The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Absurdities in the age of COVID-19

    Absurdities in the age of COVID-19

    Segun Gbadegesin

    In the ageless wisdom of the ancestors, a o ri ru eyi ri, koro o le su oloro ni: Nothing is completely new, and any expression of surprise on a matter brought to our attention can only be to embarrass or overwhelm the concerned person. Notice that the subject pronoun is first-person plural. The reference is to the collective experience of the group and the point is that, to them, nothing is new.

    But COVID-19 is new, as the name, “Novel Coronavirus” demonstrably suggests. Could the ancestors be wrong then? Of course not. We have seen this kind of thing before. In the first place COVID-19 is a virus. We have seen many viruses before. In the second place, it is also a Coronavirus, and we have seen Coronaviruses many times over. In the third place, it is a pandemic, and this is not the first time we have seen a pandemic.

    The 1918/1919 influenza was a virus and a pandemic. It navigated the Atlantic, docked at our seaport and found its way to the hinterland killing about half a million of our ancestors. That was more than a century ago. Worldwide, it infected about 500 million people and killed more than 50 million. A scholarly paper in 2006 by Jeffery Taubenberger and David Morens named it “the Mother of all Pandemics”.

    Just as pandemics are not new, so are conspiracy theories and myths about them not new. The 1918 influenza pandemic was termed “Spanish flu” as if it originated from Spain. But that was contestable. As Richard Gunderman explains in Giving Compass, the Spanish label stuck because Spain was the only European country that did not hide the occurrence of the flu among her populace, whereas other nations, including Germany, Austria, France, U.K. and even the United States, which were all involved in World War 1, suppressed the extent of the flu in their countries so as not to encourage their enemy combatants.

    The ongoing World War 1 at the time became an easy target for conspiracy theorists with Allied Powers blaming the flu on biological weapons spread by Central Powers, using German submarines. And just as now (considering what’s going on our streets), the 1918 flu was used by many as an excuse for crime and violence in many communities.

    Fast forward to COVID-19 and, again, nothing is new. The virus has infected hundreds of thousands worldwide and tens of thousands have succumbed to its terrible impact. While it remains true that COVID-19 is an equal opportunity attacker, it is also true that its toll is increasing disproportionately among vulnerable populations, which is again a reminder of the gross inequality of access to healthcare. It is also exposing the reality of the different outcomes of serious governmental and public health intervention versus incompetent and clueless approaches. Across nations, we see the difference; and within national borders, we also identify strength and weakness.

    Of course, one commonality between the 1918 flu pandemic and COVID-19 is the ubiquity of conspiracy theories and fake news. And whereas in 1918, there was a limited means of transmitting them, fake news and conspiracy theories have since evolved with the explosion of mainstream and social media across the globe. And these media have been deployed most effectively in the service of fake news, sometimes with dangerous outcomes. Thankfully, these developments have not derailed governments, medical teams, including researchers and public health officials, from their mission to find a vaccine and cure.

    One of the first conspiracy theories floated this time was the connection drawn between 5G mobile technology and COVID-19. The claim is that 5G has been deployed to transmit coronavirus to unsuspecting consumers of mobile technology. Naturally, people are afraid and, innocently, community do-gooders take it upon themselves to prevent calamity happening to their neck of the wood. In Britain, mobile phone masts are set on fire as prevention. Recently, an online video message surfaced on Twitter showing a mobile phone mast in Lagos on fire with the narrator confessing that he did it and many more were to come.

    On one account of the theory, 5G technology weakens the immune system thus making one susceptible to COVID-19 attack. On another, the technology itself is a transmitter of the virus that causes COVID-19. We can see how this correlates with the 1918 theory of the transmission of the flu with submarines. It does not matter that scientists and technologists throughout the world have debunked this so-called connection.

    While 5G and every mobile technology use radio waves, these are not anywhere near the high frequency end of electromagnetic spectrum and therefore cannot cause any harmful effect on the immune system. Both 4G and 5G use radio waves. If we are not concerned about 4G, it is irrational to have concern about 5G. And if COVID-19 is occurring in communities and nations which have not deployed 5G technology, the connection between the virus and 5G is a myth that needs to be debunked.

    But why is the myth so prevalent such that not only some clerics but also politicians and celebrities have put their integrity on the line vouching for it? I have no idea except to attribute it to human proclivity to conspiracies. Meanwhile, China is moving on, launching research and development for a 6G mobile network while we complain about the danger to our health of its 5G technology.

    If it is natural to link disaster with the malevolent mindset of others trying to harm us, is it normal to also read mischief into the motive of those trying to help relieve the burden of the original disaster?  With their Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates have been in the forefront of an international effort to provide relief for disease-burdened communities throughout the world with a special focus on Africa. They have invested billions of dollars in vaccines against malaria and childhood diseases, including polio. They are so concerned about how Africa and other developing countries are impacted by any new pathogen and are not afraid to speak out.

    But speaking out could be misunderstood and misinterpreted. As soon as the outbreak of COVID-19 became known and it was decimating developed countries with their state of the art medical technology and public health facilities, my worry was how Africa would cope if it got here. I couldn’t fathom how dear homeland would deal with thousands of sick people needing ventilators in ICU settings. It was the same worry that Melinda Gates expressed in the interview that has now become a weapon of distraction in the hands of conspiracy theorists. How dare she predict disaster for Africa? Well, she is not in the business of predicting. She is in the business of calling attention to a reality that is not hidden from reasonable viewpoint. The point is to deal with it before it gets out of hand.

    The focus of a world that is concerned about defeating COVID-19 is two-fold: develop a vaccine and come up with a medical cure. Scientists are working hard on this two-pronged approach and the Gates Foundation is involved in both. But again, we are already hearing from conspiracy theorists about why we should be wary about their involvement. We are told that Bill Gates’s interest in vaccine development is not altruistic; that he has ulterior motives; that his vaccines have led to harm or death in some instances; and that he is going to use vaccine to track people.

    Fortunately, we live in a new world of instant fact-check, that is, if we are not lazy. As Snopes, a fact-checking website observes, there is no truth to any of these rumors, beside the fact that “Gates is interested in improving lives through medical research and vaccinations.” It is not true that he is being sued by India. Indeed, the 7 deaths attributed to vaccination supported by Gates but carried out by PATH had nothing to do with the vaccine. And as Saranac Spencer of FactCheck.org finds, while “The Gates Foundation has advocated for expanded testing (for COVID-19) and has funded vaccine research, “neither of those involves implanted microchips.” End of story.

  • It’s still a Good Friday

    It’s still a Good Friday

     

    Segun Gbadegesin

     

     

    ACCORDING to convention, today is Good Friday or Holy Friday or God’s Friday. And convention is what human beings create and stick to. It is our tradition of doing things and naming events. There is a paradox here.

    From the perspective of the Almighty God who ordained the birth and death of Jesus Christ, whatever He does is good, and that includes the sacrifice of an only son for the sake of His human creatures. But for us as humans, we tend to see things differently. We would not be humans if we didn’t. So, we consider death in whatever form or shape as bad.

    In the particular case of the death of Christ on the cross, it was not only the manner of the death but the intrigue that caused it that was extremely bad and evil. He was wrongly accused of treason and blasphemy. He was maltreated by his accusers. He was mocked. There was a palpable miscarriage of justice. Yet, in the midst of it all, he remained calm and cool. No curse word came from his mouth. He even admonished his disciple who resorted to violence to defend him.

    In that regard, the day on which his unjust killing occurred should be judged a bad day for all intents and purposes—that is, from our human point of view. If it happened to any of us, and we were in a position to pass judgment, we would curse the day it occurred. Therefore, if by convention we have come to recognize the day on which the Messiah was crucified as good, there better be a good explanation and justification.

    There is an explanation and, humanly speaking, it is a selfish one. For Christians, the death on the cross is even a happier and merrier occurrence than the birth in the manger because without it, salvation is impossible. Therefore, for the salvation of humans, Christ must die on the cross and resurrect from the grave. The intended consequence of death on the cross—the salvation of humans—is good. Therefore, the means to that consequence is good. Even the elders who prosecuted and judged Christ made the point that it is alright that one should die so that the many may be saved. It is a utilitarian reasoning.

    Let us agree that this is a valid reasoning and there is something good in the death on the cross and therefore this is indeed a Good Friday. Shouldn’t we also expect at least believers in the sacrifice that made possible the salvation of souls follow suit? Shouldn’t the example of Christ’s sacrifice be a model for leaders and followers at least in Christendom? His was a life of simplicity. His armor was truthfulness. He delivered a message of hope and redemption. He not only empathized with the poor, he also blessed them with sustenance. And while he abhorred sin, he did not reject sinners; he even dined with them.

    More than two thousand years after the supreme sacrifice of the one we claim to follow, many Christians, including some in the leadership rank of all stripes and collars have only paid lip service to the creed of the Messiah. They complicate what is a simple message of love and sacrifice. They are pretenders and impostors who draw crowds of sycophants through means other than Christ. They court satanic powers to attract membership to their congregation and expect the spirit of Christ to fall on them! They sell their halls of worship to the highest bidder and hope that the God who noticed and recognized the widow and her mite is not attentive. And while they condemn corruption from the pulpit, they are not ashamed to receive the bounties that corrupted hands deliver.

    No one preaches or expects perfection. Even the Messiah who reflected the perfection of God was humble enough to attribute perfection to God alone. But there is an expectation that spiritual leaders have the responsibility to lead by example and not just by words, in the observance of the teachings of Christ. Instead, in many congregations, the human inclination to categorize by rank and the promotion of inequality instead of the egalitarian teaching of Christ has been the order.

    They rank spiritual kinds, with some higher than others, and the concept of the priesthood of all believers is jettisoned. Christ taught his disciples that he was their only Teacher and they shouldn’t call anyone on earth teacher. He told them that their only Father was in heaven and they shouldn’t call anyone on earth Father. He taught them that whoever was greatest among them shall be their servant. And he demonstrated this by symbolically washing their feet.

    Christ lived a simple human life and was not a proud and haughty human. He dined with sinners. He drank with the lowliest. He had compassion on an adulterer without condoning adultery, and deftly dispensed an impeccable justice against her accusers. He revered the Sabbath day without worshipping it, which was one of the reasons he was rejected by the Pharisees.

    Today, unfortunately, however, many that claim to be his followers have substituted the Big-man philosophy of religion for the teachings of Jesus Christ. In this corrupt philosophy of religion, what really matters is how big the followership is, and how much power and resources they are able thereby to control. They speak publicly against the kingdom of darkness but secretly serve as ministers of that kingdom.

    No wonder that even as churches litter the nooks and crannies of our streets, the evils of cultism, kidnapping, and armed robbery are on the rise. Sure, we condemn the evils that eat at the soul of the individual perpetrators without harming others, but we condone those evils that harm others but benefit the perpetrator. While they condemn the specks in the eyes of others from bureaucrats to politicians, they cleverly hide the logs in their own eyes.

    On this holy remembrance of an otherwise evil day, which by convention we have come to regard as good because we believe that it was the moment our salvation was bought with the blood of the innocent Master, it behooves all Christians to honestly imbibe the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the cross. If we truly believe that He sacrificed his life so we can gain salvation, it is our obligation to make humanly possible sacrifices so the downtrodden, the rejected and forgotten in our midst may live a life that is dignified and decent. It is not the magnificence of a cathedral that matters; it is the spirit of giving that we imbibe in the hearts of men and women that God appreciates.

    In this stressful time of a global pestilence that has a devilish capacity to test our faith in various ways, the faithful have a responsibility to stand firm in the faith of the one who called them to discipleship; to be calming voices in the midst of the storm; to reassure a fear-stricken world of the omnipresence of the one who commanded the storm to be still. In doing so, however, we cannot afford to tempt God. Most importantly, in the spirit of the giving demonstrated on Calvary, there is nothing too much for us to give for that love that is beyond our understanding. And as he has directed us, we must do it for the lowliest among us. Not doing his will in this regard automatically earns his justifiable condemnation.

    So, yes, it is still a Good Friday, and thankfully so because the evil committed on this day more than two thousand years ago turned out to be good for humanity. This is especially because the crucified, dead, and buried Lord rose triumphantly from the dead on Easter morning! And our faith in the living God is renewed. Hopefully, we are worth the sacrifice.

    If the foregoing sounds like a sermon; it isn’t. It’s only a sober thought and reflection on our spiritual heritage in the age of ostentatious spirituality, an oxymoron in itself.*

     

    • An earlier version of this piece first appeared on this page on Good Friday 2013.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ailments and the Prophet’s prescriptions

    Ailments and the Prophet’s prescriptions

    By Femi Abbas

     

    Monologue

    AT At a gloomy time like this, when an invisible virus called Coronavirus and codenamed COVID-19 turns itself into a merciless biological ‘hurricane’ foraging the lives of humans and   threatening those lives with death, famine and poverty even as it changes hopes into forlorn, taking a retrospective view of the past and borrowing a formidable garland of experience that may serve as an armour of safety should be a matter of necessity.

    Now that the global focus is mainly on COVID-19, we can jointly seize the opportunity of the current global helplessness to share thoughts and ideas, through this forum, about the causes and effects of ailments generally as well as their possible prevention and cure.

    It is a fact, universally   acknowledged, that without ailments there would have been no need for medicaments. Incidentally, however, it is the combination of both   ailments and medicaments that prompted the idea of establishing certain healing institutions, in the primordial time, that came to be named hospitals in the contemporary time.

     

    Origin of Hospital

    The word hospital itself is a mediaeval English coinage that originated from the Latin word ‘hospes’ or ‘hospice’

    (meaning  guest) while the word ‘patient’, used to describe a health seeker, also came from the Latin word ‘Patior’ which means suffering. Thus, philologically, hospital means a place where suffering guests are given proper care for normal comfort of body system.

    Ironically, today, however, despite the ubiquity of hospitals in all nations and communities around the world, pandemics like COVID-19 randomly perch on the earth to, stubbornly, prove resistant to any synthetic antidote while rendering those hospitals helpless even as humanity grows incredibly restive with no cute assurance for rescue.

    In such a bewildering situation where this virus has become like a stormy rain   showering the entire world indiscriminately with acid water, will it not be effectively meaningful and rewarding to people of reason and foresight to seek a permanent solution than to keep scampering for temporary cover? That is what motivated yours sincerely to write this article for the benefit of today’s generation and that of tomorrow.

     

    Invention of Hospital

    The healing   institution   called hospital is not, in anyway, an invention of the modern time. It is rather as old as human ailments for which it was established even if it was crude primordially.  Whether for the purpose of prevention or that of cure, this institution had been in existence since the creation of man.

    As a mortal being, man was not created with freedom from ailments. And in a deeper philosophical understanding, it must be noted that ailments may not necessarily be an issue of mental or physical disturbance in human biological system.

    On the contrary, an ailment   may be of the mind as prompted by sheer imagination or postulation. For instance, the greatest ailment ever, in human life, is ignorance which requires sound and appropriate application of knowledge as a  potent antidote.

    One of the natural characteristics of mortal beings is to be ignorant of certain things at certain times. And that is what actually warrants the search for knowledge in various ways, by various means and at various times . But for that major factor in the nature of man, no reference to him as a mortal being   would have arisen.

    Thus, like in the primordial time, the contemporary   time is passing through mental, physical and psychological traumas for which a soothing balm of an appropriate medicament is a sine qua non.

     

    Classification of Medicaments

    Whether in the olden days or modern time, medicaments have had to be classified into natural and artificial segments. But because of the sophistication of the modern time, the one is said to be conventional while the other is known as synthetic.

    However, none of them enjoys the permanency of time and space in the absence of knowledge. It is with knowledge that ailments are diagnosed. It is also with knowledge that medicaments for their prevention or cure are prescribed. In other words, ailments of any type can only gain access to man in the absence of knowledge.

     

    Prophetic Medicament

    Incidentally, the most potent medicaments of all times, for all ailments, including contagious pandemics like COVID- 19, are the ones prescribed by the unlettered Prophet from Arabia, Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah and Aminah over 1,440 years ago.

    And those medicaments remain as validly potent today as they were when they were prescribed in the 7th century AD. And, they will continue to be as much potent throughout the remaining period of human existence on earth because they are unalterably backed up by divine authority.

     

    From Adam to Muhammad

    Prophet Muhammad’s prescription of medicament for ailment was a confirmation of the coded remedy primordially prescribed by the first human being called Adam.

    That primogenitor of mankind was the first human being divinely designated as a Prophet. From the Qur’anic historical record, Muslims came to learn that Adam was hardly one hour old as a creature when he started prescribing medicaments with which to heal ailments.

    He was commanded by Allah to teach the Angels the names of all creatures, which the Angels had confessed not to know when Allah asked them to name those creatures. Thus, by teaching the Angels those names, Adam became not only the teacher of Angels but also their Doctor and this was to spark off a fierce controversy, later in life, among intellectuals and certain professionals on what should be called the first human profession.

    While some scholars regard teaching as the very first profession of man, some professionals, especially those in the Information/Communication sector called journalists, believe that what Adam actually did by teaching the Angels the names of creatures, which they (the Angels) did not know, was more of information dissemination through communication than actual teaching.

    And, in fairness to the proponents of that argument, there can be no effective teaching without adequate information disseminated through communication. That is why nobody can claim to be a teacher or even a Doctor without strong ability to communicate effectively.

     

    Adam as a Doctor

    By teaching the Angels the names of all creatures through the guidance of Allah, what Prophet Adam really did was to cure the worst disease (ignorance) in those Angels. If Adam had not taught the Angels the names of all things on earth, by the grace of Allah, those Angels would have remained permanently ignorant.

    And if he had not healed the Angels of the disease called ignorance,  Allah’s subsequent messages to mankind, through His appointed Messengers and Prophets, would not have come to mankind through them.

     

    Natural and Artificial Medicaments

    In ordinary man’s view, medicament is the substance required to cure an ailment. Such substance may be natural or artificial. It may also be as crude as raw herbs or as sophisticated as surgery. Meanwhile, it is generally believed that a person does not need medication unless he is ill.

    That is why the Western conventional medicine of the cotemporary time is rather considered to be curative than preventive. As a norm, physical human illness resides in human body just as an abstract illness like ignorance makes man’s mind its abode. Today, in most cases, people neither go to the hospitals nor take medicine unless they fall sick or feel ill.

     

    Observer’s Analysis

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

    As an antidote for ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prescribed constant recitation and thorough understanding of the Qur’an. And, for body ailment, he prescribed honey and black seed.

     

    Prophetic Foresight

    Though unlettered, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known, by divine intuition, the different types of ailments and their required medicaments before he diagnosed two basic ailments and prescribed two fundamental medicaments for them.

    The first of those ailments is ignorance for which he prescribed thorough understanding of the Qur’an and obedience to the rules and regulations therein in one’s own interest. The second ailment is poverty. And, poverty in this case, is not lack of material wealth alone as many people erroneously believe. It is also lack of many things including health and conscience. Many people are victims of one of these ailments. Many more are victims of both.

     

    Prophetic Medicament

    As an antidote for the ailment of the mind which is ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prescribed constant recitation and   thorough understanding of Allah’s rules and regulations for mankind which is called the Qur’an. And, for body ailments, he (Prophet Muhammad) prescribed     two different medicaments. One is Han (ie honey) which is a product of an insect called ‘Bee’.

    The other is ‘Habbatus-Sauda’u’ otherwise known as Black Seed from a plant called ‘Nigella Sativa’. Honey is just one of the seven products of the Bee.

    But it is the most popular of them all. Black Seed, on the other hand, is a wonderful natural seed of a plant that is native to the Middle East, South Western Asia, North Africa   and some parts of Eastern Europe. This seed can come in three different forms: raw seed, powder and liquid.

     

    The Role of the Qur’an

    Qur’an is the encyclopedia of life which embodies and personifies knowledge in all its ramifications. There is nothing spiritual or mundane about knowledge that is not comprehensively contained in the Qur’an either in explanatory or coded form.

    Thus, by recommending the Qur’an as the medicament for ignorance, the Prophet simply provided a permanent cure for the ailment of the mind. And by prescribing Honey and Black Seed as antidotes for body ailments, he encouraged longevity through the strengthening of human immune system.

    It is, therefore, not by accident that Suratun-Nahl chapter 16 of the Qur’an, is named after the insect called Bee which heals human ailments with its products. The contents of Verse 68 in that chapter of the Qur’an read thus:

    “And your Lord revealed to the Bee (saying): Build your homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the hives which men shall make for you. Feed on every kind of fruit and follow the trodden path of your Lord’. From its belly comes forth a fluid of many hues as a healing substance for mankind. Surely in this, there is a sign for those who can reason….”

     

    Other Products of the Bee

    Contrary to general belief, honey is not the only product of the Bee. There are six others so far known to man. These are: Propolis; Pollen; Royal Jelly; Bees wax; Bee Venom and Bee Bread. More can still be discovered as research continues along this line in accordance with the Qur’anic challenge.

    Each of these products has specific functions in maintaining, sanitizing and immunizing the human hormone system. And each of them has tremendous health maintenance value in the life of man. But there is neither time nor space here to discuss them in full details now. A better chance may come in the near future.

     

    Composition of Honey

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

    Other ailments for which honey may be found appropriate as an antidote include staphylococcus, respiration, constipation, whitlow, burns and wounds.

     

    Comment

    After many centuries of disputing the above facts ignorantly, conventional Doctors finally came to realize that no medicine is as effective in sealing up surgical wounds and healing sores as honey.

    Thus, today, at the instance of the World Health Organization (WHO), honey is globally used for these purposes in most public hospitals in various parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive.

     

    Types of Black Seed

    Ordinarily, there are three ways in which Black Seed can be put to use for effective cure or prevention. One way is the chewing of raw Black Seed. Another is grinding it (Black Seed) into powder while the third is turning it into a lotion. But the three are not dissimilar in potency or efficacy. They are all the same.

     

    Governor Seyi Makinde’s Rescue

    While the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who tested positive to COVID-19 recently, was still writhing hopelessly in untold agony at the intensive care unit of a London hospital, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Nigeria was easily rescued from the claw of Coronavirus in Ibadan after about nine days in the isolation gulag of that deadly virus.

    It was a Muslim brother, Dr. Muyideen Olatunji that was said to have introduced the medicament to him at that precarious moment of his life after almost one and a half millennium that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prescribed Honey and Black Seed as potent medicaments.

    But, in fairness to Governor Makinde, he 0penly confessed to that effect and gave a public testimony in appreciation of that unique gesture. That is one of the contributions of Islam to the continuity of human life and the civilization of mankind.

     

    Rental Criers

    In another clime,  the marvelous gesture from Islamic spiritual foundation that rescued a COVID-19 infected Governor  would have been turned upside down as  some marauding  self-appointed ‘miracle merchants’ claiming to be prophets would have renamed the honey as ‘Anointing Lotion’ and the Black Seed as ‘Miracle Seed’ even when Prophet Muhammad who prescribed those medicaments did not attribute them to deceptive  miracle or false anointing.

     

    Conclusion

    That Prophet Muhammad (SAW) knew that much even as an unlettered person at a time when the world was evidently assailed by blatant ignorance and primitivism is a further confirmation of Michael Hart’s classification of him as the greatest human being that ever lived. What else will Nigerian charlatans who are parochially claiming to be prophets say to counter this axiomatic fact? God bless the readers of this column.

  • COVID 19: NSCIA’s Guidelines on Muslim corpses

    COVID 19: NSCIA’s Guidelines on Muslim corpses

    Femi Abass

    Beyond sheer lamentations and horrific fear of the consequential affliction of an invisible but dreadful virus codenamed ‘COVID 19’ that is currently terrifying the entire world with little regard  for technology and arrogance of power, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), held an emergency meeting of its General Purpose Committee (GPC), last Saturday, March 28, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to answer, according to Islamic tenets, certain fundamental questions arising from the seeming catastrophe engendered by COVID 19, as a way of guiding the Nigerian Muslim Ummah aright at this precarious period.

    As a bona fide member of NSCIA’s GPC, yours sincerely participated actively in that meeting and hence, the report here.

    The main agenda of the meeting which was held online, through teleconference, was to deliberate mostly on the aftermath of affliction by that virus and the next line of action. Specifically, that GPC meeting raised some curious questions on what could become of the corpses of Muslims who might die as a result of the ongoing ravaging affliction of Coronavirus. Some of the questions raised and answered at that meeting, which were   aimed at serving as guidelines for Nigerian Muslims will be highlighted shortly.

     

    Preamble

    Generally, in Islam, one of the major duties of the living Muslims is not just to safeguard the welfares of fellow living Muslims but also to take proper care of the remains of the deceased ones among them in a proper way and at the appropriate time. The obligatory duty of handling the corpses of Muslims has a traditional timeframe and a conventional methodology as divinely ordained. Thus, with the sudden outbreak of a seemingly genocidal disease called Coronavirus which has now turned virtually the entire world into a mega quarantine camp with implacable plague, Nigeria’s apex body of the Muslim Ummah, NSCIA, had to urgently spearhead   the task of facing that inevitable menace as a challenge to be quickly surmounted. And since the GPC of the NSCIA is a conglomerate of Muslim scholars and professionals in various fields of human endeavour, surmounting such a challenge could not have posed much problem to the Ummah.

     

    Relevant Questions

    While the rest of Nigerians and, indeed, the rest of the world, were busy wailing, moaning and running helter-skelter either to escape the scourge of COVID 19 death or to avoid its tragic impact on the living, the NSCIA quickly rose vertically to tackle the backlash of that scourge as a way of preventing a bigger calamity. Some of the questions raised and answered to avert a worse situation in that circumstance are as follows:

    • How can Muslims in Nigeria avert the affliction of COVID 19 calamity and escape its entailed termination of lives?
    • What will become of the corpses of Muslims who may fall victims of the foraging calamity called COVID 19?
    • How will such Muslim corpses be identified as Muslims in the midst of dead bodies?
    • Right now, who are those charged with the responsibility of handling those corpses according to Islamic norm?
    • How will Guslul Janazah be performed on the remains of those corpses without infection implications?
    • How will those corpses be shrouded according to Islamic law?
    • How will Salatul Janazah be observed on their bodies before burial?
    • Can such Salatul Janazah be observed congregationally as statutorily required at this period when congregations are forbidden?
    • How will Muslim corpses be buried in this critical situation without further spread of the viral disease that killed them?
    • Where, when and how will their burial take place without endangering the lives of their undertakers?

    There were many other questions.

     

    Prompt Action

    After a comprehensive deliberation on these and other questions relating to safety for the living and their possible economic survival under plague, the meeting resolved, as a matter of urgency, to first act promptly to ensure that Muslim corpses are buried as Muslims and according to Islamic regulation. This warranted an immediate contact with the Presidency through which a request for full involvement of understanding   Muslim Medical Doctors in the process of handling this aspect of COVID 19.

    And, the request was granted with automatic alacrity.

    Thus, Muslim Medical Doctors with good Islamic understanding were immediately nominated to be part of Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) at both the Federal and State levels. Now, all the 36 States of the federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory are duly represented in the COVID 19 Presidential Committee to take care of Muslims who may become victims of COVID 19 according to Islamic norm.

     

    Guidelines

     

    As a way of implementing the resolutions reached at the mentioned GPC meeting, the following steps were immediately taken:

    1. A public statement was made to further counsel the Muslims in the country on how to abide by the rules and regulations issued by the Federal and State Governments as precautions to avoid falling victim of the dreaded virus.
    2. Samples of the shroud to be used for COVID 19 Muslim corpses (male and female) were designed and presented to the Presidential Committee on that scourge for adoption at the Federal and State levels.
    3. Muslim Doctors who are representing the Muslim Ummah in that Committee should ensure that every Muslim corpse is treated with befitting Muslim funeral.
    4. Since congregations of any kind have become dangerous these days and Muslims cannot come together to observe Salatul Janazah on the deceased, those in the vicinity of the COVID 19 victims should arrange among themselves, possibly by telephone, to observe Salatul Gaib from time to time, inside their houses, for the Muslim corpses as the situation may arise.
    5. The shrouding and burial of Muslim corpses should be arranged and supervised by the Muslim Doctors who represent the Muslim Ummah in the Presidential Committee.
    6. As for survival of indigent living Muslims who are compulsorily restricted to their homes by COVID 19, NSCIA implored all Muslims with wherewithal in their neighborhood to be of great assistance to them in terms of food items, medicament (where necessary) and other required necessities. These steps are expected to serve as guidelines for all Nigerian Muslims who may find themselves in a dilemma or even confusion on what is next in the current circumstance. Now, we are particularly in a period of effective brotherhood in Islam when care for neighbours as a strong act of Ibdah should be most exhibited.

     

     Observation

    The current globally ravaging and genocidal disease called Coronavirus and codenamed COVID 19 is here with us as a matter of physical experience in its true, undeniable reality. Its arrival in the human world as a calamitous guest of the 21st century is neither new nor strange. Every century has its own peculiarity which, if chronicled into history for the coming generations to learn from, may be received with tokens of doubt. But here we are today, experiencing practically and not just witnessing or hearing of a catastrophe which constitutes itself into an overwhelming plague on the universe. We can see, clearly, how parents are dying in droves leaving their children behind as orphans, if not in our immediate vicinities, in other parts of the world. We can see how young and middle age children are frequently hooked like fish thereby leaving their parents behind like childless men and women.

    We can see how the giants of December 2019 Christmas have become Lilliputians of Easter in April 2020. And we are witnesses to the swelling figures of widows and widowers even in the so-called advanced countries where all facilities are presumed to be available as a means of preventing this kind of disaster. But now, we suddenly wake up to find ourselves in a world where wealth cannot buy health and foods cannot build immunity even as Kings and Queens as well as Presidents and Prime Ministers are taking turns to address their subjects in languages of pacification but which cannot bring solution to the prevailing problem. Where is an escape route in all these without the WILL of the Almighty Allah?

     

    Comment

    The current pandemic disease has globally become like a basketball being tossed around among its alleged inventors who are also its principal players. The real repercussion of that game is nothing but death that waits for no prediction in terms of when or how. Some people may tag it a disease of power tussle. Some others may call it an ailment for the juggernauts. There are also those who may consider it an economic war by other means.  But most people across the world today, tend to see it as a vivid sign of the end of time or an indication of a cataclysmic revolution in the making. Perhaps that is the reason why the authorities of some countries like Russia and Spain where God was never given any recognition of immortal entity are now resorting to the invocation of God’s mercy as a means of overcoming this implacable calamity that defies any technological bravado.

     

    Parable of a Beehive      

    The similitude of human world is like that of a beehive in which a Queen is the ruler and commander-in-chief. All other bees in the hive have their duties and assignments in forms of separation of power and division of labour. But they all report back to the Queen either for better   coordination or for further instructions. Whenever any of them faces a difficulty, the rescue lies with the Queen. But where it is the Queen that encounters difficulty, the entire occupants of the hive may be in trouble. Today, the Queen of England is in the dragnet of COVID 19 just as the Prime Minister of the once ‘Great Britain’ is caught in the same dragnet. Also, the Chancellor of the strongest economy in Europe (Germany), has been afflicted by the menace of the vicious virus called COVID 19. Scores of others are waiting for their turns. If these juggernauts are now the victims of the dreaded, invisible virus, who will then lead the rescue mission in their nations? And, now, the inlet and outlet gates of virtually all industrial nations in the world are closed willy-nilly, thereby causing an undreamt   plummeting of the price of oil for OPEC countries.

    In short, humanity, as a whole, is tacitly passing through a period in history when life has become so meaningless that Mosques and Churches are standing idle with no worshipers to keep them alive even as death is being frighteningly touted on a minute to minute basis. And, even here, in Nigeria, where some idiotic nonentities used to laugh sadistically at Muslims for performing ablution five times a day, the divine reality of life has compelled them also to perform ablution, without spiritual intention, innumerable times. And no miracle can change that.

     

    Warning

    If we had heeded a warning that was passed to us in form of prediction over a millennium ago, perhaps an invisible virus now called COVID 19 would not have come to hold us spellbound as it is currently doing globally. It took an Arab poet to remind us of that cogent warning some centuries ago in an axiomatic stanza that will remain valid for long. The poem goes thus:

    “This is the period against which we had been warned in the words of Ubayy Bn Ka’b and those of Ibn Abdullah Bn Mas’ud; a period in which the truth becomes totally rejected while falsehood and evil machinations are duly acknowledged and deified; If this period is allowed to linger for long without change, humanity may zoom into a situation where there may be no mourning on the death of a beloved person and no rejoice on the birth of a new baby”.

    Now, is this not the predicted period? Where can the world go from here without the grace of Allah?

     

    Origin of Corona Virus

    Going through the archives of history is a major way of recalling some pandemics that had rattled human population with mass deaths through the millennia. One of the earliest pandemics that wrapped mankind in an envelope of plague, according to the records of history, was the Justinian Pathogen that occurred in the 6th century AD during the reign of Emperor Justin I of Byzantine Empire. That unprecedented catastrophe reportedly wiped out about 50 million people, a figure   which was said to be about half of human population at that time. It was followed by the Black Death of the 14th century that was said to have killed almost 200 million people across the world. And then came the 1918 Spanish Influenza that   reportedly killed between 50million and 100 million people and changed the world in pattern and in style. History also revealed to us how over 200 million people were killed by Smallpox in the 20th century alone. How many of such tragic incidents can one recall here without frightening the readers?

     

    Characteristics of Killer Viruses

    One of the common characteristics of the viruses that often plague mankind from time to time with different names is the symptomatic exhibition of threat to life through such infectious pathogens like sneezing, coughing and sometimes, bleeding. Some of these symptoms are now vivid in the current ravaging surge of coronavirus. We pray the Almighty Allah to save us individually and collectively from calamity of this period. Amin!

  • Lessons from COVID-19

    Lessons from COVID-19

     Segun Gbadegesin

     

    There is no shred of doubt that COVID-19 is a terrible scourge. For the faithful, it is a reminder of God’s omnipotence and an incontrovertible pointer to the second coming of the Lord. We are therefore counselled to wisely take care of our spiritual business in preparation to meet our God.

    To the philosopher, it is a powerful evidence of the meaninglessness of it all. Two months ago, the world was riding the wave of economic boom. Today, everything is in tatters without an end in sight. So, what’s the point of our hustling and bustling when what it takes for it all to go to blaze is for an invisible viral agent to show up?

    Between the faithful and the philosophical, there is a convergence of frustration in the pointlessness of our earthly struggles, though they end up with different solutions. For the faithful, the answer to life’s meaninglessness is to ignore the material world and embrace the spiritual because what is certain is the imminence of judgment after death. We will meet our creator.

    For the philosopher, like in everything else, the answer is as varied as their number. For some, the meaningless of life simply confirms the absurdity of any choices that we make. For others, even if it turns out that life has no meaning, this doesn’t have any practical consequences, and it doesn’t change the need to keep our commitments. After all, we continue to live our lives as if nothing is amiss. Recall Marx’s verdict on philosophy?

    Let us, however, look at life from the perspective of tradition. For, as disastrous as this virus is proving to be, like everything else we learn from the Yoruba and African worldview, tibi tire la da le aye: for every negative there is always a positive. From the negativity of this pandemic, there are many useful lessons to learn.

    First, in times of crisis and social dislocation, leadership matters and if it takes a crisis of this magnitude to throw up national heroes and sheroes and help us appreciate them, so be it. Think Ebola, Adadevoh, and Fashola. Now, think Sanwoolu and Abayomi and Ihekweasu. We have leadership assets. Hopefully, we are worthy of their dedication.

    Second, Covid-19 is a leveler—an equal opportunity assailant that doesn’t respect title or status. It afflicts the powerful and the weak. Thus, Prince Charles, PM Boris Johnson, COS Aba Kyari, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, Gov. Seyi Makinde, etc. It is not about what you eat or doesn’t eat. It is not about the gym you frequent. It doesn’t target the poor on account of their uninformed choices. It is not about your level of education. Of course, we must acknowledge the reality that the rich and powerful may have easier access to testing than the poor.

    It is true, however, that this virus also ridicules wealth in a special way which may be of consolation to the poor and unconnected. Wealth appears useless when you cannot leverage it to access special treatment against the virus. A recent viral video by a comedian brings home this point with wicked humor: Coro ti se won mole (Coronavirus has restricted them here). There’s no jetting abroad for treatment. UK is closed to imported cases of Covid-19. US closed its borders. So did Germany, our most convenient getaways for medical treatment. Therefore, we are here together; no escape from the fury of an invisible killer.

    Third, this means that foresightedness in pandemic planning matters. If we planned ahead with laser beam focus on primary healthcare, specialist hospital beds, physician protective equipment (PPE), N95 masks, investment in public health research, we would be ready now to combat this deadly virus. But did we? The military wasted resources on white-elephant projects for more than 20 years. Even when the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti spearheaded Primary Health Care as our best bet to promoting public health, it was like the voice of one man crying in the wilderness. If we listened to the voice of wisdom and knowledge then, we would have adequate facilities all over our local governments now. But we didn’t.

    Fourth, it matters how we rationalize our national priorities. Civilians took over from the military 21 years ago. Babies born in May 1999 are adults now. So they have known only civilians in government. But what has been their experience? They are the ones leading civil protests against the excesses of SARS now. They are disillusioned about what the future holds for them. They are worried about our budget priorities.

    If we paid attention to the adequate rationalization of our budget priorities, we would now be reaping the fruit of good planning. But while scores of millions of our people have no access to potable water supply, and dispensaries and maternity centers are closed down across the nation, NASS priorities include a N37 billion renovation of its building and exotic cars for its members, even in the middle of a terrible pandemic. No wonder young Nigerians keep asking: who cursed us? Good question, indeed!

    Fifth, shared sacrifice is essential and this is the right time. Even now, with all the urgency that is required, with the shortcomings of our budgetary allocations, we can still wage this war against the virus with shared sacrifice that sees this war as the most urgent task even as we fight the other wars. For if we lose the battle to COVID-19, we will have no one to fight the other wars, including the war against insurgency and the war for economic prosperity. Therefore, the beginning of national wisdom is a national commitment that recognizes the dreaded virus for what it is.

    Sixth, in view of the experience of other nations that are going through this crisis, we know that the worst is yet to come. Therefore, we must brace ourselves for the troubling days and months ahead. This means that the president must lead from the front. As the father of the nation, he must constantly seek to calm our restive nerves with soothing words. He has rightly delegated responsibility for national action to the experts. But from time to time, the nation needs to hear from its father so it doesn’t feel abandoned to its fate.

    The president has the goodwill of other leaders and he is in a position to leverage his friendship with them. We chose not to close our borders to China when other nations did. It was a good decision. Now our good turn deserves a payback. We need to ask China for help. China has tangible experience dealing with the virus. It deployed thousands of doctors to Wuhan region at the peak of the pandemic and those doctors succeeded in bringing Wuhan back from complete annihilation. Now, they are back in their various locations with that experience. We can learn from them if the president would reach out to President Xi Jinping. This is the time for that exchange when we are still far from the implosion that is sure to come.

    Seventh, COVID-19 must be credited for bringing out the worst and the best of our humanity. First to the worst. With the first cases of the contagion reported, state governments and the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) promptly rose to the occasion by issuing instructions and guidelines on self-isolation for the exposed and social distancing for everyone else. Unfortunately, pluralities of citizens chose defiance over compliance. Political parties held rallies and preachers assembled their members in thousands, all for their selfish interests. Now, we are seeing the fruits of those irresponsible behaviors germinating in real time. It is hoped that a strict enforcement of the new presidential order will stem the tide of explosion of infection.

    Finally, we must appreciate the individual philanthropic gestures in support of the battle—from political leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, NASS members and Ministers, to NNPC, oil, banking, and communication sectors’ giants such as Chief Adenuga, The Alakijas, Elumelu’s UBA, Access Bank and Dangote, Samad Rabiu’s BUA, Union Bank with 54Gene, First Bank, and others. Given this public solidarity with national resolve, COVID-19 is a goner!

  • The ‘public’ in public service: Toasting Olawale Oshun at 70

    The ‘public’ in public service: Toasting Olawale Oshun at 70

    Segun Gbadegesin

     

    HONOURABLE Olawale Oshun, a quiet and unassuming maverick, who has been in the frontline of progressive initiatives in the Southwest since the beginning of the 4th Republic, and who, before then, had demonstrated his fidelity to democratic norms in Nigeria, with scars to show for it, just turned 70. And the garlands are justifiably in full display, flowing around the neck of a self-sacrificing man of honor to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

    Wale Oshun doesn’t appear like your average maverick. He doesn’t carry himself like a dissident. Indeed, a good chat with him leaves you wondering how he got himself involved in politics in the first place. Then, when you learn that he was a prominent leader in the struggle against military dictatorship, which earned him a forced exile, you cannot but wonder aloud. Surely, appearance can be deceptive. For behind the gentle demeanor is a steely resolve against injustice and oppression and their purveyors whether in military uniform or civilian garb. Here, then, is a rebel for the cause of freedom, justice and good governance.

    Wale Oshun was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic and was elected by his colleagues as Chief Whip. He was comfortable delivering to his constituency until the Babangida regime decided to annul the June 12 Presidential election which Chief M. K. O. Abiola had won. A non-maverick interested only in his own comfort would play along. But the rebel in him chose a different path, that of resistance against dictatorship. It was also a path of hardship.

    Wale Oshun was the Secretary of NADECO Abroad, a role he played with distinction, despite the demeaning conditions of an omo onile olona in the crosshairs of the bespectacled horror man and his ilk. In his capacity as NADECO Abroad Secretary, I interacted by correspondence with Oshun from 1995 when I served as President of Egbe Isokan Yoruba in Washington, DC up to 1998 when I served a President of Egbe Omo Yoruba, USA.

    In 1996, at the initiative of Baba Chief Antony Enahoro, a new forum, World Congress of Free Nigerians (WCFN) was inaugurated to mobilize Nigerian pro-democracy organizations engaged in the struggle. The inaugural meeting was held in Washington, DC from September 26th to 29th 1996 with Baba Enahoro and Professor Wole Soyinka as co-chairs representing NADECO-Abroad and UDFN respectively. I served as Congress Director. In that capacity, Hon. Oshun and I had quality-time interaction and I got to know him and his passion for justice.

    It was, however, the 2nd WCFN Congress in London that sealed my deep respect for Oshun. I relied on him and his team for the local organization of the Congress which held from June 12th to June 14th, 1997 coinciding with the 4th anniversary of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Despite the usual internal wrangling and attempted sabotage by pro-military agents, the congress was a huge success.

    A particularly distressing occurrence, however, was an apparent collaboration between a religious group and pro-military agents. As Wale Oshun recorded in The Open Grave: NADECO and the Struggle for Democracy, the betrayal of justice by religious organizations was a most shameful aspect of the June 12 crisis. A mosque in London refused to host a memorial service for Kudirat Abiola on Saturday, June 7, 1997 as part of the events organized for the Congress.

    Yet, after the death of Abacha the following year, the leaders of the same mosque were the first to volunteer their venue for an Abiola memorial service. Were they fearful of consequences the previous year? To rub salt into the open wound of justice, the sermon at the 1998 memorial service centered on the needlessness of crying over a lost mandate by Abiola since another Muslim, namely General Abubakar, had taken over the mantle of governance. In other words, what mattered to the clerics at the mosque was the faith of whoever was in charge. Understandably, as a champion for justice, this double-face and double-speak was painful to Oshun, himself a devout Muslim. But it was a regular occurrence across a wide spectrum of religious and social organizations in those days.

    I recall this and other similar episodes in the checkered history of the struggle for democracy and justice for a purpose. When we talk about public service, we have often focused on those who serve the public as either elective or appointive public office holders. We have asked questions of them. We have queried their integrity. We have questioned their loyalty to the nation and to their constituents. We have often raised the bar in our assessment of their credibility. This is all well because it comes with the territory they choose to occupy. And, in any case, without such a laser beam, there is a tendency for public officers to fall victim of their idiosyncrasies.

    However, we also stand the risk of missing out on the second part: the public.  If public service is to better the life of the public, and therefore, if public officers are to be evaluated from this vantage point, what demand should we make of the public? What motivation should we expect of the public? If we denounce greedy and self-centered motivation on the part of public officers, should we also chastise the public for entertaining similar motivations? If we blame public servants for disobedience of rules and regulations, should we also hold the public accountable? To what extent must the public be held to the demands of justice without which there can be no peaceful co-existence?

    These are pertinent issues in our new age of a global pandemic that threatens the health and ways of life of billions of people in the world. We are quick to point to the shortcomings of government officials —and there are plenty of these to note—but what are we to make of erratic public response to guidelines coming from governments, especially when they appear to disrupt our normal lives? Do we have the moral choice to pick the guidelines we wish to obey or respect even when we put our lives and those of others in danger?

    Back in January 2020 when the first wave of Coronavirus infection was crippling China, my foremost fear was what Nigeria’s response would be, first on the part of government, and second on the part of the public. I knew and still know that we have a crippled health system, no thanks to years of neglect. The picture of Okeho General Hospital published by a young man, Tayo Irantiola, this past week with blown-off roofs and wasp-infested hallways is replicated throughout the country. With such a sorry state of the health system, the nation cannot cope with millions of ICU-headed cases from this pandemic. Therefore, what is required is prevention, with the public heeding restrictions of movement and government enforcing such.

    The first case of the virus was reported four weeks ago. From the experience of Italy, we know that once it visits a nation, cases quadruple every three days. We have been lucky, and we must thank the governments of Lagos and Ogun States as well as NCDC for their efforts.

    But the public has been anything but cooperative. Owambe parties, worship services in churches and mosques, weddings and funerals were going on as if nothing was at stake. Godless clerics irresponsibly assure their ignorant flock about “corrosive anointing” against the virus. Political parties hold rallies against the dictate of reason. Where, then, is the social responsibility of the public?

    The civic education of the public is the unfinished business of our time. In view of recent efforts pushing a renewal agenda, I am optimistic about the Southwest leading this effort with Olawale Oshun and his team in the driver’s seat. Under his able leadership, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) committed itself to revamping the value system that sustained the old Western Region. Born of this effort is the Yoruba Academy and Development Agenda for Western Region (DAWN), which has spawned the Western Nigeria Security Network (Operation Amotekun).

    Happy 70th, Honourable!

     

  • Where are the Miracle Sellers?

    Where are the Miracle Sellers?

    FEMI ABBAS

     

    Monologue

    The title of this article is a question which only conscientiously guided readers can answer scrupulously. For decades, some Nigerian charlatans with feeble but foxy minds have been duping innocent masses by presenting religion to them, not only as a profession but also as a commodity meant for sale to gullible buyers in the name of evangelism.

     

    Preamble

    Judging the above mentioned charlatans   (males and females) by their fraudulent claim to be prophets/prophetesses and seers of tomorrow, one cannot but conclude that they are the modern day hoaxers living like vampires on the blood of fools.

    By their unbridled mode of operation, it is apparent that those charlatans are not for God but for Satan through money. And, the richer they get in their deceptive trade the poorer the members of their congregations become and the more Nigeria is afflicted by un-foretold calamities.

     

    The Furry of a Virus

    The current global furry of an invisible virus codenamed COVID 19 is a typical example of the above cited calamities.

    Within just three months or thereabout, that virus has taken the lives of humans in thousands across nations and regions and the count keeps rising.

    Yet, the regular advertising slogan with which those charlatans lure innocent people into their satanic dragnets is MIRACLE.

    Now, where is that constantly and lousily advertised MIRACLE?

     

    Reminder

    It will be recalled that before the adoption of the deceptive word ‘MIRACLE’ by some demonic merchants as a magnetic slogan, Nigeria was never known to be a hub of calamities as she is today.

    And, even, at this precarious time, when the country is fiercely confronted by the globally pandemic disease called COVID 19, those disciples of the Lucifer continue to regale in chanting the usual obnoxious slogan of MIRACLE for the purpose of self-enrichment.

    Is the so-called MIRACLE in any way dissimilar from the word MAGIC which some vagabonds do audaciously display as a gimmick with which to dupe foolish people? What else is called fraud? And who does not know that only the agents of devil can commit fraud with such unbridled audacity as those Nigerian charlatans do in the name of God?

     

    The Antics of Fraudsters

    Fraud, in all its characteristics, is like lightening in the life of a night marauder. Whenever it flashes its dazzling flare from the sky, the marauder feels delighted in self-deception and believes that the needed illumination with which to move ahead has been provided. Thus, the similitude of fraud, especially in the religious sphere, is like that of a spider’s cobweb which provides security for the spider that weaves it but serves as a trap for other mobile objects that want to pass through it.

     

    Like Miracle like Magic

    Unknown to   many people, miracle without divinity, is to the religious sphere what Magic is to mundane life. In other words, it is a religious hobby for certain greedy and avaricious elements, especially in today’s Nigeria, to masquerade in the cloak of religion and hide behind one finger to dupe gullible people.

     

     Functions of Conscience

    Conscience, according to Nigeria’s great scholar of the 19th century, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, is an open wound which only the truth can heal. It is also the compass of human life through which the soul of man can find its way towards Allah’s mercy. Whoever loses his conscience to Satan on the journey to Allah’s mercy has automatically lost that divine mercy at a point where it may not be retrievable.

     

    Season of Distinction

    This is a season of clear distinction between satanic predictions and fake prophecies in Nigeria. This is one of the seasons in which some obvious fraudsters who are known for basking in an empty euphoria of delusion do parade themselves as prophets in the midst of idiots.

    This is the season when such fraudsters give the false impression that prediction and prophecy are one and the same and therefore take undue advantage of some people’s blatant ignorance and fanatical gullibility to dupe them in the name of MIRACLE.

    Whereas prediction is about mere imagination sometimes influenced by Satan just as foresight is about intuition based on experience, both are evidently human while prophecy is divine.

     

    The Puzzling Angle of Prophecy

    There is something strange about prophecy which continues to puzzle the rightly guided human beings. It is like the night that is invisibly pregnant but which surprisingly delivers wonders in the day. Genuine prophecy is neither by wishful fabrication nor by devilish pretext.

    Its roots are firmly planted in the rich soil of divinity while its genuine envoys were divinely chosen and called Messengers of Allah. The last of such messengers was Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who left this world over 1400 years ago. Anybody whoever claimed or is claiming to be a prophet after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is surely a fraudster and an agent of the Lucifer.

     

    Wealthy Prophets

    Ordinarily, religion is a mode of showing gratitude to the immortal Creator and a means of ventilating decency in the society via the rule of law. On the contrary, it is not, an instrument of deceit and self- enrichment.

    Except for King Daud (David) and his son, King Sulayman (Solomon), who were divinely guided to show the world how wealth should be legitimately acquired and managed, no Prophet of Allah was ever stupendously rich. This can be compared to the situation of today in which the quality of prophecy is foolishly measured in terms of the material wealth possessed by the fraudsters who are parading themselves as prophets and seers.

    Today, mere expression of wishes and satanic prediction have deliberately been tagged prophecy, which in turn, have become a major platform for preaching prosperity rather than posterity at the expense of godliness and humanitarianism.

     

    Genuine Prophecy

    It is not by clandestinely predicting the number of Kings or politicians who will die in a locality in the coming year or the governors who will regain or lose their seats to opponents or even occurrences of accidents on the roads that makes a person a prophet. Genuine prophets are known not by fabrication and the amount of wealth accruing from such fabrications but by the exemplary actions that may serve humanity in good stead for many centuries or even millennia after their demise.

    Prophets Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) are good examples of such genuine Prophets. Both of them had no material wealth while alive and they left no material wealth behind as heritage. Yet, no names compare with theirs today in terms of universal acknowledgement and   spiritual glory.

    Prophecy, therefore, is not to be judged by certain fraudsters’ annual fraudulent predictions who satanically claim to be ‘prophets’. It is rather a matter of divine guidance towards future events that are genuinely backed up by divine rules of law.

     

    Today’s Fake ‘Prophets’

    In contrast to the above definition of genuine prophecy, however, fake prophecy is, today, a fabricated commodity which finds a large market in Nigeria for which gullible people queue up in multitudes before fraudsters with the intention of gaining illegitimately from those fraudsters, through the back door, what they are not divinely destined to gain in life legitimately.

    And, in the process, they are forced to carry out satanic instructions that may eventually bring ruins to them and pave ways for those fraudsters to zoom stupendously into material fortune without any regard for conscience.

     

    Read Also: COVID 19: FG creates Digital Platforms for interaction among MDAs

     

    How Charlatans aid Crimes

    Most criminal activities in Nigeria today, particularly, corruption and other social crimes are products of fake prophecies and insensitive display of wealth by some fraudsters called religious leaders. It is evident that most stolen funds by bank Executives and Public Servants end up in the pockets of some the so-called overseers of certain religious denominations who are desperately competing to be listed among the richest people in the world. At least we have not forgotten the episode of a $15 million ammunition contract involving the private jet of a so-called religious leader which was seized in South Africa in 2014. Is that a duty of an evangelist?

     

    Ownership of Sanctuaries

    Perhaps, one of the most satanic crimes in Nigeria today emanates from heartless preaching of prosperity at all costs by some so called religious leaders who are so desperate to be rich at all costs. It is a well-known fact that the common bragging in vogue among those charlatans in Nigeria today is about the number of sanctuaries that each of them owns in the country as well as the number of branches their sanctuaries have in outside the country.

    Thus, the richer those overseers become, the deeper the members of their congregations sink into the abyss of poverty. And the reason for this is not far-fetched. The poor worshippers are cajoled or hypnotized into paying the pittance in their pockets into the ever demanding purses of their satanic preachers called ‘prophets’.

     

    A Prophetic Warning

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had forewarned the Muslim Ummah, over 1400 years ago, against the calamity that false prophecy could bring to mankind. Addressing his companions on a particular occasion at that time, he said:

    “There will be calamity!” He repeated this three times. But rather than asking him of its cause, his Companions simply asked for the solution. They had no cause to doubt him. And he told them to look for the solution in the legacy he was leaving behind. That legacy is the rule of law as contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

     

    Rule of Law

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) emphasized to his Companions that nothing besides the rule of law would ever bring the needed harmony to the world. He described the Qur’an as the all-time permanent solution to the various problems of all people and concluded that only individuals, groups or nations that hold it (the Qur’an) tenaciously would escape the mentioned calamity.

    The Qur’an, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), is the mirror with which to view the past retrospectively and draw a lesson from its experience. It is the effective compass with which to find the way in the hazy wilderness of the present. It is also the impeccable telescope with which to view the future and escape its satanic dragnet. In other words, the Qur’an is an everlasting prophecy recalling the occurrences of the past, serving as the guiding law of the present and turning focus on the future expectations with a view to clearing the way for the pious ones.

     

    The Prophet’s Objective

    By asking the world to follow the rule of law in all their actions, the Prophet never thought of rising from his grave one day to usurp the governance of any particular nation or region of the world. Neither did he leave any heir behind who could inherit the governance of this ephemeral world. His objective, according to the mission he bore, was for the world to be in harmony through divine guidance.

    And, it is only in the interest of mankind to uphold the rule of law for the sake of their harmonious co-existence. Today, is there any individual, group or nation not affected negatively by discarding the rule of law as divinely provided? Every aspect of life has its rule of law.

    We work in the day and rest in the night not by our own volition but in accordance with the natural rule of law that guide our existence as human beings. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West to obey the rule of law that controls its operations. Fishes live in water.

    Plants grow generically from the soil and are fed through their roots in accordance with the natural rule of law that governs them. Disharmony prevails only when deviation from the rule of law occurs. And such is often caused by human beings.

    Carnivores like lions, vipers and eagles never voluntarily feed on plants. Herbivores like elephants, camels and goats never feed on flesh. To force them to do otherwise, in the name of experiment, is to cause disharmony in the animal kingdom.

     

    Causes of Disharmony

    The world is in total   disharmony today not because of innocent mistakes but because of deliberate deviation from the rule of law by those who are supposed to uphold it. Stronger nations want to usurp or dominate weaker nations as in the case of America in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

    Governments want to enslave the governed as in the case of Nigeria since independence in 1960. It is all an evidence of dogs eating dogs in the stable of greed. Why won’t disharmony prevail?

    But Allah so much loves mankind that He does not leave them permanently in the hands of devilish predators. From time to time, Allah sends conscientious individuals either as rulers or as counselors to rescue the oppressed.

    Rule of law is the first sign of sanity in a society. It is an evidence of decency in a people. It is a thorn on the way of certain fraudsters who claim to be Prophets.

    What the Qur’an teaches which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) emphasized is for everybody to follow the rule of law by which he or she is governed. To do this is to follow the guidance of the Qur’an   (as Muslims) or that of the Bible (as Christians).

     

    Authenticity

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) never spoke in a vacuum. His utterances were divinely guided. And the Qur’an confirms this as follows: “He (Muhammad) never speaks out of sheer whim; his expressions are no other than inspired revelations; he is taught by the One who is mighty in power…” Q. 15:3-4

     

    Warning

    The fraudsters of today who are parading themselves as ‘Prophets’ and Custodians of MIRACLE should repent and refrain from fraudulent act. Otherwise, they will end up like those of the past who were eventually consigned to  a rubles of historical oblivion. Let those who have ears heed this axiomatic warning. Materialism is a mere vanity which has a limited time.

    “Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change the evil conception in their hearts. If He seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, no one else can ward it off. Besides Him, there is no protector (for any rational being).” Q.13:11.

    God save Nigeria from the evil antics of fraudsters who are masquerading deceptively in the cloak of religion. Amin!

  • NASFAT: Nigeria’s Millennial Revolution 

    NASFAT: Nigeria’s Millennial Revolution 

    Femi Abass

    “Have you not seen how your Lord planted a seed of parable? A beautiful word is like a magnificent tree with formidable roots and delightfully gorgeous foliages sprouting pleasantly into the firmaments of the orbit by Allah’s grace. It (the tree) produces nourishing fruits (for the consumption of man) from season to season….” Q. 14: 24-27

     

    For Nigerian Muslims of the 20th/21st century, the month of March is a gladdening month of a marvelous revolution. It is the month in which an unprecedented revolution began at the twilight of the 20th century in preparation for an historic dawn of wonders in the 21st century. Without irritating noise or mere media hype, that revolution is the turn of Nigeria’s religious screw for accentuation of Islamic reality in contemporary time. If anything can be called a reconfirmation of how actions are truly based on intentions, it is that NASFAT’s providential revolution. The evidence is glaring.

     

    Preamble

    Many contemporary religious observers around the world have been wondering about the fortuitous emergence of NASFAT as an Islamic Organization. Many others have continually been marveled by the astronomical rise and phenomenal spread of NASFAT across nations and races around the world. It is one queer spiritual development that beats anybody’s imagination and transcends any tendentious guess by any pessimistic individuals or groups about Islam.

     

    Observation

    Two things are positively strange about this Organization. One is the timeliness of its millennial emergence. The other is the manner of that emergence. At a time when some contemptuous non-Muslim Nigerians were trying to heighten their negative perception of Islam by tagging that divine religion an anachronistic faith meant for primordial people, an infinitesimal, unassuming group of Muslim elite with diverse professional backgrounds fortuitously emerged with an unprecedented stunner that came to render the world nonplused. Without any iota of doubt, that tacit revolution was a timely answer to an untimely question.

     

    Undeniable Evidence

    Never in the history of Islam in Nigeria has a Muslim Organization with so fragile background and so mean provision risen so astronomically within so short a time. It is unprecedented.

    From a one room congregation of a few men and women of Islamic faith in Ibadan and later in Lagos, a gargantuan Islamic Organization emerged like a cyclopean tree with incredible foliage forming a formidably protective umbrella of faith for millions of Muslim faithful across the globe. Today, NASFAT is not just a global household name but also universal case study for people in the academia as well as other research fellowship spheres with religious inclination. The evidence is undeniable.

     

    What is NASFAT?

    The word NASFAT is an acronym for an abridged verse of the Qur’an which goes thus: “…Nasrun minal-Lahi wa Fathun Qarib…” (Q. 61:13) meaning: “…With (strong) help from Allah, victory is surely attainable”. From that Qur’anic verse, the name of the Organization was formed as ‘NASRUL-LAHI-AL-FATIH’ Society and shortened to NASFAT for easy pronunciation. Thus, it is with that name that Allah’s coded parable of tree quoted at the beginning of the article can be meaningfully decoded at this dawn of the 21st century.

     

    The Spread of Tentacle

    Initially, the idea of forming NASFAT as an Islamic Organization was conceived to be limited to Nigeria. But, unimaginably, in less than two decades of its existence, this Organization rapidly outgrew even an African image and went global. Thus, whether you are in Africa, Europe, America, Asia or Australia today, you will find NASFAT to be a familiar name with a familiar status. And, then, you will discover that familiarization with NASFAT socially and spiritually is trualy a concept of equanimity.

     

    Profile

    NASFAT was founded as another Islamic Organization for Nigeria’s Muslim elite in March, 1995 by a group of young Muslim professionals, mostly bankers. There had been a myriad of elite Islamic Organizations before it especially in Lagos and other parts of the South West Nigeria. Some of such elite Organizations include Ahmadiyyah Jamat; Jama’atu Islamiyyah; Ahmadiyyah Movement in Islam; Anwarul Islam Movement; Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria; Nawairu-Ud-Deen Society; Zumratu Islamiyyah; Muslim Association of Nigeria; Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), National council of Muslim Youth (NACOMYO); Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, (FOMWAN); The Companion; The Criterion and a host of others.

    At the advent of its establishment,  the objective NASFAT, as an Islamic Organization was clearly reflected in its mission statement which went thus: “to develop an enlightened Muslim society nurtured by a true understanding of Islam for the spiritual uplift and welfare of mankind.” That objective has since sticked to NASFAT as skin to the body.

     

    Mission Statement

    Like any other Islamic Organization, NASFAT fathomed a Mission Statement that was to serve as its guide in words and in action. However, its own Mission Statement was like a dream not given a chance of realization. But it later turned out to be the most wonderfully realized dream of the century. If anything can be described as the 20th century crown of success for Nigeria’s Muslim Ummah, it is NASFAT, the initially rejected stone that later turned out to be the Corner Stone of the House.

    The small group that had such a dramatic dream over two decades ago has now grown in limbs and in wings into such a miraculous magnet  attracting members in their thousands to form a non-such formidable Organization that cannot be taken for granted anywhere by any power. NASFAT’s membership comprises of young professionals, Educationists, Muslim Scholars, Civil Servants, Journalists, Company Directors, Business Executives, Computer Experts, Members of Security Forces, Members of the Judiciary, Politicians, State Commissioners, Legislators, Traders, Artisans, Farmers, Students, name it.

    Today, NASFAT is, arguably, one of the fasted growing religious Organizations in the world with about three million members. As a matter of fact, the similitude of NASFAT is like that of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, which was established in a Mosque by a small Muslim group of in Cairo, Egypt, in 970 CE. The name Al-Azhar was coined from an appellation of Fatimah the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was popularly called Zahrau (meaning adorable flower). With time, Al-Azhar University, which emerged from the Mosque, became one of the earliest established Universities in the world.

    Now, about 1046 years old, Al-Azhar University is one of the three oldest Universities in the world. The other two are Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Being contemporaries in age and reputation, these three Universities otherwise known as educational tripod came to confirm to the modern world that what we call University today in all parts of the world is an indelible Islamic heritage that keeps the track of knowledge actively alive.

     

    Cacophony of Gossip

    The problem with some hypocrites who masquerade in the cloak of mischief but claim to be Muslims in Nigeria is that of cacophony of gossip, witch-hunting, blackmail and sticking tenaciously to retardation on the bedrock of incurable ignorance. I have for long been familiar with their parochial antics and cannot be disturbed by their diversionary gimmicks.

    NASFAT’s Branches

    When NASFAT was fast becoming unmanageably large, due to an unexpected upsurge in its membership roll, the leadership of the Organization decided to create branches nationally and internationally for the convenience of all and sundry. That was as far back as 2002 when the Organization was just about seven years old. Today, NASFAT has about 400 branches in Nigeria and abroad cutting across the geo political zones of the world.

     

    Impression

    Whatever impression anybody may have about NASFAT’s mode of operation is immaterial at this stage as long as that Organization is not acting against the fundamental norms of Islam. After all, it is crystal clear that the real champions of Islamic propagation (Da’wah) in contemporary Nigeria are the Muslim elite who know little about Islamic theology, and not the so-called Imams and Alfas whose impact of theology is hardly felt in the society. All the above listed Organizations in Nigeria were established by progressive, non-clerical Muslim elite including those of NASFAT. But if any grouop feels otherwise, it should show us its own achievements.

    Perhaps, without NASFAT, there would not have been any Islamic University in Nigeria or at least in Southern Nigeria, today. If any other Islamic University now exists, NASFAT should be credited for showing the pioneering way and for unilaterally facing the challenge that woke others up from their slumber.

     

    Notable Point

    There is a sharp difference between a Muslim University, and an Islamic University. The earlier is registered in the name of an individual Muslim. The latter is registered in the name of an Islamic Organization. In that case, ownership is the main determinant of status. Only two of several private Universities attributed to Islam in Nigeria today are truly Islamic. These are Fountain University based in Osogbo, Osun State and owned by NASFAT, and Summit University based in Offa, Kwara State and owned by Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria. Incidentally, both originated from Lagos. However, there is an exception. That exception is Al-Qalam University based in Katsina, Katsina State which is an Islamic University owned by Katsina State. Others generally perceived as Islamic Universities are only privately owned by individual Muslims and not Islamic Organizations.

    Fountain University is like Al-Azhar University that was founded by the Fatimids in Cairo over 1046 years ago and keeps waxing stronger today with functional faculties that harbour   virtually all fields of human endeavours a standard educational curriculum.

    In the same token, Fountain University is one of the major achievements of NASFAT. This University was founded by NASFAT in 2007 after being licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National University Commission (NUC).

    Sited on about 250 hectares of land where academic activities have since been in full and uninterrupted swing, Fountain University is operating a fully accredited curriculum of any standard University in the world. Most of the graduates of Fountain University, so far, whether Muslims or Christians, are now proud of thorough education and not just the certificate for advanced literacy now generally obtained from most Nigerian Universities.

     

    Summary

    By all standards, Fountain is a University indeed and a clear attestation to this assertion is evident in the conducts of the graduates of this University to whom the future glory is eagerly beckoning. Unlike in some non-Muslim Universities, the freedom of religion entrenched in the administrative policy of Fountain University alone is a clear evidence of religious sincerity on the part of the proprietors and management of that University.

     

    Home of Peace

    Among other NASFAT’s achievements is a Village, being planned to serve as ‘Daarus-Salaam’, (Home of Peace). That village is a model estate for Muslim families in a serene environment. The project is located on 40 hectares of land on Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, in Ogun State of Nigeria. It is meant for any NASFAT member or interested Muslim who wants to live peacefully with fellow Muslims. It is another revolutionary innovation that serves as a ‘Lighthouse’ for conscious Nigerian Muslims.

     

    Hajj and Umrah Company

    As one of its achievements also, NASFAT is engaged in Hajj and Umrah Halal business aimed at making pilgrimage relatively comfortable for Nigerian Muslims without fear of exploitation. The company licensed for that business is called TAFSAN Tours and Travels. Not only that, NASFAT also feels so concerned about the spate of poverty among Nigerian Muslims that it established an agency which handles Zakah and Sadaqah with collection and distribution for the purpose of alleviating poverty among the Muslims and advancing the course of needed Muslim projects in the society.

     

    Daw’ah activities

    Like some other prayer groups, NASFAT is known for recitation of prayers congregationally in a book which contains selected Dua’u from the Glorious Qur’an and prayers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) every Sunday; It is also known for Providing economic empowerment for jobless Muslim youths; fixing up the qualified ones among those youths in employment vacancies  and granting soft loans to those who require such loans  for small scale businesses as well as assisting Muslim traders in financing  genuine local purchase orders (LPOs) through the NASFAT”s Cooperative arm.

    There is also the Usrah (family) in which basic knowledge of Islam is imparted to couples, parents and children alike on a weekly basis. This helps, not only in cementing the marital relationship of those couples but also in facilitating close relationship between parents and their children on the basis of knowledge and piety.

     

    Educational Programs

    Believing in education as the solid foundation of human existence, NASFAT organizes general lectures pertaining to Islam, peace and morals for all its members who are interested in such lectures. This program is mostly handled by the Society’s Mission Board members including the Imams. And, for diversification of tastes and exposure,  guest lecturers are sometimes invited from within and outside the country to deliver some of such lectures.

     

    Tutorial Class

    Another NASFAT’s notable program is ‘Tutorial Class’ which is specifically designed for professional-male and female members of NASFAT and other interested Muslims to learn the the recitation and understanding of the Qur’an as well as the Hadith for the purpose of solidifying their understanding of Islam. This program has produced more than 3000 youth and adult graduates nationally and internationally.

     

    Children Classes

    Another interesting program that further confirms the uniqueness of NSAFAT is Children Classes. In this program, various classes are organized to teach Muslim children the Qur’an and Hadith and thereby inculcate in them Islamic culture and values. And quite encouragingly, Muslim children, through the prompting of their parents, have been responding appropriately to this program as expected.

     

    Scholarship Awards

    Another vital program of NASFAT is award of scholarships to indigent Muslim pupils in the Primary, Post-Primary schools as well as Tertiary Institutions. Such scholarships are usually funded from the Zakat collected during the corresponding year.

     

    Educational Recreation

    Meanwhile, one major addition to NASFAT’s education program is educational recreation that includes children’s holiday camping, women’s week, youth week and National Qur’anic quiz competition. That program also includes social services such as welfare visitations to prison yards, orphanages, old people’s homes and the likes.

    Besides all the programs mentioned above, NASFAT has also confirmed its seriousness in acquisition of education by establishing over a dozen standard Islamic Nursery and Primary schools and a number of secondary schools to cater for the future of Islam in Nigeria. More of such schools are still in the making.

     

    Footprint

    All the above mentioned efforts and activities including job creation and empowerment for the purpose of promoting Islam to further the course humanitarian gestures have come to form a footprint on the sands of time which not evil antics can ever efface. Alhamdu liLlah!

     

    Conclusion

    If within 25 years of existence, NASFAT could achieve so much despite the hash economic environment and hostile religious tendencies it faces from time to time, who says this unique Organization is not a front line model to serve as a positive reference point in Nigeria? ‘The Message’ Column hereby joins millions of well- wishers around the world in saluting the courage of NASFAT to engage in   various legitimate activities towards the promotion of Islam globally just as it prays specially that such courage and the wherewithal to summon it should never, never wane. Amin! CONGRATULATIONS on the glorious Silver Jubilee Occasion. Ilal Amam in Sha’Allah!

     

  • Takeaways from the APC crisis

    Takeaways from the APC crisis

    Segun Gbadegesin

    With the aversion of its recent crisis, All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders, including the President, National Leader, Party Chairman, Governors, National Assembly and State Assembly members, NWC, NEC, and National Caucus members, can exhale and heave a sigh of relief that the dream is not dead. The temporary hiccup is over and hope is alive that progressive governance will endure.

    There is no doubt, however, that as the crisis deepened in the last few months, there was also a heightened anxiety about the future of the party. Not a few wondered if it was all over for a party that emerged with a promise only seven years ago. How time flies, and with it the euphoria of invincibility especially post-2015 and 2019 victories. Going forward, it is in the interest of party leaders and stakeholders to ponder the lessons from their recent romance with fratricide and the party’s corporate brush with political demise.

    First, it is worth reminding ourselves that a political party is a device created for the purpose fielding candidates for elections and winning. To do so, however, they must subscribe to some common position or share a common ideology which they present to the electorate. A continuous focus on this purpose and its realisation by leaders and followers alike is an indispensable condition for the success of the party.

    Second, success here is not measured only by victories recorded at the polls, important as that standard is, but, more importantly, by how much of its agenda and programs the party is able to realize for the nation in any election cycle in which voters give it a mandate. This is the ultimate goal. Of course, for this final end to be realized, it must first win elections. Therefore, electoral victory cannot be taken lightly. However, the point being made here is that winning elections is not an end in itself; it is only a first step, the means to the further end of achieving its ideal of the good for the people.

    Third, APC was a child of circumstance, sired in the urgency of a moment of national anguish with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a ruling party run amok with kleptocrats and arrogant treasury looters with zero concern for the development of human beings, in the saddle of power. We know about anti-terrorism security funds that went into political campaigns and private pockets when the country had lost vast territories to Boko Haram insurgents. We know of tens of millions of dollars investment in the power sector, yet the nation remains in darkness. For sixteen years the largest party in Africa sponsored three administrations at the center and in the majority of states and our federal and inter-state roads are death traps. This was the undeniable reality from 1999 to 2015.

    Fourth, APC cobbled together a merger of hitherto splinter groups each with no encouraging prospect of a national electoral victory; but each with significant strengths in different zones and/or states. Importantly, each had within its fold some political power brokers with progressive ideas and were willing to set aside differing individual and group concerns about the makeup and ideals of the others for the purpose of collectively taking on the ruling party. This was how Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) became APC.

    Fifth, APC came up with a progressive agenda and programs of action that appealed to a cross section of the national electorate. In retrospect, it must be conceded that a lot of voters were already simply fed up with the lackluster performance of PDP and its proclivity to arrogant excesses in its stewardship of the nation’s resources. The people were ready for an alternative. Even with this background, it didn’t hurt that APC had a platform that appealed to and attracted many voters, especially those inclined to a new beginning for the nation.

    What is a progressive agenda for governance? It puts people, blood and flesh human beings, in the center of its actions and policies with the ultimate goal of improving their lot. Thus, APC promised increased economic prosperity delivered through moral probity in governance, party discipline, compassionate policy choices, diversified economy, and a strong determination to battle wrong, and fight the war against corruption to its logical conclusion. It also vowed to prioritise constitutional amendment to devolve power to states for a more balanced development.

    Sixth, unfortunately, with its victory at the polls in 2015, it soon became clear that different purposes and agenda predominated the minds of different actors and agents of the new ruling party. With the sole purpose of some of the actors just for the spoils of battle, friction was inevitable, and the better part of the first term of President Buhari was consumed with resolving conflicts between the presidency and the National Assembly, and between the various factions of the party. In the end, NASS leadership which had joined the party from PDP found its way back to their old party in time for the 2019 elections.

    Seventh, with what the party considered a good riddance, it fought the 2019 elections with all it had and it scored victory at the national level and in many states. But the old demons have not been completely exorcised, and it found itself scoring own goals in some states, including Oyo, Rivers, and Zamfara. These recalcitrant demons are the reason for the crisis that almost ended the chairmanship of Comrade Oshiomhole and with it, an uncertain future for the party itself.

    In his reaction to the crisis, APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu suggested that what ails the party is what he refers to as the 2023 ambition virus. He has a point and the analogy of a virus is insightful. We know that viruses hardly die off. They may hibernate for a while only to resurface with a vengeance when the condition is right. The 2023 virus is just a more deadly variant of the 2015-2019 virus which afflicted the party leading to the decamping of nPDP members.

    The question the party must resolve now is how to deal with the virus of ambition and manage it such that it doesn’t demobilize it going forward. One of the greatest challenges facing party development in Nigeria, and perhaps many other African democracies, is personalization of party structures. As in governance structures, we have failed to develop institutions, a network of rules and practices which do not rely on the frailties of human personality to function.

    The refrain we hear from the present crisis is that some governors are eyeing the presidency in 2023 and they want to hijack party structure to achieve their ambition. Being ambitious is not a sin. But if ambition leads you to destroy the vehicle which it needs to succeed, then it is self-defeating and self-contradictory. Unfortunately, the ambitious individual not only self-destructs, he/she also ends up destroying the hope of many for progressive governance.

    What is the solution? Create institutions that bypass individual ego and idiosyncrasies. In the heydays of Action Group, the people owned the party. At the ward level, members paid membership dues and were given membership cards. They had a say in the running of the party. It was also a national party, though it recorded its highest number in the Western Region.

    Now it appears party chairmen at local, state and national levels, and governors are seen and treated as gods. They control party structures and therefore the destinies of members. This is a recipe for disaster, an incessant struggle of all against all in a quasi-state of war. What must be done is to assure everyone desirous of a political position of fair competition in a direct primary in which every registered fee paying member is an electorate. This puts members in the drivers’ seat and gives them a sense of ownership.

    In the five years since APC emerged as ruling party, it should have led the effort to institutionalise party development in Nigeria. It is still not too late to start now.

  • Hmmm! This Kano Sphinx!

    Hmmm! This Kano Sphinx!

    FEMI ABBAS

    “…And beware of a calamity that may not spare even the innocent ones among you, if it descends; and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”.                 Q. 8: 24

     

    Preamble

    or obvious reason, today’s article in this column is deliberately given the title seen above. The word sphinx simply means a winged monster, in Greek mythology, which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion.

    That symbolic   monster was noted for terrorizing people who refused to subject themselves to the scourge of its spell. Anybody who had an encounter with the mysterious object became like a rider of tiger who ended up in the belly of that vicious animal.

     

    Genesis of Sphinx

    Nigerians who are well familiar with European literature must still remember an historical riddle of a sphinx in the city of Thebes. That city, on the island of Ithaca, was once the capital of ancient Greece.

    In a tragic drama entitled ‘Oedipus Rex’ and produced in 411 BC by a Greek dramatist called Sophocles who lived between 496 and 406 BC, we learnt of a curse that once befell the land of Thebes.

    As a result of the curse, not only were citizens afflicted by mysterious ailments that were killing them in droves, the cattle and the herds therein were  also gripped by an epidemic of reindeer-pest just as the crops in the farms were terribly blighted.

    It was at about that precarious time that one young man whose name was Oedipus emerged as the king. He had earned his people’s trust with a reputation of integrity and was he determined to solve the prevailing insuperable problems which he inherited from his predecessor.

     

    At a Younger Age

    As an adolescent, long before he became the king, Oedipus had saved Thebes from a strange calamity wrought by a monstrous sphinx which mysteriously took its permanent seat on a rock by the roadside in the middle of the city.

    The sphinx had divided the city into two thereby splitting the citizens into separate camps where no side could interact with the other. An example of that scenario can still be found in today’s capital of Cyprus called Nicosia.

     

    The Sphinx’s Riddle

    The mysterious sphinx in Thebes had a coded riddle with which it confronted every passerby. And it promptly devoured any accosted person that failed to decode the riddle. Thus, for a long time, the city of Thebes remained under the plague of the monstrous sphinx which was feeding fat on the blood and flesh of the citizens.

    For quite some time, the sadness and hopelessness engendered by that unprecedented calamity turned Thebes into a   permanent   mourning city for its inhabitants.

     

    The Kano Jinx

    The similitude of politics in today’s Kano State is like that of the sphinx in Thebes of yore. Any good political observer must have noticed that politics in Kano State, currently, has a superficial democratic face that is combined with a despotic heart. While the face is visible, the heart is invisible.

    Yes, it is possible for any Governor intoxicated by power in that State to discard the memorable effect of  history while basking in a vainglorious euphoria of an ephemeral office, but the indelible rule of posterity will  eventually remind such a Governor that he will also be discarded sooner or later by history at a time when there may be no room for repentance after exit from office.

     

    Politics as a Phenomenon

    The world of humans is predominantly governed by a pervasive phenomenon called politics. No individual or group or even family can escape the web of that phenomenon no matter how strong or weak he may be.

    Overtly or covertly, politics, particularly in Africa, is without doubt, a devastating cankerworm cruising recklessly through the veins of most living men and women and eating greedily and deeply into their fabrics.

    In the continent of the black race, where resignation from an office or abdication of power is an aberration, Politics is one phenomenon that permeates all spheres of human life directly or indirectly and showers those spheres with a dew of acid.

    In Nigeria, like in some other countries of the world, there is as much politics in economic, social, cultural and religious aspects of life as there is in education and even sports.

     

    Travails of a Monarch

    Contrary to speculations   and rumours flying  about  from certain quarters, the travails that led to the deposition of Mallam Muhammad Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II as the Emir of Kano, neither started in Kano nor in recent time.

    Those travails had rather started about seven years ago (2013) in Abuja with a probing letter written by Mallam sanusi to the Presidency as  Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and dated September 25, 2013.

    It was in that letter that he formally complained patriotically about the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to remit 19 months proceeds of oil sales to the Central Bank as statutorily required by the constitution.

    The political backlash of that patriotic disclosure later denied the man of a second term of five years in office and it almost cost him the stool of royalty in Kano. It was therefore not surprising that such a personality would come under the eagle’s eyes of politicians as he later did as an Emir.

     

    The Beginning of the End

    When the late Tai Solarin was writing an article with the title (The Beginning of the End) towards the twilight of the 20th century, hardly did he know that the backlash effect of that article would manifest at the dawn of the 21st century.

    In his heydays as a versatile newspaper columnist, Tai Solarin, a renowned educationist and atheist, had a way of casting the titles of his articles to suit his ideas and thoughts. It was to an article he wrote in 1974 as a reaction to General Yakubu Gowon’s U-turn on his earlier promise to return democracy to  Nigeria in 1976 that he gave that title.

    In that year (1974), General Gowon suddenly told Nigerians in a nation-wide television broadcast that his promise of returning power to civilians in 1976 was unrealistic after all. He did not mention a new date.

    And, incidentally, that article was the premonition that culminated in a military coup that swept General Gowon out of power in July 1975 after nine years in office as a military Head of State.

     

    Silencing the Oedipus  

    From the look of things, the country called Nigeria seems to have penchant for silencing the voice of progress which, in other words, means a preference for retardation.

    At the twilight of the 20th century, an Oedipus emerged in the name of MKO Abiola to kindle the light of hope for Nigeria. He was not only silenced but killed in detention.

    At the dawn of the 21st century, another Oedipus emerged in the name of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to right what is perennially wrong. But those who enjoy monopoly of power think he should be silenced.

    And, incidentally, the two (Abiola and Sanusi) are Muslims and their silencers are also Muslims. Where are we going from here? If these great Nigerians are deemed to be silenced can the truth they vividly represent be also silenced?

     

    Essence of History

    The real essence of history is for human beings to learn from its lessons. Without such lessons, history would have served no purpose in the life of man. Governance is like driving on a high way where no one, including the driver, can claim to know all or see all.

    The essence of having people around you as a leader is to seek and utilize the constructive advice given by those people so that if any failure occurs you will not bear the brunt all alone.

    No human being has monopoly of wisdom and nothing in governance is as destructive as unilateral decisions taken for selfish reason. To think and concentrate on personal benefit momentarily is the height of folly in human life. It must always be remembered that  office will surely outlive the officer.

     

    Islamic Position

    In Islam, the theory of ‘giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s’ holds no water because both Caesar and whatever he portends to own belong to God alone who is never tired and will never seek rest.

    Thus, in a situation where public funds are brazenly stolen with impunity in public glare, genuine Muslims cannot and should not keep silent. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once counseled Muslims about this kind of situation through Hadith.

    He said: “Whoever sees something obnoxious among you should change it (physically) with his hands. If he is incapable, let him  change it with his tongue (by condemning and admonishing against it).

    And if he is still incapable of doing that, he should then endeavour to change it with his mind (by tacitly rejecting it or by praying for its stoppage)”.

    The Prophet however added that “the last option signifies the weakest level of faith”. That is the situation that Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II could not stomach which led him to blowing the whistle unprecedentedly from time to time. He believes that it is a sin for a true Muslim to keep silent on such criminal acts.

     

    Obasanjo’s Letter

    At about the same time that Mallam Sanusi wrote the referred historic letter to the Presidency, as the CBN Governor, an Ex- President, Olusegun Obasanjo, also wrote a similar letter to President Goodluck Jonathan on December 2, 2013.

    It was a kind of epistle loaded with undisguised missiles of allegations that came frontally to the public through the media. The main gist of Obasanjo’s letter, as usual, contained allegations of corruption, bad governance and insecurity. It was heavily pregnant with political bile the summary of which can be called tit for tat.

    The contents of the letter were a bundle of messages that conspicuously outweighed the messenger. And, reading carefully between its lines, the letter could be compared to a pot trying to paint a kettle black. In a nutshell, the addresser and the addressee in that letter could be described as two sides of an un-spendable coin.

     

    Uniqueness of Sanusi’s Deposition

    Although Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II is not the first or only Emir to be deposed in Northern Nigeria, the courage and gallantry with which he received that fate distinguished him as a great leader.

    He knows that even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was forced to migrate from Makkah to Madinah in his mission to propagate the truth, it was that same migration that paved his way to a triumphant reentry into the same Makkah after eight years of suffering.

    And, in emulation of that greatest man that ever lived, Mallam Sanusi believes that nothing, including a triumphant reentry into Kano, can be ruled out in the program of Allah.

     

    Effect of Whistle Blowing

    Although the message in Obasanjo’s letter generated a loud brouhaha across the land, it nevertheless remained a mere rhetoric with which Nigerians were already familiar.

    If anything sounded strange in that letter at all, it was the mention of a killer squad allegedly  being kept by the then Presidency against about 1000 political opponents and other perceived enemies of the government.

    It must however be remembered that by the time of writing that letter, Obasanjo had torn his Peoples Democratic Party’s membership card and had surreptitiously crossed over to APC unofficially.

    The only seeming benefit of that letter to the public was the washing of the supposed leaders’ linens in the open which the populace watched with unreserved amusement.

    It gave the impression that the only expected legacy from this crop of leadership is nothing beyond despair in spite of the rare opportunities they have in preserving the tranquility of the country. What lesson can the youths learn from such a gang of political cultists?

     

    Political Peculiarity

    For Nigerian politicians, political drama can never be strange. But the peculiarity in this case is the tacit mobilization of the suffering masses as archers deployed to forage the grassroots on foot while the gladiators keep galivanting on horses.

    Like an accursed nation, Nigeria has the misfortune of engaging misfits in the name of leaders to pilot their affairs especially in a very cloudy environment.

    Or how can one classify a situation where two supposed national leaders decide to strip naked for competitive dance in a market place and expect sellers and buyers in that market to clap for the winner. Isn’t that shameful?

    Like in the past, Nigerians have once again found themselves in a hollow ship wandering through an implacable Atlantic ocean. The destination of that ship remains unknown.

    Its pilots seem to have lost the compass. An urgent need for a Noah to sail this drifting ship to the Cape of Good Hope should now be a matter of priority if this country will continue to be called Nigeria.