The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • The Qur’an and Ramadan

    Preamble

    Here is the month of the Qur’an. The revelation of the Qur’an in the sacred month of Ramadan confers the status of a habitat on the latter. But on the other hand, it is the Qur’an that enables humanity to know the significance of the month called Ramadan. Thus, the relationship between the Qur’an and Ramadan is as symbiotic as the one between the egg and the hen. It is difficult for the one to claim an origin that is different from that of the other.

    The word Qur’an means continuous recitation. It is so defined because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily recitation throughout the world, across nations and centuries. Qur’an contains the unsurpassable words of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.

     

    Revelation

    The revelation of this sacred ‘Book’ to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in 610 CE. It lasted 22 years and three months (12 years in Makkah and12 years plus three months in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6236 verses (not 6666 verses often erroneously quoted by most Nigerian Muslim clerics). Of these 114 chapters, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the Book. And this is because the Makkah chapters are short and rhythmic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.

    Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began as soon as its revelations commenced. The writing was however done on primitive materials like wood, animal hide, back of trees, tablets of rock and others of the like which were then readily available. It was only a year (633 C.E) after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were rendered into a book form not in a foreign language as in the case of the Bible but in Arabic which was its original language of revelation. And one of the wonders in documenting the Qur’anic revelations is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his unlettered status.

     

    Manner of presentation

    The manner of presenting the Qur’anic revelations is simple and direct. It employs neither artifice nor conventional poses. Its main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. It does not only touch the anecdotes of previous Prophets and nations in different ages and even the accounts of earlier revelations, it also covers the entire period of human existence from the beginning of creation to the very last Day of Judgment.

    Besides the above, the Qur’an also gives insight into some natural phenomena like spherical objects and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5) the formation of rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilisation of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbits (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). All these can be found only in the Qur’an, of all the revealed Books. Or can anybody point out anything similar to these in any other revealed book?

    Yet, the purpose of this Qur’an is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences. It is rather to guide mankind in their pursuit of knowledge towards achieving the benefits of each of these fields throughout human odyssey.

     

    Language of the Qur’an

    Most Muslim clerics read the Qur’an in its original language (Arabic) without understanding what they are reading because they do not speak that language.  Some read it as a means of solving their imaginary problems thus taking the Qur’an for a charm which must yield result if manipulated towards their whims. The Qur’an is not meant for that purpose. It is rather the manual of life for man by which he lives his daily life and conducts his daily affairs.

    The word Qur’an means continuous recitation and understanding. It is so called because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily reading throughout the world and across ages. It contains the unsurpassable words of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and the splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.

     

    Originality of language

    That the Qur’an is the only revealed ‘BOOK’ in the world today that has consistently retained the originality of both its language and contents for over 1400 years is enough a testimony to the proof of its divine origin. That also confirms not only the genuineness of the prophet-hood of Muhammad (SAW) as a Messenger of Allah but also the lucidity of Arabic as one of the oldest languages in the world today. Thus, just as there can be no proof of the identity of a messenger without the authenticity of the message so can there be  no proof of the genuineness of the prophetic mission of Muhammad (SAW) outside the proof of the Qur’an.

     

    Proof of divine origin

    It cannot be strange to see anybody who perceives the immortal God in the image of a mortal being perceive Islam as a mere dogma like any other religion. It is such people who keep asking for the proof of Qur’anic revelation as if other revelations before the Qur’an do not need proof. In reason and logic, asking for the proof of the Qur’an after all the manifest evidences in its contents is like asking the sun to prove its rays. However, it is the nature and character of unbelievers to deny the truth and refute the obvious. But does it really bother the sun that a blind man denies its rays? Or can a brook be assaulted in anyway if the herds boycott its water?

     

    Features of the Qur’an

    Qur’an leaves no aspect of life untouched and it leaves no secret unrevealed. Problems and solutions; history and lessons; crimes and penalties; justice and righteousness; discipline and courage; friendship and trust; governance and methodology; marriage and divorce; widowhood and orphanage; childhood and inheritance; poverty and wealth; opinion and logic; facts and figures; life and death; darkness and light; war and peace; leadership and power; angel and man; heavens and earth; all these and many other  matters relating to man and his environment form the subjects of discussion and guidance in the ‘Divine Diary of Life called the Qur’an’.

     

    Profile of the Qur’an

    The revelation of this Book to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad (SAW) son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in the month of Ramadan in year 610 CE. It lasted about 23 years (10 years in Makkah and12 years plus a few months in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6246 verses (not 6666 verses often announced by most Imams and Alfas). Any individual can verify this by checking the number of verses in each chapter and adding them together. It does not take more than one hour to do this.

    Of the 114 chapters contained in the Qur’an, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the entire Sacred Book. And this is because the Makkah chapters are short and rhythmic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.

    Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began almost immediately the revelations started. The writing was however done on primitive materials like wood, animal hides, back of trees and others of the like which were then readily available. It was only much later, after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were brought together and rendered into a book form.

    One of the wonders of recording the Qur’an in writing is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his Inability to read and write.

    The manner of presenting the Qur’anic revelations is simple and direct. It employs neither artifice nor conventional poses. Its main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. It does not only touch the anecdotes of the past Prophets in different ages and nations as well as the accounts of earlier revelations, it also covers the period from the beginning of creation to the very last Day of Judgment and beyond.

    Not only that, Al-Qur’an also gives insight into some natural phenomena like sphericity and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5) the formation of rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilisation of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbits (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences.

     

    Qur’anic Lessons

    In this glorious Book are practical lessons such as the great deluge, the cataclysm of Sodom and Gomorrah, the defeat of Jalut (Goliath) by Daud (David), the doom of the tyrannical Pharaoh, and similar catastrophes that had afflicted iniquitous people of the past. All these are taught to man through the Qur’an that he (man) might know how to re-assess himself continually and properly akin to the guidance of Allah.

    Apart from the facts mentioned above, many other devices were adopted from time to time, by Allah, to remind man of his mortality and to see him through a successful sojourn on earth. But unfortunately, man has always been blind to genuine divine guidance just as he has been deaf to warnings and deviant from reason as much as he has persistently been insensitive to rightful thoughts even as he remains unreceptive to positive ideas. In his choice to form freemasonry with Satan (the custodian of ruins and deception, the inventor of arrogance and vanity and the master of avarice and woes), man has ignorantly and continuously strayed into a quagmire of sorrow. Taking Satan for his best friend, he refuses to use the long spoon with which he is provided in the Qur’an by Allah to dine with the damned Lucifer.

     

    Testimony

    To Muslims who understand the teachings of Islam through the Qur’an, all the genuine Prophets, including Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) are from Allah and all the divinely revealed ‘BOOKS’ are series of the same ‘MESSAGE’. They are like Ambassadors of a nation to another nation. Changing them from time to time does not change the nation from where they come or the foreign policy of that nation. This fact has been firmly established in the Qur’an itself thus:

    “The Messenger of Allah (Muhammad (SAW) believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord; and every true believer also believes in Allah and His Angels and His revealed Books and His Messengers; We do not discriminate against anyone of them (those Messengers) as they say we hear and obey (the contents of the revelation) oh God, we seek your forgive, to You is our return” Q. 3:285-286

     

    Discipline

    That is why Muslims are not known for maligning any Prophet or genuinely revealed ‘BOOKS’ that have not reflected any traces of human tampering. Right from its very first day of revelation, the Qur’an has come with undeniable proof. But it takes only a divinely cleansed heart to comprehend such proof and acknowledge its authenticity. Qur’an itself is the master proof of all other celestial messages that preceded it. It is the final divine revelation which has no human interference or human tampering.

    Neither Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who brought this Sacred Book to mankind nor any of his companions (or disciples) had a say in it. The Book contains no chapters or verses according to anybody. And unlike some other books no one speaks in the Qur’an on behalf of Allah in the name of revelation. Even the personal expressions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) about mundane life which are generally known as Hadith were not to be mingled with the verses of the Qur’an despite his endowed divine inspirations. And where such expressions seem to contradict any part of the Qur’an they automatically become superseded by the contents of the latter.

     

    Mirror of Life

    Qur’an is the extraordinary compendium in which the activities of man from the very beginning of human existence to the end of human life are chronicled. It is the eternally concrete ‘MIRROR’ through which the descendants of Adam and Hawau can see life in its past, its present and its near and far future. This ‘MIRROR’ is the spectacle that heals the blind, the natural manure that fertilises the human brain and the greatest treasure in the possession of mankind.

    For the rightly guided mind, the Qur’an is the eye with which to see, the ear with which to hear and the sense with which to reason. It is the bridge across the valleys of life; the insurance against any damnation; the passport for salvation and the only reliable redeemer of mankind.

    For any divinely tamed mind therefore, life begins and ends with the Qur’an, Allah’s own tradition and the only authentic fountain from which man can draw and sip from the living spring of wisdom. The sense that reasons with the Qur’an makes no mistake. Any mind that thinks with the Qur’an can never be devilled. Any eye that sees with it can never incur sore. Any tongue that talks with it will never stammer. Any power that genuinely rules with it will never falls. Meanwhile, the Almighty Allah warns in this non-such Book (the Qur’an) thus: “But whosoever deviates from My guidance, verily for him is life of subjugation and We shall raise him up a blind person on the Day of resurrection” (Q. 20: 124).

  • Of bankrupt states and failed governors

    The Singapore vision One is quite amused when some commentators argue – and vehemently too – that some states are not viable. That is a fallacy that has been long-sustained in this part of the world that we have come to believe it as fact. Of course we know it is mere political chicanery designed to deny some zones equity in the distribution of states. It is also classic excuse for laggard governors who lacked the vision and mental acuity to manage their domain.

    Lee Kuan Yew could have balked at the enormity of that task of building Singapore about 50 years. Lee could have mopped up the few coins in the Island country back then; he would have become an autocrat and a ‘big man’. He would have grown richer while Singapore grew poorer. Today, those fifty-something tiny islands that make up Singapore would be looking like soggy heaps of refuse floating on the Malay Peninsula; it would have been a fetid slum stilted on the seas of southeast Asia.

    Singapore is low-lying and was basically reclaimed from swamp; it is hot and humid and has rainfall almost throughout the year. She lacks natural resources and most of its food is imported. It was indeed a lousy, little place to build on.

    Today, Singapore has morphed into an exotic collection of island city which everyone wants to visit. Today, it is a global hub for manufacturing, financial services, shipping and ship repairs. In fact, it boasts one of the busiest ports in the world. Singapore hasn’t a drop of crude oil, but it is perhaps the world’s fuel refining capital and with unassailable petro-chemicals and chemicals capacities.

    How did a dirty agglomeration of islands in a brackish swamp and with hostile neighbours grow over five decades to become among the best places to visit and indeed to be born? Such is the power of visionary leadership. Singapore of the 60s is far less endowed than any Nigerian state today.

    Bankrupt leadership, bankrupt states:Yet as you read this, many states in Nigeria have been unable to pay workers’ wages for upward of six months. Many yet are swimming in huge debts and this says so much for states that received allocations from the federation accounts amounting to billions of dollars in the last five years.

    As a new tenure begins once again, has anything changed, are our governors willing to embark on a radical new era that would break the old mould? I think not. We are all still afflicted by the twin malaise of mental and spiritual poverty. We still have a crop of leaders who are still shortsighted and beleaguered by graft. Foisted upon us are leaders who are burdened by huge political debts; people who must make their first billions before the state has earned her first thousands or before they have paid staff salary.

    Why are states in the Southwest of Nigeria not competing in the huge global cocoa market? We forget that countries like Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire subsist on this commodity. Until recently they did not have a drop of crude oil. Cocoa farming, processing and exportation is not on the exclusive list of the constitution is it? Same for states of the southeast and south-south: Why are we importing palm oil in millions of dollars yet palm plantations abound in these zones? Why are we still massively importing rice, frozen chickens, vegetable oil and fruit juices? Has cotton stopped thriving in the north of this country or has the world stopped dressing up? Why are we merely going through the motion and living in denial when we know too well that everything around our monolithic oil economy has fallen apart?

    Declaring a state of economic emergency One is waiting to see the first state to hold a proper economic summit on our new economic realities. One wants to see that state that would declare an economic emergency and fashion alternative sources of driving revenue like agro commodity export, tourism, ICT services, sports business and transport logistics. There are huge revenues (both in local and foreign currencies) to be earned in these areas if properly harnessed.

    We have not seen any state respond in a radical manner yet. Yes, a few have cut salaries and reduced the size of cabinet. Most have focused on aggressive tax policies in order to push IGR up. But all these are token immediate measures. In the medium to long term, we need to be more ambitious.

    Again, let’s be brilliant on the basics: There is no gainsaying that the reason most states’ economy have crashed so soon after the boom is that they neglected to do the basic things. All the money in the world will never be enough if the model is wrong. One, very few states adhere to its budget no matter the quality and substance. Annual budgets are mere annual rituals in many state. There is therefore hardly any planning or projections. Funds are disbursed at the whims of the ‘big boss’. So until states realize that budgets and budgeting are very serious businesses, nothing will work.

    Two, the workforce in most states are bloated and unproductive. Now more than ever before, a serious government must reform, restructure and reconfigure its workforce in a manner that it must add value to the people and process. We must understand that employment as welfare is injurious both to the employee, the employer and the state. Everyone must deliver value because it is ‘value’ that creates even more jobs. It is truly poor quality governance that 80 to 100 percent of a state’s federal allocation goes to just paying a few thousand civil servants. What becomes of the millions of the rest of the populace?

    The Peter Obi exampleThere is so much sitting governors can learn from Mr. Peter Obi, immediate past governor of Anambra State. In fact any governor who wants to succeed may need to consult him. For eight years he never borrowed a dimed; yet he delivered better performance than most who mortgaged their states to eternal debt bondage. Instead, he left billions of naira and millions of dollars in cash and bonds as savings. Why is it that the current Governor Willie Obiano could pay salaries and embark on projects even with sparse federal allocations?

    Again, why is it that Anambra can pay workers while big oil states like Akwa Ibom and Rivers States are in a mess? It is prudence, fiscal planning and sober leadership.

    Truth must be told and clearly too that any governor that cannot pay the entirety of its workers and pensioners for upwards of three months is a failed governor; no excuses acceptable.

     

  • Crescent University @ 10

    Do you not see how Allah projects a parable of a single valuable word like a gargantuan tree which roots are firmly planted in the belly of the earth while its foliages sprout magnificently into the firmament of the orbit? It yields fruits every season by the grace of Allah. Thus Allah sets forth parables for humans that they may be mindful (of their Creator’s grace)”. Q.14:24

     

    All roads will lead to Abeokuta tomorrow (June 13, 2015) where people of meaningful life will witness, in concrete terms, the similitude of the above quoted verse of the Qur’an. That similitude is the Crescent University a modern FIRST among equals in the realm of knowledge and civilisation. Tomorrow’s occasion is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that young but vibrant University with gratitude to the Almighty Allah. And whatever supplications are made there will surely arouse the consciousness of the pious world into chorusing AMEN!

     

    History and Man

    History and man are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history but the latter is deemed greater than the earlier. This is because it takes little or no efforts at all to be made by history. But on the contrary, it takes man a lot of efforts, sometimes guts, to make history. A Nigerian of rare breed and unique personality is currently exhibiting this assertion. Through the royalty of his birth he became a product of history. And through the aristocracy of his intellect he turned round to be a maker of history.

    His Excellency, Prince Bola Jabbar Ajibola, SAN, KBE, LLD, D. LTT, CFR is that unique Nigerian who does not need to be introduced before recognition in any part of the world. By all standards, he stands out vertically in a global garden where most others of his peer are dwelling horizontally. As a product and a maker of history this man is qualified not only to be a proverbial confluence of knowledge and civilisation but also a manifest signpost in the world of intellectualism the like of whom the world seldom rears in centuries.

     

    Philosophy

    Looking closely at Prince Ajibola’s background and comparing it with his lifestyle, one may tend to believe that he shares his philosophy of life with that of another great Nigerian of blessed memory who became a model for thousands of others even long after his demise. That other great Nigerian is Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first President. While revealing that philosophy in his autobiography entitled ‘My Odyssey’, which he published in 1970, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote thus:

    “Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his causes of action. But then he dies, nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both”.

    Prince Ajibola might not strictly be a contemporary of ‘Great Zik’ but he surely shares the qualitative life that granted the latter the qualitative history that put his footprint on the sands of time. Like the colossus of the 1940s, 50s and 60s called Zik, Prince Ajibola has personified intellect and integrity since   the 1970s through the 80s and the 90s for the world to behold with admiration. Like a summer rainbow giving a treasured delight to its beholders, Prince Ajibola’s mark of intellectual influence cuts across all spheres of humanity in an indelible manner.

     

    Like UNN like Crescent

    In Dr. Azikiwe’s philosophy intimately shared by Prince Ajibola, there is an angle that believes in giving more to the world than what has been taken from the world. That angle was what prompted the Great Zik to establish the first private University in Nigeria (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) in 1960 which he dedicated ‘to all those who continue to do good in spite of man’s inhumanity to man’. It is the same angle that prompted Prince Bola Ajibola to singularly establish Crescent University in a country where ignorance still thrives and at a time when the pessimistic word ‘impossibility’ was and is still in vogue on the lips of many.

    Today, there is a historic ‘Crescent University in Abeokuta established in 2005 as much as there is the ‘University of Nigeria in Nsukka, established in 1960’. While the two Universities coexist albeit in different parts of Nigeria the only difference so far remains between them is the age gap. And who says the young cannot grow? After all, UNN also started one day and has now outgrown the teething age.

     

    How it all began

    The dream of Crescent University began in 2002 when the Educational Board of Islamic Mission of Africa (IMA) recommended the establishment of a University to be named Crescent in Abeokuta. The academic committee set up for that purpose later submitted its recommendation to IMA. And the National University Commission (NUC) approved the establishment of that University in 2005 while the academic programmes commenced in earnest in December of the same year.

    According to a published media interview with the Proprietor of the University, Prince Ajibola, this institution is out to assist Nigerians in closing the widening gap between attainable potential student population and limited space in Nigerian education system. Thus, the University hopes to produce the kind of graduates that will fit into the current economic and social agenda. It hopes to gradually ensure total quality assurance of consciousness in terms of its staffing, its teaching and learning environment, its equipment support base and its infrastructure and super structural development.

    In addition, the university is designed to build a new generation of graduates imbued with industry and diligence as well as to inculcate spiritual reawakening and moral uprightness in the development of humanity. As a unique element, this University is designed to assist in the global quest for accelerating the education of the girl child towards the build-up of intellectual Womanhood.

     

    A University for All

    Towards this end, all students are welcome in the university irrespective of colour, race, tribe and creed. Along this line, the administration of the university shall be guided by Islamic tenets and practice. Meanwhile, in the said interview, Prince Ajibola as the proprietor of the University said: “I have pledged my life to developing this vision and I hereby use this medium to invite you all to join several others that are supporting this mission. May Allah guide us on the right path and grant us paradise”.

    Prince Ajibola’s mission is perfectly in tandem with Crescent University’s philosophy which includes the following:

    To provide access to education for the increasing population of eligible candidates

    To create a new breed of Nigerians imbued with loyalty to God, the nation and the fellow men.

    To motivate candidates to develop entrepreneurial skills for men in an ever changing society

    To equip and prepare an enabling environment in which teaching and learning shall be conducted in an atmosphere of harmony, peace and love.

    To imbued our graduates with character and make them learning, consciously about the fear of God in their daily lives.

     

    Objectives

    The real objectives of the University are as follows:

    1. To produce graduates empowered with knowledge for sustainable living in an ever changing world. This requires adequate and up to date physical facilities including lecture rooms, laboratories, studios, healthy officers and comprehensive use of information technology.

    2. To offer education guided by Islamic principles and tenets of spiritual and moral discipline. The intention here is to employ the teachings of Islam as a variable tool for ordering life with the consciousness of doing good and shunning evil deeds and for interacting with others in harmony, peace and love.

    3. To promote exemplary research and services piloted towards the achievement of human development.

    4. To encourage and promote higher education for women. The strategy here is to place emphasis on the enrollment of female students in the ratio of 60:40 (female: male) subsumed in the overall 60:40 (science: arts) ratio as prescribed by the National University Commission (NUC).

     

    Motto

    The motto of the university is knowledge and faith which emphasises the principles of pursuing academic excellence in a Godly way as envisioned in the mission statement and the Founder’s Day shall be celebrated or marked on the 22nd of March of every year.

     

    Great Reminder

    Crescent University has come to remind us of the world’s oldest University in existence today. That University is called Al-Azhar. It is one of the most important Centres of intellectualism and Islamic civilisation in the world. Al-Azhar University was established as a Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, in about 960 CE by one Jawhar, a liberated slave and an army General during the regime Caliph Muiz of the Fatimid Dynasty. It became a fully fledged University in about 977 through the influence of a Muslim convert, Ya’qub Bn Qillis, and it eventually developed as a major center for Islamic scholarship, providing education for students of all ages. But during the 12th century, a Muslim leader, Salahud-din Al-Ayubi converted the university into an agency of orthodoxy forming a part of his war-planning centers during the war of Crusades. And until about 1924, the university offered only courses based on Islamic theology, the Prophetic traditions (Hadith) and interpretations of the Qur’an (Tafsir).

    It, however, became liberalised in 1924 by certain reforms instituted under the auspices of the Egyptian government. Thus because of recommendations set forth by the reformers and adopted by the Egyptian government in 1962, the university began to include the study of foreign languages and engineering as well as agriculture, commerce, science, and medicine. These did not however change the use of the older curriculum which included Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), Prophetic Tradition (Hadith), Islamic Theology (Tawhid), the principles of Islamic Law (Saharia’h) as well as rudimentary arithmetic, and elementary geography.

     

    Evidence of Determination

    Out of determination to impact positively on the lives of others in life and to show gratitude to Allah, Prince Ajibola sold out all his properties for the purpose of using the proceeds there from to establish the Islamic Movement for Africa, IMA, which gave birth to projects like IMA Nursery and Primary School, IMA Colleges, the Crescent University and the newly established IMA Hospital, also in Abeokuta. This is a confirmation that real men think more of what they can give to the world than they can gain from the world. Perhaps it was to such men that Williams Webster referred in his famous axiomatic oration when he said:

    “If we work marble it will perish; if we work upon brass time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instill in them just principles we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten into all eternity”.

    Al-Azhar University celebrated its 1000 years of existence in 1977 and yours sincerely witnessed that celebration as a student then in Cairo. It is our wish and prayer that Crescent University too will one day celebrate a millennium of existence and more by the grace of Allah. Long live Crescent University, long live its proprietor.

     

     Watch Out

    While the month of Ramadan is fast approaching, the venerable readers of ‘The Message’ column are hereby advised to watch out for the usual daily column called ‘Ramadan Guide’ in ‘The Nation’ . Ramadan Guide is a small column specially designed and dedicated to the month of Ramadan for the purpose of educating the Muslim multitudes and guiding them in their daily lives throughout the sacred month. The column 3 x 6 column has been a daily Ramadan tonic for well-meaning Muslims and even non-Muslims in the month since the inception of ‘The Nation’  nine years ago.

    Ramadan Guide addresses social, ethical, economic and educational lives of Muslims as well as their health concerns. Through Ramadan Guide, many Muslims who may not be privileged to attend daily Tafsir in their localities or elsewhere may gain access to the needed knowledge in a summarised form. Watch out for the column from the 17th of June 2015 and you will not regret you do.

     

    Sponsorship

     

    The column is an opportunity for men and women who are dealing in commerce or professional products and want to advertise them in the month of Ramadan. For further inquiry, interested persons may reach out to this columnist through the telephone number or email address on top of this column. Please note all contacts by telephone should be by text messages.

  • NASS the 8th

    NASS the 8th

    The eighth National Assembly (NASS) was inaugurated on Tuesday, June 9. A product of the sweat and labour of Nigerians for change, the new Senate and the House had seemed to embody the aspirations and hopes of the deprived and denigrated masses of a great but oxygen-deprived nation.

    With a newly-minted presidency, and a self-critical judiciary that is poised to discharge its onerous responsibilities in the hallowed chambers of justice, Nigerians who voted for change deserve a collaborative NASS in the country’s march to greatness. Are they in for a rude shock?

    The question above makes sense even when normalcy prevailed and stability was assured. There have always been good reasons for worry about the intrusion of ego and greed in the conduct of the business of NASS. In the first 16 years of the fourth republic, Nigerians have had a feel of what NASS can and cannot do by way of self-promotion. They know that its members are among the highest paid public servants in the civilised world and that they justify this by appeal to the risk they take in getting to their prestigious positions (“NASS unveils ego bill” in this column, 27/11/2009).

    Nigerians are aware that the productivity of our law-making institution has not justified our investment. They know about the performance of oversight functions of federal institutions and agencies in the service of self. They are familiar with the scandalous budget approval systems. Therefore our compatriots invested their time, energy and resources into the last elections hoping to see a change. Will they?

    The party with the majority in the chambers of NASS had presented its agenda for change to the people. It presented to voters the individuals that it considered capable of promoting the agenda and endorsed them for election. As such the party has an indisputable stake in the success of the legislative bodies charged with carrying out its agenda as endorsed by the electorate.

    This logic of party interest in the activities of NASS and in the performance of the executive branch cannot be faulted. PDP lost the elections because Nigerians were dissatisfied with the performance of the former president and the seventh National Assembly.

    Let us admit then that APC did not overstep the boundary of acceptable party behaviour in its effort to reconcile interests and broker a consensus towards the election of NASS leadership. It is especially important to recall the several contending power centres in the matter.

    The Northeast insisted that it contributed the second largest votes to the success of the president. It dared the party to zone the position of Senate presidency elsewhere and it would use its numbers to scuttle the process. It also claimed it had the highest ranking member in the Senate and in accordance with the practice in other democracies, the most senior member ought to get the position. It is a sound argument based on convention and tradition.

    In an effort to do right by all interested parties, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party chose to conduct a mock election to come up with a consensus candidate. Since it has a simple majority in both chambers, a united front represented by a consensus candidate for each position will guarantee victory in the houses. So it thought. Again, that strategy cannot be faulted.

    The party and the NWC apparently underestimated the contradictory forces in the fractious coalition it had brought together and the various interests which are difficult if not impossible to satisfy or reconcile. While the logic of its approach toward reconciliation and consensus is unassailable, the contending forces that it had to deal with were working with a different logic and a different mindset. In the end the leadership was dealt an outcome which it had deliberately sought to avoid. A frustrating case of damned if you do; condemned if you don’t!

    A consensus cannot emerge where there are deep-seated animosities and antagonistic interests. Besides, the contending forces are not just geographical zones but also political zones and friendship zones. The “New PDP” caucus considers itself a political zone within the APC coalition along with the geographical zones and expects to be treated as such. There is also the spiritual zone where religion reigns. For residents of this zone, APC must do well by all religions.

    Perhaps a more fundamental issue is the presidency’s position on the matter of NASS leadership. This is important because Mr. President is the leader of the party and his position right from the beginning has been that he has no preferred candidate and will work with anyone that the chambers elected.

    Every time that the president’s message came out, I sought to see whether there was a caveat: Did he mean anyone that the party presented? No such caveat or condition, and not a few understood him as meaning anyone that the NASS chambers elected. What wasn’t clear was whether the president didn’t mind having a PDP senator as Senate President. Or did he assume that whoever was elected will be an APC member? His messages didn’t go into these details.

    The NASS APC members opposed to their party’s preference for a consensus candidate took a favourable interpretation of the president’s message and ran with it. They dug down, honed their game and worked with the opposition minority party, making a deal that produced Dr. Saraki, APC (Kwara) as Senate President and Senator Ekweremadu, PDP (Enugu) as Deputy Senate President (DSP). Now a NASS with an APC majority will be “APC In Name Only” (APCINO). Incredible!

    What was most baffling and frustrating in this is not the election itself but, to many, the way it was conducted with a bare quorum which effectively excluded APC senators-elect, assembled elsewhere for a meeting with Mr. President on consensus candidates. A cruel cut, indeed!

    This process and its outcome are unprecedented and they raise a number of questions. Will there be an APC leadership caucus in the Senate and the House? Who will participate as members?

    The Senate President owes his leadership position to the opposition PDP. The latter knows this and will be ready at a moment notice to ditch him and promote his deputy to the position. Will he risk this prospect to work for the change agenda of APC? Are his PDP supporters going to let him pursue the change agenda? In the meetings of Senate leadership with the President to discuss policy and strategy matters, will the DSP be in attendance?

    In his acceptance speech, Senate President Saraki promised to defend the independence of the Senate. To a certain extent this is logical in the context of separation of powers. However, it is ominous in the context of the power struggle and the machinations that led to his emergence. Does Senate independence mean the pursuit of an independent agenda different from the agenda of change that the party presented to the electorate? I hope not.

    There have been comments about who the loser is and who the winner is in this sordid affair. I think it is unhealthy to engage in that game. It will not help us sort out the important issues going forward. And going forward we must. Therefore in the interest my sanity, and to ensure that my emotional investment does not blow up in my face, I would like to assure myself that all is not lost.

    In that spirit, I plead that reason must prevail, that maturity must be displayed, and that full reconciliation must be pursued. The president and the party leadership must think of all their sacrifices, swallow their frustration, and initiate efforts towards reconciliation.

    On his part, the new Senate President must resist any temptation to bite his party’s fingers. He must refuse the urge to ditch the party’s agenda. Top of that agenda that is within his immediate reach is the initiation of legislation to drastically cut the budget of NASS including the personal emolument of its members. This will demonstrate to Nigerians the seriousness of NASS, the eighth in the matter of change.

    On this 22nd anniversary of June 12, let there be change!

  • APC: The pains of success

    Is it not said that managing success successfully is tougher because a fallen man has fallen anyway. With its very first action of installing principal officers of the National Assembly, it has come to light so soon that the new ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), lacks a strategic core. The party seems to be full of bickerers instead of thinkers.

    Three quick points to the APC leadership on this matter and for going forward: one, APC must determine that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is the leader of the party. And once the leader has taken a public stance on an issue, the party must do well to align itself with it if it’s one party. Two, it is the president who would have to work with the leadership of NASS, not the party exco. It is also more democratically salubrious that the constitution and parliamentary conventions should prevail in choosing NASS leadership and not party imposition.

    Three and finally, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has earned his bright spot in Nigeria’s history and nothing can change that. He is no more a regional champion. Going forward, and to earn statesmanship and global acclaim, he must play his politics mainly ‘in the interest of the nation’. He must transcend APC leadership, he should play as chief visioner of Nigeria’s modern democracy and that role is better played from the background.

    There should never be any contest even with the presidency how much less the NASS leadership. APC’s rump parliament is showing a lack of graciousness in first repudiating the stance of the president on this matter and then vehemently opposing the emergent NASS leaders as if there are three parties and not one. An election that would have symbolised the beauty of our new democracy is being turned into an albatross for APC. It’s a marathon, lest we forget.

  • PMB: LGAs must be made accountable

    It is most salutary that President Muhammadu Buhari did not disappoint in his inaugural speech on May 29. The address was short, affirmative and inspiring. Without mincing words and shone of any obfuscation, he set the tone for his administration and government in the next four years.

    This column is particularly buoyed by his stance on the question of the state of the local units, our third and grassroots tier of government. Readers of this page would have noticed that one is particularly passionate about this level of governance where the poorest and the highest number of our people reside. It has been a near-crusade here to stop the anomaly of the last 16 years that has seen state governments across the country (without a notable exception) taking liberty on the LGAs funds and grossly abusing it.

    On May 1st, in a piece here titled: “Five quick points for General Buhari,” one had written: “Four, he MUST ensure that the 774 LGAs across the land come back to life. This will be a long-drawn battle but it is important that he makes the statement from day one that anyone pocketing allocations meant for any LGA anywhere in the land would be incurring his wrath. All sorts of evil have infested the land because LGAs are virtually shut down across the land; few people pocket their allocation and the entire economy of this units of government is vitiated.”

    It is most heart-warming that the president did not disappoint on this most important score. Despite the cries from ALGON and numerous concerned Nigerians, previous presidents could not muster the courage to face the governors on this matter. But that this president can set the tone from day one will help tilt the scale on this problem.

    Let’s have it from his inaugural speech: “Elsewhere, relations between Abuja and the states have to be clarified, if we are to serve the country better. Constitutionally, there are limits to powers of each of the three tiers of government but that should not mean the Federal Government should fold its arms and close its eyes to what is going on in the states and local governments. Not least the operations of the Local Government Joint Account. While the Federal Government cannot interfere in the details of its operation, it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked. As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch.”

    Very well spoken, most beautifully laid out. Worried by our mired LGAs, one had made it a duty to take the matter up with governors in the course of interviews with them in the past few years. What I have deduced from these enquiries is that governors consider local governments part of their ‘kingdom’ which they reserve the right to ‘manage’ as they deem fit. One governor retorted dismissively that “LGA is job for the boys”; meaning that it is just one of the ways to ‘settle’ political hangers on. Many are so suffused with disdain they will tell you that local government chairmen would mismanage the LGA funds! Thus only the all-wise and all-prudent governor can disburse the funds.

    In the last 16 years, the concept and objective of the LGA in Nigeria have been damaged. The 3rd tier has been hijacked by state governors and or godfathers who install the occupants and control their funds. They will raise all sorts of arguments and go to any length to see to it that this aberrant status-quo remains.

    The result is that governors – all of them – run from pillar to post as if they are bionic, trying to do everything in their various states and claiming credit for every slab cast over every gutter. Since they usurp the functions of the LGAs they wear themselves out trying to carry out rudimentary statutory functions of the grassroots tier.

    After 16 years of a ruinous farce, we certainly cannot live with this any longer. Most of us know too well the dangers and consequences of this sustained rape of our LGAs. They have already manifested by ways of increased wave of crimes and social maladies like terrorism, kidnapping, cultism, neighbourhood gangs, human trafficking, baby factories, dilapidated primary schools and primary health facilities, influx of youths to the urban areas and pernicious rural poverty.

    Most LGA headquarters across the country have long become comatose with a good number overgrown by weeds. Some are so derelict and so reptiles-infested that the ‘stakeholders’ dare not go there anymore. They meet in hotels to share the monthly ‘booty’ from Abuja. Most LGA chairmen don’t live in their locale anymore; they live in hotels in the cities and only visit occasionally.

    Most of us do not remember anymore that once upon a time, LGAs were well-structured, organic units of governance with chairman as head, councilors as lawmakers/executive secretaries and they had annual budgets that are presented publicly, ratified by the body of councilors and implemented. There were councilors in charge of wards and various socio-economic arms of government like health, education, security, works, utilities, agric, etc. Unlike in this age of locusts when LGAs have become wastelands, every LGA used to be a fledgling economic unit reaching deep into every nook and cranny of hinterland.

    Today, we have lost all this. It is uncanny that most of us fail to see the connection between moribund LGAs and  Boko Haram insurgency. No ‘baby factory’ would find space where councilors are on ground and work with landlord associations and town unions.

    So much mischief has been introduced into the debate: States are terribly jittery over the word, autonomy – you cannot have an autonomous tier of government in a federating unit, they are quick to claim. Nice point but what is the alternative? Sixteen years of purloining funds meant for the people and converting such for private use? One cannot find one state that showed example by devising a system that made the LGAs work or gave proper account of the LGA funds. If the LGAs cannot be autonomous they could at least be accountable and functional.  Not even one state could hold a credible election in the LGAs in 16 years.

    The critical point is that the tier be properly organized and that allocated funds deployed for the good of the people.  Nigeria will never grow if we sustain a system that allows about one quarter of our resources to be mismanaged by a few people. We are simply talking about giving account; about making sure the cash hit the target. President Buhari would be within his right to insist on this.

  • Governor Ayade’s paradigm

    With the economy squeezed of cash and multi billion naira in salary arrears plaguing most states of the federation, you would wonder why so many people still jostled to be governors. Well, elections are over, governors have been sworn in and fresh terms have commenced.

    This, of course, is the easy part. Running the state is the job and it will be tougher now. Not only will it not be business as usual, an entirely new template is required. Any state that cannot earn far more than the federally-allocated funds is doomed.

    This is why reading Ben Ayade, the new governor of Cross River State declare that he would run the state like a business, one thought it’s the way to go (Vanguard May 29, 2015). My government will do business, he said. It is a fallacy that government cannot run business; his government will run big businesses. He will restructure the civil service to make it businesslike. He will commoditise and commercialise government. His Ministry of Works will have to do the work; his permsecs must be ready to don jeans and T-shirt and get on the shop floor, get on the pay-loader. We will have fewer white collar jobs and more green collar (agric) and blue collar (factory) jobs…

    Wow, great idea but carrying out such mass reorientation will take some doing; a paradigm shift.

  • The first week

    The first week

    Just as morning shows the day, the first week of the Buhari administration is a signal to what to expect in the next four years. It is not too early to identify the resolve and operational style of the engineer and conductor as the Buhari/Osinbajo train takes off in full speed.

    We cannot afford to miss the import of the president’s inaugural address. Those who complain that the address doesn’t contain a laundry list of policy items misjudge its intent. Its goal is to present the president’s governing philosophy to the nation, to remind the people of their proud heritage and thus call them into a fruitful partnership, and to reassure the global community of Nigeria’s readiness to take on the mantle of leadership for Africa’s economic and political development. On these important areas, the President delivered a powerful message which was not lost on the assemblage of leaders and dignitaries around the world.

    Five special messages are clear and distinct in Buhari’s inaugural address. First is the deliberate effort to reaffirm his campaign pledge to govern with the fear of God and serve as the president of all Nigerians. “I belong to everyone and I belong to nobody” is more than a sound bite. It is a powerful message to all, including the doubters. It is to allay the fears of those who demonised him and terrified prospective voters with baseless claims of prison time for opponents that Buhari declared that “the past is prologue.” For a president with a mission to rally the nation to confront the very difficult issues she faces in these trying times, Buhari doesn’t have time for revenge. This is change.

    Will he remain true to this pledge? A good question, the answer to which the president himself has provided, not in words but in action. Shortly after the inaugural, the president declared that his government has not banned anyone from travelling, and warned overzealous officials that ministers and other officials of the Jonathan administration must not be “subjected to any undue harassment and intimidation at the airports or at any other points of entry and exit.” He urged that fellow citizens must be treated with courtesy and respect, and that due process must be followed by officials at the border. This is as firm and clear as he can get to demonstrate fidelity to his pledge.

    The second message that came out forcefully was Buhari’s zero tolerance for terrorism in general and Boko Haram insurgency in particular, which he declared as the most immediate of the national challenges. For a start, the president directed that the command centre be relocated to Maiduguri “until Boko Haram is completely subdued” and Chibok girls and other innocent persons held hostage are rescued. This is a General’s insight.

    Buhari has since met with the Service Chiefs and must have given them the marching orders to prosecute the fight and “avoid human rights violations in operations” as he pledged in his address. The President’s Wednesday visit to the President of Niger Republic was a further demonstration to the doubting Thomases, of his resolve to tackle the security challenge frontally.

    The third message of the address is on the economy, with the president fingering the epileptic power situation as the major culprit of the nation’s poor economic performance. To those for whom the economy has performed superbly, especially since rebasing, this assessment must be bitter to taste. But for the millions who live in abject poverty, and for industries performing at sub-par and millions of youth without job, it is the commonsense depiction of reality.

    The president rightly noted the close to $20 billion expansion in the power sector since 1999 which have only “brought darkness, frustration, misery and resignation among Nigerians.” The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Therefore, “we will not allow this to go on” is the president’s firm resolution that Nigerians will certainly find reassuring but for which they will also hold him and his administration accountable. With the disclosure of careful studies that are already “underway during this transition to identify the quickest, safest and most cost-effective way to bring light and relief to Nigerians”, I suspect that Nigerians will not have to wait for long.

    The fourth message is to the international community, which has waited patiently but in frustration for Nigeria to take its rightful leadership position in the comity of nations, globally and in the African region. The challenge is reconciling domestic strength or lack of it with international expectations without being embarrassingly compared to the physician who is unable to heal himself. You cannot claim to be partners with others in the war against terrorism if you half-heartedly prosecute the war within your border. You cannot honestly pledge cooperation with the international community in financial crimes if you cannot confront financial criminals in your backyard.

    Buhari can faithfully make the pledge because he has confidence in his ability and will to fight corruption in the public and private sectors. And he knows that the overwhelming majority of Nigerians have his back in this important war. The key to the success in this fight is the collective resolve of our people. Buhari has vowed to get to the root of corruption even at the local government level. But since he is not an omnipresent being, he cannot be expected to know what goes on in the 774 local governments plus more local development areas around the country.

    The final message is a presidential call to unity and greatness. In light of the foregoing paragraphs, it is perhaps the most important message. It’s a lofty appeal to the better angels of our people, and a reminder of the great heritage of a proud people who despite the divisions of tongue and religion, have so much in common.

    We must “remind ourselves that we are heirs to great civilisations” the president says. And “the blood of those great ancestors (of ours) flows in our veins.” In other words, we are the children of our forefathers and mothers. They were known for greatness in various ways. Our brothers and sisters outside the borders of Nigeria in faraway America and the Caribbean continue to relate to their homeland with pride, invoking the names of our ancestors.

    The president’s message is that we must look inward to the strength in our diversity and combine our cultural resources to fashion a great civilisation for ourselves and our descendants. Hitherto, we have only perceived our differences as weakness. The blame for this can go round.

    There mustn’t be a superiority or inferiority complex on the part of any section of the country. There cannot be a deliberate attempt to marginalise any section politically, culturally, or economically. If we want a united and progressive nation, we must treat every group as an integral part of the whole. We must rethink our ideal of politics and ensure that every part of the country matters.

    Surely, there have been occasions when division and disintegration appeared the only solution to our challenges. We have sometimes entertained reasons to go back to pre-colonial or colonial times. We may have been moved by the political principle of ethnic or national separatism.

    However, we are now at a place where this principle cannot be effectively implemented without bloodshed, and we must go for the second best. That is what the idea of true federalism is all about. It has worked well in the other places with our sociological complexity. There is no reason it cannot work with us. People rightly fear domination by others they don’t trust. Grant them some cultural, political and economic freedom within a federal system and they can be fully integrated into the multiethnic or multinational political community.

    This is a challenge for President Buhari to take up. The call for true federalism is a reasonable call in light of our past. The founding fathers whom the president praised for “establishing a viable and progressive country” embraced true federalism. The independence constitution was a true federal constitution. Let us take our cue from their wisdom.

  • Guest of integrity

    Guest of integrity

    Preamble

    In a few days time, a unique guest will arrive in the world with the grandeur of integrity. Its arrival will be the divine catalyst with which the long awaited human respite will be ushered in.

    Guests, everywhere in the world, are of different types. Some are of honour and treated with integrity because of their acknowledged dignity. Some are bereft of honour but merely tolerated for their nuisance value. Each time we talk of guests, people invariably think only of humans in the erroneous belief that no other creature could be qualified for that title. What they don’t seem to know is that humans are just a fraction of Allah’s creatures. There are millions of others not often noticed by man. One of such creatures is environment of which season is a part. The phenomenon called season comes in different forms with different intensity and at different times of the year.

    Seasons are like the tides of an ocean. They roll out spirally in quick succession and reshape the world’s environment from time to time as they come in multiples of months. No one measures a season in the absence of months as there can be no seasons without months.

     

    August Visitor

    Europeans have so much respect for seasons that when they have an important guest they call him an ‘August visitor’. The month of August is the peak of summer season and the most comfortable month of hospitality for the Caucasian race of Europe hence the term.

    In Islam, the most venerable guest is Ramadan. Its visiting time is not restricted to any particular season or Gregorian month. Its arrival in the world may coincide with that of any season. It is therefore a guest of all seasons.

    With Ramadan as a guest, not only the Muslims but the entire humanity is consciously or unconsciously engaged in hospitable activities. Those who cannot fast in it do take advantage of its presence to sell or buy some relevant needs and wants. Thus, there can be no indifference to the awful presence of Ramadan in any part of the world.

    I recall the vivid description given this sacred month in ‘THE MESSAGE’   column sometime ago which is still as relevant now as it was then. It went thus:

    Once every year, something creeps into the world like the early morning light. It moves kaleidoscopically into an arena where the centre becomes its stool. It lifts its veil and beams a focus on the world with an arresting attention in the days. It envelops the nights in a shroud of covenant linking the dream of man with his fulfilment.

     

    Its journey

    No one knows Ramadan’s port of embarkation. No one knows its destination. All we know of it is that of a guest that is so vividly present in our world and yet so invisible. RAMADAN is the name by which it is divinely christened. Its coming is often heralded by a retinue of envoys. The months of ‘Rajab’ and ‘Sha’ban’ are the immediate escorts that alert mankind of its imminent arrival. Like the sun in the midst of stars, Ramadan ascends the throne in full regalia and all other months, (lunar and solar) quickly take their bow.

    Call it the king where other months are chiefs and you will be dead right. Call it the doctor in a world of sick people and you will not be wrong. Call it the compass in the wilderness of straying humanity and you would have spoken the truth. Call it the reformer of human soul; the sterilizer of human spirit as well as the purifier of human body and you will not be disputed. In its entourage are equally invisible ministers like piety, knowledge, truth, justice and peace all of which usher it into the world with splendour.

    Deriving its name from a natural healing phenomenon, this ninth lunar month is truly baking in effect. The word:  Ramadan is derived from the Arabic word ramd (meaning baking). The name had been in existence before the advent of Islamic calendar. It was coined from a baking summer that immediately followed a freezing winter. Ever since, Ramadan’s mission has been to firm up all loose ends in the life of man. And it does that with a touch of perfection.

     

    Its mission

    In Ramadan, the entire month of 30 or 29 days is spent fasting from dawn to dusk. Such fasting is not about abstinence from foods and drinks alone. It is also about self restraint from all sinful acts. More importantly, it is about repackaging one’s destiny through a new but sincere resolution.

    Fasting during this month is believed to figuratively burn away all sins. It was in this glorious month that the revelation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) first began.

    In this month, all gates of paradise, according to the Prophet, are open while those of hell are closed. The first ten days in it are blessings galore for those of the Muslim Ummah who need blessings and seek for them. The next ten days personify forgiveness for those who realize the gravity of their sinful acts, repent on them and resolve never to return to such acts again. Thus, Ramadan is far beyond a month. It is a season.

     

     Its anchor leg

    The last ten days constitute the anchor leg of Ramadan which is meant for the liberation of mankind from the manacles of Satan. Whoever is so liberated automatically becomes like a new born baby arriving in a new world with a tabula rasa (clean slate).

    In these last ten days is a particular night (called Laylatul Qadr) in which the secret of human destiny is encapsulated. It is otherwise known as the ‘Night of power’. Meeting that night consciously and spiritually is like securing the key to one’s own apartment in Paradise. But one needs to remain awake throughout those nights to be fortunate to meet the D night.

    Allah did not disclose even to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which particular night it is. But by asking the Muslims to look for it in the odd nights of the last ten days, the Prophet has helped us tremendously. However, who can be so sure of the odd nights when the issue of sighting the crescent before starting Ramadan remains controversial?

    Also, during the last ten days of Ramadan, some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), do go for Umrah in Makkah or take to I’tikaf (spiritual seclusion) locally, to reaffirm their total submission to Allah. Following this is a session of charity made compulsory for all Muslims irrespective of age, gender and status, to give to the poor and the needy. This is called Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr. It is given in the very early morning of Ramadan Festival Day or the night before it to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the Ummah in a festive mood.

     

    Anticlimax

    The first day of the month of Shawwal immediately after Ramadan is the anticlimax traditionally spent in great celebrations with rejoice and observed as ‘Fast-Breaking Festival’ (Eidul Fitr).

    Where else can one find a guest like Ramadan? Where else can one meet a guest that hosts his supposed host and heals him of ignorance and diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guest” That guest is Ramadan. That is why Muslims often say in this unique month: ‘RAMADAN KARIM’ which means ‘Venerable Ramadan’.

     

    Preparation

    To start or end fasting in Ramadan, sighting of the crescent is just symbolic. The indices of recognizing when to start or end the month are naturally vivid to those who care.

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

    Crescent or no crescent, it is very possible and easy to know when to start Ramadan every year. The confusion often created by the sighting of the crescent is therefore avoidable. If Rajab is 30 or 29 days, no one looks for the crescent before starting Sha’ban. As soon as Rajab ends, Sha’ban starts.

     

    Dynamism

    Islam is a dynamic religion and nothing should be rigid about the sighting of the crescent before starting Ramadan. Sighting the crescent is not the only condition for starting the great month. After all, the new crescent is not necessarily visible to all eyes at any given time in any locality. That is why a few who may be privileged to sight it are implored to invite some others to witness it and then inform the recognized authorities who will in turn, announce the arrival of Ramadan to the Muslim community in the locality or region.

    Besides Faith (Iman) and Hajj (which are the first and last pillars of Islam), nothing else is really globally uniform in practical terms with regards to timing. The variation in the geography of the earth has legitimsed the variation of time in the observance of Salat, Sawm and Zakat. Iman is global because it resides permanently in the hearts of the believers irrespective of their localities. Hajj is equally global because it is performed in only one place at a particular time.

     

    Geographical factor

    Where a gap of about nine to eleven hours exists between one part of the world and another, talking of global uniformity in starting or ending Ramadan can only border on sheer ignorance. For instance it is impossible for the Australian Muslims living in Australia and their South American brethren residing in Brazil or Argentina to start Ramadan on the same day. Even within Nigeria, all Muslims can start Ramadan on the same day, only if they have equal access to information. And even with that, it is not possible for them all to start or end daily fasting at the same time of the day. That is why the announcement or publication of Ramadan timing according to the various localities is necessary.

     

    Universality of Ramadan

    That Ramadan fasting is prescribed as a universal obligation for all Muslims in a particular month is deliberate. Allah who did the prescription is not oblivious of the geographical variations in the world. Neither is He unaware of the possible invisibility of a new crescent to most eyes. The design is to allow for the reverberation of the effect of Ramadan across the world. And time variation in worship or celebration of festivals is not peculiar to Islam. Even in Christianity, neither Easter nor Christmas is globally celebrated in one day. And, there is no media noise about it.

    What is global about Ramadan fasting is the month and not the time. Dawn and dusk vary from locality to locality. It is therefore possible for the Muslims in one part of the world to be breaking their daily fast at a time when their brethren in another part are commencing theirs. Thus, the genuineness or otherwise of Ramadan fasting is not to be judged by man. That is why Allah is reported by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as saying in a sacred Hadith (Hadith-ul-Qudsi) that: “Fasting is mine and I am the One to grant rewards on it.”

    Welcome to the coast of Ramadan. This sacred ‘ship’ must not leave the coast without you on board. Ramadan is like an institution of learning. A good Muslim must not just pass through it he must also allow it to pass through him. Who knows when the last time to witness the month will be?

    RAMADAN KARIM!

     

     Where is Gawat?

    Retrospectively, Tuesday, July 10, 2012 can be described as a shocking day for Nigerian Muslim Ummah. That day, the Nigerian electronic media waves throbbed with a shocking and unbelievable news saying: the popular Islamic programme (e dide e mu sari je) presenter was missing. The waves added that whoever knew his whereabouts or heard any information about him should report to the nearest police station or any other relevant authorities. The breaking news sent jitters to millions and puzzled millions of others. Here was a well known human being and not a chattel. Where and how do you start looking for him?

     

    Action and Rumour

    Brothers and sisters immediately went into action by taking up the matter as a knotty task that must be unravelled. Text messages and phone calls, e-mails and face-book communications began in earnest. In less than one hour after the outbreak of the news the entire world had known of it. And that evidently confirmed the global village created by the modern technology called internet. Thus, the search for ‘a golden fish’ in a turbulent ocean became a task for all and sundry.

    Thereafter, the Nigerian factor set in. Rumours began to fly across boundaries as evil agents added their inputs. First, we heard that Gawat had been found and taken to his family. Then, a devilish rumour came in insinuating that the episode was a complicity in which his wife’s hand was vivid. The evil rumour mongers even had the audacity of sending text messages to me saying that his wife was already in police gulag. I immediately called the innocent woman (Hajiya Fatima Gawat) to inquire about her whereabouts. And when she told me that she was in her husband’s home with her children I heaved a deep sigh of fervent relief. It was one moment of embarrassment at its topmost peak.

     

    Mysterious Puzzle

    It is possible to be dead suddenly by whatever means but the body will be seen and the grave will be a witness. However, in a jungle-like country like Nigeria, it is possible for a prominent person of Gawat’s status to be kidnapped for a ransom by hoodlums and their godfather. But in this case, what is unimaginable and which remains a puzzle is for a person of Gawat’s personality to suddenly disappear so mysteriously within the city of Lagos without any trace.

    And now, all said and done, three years after that agonizing episode, the common question that remains on the lips of all well-meaning people is: ‘where is Gawat? And the answer lies with Allah.

  • Returning to the drawing board

    Returning to the drawing board

    Allah has surely ascertained His servant’s dream with truth; you shall definitely enter the sacred Mosque with the pleasure of Allah and (the hair of) your heads shaven or trimmed; do not entertain any fear as Allah knows what you do not know and He has prepared (for you) better openings for success very soon”. Q.48:27

    Prologue

    In the mood of joy and hope, ‘The Message’ column welcomes all Nigerians with positive minds to a ‘NEW NIGERIA’ as despair and impunity are expected to take a permanent leap from the shores of our dear country as from today by the grace of Allah.

    Preamble

    In a deeply thoughtful poetic stanza, an Arab poet coined some philosophical wordings that have since remained axiomatic by all standards. It was a tutorial for people who can reason and draw the best lesson through the benefit of their reasoning. The stanza read thus in part:

    “We persistently blame our era for implacable calamities afflicting us; whereas indeed the only blame ascribable to our era is actually our own misdemeanour…….”

    Looking retrospectively at the various steps that brought Nigeria to the present level of uncertainty, this column, (The Message) quickly dusted its archive once in search of facts about the wreath of thorns that littered our way to this stage of our common odyssey as a nation. And no document came more handy than a lecture delivered by His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto at Harvard University, in the United States of America on October 3, 2011.

    The title of the 33-page lecture which had once been fully analysed in this column under the topic ‘A voice from Harvard’ was ‘Islam and Peace Building in West Africa’.

    In that 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 according to him is bad governance which engenders corruption, joblessness, poverty, exploitation, suspicion and general bitterness in the land.

    Observation

    Looking at the situation of Nigeria as a nation abundantly blessed with enormous wealth, one will surely find a puzzling irony in the fact that some citizens of such a nation can be paid a paltry sum of N5000 by some agents of Satan to kill innocent people mercilessly and burn their property with impunity as in the case of Boko Haram. Also, the abysmal level of penury and squalor in the land seems to be a sharp contradiction of what Nigeria ought to be as against what she currently is vis a vis her wealth especially as the so-called ruling class lives in extravagant affluence while the masses live in abject poverty.

    The words of elders

    There are many questions on this hopeless situation to which His Eminence’s lecture had proffered solution since 2011. The summary of the lecture is that no smoke can be found where there is no fire. However, while the Federal Government and its agencies focus on the effect of violence, His Eminence believes that it is only by tracing the root cause of our calamities that we can find a permanent solution to them.

    Excerpts from the lecture

    “….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 about 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 a different conclusion. Nigeria may, after all, be a paragon of stability which, as God Almighty has willed, shall undergo all the trials allotted to it early enough in its national history”.

    “But in all fairness, systemic ethno-political and religious crises, like the ones we have been witnessing in recent years, 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 set of problems, the most visible being the Shari’ah Crisis and the First Jos Crisis which led to the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau State”.

    “But these crises, varied as they were, only came to 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, politicians exercise no restraint in aggravating the socio-religious and ethnic cleavages, which characterize 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”.

    Second Dimension

    “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… 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”.

    Third Dimension

    “The third dimension of Nigeria’s ethno-religious crises is their potential to become systematic national crises. 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 him. This often triggers further reprisals in other parts of the country where victims come from. It took a lot of efforts 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”.

    Fourth Dimension

    “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 the damage has been done…”

    Governance

    “….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 bombing of the United Nations Office in Abuja has introduced an international dimension to terrorist’s activities, a development, which was 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…”

    “….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]….

    Duties of NIFAA

    “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 therefore 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.

    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… 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….”

    “….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% 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 its security responsibilities seriously by effectively containing 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 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 specializations 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 US, Iraq, Afghanistan, Norway, Netherlands, the UK 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 shape the fate of humanity….”

    Comment

    For those who can deeply comprehend the above excerpts from His Eminence’s lecture of 2011, there can be no better choice than returning to the drawing board for a permanent solution. In no part of the world has any wound inflicted by sectarian crisis been healed in the contemporary time through the barrels of guns. Nigeria cannot be an exception. The causes of our crises are much more fundamental than their effects. And addressing the effects alone to the exclusion of the causes may be an approach too far from the solution. It is hoped that our new President, Muhammadu Buhari, will take a second look at this article and give its contents positive thoughts and actions to prevent any unnecessary diversion of his government’s attention. God save Nigeria