The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • An epitome of principle at 86

    An epitome of principle at 86

    By Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi (retd.) may not now be a household name. He is neither a politician nor a money bag. But over many years of active military and public service, he has demonstrated his possession of a special asset that no one has been able to take from him, even at a time when compromise was the rule of thumb in high places. Rotimi is a man of principle, who stands for principle, who lives by principle. On this 86th anniversary of his birth, it is an honor to celebrate a man of honor.

    Once upon a time, the Nigerian Army was an institution of honor which attracted men and women of principle whose only reason for enlistment was service to country. Young Oluwole Rotimi was attracted to the military as a student at King’s College, Lagos. And after a university degree that guaranteed him a rewarding future career in the civil service or private sector, compared with an uncertain future in the military, he chose that uncertain future of service to country. That motive force of patriotism, strengthened by an unwavering principle, was to characterize his conduct as a soldier, Quartermaster, military governor, and diplomat.

    What was it about the military on the eve of independence that attracted young Nigerians to it? Certainly not what became of it as a cauldron of ethnic jingoism and filthy corruption between 1966 and 1998! General Rotimi and his colleagues from the early era of the military would volunteer stories of a Garden of Eden in which the many were truly united as one in their determination to defend the country, if necessary with their lives. And differences of tongue or tribe was not going to prevent them from achieving that goal.

    That was how General Rotimi and many of his colleagues saw their mission: as a united force, defend the nation and promote her unity. That was their understanding of the oath they took. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t all up to them, as other players had different ideas.

    Shortly after independence, politicians engaged in a divisive and destructive ethnic politics against their best interests and the interest of the nation. And at a time when military coup was the norm across the Third World, some officers took the bait. The proverbial apple was tasted and the garden polluted. It was never the same again.

    Thankfully, we have stories like that of General Rotimi to remind us of the good old days of the Nigerian Army. As Quartermaster General during the civil war, he had responsibility for supplies not just to the war front but to all army formations. A different actor would come out as a filthy rich guy and take an early retirement. It is however on record that this man of principle conducted himself so creditably that he earned the trust of the Commander-in-Chief and after the war, he was deployed to serve as the third Military Governor of the old Western State.

    Western Region had just being through some tough times. Recall that the immediate cause of the military takeover in January 1966 was the “wet e” crisis following the rigged 1965 Western Region election. That crisis didn’t quite abate even after the military takeover and Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, the first Military Governor, had his hands full until the counter coup took his life in July 1966. General Adeyinka Adebayo took over and was saddled with the Agbekoya tax riots. The Western Region, aka Wild Wild West, was a hard nut to crack even for army officers.

    When General Rotimi took over, he went to work. He enlisted the support of the civil society. He rallied traditional rulers. With a distinct approach to governance which emphasized leadership by example, he won the heart and minds of a cross section of the population who agreed with him that without peace there can be no development. He restored peace to the state.

    Knowing that government cannot satisfy the developmental desires of every community, the administration introduced the idea of self-help. Communities were to contribute a percentage of the project that they identified as their need with government contributing the balance. This was attractive to many communities, and the administration delivered on its promise.

    Chief Simeon Adebo’s pioneering efforts ensured that Western Region would be a trail blazer in civil service administration in the entire country. But when General Rotimi took over the helm of governance in 1971, there was a manifest crisis of indiscipline arising from perceptions of favoritism and unequal treatment of equals. A man of principle and stern discipline would not condone acts of injustice and he made it clear. He was on top of every case of indiscipline, especially among the top echelon of the service, and he restored order and discipline.

    General Murtala Mohammed’s coup of 1975 terminated the Gowon administration. This ended not only the tenure of General Rotimi as military governor of Western State, it also ended his military career. At only forty years old, the man of principle soon faced reality. A man who resisted vast opportunities to corruptly enrich himself soon found himself without any means of livelihood while his whole life was still ahead of him.

    General Mohammed was also a man of principle. But he initially painted every officer who worked with Gowon with a common brush of corruption. He set up a Commission to investigate each of them to prove himself right. While he was right with many, however, his estimation of two was wrong as his Commission concluded. It exonerated General Rotimi and General Mobolaji Johnson. This confirmed that General Rotimi was not just a talker but a man who walked his talk, a man who practiced what he preached. With more like him in positions of power, the Nigerian story would be a lot different.

    “It’s all good to be principled and honesty. But these assets won’t put food on the table or provide a warm shelter for the body.” So do many think! But the mighty hands of the Almighty is upon those who do his will. And he will never leave them alone. The Psalmist testifies powerfully that having been young, and then being old, he has never seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging bread. Why does this not assure the many who allow the devil to direct their hearts and minds to the evil of corruption?

    General Rotimi avoids greed. He contents himself with what the Lord provides. And He enjoys the respect of those who are godly. In retirement, he was called upon to serve the country as Ambassador to the United States of America in 2009. As a man of principle, always tethered to his principles, he took his principles of honesty and self-discipline to his mission abroad.

    Approaching his new assignment as he did as Military Governor, Rotimi was determined to root out indiscipline and corruption in high places. He decided to investigate what became of the proceeds of sold government properties. And that didn’t go down well with those who called the shots. He was unceremoniously recalled. But those who followed the story would confirm that Rotimi had the last laugh—again. He was vindicated and his traducers shamed.

    Let me now come back to where I started from above. A great life is not necessarily one that boasts of billions in the bank. Neither is a great life one that every page of newspapers or magazines mentions on a daily basis. Nor is it one that boasts of controlling millions of followers. One can be all of these and still fail the test of greatness.

    To be great is to live in righteousness and for righteousness, to be a model of integrity and honor, and to be self-disciplined. As Prophet Micah revealed, God has been clear about what he requires of his creatures: “only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Conducting ourselves with this requirement is what defines greatness. General Rotimi has chosen this path, and at 86, it will not be taken away from him.

    Happy Birthday, General. Igba odun, odun kan.

     

     

  • Thank you all

    Thank you all

    By  Femi Abbas

     

    Monologue

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

     

    Preamble

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

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

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

     

    The Third Eye

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

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

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

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

     

    Growth of Ability

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

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

     

    Writing Skill

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

     

    Reminiscence

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

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

     

    Comment

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

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

     

    Reactions

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

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

     

    First Meeting With the Sultan

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

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

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

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

     

    A Lunch With His Eminence

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

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

     

    More Reactions

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

    ‘Shina Show’, Agege, Lagos.

     

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

    Idris O. Gasper, Abuja.

     

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

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

     

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

     

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

    OkeyIbeabuchi, Owerri.

     

  • An angelic doctor goes home

    An angelic doctor goes home

    By

     

    Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophesy reveals only part of the whole picture”—1 Corinthians 13: 9 (New Living Translation)

    How true! Divine knowledge is complete; human knowledge is partial. It is the reality of our human condition, and every now and then, to our dismay and utter helplessness, we come face to face with this ultimate reality.

    A little over a year ago, towards the end of 2019, I penned a tribute for one of the humblest, smartest, and God-fearing persons I have had the fortune of knowing on planet earth, Dr. (Prince) John Oyediran Olabisi, as he marked his 70th birthday in January 2020. A few years earlier, I had dedicated a column piece (“When an ear doctor retires”) to his retirement from the service of Oyo State. Now, he is gone home to be with his Master, and no one saw it coming!

    The reality of our helpless human condition is truly unflattering. But we are not left without hope, or with guidance towards its realization. In the same epistle, Paul goes on to predict that while we now “see only a reflection as in a mirror”, there is coming a time when “we shall see face to face.” While we “now know in part (only)”, there is coming a time when we “shall know fully, even as we are fully known.”

    In my 2019 tribute, which is the reference point for this piece, I referred to Moses’s meditation in Psalm 90:12 when the servant of God prayed to God to “teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” I observed that since God’s wonderful work of creation, wisdom and folly have exercised dominion over human beings.

    Through the Holy Spirit, the wise are acutely aware of the fleeting nature of time and of human life. This awareness helps them put their hearts in the path of wisdom. They “remember how short (human) life is” (Psalm 89:47) and are determined to make the most of the time that they have left to fulfill God’s purpose for them.

    We know those with the endowment of wisdom because the preeminence of God is reflected in their lives. They make daily effort to follow his direction and do his will. Their motivation is to achieve God’s purpose for his creation, which is to promote their good. Pushed by faith in God, they build a character that imitates God and his servants. They internalize the counsel of Paul to “imitate me as I imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

     

    However, even the wise have no claim to perfection. What they have that the foolish lack is the inclination, the urge, to constantly seek perfection. Mindful of the shortness of time and the frailty of existence, the wise follow the injunction to make the proverbial hay why the sun shines. They work hard to make provision for their family and loved ones. They invest their time and talent in promoting the good of humanity. They elevate the spiritual over the material. No matter the circumstances of their birth, they do not rest on their oars.

    Over his short but memorable 71 years sojourn on earth, Dr. Diran Olabisi exemplified the features of the Godly wisdom that Moses had in mind. The smart young prince of Old Iganna kingdom moved swiftly from Secondary Modern School, Olivet High School, to University of Ibadan College of Medicine and postgraduate training as Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Specialist in the United Kingdom, leaving records of scholarly achievement at every point.

    With his specialist training, Diran moved the boundaries of scholarship and the art of healing in the upward direction, surprising his trainers and peers in the land of the Queen. Surely, something great had come out of our Nazareth. Upon his return to the country of his birth, Diran had a great plan. He served in the Oyo State Ministry of Health until his retirement as Permanent Secretary. He established the Highland Hospital, catering for the generality of our people, rich and poor, old and young, men and women. And soon enough, the prince of smarts demonstrated his godly character.

    The medical profession requires compassion and empathy. But the profession doesn’t automatically confer these qualities on its practitioners. Indeed, as we know, many in this compassion-demanding profession are anything but compassionate or empathetic. Of course, the ailment that afflicts dear country doesn’t discriminate, and many professionals are victims of greed and ostentation. But Diran proved time and again how different a breed he was from the pack. He stood out for his compassionate caring. I am a credible witness and beneficiary.

    He was always there for the needy. He always made himself available for the helpless and hopeless. It was for this purpose that he established Highland Hospital, and it soon became a haven for the many that seek healing. Away from the homeland, it would only take me a phone call to get my relatives to receive treatment at Highland Hospital. For cases that needed referral, Diran did everything in his power for my people.

    Our common friends have also expressed to me their appreciation of Diran’s wonderful support in their times of need. Most recently, a friend who had a near death experience in the deep of the night told me how Diran, called up in the middle of the night, personally led his ambulance to his house and saved his life. He was a prince who understood his calling and knew that the one who called him to the caring profession and supported his training, had himself led by example which he expected him to follow. As a prince of faith would.

    Job of old expressed faith in the living Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25). This knowledge is enabling. It is as elevating as it is strengthening. True wisdom requires this knowledge and understanding. And those who are so endowed are the anointed.

    Diran took seriously his anointing as a child of God and a deacon of his church. His trust was in His God from the beginning to the end. Even as he confronted his own ill-health, Diran placed others ahead of himself or his ordeal. In my last conversation with him, he downplayed his health challenges, and was more concerned about one of his cousins whose professional career was his concern.

    Being close to Diran was tantamount to recognizing this quality of his life as a child of God. Thankfully, he had a Kingdom partner in his loving wife, Pastor Bolanle. From the beginning, they were a pair of role models for the Christian life. They exemplified Paul’s testimony: “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:7-8) Diran subscribed to this creed to the end of his journey.

    It is not how long, but how well. And to objective and God-fearing observers, though Diran left us too soon, he also left us a vital example of a life well-lived, putting God first, others second, and himself last. While we cannot query the giver of life for taking it back when He wills, we have the assurance of a great reunion when the trumpet sounds and the dead are “raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Diran is only gone before us; we will catch up with him sooner or later.

    To his loving wife, Pastor Bolanle, children, grandchildren, and the entire family, I pray that in this moment of sorrow, your faith in God does not waver, and your hope in His mercy does not dim. For you can certainly do all things through Christ who strengthens you. (Philippians 4:13)

    Diran Olabisi lived well and he died the death of the righteous. As he lives on in our hearts, his memory will be a blessing to us.

     

     

  • Ganduje’s smart solution

    Ganduje’s smart solution

    By Segun Gbadegesin

     

    The farmer-herder crisis has hitherto presented itself as a crisis of trust not just between herders and farmers, but also between ethnic groups in general and between the north and south in particular. It has seemed as if it is a continuation of the same old north-south political division. Which, by reasonable inference, it is not.

    Here’s why. The 50s and 60s witnessed the most serious north-south political division in the country. The 1953 motion for independence nearly resulted in a permanent disintegration of the country even as it looked ahead to independence. The 1959 election was one of the most divisive in the country. The 1963 census crisis led to a realignment of political coalitions that resulted in a federal election contest between predominantly southern versus northern alliances of UPGA and NNA respectively. The final nail on the coffin of the First Republic was the 1965 Western Region election.

    Through all of the turmoil of ethno-national politics back then, however, farmers and herders across the country coexisted and interacted peacefully and productively. Before RUGA recently sneaked into our national vocabulary, there were Igaas on the outskirts of almost every Yoruba village. Herders grazed their cattle on grasslands across the region while their women sold cheese and cow dung to indigenes. It was a conflict-free relationship. Therefore, presenting the present crisis as an absence of trust between ethnic nationalities is a mischaracterization of the reality of a serious social and economic crisis created by the influx of criminal foreign herders who feel entitled to any and all land across the nation, including farmlands.

    The economic crisis is simple to understand. When herders graze their cattle indiscriminately on farmlands, it is economic disaster for farmers. Should farmers remain silent, they are alright and will not be attacked by herders. But should they raise their voice and complain to herders, they are subjected to bodily harm and death. Herders don’t carry AK-47s for nothing. This is the root of the social crisis. And this is all a new development since the early 1990s.

    Some have cast this simple economic crisis as a cultural conflict. They claim that herders are culturally wired to nomadic life and they must have access to grazing lands all over the country. They acknowledge that farmers are also culturally entitled to agricultural land. To avoid conflict, therefore, their solution is to allocate grazing land across the country for herders.

    This proposed solution, as we know, runs into a couple of problems. First, the Federal government cannot by fiat allocate land to herders or farmers across the country for the simple reason that, by the 1999 constitution, state governors are the custodians of land in their states. Therefore, they have to buy in to the idea. Thus far, for various reasons, many governors especially across the south, have not demonstrated a readiness to go along.

    Second, grazing routes or grazing reserves cannot effectively prevent the conflict because they cannot prevent herders from grazing on farmlands near or adjacent to grazing routes, especially during the dry season. Evidence? There are viral videos of young herders uprooting cassava tubers along their route to feed their cattle.

    What is to be done? In March 2018, the governors of Borno, Sokoto, Kano and Kaduna states met with the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) in Sokoto “to find lasting solutions to the continued clashes between herders and farmers across the federation” as the media reported at the time. Worried about the conflicts, they expressed optimism for a “lasting solution” with the adoption of a “local-conflict resolution mechanism to bring back trust and understanding among all the people of the region.” This made their prospective effort a regional one. Even with this limited focus, MACBAN didn’t seem to share the governors’ optimism, only wondering aloud why the conflict was getting out of hand.

    Now, however, we are witnessing the singular effort of Governor Ganduje of Kano State and his advocacy pointing to a lasting solution to the crisis. While Governor Ganduje has always been part of the Northern Governors’ meetings on this matter, either his proposals for a solution have not been favored by the group or we are yet to see the success of its collective effort. But this hasn’t deterred him from proceeding with his preferred strategy in his state.

    Thus, in August 2019, seventeen months after the Sokoto meeting, Governor Ganduje announced the plan of the Kano State Government to convert five forests to grazing reserves for herdsmen in the state. Among other good outcomes of the policy, he noted that it would boost socio-economic ventures in the state and discourage the movement of herdsmen from the north to the south thereby addressing the herders-farmers conflict. He promised that the reserves would provide health and education and security for herdsmen, insisting that the settlement of herders, like farmers, was a state issue and should be treated as such.

    In June 2020, nine months after the initial announcement of his intention, Governor Ganduje launched the first Ruga settlement in Kano at the Yanshoshi forest. Planned as a settlement of 200 housing units with hospital, schools, police station and earth dam, he commissioned the first batch of 25 housing units at the ceremony. Placing his fingers on the root of the crisis, the governor advised the federal government to ban the movement of foreign herdsmen into the country. Without mincing words, he noted that those foreign herdsmen come into Nigeria with guns and weapons, bringing crimes with them.

    Among the reasons for Ganduje’s intervention are the need to avoid farmer-herder clashes across the nation, avoid cattle movement, avoid cattle rustling, and improve and modernize cattle breeding for economic boost. He extended invitation to Fulani herders across the country to take advantage of the provision of Ruga settlement in Kano with a promise to provide more.

    Just this week, eight months after the launch of the Yanshoshi Forest Ruga settlement, Governor Ganduje announced the commencement of another settlement in Samsosua forest along Katsina border. In making this announcement, however, he also called on the federal government to ban the North-South movement of herders and cattle. According to media reports, the governor addressed journalists in Katsina and advocated thus: “There should be a law that will ban cattle movement, otherwise, we cannot control the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers and the cattle rustling which is affecting us greatly.”

    Governor Ganduje’s approach to this matter deserves commendation for two reasons. First, he appears to me to be one of the very few elected officials who has walked the talk. He has a good grasp of the challenge and he has determined to meet it head on. Second, beside his active commitment to providing Ruga settlements for herders for the social and economic reasons that he has espoused, the governor has also zeroed in on what the federal government must do to make state efforts effective.

    In this regard, Ganduje noted the influx of foreign herders and the disruption they cause to the peaceful coexistence of indigenous herders and farmers. This is beyond the paygrade of a governor to resolve. He therefore called on the Federal Government to ban foreign herders. Second, inter-state movement of herders without Ruga settlements in every state is bound to continue to cause violent conflicts. Therefore, he has again called on the Federal Government to place a ban on such movements. Coming from a Northern Governor with a mindset for pragmatic solution to social and economic crisis, these proposals are spot on.

    More significantly, however, the proposals put the herders in the driver’s seat of their economic activities and should place the Northern states at the giving end. If other Northern governors would follow Governor Ganduje’s pragmatic leadership, the North stands to benefit greatly from the implementation of the proposals. A whole new industry of livestock farming can be built with the North calling the shot as its rallying point. A new generation of herders will have their children’s future taken care of. And the entire country can bid goodbye to the incessant conflict between farmers and herders.

    Hopefully, someone is listening to Governor Ganduje.

  • Islam and Nigerian media 2

    Islam and Nigerian media 2

    By FEMI ABBAS 

     

    Monologue

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

     

    Preamble

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

     

    Excerpt

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

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

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

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

     

    The Norm of Journalism

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

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

     

    Essence of Knowledge

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

    That was why

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

     

    The beginning of Journalism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

    Abuse of privilege

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

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

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

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

     

    Muslims in the Media

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

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

     

    Admonition

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

     

     

     

     

     

  • The price of peace

    The price of peace

    Femi Abass

     

    Monologue

    Peace is a unique virtue in the life of man. Its value cannot be measured on the scale of gold or that of silver. Any life without peace is a life without worth.

    Peace, in any religiously tempestuous society like Nigeria, is often not by chance. It can only be by a well-planned sphere of life with formidable but abstract pillars such as endurance, tolerance and mutual respect based on mutual understanding. The usual template of peace in any disciplined society is based on experience gained from history.

     

    Preamble

    This article is not new. It was first published in this column in 2012, when a satanically disastrous group of bandits called Boko Haram in Nigeria was just three years old. But the same article is being repeated here today because of demands for its re-publication by many readers who passionately believe in its relevance to the current Nigerian situation in which religion has become the biggest commercial venture that vigorously constitutes a tug of war at the instance of some  charlatans who are claiming to be religious leaders.

    Such charlatans are mostly known, not only by their audacious preaching of prosperity alone, but also by the hate speeches which they provocatively dish out in torrents from their pulpits, as a form of advertisement with which to entice certain ignorant people to their  commercial dragnets.

     

    The Wings of History

    History is an invisible object with two invisible wings flying across generations in time and in space. One of those wings is positive while the other is negative. It is only with history that the present becomes the heritage of the past while the future awaits the baton of continuity or otherwise from the present. No living nation or tribe or even individuals can dream of a realizable future without a veritable present based on a memorable experience of the past. The web of life is like a magnet which no iron element can bypass on its way to ornamental glory.

     

    A Fabric of Uncertainty

    Today, against what ought to be a valuable heritage, Nigeria is, sadly passing through a fabric of uncertainty as she rolls back the fibres of the future into those of the present and weaves both together into the vestiges of the past. Such is a sign of a dead nation waiting to be interned. What kind of  war is not ravaging Nigeria today, in spite of Allah’s abundant bounties? The forces of the present seem to have connived with those of the past to jointly engage in wrestling down the future with a determination to deprive the generations yet unborn of any hope of decent existence.

    For decades, Nigeria has been forced by the so-called leaders to engage in political, economic and social warfare without winning any. Now, a religious dimension is being desperately and demonically added to those wars for pecuniary purpose.

    Thus, like a billow vigorously storming around at the instance of an invisible tempest, a melee of religious hullabaloo engendered by a vicious political Pandora has virtually turned Nigeria into a land of curses. God! Where are we going from here?

     

    Purpose of Religion

    By its design and intents, religion is supposed to be, not only a panacea for all human psychological ailments, but also a soothing balm for any spiritual ache. Ironically, however, religion, in Nigeria, today, has been turned into a poison   without any provision for an antidote. And through our usual   attitude tagged Nigerian factor, we seem to be bent on swallowing the pill of that poison without minding its dangerous repercussion.

     

    The Factors of Ignorance

    The factors that culminated in what we now variously call religious commerce, religious   militancy or extremism or fanaticism or terrorism, emanated only from the yoke of ignorance which bad governance has perennially incubated in readiness for hatching. And, could anything have influenced bad governance as much as ignorance? Yet, ignorance would not have had a role to play in our religious or political lives if we had demonstrated the will to genuinely follow the tenets of our religions and learned from the lessons of history without banking on sentimental assumptions and fallacious rumours.

     

    History as a Teacher

    History as a teacher always has a lesson in its kitty to teach those who are ready to learn from time to time. But, unfortunately, most human beings, especially Nigerians, refuse to learn any lesson from history and the price is what we are paying today.

     

    Reminiscence

    In 1962, Nigeria’s Governor General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (who later became Nigeria’s first President in 1963), paid a three day official courtesy visit to the then Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, in Kaduna. Dr Azikiwe was accompanied by his wife, Flora. The host Premier mobilized all the paraphernalia of office in honour of his guests whom he accorded an unprecedentedly flamboyant hospitality. The three days visit enabled those leaders’ wives to become so familiar with each other that Flora also invited the Bellos to the East on a similar visit. By the time the visit ended, Dr. Azikiwe had become so much impressed that at the point of departure he held Ahmadu Bello’s hands and gently pleaded with him to “please let us forget our differences”.

    In response to that emotional but infatuating gesture, Sir Ahmadu Bello said in an equally gentle, baritone voice: “No sir! Rather than forgetting our differences, let us understand them. I am a Muslim from the North. You are a Christian from the South. It is only by identifying and understanding those differences meaningfully that our friendliness can truly blossom and endure”. There and then, Dr. Azikiwe nodded in agreement with his host’s logic and accepted the fact that one could not forget what has not been identified and understood. The lesson to learn from this experience is that of mutual understanding without pretentiously sweeping anything under the carpet. That is the principle upon which the marriage of political strange fellows who find themselves in a joint government is often based in Nigeria. It is also the principle upon which partnership of many Nigerian businessmen and women is based despite their cultural incompatibility. But that principle is not applied to Religion in Nigeria despite the existence of a body called Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC). And, this is because of easy but dubious access to cheap wealth by certain fraudulent charlatans who are greedily masquerading in the cassock of religion and parading themselves as   religious leaders.

     

    Stages of Ignorance

    For thousands of years, peoples of all races and tribes across the world thrived vaingloriously on cultural ignorance while attributing their calamities to mysterious forces and blaming such mysteries on what they called witchcraft. In the past, here in Africa, millions of children were forced to die in infancy, by their own parents, out of sheer ignorance, while the same parents turned round to blame what they called ‘ABIKU’ or ‘OGBANJE’ for the mass infanticide which they ignorantly engendered. With time, however, education and knowledge of science brought about the invention of various vaccines with which children were immunized against different diseases thereby giving those infants the   opportunity to survive. And, this has enabled us to know, today, that the mystery which we once called ‘ABIKU’ or ‘OGBANJE’ was a euphemism for ignorance in African mythology of those days.

    Now that the days of cultural ignorance seem to be over, Nigerians have devised another means of restiveness by shifting to religious ignorance which enables them to replace the infanticide of the yore with modern day genocide through terrorism and banditry. It is hoped that one day, real education and not mere literacy will also help us to overcome the spectre of religious ignorance and propel our country to the progressive pedestal on which she ought to have been dwelling for long.

     

    Qur’anic Testimony

    If it had pleased the Almighty Allah to make all human beings one single race with one colour, one tongue and one religion, He would have done so without receiving any query from any quarters. But as the undisputable Omnipresent and Omnipotent entity, His decision to diversify His creatures cannot be faulted because it is from that diversity that all creatures have consistently derived unfettered benefits. In the world today, there are different races and tribes of human beings with different colours, languages and cultures each functioning as predestined and, yet they all interact positively with one another to the benefit of all and sundry.  This is in accordance with the words of Allah in Chapter 49 verse 13 of the Qur’an thus: “Oh mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and classified you into races and tribes that you may interact positively with one another (and thereby draw from the advantages therein). Verily, the most honourable among you before Allah are the most pious ones. Allah is All-knowing and most acquainted with all things”. Q. 49:13

     

    Other Creatures

    What is true of human beings in the above quoted Qur’anic verse is equally true of other creatures. For instance we can all see that on a single   plot of arable land on which a variety of plants may grow to form an orchard but each plant will stand out with different foliages and fruits. Some of those fruits may be sweet, some may be bitter and some may be sour. Some may be fruitful and some may be fruitless. Some may be trees of gargantuan posture while others may be ordinary legumes. Yet they are all fed by the same soil, watered by the same rain and photosynthesized by the same sun. Their different foliages, sizes, heights and tastes notwithstanding, they all function effectively and advantageously according to the purpose for which they are created. In the ecosystem, no tree in an orchard will ever accuse another of bearing fruits different from its own and no animal will blame another for carrying a feature or for wearing a colour different from its own. No whale will ever denigrate even a fingerling in the ocean for sharing the same water with it. Ditto the world of birds, reptiles, and that of insects.  Even as plants, animals, aquatics, reptiles, birds and insects, those creatures know that for everything Allah does there is a reason which may not be instantly known but will become known later. It is only among human beings that discrimination and segregation exist, based on ignorance.

     

    Parable of Religion

    We can also compare the above analogy to a situation inside a football stadium where there is a variety of sections such as State Box for the upper class, State Box Extension for the Middle Class and popular side for the lower class. At the entrance of the stadium, each person obtains a ticket according to his or her financial ability which determines his status. And that qualifies him for a seat in any of the sections in the stadium, according to the status of the ticket obtained. Without prejudice to the categories of the tickets they obtain, all the spectators in the stadium are authorised to watch the match for which they have paid. If at the end of the match however, a spectator, who was privileged to sit in the State Box, turns round to say that another spectator, who sat at the popular side of the stadium, did not watch the match, others around them will sarcastically conclude that something might have gone wrong with the psyche of the accuser. The positions from which those spectators watched the match might be different but the fact remains that they all watched the same match. That is the parable of religion in the lives of individual human beings.

     

    The Mission of Religion

    In Islam, all revealed religions are like an embassy established by a nation in another nation to strengthen her diplomatic relation with the host nation. The Ambassadors appointed to manage such embassy may be changed from time to time just like the foreign policy which guides those ambassadors, but the embassy remains intact, barring any unforeseen circumstances. So is the case with the Prophets of Allah. They might have come at different times and from different lands with different tongues. They might have brought different books revealed in different languages but their mission was one and the same because their Creator who appointed them as Ambassadors is only one and He cannot be pluralized. Muslims believe that all the Prophets and Messengers who have come into the world to guide mankind were from one and the same God who created the universe. Thus, Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael) Ishaq (Isaac), Musa (Moses), Daud (David), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) as well as others who preceded them or came in-between them brought the same message of monotheism through which mankind was counselled to worship one God and be upright in conduct.

    In Qur’an Chapter 2 verse 285, Allah admonishes Muslims against discriminating among His Apostles thus: “The Apostle of Allah, Muhammad, (SAW) believes in what has been revealed to him by his Lord, and so do all the (Muslim) faithful. They all believe in Allah and His Angels, His Books as well as His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say ‘We hear and obey. Grant us your forgiveness oh Lord! To you we shall all return”.

     

    Religious Rivalry

    As a Muslim, you cannot believe in one of those Apostles and disbelieve in others. And you cannot believe in one of the revealed Books while disbelieving in others. That is why no true adherent of Islamwill ever express foul language against the person of Jesus or blame the misdemeanour of a Christian on Christianity as some Nigerian Christians do against the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Islam as a religion when they accidentally have an unpleasant encounter with a misbehaving Muslim as if there are no misbehaving Christians in Nigeria.  Were Nigerian Muslims also to bring such a disgruntled rivalry into religion especially in their propagations, the country called Nigeria would have probably been long forgotten.

     

    Unity of God

    Although the modalities for worshipping God may differ from faith to faith and from sanctuary to sanctuary, this does not change the course of their faith in only one God. Thus, the rivalry between Muslims and Christians, especially, in Nigeria, over who is spiritually right or wrong is a product of ignorance.

     

    Similarities

    As taught by Christianity and Islam through their  revealed  Books, respectively, the areas of life that need our cooperation are by far more comprehensive than those in which we differ. For instance, both the Bible and the Qur’an counsel humanity to worship one God. They preach good deeds to neighbours and other fellow human beings, publicly and privately, irrespective of religious lineage. They advocate good care for our parents, our children, the aged ones amongst us and the handicapped. They urge kindness to our spouses, forgiveness for our offenders, leniency with our adversaries and magnanimity in victory to the vanquished. They admonish us against cheating and any form of corruption. They forbid theft, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and above all the killing of fellow human beings, extra-judicially, for whatever reason. They also warn us against provocation, aggression, oppression, exploitation and transgression even as they emphasize the ephemerality of this world and the eventuality of the hereafter. In all these, we have a common affinity to jointly guard us.

     

    Dissimilarities

    The few areas in which we differ are abstract and quite personal. They are not areas on which human beings are given the power to pass judgement. Only the Almighty God can judge on them. Such are the areas which we believe will pave our ways into the Paradise. But since paradise is for individuals and not for religious blocks why are we fighting each other as religious bodies on the basis of belief or disbelief? After all, the journey to Paradise or Hell is a matter of choice for every individual. And no one can tell with precision who will go to Paradise or go to Hell. Such is the prerogative of God which He has not assigned to any human being and which no human being can and should arrogate to himself or herself except one who wants to play God.

     

    Perception of God

    As an adherent of a religion, you can only perceive your God according to your faith and that should not cause any rancour between you and adherents of any other religion. As Nigerians, we dwell in the same country, eat the same foods, drink the same water, wear similar dresses, trade in the same markets, share the same offices and spend the same money. Our children attend the same schools, write the same examinations and obtain the same certificates. We intermarry across tribes and ethnicities as well as religions. All these form a stronger bond that ought to unite us much more than the abstract ones which often threaten to tear us apart. In a situation where the factors of life that unite us grossly surpass those that divide us will it not be stupid to relinquishunity and cooperation for the adoption of satanic animosity and ruinous antagonism?

     

    Observation

    With the official formation of an interfaith group called NIREC, it had been thought that religion in Nigeria would be the last bastion of hope that could pave way for a future of harmony, not only in the sphere of religion but also in the social and political spheres of life as well. But unfortunately that noble thought is now rapidly being turned into an unwarranted despair as the agents of Satan are becoming more aggressively combative   against peaceful coexistence just to gain personal ephemeral life in which they would ride in executive jets and regale in exclusive mansions to the detriments of the ignorant congregations which they exploit to the marrows. If we could settle any rift with an external country like Cameroon, we should be to settle any internal rift among ourselvesfor the purpose of peace and posterity.

     

    Bless Nigeria!

     

     

  • Familiar. Predictable. Avoidable

    Familiar. Predictable. Avoidable

    Segun Gbadegesin

     

    FAMILIAR. Not in the sense that everyone does it. But it is not unusual and there are copious examples in global and national history of individuals–tag them with any label–rebel, revolutionary, reformer, militant–taking up a cause larger than themselves. The cause of a battered people, a colonized people, an oppressed people.

    Moses of Israel was one. Barabbas, the rebel was another. Even when the cause seemed insane and the outcome tragic, they persisted. Moses succeeded, though he himself didn’t get to the Promised Land. Barabbas failed but avoided a punishment of death. Jesus, the Messiah who preached peace and accommodation, was crucified in Barabbas’s place. Ironic!

    Before Dr. King, there was John Brown, the militant abolitionist who, from Kansas to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, rebelled violently against the enslavement of black people. He was easily defeated, arrested, and condemned to death by hanging. Even at the point of death, Brown was unrepentant. Assured of the justice of his cause, he predicted a more violent end to slavery. Shortly after his death, civil war to end slavery broke out.

    At only 28, Dr. King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), launching his nonviolent struggle for civil rights. He was denounced, not only by the government of the day and southern Whites, but also by White evangelical ministers of God, who were supposed to be his coworkers in the vineyard of a just God. He persisted; though like Moses, he never reached the Promised Land. But killed at only age 39, what he accomplished can only be a dream for some who lived beyond 100.

    Closer to home, this republic that we guide so jealously against disintegration would not have been freed from the bondage of imperialism but for the nationalists, men and women of various backgrounds, who refused to be silenced as they fought oppression and colonial racism. Herbert Macaulay, the father of Nigerian nationalism, didn’t live to see his dream of an independent Nigeria fulfilled. But with his resistance and suffering, he laid the groundwork which inspired a new generation of nationalists and freedom fighters, including Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Aminu Kano, Anthony Enahoro, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, among others.

    Military adventurism in Nigeria punctuated her journey as a democratic republic in 1966. Welcomed as a corrective regime by many at the time, it quickly turned out to be a monster that had to be caged if the country was not to be denied its destiny. Conscientious patriots stood up to be counted. They spoke out, without minding their own security, against the elongation of military rule.  Many, such as Baba Adesanya, Bola Ige, Gani Fawehinmi, the Kuti Brothers, Frederick Fasehun, Kudirat Abiola and M.K.O. Abiola are no longer with us. But the memories of their heroism linger.

    The point of the foregoing excursion into history is to make a crucial point. For whatever reason, from whatever motivation, individuals or groups of individuals, have always risen to the occasion to confront societal problems and crises. They may not have had any special training. They may not even have thought deeply about their mission. They may not even have considered the outcome for themselves or for society. Sunday Igboho is not an aberration.

    Fanon observed that “each generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” This observation appears to speak to generational mission, not to individual members of the generation. However, the sentence that follows that remark makes clear that Fanon is self-referencing: “As for we who have decided to break the back of colonialism, our historic mission is to sanction all revolts, all desperate actions, all those abortive attempts drowned in rivers of blood.” In other words, end colonialism by all means necessary.

    Reformers, revolutionaries, and activists with a conscience may not get it right. They may lack the intellect that others proudly assert a claim to. They may be loathed by the society they try to help. Indeed, they may be self-conceited. This is all possible. What they lay claim to is a stubborn determination to right what they perceive to be a wrong.

    Predictable. In view of the historical anecdotes above, the emergence of radical reformers in our midst shouldn’t be a surprise. What is surprising is that we didn’t see it coming. More specifically, in light of the tension in our national life in the past four to five years, with tales of woe about kidnapping, banditry and clashes between farmers and herders across the land, shouldn’t we have seen it coming that a “savior” (or saviors) would emerge as a Messiah to save his/her/their people from their powerful oppressors?

    The stories have been heart wrenching. Who knows if they are all true! But they have mostly gone unchallenged by the authorities. A young woman and her fiancé were ambushed as they drove home from the farm. The fiancé was short dead. The woman was whisked to the bush. They knew her fiancé was dead, yet they demanded a ransom from her and didn’t release her until it was paid. A man received the PhD from abroad, returned to his homeland, and set up a thriving farm. He was ambushed and murdered. Hardly a week goes by without a story of kidnap for ransom.

    In the height of this gloom and doom, governors of the southwest established the Amotekun security network. It is still too early to determine its effectiveness. But the stories of bloodshed have not diminished. Communities are consumed with grief and restlessness with no answers coming from the authorities. When will it end?

    Avoidable.  There are three layers to this. First, an adequate national policy on grazing that seeks a fair balance between the right of herders and the right of farming communities is a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence. Hitherto, this has been elusive and it is a huge failure on the part of government. It should be clear by now that open grazing is an unsustainable practice. It is neither good for the cattle nor for the herders. It has certainly proved to be a disaster for farmers.

    Fulani herdsmen have always been part of the fabric of the life of many communities in the southwest and across the nation. They coexisted peacefully with their host communities. There were intermarriages and the cultural mix was a rare blessing. The problem is the new breed of foreign herders who have also been hostile to the domestic herders. This suggests that both farmers and domestic herders have a common foe who should be confronted. Is government ready to assist them with effective policies?

    Second, the complaints have been too numerous to ignore. But if the authorities had been doing anything about them, the communities weren’t aware. In some cases, they even felt that the authorities were in cahoots with the criminals tormenting them. Leveling with the people and carrying them along the phases of investigation would have prevented the turn of events leading to January 22.

    The real boss in a democracy is the citizen. We recognize the boss by letting them know what we are doing on their behalf. We let them know that we are investigating a case that affects them. We hold regular press briefings. And in case of horrific events, we get out in front and commiserate with the nation. Then we would avoid the boss thinking that we have abandoned them. Or worse, that we are on the side of their oppressors.

    Third, Sunday Igboho took up the matter of Igangan at least two weeks before Friday 22nd of January. On Friday, January 15, he and his group issued an ultimatum. For a week, nothing appeared to happen. Then, on Friday, January 22, he led a protest rally to Igangan. The video circulating after the rally showed a huge crowd of mostly youths. There was no presence of security forces. He left the place without any incidents. It was later after he and his group left that the arson occurred. This could have been avoided were there adequate security presence during and after the rally.

    A box-load of blames to share!

     

    • For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

  • Over to 46

    Over to 46

    By Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Four years of nightmarish experience have come to an end. To the relief of millions of citizens and residents, the light at the end of the dark tunnel has finally appeared. As a boil is most painful when it’s about to burst, so has the last couple of months felt for America in particular, and the world in general.

    The breach of the Capitol was the final act of the Big Lie. In the end, some, certainly not a significant number, of the enablers have had it and won’t take it anymore. Top leaders of the Republican battle snubbed Trump’s invitation to an early morning sendoff party which would have caused them to miss Biden’s inaugural morning mass.

    The Capitol riot by White Supremacist terrorists, fearful of their imminent loss of power in the highest office of the citadel of democracy, was itself, however, a monumental breach of democracy. This obviously meant little or nothing to the mob, many of who claimed to have answered the call of dear leader. They couldn’t bear to witness the loss of privilege that they felt entitled to and which they seemed to have enjoyed in the last four years.

    Truly, they had all the fun till the end. They acted with impunity. They carried their guns and ammunition to sacred places. They attacked peaceful protesters. They vandalized Black Lives Matter (BLM) banners. And when they terrorized the Capitol, violently attacked police officers, and ransacked offices for souvenirs, they were treated with utmost respect to the amazement of everyone who witnessed police response to peaceful BLM rallies last summer. Surely, all animals are not equal.

    America is a divided nation. She has always been since the beginning of the republic. Early colonizers wiped out all but a few remnants of Native Americans. White settler terrorists invaded Africa, captured Africans as slaves, treated them as cargoes on the way back, tossed the weak and sick ones into the sea, and dealt harshly with survivals on various plantations. For at least 250 years. Even after the official proclamation of emancipation in 1863, White resistance ensured that Blacks continued to be oppressed and tyrannized. Physical violence, including hanging and lynching, was the norm in the era of Jim Crow. No matter what patriotic efforts Blacks made to enjoy civil liberties, they were rebuffed.

    With White economic interests in jeopardy, they had to fight a revolutionary war of independence against Britain and this united them against a common enemy. But the irony of fighting a war of independence for themselves while keeping other human beings in shackles didn’t prick their warped conscience until it became clear that the cost of enslaving Africans was becoming too expensive compared with the benefits.

    This economic reality, combined with the moral voices of abolitionists, succeeded in getting the attention of the better angel of Abraham Lincoln and his Republican Party with their campaign to end slavery. This pitted them against southern states which prioritized White supremacy over moral niceties or Christian platitude. Incidentally, these were the states that sent Christian missionaries to Africa while they engaged in the most brutal treatment of Africans they held in captivity. It took a civil war to end slavery.

    The Lincoln-led Republican administration ended slavery and appealed to the better angels of our common humanity for unity in pursuit of freedom and democracy, the government of people by the people and for the people which Lincoln prayed will never depart from the face of the earth. Shortly after, he was killed, and while democracy has outlasted many of its foes, it has gone through hiccups of various levels of seriousness, usually imperceptible, sometimes clearly obvious, over the centuries since Lincoln, often with Blacks and other minorities as victims in the hands of mighty White supremacists.

    In the era of Trump, however, subtlety gave way to crudity and since 2017, White Supremacists reveled in their new limelight. With unquantifiable support from the highest office in the land, conspiracy theorists flourished, targeting liberals and civil right activists, culminating in the final onslaught against democracy itself.

    Knowing that the polls were not particularly kind to him, Trump fed his White nationalist supporters with lies about mail-in ballots, about dead people voting, about machine malfunctions, and about the conspiracy of democrats and the deep state to take steal the election from him. The result was the breach of the Capitol which even one of his staunchest supporters, Mitch McConnell, has concluded was “provoked by the president.”

    Enters Joe Biden as the 46th President. His work is cut out for him. How would he return civility and empathy to American politics? How would he unite a country in which a third of the population have no respect for the truth? How would he reconcile a vast majority of would-be autocrats who are averse to the ideal of one person one vote? And how would he go about the business of governance when, despite his securing 7 million more popular votes than Trump, and 74 more electoral votes than his opponent, 74 million Trump voters still won’t recognize him as president, and his defeated predecessor just skipped his inauguration?

    Characteristically, Joe Biden appears unperturbed. With more than 44 year experience in Washington DC as Senator and Vice President, he is poised to demonstrate, not only the value of experience, but also the reservoir of moral fiber that has been his forte over the decades.

    Ordinarily we should expect that with the unraveling of Trump’s presidency at the 11th hour, and the smart escape to the hills by his former enablers, Biden’s task should be less onerous. But we are in an era of alternate reality. And Biden will need tremendous goodwill and support from the more than 81 million who voted for him and many more who wish that they did.

    Thus far, he has started well. On the eve of his inauguration, after paying tribute to his native Delaware and the memory of Beau his loving son, he departed for Washington, and his first act there was to honor the memory of more than 400,000 Americans lost to Covid-19 and to empathize with their loved ones. It was a moving ceremony celebrating life and showing the nation the kind of president he planned to be.

    With a string of substantive and symbolic Executive Actions on Day 1, Biden has shown that he is determined to restore American presence and leadership of the struggles of the 21st century world: Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, economic depression, racial equality, and environmental issues. His Inaugural Address revealed his determination to restore decency in governance and appeal for unity as an essential requirement to confront the nation’s challenges.

    The theme of unity and peace, justice and truth, decency and accountability, runs through the Biden Address. “Without unity”, he says, “there is no peace.” He also knows, of course, that a complementary requirement is justice, without which there also cannot be peace. And, as important as peace and unity are, accountability for wrong done to the image of the republic and its constitution and the crimes committed in the wake of the insurrectionists’ attack on the Capitol, cannot be discountenanced.

    In light of the national experience over the last four years, Biden’s promise to “defend the truth and defeat the lies” is a recognition of the sanctity of the mandate that he has received and the oath he swore. For the mark of leadership depravity is to engage in lies big and small. The message of a lying president to citizens is that they are either too weak to manage the truth or too unintelligent to detect the lie.

    Toasting the triumph of democracy at its most fragile hour, Biden welcomed “America’s day.. in history and hope, of renewal and resolve” and resolved to tackle the most serious of the nation’s problems, including the pandemic which has killed more than 400,000, economic downturn, and growing disunity and racial intolerance. These are not easy challenges. But if anyone can do it, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. who has faced enormous personal challenges in life and met them standing, can.

    Godspeed, Joe, America’s 46th President!

     

  • Two models of politics

    Two models of politics

    Segun Gbadegesin

     

    POLITICS is one area of social life in which shared accountability is critically required but is embarrassingly missing. The social contract theory justifies the state based on this idea of shared accountability between the state and the individual. The individual foregoes absolute freedom and the state assures him or her of security and welfare. Do your part and I do mine.

    On this original foundation of shared accountability, others follow. With the emergence of modern representative government, citizens, in their capacity as voters, choose their representatives based on their understanding of their interests and who presents an acceptable platform to promote them. “I vote for you to take care of my interests.” “Thank you; you can be sure that I have your back.” Thus goes an implicit contract between the two.

    The successful execution of this implied contract, like every other contract, presupposes the vigilance of both parties with keen attention to its terms, the most important of which is the need for active participation by all in the political process. In what follows, I discuss two models of politics, one that conforms to this need, and one that doesn’t.

    In the first republic, the Action Group government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo introduced a system of politics and governance that took seriously the active participation of the masses of its members. Not one to take the support of citizens for granted, Chief Awolowo canvassed for votes from local government to local government, telling the people the truth about his proposed policies and programs. He also told them what to expect as well as what the government expected from them.

    First, Awolowo assured the people that the party was theirs and they had responsibility for its success. Everyone who cared had a role to play from region to local government and ward levels. Members paid membership fees and were duly registered in their wards. Organizing Secretaries were appointed across the country. You could feel the enthusiasm of the members believing the success of the party was their success. This was what sustained the party even at the height of repression by the NNDP, during when a majority still retained their membership of the Action Group. It was why the party, reborn as UPN, emerged as the ruling party in the LOBOO states in the second republic. When you let people own an organization, they give their best for its success.

    Second, however, it is not enough to give people ownership. It is also important to show that you care for their welfare in terms of the programs and policies that you put together. And on this score, the Awolowo approach was also spot on. This Sunday is the 66th anniversary of the Free Primary Education program of the Awolowo government in Western Region and it is one program that exemplifies the model of government that I find admirable. It was for the good of the people, part of the philosophy of Freedom for all, Life more abundant.

    Before the program was introduced, there was detailed planning. Key members of the party, including the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, were involved. The planning included an analysis of the anticipated number of children, number of classrooms, number of teachers, and the overall cost of the program. In addition to the cost, they already figured out the overall benefits, not just for the region but for the nation. With the balance of benefits overwhelmingly positive, they decided to forge ahead. And to get the people involved.

    Getting people involved meant telling the truth about what was going to be their expected contribution in terms of taxation. The opposition took advantage of this truthfulness with conspiracy theories about how the government was going to deny parents of the services of their kids on the farm. Unfortunately, it worked, and the ruling party lost at the polls. But this didn’t deter the Action Group. It did a better job explaining the benefits of the program and secured the buy-in of the people. The program was a huge success.

    Third, in this model, political leaders showed that they were exemplary leaders with integrity and transparent sacrifice. Many of them were self-made with modest beginnings and modest means of livelihood. They refrained from vulgar ostentation. Therefore, the people saw them as an extension of themselves. Many of the legislators and ministers in the Awolowo administration were school teachers, headmasters, and school principals. Many served as part-time members of parliament holding on to their day jobs. Their politics was people-oriented.

    There is a second model of politics and governance in which those three considerations are tossed out and abandoned.

    For instance, instead of an active involvement of the people in politics, in this second model, only political leaders matter and whoever has the “structure” is the master. Whatever makes leaders lose control is frowned upon. Thus, membership registration is for the masters to control. Due to a new culture of dependency, the people themselves don’t bother about their obligation for the success of the party. They will own it if it succeeds; if not, they will join a successful party. In any case, without a semblance of ideological orientation, what matters is to be with the ruling party. It would be unfair however to blame this on the people. They only play the deck of cards they have.

    The people are also neither involved in governance nor in making contributions to the workings of government. While salary earners in public and private sectors cannot avoid paying tax, only a few self-employed and business people voluntarily pay tax. We are in an era of representation without taxation. But this does damage to the expectations of the original contract. When you fail to discharge your own responsibilities, you cannot expect the other side to the contract to fulfill their part. Thus, only a few have the right to complain about waste or theft of tax-payer money.

    Again, however, many political leaders hardly raise issue with this. They don’t need too much involvement of people because their model of politics is a business model. In this model, the politician is businessman-shareholder. He or she is an investor with capital. He or she only needs workers to help realize his or her dream. It is consistent with this model for the politician to have a structure, to invest in the structure, to have people work for him or her.

    This is the language of our electoral politics: Mo fe ki o sise fun mi. (I want you to work for me.) This personalization of politics is responsible for the emergence of personality cults. There is no ideology that brings political activists together. It is only an assembly of self-seeking pragmatists jostling for political power. Towards what end? Your guess is as good as mine.

    This is why our politics has become such an expensive enterprise. Surely, the people are also not innocent bystanders in their marginalization. They have evolved tragically from patriotic citizens of the First Republic giving their moral and material support to the causes that they believe in to the dependent parasites of the present, selling their votes, and thus the future of their children, to the highest bidder.

    Some would suggest that I have engaged in a game of blaming the victim here. But no. Again, it takes two to tango. I do not deny that there is poverty now. But there was more griping poverty in the land in the 50s and 60s. People didn’t sell their votes or birthright for a pot of pottage.

    The reality now is that greed has overcome people’s psyche.  We have not reconciled our desires to the reality of our means. And business politicians know this very well and often use it to their advantage in an ungodly and grossly unethical manner.

    Toward the maximization of their interests, the Machiavellian ones would double down on denying people the means of livelihood until they need them for elections. At election time, these helpless folks are hired for various schemes from campaign aides to thugs only to be discharged after election. It’s the legacy of the business model of politics.

     

     

     

     

     

  • America’s riddance of evil

    America’s riddance of evil

    By FEMI ABBAS

     

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

     

    Monologue

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

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

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

     

    Preamble

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

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

     

    Excerpts

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

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

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

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

     

    Excerpts

    An excerpt from that article goes thus in part:

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

    Incidentally, Donald

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

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

     

    The Meaning of Trump

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

     

    History as a teacher  

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

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

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

     

    Irony of life

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

     

    The reality of Allah’s existence

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

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

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

     

    Future shock 

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

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

     

    Factors of influence

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

    “Turning and turning round in the widening gyre

    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold….”

     

    Observation

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

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

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

     

    History’s role tomorrow

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