The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Different strokes

    Different strokes

    By Segun Gbadegesin

    The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down in many respects. Ask grandparents unable to hug their grandchildren. Or parents who have to juggle between working virtually and attending to the study needs of children in virtual classrooms. Or the trauma of lost jobs and the heartache of shuttered businesses.

    On top of all of these are the millions of folks worldwide who have suffered enormous disruptions to their lives as victims and family members, and the physicians who have gone beyond the call of duty to care for them. Furthermore, while we are not used to seeing governments and their agencies as victims, there’s no doubt that this virus caught many, if not all of them, by surprise. And while some strove hard to meet the challenge, others, including some of the rich and powerful, were caught pants down, with enormous consequences for the governed.

    Though, we had prematurely thought of seeing the light at the end of the dark tunnel, the virus has demonstrated its ferocious capacity to do harm with its various mutants, the latest being the Delta variant. When, hopefully, all is over and done with, historians will have plenty to ponder about the global experience of the first part of the present decade. For now, however, we can indulge our curiosity regarding what we have encountered and are still experiencing in real time.

    Read Also: Covid-19 Delta variant: Time to act is now!

    I hope that we all agree that the fact that we are still dealing with the devastating effect of the virus eighteen months on, is because its degree of ferocity has not been robustly matched by either the intervention of governments or the sensible response of the public. But there is no single answer to the question why this is so. There are multiple answers, varying from the tragic consequence of politicization, arrogance of ignorance, misplaced assurance of faith, and the claims of freedom to be unreasonable.

    For a once in a century plague of the magnitude that struck the world in early 2020, we cannot fairly blame any government for lack of adequate preparation. It caught everyone unawares. Whether the virus escaped from a lab in China as the Trump administration alleged is yet to be seen as investigation is still ongoing. If it turns out that it did, then, of course, China would bear enormous responsibility for the global distress it caused.

    Meanwhile, however, we can assign blame for how governments responded subsequent to the virus’s emergence. Did they take it seriously? Did they see it as a ploy by their political opponents to do them in? Did they deploy all resources at their disposal to fight the virus nationally and globally? If not, why not?

    That the former President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, downplayed the virus is no longer news. He admitted as much in his interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward. He downplayed it because he didn’t want people to panic, he claimed. He referred to the virus as nothing more serious than the common flu. Yet, he confessed privately to Woodward that it was exponentially worse than the flu.

    For the better part of the year, Trump engaged in this duplicitous approach for political reasons. He feared that a long lockdown would tank the economy in an election year and he would be blamed and punished by voters. His allies in Congress and his base supported him all the way. In the end he lost, not because the economy tanked, but because voters saw through the dishonesty of the approach.

    To his credit, however, Trump didn’t object to investment in vaccine against the virus. Operation Warp Speed was at his behest, resulting in the historic success of three vaccines at a record time. This feat promised to return the country and the world to normalcy. But even though it was developed under a Republican president, Republicans are disproportionately averse to having a shot of the vaccine than Democrats with Red states won by Trump recording an average of 40% vaccination rate to Blue states’ 93% vaccination rate.

    Without the desired herd immunity that requires 80% vaccination rate nationally, the country has been overrun by the Delta variant and it is not letting up even as political leaders are letting down. From Florida to Texas, Executive Orders have been signed banning mask and vaccination mandates. They argue for personal choice over government mandates.

    Personal choice is certainly preferable to government mandates. This preference is however predicated on people having the requisite information and adequate knowledge for informed decisions about their health. We know, however, that a vast majority of COVID deniers and vaccine resisters are fed with lethal doses of conspiracy theories which have been devastating to their welfare. They are told that COVID is a liberal hoax, that vaccines cause infertility or autism, or that they can change a person’s DNA. It is however one thing to be fooled, it is another thing to fool oneself.

    Not a few had fooled themselves in believing such misinformation because they were too arrogant to seek information before it was too late for them. And Republican leaders in Congress have wasted precious time before they now embarked on corrective vaccine campaign when they saw that their constituencies are dying unnecessarily. The arrogance of ignorance is a terrible life changing disease. That the richest and most powerful country in the world can have such a disproportionate number of ignorant folks who are egged on by media pundits who know a lot better is mind boggling.

    The misplaced assurance of faith is even more disturbing since the beginner and finisher of, for example, the Christian Faith himself had set the example of not tempting God when he sent Satan packing. Yet some pastors play God. One in Tennessee even threatened to throw out any of his congregants wearing mask in the sanctuary just as he objected to vaccines as a liberal scam. This is a state where the virus has become so deadly that even Republican leaders are urging vaccination, and he had lost some of his members to the virus. What else could go wrong!

    In our own corner of the world, there is a combination of ignorance and misplaced assurance of faith. While we thankfully have a government that has placed its trust in science, and a media which takes seriously its responsibility to inform, there is a sizable amount of misinformation coming from the realm of faith.

    Not all Christian priests or Muslim clerics distrust science. But quite a fair number of evangelicals boldly but falsely assured their congregants of the potency of their touch to heal the disease. Now that Delta has penetrated the land, and all precautions appeared to have been thrown to the wind, and we don’t have access to vaccines that the rich nations control, what is our expectation?

    Finally, there is quite a bunch who don’t profess any faith in God but are quite assertive and proud of their freedom, even it is freedom to be unreasonable. Surely, liberals place a high premium on individual freedom. But it is freedom with a high sense of responsibility. Thus, no one has a right to falsely shout fire in a crowded movie theater. And no one has the freedom to cause harm to others. But this is what we should expect from freedom claimants who refuse masking or vaccination and go about infecting others with deadly virus.

    Back to our clime where we don’t have the luxury of available vaccines. What should be our attitude to the escalating incidence of the virus? The elders advise the motherless to avoid back injury. That is because without a mother, they don’t have the certainty of nursing a back wound. That is our situation. With no adequate hospital facilities, with a dearth of medical professionals, and knowing well that rich nations would rather keep their surplus vaccines for their reluctant citizens, shouldn’t we wisely embrace preventive measures? Why do we go about as if there is no fire on our roof? Why tempt God? Why allow the hateful prediction of bodies on African streets to become self-fulfilling? It’s hard to comprehend!

     

  • Happy New Year Femi

    Happy New Year Femi

    FEMI ABBAS

     

    The appearance of the  title of today’s article  (HAPPY NEW YEAR) in this column once in a year often looks strange and even sounds odd to most Nigerian readers because it does not come in January.  In Nigeria, like in most other African countries south of the Sahara, the idea of ‘New Year’ is ignorantly believed to be peculiar to January which is the first month of Christian Gregorian calendar. That is the effect of colonial scar on the smooth body of the African continent.

    From whichever angle it is viewed, European colonialism has a thick Christian colouration that still portrays African culture in a rainbow of colonial Christian religion and tradition.

     

    Public Holidays in Nigeria

    It is a well known fact that out of the 109 days of official religious holidays in Nigeria today, Islamic religion enjoys only five  days as public holidays (two days for Eidul-Fitr, two days for Eidul-Adha and one day for Mawlidun-Nabiyy). The remaining 104 days are for Christianity.

    At least, it is undisputable that in every one of the 52 weeks in a year, two days (Saturday and Sunday) are conceded to Christianity as religious holidays. From the colonial era until 1972, the official religious holidays in Nigeria did not exceed 57 days. It was in 1972 that General Yakubu Gowon, the then Christian military Head of State, dashed every Saturday of the year to the Seventh day Adventist Christian denomination, with fiat, as a worship day. The total population of that denomination, in that year, was just about 700,000 out of Nigeria’s population of 58.67 million people.

    Yet, when the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), was formed four year later (1976), it maliciously and irritatingly began to sing a sour song of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria with loud voice especially whenever a Muslim assumes office as President.

    Even at the State level, the monotonously sour song of ‘Islamization’ often gets loudest whenever a Muslim is elected as Governor. And, the hatchet job is invariably done by the Christian dominated media. Incidentally, this media irredentism originates mostly from the Southwest of the country where the main hub of Nigeria’s media Islamophobia is based, despite the semographic majority of the Muslims in that part of the country.

     

    Why this Article?

    The event that motivated the publishing of this article today will come up at the Liberty stadium, Ibadan, this coming Sunday in sha’Allah. That event is the celebration of 1443 Hijrah day, which often comes up on the first day of Muharram,  the first month of Islamic year of Hijrah calendar. That is an occasion that is yearly celebrated by over one billion Muslims around the world, in commemoration of Prophet Muhammad’s triumphant entry into the city of Madinah as the climax of his emigration from Makkah, for safety, following a plot to kill him in his birth place by the pagans of that city, in 622 CE.

    The celebration of that event has been on course for almost one and a half millennia.

     

    NACOMYO’s Frontline Role

    Thus, with the beginning of 1443rd  Hijrah year, the National Council of Muslim Youth Organization (NACOMY) will be celebrating the victorious day on Sunday. This is without minding the cancelation of that public holiday in Oyo State, for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) by the Chrtistian Governor of the State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, who is vigorously championing a crusade against Islam in the State. It is however necessary here to remember the immediate past Governor of the State, the late Senator Ishaq Abiola Ajimobi who graciously granted Hijrah holiday officially on the principle of fairness and equity. We pray the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss. Amin!

     

    Implication

    In a country like Nigeria, celebration of new Hijrah year is like a coin with two sides. Any deformed face of one side on that coin can neither debase the coin nor render it invalid.

    While the celebration of this festival brings victorious joy to Muslims, it ironically attracts sadness to the antagonists of Islam. But unknown to those sadists,, Islam is like the Sun which aids the ventilation of oxygin to all living organisms and photosynthesizes all plants in the environment. Any blind person may claim not to recognize the existence of the Sun because of his/her inability to see it. But such a person cannot deny its burning effect on his/her head whenever it fully bulges out of the orbit.

    Besides, any sincere observer will notice that this divine religion called Islam is like a train. The barking at it by over one trillion dogs can never halt its unstoppable surge.

     

    The Fastest growing Religion

    Despite all odds, intrigues, blackmail and evil machinations being constantly and surreptitiously erected on its way, by its antagonists, Islam continues to wax stronger even as it remains the fastest growing religion in the world today. Alhamdu Lillah!

     

    Colonial Rule

    Throughout the 99 years of the British colonial rule in Nigeria (1861-1960), the Southern Muslims were never granted any public holiday to celebrate their festivals. It took Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to address that malicious injustice by granting religious holidays officially to Islamic festivals at national level after independence in 1960. Hitherto, the recognized religious festivals that were granted public holidays by the British colonialists and their immediate Nigerian successors in the Southern part of the country were Easter, Christmas and the so-called New Year. That was in addition to the weekly holiday every Sunday.

     

    Islamic Education

    It takes well- educated Muslims to understand the facts stated here and relate them to their religious lives. It is such education that prompted the former Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola to be the first Nigerian Governor to declare a public holiday for new Islamic year in Osun State in 2013.

    That historic declaration by Ogbeni Aregbesola was not only an exhibition of sound Islamic understanding and civility on his part, it was also a clear evidence of dispensation of justice which had for long, been denied to Nigerian Muslims in that State despite their demographic majority. And, was he not frontally attacked and called all sorts of names in the Southwest media for declaring that holiday? That is Nigeria for you as far as religion is concerned.

     

    Islamic Calendar

    Islam has its own calendar called Hijrah calendar. And, like in other calendars of the world, there is a beginning and an end for every Islamic year which consists of 12 months. However, unlike those other calendars, the Islamic calendar, otherwise known as Hijrah calendar, is divinely ordained because it originated from the Almighty Allah who created the universe and sustains it. This is confirmed in chapter 9, verse 36 of the Qur’an as follows: “Surely, the number of months ordained by Allah when He created the heavens and the earth is twelve. Therefore, do not wrong yourselves in them….”.

    That verse is also a confirmation   of Islam as Allah’s divine religion.

     

    Significance of Hijrah Calendar

    The first day of the Hijrah month (1st of Muharram) is one of the most significant days in Islam. Without ‘the great Message of Islam’ Prophet Muhammad (SAW) would not had had any cause to migrate from Makkah to Madinah.

    It was that Great Message that compelled him to migrate to Madinah for safety, an incident which eventually paved the way for him to become the greatest man that ever lived.

     

    Benefits of Hijrah Calendar

    Basically, the Prophet’s migration (Hijrah) from Makkah to Madinah, institutionalized three important aspects of Muslim lives in that city. These are social, economic and political aspects of life. When the Qur’anic revelations started coming to the Prophet (SAW), in Makkah, in 610 CE, he devoted a period of twelve (12) years to the incubation of the principles of Islam and their implimentations in the minds of believers at a time when no pattern of a collective life, based on any true religious concept, could be presented to the world. As a result, the status of the individual Muslims in Makkah at that time gave rise to the misconception that Islam, or rather, believing in the mission of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a personal affair which concerned only the Hereafter and had nothing to do with people’s collective life in the present world.

     

    Social Effect

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

     

    Note

    Further details about Hijrah calendar will be published in this column in a foreseeable future in sha’Allah.

     

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  • Between biology and ideology

    Between biology and ideology

    By Segun Gbadegesin

    A few months ago on this page, I ruminated on the tension between the ideal and the reality in politics, with a focus on Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s theoretical insights and practical agency. In particular, I noted that Awolowo viewed the purpose of politics as the pursuit of the common good and worked his heart out to deliver for the masses. The reality, however, was that many of his colleagues, even in his own part of the country, thought differently. For them, politics was about promoting self-interest.

    Today, however, I am attracted to another pair of concepts that appear to have been dominant, albeit disproportionately, in our political experience. And it is also quite interesting that Awolowo’s theoretical insights are also extremely helpful in understanding the tension between biology and ideology in our political experience since the beginning of the republic. For one thing, as we shall see, the tension between biology and ideology also mirrors the tension between reality and principle.

    In the March 2021 piece, I made reference to Awolowo’s submission in The People’s Republic on the historical origin of the state: ” …in Nigeria, and in most parts of Africa, it is the paterfamilias, sometimes advised and assisted by the materfamilias and other adult members of the family, that keeps the reins of the family in his firm control. He it is who, having regard to the common interests of the family, lays down the rules by which the conduct of the members of the family will be governed, adjudicates all disputes among them, and punishes any offender.” (p.76)

    Awolowo goes on to explain how this arrangement works for the common interest of the family members. However, he also notes that with time, the explosion of different family units led to competition for resources and thus clashes between family units, thereby requiring cooperation among family units to avoid a war of all against all. However, even, with such essential contract to cooperate, every family unity will still seek to retain certain rights for the protection of their family members in the larger unit of cooperation:

    “…the contracting families or aggregation of families would rule out the possibility of each of them being a law unto itself within the union; but would ensure equality among them, and the preservation of the rights and freedoms which the members of the different families had hitherto enjoyed.” (p.82)

    This historical reality which Awolowo depicts so vividly no doubt privileges biology as the dominant factor in the founding of the state and in the direction of its affairs even as it acknowledges that no particular state is composed of a single biological unit. The expectation of the model is that each family or biological unit will insist on equality of rights and duties.

    But we are also aware of a competing paradigm. On this model, which social contact theorists defend, it is individuals, not families, that come together to form the state. And it is common interest rather than biology that brings them together as members of a political community, and defines their statehood status. Such interests include, for instance, security of life and property, economic advancement, and education. And since there are likely to be various approaches to securing these interests, we may expect divergent views and, therefore, the formation of groups coalescing around different ideas. Such is the foundation of ideologically oriented political parties.

    Note that Awolowo’s nod to the historical and biological trajectory of state formation does not constrain or restrict him to a biological justification or explanation of state functions and procedures. One could be realistic about the origin of the state without committing to the perpetuation of biology in its composition or justification. So, Awolowo would definitely agree with Ernst Renan’s observation that while biology may be desirable it does not compel, a standard defence of multiethnic or multinational states.

    Now, the question that interests me here is how faithful we are to that defence. We are quick to defend multi-ethnicity and multi-nationality by appealing to the common interests of individual citizens and the need for inter-ethnic and inter-nationality cooperation and harmonious approach to issues. But how truthful and faithful are we to that creed?

    Consider the treatment that Awolowo received from his contemporaries on account of his core ideas and theories. First, his theory led him to the requirement of federalism as the adequate constitutional principle for a multi ethnic and multinational state like Nigeria. This was consistent with his historical account which privileges ethnic, biological, and cultural units in the composition of the state. He was attacked by some of his contemporaries as an ethnic bigot. Of course, he was right, and they eventually came to the same realization that he meant well.

    Second, Awolowo founded the Action Group as a political party based on the ideology of welfare liberalism which he and his cabinet pursued in the Western Region. With the visible success of the party’s programs in the West, including a successful public education program, he sought unsuccessfully to extend the ideology of welfare liberalism to the federal level by contesting for the office of the Prime Minister in 1959. Instead, he became the Leader of Opposition. Soon, however, some leading members of his own party, prioritizing primordial interests, and afraid of being left behind in the sharing of the national cake at the center, rebelled against his leadership. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

    Now, that tension that surfaced in the early years of the First Republic has continued to date. We do not now have clearly defined ideological parties. But let us agree that at least the All Progressives Congress claims to be one with its progressive mantra. As I reminded us last week, however, a progressive party must be known to be for certain core principles that it pursues in practice. As in the Awolowo era, these must include qualitative and free public education, good healthcare, infrastructure, poverty reduction, gender equality and good governance structures.

    But if you focus on the debates and voting patterns in the National Assembly, and you are a keen observer of political groupings and resolutions of governors based on geographical regions, you would be hard pressed to see an ideological commonality. Recent voting patterns in the NASS show Northern members voting in solidarity and Southern members voting in unison. We have always had zonal meetings of governors sharing common interests pertaining to their zones. Now, however, we have inter-zonal meetings of Northern governors and inter-zonal meetings of Southern governors. Biology and geography, not ideology, now rule.

    Where will this lead us? We are hypocritically disdainful of ethnic politics as we shoot verbal arrows at “ethnic bigots.” At the same time, however, we are visibly and demonstrably playing ethnic politics. From the highest office in the land to the lowest, biology is implicated in our approach to national issues. But we use our bully pulpits to mouth platitudes about national interest when the interest that matters to us is primordial.

    Perhaps this is inevitable. In a context where inequality of access still predominates, where scarcity of resources is the reality, where what one group gains is lost to another, competition for resources is bound to be fierce and every paterfamilias and materfamilias committed to the interests of their own will not be moved by ideological purities that negate their interests. What this requires is a formula for equitable distribution of resources and/or access to positions. An example is the Federal Character principle which we have simply just jettisoned.

    The Igbohos and Kanus of this world are at least honest about their beliefs and desires in pursuit of ethnic-nationality interests. Also, neither of them is an elected official or appointed cabinet member with a mandate to protect the constitution! In spite of their ordeals, and to their credit, they have exposed our hypocrisy to our face and it hurts. If it does, maybe we should change course and prioritize ideology that cuts across ethnic and sectarian boundaries, which sees every citizen as a subject of inviolable rights, including liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Hopefully, it is not too late.

     

  • Practising progress

    Practising progress

    By Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Today’s piece first appeared here in 2014, the last of a trio welcoming the creation of the All Progressives Congress. The first two parts were titled “Imagining progress” and “Thinking progress”. Seven years on, here’s a reminder of the possibilities that we dreamed of and the progressive governance that we envisaged.

    The purpose of governance, its raison d’etre is first and foremost the security of the lives and property of citizens. Next in the order of importance is the enhancement of their freedom and liberty; and finally, there is the welfare function of promoting equal opportunities and happiness for all.

    In these areas to which a purposive government is required to pay attention and work effectively, Nigerians have been shortchanged in the last fifteen years. Surely, some very important personalities have fared a lot better than the majority of ordinary citizens. Some others have taken advantage of and exploited the atmosphere of lawlessness and gross indiscipline to make way for their interests. Those at the short end of the stick of insecurity and unfreedom are the hoi polloi of society; the helpless and hapless masses that a progressive government cannot ignore.

    The starting point is the understanding that if an enabling environment is provided for them, our people are resourceful and ingenious. This is why the present syndrome of dependency is distressing because it misrepresents who we are as a people. It’s doubly sad that the syndrome is encouraged, indeed canvassed, by politicians who should know better. The syndrome is at the institutional and individual levels, with states dependent on the federal government, while individuals are dependent on both state and federal governments.

    Where does a progressive government begin? What practical actions must it take to procure for the people the goods of security, freedom, equal opportunity and happiness? If security is a foremost item in the contract between the governed and the government, how does the latter deliver on its side of the contract?

    No citizen, including those that find themselves in the highest echelon of leadership, can sincerely negate the verdict that Nigeria has been playing an unfair game with the lives of its citizens for many decades. We tend to blame colonialism for everything even more than half a century after independence. But I am not sure that we saw our current level of insecurity in our colonial past. At least I have not come across a documented record of the loss of more than two hundred innocent school girls to terrorists between 1900 and 1960. That is not to diminish the evil that colonialism represented. It’s simply to observe that while we have it in our power to make progress in the matter of the security of the lives and properties of citizens, we chose to retrogress.

    Progress requires that we move with the times. In the matter of crime prevention and detection, to move with the time is to dismantle the anachronistic system of policing that has proved embarrassingly ineffectual. Before 1966, the crime bursting function of the police was adversely impacted by the politicization of the force. Party leaders, government officials, and traditional rulers abused their positions of authority and used the police against their political enemies.

    The military took this aberration as the norm and, since it is unacceptable in a civilized society, the reaction of the armed forces was to centralize the police ostensibly to avoid the evils of politicization and abuse. This would be a valid argument and a logically sound approach if the new system was an effective and better alternative. But it wasn’t and it still isn’t. Politicization is still the bane of the Nigeria Police. Ask Governor Amaechi and ordinary citizens who crossed the path of officer Mbu.

    A progressive government in a federal system will seek the benefit of community and municipal policing as practiced in the United States. It is baffling to common sense that we consider the American constitution ideal for our situation but judge ourselves immature relative to its approach to law and order.

    Assume, however, that immaturity truly describes our condition. A progressive government will lead the inquiry into why this malaise is our lot and design a plan of action to confront it. We came out of colonial rule as a dehumanized lot. It required the foresight of one of the visionaries of our time to proffer a solution with his insistence that human capital development was the indispensable key to the development of a nation.

    Chief Awolowo introduced the first universal free primary education system in the nation. Other regions soon followed. Those who still engage in disparaging and badmouthing that singular achievement cannot truthfully identify what else was responsible for the advancement of the region in the late fifties and up to the early eighties when there began a deliberate policy of reversal supervised by the military.

    The regional governments of the 1st Republic, in spite of their known deficiencies, ensured that government was responsible to the people. Members of the various regional Houses had their regular jobs for which they were accountable. My first employer in 1961 was Chief I. A. Adelodun, a school Headmaster who was also an elected member of the Western House of Assembly. I just got out of Secondary Modern School. As the Headmaster, he also had his own class, and since his membership of the House affected his ability to regularly attend to his teaching responsibilities, he hired me to teach his class and he paid me from his pocket. No, he had no special constituency allowance. He was paid as a member of the house. It was his sense of responsibility that led him to do the right thing.

    An educated citizenry is a vital bulwark against an uncaring and contemptuous government, the kind that we have been forced to endure in the last fifteen years. Without a good education, a citizen is at the mercy of those who see him or her as dispensable and exploitable. Ignorant of their rights and ill-equipped for decent jobs, the uneducated become puns on the chessboard of the powerful and wicked. A human being with a good education doesn’t volunteer to become the thug of another. And a caring and compassionate politician with a sense of justice and fairness must feel the pinch of conscience when he or she exploits and takes undue advantage of fellow human beings.

    For the foregoing reasons of ethics and social responsibility, a progressive government must initiate a complete reform of our system of public education. Private institutions are not a morally justifiable substitute for public education. Besides the fact that proprietors of private institutions are generally motivated by private profit, a nation that cedes the education of its citizens to private enterprise cannot complain if those citizens end up without a sense of common nationality or patriotic citizenship. A situation in which every other living room has been turned into a private school is an indication of national decline. A party that identifies as progressive and a government that represents it must lead the charge against this embarrassing decline.

    The ever-present obstacle to national advancement that a progressive government must confront head-on is the hydra-headed monster of corruption. A major failure of the present administration is its evident shameless rapport with corruption. It appears content with a comatose EFCC and accusation of corruption is a badge of honor which qualifies individuals for leadership of presidential initiatives. Private jets and helicopters deliver campaign dollars to supporters while deals are made with rulers of dark places.

    A serious progressive government will confront corruption at its root. It will make the center less attractive and make government accountable to the people. In doing so, it will create the possibility of its own weakness. But, indeed, that is the virtue and strength of progressivism. As a progressive party, the APC must enter into a binding contract with Nigeria to eradicate corruption, invest in the education of the young, create an enabling environment that fosters job creation and entrepreneurship, and restore the confidence of citizens in the nation without abetting religious fanaticism and ethnic jingoism.

    Well, there’s no crime in dreaming!

     

  • Another festival in despair

    Another festival in despair

    By Femi Abbas

     

    Monologue

    Last Tuesday,  July 20, 2021, was Eidul-Adha day of year 1442 AH throughout the world. The Arabic word Eid means is a festival of joy and festivities in Islam which reminds the religious ancestry of Prophet Ibrahim’s faith with reconfirmation.

    It is the anticlimax of the last pillar of Islam called Hajj. EidulAdha was first observed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Makkah shortly after he was divinely ordained as a Messenger of Allah.

     

    Preamble

    Were it possible for the dead to wake up from their graves at will, Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), the great son of Prophet Ya‘qub (Jacob), would have resurrected in Nigeria at the request of millions of hungry Nigerians. And, his mission would have been the interpretation of a dream similar to that of a Pharaoh of some millennia ago, which saved Egypt of yore from the scourge of a looming famine.

    But alas, the absence of a Yusuf on the surface of the earth today has rendered the possibility of any solution to such a dream in this country hopeless. Despite unlimited human and material resources with which    this so called ‘Giant of Africa’, is endowed, most of her citizens continue to grapple helplessly with a jaundiced economy like a centipede crawling sorrowfully into a brook of uncertainty through the path of ashes. When will this perennial debacle come to an end for a people who are eagerly waiting to hand over the baton of the present to the generations of the future?

     

    No Festivities

    While Muslims, all over the world, are supposed to be celebrating ‘Eidul-Adha’ with joy, in festivities, overwhelming majority of Nigerian Muslims are celebrating this same festival with a combination of hunger, fear and despair. At the instance of unbridled avarice and aggrandizement of a few privileged Nigerians who are in government, the ingredients of festivities for majority of Muslims have been tacitly banished in this country. Thus, many Muslims are celebrating this year’s ‘Eidul-Adha’ in despair as usual.

    This iron period in which consistent promise of eliminating corruption, rampancy of banditry and terrorism on the one hand and the scourge of hunger, starvation and abject poverty on the other, seems to be a coded omen in which a pleasant dream of the past is rapidly culminating in a painful nightmare. That is an indicator of indefinite despair for a hapless country.

     

    Nostalgia

    Generally, today, there is nostalgia in the land, not only for the days of oil boom when life was relatively comfortable for all and sundry, but also for the era of abundant farm products when the thought of feeding without hardship was taken for granted by most citizens. Nigerian Muslims and non-Muslims alike are, today, yearning for the return of those days when wives could confidently ask their husbands for festival gifts and children could demand for new dresses, shoes and wrist watches from their parents. Those were the days when festival seasons were really festive and the graph of marriage carried some indices of value. They were the days of friendliness among neighbours, sincere wishes among colleagues, mutual confidence among spouses as well as general peace and tranquility in the society.

    Now, those days are not only gone but seem to have gone forever.

     

    A Couplet of Warning

    Today, we are in a situation against which we had long been warned in a couplet rendered by an Arab poet who was quoting two disciples of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) i. e. Ubayyi Bn Ka’b and Abdullah Bn Mas’ud. The Couplet goes thus:

    “This is the period in human life against which we had been warned through the admonitions of Ubayyi Bn Ka‘ab and Abdullah Bn Mas‘ud; it is in this period, as had been foretold, that a rejection of truth in its totality would become manifest while falsehood, corruption and betrayal of trust would be held aloft; should this period linger beyond now with its woes and tribulations, the world may soon assume a situation where people will neither rejoice over the birth of  new babies nor grieve over the demise of close relatives”.

     

    Probing Questions

    As Nigeria is fast becoming a dramatic entity mysteriously shrouded in coded parables, it may take an unprecedented revolution to dislodge some Nigerian economic vampires who are fund of subjecting the citizenry to that to irredeemable penury. Ordinarily, in normal circumstances, a forward-looking country would have encouraged her citizens to ask some probing questions thus:

    Who are we? Where are we coming from? And where are we going from here? Those are some of the probing   questions which all rational human beings should normally ask themselves randomly as a means of paving the way for progress.

    But such questions have been rendered irrelevant in Nigeria because the circumstances of life in this country have changed the priorities of the ordinary citizens. The only question now in vogue, which virtually everybody in government seems to be asking incessantly, is as follows: ‘what personal benefit will I derive from this office?

    That very question is the real drama that permanently engages the attention of Nigerian civil servants, the politicians, the legislators, the law enforcement agents and the judicial officers, in their quest for wealth through fraudulent means. It also is the question that robes Nigerian Police in a garment of open shamelessness with a banished conscience. It is the question that crowns money as a demigod which forbids human feeling. It is the question that fosters greed and fetters Nigeria, as a country, to the stake of endemic corruption. It is the question that presents mirage to Nigerians as the only valuable substance worthy of pursuit.

     

    The Reality

    What can we say of a man who fixes his eyes on the sun but does not see it? Instead, he sees a chorus of flaming seraphim announcing a paroxysm of despair. That is the parable of the country called Nigeria. Like the Israelis of Moses’ time, Nigerians have become gypsies wandering aimlessly and wallowing in abject poverty in the midst of abundance. What else do we expect from Allah beyond the invaluable bounties with which He has blessed us?

    Nigeria is not lacking in forest and arable savannah. She is rich in rivers, mineral resources and promixing mountains, all of which are great sources of wealth for people who are seeking reasonable comfort without self-deception. What this country lacks is a class of responsible and patriotic leaders who can sincerely highlight her priorities according to the yearnings of the ordinary people. That food has now become a threat to Nigerians is an irony emanating from naivety engendered by massive corruption entrenched on her soil especially since 1999 when the current democracy first beamed a ray of hope on the people but which was turned into a forlorn by the politicians.

     

    Cost of governance

    In Nigeria today, the cost of running the government alone is enough to render the country bankrupt. The retinue of federal ministers and a galaxy of Presidential and gubernatorial Advisers as well as the unlimited salaries and allowances for the legislators are the real causes of poverty in the country. Even America, with her huge economic resources, large population and financial wherewithal, does not live in such reckless opulence. Why must we have separate ministers or Commissioners for agriculture and water resources? Where are the federal and State government’s farms to justify that? Why must we retain an obnoxious immunity clause in our constitution for certain political demagogues to facilitate monumental corruption?

    Besides al these, what informs the idea of the so-called constituency allowances running into billions of naira for our legislators without anything to show for it at a time when innocent women and children are crying for food and dying of hunger? No one would have thought, in 1999, that artificial hunger could be added to the abysmal level of poverty in Nigeria despite the unprecedented rise in price of oil in the international market at that time. The ubiquity of beggars and lunatics in our cities and towns nowadays is a confirmation of this assertion.

    Style of Governance

    Governance in Nigeria has become an artful trick adopted by a vicious political cabal to bamboozle the populace into blind submission.

    Now, despite the undeniable fact that Nigeria has become a country without roads, without electricity, without functional without jobs for majority of able-bodied citizens and even without food on our tables, we are still being cajoled into believing that Nigeria, a country without coins, has a frontline role to play in the global economy. Isn’t that a deliberate and audacious deception? No country in history has ever been known to have achieved economic vibrancy by magic. Nigeria cannot be an exception.

    A fire-brigade approach to food crisis in a country like Nigeria is a shameful reaction to an avoidable melancholy.

     

    Egyptian Experience

    Yusuf (Joseph), the son of Ya’qub (Jacob), did not know that he could have any solution to a fundamental problem of a country other than his own. Neither did his brothers who sold him into slavery know that he could find solution to a major problem in another land. But the accident of history never ceases to play itself out. Without Yusuf, only Allah knows what the history of Egypt would have been today. And without a Pharaoh’s dream of drought, the story of Yusuf would have been totally different from what we came to know of it.

    If Egypt had any major plight when Yusuf was in prison in that country, it was Pharaoh’s dream. It turned out that Yusuf’s imprisonment in Egypt was a blessing, not only for Egypt but also for Yusuf and his family. What could have been a historical repetition of that episode here in Nigeria, turned out to be a regrettable forlorn. The rest is left to history.

     

    Irony

    It is ironic that people who live at the river bank can’t get water to drink when those living in the desert can find a reliable oasis to combat any drought. Given all the resources with which we are endowed, Nigerians should have no business with poverty let alone food crisis.

     

    Effect of Capitalism

    Capitalism which was once an economic ideology propelling mercantilism has moved a step forward, especially in Nigeria where official theft has become a profession. Capitalism is now a religion through which its adherents worship money. To such adherents, accountability is a mere riddle which only the poor may wish to unravel.

    It is only in the interest of those in government, especially, those in the executive and legislative arms, who are most active in sharing public funds, to let the national wealth spread across board legitimately if only to avoid the current Nigerian elite situation where every house has become a prison in which the occupants are voluntarily self-jailed. To ignore the rule of law and shun justice in a land blessed with milk and honey is to cultivate trouble with insecurity in all its ramifications. “Allah will not change the situation of a community until the people in such a community change their evil attitude”. Q. 13;1

    Although this year’s Eidul Adha has come and gone, nevertheless, the expression of gratitude to Allah continues by sayinh EID MUBARAK!

  • The world without the Qur’an

    The world without the Qur’an

    By Femi Abbas

    ”Do you not see how Allah has set forth a parable of a meaningful ‘WORD’   like a fruitful tree which roots are firmly planted in the fertile yoke of the earth while its lofty stem carries its sprouting foliages magnificently into the firmament of the sky, yielding nourishing fruits every season by Allah’s grace? Allah speaks in parables to men (of reason) that they may constantly ponder over His uniqueness and be mindful (of His unquestionable ability to do whatever He wishes)“ (Q. 14: 24).

     

    Monologue

    It is rather ironic that even in this age of sophisticated technology and evidential knowledge, some people, including ignorant Muslims, still perceive Islam as a mere dogma, like some other religions, in which stories, rituals and superstitions thrive. This is quite far from the reality of the unique comprehensiveness of the divine religion called ISLAM. Such people do not even take into consideration, the unprecedentedly massive empowerment and inexhaustible market of buying and selling, for billions of people, which this great religion has provided for mankind. Without Islam, what would have happened to the lives of those billions in terms of economy and social life? Just as there could not have been anything called Islam without the Qur’an, so could not have been anything called harmony without Islam in the contemporary world.

    It is not surprising, however, that such parochial people are still in existence even in the 21st century. After all, it takes only people with functional eyes to perceive the light from the dungeon of darkness. This further confirms that ignorance is a chronic disease which only knowledge can heal permanently in man.

     

    Allah’s guidance

    Since the creation of Adam, man has continuously enjoyed the guidance of Allah in one form or another, through the divinely appointed Messengers that have been sent to various societies with various tongues. It is through those divinely revealed Books that the deeply dark world of man came to be illuminated for mankind. In those Books, particularly the Qur’an, parables are used with references drawn from the past, while warnings, as well as admonitions, are divinely issued with practical lessons, such as the great deluge, the cataclysm of Sodom and Gomorrah, the defeat of Jalut (Goliath) by Prophet Daud (David), the doom of the tyrannical Pharaoh, and, most recently, the waterloo of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the vanquish of Adolf Hitler of Germany. All these have come to man as lessons by which he can re-assess and reform himself.

    All these and many other similar occurrences are mentioned by Allah, to remind mankind of their mortality and to serve as the guidance in his ephemeral life’s odyssey. But, unfortunately, man has always been blind to that genuine, divine guidance. Consequently, he has been deaf to warnings and resistant to reasoning as much as he is insensitive to rightly guided thoughts even while he remains inflexible to blissful ideas. Thus, in his choice to form freemasonry with the custodian of ruins and deception called Satan, man has ignorantly strayed into a quagmire of irredeemable sorrow through the millennia. Today, as in the past, by taking Satan for his best friend, man refuses to use the long spoon with which he is provided by Allah, to dine with the damned Lucifer. This was the situation until 610 CE when Allah decided to chronicle the activities of man from the very beginning of human existence and make it an eternally concrete ‘MIRROR’ through which the descendants of Adam can continue to see life in its past, its present and its near and far future. This ‘MIRROR’ is the Qur’an, the visionary anecdote that heals man’s blindness, the sanitizer that purifies human hearts and the greatest treasure in possession of mankind.

     

    Features of the quaran

    For the rightly guided minds, Qur’an is the eye with which to see, the ear with which to hear, the sense with which to reason, the bridge with which to cross the dangerous valleys of life, the insurance against any satanic damnation and the passport with which to obtain the valid visa to salvation. Indeed, the Qur’an is the only reliable redeemer of man from the shackles of this ephemeral world.

    This sacred Book called the Qur’an leaves no aspect of life untouched. It leaves no privacy unprotected and no secret unexposed. This wonderful Book is the repository of problems and solutions; history and lessons; crimes and penalties; justice and righteousness; discipline and rule of law; courage and truth; friendship and trust; governance and policies; victory and magnanimity; marriage and divorce; widowhood and orphanage; childhood and inheritance; richness and poverty; politics and economy; reasoning and opinion; facts and figures; darkness and light; life and death war and peace; leadership and power; Angels and man; heavens and the earth. All these and many other matters form the subjects of discussions and guidance in the ‘Divine Diary of Life called ‘Al- Qur’an’.

    For people on the right path, therefore, life begins and ends with the Qur’an, Allah’s own tradition and the only authentic fountain from which man can draw wisdom with which to solve any problem. The sense that reasons with the Qur’an makes no mistake. The mind that thinks with the Qur’an is never bedevilled. The eye that sees with the Qur’an incurs no sore. The tongue that talks with the Qur’an never stammers. The power that rules with the Qur’an never falls. And, the Almighty Allah warns in the Qur’an thus: “But whosoever deviates from My tradition, verily for him/her is life of subjugation and We shall raise him blind on the Day of Judgment” (Q. 20: 124).

     

    Proof of qur’anic revelations

    Some religious charlatans who perceive Islam through the conducts of malfeasant Muslims and see that   sacred path of Allah as a dogma continue to ask for the proof of the genuineness of Qur’anic revelation as if other revelations before it do not require proof. In reason and logic, asking for the proof of the Qur’an is like asking the sun to prove the vividness of its rays. Can anybody reasonably ask for the proof of the hair growing on his head? It is the nature and character of unbelievers to deny the truth and refute the manifest. But does it ever bother the sun in any way that some blind men or women deny the well being of its rays? Or can a brook be affected in any way if some herds boycott its water?

    To Muslims who deeply understand the tenets of Islam, all the genuine Prophets and Messengers of Allah are from Allah and all the revealed ‘BOOKS’ are series of the same ‘MESSAGE’. This fact has been firmly established in the Qur’an and that is why Muslims are not known for maligning any Prophet or revealed ‘BOOK’.

    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 acknowledge such proof. Qur’an itself is the proof of all other celestial messages that preceded it. It is the only divine revelation which has no human interference or human tampering. Neither Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that ‘MESSAGE’ to mankind nor any of his companion had a say in it. It contains no chapters or verses according to anybody. And it is the only divine Book that is easily memorisable despite its voluminous contents. No other acclaimed Book has ever or can be memorised word by word like the Qur’an. That alone is a clear attestation to its sacredness as a revealed Book.

     

    The similitude of the qur’an

    The Qur’an is like gold, the value of which everybody seeks directly or indirectly because of its immeasurable quality but which only a few can recognize in its raw form. It takes geologists to identify the soil in which gold is buried. It takes miners to mine it out just as it takes smelters to smelt it before the goldsmith can transform it into a beautiful ornament. In the same manner, it takes categories of pious intellectuals to pursue the recitation, exposition and interpretation of the Qur’an to a loftily appreciable level.

     

    Language of the qur’an

    That the Qur’an is the only revealed ‘BOOK’ in the world today which retains the originality of its language and contents for about 1500 years so far, is enough a testimony to the proof of its divine origin. That also confirms Arabic as one of the oldest languages in the world today.

    If the proof of the Qur’an is not seen in the social, economic and political context of its exegeses, it must be seen in its scientific hypotheses through which Europe came in contact with civilization. It is from those hypotheses that the modern world zoomed into technological advancement through the adoption of ‘Al-Jibrau (called Algebra), Al-Kaymiyau (called Chemistry), Al-Fisiyau (called Physics) as well as the introduction of ‘ZERO’ into numerals which led to the replacement of Roman figures, in the 13th century, with Arabic numerals that brought about decimal system and paved way for scientific breakthrough. It should be recalled that the numerals used in schools today are called Arabic numerals as a mark of their origin.

    Before adopting the Arabic numerals, Europe had relied so much upon the clumsy system of Roman numerals which called for enormous expenditure of time and labour. For instance, while the Arabic numerals make it easy for the world to write such date as 1948 in only four figures within a second, it takes the same number to be written in eleven figures in Roman numerals thus: MDCCCXLVIII. Even if Islam has contributed nothing more than the decimal system to the modern civilization it has done much more than any other creed. And what is more, the idea of what is called UNIVERSITY today originated from that divine religion. The very first University in the world (University of Cordoba) was established by the Muslims in Spain based on Qur’anic guidance. And the three oldest existing Universities in the world today were established by Muslims in the 10th century as offshoots of the University of Cordaba. Those Universities are Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; QarawiyyinUniversity in Fes, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Yet, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that wonderful ‘MESSAGE’ (the Qur’an) to humanity was unlettered. However, despite his unlettered status he remains the greatest human being that ever lived throughout the history of man.

     

    Attestation

    It was in reference to this non-such Islamic contribution to human civilization that the renowned French historian of the 20th century, Gustav Le Bon wrote in his book thus: ‘The Civilization of the Arabs’ thus:

    “At an epoch when the rest of Europe was plunged in darkest barbarism, Baghdad and Cordoba, the two great cities where Islam held sway, were centres of civilization which illumined the whole world with the light of their brilliance”.

     

    The message and the messenger

    Through the writing of Prophet Muhammad’s  biography, some people have zoomed into undreamed fame. Others have sunk into permanent oblivion. No other Prophet’s biography has attracted as many writers from believers and non-believers, from friends and foes alike as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Every aspect of his life including the dresses he wore, the food he ate, the way he spoke and the wives he married has come to form chapters in his biography. In short, next to the Qur’an, no book is as much read daily in the world today as the biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one form or another. Given all these, one can imagine what the world would have been without the Qur’an. Please read more about the Qur’an in this column in the foreseeable future. God bless you.

  • High-profile feedbacks

    High-profile feedbacks

    By Segun Gbadegesin

    Recently, this column received encouraging feedbacks from three highly respected leaders. I consider it an honor that these distinguished patriots read this column and it is with deep appreciation that I share their comments.

    First, let me appreciate Mr. Idris Akinpelu, Executive Assistant to The Editor (Daily), The Nation Newspapers. Idris is the custodian of comments and feedbacks which are sent to a designated phone number. He receives comments by text and phone calls from readers which he relates to columnists. In this columnist’s case, not being on the ground, email is Idris’s mode of contact.

    Thus, on May 30, I received an email message from Idris, informing me that he had received two phone calls and he sent me the phone numbers to call the callers. The first call was from revered royal father, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, CFR, mni, LL.D, Sultan of Sokoto and the Sariki Musulumi of Nigeria.

    The second call was from Distinguished Senator, Olabiyi Durojaiye, mni, a staunch progressive who paid the price with an unjust detention by the Abacha junta. Without malice, he still continues to make positive impact with thoughtful and intellectually sound interventions.

    Finally, on July 5, Idris sent me another message of a phone call from yet another distinguished Nigerian academic-turned politician, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, a former governor of Oyo State. Following Idris’ suggestion, I made the calls. I was surprised that each of them took their calls directly.

    Understandably, His Eminence, the Sultan, surprised me the most in the first few minutes of my call. I must confess that when I received the email from Idris about His Eminence’s call, I wasn’t sure which of my recent pieces the revered Sultan wanted to talk about. The two most recent ones before I received the message were on May 14 and May 21 with “SGF bares its fangs” and “Contextualizing the Southwest APC Leadership meeting” as their respective titles. I revisited these pieces for any controversial issues that need defence. I couldn’t find any. But I was prepared just in case.

    “Hello Sir! My name is Segun Gbadegesin and I am calling to talk with His Eminence”, I introduced myself to someone I thought was his P.A.

    “Oh, how are you? But what are you doing in America?” the unmistakable voice of His Eminence returned my courtesies.”

    “Ah, thank you, Your Eminence, I live in America” I responded.

    And from there, His Eminence went on to tell me how much he enjoyed reading the column. He has always read every piece, he said. He was especially thrilled with the column of May 7, 2021 titled “What we owe each other”. He thought that it goes straight into the central issue of our existence as human beings and that, as I analyzed it, every religious and spiritual creed teaches about it. He told me that he had the piece copied and shared with every member of the Interfaith Council which he co-chairs.

    I thanked His Eminence for his kind words. I then also appealed to him to use his good offices to mobilize his fellow royal fathers around the country to do more in the matter of promoting peace and justice. He assured me that he has been doing his best and will continue. He prayed for peace and progress in the country and urged me to keep writing with conscience and conviction. I assured him that I will not relent.

    My next call was to Senator Durojaiye who also assured me of his abiding interest in the column. He wanted to talk about “SGF bares its fangs” and “Contextualizing the Southwest APC leadership meeting”. Incidentally, he had submitted a memorandum to the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution, which he promised to share with me. Shortly after our phone discussion, I received the memo from his PA.

    In the cover page of his memo, Senator Durojaiye made a disclosure that caught my attention and confirmed my misgivings about our political institutions. The Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution had requested individuals and groups to submit memorandums on their suggestions for amendments to the constitution. The Senator responded with a submission. He then received a phone call to “send 70 (seventy) more copies of the memo.” Beside that phone call, however, he had “received no proof or any reaction to (his) views.”

    The Senator submitted a 9-page memorandum. But he was asked to submit 70 more copies! In this age of technology, why, for heaven’s sake, was that necessary? Why can’t the NASS secretariat utilize appropriate technology to circulate soft copies of the memos among its members? And if committee members must have hard copies by all means, why can’t the secretariat use its resources to produce copies? Why this an additional burden must be imposed on individuals and groups who are sufficiently patriotic to send ideas and suggestions is a mystery to me.

    As the elders note, ideas coming from the wise are always in tandem. Thus, it is with Senator Durojaiye’s memorandum. He canvasses a cooperative rather than a unilateral approach to constitution making. He recommends a new constitution that is truly federal or the adoption of the 2014 constitutional conference recommendations by a referendum. He supports fiscal federalism with a nod to the 1960 provision for derivation as the basis of revenue allocation. Finally, he supports the regrouping of the present 36-state structure into six regions, notably anticipating the most recent position of the southwest governors.

    H.E. Dr. Omololu Olunloyo was the last Executive Governor of Oyo State before the military coup of December 1983. Before he attained the enviable status of Executive Governor, he was a rising star in intellectual circles, having achieved quite a feat in academics. He received the Ph.D. in Mathematics at age 25! And, appointed as Commissioner at age 27, he was the youngest commissioner in the first military rule.

    Dr. Olunloyo had called The Nation Newspapers office to comment on my piece on High Chief Alex Olu Ajayi. But, of course, when I called him, we discussed a lot more. Interestingly, his experience with Chief Ajayi was similar to mine, though in different setting. Chief Ajayi was the boss at WAEC before he moved to the then University of Ife. At WAEC, he appointed examiners and Chief Examiners. According to Dr. Olunloyo, Chief Ajayi surprised him pleasantly when he appointed him as Chief Examiner for Additional Mathematics at age 28.

    As Chief Examiner, he had to set the examinations and grade or supervise the grading of all the papers. According to his recollection, examination results had to be written in ink on papers without carbon and they had to be handed over directly to Chief Ajayi. This was to preserve the integrity of the examination. He was proud of his relationship with Chief Ajayi who he referred to several times as a man of integrity, aligning with my submission in “Celebrating a living legend at 91”.

    Dr. Olunloyo is a flamboyant politician with a brilliant native intelligence who is never short of words. My reminding him of his presence at my Bola Ige Posthumous Birthday Lecture in 2007, was an occasion for him to bring up his relationship with Chief Ige whom he defeated in the 1983 governorship election, which the NTA captioned as “Verdict 83”.

    Dr. Olunloyo reminded me of Chief Ige’s emotion-laden address to the people of Oyo State after the announcement of the results, with Uncle Bola painstakingly naming each local government area of the state, asking if they truly voted against him. Of course, I remember because we were all in pain. Interestingly, Dr. Olunloyo had on his desk, a letter that Chief Ige had written to him in 1989 and he read its contents to me. It was about a reconciliation that had occurred, probably on the initiative of Dr. Olunloyo himself. Chief Ige wanted to seal the reconciliation by inviting Dr. Olunloyo to his Bodija home for dinner with some of their mutual friends. What a wonderful gesture from which we can learn a lot!

    I greatly appreciate the feedbacks from these distinguished Nigerian leaders.

  • Service above self: Adeniji Raji at 80

    Service above self: Adeniji Raji at 80

    By Segun Gbadegesin

    “Service above self” is the latest of his many awards, the highest that Rotary International bestows on any individual Rotarian, a reflection of the importance that the organization attaches to its motto. And it is well-earned. Engineer Adeniji Raji is the epitome of service. As he turns 80 tomorrow, this column cannot pass by the opportunity for a shout-out to a selfless philanthropist and community icon.

    Importantly, it is another golden opportunity to highlight again the significance of service above self which is so unfortunately a rare commodity in our ego-centered universe these days. It takes the grace of the Almighty for a human being to recognize that it is by sheer providence that we are whatever we are. Sheer Providence is, incidentally, the title of Engineer Raji’s new autobiography to be publicly presented tomorrow.

    Recognizing the influence of Providence, and attributing our success in life to its grace, places on us a burden of service to others. Why and how? Why? That recognition means that we know we are not self-made, that we stand on the shoulders of those that God has used to lift us up, and we are expected to lift others up as well. How? To the best of our ability without hurting ourselves or making some others victims. A Robin Hood approach is therefore untenable.

    There is a further question, though. Why do it above self? And how does placing others above self not end up hurting self? In various ways, our triple heritage provides the answers to this important question. Our obligation is to see other human beings, not as our superiors, but as our equals whose basic needs are as important as ours and, therefore, should be considered as more important than our insatiable desires. A starving human has a right to be considered for assistance before we indulge our tastes in luxuries beyond our basic needs.

    Read Also: COVID-19 Delta variant in Nigeria

    When a rich man asked Jesus how to get to the kingdom of God, he was told to sell all his possessions, distribute the proceeds to the needy, and follow Jesus, and his basic needs will be taken care of and his soul will be accepted in heaven. For Christians, the meaning of “JOY” is to put Jesus first, others second, yourself last.

    In the Islamic faith, Al-‘eethar, means giving preference to others over oneself and placing their welfare needs before one’s greed. We mustn’t indulge greed when others are starving. Just because you can afford it, you cannot as a believer acquire multiple mansions while you neglect the need of the homeless. As the Holy Qur’an puts it, “Whoever is protected from his natural greed-it is they who are the successful.”– (Qur’an: 59:9)

    For our traditional heritage, selflessness is what makes us humans and selfishness is against human nature. It is the reason that traditional Yoruba compare selfish people to trees or beasts of the forest. And they are expected to have their punishment here on earth and in eternal condemnation.

    But, of course, each of these traditions also insists that you cannot with one hand deprive others of what should normally accrue to them and then with a second hand pretend as if you are benefiting them with what belongs to you. A public officer who appropriates the common wealth would be ill-served by turning around to give out of the largess to the needy.

    Rotary International brings all these traditions together with its emphasis on service above self. In itself, service to others is good for its potentials to benefit them. But it is even more honorable when it is done unselfishly, and this is what the motto of Rotary international conveys, urging members to rein in their ego in the service of others. That Engineer Adeniji Raji exemplifies this ideal of service above self is evident in all the causes that he has taken up in his adult life. His life story is a strong lesson in perseverance and benevolence.

    Sheer Providence sent the indigent Okeho boy to Eko Boys High School where he served as Senior Prefect for discipline in his final year, passed WASC examination in Grade 1, got recruited by Cable and Wireless in 1961 as a Technician-in-Training, and got sent to the United Kingdom for engineering training which he completed in 1968, becoming a professional engineer.

    When Cable and Wireless became Nigerian External Telecommunications Company after nationalization in 1963, Engineer Raji served in various capacities culminating in his appointment from 1978-83 as Director of Engineering, overseeing engineering planning and operation of the International Telecommunication Services, international telephone, Telex, and telegraph services.

    With hard work and sheer providence, Engineer Raji became a co-founder and Managing Director of BTN (NIG) LTD, a company representing British Telecommunications in Nigeria, Chairman of Raden Investments Limited, a property development company, and Principal Partner in RAAD System Engineers, a consulting Electrical/Electronic Engineering Firm. Committed to service, Engineer Raji also volunteers his time in various organizations, including International Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) as Board member, Commonwealth Telecommunications Council as Representative, and in various Study Groups at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) among others.

    Raji’s appreciation of divine favor in his life may have led him to Rotary Club, which he joined in 1984 as a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Gbagada and never looked back. Internalizing the motto of service above self, he went all in, serving District 9110 as Chair, Group Study Exchange, District Conference, District Rotary Foundation, District Educational, and Welfare Fund, District Strategic Planning Committee, District Training Committee, and District International Service and representative to The Council on Legislation (Rotary Parliament), among others.

    He has received many Rotary awards including The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service in recognition of his devoted efforts for the furthering of better understanding and friendly relations of people of the world, crowning it all with the “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” award.

    Engr. Raji volunteered his time to serve in positions of importance in institutions of learning, including as Past Chairman, Board of Governors of Eko Boys High School, Mushin; Past President, Eko Boys High School Old Boys Association; Past Chairman, Board of Governors, Muslim Nursery and Primary School, Okeho; and currently, Chairman, Board of Trustee of EKOBA.

    But Engineer Raji did not limit his service activities to volunteering for positions of importance. He has also served meritoriously with his wallet. He has walked the talk. His contributions to education in Okeho include the donation of MAN International High School, with the first block of six classrooms equipped with toilet and borehole in 2011, and the second six classrooms block in 2017, three of which were converted into well-equipped science laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, and one as the library. The science labs were upgraded in 2019 to meet the Oyo State educational standard. Additionally, he built a school hall and fenced the school property to meet the specifications of the government of Oyo State.

    Like other rural communities, Okeho relies on its sons and daughters to propel its development efforts, and Engineer Raji has always answered the clarion call. He has raised funds from his friends and associates for community projects, including Onjo’s Palace, and the ongoing NOUN Study Center. In recognition of his generosity, the community reciprocated with an award in 2017.

    Back to Sheer Providence, part of what is striking in the volume is Engineer Raji’s advice to youths. Recalling his own years as an indigent young man, he hopes that indigent youths will learn from his story that “obedience to parents, hard work, persistence, determination and trust in God are sure pathways to a better future.” He accepts as “an absolute truth” that “God understands our disappointments, suffering, pain, fears and doubts” and that “He is always there to encourage and help us understand that He is sufficient for our needs.” And he urges young people to do so as well. For if they do, they can be sure of a good life in the future.

    Eighty hearty cheers to a philanthropist who puts others before self, serving humanity with the fear of the Almighty.

    Happy Birthday, Engineer Raji.

  • What should I tell them?

    By FEMI ABBAS

     

    Monologue

    Hardly did a onetime American President, John F. Kennedy, Know, that he was describing the Qur’an when he made the following statement in form of an assertion in the early 1960s:

    “We live in a hemisphere whose own revolution has given birth to the most powerful force of the modern age-the freedom and fulfilment of man”.

     

    Preamble

    Inside the Glorious Book called the Qur’an is everything about the world in which we live. Our sojourn in it and the end result of that sojourn are explicit;y analysed in that nonesuch Book.

    There is nothing in the world that the Qur’an does not talk about with guidance. The message contained in that divine Book is not meant for man alone. All other creatures have their own fair shares of that message. And, the Almighty Allah confirms this fact in the same Book thus:

    “We did not leave out anything untouched in this Glorious Book” Q. 6:38.

     

    The planet called the earth

    Our planet, the earth, did not come into existence by fortuity. Our primogenitors, Prophet Adam and his spouse, Hawa’u, were not created to take charge of the earth by fortuity. The divine law by which this world is governed was not enacted by fortuity. And, man’s peregrinations on earth, towards the World Hereafter, is not by fortuity. All these are a ground design of a great revolution through which the meaning of the universe becomes understood to man.

     

    The divine signature

    The divine signature appended to the above mentioned design is what eventually came to be known as the Qur’an. That unassuming signature which stands for the seal of authority on the law that keeps the world going is not only unsurpassable but also inimitable in the grandeur of its diction and the splendour of its rendition. The real essence of the esoteric connotation and exoteric profundity of this authoritative signature is the testimonial that a true believer needs as the compass with which to find smooth path to the final abode called the Paradise.

    The summary of this signature as known to the primordial and contemporary   humanity is a great ‘Revolution’.

    By implication, the Qur’an can be semantically defined as ‘THE DIVINE REVOLUTION’ that transformed human life from the sphere of obscurity into that of unimaginable sophistication which otherwise came to be known as civilization.

     

    Phases of human growth

    Following his tiresome peregrinations and sojourns around the world, man gets greying, not merely because of stress cultivated from sweat or the experiences garnered from labour, but also because of the sapping occurrences  which form huddles on his way through the various circumstances of life. Incidentally, some of those occurrences are invisible to us even as some are totally unknown. But, invariably, all are contained in the above mentioned divine signature (the Qur’an) which prepares us for our eventual homes.

    In the same manner, it takes classes of pious intellectuals to pursue the recitation, analytical digestion and understanding of the Qur’an, to an appreciable level, before disseminating the knowledge therein to others.

     

    The empirical dictions

    That Glorious Book is the undisputable encyclopaedia of life which thoroughly explains the essence of existence of every living thing and its coexistence with others in a given environment. That explanation simply consists of the connotations of such empirical dictions of journalism which are as follows: ‘what?’, ‘where?’, ‘when?’ ‘why?’ and how? of everything in existence. The combination of the connotations of those dictions was what cumulated in the Divine Origin of the contemporary gadgets called CCTV.

     

    Secret camera

    But for the Qur’an, how could we have known that every human being is closely monitored by two Angels who record his/her deeds on indelible video and audio every minute of life? These two Angels, according to the Qur’an, are called Raqib and ‘Atid.

    Copies of their records are forwarded to two other Angels who, like immigration officers, interrogate every demised human being at the point of his or her entry into the Hereafter from the earth, through the transit of the grave. These latter Angels are called Munkar and Nakir. Their joint duty is to play back the recorded deeds of humans and set questions for the deceased who is seeking immigration into the hemisphere of the Hereafter, based on the video and audio that had been recorded on their activities on earth. This is done in the grave as soon as the deceased is buried.

    The Almighty Allah speaks of this with emphasised clarity in chapter 80 verses 16-31 thus: “We surely created man and we know the promptings of his soul; We are closer to him than his jugular veins; we assign two keepers to guard him; one sits on his right and the other on his left; He utters no word that can escape the recording instruments of Raqib or those of ‘Atid. And, when the agony of death justly overtakes him/her, they (the two Angels) will say: “This is the fate you have striven to avoid” And, then, the Trumpet shall be blown. Such is the quivering day on which each soul shall be accompanied by two Angels (Munkar and Nakir) that will bear witness and one of them will say: “Of this you have been heedless. But now, we have removed your veil. Today, your sight is keen….”

     

    Questions and answers

    It is at the point of burial that the demised Muslims are often reminded of how they should answer the questions asked in the grave by the two Angels. Some funeral officiating clerics do exclaim a reminder on what the answers should be to the deceased at the point of burial before the corpse is covered up. This is the situation that warranted the casting of the title of this article: “What should I tell them?”

    Some of the questions are primary and fundamental. They include the following: Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your Prophet? Who is your Imam? What is your book (of guidance)? Where is your Qiblah? Other fundamental questions are asked especially in respect of worship and personal mannerism. All these ought to have been filled into the memory of a practicing Muslim while alive. Thus, like in mundane exams,  such a Muslim will have no problem in answering the questions awaiting him/her in the grave.

     

    A chain of transits

    Man’s journey from this world to the World Hereafter is interrupted by a chain of transits. And, every transit is a question which requires the guidance of Allah to answer. The period spent as mere semen in the loins of a man who came to be known as father is a transit. The period spent in the womb of a woman who later becomes mother is a transit. The period spent between birth and attainment of adolescence is a transit. Man’s life from puberty to middle age is a transit. And, the period between middle age and death is another transit. Each of these transits forms a chapter in the life of man, a part of which will be accounted for and a part of which will be treated as one of innocence. Through this process, it becomes clear that   human beings constitute the central focus of the Great Message which the revealed Sacred Book called the Qur’an brought to mankind.

     

    Yardstick for judgment

    As human beings, we shall not be judged by our actions as much as by the intentions upon which those actions are based. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) emphasized this in his Hadith thus: “Every action shall be judged according to intention. And, every person shall reap the fruit of his intention. Whoever migrates for the sake of Allah and His Apostle shall be judged accordingly. And, whoever migrates because of a hidden agenda, not disclosed, shall equally be judged accordingly…”

    If what to tell the two Angels (Munkar and Nakir) in the grave is a bothering question, the answer had been provided before death. What to tell those Angels is just a recast of what had been done or left undone while alive. And that alone is enough to arouse our consciousness and put us on a permanent alert. Whether we like it or not, death is around the corner. We are all from Allah and to Allah, we shall all return.

  • Celebrating a living legend at 91

    Celebrating a living legend at 91

    By Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Chief Alex Olu Ajayi just turned 91 and, from the streets of Ado-Ekiti to the newsrooms of media houses, the drums are rolled out in honor of this living legend. It is a well-deserved honor and for this columnist, an opportune occasion to pour out a grateful heart as a beneficiary of Chief Ajayi’s professional integrity and largeness of spirit.

    I am not alone. From his days at WAEC to the then University of Ife, Chief Ajayi has touched so many young lives,  a vast majority of whom are also now paying it forward in their various stations in life. That is how it is ordained to be. But not many of Chief Ajayi’s contemporaries appreciate this fact of life. That he does has been a blessing to many in my generation. To him, we owe a debt of gratitude.

    Chief Ajayi may not even remember me. It has been 52 years since fortune sent me his way and he not only offered me his listening ears, he also stretched out to me his helping hands. He did not do it grudgingly. Indeed, as I record it in All the Way: Serving with Conscience, my 2015 autobiography, the encouraging words he uttered stayed with me till today. For this tribute, therefore, it is helpful to quote at length from my narrative of how I knew Chief Ajayi and how he impacted my life. However, the story below also needs a brief background.

    Not unlike many in my generation from the backwoods of Oke-ogun zone of Oyo State, I followed a winding path in education, going from elementary to secondary modern school, then to Teacher’s Grade III and Teacher’s Grade II, with a mandatory two-year teaching between the completion of Teacher’s Grade III and the beginning of Teacher’s Grade II. That was the track I took.

    In my second year of Teacher’s Grade II at African Church Teacher Training College, Ifako, Agege, I studied for the General Certificate of Education along with studying for the Teacher’s Grade II Certificate examination in December 1967. In January 1968, I sat for six subjects in GCE. By March of 1968 both results were out. I passed the six subjects of GCE and also passed the Teacher’s Grade II examination. In July 1968, I resigned from teaching and took appointment with the National Bank of Nigeria as a Bank Clerk.

    Now, to the story of how destiny led me to Chief Alex Olu Ajayi as I narrate it in my 2015 autobiography.

    “Though I was happy with my performance in the bank, I knew that I could not afford to lose my focus. I registered for the General Certificate of Education Advanced level and took it in December 1968, with a view to applying for direct admission to the university. It was now clear, however, that my new job had taken a toll on my preparedness. I registered for two subjects-Economics and Government. Though I passed both, it was only barely, scoring “D” in Government and “E” in Economics. I knew that this was not going to get me into the first year of a 3-year undergraduate program. So while I applied for Direct Admission to the University of Ibadan, I also applied for Preliminary Admission to the University of Ife. For the latter, I had to take what was then referred to as Concessional Admission Examination. I did and was successful.

    “I received my letter of admission to the University of Ife for the 1969/70 session in March 1969. I was overjoyed. However, I knew that there was going to be a problem. Though I had been working at the bank since July 1968, I had no huge savings and I knew that my father was not going to be able to source the funds. Still, with hope in God, I resigned my appointment with the National Bank effective September 30, 1969.

    “I resigned my appointment because I had counted on help coming up. I had sent a letter asking for a loan from a prominent businessman who was an indigene of Okeho. He let me know that there was no problem and that he would help. However, at the last minute, I realized that he could not do it. I was not told directly; it just turned out that the promise was not kept. I was devastated. Not being able to take up my admission was disappointing in itself; but I had also resigned my appointment with the National Bank.

    “I had to lick my wounds and go back to the place I had bid goodbye, the National Bank, Cocoa House. Luckily, my Manager, Mr. S. G. O. Agbabiaka, sympathized with my situation and just returned my letter of resignation to me.  Indeed, everyone including my older colleagues and my peers were very sympathetic with my case. I was fully rehabilitated to the fold.

    “Shortly after this incident of utter disappointment, something that can easily pass for a miracle happened. The University had resumed and had been in session for three months. I had settled back into my assignments at the bank. Then, one December morning in 1969, Mr. Agbabiaka called me to his office. He had in his hands, the newspaper (Daily Sketch) for that morning. The paper had published the list of the newly admitted students to the University of Ife who had secured the scholarship of the Western Region.

    “Apparently, the University had recommended the top ten students who passed the Concessional Entrance Examination to the government for scholarship. I was one of the ten that had received the scholarship and I did not know. But my name was there in the paper. I thanked Mr. Agbabiaka; but I told him that I did not really know what to do. Fortunately, he told me that he knew the Senior Deputy Registrar (Admissions) at the University of Ife. His name was Mr. (now Chief) Alex Olu Ajayi. He also mentioned to me that Mr. Ajayi was going to be at the Premier Hotel the following day and that I should go and see him. He told me that he will certainly phone Mr. Ajayi on my behalf and that he would be expecting me at the hotel.

    “I went to see Mr. Ajayi as directed and I presented my papers, including my GCE results. The first word that came out of Mr. Ajayi’s mouth was, “This is impressive. You cannot be allowed to waste.” I became very emotional in his presence as I cried. He was sympathetic. He said he knew what it meant and that he would do his best. He however told me that it was not possible for me to join the 1969 class, but that he would make sure that my admission was deferred till 1970 and that I would not lose the scholarship. I was thankful. And that was what he did.

    “Following Mr. Ajayi’s instruction, I went to see him in his office at lle-Ife on December 19, 1969. It was the day before my birthday. He instructed his staff to process my deferment request and to ensure that my scholarship was applied to the following year. Those were the days when honest men and women managed our institutions. Mr. Ajayi helped me without asking for a penny. I remain grateful to him. And when I finally resumed at Ife, Mr. Ajayi was the only administrator that I knew, and he took a special interest in my welfare until I graduated.”

    I also made sure that I did not disappoint Chief Ajayi. He was pleased when he heard that I made a First Class and received awards from both the Faculty of Social Science and the Faculty of Arts.

    For young students studying outside Nigeria, what I just narrated may not be a big deal. Deferment of admission, like transcript release, is a simple procedure. But in the Nigerian context these were, and probably still are, a huge deal. Thank you, Chief. You are one in a million. I look forward to seeing you soon with appropriate traditional idobale homage.

    Happy birthday! Igba odun, odun kan.