The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • A nation’s moral abyss

    On the precipice of decadence for some time, this country has drifted gradually into the abyss, an existential hell-hole from which an exit is uncertain. Hence the hopelessness of any national endeavor, even those led by a saintly leader, were there any.

    Where does one even begin? Foraging fraudsters all over the land. We created a unique statute with which the nation herself became synonymous on the global arena. Who in the world is not scared stiff of Nigerian 419?

    Infamous prowling human kidnappers amassing huge material wealth while inflicting pain and sorrow on their victims. Yet they enjoy the “respect” of their fellow citizens for their wealth, and the protection of those charged with protecting the public from their kind.

    Predator professors who sexually harass their students in flagrant disregard of age-old ethics of their profession. And who suffers the consequence but society? With grades offered based on vulgarity of bodily pleasure instead of an objective assessment of performance in course, a student is primed for failure in life and the nation’s investment in education is lost.

    But if you expect parents to protest a conspiracy to ruin the lives of their wards, you are a foreigner to our contemporary cultural collapse and the extent of our moral calamity. Many parents are in cahoots with the wreckers of our educational system. Associating success with diplomas, they would willingly pay for the best grades and negotiate their children’s access to miracle centers. The consequence of all these is not perceptible until after graduation when they are unable to get decent jobs.

    Already, however, as students with a background of sleaze, they would have been socialized into the abyss. Nobody starts criminal or anti-social life in adulthood. On-campus cult life graduates into a crime career facilitated by guaranteed unemployment. They become easy recruits into political thuggery by politicians hardly different in outlook.

    Ideally, politics is about public service and politicians are imbued with a desire to sacrifice time, material wealth, and sometimes health, in the service of the public. Their reward is the recognition of a grateful public and the legacy of a great service rendered. The Kennedys, the Mandelas and the Awolowos of this world, to mention those who have bid farewell to Mother Earth, remind us of the nobility of public service which many still genuinely aspire to.

    Not to take away from the virtuous motivations that drive some contemporary politicians to public service, we must grant that there are a few who belong in the category of the departed who take seriously the purposive mission of politics. But they are simply too few to make a grand mark without the support of the disproportionate number of hustlers. This is the crux of the matter.

    Politics is the master key in the life of a nation. It opens the doors of development and progress as politicians jettison self-interest and pursue the common good in the design of suitable constitution that takes account of its demographic realities. They then strategize about requisite institutions–economic, educational, health, social services, etc.–to move the nation towards the realization of the common good of development and progress for citizens. The development and strengthening of such institutions from the beginning ensures that no individual or group can arrogate to themselves a disproportionate amount of power capable of derailing the nation.

    We were on track for that kind of outcome in 1960 with the adoption of a federal constitution. Many politicians of that era passed on with their dignity intact even though they had little to nothing in material wealth. They invested in education, so children had good head-start. They started to build an economy based on the natural assets of the country which was (and still is) agriculture. With planned development strategy, they provided employment opportunities in public and private sectors for graduates of high schools, trade schools, technical colleges and universities. The regions of the federation engaged in healthy competition to the benefit of their residents and the entire country was on a trajectory of development.

    From the strength of the politics of development, other institutions took their strength. Religion maintained its function of social and moral control, keeping other institutions honest and individuals under leash. Generally, religious leaders of yore were not beholden to politicians. They were satisfied with their choice of career which they considered a calling and were not in competition with their congregants in business or the professions. Theirs were voices of restraint on bad behavior.

    Unfortunately, not anymore. Religion is now an integral part of our moral abyss, having inserted itself into the debacle that politics has become. Preaching prosperity rather than restraint from immorality, they bless wealth without knowing its source. They emphasize division instead of affirming the unity of the nation through prayers. Most disappointing, however, is that whatever moral lapses are found in politics or business are not alien to the modern church or mosque. Sexual immorality is a common denominator.

    So where is the salvation? How does the nation get out of this moral abyss?

    The first question is “do we recognize that we have a problem that warrants solution?” We deceive ourselves when we believe that all is well because the Chinese are parachuting in and out and we are going to have a China-based foreign exchange. From dollar to yuan is no relief for the decadence that we have gotten ourselves into.

    Next question: “do we collectively have the will to get out? If there is the will to get out, there is a further question: “what is the cause of our moral decline? What got us into the mess?” Above, I offered a description of what the moral abyss is and of its contents. But how did we get there? What was the trigger that pushed us to and off the cliff?

    Some have identified poverty. Others ignorance. Each has a point. However, ignorance and poverty are more an effect than cause in the dangerous slide down moral abyss. At best, each is a victim of greed. And, unfortunately, in varying degrees, each of us is morally culpable in the matter of greed.

    Greed is a selfish desire for more of something (e.g. money) than is needed and to the detriment of others. Even in societies that we envy for development, our culture of greed is unknown. A typical middle-class Westerner has minimal needs: food, housing, kids’ education, and to a very small extent, clothing. His or her weekly wage or monthly salary is adequate for his or her needs. He also saves for vacation and for emergencies. And in case there is an emergency that goes beyond savings, the institution creates a means through the credit system. He doesn’t need politicians to bail him out for funeral ceremonies or children’s education. She doesn’t entertain the luxury of aso ebi. And a minister of God cannot extort him for seed-sowing.

    Se bi o ti mo is a cultural parlance that places premium on modesty and decries flamboyant lifestyle and the greed that it breeds. But we have become proponents of possessive individualism. Even men and women of God who used to be models of moderation now model excessive greed which is not even displayed by their successful business/professional congregants. And, from the policeman on traffic checkpoint, to customs agent at the border, to the clerical officer and messenger in the state and federal services, and local government chairmen and party officials, greed breeds corruption. Corruption births inefficiency, which creates weak institutions.

    If we would go back to our cultural heritage of living within our means, if we would abandon our greedy lifestyles, if we would resist the temptation to go cap in hand to public servants for our wants, then we can call them out if they fail to provide for the nation’s need in security, education, health, and infrastructure. We can insist on going back to the original structure that gave us a lease on life in the beginning. And while there may be some irredeemable souls irretrievable from the abyss, the nation could start a new course for the many that are redeemable.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The difference now

    The State Security Services (SSS) just struck again. But this time is different. It met its match in an accidental politician, a professor of constitutional law, and a man of God, who understands that there is life after politics.

    The siege on the National Assembly by officers of the SSS, presumably on the order of its Director, Malam Lawal Daura, was an assault on the rule of law. Acting President Osinbajo rightly declared the siege “a gross violation of constitutional order, rule of law, and all acceptable notions of law and order.” And with the termination of the appointment of Malam Daura, he swiftly followed through on his promise that all those involved in the siege will face disciplinary action.

    The National Securities Agencies Act of 1986 charges SSS with the responsibility for ”(a) the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria; (b) the protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria; and (c) such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.” Notice that the reference is to State Security Service (SSS) and NOT Department of State Services (DSS). The change to DSS, which has gained currency since 2011, is presumably the agency’s extra-constitutional act.

    Significantly too, Article 3 Section 2 of the Act also provides that “in the case of the State Security Service and the National Intelligence Agency, (the Principal Officers, i.e. Directors) “shall be responsible directly to the President” (my emphasis). This raises a pertinent question: If the Acting President was not aware of the siege on the National Assembly, who authorized it? The answer is not far-fetched. In every administration since 1999, SSS Directors have illegally and criminally taken Nigerians hostage to their selfish interests to curry the favor of their masters even if those masters were kept in the dark about the motivations of their appointees. Until NOW.

    PDP has rushed shamelessly to cast the first stone in this matter when it has been involved in despicable adulterous relationships with security agencies to undermine democracy since 1999. For space limitation, we cannot go back to the beginning. But in the last two years of the last administration, we witnessed the abuse of Nigerians, especially the media and the opposition, by security agencies purportedly working for the interest of the government and the ruling party.

    In April 2013, the police detained Leadership newspaper journalists on an allegation that the journalists deliberately published a false story about a “Presidential Directive” on opposition leaders. And when that story broke, the Presidency was alleged to have directed the police to clamp down on the journalists.

    The Presidency argued then that once it convinced itself that the Leadership story was false, it denied it and “the rebuttal from the Presidency was appropriate.” However, in an apparent defence of the high-handedness of the police then, the presidential response speculated that Leadership story, which it considered “fictitious” was intended to “cause civil strife, engender a breakdown of law and order and negate the values of our democracy” and it concluded that it is a “very grievous act which should not be ignored.”

    Thus, in that case, while the PDP administration denied directing law enforcement officers to clamp down on Leadership journalists and detain them, it had no scruple defending the detention because it is “natural” for the police to “act in the public interest.” PDP saw no evil then.

    We have not always been unified in discharging our moral obligation to condemn the politicisation of our security agencies whenever and wherever it occurred. Those who stood to benefit from the invasion of masked armed forces in Ekiti in 2014 did not lift a finger nor raise a voice in protest. Then there were the leaked tapes of conspiracy to rig and we thought that we had reached a new low. Still, PDP saw no evil.

    Further still on Ekiti, the incumbent APC Governor Fayemi, conceded defeat as the results were announced and pledged to set up a transition committee for a smooth transition to Governor-elect Fayose’s administration. APC, the defeated governor’s party, decided, independently of its candidate, to challenge the result in court.

    E-11, a social-cultural organization of Ekiti indigenes had its own beef against the elected candidate. The organization had approached the court to challenge Fayose’s eligibility for office in view of an alleged perjury. But the candidate and his party, PDP, won’t have the court adjudicate in the matter. With a retinue of followers, the governor-elect also approached the court, not to respond by way of a counter suit. Rather his was a Mano a Mano challenge to their Lordships. His die-hard followers descended on the Justices like hungry lions confronting raw flesh. They had their feed while the governor-elect and the police watched with glee. PDP saw no evil.

    From Friday, June 6, till Sunday, June 8, 2014, Nigerian security forces staged a comeback to their old game of intimidation and harassment. They laid siege on the media, disrupting the free flow of information. As widely reported by all the major media houses, the army placed soldiers in strategic locations throughout the country, especially in Abuja, Ibadan, Lagos, Benin, Jos and other northern cities, detained newspaper distribution vans and their drivers, and confiscated the newspapers they were to deliver. Apart from costing the publishers and distributors enormous losses, the exercise also caused many vendors and distributors legitimate means of livelihood.

    The soldiers were acting on orders. The army is charged with security and whenever it has intelligence reports about the activities of a segment of the public with a great potential for causing harm to the country, it must act. That was the story, and it was not a new one. We heard it before during the era of brutal dictatorship.

    On its part, the Jonathan administration’s spokespersons, never short of excuses, quickly parried allegation of dirty tricks against the presidency. They wondered how President Jonathan who magnanimously signed the Freedom of Information Act can turn around to scuttle the free flow of information. However, they argued that, as Commander-in-Chief, Jonathan supported the action if it was the result of intelligence. It was doublespeak at its worst. PDP saw no evil then.

    In February 2015, SSS and OP-MESA, with over 50 security operatives from Abuja stormed the APC Data Center in the Ikeja area of Lagos and arrested 25 APC data agents and three security guards. The then APC Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, reported that the team of invaders had no search warrant for the premises. They pulled down the gates and spent over two hours ransacking and vandalizing the center. They destroyed dozens of computers and servers.

    DSS claimed to have acted on a tip-off that the center was being used as a warehouse by a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, to produce and issue fake Permanent Voter Cards, while another version had it that weapons were being kept at the center. Mohammed blamed the invasion on PDP and the federal government. No one suffered any consequence. PDP saw no evil.

    It is undeniable that since 2015, SSS has not acted any different from its predecessors. It has also acted with impunity, unfortunately with little or no pushback from the Executive. It has even sometimes acted against the President and in collusion with Senator Saraki as in the case of the confirmation of EFCC Chairman Magu. Therefore, speculation has been rife even about this NASS invasion given the personal relationship between Saraki and Daura. A full-scale investigation is undoubtedly warranted.

    Acting President Osinbajo deserves a special commendation for defending the rule of law. While we may not reverse the high-handedness of the past, we must punish this present assault on democratic norms. Instead of resorting to the usual gotcha politics, there must now be a common resolve by all political leaders and parties to put security and intelligence agencies where they belong as agencies for the preservation and promotion of democratic norms and the rule of law on behalf of elected officials.

     

     

     

  • When party supremacy encounters ego

    The important point to stress here is that our Constitution clearly makes a Registered Political Party the cornerstone of the activities of all the members of that Party, including those of them in the Legislature and the Executive, as well as those of them operating outside these two organs of Government. Indeed, the Registered Political Party is the sole source from which candidates for election, and elected members of the Legislature and Executive, derive their lifeblood for acceptability, public status and legitimacy. Any elected member or group of elected members of a Political Party who refuse to toe the Party line–that is, choose to break their link with the Party source–must, of a necessity, either quickly affiliate with another Political Party for a link to another Party source, or be doomed to political dehydration or anemia…..the Registered Political Party is supreme, and absolutely decisive in the conduct of our public affairs.”

    Chief Obafemi Awolowo, “On the Supremacy of the Party over its Members” From the address delivered to the Oyo State Conference of the Unity Party of Nigeria on Saturday, 8th November 1980 reprinted in Voice of Courage, Selected Speeches of Chief Obafemi Awolowo Vol. 2 Akure: Fagbamigbe Publishers 1981.

    “A political party as “an organized group of people who exercise their legal right to identify with a set of similar political aims and opinions, and one that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office.”

    ACE Electoral Knowledge Network

    If we work with the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network’s definition for political party, then it is reasonable to identify with the sentiment expressed in Chief Awolowo’s position in the above quoted statement. If the defining mark of a political party is the identification of its members with similar political aims and opinions about governance, and if, based on this common identification, the party nominates and supports candidates for election, then the party has a superior moral authority over its members, especially those elected through its sponsorship, to hold them accountable for the promotion of those aims and opinions that bind them together.

    Ideally, then, the criteria for registering for membership of a political party is the acceptance of the aims and opinions which the party espouses and commits to promoting and implementing if given the mandate by the electorate.

    In the quoted passage, Chief Awolowo recognizes the inevitability of conflict between the institutions of governance over the best approach to promoting and implementing the aims and opinions of the party once it assumes power. At every level, between the executive and the legislature, conflict is real. But by the same token, resolution of any conflict is assured if the supremacy of the party is accepted. So, the sage expressed a great confidence in the smooth working of the political system provided the supremacy of the party is respected.

    Of course, as we know, the reality of our political experience has been quite different from the ideal which Chief Awolowo endorsed in 1980. We should note also, however, that, for Chief Awolowo, his 1980 position has always motivated his approach to party politics since 1951. It was certainly his position in 1962 at the inception of the Action Group (AG) crisis. But that crisis was a forceful test of the viability of the principle of party supremacy in a liberal democracy in which other external actors and institutions are key players. In that context, the principle failed the test of operability. AG collapsed.

    Fast forward to 1983, three years after the delivery of Awo’s address to the Oyo State Conference of the UPN. The conflict was not between the executive and the legislature. All stakeholders accepted in good faith the four cardinal principles of UPN. Rather, it was a conflict of personality and personal ambition. In Oyo State, it was between the governor and a member of his executive. In Ondo State, it was between the governor and his deputy.

    With associates taking side, the conflicts soon engulfed the ruling party in the LOOBO states and gave room for the NPN to infiltrate and take over at least three of the states. Again, the supremacy of the party was put to the test of practicality and it failed.

    It is common knowledge that Alliance for Democracy (AD) was registered as a political party as an appeasement of the Southwest, specifically the Afenifere wing of NADECO, in 1998. Interestingly, the party suffered the fate of AG and UPN, again due to competing ambitions which the ideal of party supremacy was not able to resolve. The original feud soon morphed into a bigger one anchored on the collapsing of the separate identities of Afenifere as a socio-cultural organization and AD as a political party.

    ACN grew out of the ashes of AD buoyed by a principal actor with a mission to break boundaries and seek allegiances to advance the ideals of liberal democracy and promote the welfare of the populace. Not a bad motivation. Meanwhile, this motivation could not have come at a more opportune time. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had ruled the country since 1999 was collapsing under the weight of the combined burden of executive malaise, party paralysis, and disparate interests and ambitions.

    The challenge for ACN leadership was to find allies with sufficient interest in its ideal of breaking boundaries and promoting welfare liberalism to form a formidable political party that could also win national elections. This effort required a good understanding of two realities. First, politics is a game of numbers and therefore the more the merrier. But second, while understanding the importance of numbers, it is also important to recognize the significance of commonality of interests and unity of purpose.

    Unfortunately, as it turned out, the attraction of the need for numbers may have outweighed consideration of commonality of interests and unity of purpose. APC was formed with the merger of ACN, CPC, ANPP, and a faction of APGA. Shortly after its formation, it received with open hands, members of New PDP, governors and National Assembly members, who battled PDP, the ruling party, to a standstill. In the national elections of 2015, PDP succumbed to the newly formed APC, which won the presidency, the National Assembly, and many state houses and executive mansions.

    However, APC had hardly assumed its new status as ruling party when crisis broke out, again due to ambition which had no respect for the principle of party supremacy. But this time, the ambitious individuals who challenged the party didn’t have to worry because the party did not raise a finger. With the president as the leader of the party folding his arms and implying that he can work with anyone, those individuals who breached party protocol had a field day. They consolidated their power against a humiliated leadership. Before the party woke up from slumber, its political dam had been breached. The spate of defections is the natural extension.

    Chief Awolowo made an important observation in the address from which I quoted above. Our constitution provides for Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy which require that our governing institutions must focus on the identified principles and policies for the advancement of the welfare of the citizens.

    These principles and objectives are to be promoted by any party in power at any level of government from local to national. This means two things. First, while the political parties may have their ideological foundations, these cannot conflict with the fundamental objectives enshrined in the constitution. Second, no matter which political party an individual lawmaker or executive aligns with, citizens must require them to, at the minimum, implement the constitutional mandates enshrined in the Fundamental Objectives.

    If the above is true, then citizens need not worry where any defectors decide to seek his or her electoral fortune. Of course, the chameleonic character of defectors will hunt them at every point. But if they are not perturbed about moral integrity, nothing anyone can do. What we can do, however, is to hold them responsible and accountable for the discharge of the obligations of governance as enshrined in the Constitution.

     

     

  • Our brand of politics

    Every political system, as every nation, has its uniqueness and its idiosyncrasies. While we have dancing senators and crying governors, others can boast of lying presidents. Our deficit of ideology and surplus of personality cults is legendary. But others have managed to carry ideology to its craziest extremes such having ideological litmus test for judges. What happens to the symbol of blindness as a mark of judicial fairness? We worry whether we will ever develop to a First World status. But some that already attain that status are daily craving our Third World status. How else to understand our desire for and appreciation of democratic norms vis-à-vis their attraction to the dictators of our era?

    If comparing ourselves existentially with others in these ways make us happy, let us please ourselves. God is not done with us yet, despite our desperate efforts for him to abandon us. However, it makes better sense to take a deep breath and address a few fundamental questions: Who are we? What do we really want in our union? Will we ever develop politically, economically, and morally?

    In one of his most insightful comments on the imperative for African development, Nwalimu Julius Nyerere submitted that “we must run while they walk.” In other words, we cannot afford to compare ourselves with those who have achieved First World status. They can indulge themselves. They can afford to slow down. However, if not for them, the development clock is ticking for us. In the beginning of their national journey, they had ensured that the politics that drives the engine of development was well-positioned for the task, with a constitution that was designed to unleash the forces of production in every part of the nation.

    The important point from the above is that nations that make it developmentally got their politics right. Yes, every now and then, they may appear to backslide. But the system is resilient enough to auto-correct. From the beginning, their focus was the good of the nation. Take the case of the United States of America, the nation whose constitution we claim to adopt. The founding fathers insisted on a federal constitution even when there were no clearly discernible differences in tongue and tribe. The mere fact of geographical differences between the various states recommended federalism for them. Then they ensured that there were justiciable checks and balances between the various branches of government.

    Most importantly, the founding fathers came up with strong laws and statutes that ensured that no one is ever above the law. And the good of the entire nation is the purpose of politics and government. This understanding inspired the most patriotic zeal which bolstered development in every area of national life. It paid that in the early twentieth century, a rival political system, the Soviet Union, challenged the US and thus unleashed a period of economic and military competition that eventually led to the downfall of the former. This strengthened the confidence of the US in its system of government and economics.

    What is the ground zero of our national existence? What motivates us as a people? Do we even see ourselves as a people and do we believe in the nation? These are questions that we have not really settled. It appears that at every turn in our checkered history, answers to these questions get determined by whoever is at the helm. We have been consumed with ethnic mistrust and religious bigotry at the expense of national advancement. We have promoted personality cults above national interest. And most importantly, we have elevated materialism and individual interest above everything else. The result is the paralysis in governance and development to the detriment of the poor masses who are forced to massage the ego of depraved politicians for crumbs.

    With the question of an adequate constitutional framework unsettled, or settled only with the whim of the strongmen, there is an avoidable absence of a united force of all the peoples for any enduring development agenda for the nation. A federal executive council can decide what it likes based on its understanding of the needs of the nation. How does that get translated into a broad national consensus?

    We have seen how that works in the present political setup with the chasm between the National Assembly and the Presidency when infrastructural and federal road projects are debated by the former from the prism of sectional interests. In the case of the insecurity generated by the killer herdsmen across the nation, which has given the Buhari administration a black eye, we see unhealthy interjection of ethnic and religious considerations into what is clearly an economic policy matter.

    What is surprising is that everyone knows that this system is not working. Political leaders are aware of the immense growing resentment among the populace. Yet they soldier on with the mindset of a conqueror who cannot be bothered by the complaints of the conquered.

    Thus far, this strategy has worked to the delight of those who benefit from it and to the mortification of those who know that the nation can profit from a different approach for various reason. The most fundamental of these reasons, the foundational cause of the curse of the nation thus far, is the influence of money in our politics. On this, other reasons for the failure of our brand of politics to advance the national agenda take their cue.

    Money is the root of political evil. While it is an essential lubricant for the political wheel to run smoothly, it could also be a wedge in the smooth running of the wheel. The political system that successfully identifies the intersection between the useful grease and the handicapping logjam effectively achieves desired outcomes for the people.

    In what positive ways does money grease political machine? In a well-ordered system, where there is congruence among the various constituents in the matter of national unity and the advancement of national interest, in which political parties are well-attuned to the advancement of the national interest, and they compete for votes to advance same, money could play a useful role.

    First, political parties need money for a strong organizational setup at national and state levels. Second, they need money for informational purposes. They need to reach out to the voting public about their programs for the nation. Advertisements on radio and television as well as social media platforms are useful investments for parties to reach the electorate. Political parties also could help the national cause by investing in the political education of their members, including those who desire political offices, as well as the electorates.

    In what ways does money clog the wheel of politics negatively? To answer this question adequately, we must go beyond politicians to influence peddlers in general. For the latter are as guilty as the politicians they try to influence. Incidentally this is not unique to our system. The big wealthy men and women who throw their monetary weight behind legislations and policies that benefit them at the expense of the masses are deadly viruses in the organ of the political system.  Unfortunately, there is reason for their existence and their effectiveness.

    As suggested above, parties need money to organize and to inform. In the absence of an active and paid membership, they depend on big donors who see their contributions as investments which must bring profit sooner or later. When return is not forthcoming after elections, they become irritable and could turn against their beneficiaries. We are not strangers to this. Public funding of parties and candidates plus active and committed membership could help resolve this problem.

    There is a more sinister negativity in the choking function of money. Money that buys votes is a foundational curse. A politician that spends fortunes to buy votes is a calculating politician who only invests with a view to a future dividend or profit. The bigger the investment, the bigger the expected anticipated profit. A wise investor in political business knows what offices return what dividends and he or she goes for the most rewarding. Many of our politicians belong to this class of foundational corruption.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Islam’s charter with Christianity

    For Nigerian many charlatans who claim to be clerics and preach to their congregations with hate speeches and unbridled hostility, there are many sources from which to learn a lesson. One of such sources is history which is globally recognized as a great teacher of man. Without history, there can neither be any experience for man nor any basis for his future plans. It is on the fertile soil of history that the growth of man and the development of his society are firmly planted.

    Just as history makes man so does man make history. But the impact of the latter by far outweighs that of the former in the trend of human civilization. However, the symbiotic relationship of both history and man is what keeps the world going.

     

    Makers of history

    In its characteristic nature as a teacher, history has made many people who continue to depend on its platform for livelihood. On the other hand, there are those who have made history to the benefit of other people even long after their demise.

    The greatest maker of human history, as universally acknowledged, is the greatest human being that ever lived. That human being is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah who was an illiterate desert man that paved way for global literacy and education of mankind without blemish. It was he who clearly distinguished education from literacy with his own practical example and opened the eyes of the whole world to the fact that literacy is just an instrument for documenting and preserving knowledge for posterity.  And that is one of the factors that makes him the greatest man that ever lived.

    Through a famous book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most influential Persons in History’ and published in 1977, by a Jewish American astrophysicist and scholar, Michael Hart,  the consciousness of the contemporary world is drawn to the uniqueness of an unlettered man who turns out to be the most educated human being ever in history. It was in that book that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was named the greatest man that ever lived.

    And since the publication of that historic book, no other author or scholar of note has come up with an acknowledged research work to counter Michael Hart’s sense of judgment by providing a convincing alternative to his conclusion.

    Thus, contrary to cynics’ baseless propaganda against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW), out of sheer envy, it was this greatest Prophet of Islam that taught mankind the act of religious tolerance and accommodation.

     

    Evidence of greatness

    Greatness is neither by chance nor by sheer proclamation or attribution. Whoever can innovate a venture that becomes a heritage for multitudes of people across nations, centuries and generations is indeed an incontrovertible great person. That is one of the many factors that make Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the greatest man that ever lived.

     

     The historic charter

    In recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian leaders in 628 CE and the charter remains valid till today. The signing of that charter by the great Prophet was also an evidence that Islam recognizes authentic Christianity as a divine religion.

    In that year (628 CE), a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery travelled to Madinah to meet Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and seek from him protection of the Islamic government under his command. The objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring their security against the aggression of the Persian Empire. (St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican City and it is known as a world heritage site).

     

    The content of the charter

    In response to the request of the Christian representatives cited above, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) them granted a written charter of rights as follows:

    “This is a message from Muhammad the son of Abdullah serving as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far that we (Muslims) are with them. Verily, I and all the servants of God, as well as the helpers of Islam hereby make promise to defend Christians because they are my citizens and by God, I stand out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them (concerning their way of worship). Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one should destroy a house of their religion or damage it or loot it. Whoever violates this has breached God’s covenant with mankind and disobeyed His Apostle. Verily, Christians are my allies and have my secure charter against all they hate. No one should force them to fight for a course in which they have no belief or compel them to migrate against their wish. Neither is the sacredness of their covenant to be violated nor their Monasteries to be disrespected. And if any damage should happen to their Monasteries by chance, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this charter till the Last Day (end of the world)”.

     

     Before the charter

    Prior to the covenant mentioned above, several verses of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) acknowledging the divine mission of all the Prophets preceding him (Muhammad (SAW) including that of Jesus the son of Mary. And because of those Qur’anic revelations, no Muslim can claim to be a true believer in Islam without accepting Jesus the son of Mary as well as other Prophets ordained Apostles of Allah. One of those Qur’anic revelations states as follows:

    “The Apostle of Allah (Muhammad SAW) believes in what was revealed to him and so do the entire Muslim faithful. Every one of them believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say “we hear and obey (the laws brought by those Apostles). Grant us your forgiveness Oh Lord! To you we shall all return….” (Q. 2: 285).

     

    Brethren in faith

    The above charter shows Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognized the fact that Muslims and Christians were brethren in faith and none of them should fight against the other (physically or psychologically) for the reason of differences in their modes of worship. And by validating the charter till the great Day of Judgment, the Prophet had precluded any future attempt to revoke the privileges contained in that charter by any nation, group or individuals.

     

    Implication of the charter

    By implication, the privileges contained in the above covenant are inalienable, not only in the primordial time but also in the contemporary time. Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy those privileges. It is because of that sacrosanct charter that Muslims, all over the world, do not blame Christianity for any misdemeanor of a Christian or attack Christianity as a way of preaching Islam as some Christians do against Islam particularly in Nigeria.

     

    Reciprocation

    Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy the privileges contained in the above charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture whenever and wherever they coexist with Muslims not only by tolerating the latter’s mode of worship and way of life but also by refraining from any naked or avowed act of provocation or disdain against them, which could precipitate a religious rancour. Another noticeable aspect of the charter is the Prophet’s silence on any payment by the protectorate Christians which was the general practice among nations in those days. Thus, that ‘Charter of Rights’ was a free gift. And from it the reason becomes clear why the Islamic State under the command of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his rightly guided companions or disciples who became Caliphs after his demise never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes. If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out centuries later between Christians and Muslims such could only be attributed either to a breach of the charter by ignorant adherents of both religions. And that does not have anything to do with the tenets of the two religions.

     

    Upholding the charter

    In upholding that charter, the second Caliph in Islam, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Muslim prayer (Salat) inside the Church of Jerusalem when he visited the area following the liberation of that region by the Islamic State from the Persian Empire in which Zoroastrianism ( worshiping of fire) was the religion. On that historic occasion, the Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Caliph Umar, as Head of State, was to lead. But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply declined and rather ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians to worship therein. He said he would not do what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prohibited before his demise. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches into Mosques for that would amount to religious aggression and capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

     

    One God, One faith

    A divine religion is like the embassies to which Ambassadors are assigned. The operations in those embassies are in accordance with the policies of the home country of the diplomatic missions to which the Ambassadors are assigned. As the embassy premises are treated as part of the home country of the concerned mission so are the Ambassadors posted to those missions are accorded diplomatic immunity. And, in such cases, what is good for the goose is equally deemed good for the gander.

     

    Commercialisation of religion

    Ironically, today, in no other country is religion as commercialized as in Nigeria. Even the United States of America from where that obnoxious capitalist orientation was imported has been surpassed by some Nigerian charlatans calling themselves ‘men and women of god’. If such Nigerians claim to be religious at all, their dedication is rather to the money accruing from religion than to God that they claim to be worshipping.

     

    Evidence of ignorance

    What most Nigerian leaders of Islamic and Christian religions do not seem to know is that the refusal of the adherents of both religions to study and understand the doctrines which guide those religions is the main cause of religious disharmony in the country today. This is however , not peculiar to Nigeria. It is global. Both Christians and Muslims jointly constitute more than half of the world’s population. And, it is from their common brook that the spiritual ripples which continually make the world restive emanate. If the adherents of both religions had endeavoured to mutually study and understand the doctrines that guide their ways in life, the world would not have come under religious spell as we have it today.

     

    Prophetic revelation

    Prior to the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a Qur’anic revelation came to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in 616 CE to confirm the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity. That revelation which formed a whole chapter in the Qur’an was entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome ’. It reads thus: “Rome, (the nation of the Christian Greeks) has been defeated in a neighbouring land. But after their defeat, they shall (themselves) gain victory within a few years. Allah is the Supreme Commander before and after. On that day (when they become victorious), the believers (Muslims and Christians) will rejoice in Allah’s help. Allah gives victory to whoever He wills. He is the Mighty One, the Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

    And true to that prophecy, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after it was revealed. Besides, it will be recalled that the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details of his birth and disappearance much more than can be found in the Bible. Also a whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus confirming her chastity and the miraculous birth of Jesus. It is only in the Qur’an that the report of how Jesus spoke as an infant was revealed. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary). How else can the unity of religious mission from the unity of God be confirmed?

     

    Orientalists’ antics

    However, despite all the indisputable facts mentioned above, the Western Orientalists and their blind imitators in Nigeria who seek to foster discord between Christianity and Islam by all means as a way of   enriching themselves in their commercialization of religion. Those are commercial the charlatans who want the world to believe that this same Prophet Muhammad (SAW), at the inception of Islam, held the Qur’an in one hand and the sword in the other and moved around to force people to accept Islam or be ready to die. In the exhibition of their blatant ignorance based on falsehood, they do not even think of the illogicality of such baseless falsehood as the Qur’an had not been rendered into a book before the the demise of the Prophet. Logically, if one man had such a power to intimidate and force multitudes of people to accept Islam by force could such a man have been compelled to migrate from Makkah (his home town) to Madinah for assylum? That shows how shallow the thought of liars is in the process of fabricating falsehood.

     

    Conclusion

    The doctrine of one God one mission purportedly shared in the world today by three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) cannot be from the same perception. Each of these religions has its own revealed Book and the adherents practice their faiths according to the doctrines contained in those Books. It will therefore be wrong of adherents of one particular religion to adjudge those of others as deviants or infidels who must be exterminated.

    Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write it using blue ink pen must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink pen to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not necessarily by sheer mortal’s recommendation. Only the Almighty Allah who chose our parents for us without our knowledge before we came into this world and who knows where each of us would finally be buried has the final say on everybody’s destination.

    If the truth must be told, the real cause of religious conflicts in Nigeria is not intolerance as often hypocritically claimed by some people but provocation under the guise of religion. Nigerian press is particularly guilty of this by fueling such provocation. It is wrong to expect tolerance to thrive in a society where provocation and injustice refuse to abate. Propagating a religion by denigrating another is an act of provocation. And those who want peace to prevail in Nigeria must desist from such intolerable act.

    Nigerian Church and Mosque leaders must refrain from negative sentiments and hypocrisy by dissuading their followers from interpreting the misbehaviour of some miscreants to mean the prescription of the religion they claim to profess.

  • A culture warrior at 85

    He comes from a family of warriors and culture champions. His grandfather fought in the Oyo-Ijaye War as Alafin’s war general. His father was the Asipade of Oyo and a veteran of the First World War. Wande Abimbola, Emeritus Professor of African Languages, former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, former Senate Leader (1992-93), and Awise Awo Agbaiye (spokesman for Ifa worldwide) chose a different war to lead. He a culture warrior.

    In the circle of enlightened culture enthusiasts, Professor Wande Abimbola needs no introduction. Here, he is, unarguably, the first among equals. If language and religion are the indispensable foundations of a culture, Abimbola is the foremost intellectual protagonist and defender of indigenous Yoruba culture through the strengthening of Yoruba language and religion. This is his life’s purpose.

    Of course, since there is no culture without a people, and since people evolve over time, cultures do evolve. This is an obvious dilemma for indigenous culture enthusiasts like Abimbola. Right from their first contact with foreign peoples, including fellow Africans and non-Africans, Yoruba people have confronted foreign ideas, languages, and beliefs. Through these interactions, foreign words entered Yoruba language and were appropriated and indigenized. Most, if not all languages, go through this experience. However, provided the mainframe of the language remains solid, the language is still considered indigenous.

    Unlike the indigenizing of foreign words into a living language, however, religious belief systems are a different class. First, foreign religions came with their own languages and worldviews, which are often posed as superior to indigenous world views. Therefore, they were expected to replace their indigenous counterparts. Second, while indigenous religions are non-proselytizing, foreign religions are, and the duty to evangelize is integral to a voluntary embrace of those religions. Third, those foreign religions also came with additional benefits, including education, commonly presented as requiring a new orientation and a new worldview.

    For these reasons, many Yoruba, like their fellow Africans across the continent, embraced those foreign belief systems, including Islam and Christianity, with their cultural ethos and the imperatives they impose on adherents, including proselytisation. The few who resisted were described as infidels bound for hell fire. Interestingly, the violence experienced by Africans in the arena of religion has been caused by conflicts between the proselytizing religions and rarely between either of them and indigenous religions. Consider Boko Haram’s war against Western education and Christianity.

    Wande Abimbola sees his mission as the preservation and promotion of Yoruba culture by promoting its language and indigenous religious system; albeit not at the expense of foreign religions. Indeed, he is the first to insist that indigenous religion is not designed to recruit adherents.

    By its nature, indigenous religion welcomes devotees; but it doesn’t have a mandate for evangelization. Neither does it ridicule adherents of other religions. Therefore, Abimbola expects reciprocity of the live-and-let-live philosophy of indigenous religions from other religions. When this expectation is unmet, which is often the case, there is crisis.

    Abimbola once found himself in such a crisis and he confronted it by fighting back on the spot. He attended a special church service at the invitation of a celebrant. The officiating clergy, considering it his spiritual obligation to offer salvation to unbelievers, issued a stern warning that whoever did not believe in Jesus, especially an Ifa worshipper, was bound for hell fire. It was an in-your-face confrontation. Abimbola responded in kind as the man of God spoke. He declared to the hearing of everyone there that he would not go to hell. And he asked the man of God if his ancestors who were also Ifa worshippers were in hell. After service, the man of God apologized to him.

    Abimbola’s position on indigenous language is just as strong as his view on indigenous religion. But as in the latter, the challenge of protecting and promoting indigenous language is real and huge. Western education travelled to Africa with Western languages–English, French, Portuguese, etc. And as missionaries despised indigenous religions, western educators were contemptuous of indigenous languages. Children were forbidden from speaking the mother tongue in school.

    The consequence is enormous. Research shows that mother tongue is the best means to effective learning. The Chinese and Japanese excel in mathematics and the sciences in part because in their formative years, they were introduced to these subjects in their mother tongues. Deprived of this effective avenue to learning, rote learning, with all its deficiencies, has been the norm in African school systems. Furthermore, children could acquire multiple languages and use them effectively in their learning process. Many African children were deprived of this opportunity because of the insistence of their western educators on the use of the language of the colonial powers.

    Apparently, the colonizers succeeded beyond their expectation because the policy worked beyond the colonial days. Even now, many Yoruba households would have nothing to do with Yoruba language, forbidding their children, including toddlers, from speaking the language. These children grow up with no understanding of their mother tongue. But they also have little understanding of the English language. And but for the recent policy declaration of one of the states, governments are also complicit in this charade. Like many scholars, Abimbola is worried about this trend. For if it is not broken, we may just bid indigenous Yoruba culture goodbye.

    Abimbola is one of the rare scholars who doesn’t just offer theories for the solution of problems. He is also actively in the business of finding practical solutions to identified problems. In the matter of indigenous religion, he is a practicing Ifa priest, and he engages in active research on Ifa divination systems. As an oral system, one major drawback for scholars interested in Ifa research is the non-availability of written texts. From his student days when Abimbola took up the challenge, he has never looked back nor digressed. He has published multiple volumes of Ifa divination poetry, which have provided scholars with a wealth of materials, thus facilitating productive research into Ifa as a religion and as a discipline.

    Abimbola is not only a professor of African Literature focusing on Ifa divination, he is also an Ifa priest. And more than an ordinary priest, he is the Awise Awo Agbaiye, the spokesman of Ifa divination in the world, having been so installed by priests from West Africa, the home of Ifa divination in 1981 in the palace of the Oni of Ife. As Awise, Professor Abimbola travels the world projecting Ifa divination and attending to the needs of adherents and devotees.

    In addition, noting the decline in the use of Yoruba language, Abimbola has established an Institute of Yoruba Language and Religion in Oyo where students from all over the world study Yoruba language and Ifa divination. His children, with their various career successes, are also very well in the tradition as Babalawos and Iyanifas in their own right.

    I have benefitted immensely from Abimbola’s wealth of knowledge in Yoruba culture, language and tradition. As a young lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, I studied at his feet before and after he was appointed the Vice Chancellor. It was always a delightful experience to visit him, first in his Road 9 house, and later in the Vice Chancellor’s Lodge. I always had a notebook in my car such that as soon as I left him, I would jot down my newly acquired idioms and proverbs before I forgot.

    Babalawos memorize without writing. So, Abimbola now prefers oral delivery to writing, which, he argues, does not aid memory. In October 2013, he addressed Howard University Freshman Seminar Class on Yoruba tradition in Africa and the Americas. He spoke for one hour without reference to notes, explaining that he now prefers the title “onsowe” (speaker of books) to “onkowe” (writer of books).

    Former students, colleagues, family, and fellow priests and priestesses gathered in Atlanta, Georgia on July 7 to honor Awise Awo Agbaye on the 85th anniversary of a purposeful life. I was not there because the will of the spirit was overruled by the state of a newly panel-beaten body frame. Lase Olodumare, 90th is around the corner.

    Igba odun, odun kan.

     

     

     

     

  • About Hajj

    This is another season of Hajj. It comes up in the month of Dhul Hijjah every year. Linguistically, Hajj means pilgrimage. Semantically, it means an aspiration towards a higher pedestal in spirituality. It is, divinely, ordained as a pillar of Islam. It is performed as a religious obligation by Muslims who can afford it at least, once in a lifetime. Hajj is an ordained spiritual obligation for which pilgrims’ visa is issued and not a mere pleasurable journey for which tourism visa is issued. Whilst pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise, tourism is a pleasurable journey.

     

    Similitude of Hajj

    The similitude of Hajj in the life of a Muslim is like that of pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. The experience may vary from woman to woman as the foetus in the womb undergoes various stages before reaching the stage of delivery. By the time the child is finally delivered the mother feels a relief of her life while the child assumes a tabula rasa (clean slate) that makes him absolutely innocent.

    Spiritually, a pilgrim is like a newly born baby if he strictly performs Hajj as prescribed by Allah. But if he returns into the world of vanity after Hajj, he automatically becomes like a person in snow-white attire who finds himself in a palm oil market. Unless he spiritually guides his loins, he may immediately become a tainted person both in body and in soul .

     

    Rigours of Hajj

    Muslim pilgrims who are going on Hajj must be prepared to go through series of rigour both spiritually and physically. The rigour of getting the money with which to perform Hajj; the rigour of getting the travelling documents including passport and visa; the rigour of taking care of the home front before embarking on the Holy journey; the rigour of boarding the plane with a sense of high risk; the rigour of going through the security checks at both the embarkation and the disembarkation points;  the rigour of moving from Madinah to Makkah; the rigour of  performing the Tawaf and Sa’y for Umrah; the rigour of moving from Makkah to Mina on the 8th of Dhul-Hijjah, then to Arafah on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah, and back to Mina via Muzdalifah on the 10th of Dhul-Hijjah; the rigour of locating the tents at Arafah; the rigour of throwing the pebbles at the Jamrat in Mina on the three or four days known as Ayamu-t-Tashrik; the rigour of performing Tawaful Ifadah at the Ka ‘abah in Makkah after the first day of throwing pebbles; the rigour of shaving the head (by men) and cutting the hair (by women) as well as slaughtering the rams by all; the rigour of performing the farewell circumambulation otherwise known as Tawaful Wida‘i all in the midst of millions of pilgrims can be too much to forget so soon  after Hajj.

    Whoever is not bothered by the money spent on Hajj, therefore, should at least be bothered by the various stages of the rigour involved including that of visiting Madinah. To lose all these to the forces of Satan after Hajj is like losing one’s travelling passport after obtaining visa . The prayer of every genuine pilgrim is to retain the validity of Hajj forever.

     

    Conditions for Hajj performance

    Performance of Muslim pilgrimage must be based on genuine intention and high spiritual standard. An intending pilgrim must have attained puberty. He must have been an ardent practitioner of the first four pillars of Islam: (Salat, Zakah, and Sawm) all of which are fervently based on faith (Iman). Hajj without these pre-requisites is like a tree without roots.

    Money is a major pre-requisite for Hajj but it is not absolute.

    Hajj, the last pillar of Islam shows very vividly, the similitude of what mankind will experience on the Day of Judgment. Looking at the unique way in which pilgrims dress for Hajj and how they assemble at Arafat leaving their luggage behind in Makkah, one will surely realize the ephemerality of this world is.

     

     Purpose of Hajj

    The various stages of preparation through which pilgrims pass before arriving at Arafat are symbolic of our peregrinations in life as human beings. Like the Day of Judgment in the Hereafter, Arafat is the climax of Hajj performance. Anybody who misses Arafat misses Hajj. But Arafat is not by physical appearance alone. It takes a combination of factors to participate effectively in that great assembly which serves as the climax of Hajj.

    For Hajj to serve its spiritual purpose in the life of a pilgrim, certain steps must be taken before leaving home. They are as follows:

    • Fine-tuning the first four pillars of Islam very sincerely
    • Packaging the intention to perform Hajj
    • Ensuring the security of the way
    • Providing for the family and dependants at home
    • Paying all the outstanding debts including promises
    • Ascertaining the condition of health
    • Perfecting immigration procedures and undergoing all necessary medical services including inoculation
    • Assuming a mood of humility like that of a servant approaching his master.
    • Readiness to endure hardship and to tolerate fellow pilgrims’ attitudes.

     

    Prophetic admonition

    Admonishing Muslims on spiritual journeys, including Hajj, Prophet Muhammad once said: “Actions shall be judged according to intentions. Whoever embarks on a spiritual journey for the sake of Allah will be adjudged on that basis. And whoever bases his/her intention for pilgrimage on marriage or material gains should not expect any reward beyond that for which the intention is based”. The steps to follow in the performance of Hajj are as follows:

     

     The Miqat

    Miqat is the specified place for the wearing of Ihram dress for the purpose of entering the condition of Hajj. There are five of such places in all. But the one earmarked for pilgrims from Nigeria cannot be reached by pilgrims travelling directly to Jeddah by air. It is over-flown while crossing the Red Sea. What most Nigerians do therefore is to wear their Ihram dress in Jeddah which has now been adjudged right through a Fatwah. Thus, Nigerian pilgrims can now wear their Ihram dresses on arrival at the pilgrims’ airport in Jeddah. Meanwhile, the change in the direction of flights from Nigeria has for most Nigerian pilgrims has xhanged the Miqat earmarked for Nigerian pilgrims nowadays.

     

     Tawaful Qudum

    Tawaf means circumambulation of the Ka’bah. The very first Tawaf to be performed by any pilgrim on entering Makkah is Tawaful Qudum. It is performed before a pilgrim settles down in any residence in Makkah. Tawaful Qudum is an obligatory Sunnah from which only residents of Makkah among pilgrims are exempted.

     

    Residence in Makkah or Madinah

    Most Nigerian pilgrims often seek their accommodations in Makkah or Madinah close to the Haram. This is to enable them walk to and back from the Haram conveniently at the time of any Salat. To minimize pilgrim’s regular occurrence of missing their ways they are provided with hand bands bearing the addresses of their residences. Pilgrims are therefore advised to wear such bands at all times to enable them show it to either the Hajj guides or policemen when the road is missed. It is also important for pilgrims to always be with their identity cards provided by Nigerian Pilgrims’ Commission or private agents. This is to enable them to be identified in case of sickness, accident or even death.

     

    Movement to Mina

    Pilgrims must be ready to undergo some rigour in the process of moving to Mina from Makkah. The rigour which normally affects all pilgrims is engendered by limited time available for millions of   pilgrims who must move to that spiritual camp before the sunset on the day preceding Arafah day.

     

    The Day of Arafah

    At the Plain of Arafat, pilgrims are advised to stay under their tents and concentrate on the spiritual activities that take them to the place.

    They must reach Arafat by mid day when Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr should be observed combined. Anybody who is not at Arafat by mid day is considered not to have taken part in the assembly and therefore missed Hajj. Immediately after observing the combined Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr the Imam who led the two Salat is expected to give a sermon. Listening to such sermon is as compulsory as giving it.

    The great assembly of Arafat terminates shortly before sunset (Magrib) and the pilgrims return to Mina via Muzdalifah.

     

    Muzdalifah

    At Muzdalifah, pilgrims are expected to halt their journey to observe Magrib and ‘Ishai combined. They are also expected to pass the night there and observe the Salat-s-Subh of the following day before proceeding to Mina. Muzdalifah is adjacent to Mina and is therefore a walking distance.

     

    Jamrat

    Stoning of the devils (Rajmu Jamrat) begins a day after Arafat and continues for the next three or four days that the pilgrims are supposed to spend at Mina. This exercise is obligatory and without it Hajj is incomplete. There three points at which stones are to be thrown. Seven pebbles are to be thrown at each point on every one of the three or four days to be spent in Mina.

    While going for the pebble-throwing exercise, pilgrims are advised to take their pebbles along with them. Except for the first day when seven pebbles are supposed to be thrown at only one spot, pilgrims are required to throw twenty one pebbles each day the three spots provided while they remain in Mina.

    Picking such pebbles at the point of throwing them is forbidden. All pebbles must have been picked before leaving the tent for the ‘Jamrat’ or on the way.

     

    Majzarah (Abattoir)

    Slaughtering of all sacrificial animals is done at the abattoir in Mina. Pilgrims do not need to bother themselves by going to the abattoir for the purpose of carrying out this compulsory obligation. They can simply buy the guaranteed ticket sold by designated Saudi agents. The ticket is the evidence that one has performed that duty. The slaughtering is done on behalves of the pilgrims by some authorized artisans who are paid by the Saudi Hajj authorities from the money paid for those animals. The animals to be slaughtered at Jamrat range from rams to camels. A pilgrim should slaughter one ram or more while seven pilgrims may combine to slaughter one camel or five of them may jointly slaughter on cow .

     

    Tawaful Ifadah

    For pilgrims who can afford to go to Makkah after throwing the first seven pebbles, it is good to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. For those who cannot, the exercise can be deferred till the end of Tashrik.

    Pilgrims who have performed Tawaf-ul-Ifadah are free to shave their heads and change from their Ihram dress into civil or traditional dresses.

    The only reason for any pilgrim to go to Makkah from Mina during the camping period is to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. No pilgrim should break camping rule by going to Makkah without performing Tawaf-ul- Ifadah. And after performing Tawaful Ifadah, no pilgrim should remain in Makkah or elsewhere without returning to Mina before sunset.

    With the completion of the camping days in Mina and the arrival of all the pilgrims in Makkah, Hajj has been completed except for Tawaf Wida‘i  otherwise called fair well Tawaf. That Tawaf is compulsory.

    It is then left for pilgrims to decide whether or not to go to Madinah. Going to Madinah is neither a not compulsory. It can neither validate nor invalidate Hajj. But it will be spiritually odd for any pilgrim to choose not to visit the Prophet’s Mosque.

     

    Conclusion

    Throughout the Hajj exercise, what should be uppermost in the mind of a pilgrim is the spiritual benefit.

    Hajj is made compulsory only once in a life’s time for those who have the wherewithal to undergo it and can satisfy the conditions attached to its performance.

    On arriving home finally, pilgrims are not expected to start organizing parties in celebration of a successful Hajj performance as ignorantly done by some Nigerians. Maintaining Hajj is a necessity for those who know the value of doing that. Whoever is privileged to perform Hajj once should forever be grateful to Allah as no one is sure of getting another chance.

  • Beyond party promises on restructuring

    In 2015, All Progressives Congress (APC) received a massive support throughout the country, especially in the Southwest because it promised to devolve power to the states.

    To be sure, this was not the party’s only attraction. After 16 years in power, PDP had become a spent force, an epitome of corruption and weak leadership. Voters were tired of the arrogance of the largest party in Africa. Therefore, they voted in a new leader who was promoted as a man of integrity and stern discipline. Many of us believed, as we still do, that change from a centralized pseudo federalism to a true federal structure was desperately needed. Nigerians championed the cause of change with their votes.

    The change we envisioned in 2015 was from a structure that suppresses innovative thinking because, like its military precursor, it micromanages the states and treats them as appendages. Nigerians voted for a change to a structure that respects diversity and encourages state-centric development. APC received the goodwill of voters, so it could carry out the necessary changes to boost the economy and promote peaceful relation among states and geopolitical zones. Oh, how hopeful we were!

    Patriotic Nigerians, including those who abhor partisan politics but are committed to the project of a better Nigeria, offered unsolicited advice to the incoming ruling party and the administration on the way forward. Much of those advice was consistent with the declared policy goals and objectives of the party. Based on the routing of those items of advice, there is reason to believe that the intended target received them. Due diligence done, the waiting time for result was tortuously unending. The promise remained unfulfilled. And since an unfulfilled promise is a broken promise, and since promise-breaking is tantamount to taking human beings for a ride, the animus that is being expressed now is not out of place.

    Of course, there are other issues, and different groups can point to any number of issues that give them pause about the ruling party and its administration. And it will certainly be unfair to treat all complaints with equal emphasis or to even acknowledge their legitimacy. The promise to fight corruption has been discharged creditably despite some hiccups which are not unexpected. Corruption has a way of fighting back. Also, the effort to fight terrorism in the North East has been largely successful and the administration deserves credit on this score. Unfortunately, the same zeal that forced Boko Haram to flee has not been seen in the matter of killer herdsmen. This matter will continue to be one of the greatest embarrassments for an administration that has a former military general at its head.

    As important as these other issues are, however, the foundational issue, which APC also recognized in its manifesto in view of the priority it gave it in the document, is devolution of power, its own nomenclature for restructuring. The failure of that promise is the most unfortunate in the record of the party, despite any other success.

    The effort failed partly because once the administration got power, it failed to give it the attention it deserved until very late. When the drumbeat of restructuring became loud and unrelenting, we were told that restructuring was not a priority of the party because it inherited a battered economy which needed immediate attention. No doubt, the new administration inherited a depleted foreign reserve, collapsing businesses, severe crisis of oil revenue shortage, militancy in the oil producing areas, and rising unemployment.

    Yet, as terrible as the economy was, it was not an excuse for not initiating discussions in the legislature on how best to redeem the promise of devolution of powers. The linkage between the economy and political structure is unassailable. Besides, what is wrong with multitasking in matters as important as these two? An early focus on restructuring would have also discouraged militancy in the Niger Delta and this would have sent a message of hope to foreign investors.

    The party eventually set up its committee on restructuring to the delight of many. The committee worked hard and submitted a report which many from opposing political parties hailed. Even Governor Dickson jettisoned partisanship to heap praises on the report and advised the party and government to implement the recommendations. The party accepted the report and set up another committee to examine it. Many believed that this was the beginning of delay tactics. Since then, we have not heard much about the status of the report.

    Then came the crisis within, and an imminent threat to promise-keeping became a reality. APC brought together diverse elements in a marriage of convenience. Try as much as they could, the founding fathers of the party have not been able to stem the tide of divisive politicking within, and now the center no longer holds. From the beginning, the National Assembly is the epicenter of the rebellion with its anti-establishment choice of leaders. With the party leadership pitted against NASS leadership, it is unrealistic to expect an effective coordination of party and administration priorities. Thus, a bill for amending the constitution on devolution of power went down in the NASS. To be sure, beside the executive-legislature debacle, this bill was also a victim of geopolitical mistrust.

    Suspicion between the administration and the National Assembly escalated with the failed prosecution of the Senate President over irregularities in asset declaration. Believing that his trial was political motivated, many NASS members rallied and stood by him, putting into jeopardy a good working relationship between NASS and the Executive.

    It got worse. The leadership of NASS belongs to nPDP, the breakaway faction of PDP that gave APC a boost in its change campaign in 2015. But with its increasing resentment of APC leadership, the nPDP bloc has been reluctant to do much in terms of passing any substantive bill that might make APC look effective in governance. With the inauguration of rAPC, the vicious circle is unbroken. Passing a devolution of power bill is therefore out of the question. And the prospect of breaking a promise is all but certain.

    Which leads us invariably to the next election and new beginning on the fundamental issue of restructuring. The challenge of APC now is to get people to believe it in case it decides to bring back a promise to restructure or devolve power. How believable is that going to be? It would have been a smart move to get somewhere now with partial implementation and then ask for another term to complete it. Therefore, restructuring or devolution of power cannot, unfortunately, be a winning strategy that it was for APC in 2015. Our people are not dumb.

    Once beaten, twice shy. There must now be a scrutiny of every promise from every political party on restructuring. What is the party’s track record? How committed are its leaders to restructuring? Can a coalition of political parties as in CUPP deliver what a merger of parties like APC cannot deliver?

    As a way out of this depressing record of unfulfilled promises, the electorate should demand to be in the driver’s seat of the issue. We need a ballot initiative in 2019 with three options.

    1. Do you want a change in the political structure of Nigeria? Yes/No
    2. If yes, do you want a change that returns Nigeria to the pre-1966 parliamentary system with modification to the number of regions? Yes/No
    3. If no, do you want a presidential system of governance and strong regional governments with control over their resources and payment of tax and royalty to the federal government? Yes/No

    If a majority answer yes on the first question, whichever party wins the election has an obligation to execute the will of the electorate. Majority answers on either question 2 or 3 will determine the form the new structure will take.

    What about the logistic of a ballot initiative with a population that is largely illiterate? Where there is a will there is a way. If we get them to vote their preferences on candidates, we can get them to vote their preferences on the ballot initiative.

  • How Nigeria Joined OIC

    Time flies. It has been 32 years already since the generally known rental criers called Nigerian Press began an unwarranted brouhaha over this country’s membership of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in January 1986. That incident is another conspicuous goof mischievously exhibited in a press conference recently by a group that calls itself National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF). It is however on record that the baseless press conference turned out to be an exercise of  self ridicule.

    It was in the same press conference that NCEF displayed its ignorance by maliciously quoting a shamelessly fabricated speech credited to Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first and only Premier of Northern Nigeria.

     

    Nigeria’s Membership of OIC

    Although ‘The Message’ column had punctured the anatomy of the fabricated speech upon which NCEF ignorantly relied to dish out blatant lies to Nigerians in its press conference, exposing the real fact about Nigeri’s membership of OIC is also necessary here not only to educate Nigerians who knew little about that episode but also to further expose the hypocrisy of the so-called NCEF.

    What was most amazing in NCEF’s claim of ‘Islamization’ over Nigeria’s membership of OIC is that the highly venerated General Yakubu Gowon who is listed as a member of that self appointed body could not uphold his charisma by cautioning other members of the group against bringing themselves to public ridicule. That shows the hypocrisy of some Nigerians of today who are claiming to be leaders in one capacity or the other.

     

     Gowon’s Role in OIC

    While the Press brouhaha continues to sound loud over Nigeria’s membership of OIC, not many Nigerians know the role of General Yakubu Gowon in the historical episode ushered Nigeria into that Organization. But as a charismatic statesman that he is perceived to be, one would have expected General Gowon to have openly told Nigerians about his role in that controversial venture.

     

    Background Information

    The Organization of Islamic Conference generally known as OIC was established in  1969 when General Yakubu Gowon was Nigeria’s Head of State. Nigeria was then embroiled in a civil war that began in 1967 and ended in 1970 after 30 months. In his desperation to win that war, General Gowon, as Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces, took certain steps that later turned out to be generators of unbridled controversies. One of such steps was to take Nigeria into an Organization of a group of countries called OIC (although in observer status). Another was the ceding of Bakasi area of Nigeria to Cameroon in the same year (1969) in exchange for the latter country’s  support for Nigeria. But we are more concerned about OIC here.

     

    How It Happened

    It was during Nigeria’s civil war years (1967-1970) that  General Yakuba Gowon approached his fellow military Head of State in Egypt, General Gamal Abdul Nasir who transformed himself into a civilian President in that country. General Gowon approached the man for assistance in winning the Nigerian civil war in the spirit of Pan Africanism which President Nasir championed at that time. And in addition to helping General Gowon with some sophisticated military wares, President Nasir also introduced General Gowon to OIC Conference which was established that year in the belief that Gowon could get further help from other member States of the Organization. But seeking such help internationally was not peculiar to Gowon. The leader of the then rebellious Eastern region then called Biafra, Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, also sought and got the assistance of some countries like France, Pottugal and others in his bid to succeed in the region’s secession  from Nigeria.

     

     Nigeria’s Observer Status in OIC

    For 17 years, Nigeria remained an observer member of that Organization until 1986 when she regularized her membership.

    Yours sincerely, as  the then Deputy Foreign Editor of the now defunct Concord newspaper was one of the only two Nigerian journalists that covered that regularization event in Fez, Morocco. The other Nigerian Journalist was Alhaji Liad Tella who was then the Group News Editor of the same Concord newspaper.

    Before then, Nigeria had been severally pressurized by the Organization to regularize her membership. By then, her observer status, after a decade, had embarrassingly become a matter of suspicion to other members of the Organization. And in 1985, she was given an ultimatum of one year (1986) to either regularize her membership of that Organization or get out of the group. If she had failed to regularize her membership of the Organization when she dis in 1986, she would have been expelled and disgraced out of that body and that would have amounted to a public diplomatic ridicule in the comity of nations.

    The summary here is that it was General Yakubu Gowon (a Christian) as Nigeria’s Head of State that took Nigeria into OIC and not the self-styled Evil Genius, General Ibrahim Babangida, as often ignorantly reported by Nigerian press. And if the Organization is really about ‘Islamization’ as often claimed by some ignorant bigots what would countries like Cameroon, Uganda, Mozambique, Gabon Togo, Cote’Divoire and several others be doing in it? Over to NCEF.

     

    Islam in Africa Conference

    One of the allegations of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria by NCEF was the conference named ‘Islam in Africa’ and hosted by Nigeria in the city of Abuja in 1986. That was the year that the Nigeria’s National Mosque, Abuja, was commissioned. Many African Muslim leaders who attended the commissioning were so impressed that they fortuitously proposed an annual conference that could unite African Muslims in the practice of their religion as a way of checking fanaticism that could breed terrorism. That conference was not exclusive to Muslims. Many African Christian leaders including some members of the so called NCEF were invited and they attended it with the expression of their opinions and advice. If the conference was truly aimed at ‘Islamizing’ Nigeria as mischievously alleged, would Chritian leaders have been invited? And knowing very well that Nigerian media was heavily dominated by Christian journalists at that time, would those journalists have been allowed to cover the event? In its solo or chorus, the song of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria can be heard only from mischievous brigands who are parading themselves as religious clerics or priests.

     

    The 1953 West African Synod

    Nigerian Muslims are not oblivious of the problem with NCEF, CAN and some other Christian leaders in Nigeria who are constantly and monotonously shouting the sour song of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria. That problem is about a dangerous spectre which they had clad in the cassock of a masquerade and has now grown up monstrously to be theirs chaser days and nights.

     

    Genesis

    Seven years before Nigeria’s independence, a synod of West African Christians was held in The Gold Coast (now Ghana) with active participation of Nigerian Christian leaders, some of whom are still alive today. Synod is a conference of Bishops and other Christian topmost Priests at which fundamental decisions are taken which would become the basis of Church operations in evangelism. It was at that Synod that a esolution was adopted  to use Western education as an instrument of Christian evangelization. By that resolution, any Muslim child that wanted acquire Western education in a Christian Missionary school must be converted into Christianity in spite of his or her payment of any charged fees. Their fear was that despite all efforts made by the then available Churches, Islam kept spreading spirally to the greatest amazement of the Chritian evangelists in the sub-region. And to curb such a trend, an evangelization policy must be incorporated into the educational system in the Continent. It was therefore decided that to change the trend of religious preaching in Africa, education must be used to convert the Muslim youths whose parents were eager to see their children educated in the Western Western way.  The objective was to indoctrinate all converted school children in a way to sow in their hearts the seed of hatred towards their parents for sticking to the religion of Islam and thereby force those parents psychologically to jettison their religion and embrace Christianity or to renounce those children who would then become the foot soldiers of Christian evangelism. With such a resolution that was backed up with a White Paper which became a permanent policy of the Christian Mission in Africa, Christianity, according to their plan, would become such a strong rival of Islam that within just half a century, Islam would have been surpassed by Christianity and relegated to a second class religion especially in Nigeria. Thus, most of the vocal antagonists of Islam in Nigeria today are men and women with Islamic background  who fell into the dragnet of that tendencious plot of the 1953 Synod.

    It is the fear of that plot that is now pushing the sour song of ‘Islamization’ of Nigeria into their mouths in respect of Islam in Africa Conference of 1989. They think that like their Synod, Muslims too might take a decision which could be devastating to Christian evangelism in Africa.

    As for the random and fraudulent cry by Nigerian Churches for the return of the missionary schools taken over by the government in 1975, look out for the genesis and the implication of that owlish cry in this column soon.

  • 20 years ago

    one of the several burning issues of the time that I considered writing about today is the unrelenting killings by herdsmen in the nation’s heartland. I was especially moved by a video of about twenty herdsmen, jubilantly displaying their AK-47 as they sang along on a field in plain sight. I wondered aloud, “do we have a government?”

    As I pondered that question, another story popped up on my ODA platform about the rumored allocation of land for cattle ranches in Oke-ogun area of Oyo State. Well, if Oke-Ogun was neither considered suitable for a federal educational institution nor for rural electrification, and if the only federal presence in the area is the abandoned Ikerre Gorge dam, left uncompleted since 1976, then, why not grab their land for cattle ranches?  Can the people complain? Who are they anyway?

    But as important as these issues are, I chose to focus on a deep-rooted affliction, of which these little sufferings are branches.

    On July 7, 1998, I was at my desk at work when my phone rang. It was a call that still rings in my ear till today. “Did you hear the news?” the voice on the other end asked. “What news?” I asked. “Our man has been killed. Abiola has been killed”, he announced. My heart sank as the phone dropped. “No! No!! No!!!” I shouted. My secretary heard and rushed in. She saw my anguish as she sat helpless. “I told her the news I had just heard. She knew about the struggle and my involvement. I told her I had to leave the office. She understood.

    I worked the phone, calling around my colleagues: Ropo Sekoni, Banji Ayiloge, Sola Ogunbode, Bolaji Aluko, Kunle Badmus, Dauda Jolaoso, and others. Those available met in my house and from there, with families around, we drove to the Woodview home of Hafsat and her siblings, less than a mile from mine. Lekan and his brother had joined them. We all stood in their presence without knowing what to say. It was one of the saddest moments I have ever experienced. Emotion welled up in all of us. I stepped aside from view and cried.

    That day, my respect for the Abiola siblings grew exponentially. From the oldest to the youngest, they demonstrated courage strengthened by faith. It occurred to me that, by instilling in them the tenets of their faith, their parents may have unconsciously prepared them for a time like this. This observation is supported by the fact that since the passing of their mother, and then, their father, through thick and thin, the Abiola siblings have weathered the storm of life, and have had achievements that some of their peers with both parents alive cannot boast of.

    The following day, we organized a special program on Ijinle Ohun Odua, the Yoruba Radio program sponsored by Egbe Omo Yoruba. It featured a solemn account of Abiola’s martyrdom and the next phase of the struggle. But as I narrated in All the Way: Serving with Conscience, we were all in terrible emotional shape. Sola Yussuf, who goes by Motanbaje Adeyemi on air, captioned her news report with a powerful message of grief and defiance: Kannakanna ti pa omo ega (A fatal slinger had hit a good man). But Sola was overpowered by emotion and she broke down sobbing. We suspended the program until we gained our composure.

    On Saturday, July 18, 1998, the Nigerian Muslim Community organized a Fidau to mark the 8th day of Chief Abiola’s death. Many Nigerians and friends of Nigeria attended. Seeing the large audience, I could not resist an observation. Pro-democracy groups had struggled hard with little success to attract many Nigerians to the cause. But for the commitment and dedication of a few hard-core activists, we would not make the impact that we made. Therefore, seeing so many people at the special prayers for the dead, I introduced my remarks with our elders’ wisdom that the sick would most likely survive if as much resources were committed to his care when alive as are to his funeral. While many were not bothered about Abiola’s plight when he was a victim of Nigerian military’s brutality and disregard for democratic norms, they crowded his Fidau in a show of sympathy.

    Chief M. K. O. Abiola died in the detention of the Nigerian government after a drink of tea provided by the government in the presence of visiting American diplomats. No one has been held accountable for his death. The team of international investigators, led by Dr. James G. Young of Ontario, concluded that his death was natural, caused by “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease”.

    The team did not examine the impact of prolonged detention for four years (without access to exercise and without adequate medical care) on the “rapid deterioration in a diseased heart.” But as Chief Obasanjo remarked in his 1998 article in The New York Review, “if Abiola had not been unjustly detained for over four years, he could have had good medical attention and he would not have died.” Never mind that when he took the reins of power, the same Obasanjo never thought of a just redress for the death of Abiola.

    Chief Abiola’s death was the traumatic anticlimax of five years of suspense and hope, first for his biological family, and second, his political associates and everyone that simply resented the audacity of the military. We had all hoped for a happier ending.

    After the death of Abacha in June 1998, there were expectations that Abiola would be released. We were told that the transition government of General Abdulsalam Abubakar was preparing the ground for a role for Abiola in the transition. But they wanted him to rescind his mandate, which he boldly resisted. And there was an impasse. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that Abacha’s associates, and especially some Northern elements who were still in the administration, were unhappy that Abiola lived while Abacha was dead. The international investigators didn’t examine this aspect.

    In a Press Release titled “End of the Beginning”, Yoruba International Network (YIN) counseled our people to reflect on three issues: Chief Abiola’s travails in the last five years of his life against the background of his contributions to the economic, political and religious life of Nigeria; the history of power and politics in Nigeria; and the vitiation of the Yoruba nation in the Nigerian Federation. The release zeroed in on the impunity of the military and their backers, and the hegemonic agenda that they represented, and how this was at odds with the ideal of a truly democratic federation in which all nationalities matter.

    Sadly, 20 years later, it’s unclear that any lessons have been learnt from the avoidable crisis that the annulment of June 12, 1993 election generated and its profound impact on a good family and the entire nation.

    I started this piece with a list of issues that attracted my attention for today’s column. As it turns out, however, Abiola’s travail and death encapsulates those issues and more. The mindset that annulled Abiola’s victory and took care of the “Abiola problem” by eliminating him is the same mindset that violently usurps the inheritance of others. It is responsible for the resistance to a thriving federal system which guarantees cultural democracy and ensures the development of every nationality at its pace.

    The logic of federalism is to take care of the nationality question. It was what motivated the drafters of Nigeria’s 1960 Independence Constitution and later, the Republican Constitution of 1963. As Frederick Schwartz observes, “a federal system requires that each group, desiring autonomy or protection be identified with a particular piece of territory…. Nigeria’s federal system provides that matters which are of greatest concern to the regional ethnic groups—land tenure, local government, customary law, education— are in the hands of the regions.”

    With the federal intrusion on land and other matters, Schwartz needs a revised edition of his work. Or Nigeria needs to go back to its original model of federalism.

    May the fighting spirit of M.K.O Abiola mobilize us to the struggle for a more perfect union.