The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • The mirror of life

     “Do you not see how Allah has set forth a parable of a meaningful ‘WORD’   like a fruitful tree which roots are firmly planted in the earth while its branches sprout magnificently into the firmament of the sky, yielding delicious fruits every season by Allah’s grace? Allah gives parables to men (of reason) that they may ponder and be mindful…” (Q. 14: 24).             

    Preamble

    It is rather ironic that even in this age of internet, many Africans (including ignorant Muslims) still perceive Islam as a mere dogma in which riddles, rituals and superstitions thrive. This is quite far from the reality. But it takes only people with functional eyes to perceive the light. Ignorance is a disease which knowledge alone can heal.

    Since the creation of Adam, man has continuously enjoyed the guidance of Allah in one form or another. Prophets have been sent to various societies. Books have been revealed through those Prophets. Parables have been used with references drawn from the past. And warnings as well as admonitions have been divinely issued in those Books. Practical lessons such as the great deluge, the cataclysm of Sodom and Gomorrah, the defeat of Jalut (Goliath) by Daud (David), the doom of the tyrannical Pharaoh, and most recently, the waterloo of Adolf Hitler of Germany have come to man as lessons through which he can re-assess himself.

    All these and many other occurrences have been used as allusion by Allah to remind man of human mortality and to see him through a successful life’s odyssey. But unfortunately, man has always been blind to genuine divine guidance. He has been deaf to warnings and resistant to reasoning as much as he is insensitive to thoughts and inflexible to ideas. In his choice to form freemasonry with Satan (the custodian of ruins and deception), man has ignorantly strayed into a quagmire of sorrow through the millennia. Taking Satan for his best friend, man refuses to use the long spoon with which he is provided by Allah to dine with the damned Lucifer. This was the situation until 610 CE when  Allah decided to chronicle the activities of man from the very beginning of human existence and make it an eternally concrete ‘MIRROR’ through which the descendants of Adam can continue to see life in its past, its present and its near and far future. This ‘MIRROR’ is the Qur’an, the anecdote that heals man’s blindness, the manure that fertilizes the brain and the greatest treasure in possession of mankind.

     

    Features of the Qur’an

    For the rightly guided minds, Qur’an is the eyes with which to see, the ears with which to hear and the sense with which to reason. It is the bridge across the valleys of life, the insurance against damnation, the passport for salvation and the only reliable redeemer of man.

    Qur’an leaves no aspect of life untouched. It leaves no privacy unprotected and no secret unexposed. Problems and solutions; history and lessons; crimes and penalties; justice and righteousness; discipline and courage; friendship and trust; governance and methodology; marriage and divorce; widowhood and orphanage; childhood and inheritance; poverty and wealth; politics and economy; opinion and reason; facts and figures; life and death; darkness and light; war and peace; leadership and power; angels and man; heavens and earth; all these and many other matters form subjects of discussion and guidance in the ‘Divine Diary of Life called ‘Al- Qur’an’.

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

     

    Proof of the Qur’anic revelations

    Charlatans who perceive Islam as a dogma continue to ask for the proof of the genuineness of Qur’anic revelation as if other revelations before the Qur’an do not require proof. In reason and logic, asking for the proof of the Qur’an is like asking the sun to prove its rays. Can anybody reasonably ask for the proof of the hair growing on his head? It is the nature and character of unbelievers to deny the truth and refute the manifest. But does it ever bother the sun in any way that a blind man denies its rays? Or can a brook be affected if a herd boycotts its water?

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

    Right from its very first day of revelation, the Qur’an has come with undeniable proof. But it takes only a divinely cleansed heart to acknowledge such proof. Qur’an itself is the proof of all other celestial messages that preceded it. It is the final divine revelation which has no human interference or human tampering. Neither Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that ‘MESSAGE’ to mankind nor any of his associates and disciples had a say in it. This Book of the greatest divine message contains no chapters or verses according to anybody besides ALLAH.

     

    Doubting ‘Thomases’

    During the revelation of this Book, Allah had foreseen the reaction of doubting ‘Thomases’ across generations of races whose hymns of denial would come from the abyss of falsehood even as they would cling pathologically to the chord of ignorance. To such ‘Thomases’, the Qur’an owes neither explanation nor apology.

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

     

     Islam’s contribution to civilisation

    That the Qur’an is the only revealed ‘BOOK’ in the world today which retains the originality of its language and contents for over 1445 years is enough a testimony to the proof of its divine origin. That also confirms Arabic as one of the oldest languages in the world today.

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

    Before adopting the Arabic numerals, Europe had relied upon the clumsy system of Roman numerals which called for enormous expenditure of time and labour. For instance, while the Arabic numerals makes it easy for the world to write such date as 1948 in only four figures within a second, it requires eleven figures to write the same number in Roman numerals thus: MDCCCXLVIII. Even if Islam has contributed nothing more than the decimal system to the modern civilization it has done much more than any other religion. And what is more, the idea of what is called UNIVERSITY today originated from that divine religion. The very first University in the world (University of Cordoba) was established by the Muslims in Spain in the late 9th century based on their Qur’anic guidance. And the three oldest existing Universities in the world today were established by Muslims in the 10th century. They are Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fes, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Yet, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that wonderful ‘MESSAGE’ to humanity was unlettered. However, despite his unlettered status he remains the greatest human being that ever lived throughout the history of man.

     

    Attestation

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

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

     

     The prophet’s biography

    Perhaps from the creation of Adam, the first human being till today, no man’s biography has been as much written and read as that of Muhammad (SAW) the Prophet of Islam. This man’s biography has been globally written from all perspectives by various men and women of diverse backgrounds in the past 1445 years or thereabout. And the biography is still being written and re-written authoritatively and un-authoritatively today in uncountable languages.

     

    The message and the Messenger

    Through the writing of his biography, some people have zoomed into undreamed fame. Others have sunk into permanent oblivion. No other Prophet’s biography has attracted as many writers from believers and non-believers, from friends and foes alike as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Every aspect of his life including the dresses he wore, the food he ate, the way he spoke and the wives he married has come to form chapters in his biography. In short, next to the Qur’an, no book is as much read daily in the world today as the biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one form or another.

    Why is the concentration so much on this unlettered Prophet from Arabia? The answer to this Question is not far-fetched. The world has never produced another personality like him and it will not. He is the seal of all Prophets and the epitome of human exemplariness. In him alone are found all traces of what a decent man should be. From him alone can the obedience to genuine law be learned from all conceivable angles.

     

    Evidence of greatness

    If Prophet Muhammad had not been an orphan, he would not have been able to guide mankind on how orphans should be treated especially with regards to inheritance.  If he had not been a husband, his marital life would not have been an example for sensible people to emulate and women’s rights would have been permanently over-sighted. If he had not been trustworthy, the value of trust would have been lost totally on humanity. If he had not been a father, the care for children by parents would have been totally relegated to the background.

    If this great man had not been an emigrant, the culture of hospitality universally imbibed today would not have been championed by Islam. If he had not been a warrior, the law of war, armistice and peaceful resolution would not have come into existence. If he had not been a conqueror, the word magnanimity would not have found a place in the dictionary of man. If he had not been a negotiator, perhaps there would never have been anything called diplomacy. If he had not been an arbiter, the virtue of justice would have probably been thrown to the winds and survival in all societies would have been for the fittest alone.

    If Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had not been a ruler, the relationship between the ruled and the rulers all over the world today would not have been different from that of slaves and their masters. If he had not been a democrat, dictatorship in governance would have known no bounds. If he had not been poor, the policy of social welfare adopted in civilized societies in the world today in favour of the poor would not have been possible. And, if, despite all these great qualities in him, he had not been humble and affable, arrogance would have dominated the characters of all privileged people.

     

    Challenge

    Who else can be compared to this man in history? In which other single person have all these qualities ever been combined in history? There can be little wonder then why the concentration is so much on the person of this extraordinary man especially by ordinary foes. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) alive and in death is like a living elephant surrounded by blind men. If every one of those blind men is to give a description of the elephant he would only be able to do so from the perspective of the part he is able to touch on the mammoth animal and not the whole of it. That is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the like of whom the world had never seen before his arrival and can never see again after his departure.

     

    History’s greatest man

    After centuries of complimentary and uncomplimentary remarks about his person, the Prophet of Islam was finally named the greatest man that ever lived. This was done, not by his followers or admirers but by his critics among the non-Muslims (see ‘The100: A Ranking of the most Influential Persons in History’ by Michael H. Hart). One of the ways of recognising true greatness in a person is the array of criticism hauled at him from time to time by those who are envious of him but can never attain his height in glory and fame. Thus, defamation of character and denigration of personality as perennially being done to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in some parts of the West are not peculiar to this non-such Prophet of Islam. After all, Prophet Isa (Jesus) before him was subjected to similar denigration and humiliation even as he was rejected in his own country by his own people. And what became of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton who paved the way for Europe’s technological advancement at their different times through their deep knowledge of Physics? Were they not called liars, maligned and disgraced? Yet, those whose ancestors committed the heinous atrocities continue to enjoy the benefit of the historic inventions of those great men today. Truth is like a lily by the mossy stone. It can be trampled upon by anybody but it can never, never die. Perhaps, no definition of Truth is more appropriate especially in contemporary time than the one given by a great Scholar Uthman Danfodio who said: “conscience is an open wound which only the truth can heal”.

                              

  • Tola Adeniyi’s exhibition of ignorance

    Preamble

    Prophet Muhammad’s divinely guided expressions called Hadith will never cease to be axiomatic. In one of such expressions, he said: “There are three signs by which a hypocrite can be identified: when he talks he lies, when he promises he reneges and when he is trusted he betrays”. Thus, through the conduct of a hypocrite the definition of hypocrisy becomes clear. Ever since Prophet Muhammad (SAW) succinctly gave that impeccable definition of hypocrisy about one and a half millennia ago, no one else has given a better definition or anything similar. And what is true of this Hadith is equally true of all other genuine Hadith from this greatest man that ever lived. That is what makes Hadith an incomparable axiom which confirms the genuineness and impeccability of Prophet Muhammad’s Message to mankind.

     

    Tola Adeniyi’s article

    When many Nigerian Muslim brothers and sisters called by telephone or sent text messages with lamentations from different parts of the country to draw the attention of this columnist to a particular article published in The Tribune newspaper of Tuesday, October 17, 2017, I thought it was a serious matter of concern. But after reading the article entitled ‘Islam and Religious Imperialism’ which appeared on page 15 of that newspaper and was written by a septuagenarian  columnist called Tola Adeniyi, I knew that most of those who called or sent text messages to me did not know the author of that article.  If they knew, they would not have been that worried. Ordinarily, as a journalist and a columnist, I do not read Tola Adeniyi’s writings any more. Though he is a professional colleague  his column is not what I can allow to consume the least of my leisure time. There are columnists that I do not miss on a weekly basis and there are columnists that I do not waste my valuable time to read. He belongs to the latter group.

    For decades, this man had been a newspaper columnist under a pen name (Aba Saheed) in ‘The Tribune’ newspaper.

     

    His column

    Like any other columnist, he has his own readers no doubt but I do not belong to that pedestre of readership. As a matter of fact, if he had not ignorantly attacked the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) with a sinister motive, I would not have wasted my time on reacting to such a pedestrian article.  But as the chief spokesman for that Apex Muslim body in Nigeria, I consider it my duty to put the records straight and save some innocent newspaper readers from being misinformed about Islam in Nigeria by someone who is claiming to be a Muslim.

    At least, any good  Muslim who thoroughly understands Islam will know that claiming to be a Muslim because of birth or name may cast doubt on the  genuiness of one’s Islam. Such a public announcement is a way of way of seeking relevance where there is a possible benefit. That is what some parasites in the profession called Journalism use their pens to achieve.

     

    Strange posture

    If anything is strange in Tola Adeniyi’s article under review, it is the Age at which he wrote it. Those who have read the article may take time to go through it once again and they will discover that it contains no substance worthy of any serious attention. That was the practice in the 1970s, 80s and even 90s which the likes of Tola Adeniyi are yet to realize that has become anachronistic in the Noble profession.

     

    Observation

    By writing that such an article at this time around, what Tola Adeniyi did is not just to exhibit his blatant ignorance about Islam and the NSCIA but also to play a Dragon on a valueless brook under which his drummers are facelessly active. And when a Septuagenarian combines ignorance with confusion he automatically sinks into an abyss of hypocrisy where hiding behind one finger becomes a trick of escape. Thus, Prophet Muhammad’s Hadith quoted above is as fitting to such a man as a thorning scepter in the hand of a despotic Monarch.

     

     Memory lane

    It will be recalled that sometime early this year, a press statement  was made by a so called Oodua Muslim Coalition (OMC) in some Southwest print media to counsel the Southern Muslims on why and how they should disengage completely from any association with the Northern Muslims especially the NSCIA. The similarity in Tola Adeniyi’s article to  that of the so called OMC is a glaring evidence of the common enclave of  the devilish drummers who are bent on using proxies among the Southwest Muslims to destroy the strong chord of Muslim unity in Nigeria.

     

    Reaction

    In a reaction to the so called OMC press statement, yours sincerely, being the official spokesman for The Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), promptly issued the following press release to silence the hypocrites:

    ‘The attention of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), has been drawn to the emergence of a fraudulent group calling itself ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition (OMC) in the Southwest of Nigeria.

    Using the Southwest media to herald the arrival of its nefarious plot under the cover of Islamic religion, this amorphous group issued an unwarranted hateful press statement recently in which it attacked and blackmailed the entire Southwest Muslims calling them names and labeling them  ‘Agents of Hausa Fulani of the North’.

    To the best of its knowledge, as the umbrella body for all State Muslim Councils/Communities as well as Organizations in the six States of the Southwest region, MUSWEN is not aware of the existence of any group called ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ (OMC).

     

    Clarification

    For clarification, MUSWEN as the Southern counterpart of Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) in the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has the record of all legitimate Muslim Organizations in the Southwest region, and the so-called ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ is not on that record.

     

    Warning

    We therefore warn all genuine Muslim Councils, Communities and Organizations in the region to beware of certain evil elements who are now parading themselves as a Muslim group with the intent of constituting a spiritual virus in the region with the evil objective of presidential election in 1993 which was annulled by the Ibrahim Babangida military regime that initiated the aborted  third republic in Nigeria. But when Bashorun Abiola was arrested and detained by Sani Abacha regime, the man switched over to the Junta’s camp and became a beneficiary therein. It is only those who do not know Tola Adeniyi closely that will attach any seriousness to his writings in any newspaper. Invariably, public writings depict the mannerism of the writers.

     

    Tola Adeniyi’s antics

    Now, at 72 years of age, it could not have come as a surprise to those who know  very well why Tola Adeniyi’s subject of writing at this time is Islam and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. That subject may look real to  people in Nigeria who are also ignorant about Islam and may also be claiming to be Muslims. By their acts, hypocrites are invariably known and they invariably end up in a dungeon of oblivion.

    It is hoped that the upcoming writers will learn a lesson from this.

     

    Muslim columnist

    Sensible people who read columns written by Muslims will notice that such columnists do not deliberately attack any religion outside Islam as some of their non-Muslim counterparts often unwarrantedly echo Islamization in a way of crying Wolf where none exists. If Tola Adeniyi were truly a Muslim and acquired the knowledge of Qur’an and Hadith as he claimed in his notorious article. Why has he not reflected such knowledge in any of his writings in the past three decades?. Who does not know that agents of clandestine agenda often lay claim to false qualifications as a way of justifying their hypocrisy. It is not strange that a Septuagenarian is using birth in Islam and Name as evidence of his being a muslim. Afterall, we know of an octogenarian in the same Ijebu area of Ogun State who was a top Islamic Chieftain in Ijebu-ode Central Mosque but dropped Islam for another Religion at the point of his Death. What is shameful In Tola Adeniyi’s case is his claim to still be a muslim at 72 using his birth and name as evidence. If anybody would advice the Southwest Muslims about their faith and their social lives it is surely not the like of a confused and ignorant person. Those who perceive themselves as living in Glass houses should be sensible enough not to throw stones at others. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Okeho in history (3)

    Okeho in history (3)

    Today, I offer the third in my series on Okeho history as the community celebrates the centenary of its return to its origin in 1917 with the launching of my book, Okeho in History, on Saturday, October 28, 2017 in Okeho.

    Taking a cue from the Centenary Committee, the concluding chapter of Okeho in History is titled “Taking Okeho to Greater Heights”. It reviews the political, economic, educational, religious and social institutions of Okeho and offers suggestions on how to move Okeho to greater heights.

    Regrettably, Okeho has not been well-served by partisan politics. With intense competition, party activists throw everything into the ring and opposing sides often fail to take time to understand the points of view of their opponents. Gradually, positions were entrenched and loyalty to personalities became acceptable substitutes for loyalty to causes and ideologies in healthy competition for the development of the community.

    Unfortunately, the community has been the victim of politics of personalities. As the bickering goes on between political opponents, other communities take advantage of the crisis to attract development projects, including higher educational institutions. Thus, despite the loyal support of Okeho party leaders to succeeding governments of different political parties since 1954, none of those governments or the parties they represent has given Okeho its due in terms of development projects.

    Okeho is among a handful of major towns in Oke-Ogun without a pipe-borne water supply. And while other towns can boast of one or more institutions of higher education, as of 2017, Okeho has none to point to other than a campus of the Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology which was approved in 2016.

    Now, there must be a laser beam focus on a development agenda with traditional political institutions, politicians, and community development organizations working together in a non-partisan fashion on behalf of the community. Above all, politics and governance must focus on its original ideal, which is the good of the community.

    In Okeho, we have been fortunate that our religious differences have not conflicted with the original purpose of religion as a controller of our inner impulses. Both major religions have focused on helping us being good human beings and good communal citizens. Therefore, it has been possible for Muslims, Christians and traditional believers to work together in the various social organizations. What politics has unfortunately tried to put asunder, religion has been able to put together. Indeed, the various religious organizations have done more for Okeho educational development than the various political parties.

    The purpose of traditional education is to prepare the young for their responsibilities as useful members of the community. For a significant part of our communities across Yorubaland, this is still an operative educational objective. It includes bringing the educated up to their responsibilities to themselves, to their families, and to the larger community of which they are an integral part. This traditional view of education is still relevant in an age of individualism that threatens the survival and prosperity of the community.

    For Okeho, it worked very effectively and, despite the emergence of individualistic ethos, those Western educated individuals who had the advantage of growing up in the era when tradition still held sway, have been able to internalize its norms and to see their education as an opportunity for community service. It is evident in the way that they have made themselves available for the development activities of the community.

    The challenge for our modern educational institutions and their personnel is to advance the traditional purpose of education as an integral aspect of their mission. The youths of today are going to be adults or leaders of tomorrow. The question that we must ask of our education system is “how is it preparing the youth for the responsibility that they must shoulder?”

    First, effective teaching and learning is a must. Our pioneer teachers set the standard which must be advanced. The early years of schooling prepare children for later years and determine their success or failure. Therefore, to take Okeho to the next level, teachers at every level must be diligent and competent.

    Second, compassionate mentoring of youths is crucial to making them succeed in life. In the early years of modern education, teachers were like second parents. They modelled good behavior and students knew that they can rely on their teachers for their direction in life. This model needs to be reactivated in our community schools. Excessive interest in material acquisition should not stand in the way of role-modeling.

    Third, parents trusted and worked with teachers in the early years of modern education and the cooperation paid high dividends. The ethos of omoluabi is the essence of Yoruba morality and it is a product of parent-teacher and school-family collaboration. That model must be our guide as we crave greater heights for Okeho.

    From subsistence farming to trading and transportation, from weaving to tailoring, from logging to carpentry, from pottery to bricklaying, Okeho indigenes have engaged in assorted economic activities in the last hundred plus years. And they still keep keepin’ on. Now, the economy is widely diversified and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

    Fortunately, the groundwork for the take-off of this economy has been laid in the embrace of cooperatives in the last five decades. This new emphasis is based on the understanding that one hand is inadequate to carry the heavy load of our economic future. We must now combine our strength in business and processing ventures.

    With the government’s renewed focus on agriculture, and with the advantage of location that Okeho has in this area, it is essential for Okeho indigenes to set up joint ventures to further their economic interests. With a large area of gorgeous scenery and attractive landscape, Okeho also offers a great opportunity for tourism. In this area, however, individual ventures are rarely profitable. Therefore, we must learn to combine forces to take advantage of the potentials of the industry.

    My discussion of each of the foregoing—governance, religion, education, and the economy—is with an understanding of their significance as a powerful means to the goal of community health and advancement. While each of them is necessary for this purpose, we must not think that it is by itself sufficient.

    Therefore, for the advancement of the community and the health of its members, we must ensure that our focus is on the effective combination of all. We have seen, for instance, that when individuals have good education, they tend to use it for the advancement of the community. With those who are fortunate lending a hand to the less endowed, the social life of the community is enriched.

    The road to a successful focus on community interests is paved with the arduous efforts of community leaders and social organizations. This was the rationale for age-group associations in the beginning. That rationale still exists today, perhaps more than it used to be. Traditional institutions must lead the effort to put the interest of Okeho above personal interests. They will succeed in this endeavor when members of the community see that they dispense justice with fairness and they attend to the complaints of members with compassion and empathy.

    I do not intend to belittle the advances that the community has collectively made in the matter of inter-personal solidarity and empathy. Every adult of today grew up in a loving community where even distant relations and strangers make personal contributions to their education and general well-being.

    Okeho must continue in the tradition of generosity and welcoming spirit to all, natives and foreigners alike. We need others as they need us to make the world a habitable and better place for all people. But charity begins at home as the old saying instructs us.

    We must make Okeho what we want it to be by investing our intellectual, moral, spiritual, and material resources in its development and progress. Then, as the many became one more than a century ago, we can all effectively and successfully move our beloved Okeho to greater heights politically, educationally, economically, socially, and spiritually.

     

  • Communiqué of 4th IIIT Conference

    “Knowledge is a missing substance for Muslims. Therefore pick it up wherever you can find it”.                                          Hadith    

    Preamble

    It as promised in this column last Friday, The Message hereby brings forth the  Contents of the Communique issued at  the end of the Academic Conference held by the Ineternational  Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).  Renaissance is a special phenomenon in human development. It is like the rays of sun which photosynthesizes the plants to fruition. Wherever it occurs, renaissance rejuvenates the men and women in its immediate environment.

    Now is the time for Muslim renaissance  all over the world. And no environment is more suitable for it than Universities that is why Muslim Universities in various parts of the world are now flocking together with a view to gathering a common intellectual momentum that can rekindle their past glory.

    The Communique

    For a couple of days in the penultimate week, some Muslim Universities held an intellectual conference that accentuated the renaissance objective of this era in Osogbo the capital of Osun State, Nigeria. The conference was held between the 6th and 9th October, 2017 (17th -19th Muharram, 1439 A. H) with the theme, Islamic Universities: Integration of Knowledge and Sustainability. The conference is an annual assembly of Muslim academics around the globe. It serves as a platform for appraising the state of Muslim Universities with a view to identifying their challenges and proffering credible solutions. The International Conference on Islamic Universities is hosted by both East and West African sub-regions on a rotational basis. The conference was declared open by the Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola on October 6, 2017 at the Amina Namadi Sambo Auditorium, Fountain University, Osogbo.

    Goodwill Messages

    Goodwill messages were delivered by the President General of the Nigerian  Supreme Council for Islamic  affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto,  His Eminence   Alhaji Muhammad Sa`ad Abubakar CFR, mni; Prof. Hassan Omar Kasule (Executive Secretary, IIIT) and Engr. Kamil Bolarinwa, President of the Nasrullahil-Al-Fathi Society, (NASFAT).

    Attendance

    The conference was attended by participants from Nigeria (the hosting country), Jordan, Malaysia, Sudan, Niger and Uganda.

    Participants’ Opinion

    Participants believed that :

    • Islamic Universities should be committed to the promotion of quality learning and knowledge integration while the pursuit of Excellence should permeate the spectrum of activities of the Islamic universities.
    • Islamic universities should be interdependent by connecting to one another in order to promote the needed ideals in the society regarding knowledge ingrained in Islamic prescriptions.
    • That Islamic Universities should pursue excellence as an Islamic virtue.

    Presentations and Discussions

    The keynote address was presented by Professor Is’haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigeria and Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council, Fountain University, Osogbo.

    Keynote Address and Lead Papers

    A Keynote Address was delivered by Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede The topic of which was: Islamic Universities and Integration of Knowledge for Sustainability.

    Lead Papers:

    Three lead papers were presented as follows:

    • The Muslim Universities and the Challenge of Integration Model: A Case Study of Nigeria by Professor M. A. Bidmos
    • Rooting in Higher Education: Reality and Challenges by Dr Rehab Abdul Rahman Al-Shareef
    • The Concept of Epistemological Integration: Its Relevance to Reform of Higher Education by Professor Hassan Malkawi

    Observations

    The conference observed that:

    • The Islamicity of Islamic universities is not necessarily in name but in Islamic principles and tenets they offer as frontiers of knowledge.
    • The fact that universities are called Islamic does not mean that they should deprive people from having the worldly benefits as permitted by the Qur’an
    • Islamic universities should prepare the students to lead a useful life with a view to improving wellbeing of the society. This was considered as knowledge integration.
    • The current number of Muslim universities across the globe is grossly insufficient to cater for the learning needs of approximately two billion Muslims all over the world as well as the expected pedagogical and spiritual needs of the global community.
    • Research work and publications on the current integration of knowledge have largely focused on the principles and methodologies which amount to duplication of efforts of the earlier scholars in this field.
    • Muslim Universities, in terms of input and output, must be distinct from other universities that are not Islamic.

    Recommendations

    At the end the conference, the following recommendations were made based on the theme of this fourth conference.

    Integration

    • Islamic universities all over the world were established primarily to solve societal problems through the provision of quality learning in addition to the provision of spiritual training for the students.

    Therefore, these universities should hold on to these principles.

    • Islamic perspective of the contents of every course is integrated into teaching-learning process.
    • The integration of knowledge should be pragmatic by integrating the theoretical approach to teaching-learning into a tool for conducting developmental research capable of transforming human societies.
    • Islamic universities should accord both Arabic and Islamic Studies a priority and make possible to encourage the study of these two courses.
    • The Islamic Universities should serve as vanguards of promoting the concept of integration of knowledge in the universities with the society with a view to bridging the gap between the gown and town.

    Some veritable means to achieving this include organisation of workshops, seminars and civic engagement with stakeholders outside the universities.

    • With the spate of societal challenges, the intervention of Islamic universities is non-negotiable and therefore required in solving the problem of the dearth of teachers and students in public schools.
    • Islamic Universities should come together and establish partnership with other universities with the objective of knowledge sharing.
    • The proprietors of Islamic universities should see the development of universities as a continuous exercise. Continuous financial support of the proprietor of the universities is essential for the survival, growth and development of Islamic universities.
    • In line with the policies of their respective countries, Islamic Universities should design a curriculum that will include the integration of Islamic teachings into the modern knowledge.
    • Islamic Universities and the Muslim Ummah in general should not only bother about the dwindling education of the Muslims, they should also be concerned with the ways to ameliorate the challenges.
    • Muslims should not shy away from holding public offices as a way of making the society a better place.
    • Muslim Universities should justify the giant strides of the early predecessors in science and technology by rising to the task of expanding their faculties to include colleges of health sciences and faculty of technology.
    • Muslim Universities should make use of the vast knowledge and impressive credentials of retired Muslim professors to attract grants and enhance collaboration and linkages with international institutions.
    • Participants, having expressed concern over the spate of corruption, insurgency, militancy and other vices, recommended that all these instances of menace facing the country could be ameliorated with knowledge integration which Islamic universities are set to promote.

    Sustainability

    In order to achieve the sustainability of the roles and objectives of the Islamic universities in knowledge integration, the following measures are recommended:

    • Islamic Universities should intensify efforts at ensuring promotion of quality education that combines theory with practice.
    • Islamic universities should continue to charge affordable fees to address the problem of many poor Muslims who are unable to afford high and exorbitant fees to acquire university education.
    • Founders of Islamic Universities should not rely solely on the charitable donations, they should rather explore other creative means of generating revenue for the university.
    • About 28th other papers were presented at the Conference some of which will serve as reference points in the future. With this the Muslims Intellectuals around the World can rekindle, in this Century the marvelous renaissance that once propelled the World into a Phenomenal Technology.
  • Okeho in History 2

    Okeho in History 2

    This is the second of a three-part series on Okeho in History scheduled for public presentation on Saturday, October 28, 2017 at the grand finale of the celebrations marking the centenary of Okeho’s return to its original site in October 1917. Today’s excerpt is from the chapter on education in Okeho.

    Indigenous education system in Yorubaland in general, and Okeho in particular, revolves around the whole person. The goal of education is to transform the child into the man or woman of character who can fit well into the service of the community. To this end, the focus of every family is to educate their children to be useful members of the community.

    Before the introduction to a life-time occupation, the child goes through formal education in ethical living with gentle reminders at every point of the history of the family lineage, the bravery of his/her ancestors, and the contributions that he/she is expected to make in return. This is the ethics of omoluabi, the person of character….

    Ethics matters and indigenous education is good at instilling ethical norms in the members of the community. Hard work, honesty, perseverance, moderation, are among the basic ethical norms that Okeho parents and family members teach their children with the expectation that when they grow into adults they will not depart from the path of honor which these norms inculcate….

    The formal education of Okeho children also benefited from foreign efforts that accompanied religious proselytization. On this, both Christianity and Islam played important roles (with the setting up of the first schools with curriculums appropriate to their missions)….

    Okeho youths also took advantage of opportunities that opened outside the town, especially with the establishment of secondary schools in Oyo, and much later, Iseyin. The foremost pioneer in the pursuit of higher education outside of Okeho was Mr. Ogunsola Ogundokun. In 1951, as a pupil at N. A. School Olele, Okeho, he sat for and passed the entrance examination to Government College, Ibadan.

    That was the flagship of secondary education in Western Region at that time. He performed brilliantly in the school and from there, he proceeded to the United Kingdom for his university education, thus becoming the first university graduate from Okeho and a role model for many Okeho youths. Mr. Ogundokun returned from the United Kingdom and began a successful career at Lever Brothers in Lagos until his retirement.  Others followed in his footstep to pursue higher education….

    In the matter of breaking through the glass ceilings of achievement, my generation has an exemplar in the person of Mr. Moyo Ajekigbe, first indigene of Okeho, indeed of Oke-Ogun, to be appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive of a first-generation commercial bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Plc. Moyo was a star in school, excelling in secondary school, higher school, and university. With a work-ethic and home-bred manners that the community instilled in him, he served the First Bank from the first day he entered the front door, giving the job his all, and going beyond the call of duty in customer service.

    Such devotion does not go unnoticed even by the most conservative and rule-based establishment. The glory of the sun is uncoverable by mortal fingers. And so, the reward was not long in coming when Moyo was appointed the Managing Director and Chief Executive of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. The appointment itself was an achievement. However, what he made of it from his first day to his retirement was even more remarkable. Through him, many families were blessed. Doors were opened for young ones with excellent resumes. And the community benefitted immensely from his foresight and his generosity….

    With teacher training colleges in Iseyin, Oyo, Ede, Iwo, etc., and the high cost of secondary school education, teacher training has been one of the readily available options for generations of Okeho educational products, and many took advantage of this, especially after having completed the secondary modern school…..

    As its youths found their ways into these other locations for educational opportunities, Okeho community also decided to open more opportunities for them. Thus, the Okeho-Iganna District Council launched the Okeho-Iganna Grammar School in February 1965, with its first students boarded at the old Oyo Divisional Teacher Training College, Iseyin.

    For many years after opening the doors of secondary education to Okeho youths, the community has tried without success to attract higher educational institutions. Even when prominent indigenes participated actively as leaders in the higher echelon of politics over the years, Okeho has been left without public higher education institutions. Shaki has a campus of The Polytechnic which has been upgraded to a full-fledge autonomous institution named Oke-Ogun Polytechnic. Ibarapa Polytechnic is located at Eruwa while Lanlate has a campus of the College of Education.

    In view of the aspiration of youths for higher education, and the struggle of the community to make it easier for them, this has been one of the frustrations of the various Okeho community organizations. A recent achievement was the approval of a campus of Oyo State College of Heath Science and Technology in Okeho. This followed the elevation of the 65 year-old School of Hygiene, Eleyele by H. E. Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the Executive Governor of Oyo State.

    In January, 2012, shortly after his inauguration, Governor Ajimobi instructed the Office of Commissioner for Health, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin to work on upgrading the School of Hygiene. This required a process of engagement of stakeholders including students, instructors, regulatory bodies, members of the state executive and members of the State House of Assembly.

    Subsequently, the Ministry of Health drafted and presented bills to the House of Assembly to upgrade the School of Hygiene, Eleyele to Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology. These bills were finally passed by the House and immediately signed into law by the Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. The College subsequently began a process of establishing campuses to increase its capacity to train and graduate critical staff requirements for public health services in the state. With the kind approval of Governor Ajimobi, Okeho has the fortune of being the home of the first campus of the college.

    Indigenous education trains individuals for communal responsibility. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of formal education imparted through foreign paradigm which tends to emphasize and celebrate individualism. Okeho has, however, been fortunate in the sense that the seed of the indigenous approach to education with its emphasis on communal responsibility appears to have germinated successfully in the lives of many educated Okeho indigenes prior to their engagement with foreign education. This has helped in molding their minds toward community activism, which has in turn helped the community in its efforts toward advancement.

    Starting in the late fifties, educated folks inaugurated various self-help communal schemes to help struggling youths. The Okeho Literary and Debating Society was one of these initiatives. Due to the dearth of secondary schools in the area, and the limited opportunities for orientation to other professions, the first pioneers of Okeho foreign educational institutions, with few exceptions, took to the teaching profession, received training and were certified as teachers.

    Together with the few that gained admission to secondary schools such as Olivet Baptist High School, this group of pioneers put their education to the service of the community by helping the youths during holidays. This was how the idea of a Literary and Debating Society first came up and it helped many of these youths develop skills in public-speaking, use of language, and confidence-building.

     

    Education also opened the eyes of the educated to the world beyond Okeho and to the gap between the facilities available in that world but lacking in Okeho. With this knowledge came the realization of the need for organized action to pressure the authorities to pay attention to Okeho. Organizations such as Okeho Development Association (ODA), and more recently, Okeho Strategic Development Foundation (OSTRADEF) came up as responses to this knowledge…The point here is that education that stimulates in individuals the consciousness of community needs and urges action on the part of the individual has always been the tradition of Okeho.

     

  • Tipple IT’s 4th International Conference

     “Seek knowledge even if it will take you to China.”              Hadith    

    Preamble

    It was a unique gathering of who is who intellectual at Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State where intellectualism was heightened to a pinnacle last weekend. The participants were from various parts of Africa where Islamic Universities are vibrantly available. And their presentations vividly accentuated the fact that Islam is the foundation upon which human knowledge is built.

    Whether in primordial or contemporary time, no historian  of note has succeeded in documenting the history of intellectualism  without a fundamental reference to Islam and Muslims. As a matter of fact, what is called intellectualism today is the principal invention of the early Muslims based on their access to the template of the Qur’an and Sunnah. It is an axiomatic fact that the first citadel of learning called university was established by Muslims in the tenth century. That citadel is called the University of Cordoba which was established in Spain by the second Umayyad Dynasty. It was from that citadel that the Europeans first had the idea of University which they copied and spread to some other parts of the world including America. And today, the three oldest Universities in the world which are offshoots of the University of Cordova were established by Muslims. They are Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, Qairawiyyi University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Each of these Universities is by far older than 1000 years. No other university in the entire world today can claim that age. It was through those Universities that Muslim scholars were able to introduce scientific subjects like Biology (‘Ilmul Ihyau), Chemistry (Kaymiyau), Physics (Fisiyau), Astronomy (‘Ilmul Ifalaq), Astrology (‘Ilmul Tanjeem), Mathematics (Riyadiyat), Algebra (‘Ilmul Jabr) and others.

    It was those Scholars who also invented zero, a meaningless numeral that gave meaning to decimals and technological development of the contemporary world. Without the invention of zero, the world would have continued to crawl behind Roman numerals of the yore. Today, the world is advancing in Technology at the instance of Islamic intellectualism.

     

    The tripple I&T conference.

    At Fountain University, Osogbo last weekend the 4th conference of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) was held. At the conference the welcome Address was delivered by Prof. Abdullateef Usman, the Vice Chancellor, Fountain University, who was the Chief Host while the Keynote Address was delivered by Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, OFR, FNAL the Registrar of Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board (JAMB), Pro-Chancellor & Chairman, Governing Council, Fountain University & Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). The Goodwill Messages were delivered by the President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaj Muh. Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni; Dr. Ahmad Totonji of IIIT Headquarters and Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa, President of Nasrullahi Alfatih Organisation (NASFAT). And Inaugural Address was delivered by the Governor of the state of Osun Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola who was a special guest of Honour.

     

    Profile of Tripple I&T

    The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is a private, non-profit, academic, cultural and educational institution, concerned with general issues of Islamic thought and education. The Institute was established in the United States of America in 1981. It is independent of local politics, party orientations and ideological bias.

    The headquarters of the Institute are situated in Herndon, Virginia, in the suburbs of Washington DC. IIIT has established cooperation with a number of institutions and organizations in a number of capitals world-wide in order to carry out the Institute’s activities and programs. The Institute is governed by a Board of Trustees that meets regularly and periodically to elects one of its members to serve as President.

    The Institute is an intellectual forum working on educational, academic and societal issues from an Islamic perspective to promote and support research projects, organize intellectual and cultural meetings, publish scholarly works, and engage in teaching and training. It has established a distinct intellectual trend in Islamic thought which relates to the vivid legacy of the Ummah (Muslim nation) and its continuous efforts of intellectual and methodological reform, principally in the field of education, classical knowledge and social science. This involves a large number of researchers and scholars from various parts of the world.

    The Institute conducts its educational and training activities and courses through its institutional division, The Fairfax Institute.

     

    Mission of IIIT

    According to the contents of its website, The International Institute of Islamic Thought is dedicated to the revival and reform of Islamic thought and its methodology in order to enable the Ummah to deal effectively with present challenges, and contribute to the progress of human civilization in ways that will give it a meaning and a direction derived from divine guidance. The realization of such a position will help the Ummah regain its intellectual and cultural identity and re-affirm its presence as a dynamic civilisation.

    The Institute promotes academic research on the methodology and philosophy of various disciplines, and gives special emphasis to the development of Islamic scholarship in contemporary social sciences. The program endeavors to elucidate Islamic concepts that integrate Islamic revealed knowledge with human knowledge and revives Islamic ethical and moral knowledge, through education, teaching and support of scholarly research.

     

    Objectives of IIIT

    As its Objectives, IIIT aspires to conduct courses in order to promote its objectives to reform Islamic thought, to bridge the intellectual divide between the Islamic tradition and Western civilization. In its teaching and selection of teachers and courses, IIIT endeavors to promote moderation, inter-faith dialog and good citizenship.

    In its endeavour to teach and prepare teachers for the modern world and produce intellectuals who can relate their Islam to modern day challenges the Institute aims to:

    • Serve as a think tank in the field of Islamic education, culture and knowledge.
    • Formulate a comprehensive Islamic vision and methodology that will help Muslim scholars in their critical analysis of contemporary knowledge.
    • Develop an appropriate methodology for understanding the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
    • Develop an appropriate methodology for dealing with Islamic legacy and contemporary knowledge, in order to draw on the experiences of both past and present, to build a better future for the Ummah and humanity at large.
    • Develop an appropriate methodology for understanding and dealing with the present situation of both the Ummah and the world in general, and the field of education in particular, in view of contemporary challenges and opportunities.

    The Institute seeks to achieve its objectives by: Teaching, training of teachers, publication of text books.

    Supporting researchers and scholars in universities and research centers, and publishing selected scholarly, cultural and intellectual works, in English, Arabic and several other languages.

    Directing research and studies to develop Islamic thought.

    Holding specialized scholarly, intellectual and cultural conferences, seminars and study circles.

    The lead papers delivered at the conference.

    The Muslim Universities and the Challenges of Integration Model: A Case study of Nigeria by Professor M.A. Bidmos of the University of Lagos.

    Rooting in Higher Education: Reality and Challenges by Dr Rehab Abdul Rahman Al Shareef of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Sudan.

    The Concept of Epistemological Integration: It’s Relevance to Reform of Higher Education by Prof. Fathi Hasan Malkawi International Institute of Islamic Thought, Jordan.

    Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences in IIUM: A Successful Story of Integration of Islamic and Human Sciences by Prof. Rahman Ahmad H. Osman, Deputy Rector (Research and Innovation), International Islamic University, Malaysia.

     

    Closing program

    At the end of the conference, the Coordinator, IIIT Southwest Nigeria Dr Abdullah Jibril Oyekan gave a vote of thanks with appreciation and this was followed by the issuance of a Communiqué which contents may be published in this column very soon.

     

  • Okeho in history (1)

    Okeho in history (1)

    Today, I begin a three-part series on Okeho in history with excerpts from my new book of the same title. The book is scheduled for public presentation on October 28, 2017 by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu supported by eminent friends and enablers of community and national development.

    “Okeho in History was commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the relocation of Okeho back to its original site in 1917 and it comes at a very important stage of the development of our loving homeland. Now, the community is experiencing a much-needed unity of purpose even in the era of party politics, a development that must cheer compatriots who have, for many years, canvassed and labored for such a purposeful agenda…..

    “In the beginning, Okeho did not exist as one entity. Instead there were eleven villages separated by hills and valleys, each living in solitude and in fear of aggression from greedy land grabbers and heartless enslavers…..

    “However, around 1800, more than one hundred years after Ojo Oronna, legendary founder of Okeho, first settled in Omogudu, the new Onjo, Arilesòire, made the historic move of inviting the ten villages around Ijo to amalgamate as one village.

    “Onjo Arilesire was motivated by an enlightened self-interest. It was a time of uncertainties for big towns such as Oòyoò Alaafin. The Fulani had constituted themselves as a present danger to the lives and properties of Yoruba people in their towns and villages….They had the advantage of cavalry raids across the grassy vegetation of Oòyoò North. The Dahomey forces were also a threat from the West. It was therefore in the interest of small villages to combine their strength to wade off the attacks. This was the reason for Arilesòire’s invitation to the neighboring villages, which included Isia, Olele, Isemi, Imoba, Gboònjeò, Oke-Ogun, Ogan, Bode, Pamo, Alubo, and Ijo.

    “Arilesire had a good strategic reason for his invitation to Ijo’s neighbors. Apart from the combination of forces, the geographical location of Ijo offered a great security advantage and this played a role in his thinking. The heads of the various hamlets and villages must have been persuaded that it was in their security interests as well. For they agreed to move and become wards and quarters in their new location.

    “Okeho was inaugurated as a new village and Arilesire was the first head of the new village with the title Onjo of Okeho. In their native wisdom, without any exposure to Western ideas of governance, the leaders of the eleven villages started a confederal arrangement which has since morphed into a solid community of patriots. In Okeho, the many voluntarily became one….

    “It is important to note the significance of the effort at merger and of what inspired it. From the early 1500s until the time of the Yoruba civil wars of the 19th century, Oyo was a great exporter of slaves. From the year that Ojo Oronna moved to Omogudu, to around 1750, about 60,000 Africans were captured in slave raids and exported to the New World. Chiefs and aristocrats across the land were enablers of this sordid practice as they supplied captured war prisoners to the slave raiders in exchange for firearms and other goods. It was reported that during this period, King Tegbesu of Dahomey had an income of £250,000 a year from the export of slaves to Britain and other parts of the world. That would make him a multibillionaire of his time.

    “Consider the fact that Dahomey was next door to Okeho and you will begin to imagine the horror that our ancestors experienced. There was no moment of peace and they had to constantly watch their back. The physical and emotional trauma was unimaginable.

    “Meanwhile, on the other side of the fear of the loss of sons and daughters to the foreign enslavers and their local collaborators was the achievement of progress and development in Britain and the New World. Africans were forced to work under inhuman conditions to develop Britain which launched its Industrial Revolution in 1750….

    “The merger of the villages was thus a matter of self-interest for the villagers. However, with that experiment in voluntary merger and preservation of the heritage of each of the constituents, Okeho also taught us a great lesson in the management of diversity. This should not be misconstrued. They did not pull it off easily. They went through trials and tribulations. They were sometimes unsure whether they would survive. But they persisted.

    “What should be noted is that the Okeho experiment was doing very well before the colonial invasion. There was no history of internal violence prior to the introduction of a new governance structure that eclipsed the original arrangement and rendered the heads of the confederating units powerless. It was the reaction of the people to this foreign-inspired arrangement that led to violence against Obas and representatives of the colonial government.

    “The new arrangement soon forced itself on the community with a mixed result. On the one hand, modern politics of party affiliation replaced primordial affiliation of the original confederating villages as major political parties drew support across neighborhoods and quarters, though certain neighborhoods favored certain political parties. There was thus the prospect of inter-neighborhood cooperation that was lacking at the onset of colonial administration.

    “On the other hand, however, the new party system brought with it a ferocious competition that proved more inimical to the unity of purpose that the community needed for its advancement. It also had a more far-reaching consequence for the traditional institutions of the town. For, within neighborhoods, bitter political enmity due to different party loyalties meant that, even at that level, there was not going to be a united front, talk less of the level of the whole community. This was what affected the effectiveness of Egbe Omo Ibile Okeho in the 1st and 2nd Republics.

    “Thankfully, those were times of ignorance. Now, the light of knowledge has revealed itself. Now, the community will not go back to the dark days of division during which no one can really claim to have gained a lot for self or for community. Now, we must move on forward with a common purpose. For it is never too late until it is too late. The sun still shines and its powerful rays are still capable of providing the energy needed to dry up our wet clothes.

    “And the community has a lot of wet clothes hung outside to dry, one of which is the all-important jacket of education. Education has never been more important and we have never been so lacking in the matter of good educational facilities. While Okeho has a mix of public and private institutions at the primary and secondary level, it does not have much to offer in the matter of higher education. And the quality of the education that our children now receive is a mixed bag.

    There is need to revamp the legacy of quality education that the first generation of teachers labored to pass on. Many of those teachers had no more than First School Leaving Certificate. But they were exemplary in their devotion to excellence. Contemporary teachers must borrow a leaf from the example set by those pioneers.

    “Indeed, in every aspect of the community hopes and aspirations that I have identified in this volume, there is yet much to accomplish. The leadership of the initiatives and the efforts needed to accomplish the tasks must, again, naturally rest on those privileged to have the needed insight. After all, to whom much is given, much is expected.”

    As Okeho anxiously and gratefully looks forward to welcoming Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, H.E. Senator Abiola Ajimobi, H.I.M. Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III and eminent friends on October 28, I respectfully appeal to the generous spirit of everyone to support the community. The goal of the Planning Committee, which has invested time, energy and resources in this cause is to raise funds for the Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Okeho Campus, completion of the Onjo’s Palace, and community health projects.

    This successful experiment in voluntary amalgamation needs our encouragement.

     

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  • In whose interest is political restructuring?

    In whose interest is political restructuring?

    The matter of political restructuring continues to generate political heat in the public domain. It is not unusual to have the kind of robust debate that we have had especially since the beginning of the new administration of President Buhari.

    Even for a party that made change its political totem, the pursuit of change could be unnerving. Who knows what is on the other side? And how does one manage the transition state between the undesirable present and the desirable future state? Every business organisation that seeks profitability must face these questions at some point. Does a political community that seeks stability and prosperity for her citizens need to worry about such issues?  The answer is obvious.

    There is, however, a major difference between a political community and a business organization. A business organization that refuses to change in the light of new developments and the competition around it, will collapse under the weight of its own redundancy.

    On the other hand, in a political community, power is wielded by those who are entrusted with it, ideally on behalf of the people, but realistically for the interest of the powerful few. If business calculations feature at all, it is the business interests of the few that drive political calculations. Thus, the clamor for change may fall into deaf ears for fear of the unknown or for calculations of self-or sectional interests.

    What is lost to those calculations is the inevitability of change which, as Heraclitus observes several millennia ago, is the only constant. Especially, in situations of universal frustration with the status quo, where life is akin to the state of nature condition, change is the only certainty. But in the eternal wisdom of J. F. Kennedy, those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.

    There have been many attempts at obfuscation. We manufacture confusion where there is none just so we could slow down or disrupt the course of change. There has been fear-mongering of the worst kind. A few weeks ago, I was at the annual convention of the National Association of Yoruba Descendants which had restructuring as a theme. While almost every speaker appeared to have a clear vision of what restructuring meant and what social and economic gains might accrue therefrom, there was a holdout. An otherwise smart and obviously learned gentleman expressed the fear of the unknown. “The Southwest had no oil-fields”, he observed. “From where would our wealth come and how are we to feed our populations if advocates of restructuring had their way?”

    Note that this was a convention of a Southwest Nigerian organization in the most federalized nation in the world, where presidents and congressmen and women jealously guard state rights against the intrusion of federal might. I bring it up to show that in the current debate on restructuring, the resistance to change is not a sectional one. There are equal opportunity resisters in all the zones of the federation.

    Resisters hide behind such platitudes as “we need mind-restructuring, not political restructuring”, “ we must pursue poverty alleviation not political restructuring”, or “we need constitutional amendment not political restructuring.” Still others continue to ask for the meaning of restructuring, or they dismiss true federalism as nonsensical because, in their confused judgment, there is nothing like false federalism. But pray, how else does one describe a unitary system that camouflages as a federal system?

    I have tried, in several comments on this page, to isolate the issues and clarify confusions. But it appears for one who is determined to avoid thorough understanding, there is nothing much that can be done even by the most down-to-earth simplification. But I have also learnt from the wisdom of the elders that the one who genuinely asks questions deserves satisfying answers.

    From recent debates on this matter, there are two questions that deserve answers. First, to the still yet to be convinced about what restructuring is, perhaps a better approach is to first answer the question what restructuring is not. Second, an answer is required to the question “in whose interest is political restructuring?”

    Restructuring is not secession. This horse has been flogged so mercilessly that by now one would expect it dead and buried. But in low and high places, the argument is still being frustratingly canvassed that talk about restructuring empowers and inspires the rhetoric and threat of secession. This is far from the truth.

    Secession demand is for an out of a marriage that both believe no longer works. The demand for restructuring is for an acceptable modification to the terms of the relationship to make it happy and endure the vicissitude of life. The one is negative while the other is positive. There is no denying the fact, however, that if the positive drive is discountenanced, it sends a wrong signal to those who might resolve to engage the negative gear.

    Restructuring is not against national unity. Advocates of restructuring are some of the most patriotic and nationalistic groups whose love of country is beyond doubt. What they espouse are the principles of governing a diverse nation so that the ideal of unity in diversity is preserved and respected. They are genuinely concerned that when diversity is blurred for the sake of uniformity, the country loses out on one of its most profoundly potential contributions to the world political community: the idea of the many voluntarily becoming one without losing their diverse cultures.

    Restructuring is not the imposition of the will of one group or section over others. In the first place, it is, in reality, impossible for advocates of restructuring to impose their will on the nation since their demand must go through the crucible of public opinion and be acceptable to all for it to be adopted as the law of the land.

    Second, that an individual or a group or section is persistent in the advocacy of a cause does not reveal anything about a motive and none can be judiciously attributed. In the case of restructuring, advocates have good arguments and must hope that they can persuade opponents to their side. This has always been the rational course of our political debates since the days of the nationalist struggles.

    Restructuring is not an irrational pursuit of danger. A person who runs towards an obvious danger without minding the outcome is at best irrational, at worst, insane. While some may think that advocates of restructuring are irrational, they are nothing but. As I observed above, the fear of the unknown is what is irrational. Surely, a demand for the return to a principle of governance that worked well in the past cannot be considered irrational. Besides, the only danger is to continue the path that has not worked for the good of the people.

    Political restructuring is the alignment of levels of government vertically, and branches of government horizontally, for the deepening of democracy and the promotion of the welfare of citizens.

    Advocates of restructuring have variously asked for devolution of power to the states, regionalism, or return to the 1963 constitution, which gave more power to the regions and prioritized derivation as a revenue formula. It is disingenuous to conclude that advocates are mired in confusion because of the differences in their demands. We know better that when there is a consensus on moving with restructuring, all metals will be thrown in the fire and subjected to the heat of public debate.

    In whose interest, then, is political restructuring? Every level of government, every branch of government, every zone and every state of the federation, labor, the poor, the rich, and most important of all, national unity, stands to benefit from a well-planned political restructuring.

    With states cooperating in zonal arrangements in the areas of education, agriculture, mining, and infrastructure, economy of scale kicks in for maximum benefit for citizens. As current experience demonstrates, the future of fossil fuel is bleak. In any case, this nation is sufficient evidence that it has been a curse against development and national unity. Do we really need further evidence in favor of restructuring?

     

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  • Restructuring: The cry of Owl

     “And fear a calamity that may afflict not only those who engineered it but also the innocent ones who had no hands in its engineering, and be assured that Allah’s punishment can be very severe.”                                  Q8 v 25              

    Preamble

    In the aquatic world, when a dragon dances ceaselessly on the surface of a brook, the wise sees it as a bad omen.

    The similitude of the dancing dragon in this case is like that of an owl. Anybody who is familiar with the lifestyle of the owl will know why that bird lives in isolation and depends on propaganda for survival. The current brouhaha on a dubious issue called restructuring is not in any way different from the meaningless and ineffective cry of the Owl. By implication, therefore, the callers for restructuring are most likely to end up in the ineffective lifestyle of the Owl.

    The Owl becomes an isolated entity in the world of Birds because of its hypocrisy and indefinable antics. Today, Nigeria’s callers for restructuring are like the Owl, in a confused state. They can neither define the meaning of restructuring nor specify its practical contents. To them, the unwarranted propaganda on restructuring is a means of getting their hidden agenda executed.

     

    Hidden agenda

    “Abstain completely from guessing, some of the guessings you are engaged in are iniquitous and do not be indulged in poke nosing…” Q49 v12

    For 18 years of Nigeria’s dispensation since 1999 till date, these same callers have been alive and available in the country. They were aware of the contents of Nigeria’s constitution with its positive and negative aspects. Yet, they were silent because it suited the purpose of their hidden agenda. They knew that the 1999 constitution which is in use in Nigeria today was imposed on the country by the military.

    They knew that that constitution which started with such a deceptive cliché as “We the people of Nigeria….” was fraudulent and undemocratic. Yet, they did not see any need for its amendment. They had known all along how the military changed the destiny of Nigeria from federal to unitary system and how the concurrent aspects of our 1963 republican constitution were decimated by the ruling  junta to the disadvantage of democracy. Yet, they remained silent because they enjoyed the benefits of that political absurdity.

     

    National Confab

    The callers for restructuring were also in the country in 2014 when a political demagogue in the name of President decided to constitute a National confab which was meant to accentuate his political agenda.

    They were aware that the process of that exercise was dictatorial and insensitive to democracy. They knew that the demagogue resorted to selection of participants in that confab directly or indirectly to the exclusion of people who mattered but did not belong to his camp. For instance, less than one-third of those participants throughout the country were Muslims in a multi-religious country like Nigeria where Muslims are in the Majority. That tragic antique was an obvious confirmation of a hidden agenda on the part of the initiator. To correct that obvious, bias and sectarian anomaly, The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) set up a powerful committee headed by its President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar. But after presenting its case with facts and figures the then president further exhibited his own restrained bias by trivializing the matter with another Religious bias. He queried the NSCIA which is a non-political body on why the Northern governors did not grant the Christians Land authority for building churches. Though, this same president knew that Land authorities were not granted to non-igbos in Eastern Nigeria for private or corporate business to build economic, political or religious outfits, yet he never asked the Easterners any question on that.

    It can be assumed that the so called National Confab was part of the then ruling party’s agenda for self-perpetuation in Governance. Now to rise up with Owls propaganda for restructuring on the platform of illegitimate National Confab and expect a new ruling political party that abhorred that confab is a parochial oddity on the part of the propagandist.

     

    Clarification

    As a matter of reality based on sincerity, this Columnist does not and has never agreed with the unitary system imposed on Nigerian people by the military junta. And I have written severally in the past calling for either a re-writing of the Nigerian Constitution by the people of Nigeria, or a fundamental amendment to the existing imposed constitution. It is therefore a deliberate accentuation of confusion by a political clique in the land to want to impose another subjective hidden agenda on the nation in the name of restructuring. The word restructuring cannot be found in the current Nigerian constitution and it cannot be smuggled into it through the back door by some human owls who are trying to overwhelm the populace with unpalatable media propaganda.

     

    Federal System

    Ordinarily, a Federal system in any democratic dispensation must have two wings which are technically called Exclusive and Concurrent lists.

    The Federal system used in Nigeria today is fundamentally different from the one adopted at the time of Independence in 1960 which was confirmed in the republican constitution of 1963. In that federal system, the Exclusive list which was to be maintained by the Federal Government contained only four items. These are The Central Bank, National Defense, The Foreign Affairs, and Immigration. Other issues such as education, prison, Police, and even constitution were concurrent. In other words, each region was entitled to having its own constitution, its own police, its own educational methodology and a substantial control on its human and material resources. Even the adoption of the American Federal System in 1979 was not supposed to make any serious difference from what had obtained in Nigeria. But like any other thing in Nigeria, the newly adopted Federal system became grossly abused through usurpation of power engendered by incessant military coups. Thus, the so called Federal Government based in the Federal capital allots much more percentage of the national budget to itself than to the states and the local governments. This is the main cause of the endemic corruption that we experience in the country today. The unwarranted enormous resources apportioned to the Federal Government are perceived as a fictitious booty by those at the helm of affairs at the federal level. And this has hindered any economic growth and infrastructural development at the state level where Governors and Civil Servants also want to live in affluence as much as those at the federal level. It was this scenario that created a platform for stealing competition and turned Nigeria into a nation of official thieves which could not be trusted with business transaction in the committee of Nations. The result is the pervading poverty and economic hopelessness which Nigerians are now passing through.

     

    Alternative to restructuring

    Calling for undefined restructuring at this time of Nigeria’s life is an obvious mischief indicating a hidden agenda. Rather than calling for unidentifiable restructuring, what reasonable people should advocate is amendment to the constitution. While the latter is straight-forward and constitutional the former is dubious and mischievous. Constitutional amendment has a legal procedure which can easily be followed on the basis of law; restructuring on the other hand is a confusion which cannot be authenticated by any sane law because of its tendency for misinterpretation and accommodation of hidden agenda. Calling for it therefore, is a glaring evidence of ignorance.

     

    The role of southern media

    The most disheartening and ridiculous aspect of the ongoing mischievous propaganda on restructuring is the role of Southern Nigerian media. In what looks like a professional bastardisation, the southern Nigeria media has thrown away the toga of professionalism and decorum while championing the propaganda on restructuring with shamelessness. The private radio stations and some state owned ones are the worst in this sphere. What they do on a daily basis is to constitute themselves into a court of law and invite sympathizers to their cause as prosecuting lawyers to discuss the matter.

    Incidentally, virtually all the invited discussants and the moderators are from the same tribe and the same religion. If you tune to 20 stations especially in Ibadan, the heart of Yoruba Land, you cannot hear a divergent opinion. They all sing the same tune and dance to the same music of their call for senseless restructuring. That trend only changed briefly when President Muhammadu Buhari went on a medical trip to UK and Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo acted as president. The trend of discussion in the Southwest media at that time clearly showed the Hidden Agenda of the mischief makers. And as soon as the President arrived in the country, the hatred for his person in this part of the country became manifest once again as evidence of the hidden agenda.

    The South-west media is therefore the prosecutor and the Judge on the issue of restructuring. If this kind of trend were to be followed in the Northern media according to the wish and desire of the people of that region, nobody would have been in a position to talk of peace in

    Nigeria. The southwest media is the main platform for promoting hate speech in Nigeria today and that is a misfortune of immeasurable stance. In any sane society, the media stands as a moderator of issues and an arbiter of conflicts rather than a promoter of hatred.

    “Surely Allah will not change the situation of a community until the people of such a community moderate their lifestyle” Q13 v11.

    If Nigeria must remain a country for all, the obnoxious stance of southwest media in Nigeria must stop henceforth. Criticism must be constructive and not destructive. A word is enough for the wise.

    Nothing makes America the obvious leader of the contemporary world than the great thought of some great American intellectuals and statesmen who from time to time encourage Goodness, Unity and Love among Americans irrespective of races, colours and religions. One of such men is Williams Webster who said as follows in one of his poems “If we work marble it will perish; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instil in them just principles: we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten to all eternity”.

    That should be the principle with which to propel Nigeria from a country into a Nation that can raise its head in the committee of Nations. It is not enough to copy America’s constitution and its style of governance. To be great as a Nation, we must also copy the great principles that make America a great Nation. GOD Bless Nigeria and Nigerians.

  • Nigeria at 57

    Nigeria at 57

    The occasion of the 57th birthday of mother Nigeria, offers another opportunity for deep reflections on the Nigerian Project from the vantage point of the experience of the eventful year that is on the way out. A year ago, on this page, I offered my one cent on the path that had been trodden till then, and some ideas about the desirable approach to national greatness.

    Of course, every Independence Day has offered the same opportunity and our national and state leaders have never failed to take advantage of such opportunities since 1960. “To what end or purpose?” you might ask.

    We are still a divided nation. We are still at the bottom rung of the ladder of development. The avoidable diseases of ignorance, poverty and hunger still afflict our people. While we have collectively identified corruption as a formidable enemy, we have failed to rise to the defense of the nation against it. As a result, it has spawn other fearsome enemies including terrorism, cultism, gangsterism, and kidnapping, all entities in the industry of hopelessness. On top of these, we are not even sure of a common national identity.

    While national political leaders publicly espouse lofty ideals of unity and pontificate on the indivisibility of the nation, sectional leaders do not fail to question the sincerity of such rhetoric which eschews the reality of social dysfunction in the body politics of the nation. Subnational entities resent the public recourse to slogans of indivisibility because, such rhetoric elide their private recourse to undermining the same ideal of unity.

    None of the foregoing observations is deniable. But because they capture the reality of our national angst does not mean we should give up and throw up our arms in the air in frustration. I do not give an inch to cynicism. If we agree that the nation has known better times, we can also agree that if, and when reason prevails, we have the solution to the current malaise. Therefore, until we reach the promise land of global recognition as a giant that acts like one, no rational thinker must give up.

    The state of the nation is one of unease. But much of the wound that causes the pain is self-inflicted. We know of how it all started. An experiment in federalism was the consensus of national leadership at independence. The structure was perfect for the diversity which everyone understood to be our strength. That leadership was also a thoughtful, disciplined and committed one. Aware of the needs of their peoples, they left no stone unturned in search of opportunities for satisfying them.

    In Awolowo’s Western Region that I grew up in, I do not recall seeing many Yoruba adults begging for alms on the streets. There was a traditional ritual of women with twin babies obeying oracular instructions to solicit for alms from the public. Many of those women devised creative ways of obeying this injunction. Some would have their household turn-tables play in the open courtyard of their compounds, where they dance with their babies, one on their backs, one in their hands. They did this because they wanted to avoid the indignity of alms begging.

    In today’s Southwest zone, however, begging is an industry with a variety of factories and brands. It is not limited to the poor. There is the smart begging factory of police and private securities on the beat. There is the alliance of airport begging aides. The menace of begging party crushers cannot be ignored. There is the coalition of Area Boys and gangsters and their violent begging culture. Young Almajeris used to go out at night after a full day’s recitation of the Koran with their masters. Now, they are out in the streets in daylight, raising the question what time they have for learning the Holy Book.

    These are anomalies that we have come to accept and live with as if they are a normal process of growing and aging. At 57, the country is not able to provide for the needs of her citizens. That is not normal and it ought to give leaders who voluntarily assume responsibility to lead sleepless nights. Imagine adult couples at 57 who are unable to provide for their families. We would not consider them as a success. Indeed, any such couple would be the first to consider itself a failure.

    To the extent that this country has failed in her responsibilities to her citizens, the harsh judgment of history is unavoidable that she is not a success story. To suggest that she is moving in the right direction, even if true, is a copout. Therefore, verdict is undeniable that, thus far, the nation is a failure.

    It is in the context of this reality that we must understand the various agitations and complaints. While everyone would happily identify with success, it is natural that human beings detest being associated with failure. And while it may be true that the failure of the country is attributable to the failure of individuals to contribute to the pool of resources that it needs to succeed, leadership bears the brunt of the blame. Therefore, it is no use telling dissatisfied citizens that they share in the blame game.

    Leadership that is voluntarily assumed has enormous responsibilities to bear. Insightfulness is required. Knowledge of what needs to be done is essential. Objectivity in the investigation of issues and in the proffering of solutions is a must. On the part of national leadership, an eagle’s eyes on the national horizon with a determination to give every part a sense of belonging is an indispensable quality. Platitudes about national unity does not cut it when the foregoing are missing. Unfortunately, events of the recent past have not demonstrated a clear commitment to satisfying these requirements.

    With regards to the agitations for secession, internal autonomy, true federalism, and the like, leaders have approached the matter from a variety of angles, ranging from contemptuous dismissiveness to deceptive understanding. For some, it’s political posturing at best, and treason at worst. For others, the agitation is an unfortunate tactic on the part of some sections to impose their will on others. While neither of these positions deny the truth that the nation started on a foundation of a federal structure which it abandoned by military fiat, it does not have an answer for why the present quasi unitary structure is better than the original federal structure. Naturally, agitators see deception and manipulation and they are not impressed.

    A year ago, I made the following remarks on this page:

    “If we are true to ourselves, we must realize that since its inception, nation building and national unity have not been taken seriously as an indispensable factor in the advancement of the country. We counted on raw power to cow individuals and groups into submission. It has not proved effective and there is no reason to believe that it will. Too much over dependence on political power as the be-all and end-all is dangerous for a country still in the throes of ethnic divisions and sectarian suspicions. To build a nation where no human is oppressed, we need to invite all elements to the architectural desk for the design, and once they feel a part of the project, it shouldn’t be difficult to attract them to the construction site.”

    I still reaffirm here the kernel of that position, which I think recent events have proved true.

    Raw power has not stopped the new agitation for Biafra. What fuels it is not a single individual malcontent, no matter how irrational leaders may take him to be. The raucous crowd that he attracts are not all irrational rabble-rousers. Many have genuine grievances as those in other zones. At it is not a question of one zone or section trying to impose its will on others. The thought of the advocates of restructuring for true federalism is for the good of all as it was during the pre-independence constitutional debates when advocates of a federal constitution rationally convinced all regional leaders and political parties to its merits.

    Happy October 1st!

     

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