The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Welcoming His Eminence to Markaz

    ON Monday (April 16,), all roads, national and international will lead to Lagos where a centenary event will take place under the royal presence of His Eminence. Lagosians in particular and the entire Muslim Ummah in the Southwest of Nigeria will welcome a special guest to the State of Excellence. That guest is the Amirul Mu’minin of Nigeria and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni. The occasion will be the marking of the centenary event of a renowned international scholar, Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory, the great proprietor of the unique institution called Markaz who came into the world exactly 100 years after the demise of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio.

    Although by historical incident, the duo of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio and Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory did not meet physically, the intellectual meeting between them is what the great grandson of the former, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar is coming to consummate in Lagos on Monday.

    How time flies. It was like yesterday when His Eminence, Dr.  Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni ascended the Sokoto royal throne as the 20th Sultan. The historic date was November 6, 2006. Until then, the lofty man’s name did not ring any bell in Nigeria. And he was probably not conscious of the royal blood in him. If he was ever conscious of that at all, his humble nature did not reflect it. But the thinking of man is quite different from the will of Allah. And when the thinking of man clashes with the will of Allah, the latter automatically prevails.

    Ascension to the Throne

    For Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, ascending the throne of the great Sokoto Empire was like the rise of the sun anon meridian. When it beams its rejuvenating ray over the world, all the stars in the galaxy take their bow.

    History and man are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. And the reciprocal baton continues to change hands between them as long as they mutually remain in existence.

    Thus, the sudden emergence of the 50- year-old Brigadier General Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as the successor to the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Empire without controversy in 2006 came as a surprise to many Nigerians. His own father, Sultan Sadiq Abubakar ascended the same throne at the age of 37. Surely, the name ‘Muhammad Sa’ad’ played a significant role in the emergence of its bearer as Sultan.

    The Mystery in Name

    There is something mysterious about name which humanity is yet to comprehend fully. A puzzling secret seems to exist in the vocabulary of life which sticks to every man like a second skin. That secret, pearled in the yoke of name, is an effective evidence of destiny in man. Our names are the light that glows at night to lighten up our ways in the glares of days through the threshold of life. And when the dawn comes to render the glowing light ineffective, the bearer bows out into the recluse of death leaving behind an indemnified signature on the sands of time.

    This was the case with Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the greatest man that ever lived on the surface of the earth. Even as an unlettered son of Arabia who was born in an era of blatant ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) introduced into the world, an unprecedented civilization that opened the eyes of humanity to everlasting guidance. In recognition of his human exemplariness, the Almighty Allah said of him in Q 33: 21 thus: “You have a good example in Allah’s Apostle (Muhammad SAW) for anyone who looks to Allah and the Last Day and remembers Him always”.

    Peculiarities in Name

    Sultan’s first name is Muhammad which he bears in emulation of Allah’s last Prophet. His second name is Sa’ad meaning ‘Good ‘Luck’ which makes him a name-sake of one of Prophet Muhammad’s companions (Sa’d BnAbi Waqqas) who was a great Army General of Islam. And his (Sultan’s) surname is Abubakar which means ‘father of youths’, an inherited name which he shares with the first Caliph in Islam (Abubakr Siddiq). In every one of these names is a profound meaning with profound influence on the personality and conduct of the current Sultan.

    As an Army General, like Sa’d Bn Abi Waqqas, Sultan is demonstrating the courage of a brave leader. As the father of the youths, like Abu Bakr, he is bridging the gap between leadership and follower-ship by breathing a breeze of hope into Nigerian Muslim youths from time to time.

    Identity of a Leader

    A leader is known, neither by the aura of the office he occupies, nor by the enormity of the power wielded in that office. Rather, a leader is known   by the magnanimity with which he exercises the power entrusted to him and the humility he exhibits in his interaction with the people. This is the lesson that Prophet Muhammad’s leadership taught Muslim rulers in one of his Hadith when he said: “A powerful person is not the one who can suppress others (with the instrumentality of office) but the one who can resist the temptation to use such power”.

    Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar seems to have exemplified this prophetic teaching as a Muslim leader and a faithful one for that matter. And through his humble interaction with all Muslims in Nigeria irrespective of tribal or geographical boundaries, he has become the first Sultan to create a strong feeling of a united Muslim Ummah in Nigeria under a competent leadership.

    An evidence of such unity is the powerful delegation of the entire Southern Muslim Ummah led by the Deputy President General (South) of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr. S. O. Babalola, OON, to the tenth anniversary of His Eminence’s coronation in Sokoto in November 2016. Members of that delegation were drawn from all the geographical zones in Southern Nigeria including the Southwest, the Southeast and the South-South.

    Philosophers’ Theory

    Philosophers who assert that every new century has a way of producing a great leader may be right after all. The example of His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, is a manifestation of that assertion. Ever since he assumed the exalted royal office in 2006, this great man has convincingly exhibited all the qualities of genuine leadership by all standards. Every statement he has made socially, religiously or politically and every action he has taken privately or publicly has proved to be a school from which all well-meaning people of Nigeria have learnt one lesson or another.

    Reformation of NSCIA

    At the instance of His Eminence, a forward looking reformation has been going on. A number of committees have been set up to take charge of certain necessities concerning the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the National Mosque. These have given the Nigerian Muslim Ummah the needed comfort with which to surge ahead as a single body of believers.

    Besides, the Abuja National Mosque has also been reformed in such a way that no Muslim part of the country feels neglected again. It is at His Eminence’s instance that today, the Friday sermon in that Mosque is not only delivered in the three major languages (Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba) in addition to Arabic and English, three deputy Imams have also been appointed to assist the Chief Imam in rendering the Jum’at sermon in rotation every Friday. They have now been promoted to the post of Imams while a Supervisory Guardian and General Administrator in the person of Prof. Shehu Galadanci, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Sokoto has been appointed to oversee the entire affairs of the National Mosque spiritually. These Imams are from the North, the Southwest and the Middle Belt respectively.

    As Chancellor of ABU

    At his first convocation as the 6th Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University in November 2010, His Eminence told the crowd that the current socio-economic indices in Nigeria were a clear indication that the country had begun to drift. He lamented the dwindling standard of education and the growing rate of poverty in the land despite the nation’s unprecedented wealth which he said had failed to aid national development.

    In his words: “…Corruption has emasculated our progress even as poverty and unemployment have pushed citizens to the brinks thereby fuelling social conflicts and inter-communal crises which have extracted heavy toll in both human lives and property….”. He went further by saying: “Persistent insecurity has generated panic and anxiety; our social and physical infrastructures are far from meeting the needs of the nation; the country appears to be adrift and at the core of all these is moral decay engendered by ignorance and greed.”

    His Emphasis on Education

    To further emphasize his fervent belief in education, he also noted that the reform of the tertiary education sector in Nigeria could not be effective without putting in place the required progressive developments at the basic and senior secondary education levels. He insisted that: “our state governments, especially those of the North, must begin to realize the enormity of the challenges facing the education sector and take urgent and necessary steps to address these challenges.”

    That is a renascent Sultan for you, a man who is at the topmost echelon of the tree of comfort but feels so much concerned about the condition of the peasants who are deliberately consigned to the weeding of shrubs at the bottom of that tree by the system in place.

    At home in Nigeria, he has never relented in his advocacy for good governance and denunciation of corruption and religious intolerance just as he has consistently campaigned for religious peaceful coexistence at the international forums.

    His Royal Agenda

    In what looked like his royal agenda in respect of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs [NSCIA], His Eminence rolled out at an interfaith conference some years ago, certain fundamental programmes to the utter delight of all Nigerian Muslims. Please read an excerpt from his speech at the above mentioned Interfaith Conference as presented below:

    “….we initiated, as we had done for the Jama’atu Nasril-Islam (JNI), a thorough review of the activities of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs [NSCIA] and an extensive reform of its structures”.

    “It is our firm belief that these reforms are not only desirable but necessary to reposition the Council to play its strategic role as the apex Islamic body in the country and to respond, effectively and meaningfully, to the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. We have had extensive consultations over a couple of years and have received very useful inputs on the reform agenda from all the constituent bodies of the Council. Our strategic objectives in this exercise had been and shall remain the following:

    1. The promotion of Muslim Unity and Solidarity to accord the Ummah the ability to speak with one voice and to act and work together for the advancement of Islam.
    2. The development of Education and Economic Enterprise, to enable the Muslim Ummah play an active role in the socio-economic life of Nigeria.
    3. Promotion of peace and religious harmony both within the Muslim Communities and between the adherents of Islam and Christianity.
    4. Establishment of effective linkage with Government, at local, state and federal levels, to safeguard the interest of the Ummah and to build consensus on those vital issues that bind us together as a nation….”

    “It is therefore our hope that as we bring this reform process to its logical conclusion, we will receive the support and patronage of the entire Muslim Ummah as well as the co-operation of all stakeholders, including state governments and indeed the Government of the Federation”.

    “Finally we must all work hard to limit the influence of wealth in our society and to support those values that promote social responsibility, excellence and hard work.”

    With all these, who says this Sultan is of Sokoto alone and not of Nigeria as a whole? And besides him, which other monarch in this country bears the title of ‘Sultan’?

    Conclusion

    That is Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, a leader who knows the problems of his followers and associates with them in solving those problems. Without a leader like this at this crucial time, the Nigerian Muslim Ummah would have gone asunder.

    This column, ‘The Message’ and its teeming readers hereby join millions of eminent Nigerians home and abroad including the leaders of the Muslim Ummah of South-West Nigeria (MUSWEN), The League of Imams and Alfas of South-West Nigeria, the various Muslim communities of the South-West states as well as the great alumni of Markaz; particularly the current Rector of Markaz, Shaykh Abeebullah Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and the entire staff and students of Markaz in  welcoming His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni to Markaz. Your coming is a great delight to the entire Muslims of the

  • Leah’s stand

    Leah Sharibu is only 15 years old. Hers is the age of adolescence, commonly characterized as years of youthful exuberance and experiments with life. While there are differences between cultures, there are some commonalities in adolescent development and it is here that Leah’s stand is remarkable.

    Experts explain some early adolescent behaviors such as an excessive focus on pleasure and reward in terms of the neuro-developmental changes going on in a region of their brains, specifically the limbic system. On the other hand, in later years of adolescence, due to changes in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, adolescents are capable of making autonomous decisions and of controlling their impulsive behaviors. Needless to add, due to individual differences, and socio-cultural influences, some are able to reach these later years early. The stand taken by Leah at 15, when she is still in the middle of adolescence, is an excellent illustration of this observation.

    Leah took a stand for her faith. She stood by the commitment she made to her God. Many adults, in different social, cultural, religious, and political contexts have taken similar stands. From Moses, the Law-giver, in the court of Pharaoh, to Daniel in the lion’s den, to the three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and Joan of Arc on the stake, the test of faith has been met with courage. And it is now not a far-fetched tale from mythical lands. With its beheading of pastors and laymen who refused to renounce their faith, Boko Haram has indigenized martyrdom in our corner of the globe.

    While applauding her commitment, we must pray and demand that Leah is not forced to premature martyrdom.

    On Monday, February 19, 2018, satanic criminal agents with nothing but evil intent broke into the world of young school girls at Dapchi, violently abducted 110 and carted them away like chicken in a cage. In the process, five were trampled upon and killed and callously buried by the roadside without prayers. Think about this. The so-called zealots for God did not even consider it necessary to give the innocent human beings that they killed a decent burial as the religion they profess demands.

    The survivors were driven into the bush and imprisoned in a hut for as long as it took the terrorists to negotiate with the government. Three, including Leah, attempted to escape. As they wandered around in the bush after losing their way, they came across some adults from whom they asked for direction to Dapchi, having apprised them of their predicament.

    But, as some of the returnees have now confirmed, instead of giving the lost girls direction to Dapchi, those adults chose to lead the girls back to their abductors. Think about this. These innocent girls have had terrible life-changing experiences with two groups of adults in the course of a month.  At the least, with adults such as these, our cultural bias toward elevating adult reasoning above adolescent judgement, painting all adolescents with one brush of immaturity, is undoubtedly called into question.

    Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, so the apostle Paul teaches us. But how is it possible for a young 15-year-old girl from rural Dapchi to choose faith and commitment over pleasure and comfort? As far as we know, if she denied her God she would now be with her parents, siblings, and friends. What motivates her?  For this we must look beyond religion and spirituality. We must identify the foundation of Leah’s faith and commitment in her ability to choose right over wrong and stick to it.

    It is the ability to choose right over wrong that dictates for Leah the commitment to the faith in the Christian God whom she had confessed and believed prior to her abduction. It is that ability that rejects inconsistency and flip flopping even in the face of persecution. Having accepted Christ as her personal savior, Leah had closed her eyes to all manners of pleasure and comfort that might come with the denial and betrayal of her savior. Sticking to that position is a moral commitment. It comes with moral maturity, a rarity for girls or boys her age.

    It is also true, unfortunately, that living by a moral code from which one does not digress is an achievement that eludes many adults from peasants to oligarchs, from subjects to monarchs, and from citizens to presidents.

    It the first place, many adults are not able to reach the stage of choosing their own moral code because while they are biological adults, they are psychological adolescents, still locating themselves in the matrix of social life. These are individuals who experience an extended period of adolescence. You see them in the corridors of power. They adorn themselves with the most expensive outfits. But they carry around empty brains and they have little or no shame. They get themselves elected to offices through all manner of tricks including the most immoral. But they have nothing to contribute to the good of the nation. That we have a system that fails its citizens is not a surprise.

    Secondly, many adults who are capable of choosing and living by a moral code end up being tossed up and down, back and forth in the voyage of life, because they are not fully anchored to the port of morality. Like the proverbial seeds that fell among the thorns, which sprung up and choked them, it takes only a little effort on the part of the tempter and deceiver to entice them with allure of wealth and fame. Intellectually endowed but morally bankrupt, these human characters are the most dangerous because they use their brains for the perpetuation of evil.

    From pastors who exploit their congregation economically and sexually assault their members, to politicians who corruptly enrich themselves at the nation’s expense, we have examples of morally immature adolescents in the dusk of life. Leah’s stand puts them to shame. If they enjoy the munificence available to them and they still cannot cage their greed they are morally inferior to Leah who despite imminent danger to her life sticks to her moral gut.

    To Leah, therefore, we owe an obligation of gratitude for teaching us adults what it means to be human, which is to take a stand even in the face of unthinkable danger, to be known and recognized for act of commitment to a good cause, and to defend our humanity against the threat of beasts in human clothing. And for this obligation of gratitude to be fully discharged, we owe her a second obligation.

    Leah did not choose to be abducted. She did not have a suicidal motivation. She wanted to live and learn and grow to respectable adulthood. She and her schoolmates were dutifully discharging the duty of childhood that adults imposed on them–to get education and become useful members of society. She is not into cults. She is not into drugs. She is just a boarding school student struggling to succeed.

    As her fellow-citizens, it is our obligation to pray for her return and to collectively resolve to defeat the criminal elements that abducted and keeps her against her will and interest. No matter what our religion or political persuasion, we are human beings and fellow citizens. We must collectively raise our voices and commit to the fight against terrorism until it is completely defeated.

    On their part, our governments at state and federal level have the responsibility of securing citizens and preventing the recurrence of this kind of unfortunate incident, which only weakens the confidence of citizens in the ability of their government to secure them. Our children are naturally on the edge in their schools wondering if it is going to be their turn. We are wasting away a whole generation of citizens. Therefore, government must do its utmost part for the release of Leah and reassure her peers.

    Finally, it seems clear that the abductors are pushing for a religious war. Criminally keeping Leah because she refuses to convert to Islam is a serious provocation. They must be denied their wish.

     

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  • Apology or Repentance?

    “… And beware of a calamity that may descend to afflict not only those who incur it but also the majority of innocent people who had no hands in its cause. And know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe…” -Q 24: 62-64a

    Monologue
    Perhaps few people are as much familiar with the implication of public apology in any given circumstance as Bryan Davis who once said: “Sacrifice is at the heart of repentance. Without deeds, your apology is worthless.” His observation in the above quote is quite axiomatic.

    Nigeria is a peculiar country in nature and in character. She has artificial seasons for artificial conducts. And from time to time, those artificialities come up like battles in which adversaries engage one another with little consideration for implications. One of such seasons is now. Penultimate week, the National chairman of a political party called People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Uche Secondus publicly apologized to Nigerians for what he called misrule in the country for 16 years from 1999 to 2015. He did not explain the details of his reason for offering apology but the oral apology has since generated a fierce controversy as usual.

    Incidentally, this was followed by a public confession by Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, a former Deputy Senate President during the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) regime, who is now a member of All Progressives Congress (APC). In his confession, he narrated how the leaders of PDP at that time economically pillaged Nigeria as a country and prevented her from growing into what she was supposed to be. Giving reason for his public confession and apology, Alhaji Mantu said;

    “I am tired of being seen as a criminal on the street of the world because you are a Nigerian. You assume that everybody is an innocent human being until being proven otherwise but whilst you are outside this country with a green passport and they see that you are a Nigerian, even if you are a pastor or an imam they will assume that you are criminally minded or you have criminal tendencies just because of where you come from. That must change.”

    He concluded that he was tired of the abundance of poverty in the country.  But while confessing his role in rigging elections for his former political party (PDP), he did not give us the benefit of his role in the alleged 3rd term saga for a political demagogue who at 70 was then a 2nd term President, but was still secretly scheming to create a despotic empire on which he would preside for life. Mantu was also silent on the strange political theories of “stealing is not corruption” and ’16 is greater than 19’that paved the way for the collapse of the PDP hegemony in Nigeria.

    Merits and demerits of apology

    While some people have attributed those apologies to the working of conscience, others have interpreted them to be a new gimmick typical of Nigerian politicians to further pave way for themselves towards subjecting Nigerians to a new era of slavery. From whichever angle they are viewed, such apologies have their merits and demerits. That for the first time in Nigeria’s political history, certain politicians have thought it wise to offer apology to millions of citizens who had been politically and economically decimated for years is one of those merits.

    Ordinarily, when apology is offered, whether publicly or privately, the first impression created is that the apologist has admitted certain errors and wants to rectify them. In such a case, the two aspects quickly jump to the fore to interplay either positively or negatively. Ironically, however, apology in whatever form is not offered in isolation. If it is genuine it must be accompanied by repentance. As a matter of fact, in any genuine apology, repentance comes first. Thus, without repentance no apology is considered genuine.

    Relevant questions

    Uche Secondus’s apology at this time has raised a number of questions which only the political jobbers can answer. For instance, which aspect of PDP’s misconducts that constituted misrule was Secondus offering apology for? Is it the reckless looting spree or the impunity with which such looting was carried out or the unbridled arrogance of power that dominated the political scene in Nigeria during that period? Or is it the continuous exhibition of impunity by former President Goodluck Jonathan who bluntly and arrogantly refused to honour the summons of a Law Court?

    At least we can still remember that instead of honouring such summons Jonathan reportedly asked to be paid the sum of N1billion for security before he could appear in court. And this was coming at a time when a number of former Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world were being subjected to trials through the laws of their countries for various misconducts while they were in office. It is a well known fact for instance, that former South Korean President, Park Geun-hye was recently impeached and subjected to trial for corruption. And in Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was impeached as well and charged with corruption. Former Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Egypt and Brazil respectively were also charged with corruption in their various states. Although Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak has been acquitted after several years of trial and detention, his counterpart from Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been sentenced to almost 10 years imprisonment. (Incidentally, Egypt has consistently been ruled only by the military since 1952 when King Faruq was overthrown in a military coup till date, except for 1 year (June 30, 2012 to July 3, 2013) of democratic dispensation led by former President Mohamed Morsi which was terminated by a military coup led by the current President, Abdul-Fatah Sisi for the continuity of military rule in that country). Also, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu are currently being tried for corruption under the laws of their respective countries.

    It is only here in Nigeria that virtually all major crimes are provided with either ethnic or religious immunity against the rule of law. It is in Nigeria that a serving or former public officer who is caught or suspected to have committed a crime suddenly becomes an ethnic or a religious citizen. And that is why a former Nigerian President like Goodluck Jonathan who had signed many bills into law could audaciously breach one of such laws by asking the court to provide N1billion before he could respond to a court’s summons. What message does that kind of impunity pass to Nigerian youths of today who are aspiring to become Nigerian leaders of tomorrow? And his only reliance to so flagrantly disobey a law court is on ethnic protection through blind blackmail.

    Gen. Murtala Muhammed for instance

    We can still vividly recall that in this same country, a onetime military Head of States, General Murtala Muhammed was sued into a court of law by a University Professor (name withheld) who alleged that the General as Head of States was corrupt. And in reaction, General Murtala Muhammed, a disciplinarian to the core, said he would personally appear in court in response to the summons as an evidence of the obedience to the rule of law and to clear his name of the alleged corruption. Unfortunately, the date of the court case had not come when the General lost his life in a military coup led by one Buka Suka Dimka on February 13, 1976. But when the case came up later after the death of General Murtala Muhammed, it was discovered that the allegation was false and the General was cleared of corruption.

    Thus, the Professor had to tender an unreserved apology to the family of General Muhammed and generality of Nigerians for misinforming them. Perhaps if General Murtala Muhammed had not been killed in a military coup, he would have been the first serving African Head of States to voluntarily appear in a court of law to clear his name of corruption. Taking a cue from General Muhammed’s example, one would have expected each of PDP’s apologists for unprecedented misconducts to exhibit repentance in practical terms rather than just offering oral apology.

    Primordial instances

    We have examples in history. When Adam, the primogenitor of human beings was challenged for transgressing against the instruction of Allah while he was in paradise with his wife (Hawau), he quickly realized the gravity of his error and apologized with grave remorse. But his ordeal did not end there. Despite this offer of apology he was banished with his wife by Allah to the earth where the couple had to labour and sweat before they could feed. And that was against the automatic feeding and other pleasures he and his wife had enjoyed in paradise. Adam was though the first example of such reprimand, he was not the only one on the ladder of prophets. There were several others after him. So, apology; whether oral or written does not prevent the punishment which any deliberate misconduct entails.

    This confirms that punishment for whatever offence is a punitive measure against future reoccurrence of misconduct in human beings. However, let there be no misconception that the issue of apology being addressed here is peculiar to PDP and its members. Other political parties including the currently ruling one must learn a lesson from it. It is PDP today; it may be another political party tomorrow. Meanwhile, which ruling class in Nigeria since independence should not apologize to Nigerian citizenry after repenting the political crimes it had unconscientiously committed?

    From all indications, what both the civilian and military regimes have done to Nigerian populace was a clandestine connivance to continue the colonization to which the British colonialists had subjected Nigerians.  No military regime since 1966 has ever ruled Nigeria without partnering with civilian politicians and no civilian regime since 1979 has ever ruled Nigeria without securing the support of the military. And in such a criminal connivance, ethnicity and religion have never mattered to the ruling class. The use of both dangerous ‘masquerades’ (ethnicity and religion) is a manipulation of the political environment to cover up their relentless atrocities against the people.

    Conditions for apology

    Whether in religious, political, economic or even social sphere, apology cannot be offered without satisfying its conditions. In religious sphere for instance, whoever will seek apology for a sin must first confess to committing that sin. If the sin entails any penalty, he must be ready to pay it except such a penalty is unconditionally overlooked. The essence of confessing a sin before apologizing for committing it is to give assurance that such a sin will not be committed again. It would be quite illogical for a thief to steal another man’s car and apologize after getting caught without returning the car to the owner. What feeling will such a thief expect from the owner of the car who sees it with him whenever he is riding the car around? For him to be forgiven, the thief must first return the car to the owner voluntarily and then pledge never to steal either the same car or any other car thereafter.

    The similitude of the apology offered to Nigerians by the PDP’s stalwarts is like that of a thief who stole somebody’s car and turned back to apologize orally to the car owner without returning the car to the latter. Many Nigerians are light-hearted and can readily forgive any offence for which apology is offered but only if such apology is preceded by repentance. 16 years in the life of a nation cannot be said to be short especially where more damages than repairs have been done.

    Shakespeare’s idea of forgiveness

    When the renowned English playwright, William Shakespeare came up with an axiom that “To err is human; to forgive divine”, he did not mean that every error could be forgiven through the seeking of oral apology no matter its gravity. There are inadvertent errors and there are deliberate errors. The one is humanly understandable; the other is like a deliberate sin for which seeking apology can only be like crocodile tears.

    If we may ask, why is it now less than a year to the next general election that PDP leaders are seeking apology? If such apology is granted, and the so-called errors are forgiven, what is going to happen to the billions or even trillions of Naira stolen or siphoned when that party was in power? Besides, how can forgiveness of thousands of Nigerians who had died as a result of PDP’s misrule in its 16 years of misrule be obtained? If Nigerians are light-hearted and forgiving as stated here, will the grant of apology, as now being requested by PDP refill the quagmire into which this country has been plunged through the said misrule?

    Observation

    Typical of certain Nigerians there is tendency that some parochial readers of this column will query the right of this columnist to write on politics or economy. Such a tendency is a clear evidence of blatant ignorance. Unlike some other religions, Islam is a full package of the total life of a Muslim and not a free-for-all straight jacket. There is no distinction among religious, political, economic, and social life of a Muslim. All are within the frame of worship as commanded by the Almighty Allah. The idea of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” is quite irrelevant to Islam. In the sacred religion called Islam, both Caesar and whatever is attributed to his ownership belong to the Almighty Allah who never slumbers or dies and no mortal being can create a departure from that norm. Thus, writing about any aspect of life including politics, economy, and social life of a nation or her citizens is quite compatible with the tenets of Islam.

    And by the way, since Muslims do not concern themselves about the methodology of preaching in other religions except where obvious falsehood and hate speeches are involved, it will be foolhardy and absurd for some non Muslims to want to teach Muslims how and to which extent they should preach Islam. The Qur’an is clear on this in chapter 109 where Allah says “Oh you who disbelieve, I do not worship what you worship neither do you worship what I worship. Your religion is for you, and mine is for me.”

    Conclusion

    Progressive politics in any civilized society is not about what certain individuals or any political party can gain momentarily but about the legacy which the rulers of the nation at a particular time can leave behind for future generations.

    Finally, let those who have admitted the misrule of their political party for a period of 16 years go ahead to convince Nigerians that their apologies are genuine by returning the loots they have been alleged to have illegally cornered for themselves as an evidence of genuine repentance. “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it.” God guide Nigerian leaders aright.

  • Chief Idowu Sofola’s footprint

    Preamble

    life is a phenomenon in which every human being regales. There is a time for Birth. There is a time for growth. And there is a time for death. No man or woman can jump the queue of life when it comes to the trend of living. We all live to die in this world just as we die to live in the hereafter. This is a confirmation that we are all from Allah and to Allah we shall all return.  In the introduction to his autobiography entitled ‘My Odyssey’, Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe wrote as follows:

    “Man comes into the world and while he lives he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his courses of action; but then he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as warning of the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both.” Chief Abdul Fatai Adebayo Idowu Sofola whose demise was announced last weekend clearly exemplified Dr. Azikwe’s introduction quoted above. As a Muslim, and as a Nigerian professional,   Chief Idowu Sofola was a man of many parts and he played each part passionately according to his ability.

    Unknown to many Nigerians, Chief Idowu Sofola was a wearer of two conspicuous caps in the Southwest Nigeria. One was for his position as the chairman Yoruba Council Elders (YCE). The other was for the position of the chairman of the council of elders of Muslim Ummah of South-West Nigeria (MUSWEN). And the played both roles dynamically without one clashing with the other. Chief Idowu Sofola was like an elephant in Nigeria as a whole, was like an elephant surrounded by a galaxy of blind men. Each of those men could only describe the part he was able to touchon the body of that mammoth animal and not the whole of it. He lived a worthy life and died in a dignified way. He had means to travel abroad for medical treatment if there was need for it but he did not think of such before he naturally passed away in the quiet serenity of the night in his bedroom.

    The president of Muslim Ummah of South-West Nigeria (MUSWEN), Dr. S.O. Babalola, OON, DSc and the chairman of the Board of Trustees of MUSWEN, Prince ‘Abdul Jabbar Bola Ajibola, SAN, KBE, CFR as well as Executive Secretary/C.E.O; Prof. D.O.S. Noibi, OBE, DSc, on behalf of the entire Muslim Ummah in the Southwest, mourn the demise of Chief Sofola with a prayer to Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss and to grant his family the fortitude with which to bear the agony. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.

     

    Who was Chief Idowu Sofola? 

    Being a man of many parts, with many roles in many parts of the world, quite a number of people around the world who were privy to his social and professional activities have written one ode or the other in appreciation of his life and his contribution to the lives of many other people around him. An excerpt from one of such odes written a couple of years ago by a foreigner even when Chief Idowu Sofola was alive can be captured in a blog called Sanplatform as follows:

    “DESTINY, by the description of a leading American politician, William Jennings Bryan, who lived between March 19, 1860 and July 26, 1925, “is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved”.

    And so, our personality of the week, Chief Idowu Abdul Fatai Adebayo Sofola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), achieved his own destiny in his chosen career through hard work, dedication, commitment and strong desire to reach the pinnacle of his profession.

     

    His achievements

    Today, he can look back to a good number of the solid achievements he has accomplished and say in his usual calm manner: “I thank thee Lord for your goodness”.

    This is the story of a courtroom ‘General’, who mastered the art of advocacy in law and rose to become one of the leading members of both the national and international Bars and now of the Bench.

    He commands great respect among his colleagues both within and outside Nigeria due to the unequal interest he developed in Bar politics. This has contributed in shooting him to the zenith of his career and gave him dazzling recognition with its attendant benefits.

    He fell in love with law practice so much so that the courtroom became his second home. This was the practice of the good old days.

    To buttress this point, he turned down two offers to be elevated as a senior magistrate and a High Court judge, when he was recommended to serve on the Bench.

    In 2012, he was appointed the new chairman of the Body of Benchers, a prestigious body that oversees the admission of lawyers to the Bar and their discipline as well. He took over from the sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, who has just completed his tenure. The Body of Benchers is made up of very senior eminent members of the Bench and Bar. He will be in this office for the next 12 months.

    For these 12 months, he has assigned himself to pursue the issue of discipline of lawyers of all categories and spheres of endeavour.

     

    Profile

    Born in Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State, on September 29, 1934, Sofola, the last of 11 children of his mother, studied law at Westminster College of Commerce, London, Holborn College of Law and Council of Legal Education, London. He was called to the English Bar at Middle Temple Inns of Court, London on July 17, 1962.

    On his return to Nigeria the same year, he was enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria on July 30, 1962 and commenced private legal practice immediately. He has continued to be in active legal practice ever since.

    After 27 years of rigorous practice on May 1989, at the age of 55, Sofola was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

    But in 1979, he came to the limelight in Bar politics when he contested and won election for the post of General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). It was this office that enabled him to serve in the Council of the International Bar Association (IBA) as an officer.

    Chief Sofola, who has been ranked among 100 most inspiring Senior Advocates of Nigeria and courtroom generals, did not have a robust start in life as a growing child due to health problems. He had initial hearing problems due to blockades of his two ears. This posed a very serious handicap for the young Sofola to start school in time like his peers.

    This is how he painted an enchanting and pitiable picture of himself as a growing child in his own words:

     

    “From the Horse’s Mouth

    “I thank God for everything. God has been kind to me and my family. I come from a polygamous family. I am the last of 11children born by my mother.

    “One would have expected me to be a spoilt child. The reason why I was not was because I was born with ear problems. I had problems hearing very well because my two ears were blocked.

    “Unfortunately, there was no hospital at that time in our place at Ikenne, Ogun State. The nearest one then was about 65 miles away. This problem persisted for too long that it prevented me from starting school when my mates started. I started my own school at the age of 11. I thank God again, because when I started, I caught up with some of them because I got double promotions most of the times.

    When I was living with my senior brother, Mr. Kehinde Sofola (SAN), a former Attorney and Minister of Justice (who is now late), at Ibadan, he was the one who used to take me to a hospital for treatment while I was still attending school from his house.

    In those days, we used to have weekly reports in school on the performance of students in all the subjects. When I got to the next class, I could not make first or second position as I used to make. I managed to pass. When my brother was transferred to Lagos from Ibadan, I returned to Ikenne to start school in Standard Three. Fortunately, my ear problem was solved with some hot oil, which one man they took me to in nearby town, put into my ears to burn off the sours that blocked the two ears.

    “After this treatment, I returned to live with my brother, Kehinde, again. He was a clerk then and very strict and a good disciplinarian. I thought he was being wicked to me, it was later that I realized he was giving me good training.

    “When I arrived in his house, the first question he asked me was how far I was doing with my studies, particularly my multiplication table? I told him I was doing my best. So from his house, I continued my schooling. I thank God I did not repeat a class throughout. When I graduated from secondary school, I did not proceed immediately to the university. I worked one year in the Ministry of Labour. But when it was obvious that I was going to read law, I changed my work to judiciary where I served as a court clerk.

    From there, I travelled to England to read law. When I got there, I had to do ‘A’ Levels. I sat for three papers and excelled in them all.

     

    Marital life

    Chief Sofola, a Muslim and married to Alhaja Silifat Olusola, tells on how he met the woman who he eventually married.

    “I had this woman who incidentally was the first lady I ever spoke to for a relationship. We later got married. But before I went to England, we had packed up with the relationship. So, we all forgot ourselves. When I got to England, I got another lady. One day, I went to see her in a far away town where she lived. When I got there that day and after sometime, she told me that her husband would be arriving in a week’s time. I asked her from where? And she answered me that he was coming from Nigeria. I now asked her: what about me? And she answered that she was sorry not to have disclosed this to me in our relationship. I was so upset that I did not know when I left her house and jumped inside a train back to my house. When I got to my house, I opened my door and a letter dropped from there and I took it and opened it, lo and behold, it was my ‘A’ level GCE result sheet, which showed that I cleared the three papers I sat for. It was a big relief and consolation from the embarrassment I got from the woman I wanted to marry.

    “After this shock, I did not bother again, until the first woman I spoke with back home arrived in England, invited by her parents. We met during Nigeria’s Independence Day anniversary celebration in England. It was, indeed, a re-union of two friends who had forgotten about themselves.

    In fact, I was an officer of the Nigerian Students’ Union, an assistant secretary. After the meeting, she and I became friends again. That was it, until we got married in 1963, after she returned from England. I returned to Nigeria in 1962, a year before she returned. I was called to the English Bar on November 17, 1962. Shortly after that event, I returned to Nigeria.

    At that time, if you return as a lawyer, you stay with a senior to learn the practical aspect of the discipline. Fortunately or unfortunately, my senior brother, Kehinde, was very busy then with the Coker Commission of Inquiry during the problem of the Western Region then. So, he did not have time for me as a young lawyer. The day I was sworn in as a lawyer of the Supreme Court, my brother just gave me a case file and asked me to go and try my luck before Justice Udo Udoma. I was the only lawyer in his Chambers at that time. Fortunately for me, the case did not hold that day.

     

    Legal practice

    Continuing the narrations of his experiences as a young lawyer, this complete self-made lawyer had this to say: “When I was about two weeks old as a lawyer, there was a case coming up in Ikeja High Court before Honourable Justice Ikeruche. My brother told me that he had told the other lawyer, an expert in land matters, who later became a judge and retired as a Supreme Court Justice, that we should agree on a date since he could not make it for that day.

    When the case was called, I stood up and announced my appearance for the defence. The lawyer on the other side had not arrived. I told the judge that I hold Mr. Kehinde Sofola’s brief. The judge asked for the plaintiff, who was not there. The judge asked witness to mount the witness box. At this point, I told the judge that I had an application to make and he asked me the nature of the application. I told the judge that my brother had a national assignment in Lagos and he had discussed this with the lawyer on the other side and they had agreed to take a date. But the judge retorted: “I am going on with this case. Tell your brother that his own national assignment cannot affect my own national assignment”.

    After that, it then dawned on me that I was the one to handle the matter. The file was a fat one. I had not even opened the file because I thought the judge was going to adjourn the matter.

    It was at this point that the lawyer on the other side started leading the witness in evidence. I asked myself “what would I do for a case I did not prepare, a two-week old lawyer?” I reluctantly opened the file, picked out the writ and started reading it. As I was reading the file, I was listening to the evidence and at the same time, writing down the evidence and thinking of what questions to put to the witness under cross-examination.

    God helped me because of my experience as a court clerk and from England after my Call to Bar. So, I put this question, that question and so on. After sometime, the lawyer on the other side said ‘objection my Lord’. The objection was taken. I tried to object. But the judge interjected and asked me to put it in another way. “Try, try,” the judge urged me. I tried again, but the plaintiff lawyer continued to object. When the judge saw that I could not frame the question the way it would not be objected to, he said “Ok, I will grant you an adjournment, to go and discuss it with your brother. When you get home, he will tell you what to do, I cannot tell you here”. When I got home that day, I told my brother my experience, my brother was annoyed.

    “Our client in this matter was my brother’s old school-mate. He was so furious on how I handled the matter that he did not hide his feelings when he told my brother: “Kehinde, you are too wicked. We went to school together, you saved your money and went to England to become a lawyer, I saved my own money and used it to buy land. Instead of you to handle the case for me so that I can secure my land, you sent your inexperienced brother to spoil the case for me”.

    This made my brother to take time off from the inquiry and followed us to court the following day. So, we continued in the case, which my brother after discussing the points with me, I was the one that virtually concluded the case. Fortunately, we won in that matter and the court awarded us cost. My brother came to me and I thought he was coming to congratulate me for a job well done.

    He came to scold me that if not the way I initially handled the matter, the court would have awarded us huge cost. I said in my mind, whether this was a way of rewarding me with some amount to even buy biscuits for a job well done, instead of talking about award of cost in our favour.

    This was, indeed, a great experience for me. No matter how brilliant you are as a lawyer, your first attempts into practise you must falter, you will be shy to speak in court and all that. But despite those initial challenges, I got on into practice very strongly.

    Apart from his escapades in courtroom practice many of which cannot be mentioned, Chief Sofola, as a young lawyer, showed interest in the Bar Association.

     

    NBA & IBA Elections

    “When I became an active Bar man, I was being careful because I did not want it to affect my practice. But somehow in 1979, I took the form for NBA election. I was selected at Ibadan conference, an election that took me to the International Bar Association (IBA). The IBA has a council comprising one representative of each national Bar. So I served in that council as the general secretary of the NBA. You cannot hold an office in Nigeria for more than two years. It was when I became general secretary of the NBA that I became a member of the council of the IBA. No matter how brilliant you are, it is only in the second year that the council will begin to recognise you. And it is in that second year that your election into NBA will expire. And if you are not a member of council, you cannot contest for any position there.

    The question now is “how did I become the first Nigerian, indeed, the first African to serve as secretary general of IBA?” In my second year in the IBA council, I was appointed assistant secretary general for two years in the international body. After two years as assistant secretary general, they appointed me as deputy secretary general for another two years. At the end of that, they reappointed me as deputy secretary general for another two years. At the end, they asked me to vie for secretary general and I asked them what would become of the substantive secretary I had been deputising.

    “Later, when I reported the matter to my home Bar. They all bought the idea and worked towards rallying all African Bars to support my nomination. Indeed, the person who contested with me at that time was the president of American Bar Association (ABA). When we contested, we were nine in number. I was the only Black man. At the end of the election, I had the highest number of votes. But there was a re-run in which I also emerged the overall winner. I was so happy that I could win in such an election, that I did not even wait for the meeting to come to an end.

     

    Honours and Titles

    Sofola is a holder of several honours and titles including the traditional honours of Bobagunwa of Remoland in 1991 by the Akarigbo of Remo Kingdom, the Balogun of Idotun-Ikenne by the Oludotun of Idotun-Ikenne in 1992, the title of Aare Maiyegun of Owu-Abeokuta in 1996 by the Olowu of Owu-Abeokuta, as well as the Aare of Remo Kingdom by the Akarigbo in consultation with Remo Obas in 2001.

     

    Conclusion

    One unique aspect of Chief Idowu Sofola’s life was his determination to build manpower in younger people with talents whether known or unknown to him. That was why he dabbled into education by establishing a quality school for future leaders and by offering scholarships to talented children with little wherewithal. In the course of doing this, he became a philanthropist without realizing it. Thus, he fitted perfectly into the following stanza of a poem that can serve other people in good stead;

    “Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and teals the holy land”

    Chief Abdul Fatai Adebayo Idowu Sofola did this much and we were all witnesses. We pray the Almighty Allah to pave his way easily to Jannatul Firdaus. Amin!

  • From Gates with candor

    Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates came to town with a determination to offer a candid analysis of the Nigerian condition and a perspective, informed by unimpeachable research, on the way out.

    Simply put, Gates advised Nigerians that investment in human capital must be prioritized over investment in physical structures. Armed with graphs and charts to drive home the point, the technology icon stung us with the bitter truth: You’ve got your priorities wrong. There are at least five takeaways from Bill Gates’s address to the stakeholders at the expanded meeting of NEC.

    First, authentic development requires a laser beam focus on the basic needs of people. As he put it, a people, lacking the basics of a good life, including food, shelter, health, and education, cannot live a productive life and thus cannot contribute to the growth and development of their nation.

    Second, education and health are the foundations of a productive life. Therefore, negatively, to avoid such an outcome of parasitic living with its attendant social dysfunction, and, positively, to impact national development, government and well-placed citizens must invest in the education and health of the people, especially the youth. With a commitment of over $1.6 billion in Nigeria so far, this white American with no ancestral roots in Nigeria has certainly walked the talk.

    Third, Gates’s prescription was as impeccable as his practical commitment. To Nigerian leaders, his message was loud and clear: maximize the Nigerian people and Nigeria will thrive when every Nigerian is able to thrive.

    Did I just say that Gates has no ancestry root in Nigeria? But how come he can capture so succinctly our cultural worldview? Does our ancestral wisdom not also affirm the importance of even development and equitable sharing? Ajoje ko dun bi enikan ko ni? (Literally: a potluck is enjoyable provided everyone could afford to contribute a portion.) I should take back then my unsupported assertion. Bill Gates, like every homo sapiens, has an African root. In any case, we share a common human nature.

    Fourth, yet while it is true that we all started off with a mindset of human interconnectedness that requires empathy towards others, we are now at a dangerous stage where ego and greed have taken over, placing a new song in our mouth: bamu ni mo yo, emi o mo pebi npa omo enikokan. (Literally: I am full to the brim and can care less if anyone is hungry).

    From a communal orientation that emphasized solidarity, we descended to the pathetic level of vulgar individualism. Gates’s frank advice was that even if we have neither love nor empathy, but we value sustained prosperity, we can only attain it if we invest in the health and education of everyone. Isn’t it a shame that it takes someone from a clime that we have always berated as the ground zero of soulless capitalism to teach us about the good of community, in which we used to take pride as our heritage?

    Fifth, we could make a strong case for investing in the health and education of people as an end-in-itself. It does not have to be justified by appeal to something else. In other words, health is intrinsically good. Education is intrinsically good. Therefore, investing in them doesn’t have to be justified by appeal to something beyond themselves.

    However, there is also an instrumental reasoning for the rightness of investing in health and education and Gates provided it brilliantly: People without roads, ports, and factories can’t flourish. And roads, ports, and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them can’t sustain an economy. To conclude the thought, we should add that people with good education and sound health will build and maintain good roads, good ports and good factories.

    Why am I thinking that this thought and this prescription are not new?  From where have we heard a similar if not identical analysis before?

    First, the understanding behind the analysis and prescription is ingrained in our cultural ethos as confirmed by the words of the elders: Omo ti a ko to ni yoo gbe ile ti a ko ta (Literally: the child whose future we refuse to build up for success will sell off the house that we selfishly build for fame). This is no rocket science. The untrained child cannot fathom the importance of an edifice selfishly built for fame. And even if he or she appreciates, without a source of livelihood that could have come from the education that he or she was denied, why would he or she starve to death if the edifice could be auctioned away?

    Second, taking cognizance of this wisdom of the ancestors, our founding fathers chose education as the pillar of the new nation at independence. While three of the founding fathers who led the three original regions were true to the injunction in practical terms, its theoretical reaffirmation was a life mission of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. However, while his generation of leaders needed little or no prodding, subsequent leaders, especially the unelected interlopers in the corridors of power, had other ideas.

    The military leaders that imposed their will on the nation in 1966 reversed the wisdom of the ancestors and focused on building structures instead of humans. For 13 years in the first instance, a different philosophy of development took center stage in dear country. Between 1979 and 1983, an effort was made in the southwest to go back to prioritizing human capital. It was short lived as the impostors struck again. And for the next 15 years, the nation was held, not merely at a standstill but way backwards in the matter of human capital development.

    Where gains had been made, they made sure that those were reversed with a deliberate policy of stunting the intellectual growth of the nation. This policy would most likely not have succeeded without the centralization of the major social and economic institutions. It is now apparent that centralization was a deliberate policy for overturning the progress of the early years in education and health. The consequence of that shocking demonstration of hatred for investment in human development, starkly against the tradition of enlightened governance in the post-independence era, is what we are experiencing today.

    Between 1999 and 2014, Nigeria made multiples of billions from the export of crude oil. But consistent with the policy outlook and practical bent of the immediate past, we chose to prioritize the physical over the mental as we built roads and skyscrapers across the landscape of our nation. In the process of these development initiatives, very few well-connected individuals made it big. But we neglected the necessary investment in quality education for the youth.

    Our common excuse, which Gates is aware of, is lack of adequate revenue. We cannot afford free education for our children because we do not have the financial means and for the same reason, we cannot stock libraries or equip laboratories. Part of the evidence of our fiscal handicap is that various state governments are unable to pay workers’ salary, with school teachers and retirees hardest hit.

    It is, however, quite revealing of the priorities that we set ourselves that, even in the middle of these trying times, both the legislative and executive branches of government at state and national levels suffer no financial hardship. Neither the humongous emoluments of members of state and national assemblies nor executive branch compensations are affected. Security votes are never endangered. The truth is that since 1966, the national leadership has effectively led the states in the retrogressive abandonment of equal access to quality education.

    In the early 1970s, when the nation was awash in stupendous wealth, Chief Awolowo, convinced that human beings are “the sole creative and purposive dynamic in nature…. the determinant of all economic and social change and the generator of all the impulse of progress”, and armed with figures and statistics, made a strong case for free education at all levels. Almost 50 years later, his arguments remain valid.

    We must reconsider the purpose of government in favor of the common good and reprimand the greedy mentality of a few.

     

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  • Liberal Democracy and minority interests

    Respect for freedom and equality recommends liberal democracy as a system of government. Freedom here means the absence of constraint. However, this notion of freedom in the context of multiple individuals has its constraints, requiring a mode of reconciling multiple freedoms. Majoritarian rule presents a viable option. If policies and practices are not imposed by the fiat of a dictator, if everyone has a direct or indirect input, and if there is an objective process for deciding which policy passes for law, then even if an individual’s freedom is constrained, it can be tolerated because the process is impartial.

    But there is more to the challenge of freedom even in a democratic setting than can be resolved by majoritarianism. It sounds harmless to suggest that the preference of the majority ought to be the standard for legislation when unanimity is not achieved. But what if it leads to a perpetual relegation of the interests of the minority to the back burner? Does democracy have an answer to such a clearly unfair and inequitable outcome?

    Specifically, how does the coexistence of multiple cultures, nationalities, tribes and clans, compound the standard of majoritarian democracy? Consider here the Nigerian context with its nationalities, tribes and clans.

    The 1999 constitution makes a unique provision for equitable representation. Section 14 (3 & 4) provide that the composition of the Government of the Federation, or the Government of a State or local government council shall reflect the federal character of Nigeria or the diversity of the people within the area of authority of a state. This is presumably in furtherance of the constitutional declaration of Nigeria as “a State based on the principle of democracy and social justice”.

    What the constitution does not provide for, but which is no less desirable is the equitable selection of candidates for major elective positions–president, vice president, governor, deputy governor, council chairman, etc. with respect for national or state diversity. What is the principle of equity? And how would it apply to the selection of candidates for such major positions in the center and across the states? Simply put, equity is a principle of distributive justice, which means fairness. To be fair is to be even-handed and to be impartial.

    Now, the principle of equity or fairness will apply differently in different sociological and demographic contexts. Consider a nation of homogenous population with a pronounced practice of individualism. In such a context, individuals see themselves and are seen by others as the bearers of interests and the objects of moral and legal recognition. To be fair and equitable is to treat every citizen as an embodiment of rights and as subject of dignity. Therefore, whatever roles and positions are available must be open to every able-bodied adult. The lowliest person is as qualified as the highest, provided each satisfies the specified conditions. And candidates for positions can come from any part of the country in case of national contests or any part of a state in case of state contests.

    Not all nations have an individualistic orientation. Indeed, only a few Western democracies have shed the collectivist identities that many African and other non-Western nations still hang on to. And despite the misgivings of modernists about collective identities, there is nothing particularly unusual about them. If properly harnessed, they could be a stabilizing force for liberal democracies. The idea of a liberal-nationalism is, after all, not an oxymoron.

    Africans relish their collectivist identities, the most cherished of which are ethnicity and religion. Others include social, professional, and business affiliations. Notice that while the last three are not unique to Africans and do not play a formal role in many contexts, the first two are. Ethnic and religious identities cannot be wished away in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. It is part of our DNA. What we should rather urge is on the one hand, the productive and positive channeling of these identities, and on the other hand a respectful approach to their peculiarities by treating them fairly and equitably.

    The 1999 constitution, as mentioned above, made some useful provisions towards the end of equitable and fair treatment of ethnicity and religion. One such is the principle of federal character, which while abusable, could be a positive force for unity and common understanding.

    What the constitution does not provide for is the practice of rotating national political offices among ethnic nationalities, and state political offices among the tribes or sectional groups in a state. Perhaps the constitution does not make provision for this because ours is a republican constitution which recognizes only individuals as bearers of interest and dignity. But such a republicanism that recognizes only individual rights is a clear contradiction of the constitutional subscription to the principle of federal character and diversity.

    The point worth noting is that while the constitution does not seem to require that elective positions be filled on rotational basis either at the center on in the states and local governments, equity and fairness imposes this requirement on political parties. Not only does the moral principle of equity and fairness impose this requirement, political expediency also requires it. So even if a political party or its leaders are not moved by equity and fairness, if all they care for is expediency, they are also obligated to adopt the rotational principle.

    That equity requires the choice of and adherence to rotation is a no-brainier. Fairness requires that we put ourselves in the condition of our compatriots. If you were in the situation of the one that you have chosen to sideline and marginalize, how would you feel? More importantly, the principle of justice as fairness suggests an approach to determining the fairness of a policy or practice.

    Assume that none of us knows what ethnic group or which part of a state he or she would be born into. No one knows whether he or she would belong to a majority or a minority group within a state or in the country. No one knows what religious tenet he or she would espouse. In such a situation of total ignorance about what would be one’s place or lot in life, if afforded a pre-natal opportunity to choose, it makes sense to choose a principle that guarantees that one’s interests would be taken care of no matter one’s situation in life, and one would not be unrelentingly marginalized. For political participation, it would make sense for everyone, given that opportunity, to choose the policy of rotating political offices among contending parties, be it ethnic groups within the country or sections within a state.

    Without the benefit of a Rawlsian theory of justice, our people also understand and appreciate the importance of the policy and practice of rotation. In their native intelligence, they teach us the value of sharing: Enikan kii je ki ile fe. Recall also the invaluable lesson that Aare Kurunmi taught the American Baptist clergyman during the intervention of the latter to stop the Ijaiye War. Kurunmi called it the moral philosophy of the toad. Simply put, it is the give and take philosophy.

    It is time our modern ego learns a lesson from the ancient exponents of oppression and victims of marginalization. Individuals and cities that providence has smiled upon with munificence must not play god or impose their will on the less fortunate. It is an unassailable moral principle. But it is also a principle of political expediency.

    The marginalized of the world may not have individual voices. But they have their God-given wisdom. A situation of perpetual marginalization would naturally lead to frustration with the system. In the fullness of time, the marginalized will learn to take control of their destiny. If they cannot be victors, having nothing to lose, they can choose to be spoilers. With a solidarity of the marginalized choosing the path of the spoiler, it would be the nail on the coffin of the overconfident master who purposes a lifetime of servanthood for entire populations on the assumption that they do not have the numbers. It is a parable for the wise.

     

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  • Who is Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory?

    Preamble

    AT the twilight of the 20th century in 1999, the management of The News Magazine, led by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, (now the Director-General of News Agency of Nigeria), thought of putting together in a chronicled document, the most prominent 100 Nigerian men and women of the 20th century. The publication was entitled ‘people in the news 1900-1999: A survey of nigerians of the 20th century’.

     

    Contributors

    The contributors to that compendium consisted of some distinguished Nigerian newspaper editors, columnists and other versatile (but non-journalists) writers who were carefully chosen and commissioned to write about the selected great Nigerians. As a columnist and the then Deputy Chairman of the Editorial Board in the Vanguard newspaper, yours sincerely was one of those writers. And the two personalities assigned to me as an Islamic columnist were the late Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and Shaykh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi (a onetime Grand Qadi of Northern Nigeria).

    The 498 page book which was publicly presented with pump and pageantry at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos can be called Nigeria’s 20th century ‘Hall of Fame’.

     

    Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory

    To know the great contribution of this colossal personality to the positive spread of  Islam and development of Arabic language in the West African sub-region, please read below what I wrote and was published in the mentioned compendium about this vertical icon and his established revolutionary Institution called Markaz. It went thus; “To Muslim communities of West Africa, two names (Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory and Markaz sound synonymous and are often used interchangeably. Until recently, only a few people knew that Markaz is a name of an Institution while Shaykh Adam is the name of its founder. Both names jointly symbolize revolution not only in the method of propagating Islam in West African sub-region but also in entrenching the divine language of the Qur’an in the hearts and brains of those Muslims.

    The late Shaykh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory was both an Islamic scholar of international repute and a revolutionary.

    The famous Centre for Arabic and Islamic Knowledge (Markaz) in Agege, Lagos State, continues to testify to the qualities and legacy of Sheikh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory.

     

    The Citadel called Markaz

    With the establishment of Markaz in 1952, Shaykh Adam introduced an unprecedented modernity and standardization into the learning of Arabic language and Islamic culture in West African sub-region, especially Nigeria.

    No 20th century Muslim scholar, dead or alive, has had such a profound impact on West African Muslim communities, in terms of Arabic scholarship and Islamic propagation as Shaykh Adam.

     

    In quest of further knowledge

    Unsatisfied with the depth of knowledge he acquired from those local clerics whose teaching methodology he resented, Shaykh Adam, decided to proceed abroad for further studies.

    Shaykh Adam’s Academic Sojourn in Cairo. He arrived in Cairo, Egypt, in the early 1940s, where he had an academic sojourn at the prestigious Al-Azhar University which is the oldest University in the world today having been established about 970 C.E by one Jawhar, a ‘Fatimid’ front liner who made education his priority in life.

    In Cairo, Sheikh Adam saw with admiration how well organized madrasahs were and dreamt of establishing one on his return to Nigeria. He studied the Egyptian curricula of education and methodology of teaching both at the elementary and secondary school levels.

     

    Back in Nigeria

    Thus, on returning home in 1947, he worked briefly as a missioner under Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria to enable him settle down financially in preparation for the realization of his long term ambition. In a short while, his burning desire to reform madrasah system in Nigeria spurred him to start planning for the establishment of Markaz.

    Thus, with just meager financial resources but relentless determination, he established his dreamt madarasah called Markaz in Abeokuta, now Ogun State, on April 16, 1952. The Institution which was to become the centre of revolution  in the teaching of Arabic and Islamic education in Nigeria, started with just 19 pupils and four teachers including Shaykh Adam himself. The founder’s foresight, however, would not allow Markaz to remain in Abeokuta for long. He moved the Institution to Agege in 1955.

     

    Uniqueness of Markaz

    The uniqueness of Markaz is not to be seen in the quality of education taught to the students alone. The modern teaching methodology and reformation with which the Institution is characterized confirm that uniqueness. For instance, it was in Markaz that the use of chalk and blackboard for teaching Arabic and Islamic education was first introduced in Southwest Nigeria. Hitherto, the teaching instruments were wooden slates and local ink. It was in Markaz of all madrasahs, that a curriculum was first introduced which classified studies into subjects while pupils were distributed into classrooms according to their levels. It was in Markaz that pupils of Arabic and Islamic education first wore uniforms and sat on chairs rather than on bare floor while writing with pencil or pen in notebooks. It was in Markaz that written examination was first conducted as a means of assessing and promoting pupils from class to class while certificates were issued to successful madrasah graduates as a measure of their level of education. It was in Markaz that such facilities as dormitories, library, printing press and clinic were first provided for students.

     

    Establishment of Secondary school

    Still burning in an ambition to build quality human beings, Shaykh Adam decided to add a secondary stage of education called Thanawiyyah in the Arab world but decided to name it At-Tawjihi meaning ‘Pre-University institute’. That was in 1964. This innovation made it possible for students of Markaz who had completed their elementary education in Arabic and Islamic studies to surge ahead and get prepared for University education. It was an idea that created ambition in most graduates of Markaz to become like Shaykh Adam in future. The idea thus propelled the ambition in most of those Markaz graduates to proceed to the Arab world for further studies. Today, the result is manifest.

     

    Antagonism

    However, for doing all these and for teaching students such subjects as syntax, morphology, logic, semantics, philosophy, geography, History, Mathematics, and Literature, Shaykh Adam was confronted with implacable hostility by the local, traditional Alfas who saw the new revolution as a cultural affront. That hostility became aggravated when Shaykh Adam added a Central Jum’at Mosque different from that of Agege Township to Markaz where he was translating the Friday Arabic sermon into Yoruba language. But the courageous scholar remained undaunted.

     

    First Graduation Ceremony

    With the first graduation ceremony of Markaz in 1957, however, which many people watched with admiration, Sheikh Adam won a landmark victory for his revolution. Following that graduation, some ambitious local Alfas swallowed their pride by shelving their envy and enrolled in Markaz as students to improve their knowledge and undergo tutelage in the modern teaching methodology.

    Some of these Alfas came from various parts of Nigeria as well as neighbouring countries like Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote de Voire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Cameroon as well as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal. After graduation, all of them went back to their home countries to establish similar Institutions in their domains under the supervisory umbrella of Markaz.

     

    Graduates of Markaz

    Today, thousands of graduates of Markaz and those of the affiliate Institutions are University graduates in various fields of discipline. Scores of them are highly placed in their professional callings.

    Today, Markaz can proudly regale in the galaxy of its alumni who are holding sway in virtually all fields of human endeavour. Among these are Professors like Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and now the Registrer of JAMB; Professor Abdur-Razak Deremi Abubakar, a former Vice Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State; The late Professor Shuaib Uthman, a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto; Professor Murtada Aderemi Bidmus, a former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, to mention but just a few. There are many other Markaz alumni with Ph.D. degrees. There are also Medical Doctors; Lawyers; Engineers; Ambassadors;  Journalists (including yours sincerely), Architects; Accountants; Bankers; Pharmacists; Surveyors; Civil Servants; Business men and women as well as Secondary School Principals and teachers; name it. They all exemplify the great Institution’s anthem which is often chanted emotionally with relish by the students and alumni of the citadel.

     

    Shaykh Adam’s Ascetic Lifestyle

    Despite Shaykh Adam’s financial constraints, and his close relationship with the Arab world, he never sought financial aid from any foreign country. Not only did he believe that such a quest was capable of undermining one’s social status and dignity; he also resented begging in whatever form as a means of fulfilling an ambition. Naturally, Shaykh Adam was an ascetic person who shunned avarice in all its ramifications. And due to his ascetic nature, he was highly respected by personalities like the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto; the late General Murtala Muhammed; the late Bashorun MKO Abiola, the late General Abdul Baqi Babatunde Idiagbon and even Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, a two term President of Nigeria’s fourth republic.

     

    League of Imams and Alfas

    In 1963, Shaykh Adam initiated the formation of the League of Imams and Alfas of the South West of Nigeria to which he served as Secretary-General till his demise in 1992. After the establishment of that League, he turned down his nomination as President and preferred to serve as Secretary-General. He was also the initiator and leader of the ten man team that translated the Qur’an from Arabic into Yoruba.

     

    Orator and Islamic Preacher

    Shaykh Adam was a very powerful orator and vociferous Islamic preacher who used his Friday sermon as well as his Ramadan Tafsir (exposition of the Qur’an) to create Islamic consciousness among all Muslims in West Africa. In his sermons and open door preachings, he never spared any government of the day on issues of corruption, human rights abuse, democracy, economic mismanagement and arrogance of power.

    As an author of scores of scholarly books and booklets, Shaykh Adam was internationally acknowledged as a towering Islamic scholar whose contribution to Islamic scholarship and propagation in West Africa remained unequalled in the 20th century. Some of his books were being used in some Universities in the Arab world.

     

    Awards

    Shaykh Adam was the first black African to win the coveted Egyptian intellectual Gold Medal Award in Arabic Literature, which was presented to him by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 1989. He had earlier, in 1975, won the Muritanian International Award for Islamic Scholarship, which was presented to him by the late President Moukhtar Ould Dada of that country.

    Shaykh Adam traveled far and wide in the Arab world, Europe and Asia to attend many academic and Islamic conferences where he often presented scholarly papers. He was a member of many international academic and Islamic bodies in Africa, Middle East and Asia.

    Born in Ilorin to Alfa Abdul Baqi and Madam Aisha, in April 1917, Sheikh Adam who died on May 3, 1992 was married and blessed with many children. One of those children, Shaykh Habibullah Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory, is the current Rector of Markaz.”

     

  • The (ir)rationality of perpetual intra-party conflicts

    At the launching of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) focus labs on Tuesday, March 13, 2017, President Buhari touted his achievements on the economy in the last 10 months. The list of achievements jubilantly showcased by the President included a Real GDP growth of 1.92 percent for the fourth quarter of 2017, stability in the foreign exchange market, and increased foreign reserve from 24 billion to 46 billion in just over a year.

    Other achievements included World Bank’s ranking in the top 10 most improved economies in 2017, investments in infrastructure, significant progress in the agricultural sector with more beneficiaries of the Anchor Borrower’s Program, successful Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, and growth in local production of rice. With reference to the ERGP focus lab, the President expressed confidence that it will impact significantly on GDP and job creation. So, provided that the goal of job creation and poverty alleviation is achieved, we may justifiably share the president’s optimism that there is progress in the economic sector.

    Ordinarily, good news about the economy should provide the wind beneath the wing of any central administration. Add to such an improbable fortune that the President’s party controls the National Assembly and the icing on the cake should be unbelievably delicious.

    Unfortunately for him, however, even if this good news about the economy is believable, President Buhari’s has much more challenges to worry about beside performance in the economic sector. What more has to do with the unusual conflict between the presidency and the legislature. Is this not a case of each branch cutting its nose to spite its face? Or is there any way of making a rational case out of what appears grossly irrational?

    Before going into the rationality or irrationality of the face-off, it makes sense to examine the faces and phases of the conflict which an APC Senator, Abdullahi Adamu, has provocatively summed up when he alleged that APC lawmakers are sabotaging the President. “We hold the Executive prisoner of politics… Appointments requiring Senate approval are held up.”  And as if confirming the bleak depiction of an internal war between friendly army camps, the President just rejected the amendment to the Electoral Act which had altered the sequence proposed by INEC for the 2019 elections.

    Complicating the already bewildering situation, the conflict is not just between the Presidency and the National Assembly (NASS). On its part, NASS is also divided, not along party lines, but into pro- and anti- Presidency factions which cut across the ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the House and Senate.

    While pro-Buhari lawmakers see a NASS that is unjustifiably antagonistic to the President as Senator Adamu puts it, the anti-Buhari camp accuse the Presidency of disrespect for the independence of NASS as a co-equal branch of government. For this group, the singular evidence of this disrespect is the administration’s dogged pursuit of the legal case against the Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).  What other analysts might see as an objective and fair pursuit of justice against violators of the statutes, anti-Buhari NASS members see as a deliberate ploy to embarrass the Senate President and his members.

    As it appears, the two sides are not budging, and the die is cast. With neither side blinking, and with general elections looming, is there a rational explanation of this impasse?

    But before going into the rationality of the conflict, however, there is more inconvenient truth to confront. After all, it is not just at the center that intra-party conflicts have ensued. At the state and local levels, the party is also experiencing unimaginable crises. Some governors are at daggers drawn with Ministers representing their states in the federal cabinet while some state party executives are up in arms against their governors. And, for good measure, in some local governments, the party is experiencing chronic crises between party leaders and members.

    The existence of a rational explanation for the chronic conflicts is pretty much dependent on the interests and objectives of the agents involved in the impasse. Let us make some assumptions. First, we may reasonably assume that APC, as a party, has an interest in competing strongly and winning the 2019 general elections. Second, while he has not yet declared his intention to compete, we may also assume, going by his body language, that President Buhari is interested in contesting the elections for a second term. Third, it may also be assumed that many Senators and House members would want to complete for their current positions or higher ones.

    However, taken together, the truth of all the premises assumed in the preceding paragraph cannot by itself lead us to infer irrationality on the part of the contenders in the present impasse between the Presidency and the legislative branch or between Governors and Ministers, etc. To reach that conclusion, we must add a fourth assumption that the President, law-maker or Governor, who is presently a member of APC Is also committed to using the APC platform to contest the next general elections. If this assumption holds true, then, there is clearly a good reason to doubt the rationality of the agents whether in the Presidency, National Assembly, State legislature or Governor’s office.

    If all its current members still commit to APC as the political party to realize their political ambition in the next general election, weakening the party through an irresolvable conflict, less than twelve months to the election is the height of irrationality. For what they are doing is providing fuel for the fire of what is already turning out to be virulent opposition attacks. A house that is divided against itself will fall without redemption. Therefore, as rational beings, one expects that the parties to the conflict will commit to its resolution.

    Incidentally, the President himself has seen the landmines laid by the conflicts and he has shown some interest in having an effective resolution. For all we know, he may be thinking of his own political future, which is reasonable. But he may also be more altruistic and thinking about the future of the party, which he and others fought hard to establish for the advancement of Nigerian democracy.

    The president’s appointment of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is seen by many stakeholders as a rational one in view of the high stakes. And with the assumption that every party to the conflict still commits to APC as the vehicle for their political ambition, it is logical to assume that they will come to the reconciliation table, not just with their grievances, but also with their forgiving spirits and determination to let bygone be bygone.

    Unfortunately, however, the above assumption is the auspicious one. That all agents in the intra-APC conflict are committed to using the platform of the party for the general election may not be true after all. And that may explain the rationality of any agent’s apparent mindset of escalating the crisis and giving no room for resolution.

    Both Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) have claimed that some Senators and House members have expressed interest in decamping APC and joining the new movements. If this turns out to be true, it is in the rational interest of those members to weaken APC ahead of their ultimate purpose of running under the banner of another party. It is not a new playbook. It happened before, and it may just be payback time. In an environment where politicians have no ideological commitments and where membership of political parties is not based on ideologies, self-interest trumps political loyalties.

    Those politicians who joined forces in 2014 and defeated the ruling party in 2015 came from different backgrounds and different world views about politics and governance. Their unifying interest was winning. Apparently, what united them was too ephemeral to sustain a long-lasting relationship. Some political birds may have since grown new feathers and have self-interestedly decided to fly with new identities. In the circumstance, we can only hope, for the sake of democratic stability, that reconciliation succeeds.

     

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    @SegunGbadeg2002

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  • Nigerians in their Legislators’ prison

     ”….And fear a calamity that may afflict not only those who incur it but also the innocent ones (who had no hands in its incurment) and know that Allah’s punishment can be very severe” Quran 8:25.

    Preamble

    Nigerians have become grossly imprisoned by those who claimed to be their leaders in the name of legislators’. And the imprisonment seems to be perpetual haven ranged from generation to generation since 1999. It is as if the British colonialism in Nigeria from 1861 to 1960 has been replaced by indigenous colonialism mounted by our legislators’. Thus, the so called democratic governance has become a fetter that may take centuries to remove except the grace of Allah comes to the rescue of innocent Nigerians.

    In Nigeria’s first republic (1960 to 1966) the practiced democracy was British and the system was parliamentary. By the system of that time the Prime Minister had to apply for loan to purchase a car which he would use for public service through his office. And the loan was meant to be paid. The same was the case at the regional level where the premier had to apply for car loan to enable him carry out the duty of his office. Ditto the parliamentarians and the Ministers at both the federal and the regional levels. Today the situation is manifestly different.

     

    Genesis of Presidential System in Nigeria

    Ever since General Olusegun Obasanjo, as military head of state, imposed presidential system of government with military fiat on Nigeria by blindly adopting American constitution in 1979 this country has not been the same again. That despotic imposition has since become a noose with which to hang Nigeria politically. Today the cost of governance is such that twenty five percent of annual national budget is allotted to the Legislative arm of government which consists of 109 senators and 360 members of The House of Representatives.

    In other words two trillion out of the eight trillion being budgeted for 180 million Nigerians in 2018 will be spent by 469 Legislators’ just for legislating for the country. Yet we are not sure of when that budget will be ready and whether it will not be padded as happened in 2017.

    The term of office of these legislators’ is four years in the first instance but it can be renewed as many times as possible if the electorates wish to keep them in those two houses despite their redundancy.

    The irony of this, however, is that those Legislators’ who sought peoples vote to enable them serve the nation have turned round to position themselves as masters  for those who voted them as Legislators’ while the electorates have become their  slaves. Or how else can one classify a situation where the employees are the ones who determine their salaries and allowances without the input of their employers?

     

     National Minimum Wage

    Today while the minimum wage of public workers in Nigeria remains eighteen thousand naira monthly, the minimum salary of an average senator is seven hundred and fifty thousand naira per month and that of a member of The House of Representatives is six hundred thousand naira per month.

    The disparity in those monthly salaries is not what matters here.

    The real issue is the so called allowances and other benefits to the utter detriment of Nigerians who are wallowing in abject poverty.

    According to a shocking revelation by one of  the Senators (Sheu Sanni of Kaduna central senatorial district) last week, every senator takes home the sum of 13.5 million naira monthly as maintenance allowance. And that is apart from the sum of two hundred million naira paid to each senator as project allowance annually.

    If there is any difference between the Nigerian Senators take home and that of the Legislators’ in their house of representatives it is very insignificant.

    With this one can see clearly the reason while both chambers look almost empty while deliberations are going on at their plenary except when it is time to share national booty.

    This trend has been on for nineteen years since 1999 till date and the recent revelation by Senator Sheu Sanni has since been kept secret from Nigerians who pay those obnoxious salaries and allowances while they go about in hunger. We can now see why politics is so hot in Nigeria and politicians would do anything to eliminate one another in other to occupy positions.

     

    Governance in Islam

    Governance in Islam is like pregnancy in the womb of a woman. Its duration is naturally defined barring any anomaly or aberration. Its delivery depends on the safety of its carrier and the circumstances of her well being. And the product there from is claimed, not by the carrier but by the impregnator.

    There is no pregnancy without semen actively planted in the womb of a woman. And the planter of that semen is the man who in this case, is called the impregnator. For this reason, children bear the names of their fathers rather than those of their mothers as surnames.

    By analogy, one can compare governance to a pregnant woman who could not have become pregnant without an impregnator. The impregnator here is the populace that gave those in government the mandate to rule over them. And just as the product of the womb (the child) belongs to the impregnator as a matter of legitimacy so should dividend of governance be the property of the populace. In a patriarchal setting, any child who bears his mother’s name as surname rather than that of his father is nothing but a bastard. That is always the case where dividend of governance is cornered by those who are privileged to be in government.

    After security, law and justice, all of which reflect strong faith in Allah, nothing else is held more sacrosanct in Islam than governance.

     

     Similitude of governance

    Governance can be compared to a magnificent umbrella under which the people are supposed to take cover during torrential rains or burning sun. In a democratic environment, such umbrella is owned by the citizenry. Its bearer is just a servant holding it in trust for the people. Perhaps that is why the late President Yar’Adua called himself a servant leader on assumption of office in May 2007.

    In Islam, rulers are statutorily, servants of God and messengers of the people. They are employees who must always report back to their employers. Where rulers behave contrary to this norm, a fundamental deviation must have occurred which is tantamount to rebellion against the people. In such instance, those rulers no longer have legitimate authority to rule over the people.

    In an open letter I wrote to the late President Yar’Adua in this column in June 2007 and of which I reminded him a year later, I cited example of two of his namesake (Umar) in history during the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Makkah. One of them, Umar bn Khattab, eventually became the Caliph. Another Umar upon whom there was a very high hope eventually became an infidel. But there was a third one not mentioned in that letter. His name was Umar bn Abdul Aziz, a famous Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. He became Caliph about 85 years after the demise of the Prophet.

     

    Umar: The model

    This third Umar became a reference point in history because of the unique way in which he managed the economy of the Caliphate. In a particular year during his reign, the state made so much money that the problem was how to spend it.

    The tradition, according to Islamic injunction, was for the state to dispense zakat to the poor among the citizenry from the much money made through the collection of zakat. But when this was to be done, it turned out that nobody in the entire state was so poor as to be a zakat recipient. The huge amount earmarked for zakat that year had to be returned to the state treasury. It is taken for granted here that a state without poor people is surely a state without beggars.

    A similar situation arose, some decades ago, in Saudi Arabia where the government could not find any couple among the citizenry to receive some scores of cars donated as zakat. It became known that there was no single Saudi couple in the country without a car. The cars had to be distributed to non-indigene couples resident in that country including a Nigerian. It should be remembered that both Saudi Arabia and Nigeria belong to the same Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). That those cars had to be given out to non-indigenes was an indication of good governance in that country and honesty on the part of the citizenry. If such a situation had arisen in Nigeria what could have happened is left to the imagination of readers.

    Umar bn Abdul Aziz, who became so much famous in history as an ingenuous economic manager, ruled for only three years from 717 to 720 C.E. Yet, he died at the age of 37.

     

    Secret of Economic Management

    The secret of Umar’s economic success in governance was his ability to identify two major areas of economic management. One was to regulate the cost of governance by harmonizing the salaries and allowances of political appointees with those of government employees. This was to ensure that those employees were not enslaved, if psychologically, to the privileged political appointees or those elected to legislate for the state. And there was an independent body responsible for the determination of public workers’ remunerations. Neither the legislators nor the appointed officials were allowed to fix their own salaries or allowances by themselves.

    According to Caliph Umar bn Abdul Aziz, “fixing your own salary as appointed or elected government officials is nothing but notoriety in theft”. He held that both the government and the resources of the state belonged to the people and nothing was to be done to the lives of the people through policies without their consent.

    That can be compared to the situation in Nigeria where the legislators fix their own salaries and allowances and are now proposing to earn such salaries and allowances forever even after leaving office. One can now see why the cost of governance has become a noose on the neck of the populace. How can the country progress in such a circumstance?

     

     Another secret of economic success

    Caliph Umar’s second secret of economic success was his official recognition of the middle class as the greatest employer of labour. He knew that if two million professionals or artisans in the state could employ three staff each, the burden of gross unemployment would be off the neck of the government because eight million people would have been effectively employed. And that would not only have ordinarily brought the rate of crime in the state to its lowest ebb it would have also enhanced the state economy tremendously.

    What he did, in emulation of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), therefore, was to use the resources of the state to encourage self-employment through professionalism and artisanship. He knew very well that whatever was spent on such a vital venture would return to the state treasury in many folds through taxation.

    This economic genius has since become the heritage of the Western countries and they are thriving gloriously in it today in the name of privatization. Any government that eliminates the middle class as in the case of Nigeria automatically opens the gate of poverty and crime to the populace.

     

    Lesson to learn

    The current Nigerian leaders have a lot to learn from this. They need to study how other countries achieved success in that sphere. Japan is one good case study to behold. That country is an exclusive island without mineral resources. Her natural farm land is very limited. If there is anything she has in abundance, it is water. Yet, she shares it with some other countries in accordance with the international law of water boundaries.

    To manage her national economy, what Japan depends heavily upon was human brain. She knew that without human resources there could be neither sufficient economic resources nor effective economic management. Hence, Japan concentrates seriously on human training and human development. And, today, the result is manifest.

     

    Beyond oil wealth

    Today, Saudi Arabia has taken her wealth beyond oil and other mineral resources. The two gigantic industrial cities of Yambu’ and Jubail alone which she established in the 1980s are enough to see her through the future in the absence of oil. And what is more, that country does not depend on oil for survival anymore despite her position as number one oil exporter in the world.

    Besides, there is no aspect of human development in vogue eluding Saudi Arabian investment and attention, including agriculture, tourism, shipping and aviation. And most of these are public owned. No dubious deregulation, no ‘blind trust’ privatization. And the government is stable. Yet Nigeria has an OPEC country is still wrestling with herself over the completion of Ajaokuta Iron And Steel Industry established about 40 years ago which has been swallowed by the  Snake of corruption. When will this dead nation come back to life?

     

    Management without theory

    Today, the greatest bane of Nigerian economy is not just the elimination of the middle class but also the extremely high cost of running the government. And, unless these two are properly addressed, this country may continue to wander aimlessly, in economic wilderness, just like the Egyptian gypsies of yore.

    Except for self-deception, it was not realistic for the previous regimes to name year 2020 as a date of economic Eldorado when all positive indices that could propel such a dream into reality were non-existent. There is even no assurance that Nigeria’s electricity would have become stable by that year let alone the other major factors of a viable economy.

     

    Conclusion

    Nigeria does not have the type of economy that is capable of sustaining a presidential system of governance. To any developing country, such a system is an unnecessary luxury. It engenders corruption and also encourages it at the highest echelon of governance. And spending time to beam searchlight on culprits is like searching for a missing needle in the Atlantic Ocean. Let the system of governance be changed and the orientation of Nigerians will automatically change. That is a major task on which our history may be based in future.

     

  • The parable of death

    The parable of death

    The corpse of another prominent Nigerian was expected to be brought back to the country this week for official burial. The deceased was once the Deputy Governor of Plateau State who later became the Governor of Nassarawa State between 2007 and 2011. His name was Alhaji Aliyu Akwe-Doma. He was flown to Tel-Aviv, the capital of Israel last week for treatment against an undisclosed sickness.

    For Nigerian politicians, this is another opportunity to stage another political jamboree even as the transfer of the corpse would have gulped millions of Naira at a time when millions of Citizens in Nassarawa State are on permanent hunger.

    Ordinarily, if it were possible for the dead to talk or act, this man would have objected to the transfer of his corpse. After all, what could have happened if, as a Muslim, he had died while performing Hajj. Would his corpse have been flown back home? This is a difficult question to answer by his Muslim political colleagues.

     

     Death in history

    Historians never agreed on when and where the first human couple, Adam and Hawau (Eve), died. Some claimed that they died and were buried in India. Others believed that they lived and died in the Gulf area of the Middle East. According to the latter’s account, which Muslims tend to believe, Adam and Hawau met at a place near Makkah called Arafah which later became the global assembly center of Muslim Pilgrims. The account suggested that after their expulsion from Paradise they lived partly in the valley of Makkah and partly in Jeddah (75 kilometers away from Makkah).

    The duo of Adam and Hawau were said to have left Paradise separately following their expulsion only to meet later at a place called Arafah (which means recognition) after a long period of wandering. Their sojourn in that region of the world   shows that the Middle East was the first place of human settlement on earth. The existence of an ancient rectangular house called Ka‘bah is a testimony to that assertion. Hawau was believed to have died and interned in the former capital of Saudi Arabia, which is why the place was named Jeddah an Arabic word meaning Grandmother.

     

     The first human death

    Neither Adam nor his wife (Hawau) knew anything called death until one of their first two sons killed the other.  The two sons: Habil and Qabil (Abel and Cain) had clashed over the choice of a wife. The tussle led to the killing of Habil by Qabil. But the focus here is neither on the cause of their clash nor the killing of one by the other. Rather, it is on the lesson which Allah wanted to teach humanity through that episode.

     

     Historic lesson

    Shortly after killing his brother, Qabil fell into a dilemma over what to do with the corpse. He was not worried as much by his conscience over his crime as to what would become of the corpse. But while thinking on what to do, two birds of the Roller family appeared before him and started fighting each other. In no time, one killed the other.  The strange scene attracted the attention of Qabil like a tragic drama. He watched the incident with full attention as the killer bird used its legs to dig a grave-like hole, pushed the corpse of its vanquished brother into it and covered it up. From that wonderful scene, Qabil got the idea of what to do with the corpse of his brother. And he buried him. Thus, the lesson was learnt that this human being created from the earth would eventually return to the earth.

     

     The Birds’ mission

    What Qabil did not know at that time, however, was that the two birds, which became his teachers, were Angels. And the lesson learnt from their experience was not just about death and burial but also about when and where to bury a human corpse. If Allah had wanted ceremony and ostentation to be lavished on burial, the killer bird would have demonstrated same in the drama. Qabil did not move the corpse of Habil to any other place for burial because his bird teacher did not do that. Like the killer bird, he also buried his brother at the very spot where his brother breathed his last.

     

    When Death Strikes

    In Islam, death is supposed to be the determinant of where the corpse of a dead person should be buried. Death takes life at a particular time and place according to its own natural schedule of duty. It gives no hint of the exact time and place to strike. And, after striking, it does not anticipate the transfer of a corpse across any major distance. That is why the body of any demised person starts to decompose just hours after it becomes lifeless. To confirm this, the Quran chapter 31: 24 says: “No soul knows what it will do tomorrow. No soul knows where it will die and be buried”.

     

    Death of First Muslim Emigrants

    The first group of the Makkah people who embraced Islam at its inception suffered so much severe persecution in the hands of pagans that they had to migrate to Abyssinia (Now Ethiopia) for safety. While there, a number of them died and their wives and children became widows and orphans respectively. All those who died in Abyssinia were buried in that country. Another group of the earliest Muslims migrated to Taif. A number of them also died there leaving widows, widowers and orphans behind. Their bodies were not transferred back to Makkah for burial.

     

    Argument based on Ignorance

    There is tendency for some unbelievers to argue that the above cited Muslim emigrants were fugitives who had no courage to bring back the corpses of their relatives for burial. But what of those who died in the battle of Badr which Makkah pagans came all the way from Makkah to fight against the Muslims from a distance of hundreds of kilometers away? The corpses of the Muslims who died in that imposed war were buried right there at the battle ground despite the nearness of Badr to Madinah and the Muslims’ victory in that battle?

     

    The Prophet’s Example

    It should be remembered that one of the most painful deaths to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was that of his uncle, Hamzah, the great warrior who fell to the spear of a Makkan pagan in the battle of Uhud and was buried right there at the foot of mountain Uhud in Madinah where the battle took place. In fact, no one who died in another town or country among the Muslims was ever brought back to his original home for burial. Not even the corpse of the Prophet or that of any of his disciples who died in Madinah was returned to Makkah for burial. The reason for this is to avoid the transfer of bitterness and mental agony arising from the death of a person from one place to another.

     

    Implications

    One of the implications of the above scenarios is to avoid the unnecessary strain and expenses which such transfer can unleash on some people. That was why some great companions of the Prophet like Abubakr, Umar Bn Khattab, Uthman Bn Affan had to be buried in Madina where they died rather than Makkah where they were born. Also, Alli Bn Abi Talib and Mu’awiyah bn Abi Sufyan were buried in Iraq and Syria respectively where they served and died as Caliphs.  Even Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet and 72 others who were massacred by the forces of Yazid Bn Mu’awiyah at Karbalau in Iraq had to be buried where they were massacred despite the nobility of their pedigree.

     

    Islam’s Position on Death

    In Islam, death, like birth has no propensity for any display of aristocracy. And, ascribing one to it is a sign of ignorance and primitivism. Islam abhors extravagancy in whatever form and it admonishes against it. That is why the great religion does not take kindly to commercial exhibition of coffins and ostentatious funerals. These are actually prohibited in Islam. Covings can be used to convey corpses from the place of death or mortuary to the cemetery but such covings must not be ornamentally decorated. Neither must the Muslim corpses be extravagantly shrouded for burial.

    The idea of keeping the corpse in a morgue for a long time after death, to allow for ostentatious funeral and extravagant spending in a society where poverty is manifest, is a sheer act of prodigality based on ignorance. Neither the expensive shroud nor the ornamented coving with which the corpse is buried has any benefit to the soul of the deceased. It is sheer wastage, which has no use even for the relatives of the deceased. That idea, which is rampant, especially in some parts of Nigeria today, is hardly different from cremation done by the Buddhists, the Hindus and others with fanfare in the Far East.  Both are a product of ignorance and vain-glory.

     

    Blind Imitation

    As usual, Nigerians do not copy anything negative without surpassing the original. Fraud and narcotics as well as terrorism are some examples. The fashion now in vogue in Nigeria is for any public official or private moneybag to travel abroad for medical treatment at the slightest feeling of an ailment. It is as if Nigerian money is outlawed from providing the best hospital here in Nigeria. The concept is to separate the rich from the poor since an exclusive hospital for the rich will sound illogical in a country peopled overwhelmingly with paupers. Even when some of those sick travelers will be treated abroad by their fellow Nigerians, they do not see anything wrong in spending their ill-gotten money abroad to the detriment of their home country. They seem to enjoy being flown back home lifeless if only to display aristocracy in death. Thus, your death is not considered newsworthy unless your corpse is flown into the country via Muritala Muhammad airport, Lagos or Nnamdi Azikiwe airport, Abuja for public display. Yet no lesson is learnt that even Murtala Muhammad and Nnamdi Azikwe died and were buried here in Nigeria. Can anybody cite a clear difference between death in Europe or America and the one in Nigeria? Why must our money be audaciously stolen alive in Nigeria and notoriously spent in death abroad?

     

    Extravagancy

    With the huge amount of money spent by Nigerian sick travelers on treatments abroad and on flying their corpses back home, one can understand why Nigerians are so wretched that their lives are not worth more than a dollar per head per day despite the billions of dollars accruing to the country from our oil wells. It is necessary to thank God however, that though ‘Tokunbo’ products dumped in Nigeria daily are uncountable, the   human corpses amongst them are those of the aristocrats and not of the innocent indigent class.

     

    Leveler of Mankind     

    Death is a leveler of mankind. It does not distinguish between the rich and the poor.

    We shall all die willy-nilly and we shall all be buried in the belly of the same mother earth where the bones of masters and servants or those of sworn enemies may struggle together for space. Mother earth can be described as man’s inseparable companion. She accompanies man day and night, in life and in death. She surpasses biological mothers in playing her role in the life of man. From a chip of her natural being, man is said to have been created. Allah tells us in Qur’an that “From her (the earth) ‘We’ created you and into her belly ‘We’ shall return you”.

    In playing the role of a mother, the earth carries man on her back while the latter remains alive. And in death, she incubates him in her belly in readiness for the resurrection that will see him through the inevitable Day of Judgment. In that process, there is a similarity between the duties of a primary mother (the earth) and that of a secondary mother otherwise known as biological mother especially in respect of conception and delivery.

    While the biological mother cares for man only when she and man are alive, the mother earth cares for him both in life and in death. Unlike that of the biological mother, the life span of the mother earth is indefinite.

     

    Age of the Earth

    Some scientists have given us different ages of the earth using all sorts of technological instruments. But the only authentic statement on that can come from unlimited measure. She weighs the load on her head as well as the one in her belly and balances them up for natural equanimity.

    Without the earth, mountains and oceans would have no habitat to call their own and the long term fossils which turn into what we call minerals would have had nowhere to hibernate. Before all these and millions of other unidentified matters came into existence, the earth had been. And when all of them might have vanished into permanent oblivion, according to their scheduled time, the earth will continue to be until natural termination time comes.

    We know that man was created from the earth. We know that the earth accommodates all living and non-living things on and in her. What we do not know is the source of the earth in creation. From what was the earth created? In luring us to reasoning, Allah has severally called the attention of man to the nature of certain creatures like the mountains, the valleys, the oceans and the seas, the minerals and the human and animal fossils buried in the earth as well as the varieties of plants and insects which dot the earth like a galaxy of stars on the Milky Way. He has also challenged man to observe the very nature of the wonderful carpet called the earth.

    The Almighty Allah who created the earth. If scientists have the means of telling us the age of the earth, do they also have the means of determining her life span? The earth is not just a carrier of unlimited weight; she is also a scale of

     

    No Difference

    The earth in America or China or Australia is not different from that of Nigeria or Saudi Arabia or Italy. And no earth is superior to another except with Allah’s conferment of sacredness.

    Were the aristocrats privileged to calve out a separate portion of the earth for themselves, they would have restricted the masses to a disadvantaged area of the earth. But the thinking of man is different from the planning of Allah. Celebration of funerals so flamboyantly as often exhibited in Nigeria is nothing more than celebration of vanity which fetches the celebrator no profit. In Islam, it is ordained to care for the dead in spirit and in action. But such should not be at the expense of the underprivileged living. May Allah repose the soul of the deceased former Governor in eternal Bliss.