rather chose to retain it are together accomplices in the entrenchment and spread of corruption in the land. Ordinarily, such people should never have moral right to talk of fighting corruption because they are its creators and sustainers but we live in a shameless country where conscience does not matter.

We are our own problems. We know the sources of what we call problems and we incubate them. We know how to proffer solution to those problems but like ‘lotus eaters’, we are so much drunk with illegality that it has become so difficult if not impossible for us to part with it. Now, as we start importing imperial mercenaries into the country to solve our immediate problems, we must not forget the social and financial implications of their coming. And we must remember that those mercenaries will like to find a permanent seat here even if they will have to invent new problems for us in order to justify their profitable stay.

This admonition may taste bitter especially to those in government who may have hidden agenda. But Allah’s words will never be in want of relevance. They are regularly accompanied by relevance. Allah warns us in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah will not change the situation of a nation or community until they (the citizens) themselves, have resolved to change it through their attitude”. Whoever calls for equity must come with clean hands. Those in government must show good example of what they want Nigerians to be as citizens. Acting the imperialists’ evil script will do no one any good in Nigeria. Think before you act.

This article is a deliberate diversion of readers’ attention from the madness of the moment in Nigeria. Such diversion becomes necessary as a relief from the current overwhelming tension in a country where every news item is sad and every hope turns forlorn. A worthy columnist must know when to bite and when to blow editorially if only to sustain the readership of his/her column. This is the time of mental, physical and psychological sicknesses. And there must be a medicament. The most appropriate medicament for all diseases is the one prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) bout 1,500 years ago which still remains potent and will keep remaining relevant for the rest period of human existence on earth. Please, read on:

Adam, the primogenitor of mankind, was hardly one hour old when he started prescribing medicine against ailments. He was commanded by Allah to teach the Angels the names of all things which they (the Angels) had confessed not to know. By teaching the Angels, Adam could be said to have carried out the duty of a teacher which suggests that teaching was probably his first profession. But, those in the information sector could as well, argue that what Adam did was more of information dissemination than teaching.

Thus, for the purpose of academic exercise, a fierce debate might ensue between teachers and journalists over what can be called the first profession of the first human being. But the truth is that both professionals are right. By teaching, a teacher informs. And by informing, a journalist teaches. Thus, the two professions are mutually complimentary.

What Adam actually did by teaching the Angels was to cure the worst disease in them as well as in man. That disease is ignorance. Shortly before the creation of Adam, Allah informed the Angels that He was going to create a new living being and put him in charge of the garden to be called the earth. But, feigning knowledge, the Angels kicked against the plan and advised their Lord not to do it. Allah then told them in a tone of finality that “I know what you do not know”. (Q.2:31). It eventually took Adam, by Allah’s command, to heal those Angels of their disease (ignorance).

If Adam had not taught them the names of all things on earth, as revealed in the Qur’an, the Angels would have remained ignorant forever. And, Allah’s messages to mankind, as contained in the divinely Revealed Books, would not have come through them.

In ordinary man’s view, medicine is the substance required to cure an ailment. Such substance may be natural or artificial. It may also be as crude as herbs or as sophisticated as surgery. However, it is generally believed that a person does not need medicine unless he is ill. That is why the Western conventional medicine is rather curative than preventive. Illness resides in the body just as ignorance makes the mind its abode. Today, in most cases, people neither go to the hospitals nor take medicine unless they are sick.

Though unlettered, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known this before he diagnosed two basic ailments and prescribed two fundamental medicines for them. The first of these ailments is ignorance. The second is poverty. And poverty in this case is not lack of material wealth alone as many people erroneously believe. It is lack of many things including health and conscience. Thus, in Islam, ailment is basically of two classes: ignorance and poverty. Many people are victims of one. Many more are victims of both.

A person is said to be poor-sighted when he cannot see well without artificial aid. He is deemed poor in memory when his remembering ability becomes weak. He is also pronounced poor in health when some of his organs malfunction or he lacks some active enzymes or minerals or vitamins. Thus, man may be poor, not in terms of money or material needs but despite his possession of both.

As an antidote for ignorance, the Prophet prescribed the Qur’an. And for body ailment, he prescribed honey. Qur’an is the encyclopaedia of life which personifies knowledge in all its ramifications. There is nothing about knowledge whether spiritual or mundane, in this world or the hereafter, that is not contained in the Qur’an.

By recommending the Qur’an as medicine for ignorance, the Prophet simply provided cure for the ailment of the mind. And by prescribing honey for body ailments he encouraged prolongation of life expectancy through a boost to the immune system. It is not by accident that a whole chapter in the Qur’an (chapter 16) is named after the insect that produces honey. Verse 68 of that chapter reads thus:

“And your Lord revealed to the bee (saying): Build your homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the hives which men shall make for you. Feed on every kind of fruit and follow the trodden path of your Lord’.

“From its belly comes forth a fluid of many hues as healing (drink) for mankind. Surely in this, there is a sign for those who can reason….” And, in the Bible, references are made to the use and efficacy of honey in more than 25 places.

Contrary to general belief, honey is not the only product of the bee. There are six others so far known to man. These are: propolis; pollen; royal jelly; bees wax; bee venom and bee bread. More can be discovered as research continues in line with the Qur’anic challenge. Each of these products has specific functions in maintaining and immunising the human hormone system.

To produce honey alone, the bees make contact with at least 250,000 plants picking and metabolising their flower nectars. It is possible for them to contact more plants depending on the richness of the vegetation in which they dwell. ( Nectar is the main raw material which the bees use to produce honey). Propolis, on the other hand, is produced by the bees from the resin of certain specific trees.

Through research, propolis has come to be known as the strongest anti-biotic ever discovered by man. This product is used not to protect the living alone but to preserve the remains of the dead as well. At least it is on record that the famous historic Egyptian mammies were embalmed with propolis several millennia ago. This same propolis is the product used by the bees, themselves, to sterilise their bodies against bacteria and secure their hives against viruses brought in by predators. Whenever they sting such predator to death, it is propolis they use to embalm it to prevent its decaying body from polluting the hive.

Pollen is the secret of longevity. It heals almost all the old age diseases like prostate, arthritis, pneumonia and bronchitis. It rejuvenates the nerves and reinvigorates the hormonal glands especially in the aged. Royal jelly on the other hand solves the problem of infertility in men and women. It is the exclusive food of the queen bee which enables her to lay an average of 2000 eggs every day. And bee venom is a natural vaccine which strengthens human immunity against all diseases. It works like magic in the human system especially when applied through the natural acupunctural points in the body.

Bees wax, as distinct from other products, is used to produce non-chemical cosmetics and to coat pharmaceutical tablets and capsules while bee bread is used to prevent or heal children’s diseases.

The use of each of these products to heal human ailments depends on the extent of knowledge of apitherapy possessed by the user. (Apitherapy is the use of bee products to prevent or heal human or animal ailments). A specialist in this field is called apitherapist.

The uniqueness of using these products for healing or prevention of diseases is in the fact that they do not entail any negative side effect. And that is a major sharp difference between them and the synthetic drugs manufactured chemically by the conventional pharmacists.

Honey is the only known product in the world that serves as both food and medicine. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once reportedly told his patients while prescribing honey for them thus: “let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food”. There is no known nutritional value in terms of vitamins, minerals and enzymes that is not proportionally present in honey.

Raw honey, for instance, contains about 80 different substances that are most important for human nutrition. Besides glucose and fructose, honey contains all of the B-complex minerals like vitamins A, C, D, E and K as well as trace elements such as magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper and manganese. The live enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all existing foods. Honey also contains hormones and antimicrobial and antibacterial factors.

The composition and nutritional value of honey differ in relation to the floral sources honeybees have visited. For example, recent research supports the claim that dark coloured honeys have larger amounts of antioxidants. The inorganic contents of honey, minerals and other trace elements, play a significant role in human metabolism and nutrition. Owing to its chlorine content, honey is appreciated as an excellent tonic and helps people to overcome suffering from constipation and other enteric problems.

(38.2% fructose, 31.0% glucose,17.1% water, 7.2% maltose, 4.2% tri-saccharine & other carbohydrates, 1.5% sucrose, 0.5% minerals, vitamins, enzymes).

Whereas no synthetic medicine can and should be taken by any ill person without doctor’s prescription, honey requires no such prescription for anybody who is not allergic to it. Honey is a multipurpose food and medicine. It can be taken along with other foods or alone.

And, as an antiviral and antibiotic substance, honey is the best medicine for the eye and the ear diseases, tooth ache, insomnia, staphylococcus, constipation and whitlow as well as for burns and wounds. After many centuries of disputing these facts ignorantly, conventional doctors have finally come to realise that no medicine is as effective in sealing up surgical wounds and healing sores as honey. Today, honey is used for these purposes in most public hospitals in various parts of the world, including Nigeria.

Besides the above medicaments, the bees also assist mankind in producing foods by pollinating their crops. At least, these wonderful insects are responsible for pollinating about 80 per cent of the crops anywhere in the world. It is, therefore, an understatement to say that without the bees, humanity would starve to death. Bees are a vital part of our environment. Killing them is like killing oneself.

If most people were knowledgeable about the efficacy of the bee products in preventing and healing diseases, hospitals would have been less congested and substantial percentage of their incomes would have been saved to enhance the quality of their lives. The world of bees is a wonderful world. It takes only those who know it to appreciate it and benefit from its healing miracle.

Through divine instinct, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known this almost one and a half millennia ago and he had recommended it to humanity accordingly. The fact that honey is still a subject of scientific research today is a further confirmation that the unlettered Prophet from Arabia was a divine genius.

The case of bee and honey is like that of hen and egg. No one can tell which first came into existence. Without bee there can be no honey. And without honey, the bees cannot exist since honey is the food upon which they depend for survival.

But, how can one recognise genuine honey in this era of rampant adulteration? That is one of many questions to be answered in this column in the future God willing.

The story of the insect called bee is inexhaustible despite centuries of research on it. It is therefore impossible to tell it all in a one page column of this type. Much, more will be said on this subject subsequently if only to assist Nigerians in safeguarding their health matters thereby enhancing the quality of their lives.

That Prophet Muhammad (SAW) knew this much even as an unlettered person at a time when the world was assailed by blatant ignorance and primitivism is a further confirmation of Michael Hart’s classification of him as the greatest human being that ever lived on earth. But then, what makes the difference between the bees and other insects? What type of life do the bees live vis a vis other insects? What is the relationship between the bees, the plants and human beings? How do the bees conduct their communal life and how do they make honey? Besides honey, how do they produce other substances useful for human health? These and other relevant questions about the insect called BEE will be answered in this column next Friday in sha’Allah.

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

Uthman San Fodio

Nest, to the hornet, is a sanctuary. Whoever wants to stir it must be ready for painful sting. It was the words of Nigeria’s lotus eaters against those of the former American President, Bill Clinton in Abeokuta, Ogun State, last Tuesday. When the latter opened up on the cause of insecurity in Nigeria particularly concerning Boko Haram, hardly did he realise that he was stirring the hornet’s nest. As a man who knows because he is in a position to know, Bill Clinton openly identified poverty as the main cause of insecurity in Nigeria without minding whose ox was being gored.

Commenting as a guest speaker on Nigeria’s insecurity at ThisDay Newspaper’s awards ceremony, the former US President canvassed some ways by which Nigeria could effectively deal with Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity in the country. Among the ideas he suggested were poverty eradication, 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”.

Counselling 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, he 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 if you will, into loosening strategy, you have to figure out a way to devise a strategy that will help share the prosperity.”

He 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 opined 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 public figure to make such truthful but painful comments about Nigeria and her style of governance. On January 27, 2010, the US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hilary Clinton also spoke in the like manner about Nigeria in Nigeria. And the reactions that followed her statement were not in any way dissimilar from those that are now greeting Bill Clinton’s statement of last Tuesday. Incidentally, both Clintons are a couple but spoke differently and in different capacities. While the wife spoke in official capacity, the husband spoke in private capacity. But the coincidence in their speeches is not just in the similarity of their statements but also in the similarity in the reactions that greeted both speeches.

Speaking in blunt terms at a “town hall” in that 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 embrace violence and reject the authority of the state.”

Nigeria, she continued: “Africa’s biggest energy producer and second-largest economy, “faces a threat from increasing radicalisation 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”.

However, in a spontaneous reaction, some members of the ruling party who were then in government virtually told Mrs. Clinton to shut up and mind her own business by leaving Nigeria alone. The resentment 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.

He recalled that the ruling party had cause to comment on the relations between Nigeria and the United States, following President Barack Obama’s visit to Ghana, “which was viewed by some commentators as a slight to Nigeria”. 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.”

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 rather that of a Yoruba adage that says ‘a dog that refuses to respond to the warning whistle of the hunter is surely destined to stray into permanent perdition’. If Bill or Hillary Clinton were a Muslim, some fanatics especially in Nigerian media would have characteristically accused him/her of wanting to Islamise 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”.

“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.”

It is not strange therefore, that last Tuesday’s comments by Bill Clinton have drawn similar parochially partisan reactions from those who are benefitting directly from the ongoing rot in the country. It seems that politics in Nigeria is 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 are antagonistic to the ruling government. Such a statement could only have come from people of feeble minds who exemplify the ineptitude of Nigerian government.

Just last December 22, (2012), the Nigeria Muslim Forum, UK, held its 22nd Annual Winter Conference at Stamford Court University of Leicester. Among the dignitaries from Nigeria who spoke at the conference were Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami, a senior lecturer at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi who is currently undergoing a PhD course at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK; former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General (Retired) Abdur-rahman Dambazau, who is also a fellow at Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, US; former Minister for Federal Capital Territory Dr. Aliyu Modibbo and publisher of a Hausa newspaper, ‘Rariya’; the President, Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) and highly respected medical practitioner Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmad; the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Reverend Dr Mathew Hassan Kukah, who was unavoidably absent but made a pre-recorded video presentation; and Dr Abdullahi Shehu, a consultant neurologist at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry, a founding member and one of the trustees of Forum.

At the conference, General Dambazau’s paper titled ‘Poverty Alleviation, Security and Stability’ addressed the question 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 North-West as the most hit while South-West of the country as the least affected.

“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 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”. He therefore advocated respect for human dignity as opposed to simply tolerating each other and significant boost to governments’ poverty alleviation policies. He also urged the Diaspora communities to lend financial support and contribute constructive ideas towards tackling the challenges in order to elevate the status of the country internationally”.

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 utilized 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”.

“Three, 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.

Rather than rallying our people, some of our religious leaders have resorted to divisive utterances, wild allegations and insinuations against fellow adherents of other religions. In the last five or so days, text messages have been circulating across the country appealing to some of our worst demons. We are told that many senior clerics either believed or encouraged the circulation of these divisive and false text messages. We must condemn this for what it is….”.

‘THE MESSAGE’ needed to add a voice of reason to the ongoing brouhaha over Bill Clinton’s admonishing statement not only because Islam is the total way of Muslim life but also for posterity sake. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians and everyone has a right to express his/her feelings on any matter that commonly affects all of us. God bless those who continue to stand out in spite of man’s inhumanity to man.