The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Biafra: Nuruddeen Lemu’s posting

    Yoruba language, being a phonemic language written in morphemic script, may not be philologically rich in vocabulary and grammar. Its adopted script may may have limited its ambition to spread beyond the shores of its native speakers. But this kwa ‘linguistic bud’ in the armpit of Congo-Bantu family of languages is exceptionally rich in proverbs and adages. It is quite capable of serving as the jewel of African languages if serious and dedicated efforts are made to enrich it through a redesigning of its script and thereby wean it from the ladle of a dead language like Latin.

    Readers may be at sea relating today’s article in this column with the context it carries. The immediate motivator of this article is the thought of an axiomatic Yoruba adage that goes thus: “If, in a games forest, trees fall severally upon one another, the clearing should start from the top”.

     

    Change of topic

    At the point of writing this article a patriotic Nigerian of Arewa origin sent a thought-provoking article into my box which I found sharable and decided to share with other numerous readers of this column. The article was written by Nurudden Lemu, a supposed prominent member of Arewa Youths who entitled it:  RE: 1ST October Igbo Evacuation: Just thinking Aloud

     

    Here it goes unedited: Attachments

    I honestly believe, or choose to believe that the call by some of my Northern/Arewa brothers and sisters for the evacuation of Igbos from the north by the 1st of October was probably only meant to demonstrate to the authorities that Hate Speech is game they can play too.

    I also think it was meant to help drive home the point that Igbos have major economic interests across the North which they should admit, appreciate and be grateful for, and stop behaving as if everyone else is their parasite. That we should each respect our mutual interdependence and dignity, and stop behaving as if we are a nation better off without each other.

    “I believe that the call for an actual evacuation was in no way meant to be taken literally and seriously. Or so I hope.

    However, it seems that some are taking the “game” a little too seriously and are even looking forward to business opportunities, job vacancies and promotions as a result of an Igbo-free Arewa.

    It is for this reason that I’d like to do ask some questions with the hope of getting us to think through and more deeply about the possible consequences of such an ultimatum, even if it was notmeant to be executed.

    What the longer term political and economic arrangements will finally look like is very important, but that is not my present concern in this piece.

    So, and just for the sake of argument and enquiry, I’d like you to please ponder over the following questions:

    ”How would a call for the evacuation of all our peaceful Igbos brothers (Christians and Muslims!) be carried out? Are they all hostile “pro-Biafrans”? Are they not still “innocent until PROVEN guilty”? Are there any plans for equitable compensation? By whom? Can the target of this operation be justified by any ethical or religious principles? Do fairness and justice matter to us?

    “Who will conduct the evacuation operations in the various towns and villages across Arewa and how? Would it be by the army, police or our ever-ready hooligans? Do hooligans know how to identify the difference between the various tribes of the South-South and South East? Or are they simply all “Igbos”?! Can you guess who would be more eager, and in fact not be ready to wait for the October date? Should we please not lift the October deadline while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out by our leadership?

    “Would any Igbos want to defend their property and life savings? What if they rightfully defend themselves and resist evacuation? Then what? What happens when one Arewa hooligan gets injured or killed? On whose hands is the blood of any of the innocent dead victims? How many victims should be expected? Who called for it?

    “How do you think the Nigerian Army and security services will respond to a “security situation”? Have we seen them in action before? Who will they target once they land? Will the Army target the GRA parts of town and those who started this, or will the victims once again be the poor and already wretched talakawa and almajiris? Haven’t these people not suffered enough in life already? Should we please not denounce the October “deathline” while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out by our leadership?

    “What’s the duration of this evacuation operation? A few hours, days, weeks, months or years? When, where and how will it end? Will there be any violent reprisals in other parts of the country? Who will prevent these?

    “Would an opportunist wait for October 1st, or will fake news and exaggerated rumours start a chain reaction earlier than that date? Who else is interested in anarchy in the North or in Nigeria as a whole? When will some fool or evil genius start that ball rolling? Should we please not denounce the October dead-line while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

    “Will any perpetrators be taken to court or prison? Will those who called for this be able to call it off once there is blood on the ground? (God forbid!) Will they even still be in the country?

    “How many more widows, orphans and IDPs nationwide? Who will support the new IDP camps? You?! The government? Have we really thought this through? Is this godliness, reason and conscience at work? Do we really want to go down this road?! Is it worth it from any positive angle? Should we please not denounce the October deadline while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

    “Have you been involved in sharing Hate Speech through any social media? Has the ball started rolling? Were you involved? Who should help stop it? What if we don’t? Who will it hit, or not hit? Who are the ultimate victims of this approach to “ending insults”, “better justice” and “the dignity of Arewa”? Do these ends justify these means? Should we please not condemn the October deathline?

    “Hmmm…. Are all these questions just silly pessimistic and impossible speculation? Is this a real, imminent and very possible scenario that has actually played out in this exact way in other societies? How did genocides and “ethnic cleansing” start elsewhere? Was it not also “like play, like play!?” – “June 12th 1993”?, Southern Sudan, South Africa, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Germany, Poland, the Balkans, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Northern Ireland, Everywhere!, etc., etc.!?

    “Are we somehow immune to the laws history and of social cause and effect? Have we really thought this issue through?

    “What is it that is said about wise people learning from other people’s mistakes? What kind of people will we be tagged as, if we make the same mistake twice? Can as many of us as possible (yes, you too!) rise above the ethnic-tribal sentiments that has been the bane of many political and economic instability of failed or failing countries.

    “What are our religious obligations regarding this – irrespective of your faiths? Or is it not a “religious” issue?! Should it be of interest or concern to faithful Muslims, Christians and anyone with a conscience?

    “Should we put this “little” fire out ASAP or should we wait a bit? For what, and for whom? What is the value of any religion, religious leader or religiousity if it can’t help prevent primitive tribal instincts from over-riding our virtues, beliefs and value systems of justice, compassion, wisdom, goodness and humanity? What is God-consciousness for if it can’t correct wrong with the “hand,… tongue,…or heart”?

    “Could calmer and more pragmatic minds like yourself (by God’s will!) go ahead and plan and prevail in your own neighbourhoods, organisations and institutions, etc.? Can you go ahead and reassure the Igbos you know?

    “If one person is being unreasonable, should that justify others behaving in a similar manner? It’s said, that it is easy to blow out a fire while it is still on the matchstick. But once it meets fuel…!!!

    “Should ALL OF US not please DENOUNCE and CONDEMN the October DEADline ASAP, while a more peaceful and less risky solution is worked out?

     

    My sincere prayer?

    May God guide how we answer these questions?

    May God grant us the wisdom to learn from the painful mistakes of others, and not repeat these ourselves.

    May God show us the truth for what it is, and give us the strength to follow it.

    May He also show us falsehood for what it is, and give us the strength to avoid it.

    Wassalamu ‘alaikum – and may PEACE be with you, and upon Nigeria. Ameen!”

  • Al-Mustapha and the death of conscience

    Al-Mustapha and the death of conscience

    The story of the Abacha years was that Major Al-Mustapha had the ears of the Master. As the Chief Security Officer of the Security Unit at the Villa, he also had the back of the dictator. He was the overall boss of the Strike Force Unit, a position which he used to terrorise the nation on behalf of the interest of the junta. He deployed the Force on assassination assignments, and as Sergeant Barnabas Jabila Mshiola, aka Sgt. Rogers revealed, it was the Force that silenced Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, among others. However, while a High Court convicted him of the murder, an Appeals Court acquitted him.

    Since his acquittal, the man has yielded no ground to the truth. As a dead conscience would, he equated legal freedom with innocence, forgetting, as our people know so well, that if you shoot an arrow and take cover under a mortal, you may avoid being apprehended by earthlings; but you cannot escape the judgment of the one who sees through the thickest fog of lies.

    Al-Mustapha is back in the news again. About a year ago, he decided to open the wound that he and his ilk inflicted on our national body with a jubilant press announcement of a multi-volume memoir from the devil’s archives. He will not be the first to try to profit from evil. Conscience is supposed to pinch us against moral perversion. But when it is dead, anything goes. So, it has been the case with moral monsters in our midst.

    The freest and fairest election in the history of the nation was annulled and the presumed winner was incarcerated and eventually killed. As the Chief Security Officer to the maximum ruler, the brutal dictator on whose order Abiola was detained, Al-Mustapha had the power to make life miserable for Abiola and he did not pull back. With penchant for occasional mockery and jeers, he made himself a terror to fear. Now, he wants to rewrite history and he seems to have some willing ears and eyes.

    To maintain a presence in the news cycle and keep the book narrative alive, Al-Mustapha has decided to intrude into our thought-space with cock and bull stories that defy commonsense. Since the book is still in the works, he will do us a lot of favor by providing answers to some nagging questions.

    First, Al-Mustapha has told the nation that he knows the cause of the death of both General Abacha and Chief Abiola. In addition to that important revelation, can he also tell us why he has kept this information to himself in the last 19 years, knowing well that human lives were taken away unjustly and the nation needed the answer?

    Second, why did Al-Mustapha fail to provide this information to law enforcement agencies? And why was he not forthcoming with this vital information at the Oputa panel and during his trials? Assume that Al-Mustapha is right and Abacha and Chief Abiola were friends, is keeping sealed lips about the cause of the death of his boss and his friend a manifestation of loyalty or betrayal?

    Third, in view of his strategic position and closeness to General Abacha and his killer squad, it stands to reason that Al-Mustapha would have information not just about the death of his boss but also about all the other killings, including the broad daylight murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola 21 years ago. The blood of the innocent will ceaselessly haunt the perpetrators of the heinous acts of cowardice, especially when they have not paid for the crime. Will Al-Mustapha help himself and redeem his soul by coming out clean regarding his role?

    In the public space, there are tapes of the confession of Sergeant Rogers who claimed that Al-Mustapha ordered the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and others, two of which failed. The two attempts that failed were those of Chief Alex Ibru and Pa Abraham Adesanya. Informed about the denial of Al-Mustapha, Sergeant Rogers also reasoned that it takes more than the spirit of a man to admit responsibility. Rogers submitted that Al-Mustapha had the power to order anyone from any unit to carry out assassination.

    Of course, he was tried and acquitted of any wrongdoing. But if he escapes the long hands of legal justice, he must be acutely naïve to think that he his soul is not subject to eternal torture should he fail to confess and plead for forgiveness.

    Fourth, contrary to a consensus not only of enlightened opinion on the matter of Abacha loot but also of information from banks and financial institutions through which the funds were siphoned, Al-Mustapha has come out in defense of his late boss. In a May 2016 interview, he came up with a warped reasoning, that when Nigeria was threatened with sanctions by the international community upon the request of some prominent citizens, the Abacha government decided “to allow some money go (sic) to some accounts abroad, so that if the sanction comes, that money would be able to keep Nigeria afloat.” Incredible!

    Pray, if the international community threatened sanction, what sense would it make to give them easy access to Nigeria’s funds stacked in banks located in their territories? And were those funds saved in the name of Nigeria or in the name of Sani Abacha? There is a more relevant question: If there was no Abacha loot, what is the source of the recoveries made since 1999? Who owned the repatriated funds?

    Fifth, Al-Mustafa keeps insulting the intelligence of reasonable people with his allegations of coverup in the death of Chief Abiola. He has accused the leaders of Afenifere of knowingly protecting the killers of Abiola. He has peddled this lie for so long that inquisitive minds should wonder why he would not himself declare to the world who the killers are. If he videotaped the scene where Abiola’s killers gave dollars to Opadokun and others in exchange for their silence, then he obviously knows the killers. And presumably he was not bribed by the killers. So, what prevents Al-Mustapha from unmasking the killers since 1998? Does anyone really find him believable? As an insider in the sordid events in the last days of Abacha and Abiola, Mustapha owes his conscience the truth.

    Sixth, Al-Mustapha claims to have a video coverage of how money exchanged hands inside Aso Rock villa during the visit of Afenifere leaders. Did he have the video during his appearance before the Oputa Panel? Why did he not ask that it be released to the public? He now claims that the video is with the Lagos State High Court which tried him for murder. Since he was acquitted of the crime, why can’t he demand the release of the tape to him so he can show it to the world?

    Seventh, Al-Mustapha wants the world to believe that he loved Abiola and his wife and all he is doing is what a true friend would do in the circumstance. In other words, he cared so much for Abiola that he did not want to leave any stone unturned in unveiling his killers. Therefore, he has accused Chief Opadokun of being silenced by bribe. But how did this true friend protect Abiola when, as Chief Security Officer of the vicious General, he exercised the power of life and death over Abiola? Did he plead Abiola’s case before Abacha? Did Mustapha allow Abiola to receive the medical attention that could have saved his life?

    Eighth, Al-Mustapha has also expressed concern for Yoruba culture and he did not hide his outrage that the Are Ona Kakanfo of the Yoruba nation was killed and Yoruba leaders who visited Aso Rock Villa did not feel sorry for their loss. If this is not a deliberate effort to create confusion and division among the Yoruba leadership and followers, it is hard to know what else it is? What does one really make of a mind so debased? Many have described Al-Mustapha as a pathological liar. I think it is much more than this. This man has an evil mind.

     

    Follow me on Twitter:

    @SegunGbadeg2002

    @HarvestDayPub

     

  • Not Prof Fafunwa we knew

    Not Prof Fafunwa we knew

    “While man’s desires and aspirations stir, he cannot choose but err; yet in his erring journey through the night, instinctively, he travels towards the light.” Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

    Preamble

    This The writing of this article was motivated by a programme on an Ibadan-based private radio station last Monday. In the programme, an erstwhile foremost Minister of Education, the late Prof Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa was taken to a public laundry for dry cleaning. It was a clear case of professional malady.

    Generally, most private radio stations in Ibadan, are notorious for flagrant abuse and decimation of professional norm in which the practice of electronic journalism lacks decorum as much as it is bereft of professional ethics. This is evidence that Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) is negligent of its supervisory duty.

     

    In the programme

    In the referred programme presented with the usual passion for open incitement and defamation of character, Prof Fafunwa was thoroughly lampooned and called the main enemy of the people in Nigeria’s education sector. He was accused of introducing the 6-3-3-4 system of education that came to disrupt what they called Awolowo’s education legacy.

    The most ridiculous aspect of that programme was to ask the audience to comment on the Professor’s regime as Minister of Education. And all the comments were based on the presentation which was evidently based on rumour and tendentious political cacophony.

     

    Who was Babatunde Fafunwa?

    Yours sincerely had written a commemorative article on the life and time of this honourable gentleman shortly after his demise in 2013. The article is brought here again on his towering personality in especially Nigeria’s education sector. Here it goes:

    “Perhaps no words can capture the life’s odyssey of Nigeria’s most qualitative, most prominent Minister of Education ever, Prof Fafunwa, as the quotation above indicates. The confirmation of this assertion is contained in the Professor’s own autobiography entitled ‘UP AND ON’. And this is emphasized in Qur’an 31:34 thus: “No mortal being knows what he will do tomorrow. No mortal being knows in which land he will die. Only Allah is All-knowing. All-Aware”

    Thus, when Prof Fafunwa was travelling to Abuja on the Thursday preceding his demise in 2012, hardly did he know that he was embarking on his very last journey on earth. His mission in Abuja on that occasion was to receive the Honorary Doctoral Degree (Doctor of Letters) which was to be conferred on him by the National Open University (NOUN). And incidentally, that conferment did not take place after all.

     

    While alive

    While alive and even in death, Prof Fafunwa was like a proverbial elephant surrounded by blind men. You can only describe the part you are able to touch on that mammoth animal and not the whole of it. Born on the 23rd of September 1923, the year Nigeria’s first President, Dr Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe travelled out to the United States in search of the ‘Golden Fleece’ Prof Fafunwa had very early in life identified education as the greatest human pursuit. And he pursued it to the very apex. But like Zik, Fafunwa was to face educational discrimination on his return to Nigeria as his PhD from America was not recognised by the British colonialists who were then suffering from self-elated ego. The man had to accept appointment as a secondary school teacher at Ahmadiyyah College, Agege from where he was posted to Ahmadiyyah Teachers’ College, Ojokoro, as Principal. It took the University of Nigeria, Nsuka to acknowledge his educational value and offered him a befitting lectureship appointment at that University in, 1961, where he rose to become the acting Vice-Chancellor until he had to move to the University of Ife due to the 1967 outbreak of the civil war which made his continued stay in the newly declared State of Biafra unsafe.

     

    At the University of Ife

    At the University of Ife, Prof Fafunwa had to put his fervour in the burner to be able to confront fiercely, the conservative orientation of the British trained lecturers who had joined that university from the University of Ibadan, in order to properly position himself for shooting through the iron gate of life for Nigerians to benefit immensely from a dynamic rather than conservative and anachronistic curriculum of education.

    During his academic sojourn in Nsuka, Prof Fafunwa in cooperation with some of his colleagues in the Department of Education drafted a proposal for the admission of Grade II teachers into a two year Higher Certificate programme in the Faculty of Education. This proposal, the first of its type in Nigeria, paved way for the emergence of what came to be known as Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) as well as the establishment of Colleges of Education in other universities in the country.

     

    His educational contributions

    Hitherto, there was nothing like Faculty of Education in any Nigerian University. But for Prof Fafunwa’s steadfastness and unflinching commitment to education it would have taken the country many, many years to produce qualified and professional teachers at the tertiary level.

    From the University of Ife where he rose to become Deputy and Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Fafunwa vehemently advocated for teaching primary school pupils’ in their mother tongues at a time when speaking vernacular language in Nigerian schools was virtually an abomination courtesy of British oriented education. Thus, Prof Fafunwa became the first Nigerian ever to engage in the advocacy for native language as foundation for education in Nigerian schools. And his experiment on that proposition proved to be a great success.  Also in his richly comprehensive book entitled ‘History of Education in Nigeria’ Prof Fafunwa called for the teaching of religious and moral education as bedrock for social discipline and moral decency in the country. If that proposition had been faithfully implemented Nigeria would have been quite different from what she is today.

     

    His worth

    Prof Fafunwa was virtually everything any gentleman would have wished to become education-wise in life. Were it possible to have a President of Education in Africa, he would have been. But as a fervent believer in Daniel Webster’s school of thought about life, he never saw anything extraordinary in becoming a Minster or a Governor or a President. To him any such position was only worth occupying when it was meant to serve humanity. Thus, like Webster, he believed that every material position in the life of man was a vanity which could be consigned to the debris of life especially when not used to serve mankind. For this reason this ‘nonsuch icon’ considered his greatest achievement in life as the footprint he was to leave behind by the time he would have been no more.

     

    Webster’s philosophy

    For those who are lettered enough to know, Daniel Webster’s school of thought is vividly reflected in one of his poems which goes thus: “If we work marble it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; 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 into all eternity”.

    At a time when it was extremely difficult to become educated in Nigeria and still remain a Muslim, Prof Fafunwa courageously brought his natural obduracy, superstitiously believed to be characterised of September children, to bare thus daring all prevailing odds and breasting the tape where his pares fell by the way side. He never allowed the Islamic glorious flag handed over to him at his tender age to slip away from his hands. He held on tenaciously to that flag even far away in the United States where racial discrimination and religious apathy held sway at that time.

     

    Not about education alone

    Prof Fafunwa was not all about education alone. He was also as much about religion especially Islam believing rightly that the former was only a formidable foundation for the latter. Thus until his demise, he was involved in many Islamic matters affecting the lives of Nigerian Muslims.

     

    His religious role

    He was not only a one time President of Jama’atu Islamiyyah Society and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, he was also a founding member of the Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN) as far back as 1959. He later became the President of that organisation and remained a strong pillar of its Board of Trustees till his demise in 2012. Also, at the formation of the Muslim Ummah of Southest Nigeria (MUSWEN) in 2008, Prof Fafunwa was not just a founding member but a key player and because of his role, he was unanimously elected as the first President-General of that umbrella body, the position he held till his death.

     

    Impression

    To people who value only Prof Fafunwa’s worldly activities, what matters might be his paper qualification and positions he occupied. But to the Professor and the Muslim brothers and sisters who were close to him, those qualifications and positions were just a part of the needed prerequisites for serving humanity and a possible avenue for admission into Al-Jannah.

    Besides playing such great religious roles as listed above, he also played highly beneficial role in the lives of millions of people through education and social service irrespective of their religious convictions. It was such intimidating role he played in religion that qualified him for radio prosecution by his fanatical detractors as the presenter of maligning programme did not hide his morbid hatred for him. He said “the man (Fafunwa) was not known as a Muslim before he became the Minister of Education. It was thereafter that his Muslim name (Aliu) came out”

     

    Membership of educational institutions

    For instance, he was the President for Teacher Education in Africa (1971-1973) and an Executive Committee Member, Anglo-Afro-American Teacher Education (1964-1979). Prof Fafunwa was also a member of the Editorial Board, Journal of West African Education (1964-1979) and Co-Chairman, African Primary Science Workshop of the Educational Development Centre, Newton , Mass, USA , (1965-1975).

     

    His areas of stewardship

    Prof Fafunwa’s areas of stewardship are inexhaustible. But a few may be mentioned here for the benefit of those who may aspire to be like him without exhibiting tendentious envy. They are as follows:

    He was an Executive Member, Nigeria Union of Teachers (1965-1975).

    He was Co-Chairman, EDC-CREDO Conference held at Queens College, Oxford (September11-15, 1967).

    He was a Director, Comparative African Education Study Tour to East and Central Africa (summer, 1966).

    He was an International Member, Kenya Commission on Teacher Education, 1967-1968

    Member, Review of the Educational System in Eastern Nigeria and Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Teacher Education (1963)

    He was University Representative, West African Examination Council (1963-1975)

    He was a Member, Vice-Chancellors’ Committee on the Sixth Form and University Admission (1965-1967)

    Member, University of Ife Delegation to the Founding Conference of the Association of African Universities, Rabat, Morocco (1967)

    Member, Sierra Leone Commission on Higher Education (1969-1970)

    Member, Keppa Delta Pi-Honour Society, New York University Branch, a Professional Society in Education (1955)

    National President, Nigerian Experiment in International Living (1957-1980)

    President and Founder, Nigeria Association for the United Nations, (1957-1961)

    First President, Association of University Teachers, University of Nigeria, Nigeria, Nsukka (1965-1966)

    Member: Vice-Chancellors’ Sub-Committee on Students Admissions, Loans and Scholarships (1963-1964)

    Member, Northern Committee of the West African Examinations Council (1964-1966)

    Chairman of the Research Committee and Governing Board member of the Nigerian Aptitude Testing Unit (1965-1966)

    He was a Member, Certificates Awarding Committee: West African Examinations Council (1965-1968)

    He was Chairman University of Nigeria Senate Committee on Examinations (1964-1966)

    He was Chairman, Board of Examiner and Member of the Governing Board of the Advanced Teacher Training College, Owerri (1963-1966)

    He was Consultant, Franklin Book Publications, Nigeria (1963-1966)

    Member Steering Committee, African Science Programme of the Educational Services Incorporated, Watertown, Mass, U.S.A. (1968-1970)

    He was a member of the 4-Man Committee Investigating the Western Nigeria Development Corporation (1967-1968)

    Member, Primary Education Review Panel, Western State (1967-1968)

    He was Adviser, Lagos Delegation to the Ad-hoc Conference on Nigerian Constitution (1966)

    He was a Member, Udoji Commission’s Sub-Committee on Teachers Conditions of Service Review Panel (1973-1974)

    Prof Fafunwa also pioneered Elementary Science Teaching in Nigeria 1963-1968. He pioneered the University of Ife Six Year Primary School Education in Yoruba (1970-1985). He established Esso West Africa’s Employees in Public Relations Department (1957-1961).

    He established Faculty of Education & Institute of Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka (1963-1966).

    He established Dept. Of Education, Faculty of Education & Institute of Education University of Ife, (1967-1972)

    An Academic of high repute, Prof Fafunwa had 35 published scholarly papers and articles as well as 19 professional books. He also had many distinguished honours here on earth and we believe he will have more in the Hereafter. Most of these earthly honours were from various communities in Nigeria and abroad including the academic circles.

    Prof Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa was married to Mrs. Doris Fafunwa and blessed with four children. We pray the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss. Amin.

  • Biafra and the rest of us

    Biafra and the rest of us

    After a brief slumber during my transatlantic flight to London for a professional conference, I woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday and began to jot down my notes for this column on my iPad. My subject is Biafra, which has attained a new level of notoriety since the release of Mazi Kanu. But a couple of hours later, nature demanded its due. I shut down and slept off again.

    Upon landing at Heathrow, I turned on my phone and was greeted by a message from Agbaakin Olu Omodele, the President of Egbe Omo Yoruba, North America. It was a “Joint Position Paper” by a consortium of seven Northern organizations calling on “the authorities…to allow the rebellious Igbo to go their way.” The group also threatened that “in the event the Igbo is not allowed to pull out, the North shall divorce this marriage that has never been convenient to any of the parties.”

    Alarmingly reminiscent of the antecedent event that none likes remembering, the group called “on all Igbos currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria to relocate within two weeks and northerners in the East should do likewise. It also warned Northern leaders “against further insisting on this union with the Igbo or any other part of Nigeria that is disposed to self-determination.” While the statement ended with “SIGNED”, suggesting that it was not anonymous, there was no signature on the message that I received.

    As I read the release sitting at the back of my cab, I ruminated over this development and its coincidence with the notes for my column that I had begun earlier in the airplane. I got to my hotel and I turned on my iPad again. And there was yet another development on the subject. It was a forwarded message from a distinguished Nigerian and an elder statesman and leader, a.k.a. Pa Integrity.

    The forwarded message, attributed to the Coalition of Northern Youths, CNY, with an AREWA logo, looks like a media report on the first group.  It states that the group “has handed a three-month ultimatum for the Igbo residing in the North to leave the region even as it ordered northerners in the South-East to immediately start returning to their various states.” It gave the name of a representative of the group, “Mallam Abdulazeez Suleiman, who read the statement tagged ‘Kaduna Declaration’ at the end of the meeting.” Of course, the media report veered off the main report and missed some quotations.

    I was alarmed. Are we at the precipice? Is time up for Nigeria as we know it? For, if the release is a true reflection of the Northern position, what prevents a “peaceful negotiated dismantling of Nigeria” now, as the elder statesman suggested in the caption of his forwarded message? Then, I also thought that this may all be fake news! The release may just as well be the work of provocateurs angling for another civil war.

    Yet, I am also reminded that, except for the threat contained in the release, its position is not much different from the that of Northern elders such as Professor Ango Abdullahi and Chief Paul Unongo. On his part, Abdullahi was quoted in Vanguard of May 20 thus: “Yes, if Biafra means negotiation, yes. It’s all a matter of discussion. If it means Igbo want to have a country of their own separate from Nigeria, it means a matter of discussion and we are prepared for the discussion.”

    In the same interview, Abdullahi repeated something that he had said before: “This is all I have been saying that if Nigerians are tired of staying together, they should be prepared to accept divisions instead of remaining in agony and disappointment of one another. We are always talking that the Nigerian state is not working and how can we make it work? And if the best option is to call for separate countries, why not?”

    Both Paul Unongo and Ango Abdullahi are leaders of the Northern Elders Forum. They both talk about not being against restructuring and will be ready to go to the conference table. But while Abdullahi does not mind a breakup of the country if it comes to that, Unongo believes that Nigeria cannot be broken up peacefully and it cannot survive another civil war.

    Political restructuring has been on the boiler plate of the country since the beginning of the military era in 1966. It led to Biafra and the civil war, and the renewed agitation for Biafra means that the demand for restructuring is not going away. We must acknowledge the uniqueness of the Biafra issue. Its persistent and determined advocates believe that they have a cause and they will not give up even if they appear to be against the entire world.

    What fuels this adventure which appeared to have been nipped in the bud almost half a century ago? Another distinguished leader recently sent me a video of Biafra Major-General Philip Effiong formally surrendering to the Federal Military Government and proclaiming that Biafra was no more. That was in 1970. Ikemba Ojukwu himself returned from self-exile to a warm reception by the Shagari administration with a declaration of his full support for the administration and his loyalty to the federal government.

    Queried about his willingness to work with a federal government run by a party with northern leaning considering his people’s experiences with the North, Ojukwu responded with a statement that has stayed with me since: “If I was meant to look back, God will not give me two eyes in the front of my head. Therefore, I will henceforth look forward.” That was in 1982, twelve years after the renouncement of secession and the embrace of the spirit of one Nigeria.

    It is also true, I believe, that since his triumphant return and until his death, Ikemba never reneged on his pledge to the unity of Nigeria. He participated actively in Nigerian politics with his support for the Shagari government. And in 1999, he floated a political party, APGA, which won the support of the majority in the Southeast.

    The question that must be asked and addressed now is this: what has happened since the transition of Ikemba that has fueled the resurgence of the struggle for Biafra? I think there is no mystery about the grievances of the Southeast zone. Whether they are enough to fuel the agitation or whether they are unique to the zone is another matter.

    First, a shot at the presidency has eluded the Igbo since 1979. In a country, which, as Ojukwu once put it, was built on a tripod (North, West, and East), this situation must be painful. In the thick of the June 12 struggle, this was one of the reasons that Ojukwu fought against an Abiola presidency. He made the point and canvassed unwaveringly for the annulment to stand.

    A second issue is the perceived inequity of state creation which resulted in the Southeast as the zone with the least number of states. While this may not have been intentional, it is not difficult for the zone to view it as another case of inequity.

    The third issue is quite different from the previous two. For, while those issues can be verified factually, this third issue is subjective and contestable. Mazi Kanu recently proclaimed that the entire Black Africa is just a huge animal zoo without the Igbo. Therefore, the Igbo must be allowed to bring out the best of itself without being polluted by the animal world.

    With that thinking, you do not need marginalisation and inequity as reasons for wanting out of a space in which you are being reduced to the animal world that your neighbors occupy. I do not know if most of the Igbo share this mindset.

    Nigeria can be saved from disintegration. If the Northern elders are genuinely open to political restructuring, they must initiate the discussion with their counterparts from other zones, including the Igbo. Otherwise, we should all start praying for “a peaceful negotiated dismantling of Nigeria” as the elder stateman urged.

     

    Follow me on Twitter:

    @SegunGbadeg2002

    @HarvestDayPub

  • Biafra: The unchangeable history

    This was not the article meant for this column today. The original plan was to continue the theological analysis of Ramadan in continuation of last Friday’s article. But since the circumstances of life are not the same, the need to change gear becomes warranted here.

    Yoruba Adage

    An axiomatic Yoruba adage was rekindled last week when some self-seeking elements called Biafra agitators came forth with a fabricated quotation from no source and credited it to the first Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The deliberate fabrication was meant to be a justification for their evil agitation

    in a restive inconsequential game of rebellion. The Yoruba adage goes thus: “Any slave that wants to illegally hijack a bequeathed estate (of an orphan) will surely want to fabricate a rootless history to justify his dubious but inordinate claim”.

    The true manifestation of that adage cannot be better experienced at any other time in Nigeria than now. In a desperate effort by some incurably tribal political marauders claiming to be Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and their Igbo partners in arms named Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to find reason for their rabid desire for secession, an historically injurious fabrication was hurriedly added to the existing cyber garbage with the

    intent of forcing it down the throats of innocent Nigerians who are expected to consume the poison and swallow it hook line and sinker.

    Tell us another

    The fabricated lie credited to Ahmadu Bello is as follows: “The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their future.”

    Now, take a second cursory look at that quotation and any rational human being will ask rational question.

    The statement was said to have been made as a by the late Northern Premier as a Christmas message to Northern Nigerian Christians on October 12, 1960. Haba!  Why would a well-informed personality like Ahmadu Bello give a Christmas message in October when he knew that December was the time of Christmas in Nigeria? Even if he was not a politician, could he have presented such a recklessly venomous statement to his followers as a goodwill message? When blatant liars are fabricating lies, they hardly think of the situation of listeners or readers. What kind of Christmas message would a Premier of Ahmadu Bello give give in October when he knew that that Christmas season was invaraiably December in Nigeria? Were the Northern Nigerian Christians of the 1950s and 60s so idiotic that they could not understand the Premier’s message and distinguish the wheat from the chaff? What was their response to the message? Liars hardly think of the implications of their lies while fabricating them. These so-called Biafra agitators will need a new fabrication for the generation of their age bracket to justify their thoughtless claim. The fabricated one as become stale and unsellable.

    Facts of history

    “The truth has come and falsehood has vamoosed; surely, falsehood is meant to vamoose (in the presence of the truth)”.  Q. 17: 81 History is like a phenomenal weather which all people of an area feel at once and which no individual or group can unilaterally alter by sheer whim. The more you try to alter it the more it firmly re-establishes itself. Whether it is interpreted and relayed positively or negatively, the fact remains that history is not anybody’s personal property and cannot be anybody’s monopoly. The dramatic personae in the amphitheatre of history are too many and too variant to be taken for granted. For instance, we know as a matter of historical fact that the Nigeria handed over to Nigerian politicians by the colonialists at independence was a loose federation of regional units. Each unit was constitutionally at liberty to grow according to the magnitude or limit of its economic resources.

    We know, and we have not forgotten that the first shot at the Presidency of Nigeria in 1963 was taken by an Igbo man, Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe who occupied the office of Mr. President until January 15, 1966 when Nigeria’s first republic was forcefully terminated via an all Igbo planned military coup.

    We know that the preparation for that coup had started in 1953 when a frontline Igbo politician allegedly expressed with delight, at a State banquet in Lagos, that “Ibos domination of Nigeria was a matter of time”.

    We know that a part of that grand design was the sprouting of the people of Igbo origin to all parts of Nigeria in readiness for taking over when the time was ripe for the execution of the plan.

    We know that the episode of 1954 election which gave victory to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in both the Eastern and Western regions and which would have made it possible for the Igbo people to rule the West in addition to the East was also part of that design.

    But for the astute and political sagacity of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who moved with alacrity to engineer cross-carpeting as a new political paradigm in Nigeria at that time to preempt the impending slavery of the Yoruba people to their Igbo counterparts surreptitiously, Yoruba people would have remained under the serfdom of Igbo economic and political hegemony till today in a winner takes all tango.

    Further developments

    Yet, we know that following the Igbo military coup of 1966 which saw people of other ethnic groups massacred, it was another Igbo man, Major-General Johnson Agyui-Ironsi who assumed office as Nigeria’s first Military President. Thus, an Igbo civilian was Nigeria’s first President who was succeeded by an Igbo military President. The agenda was to ensure that whatever political situation could become of Nigeria, an Igbo man was to be at the helm of affairs. And that was hurriedly as certained by a daring decree 34 of 1966 enacted by Ironsi to perpetuate his tribesmen in power. That decree obliterated all traces of federalism and turned Nigeria into a unitary form of government where power was to start flowing down to the regions from the centre which he manned.

    Incidentally when Ironsi’s regime collapsed after six months in office, it was the Igbos who first coined the non-existent word ‘MARGINALISATION’ and cried to the world for rescue from the persecution of Hausa and Yoruba tribes of Nigeria. That cry of the owl remains on course till today. The truth is that Igbos of Nigeria can never be satisfied with any post other than that of the President.

    They believe that Nigeria is made for them and others in the country are only to serve them.

    The killing of Ahmadu Bello

    One of the foremost political icons in Nigeria’s first republic and a patriarch of the political party called Northern People’s Congress (NPC), was Alhaji (Sir) Ahmadu Bello, the first and only Premier of Northern Nigeria. He became Premier of Northern Nigeria in 1954 through a popular election and was killed as Premier in January 1966 in a tribal/religious military coup plotted mainly by soldiers of Igbo extraction led by one Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. The plotters had killed this icon in cold blood before looking for reasons to justify their heinous crime. The three reasons they later gave were corruption, tribalism and religious bigotry. It was a matter of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    Premier Bello’s flanks

    Among the four Premiers in Nigeria at that time, only Ahmadu Bello could not in any way be evidently linked to corruption. Unlike others who lived opulently, Ahmadu Bello was an ascetic personality who served his people patriotically without any blemish. He left only a small residential bungalow in his home town of Sokoto at the time of his death. Who else left such a flank? Sir Ahmadu Bello could also not be singularly accused of tribalism because tribalism was the basis of all the existing political parties of the time. No Premier from 1954 to 1966 could be exonerated from tribalism directly or indirectly. They were all guilty of it.

    It can be recalled that certain tribal groups such as Ibiobio State Union (IBU), Ibo Federal Union (IFU) Egbe Omo Oduduwa (EOO) and ‘Jam’iyyar Al-Ummar Nigeriya ta Arewa’ translated as Northern Elements Progressive Association (NEPA) which later transformed into Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) were all tribal socio-cultural organizations that metamorphosed into political parties. All those parties preceded ‘Jam’iyyar Mutane Arewa’ meaning Northern People’s Congress (NPC) to which Ahmadu Bello belonged. Many other ethnic-based political parties later emerged to broaden tribalism in Nigerian politics. If anything, Ahmadu Bello was the least tribally inclined Premier of his time. Why did his killers link him alone to tribalism?

    His 1959 Christmas message

    Of the four Premiers in Nigeria’s first republic, only Ahmadu Bello was bold and sincere enough to allay the fear of the minority groups in Northern Nigeria by making a public policy statement about his government’s stand concerning tribalism and religious bigotry. Here is an excerpt from what he said while sending a Christmas message to northern Christians in December and not October 1959 as fabricators want Nigerians to believe: “…We are people of many different races, tribes and religions, who are knit together by common history, common interests and common ideals.

    Our diversity may be great but the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us. On an occasion like this, I always remind people about our firmly rooted policy on religious tolerance.

    Families of all creeds and colour can rely on these assurances. We have no intention of favouring one religion at the expense of another.

    Subject to overriding need to preserve law and order, it is our determination that everyone should have absolute liberty to practice his belief. It is befitting on this momentous day, on behalf of my ministers and myself, to send a special word of gratitude to all Christian missions”.

    “Let me conclude this with a personal message. I extend my greetings to all our people who are Christians on this great feast day. Let us forget the difference in our religion and remember the common brotherhood before God, by dedicating ourselves afresh to the great tasks which lie before us….”

    Any sensible reader who can compare and contrast the two speeches above will surely be able decipher the truth from the falsehood.

    Years, after Ahmadu Bello’s unjustifiable assassination, some evil elements in the media, in active conspiracy with certain political demagogues went to fabricate another statement and credited it to the late Norther Premier as a justification for killing him. The concocted statement was culled from an unknown newspaper called ‘The Parrot’.

    Truth and falsehood

    The Premier’s Christmas message quoted above was made on Thursday, December 24, 1959 (the eve of Christmas) through a radio broadcast and it was published by all newspapers in the country including the vociferous ‘West African Pilot’ owned by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the boisterous ‘Tribune’ owned by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the clamorous ‘Daily Times’ jointly owned privately by certain prominent individuals at that time on Christmas Day. It was equally published by many other smaller newspapers in Nigeria. All those newspapers are identifiable in Nigeria’s media history even though most of them are now defunct.

    On the other hand, the place and occasion of the fabricated statement credited to Ahmadu Bello was not indicated and cannot be traced in Nigeria’s newspaper history.

    Evidence of fabrication

    The first time any genuinely existing newspaper ever made reference to that fabricated statement was on November 13, 2002 (42 years after it was purportedly made. And ‘The Tribune’ newspaper that published it only claimed to have culled it from an online column published on October 24 2002 by a purported Yoruba Journalist (name withheld) who entitled it ‘the northern Agenda’. It can therefore be deduced that the statement was actually fabricated not in the 1960s but in October 2002, by the so-called columnist who credited it to a newspaper that never existed. The objective was to give it an undeserving credibility. What a country! What a people! What a shame! This is a typical case of an obvious mischief by heartless mischief makers just to fetch ephemeral fame and illegal income.

    The belief was that once such a fabricated article appears on the internet and is ignorantly quoted by some inconsequential writers, it would automatically become a document of facts and authority. That is Nigeria for you.

    The coup episode

    January 15, 1966 was a Saturday like no other one in the history of Nigeria. It was on that day that the bitter seed which germinated and grew into the thorny tree that now feeds Nigerians with unpalatable political fruits was planted. The evil planting marked the beginning of an agonizing political voyage of destiny on which Nigerians embarked without a compass. Coming up in the sacred month of Ramadan, the day actually came to confirm the axiomatic thought of an Arab poet who once asserted in a couplet that: “Nights are heavily pregnant; they give birth to wonders in the days….”

    The major casualties

    The heartless rascals in Nigerian military who struck in the January 1966 coup to terminate a democratically elected government must have foreclosed the consequences of their criminal action. They killed virtually all the major key players in the then Nigerian politics except those of Igbo extraction and of course, some non-Igbo people who were then in prisons. The Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar

    Tafawa Balewa and the Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh were killed in Lagos. The Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was killed with his wife and some other people in Kaduna, the then Headquarters of Northern Nigeria. The Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was killed in Ibadan, the then Headquarters of the South Western Nigeria while some military top brass of non-Igbo extraction were killed in different military barracks across the country.

    Except for Lt. Col. Arthur Unegbe (an Igbo military officer) who was killed for being too close to Maimalari and could not be trusted, no other Igbo man of note, politician or military, was killed in that coup. As a matter of fact, if there was any feeling of the coup in the Eastern Nigeria at all, it was that of victory and heroism. The top military officers who were killed in the senseless coup included: Brig. S. A. Ademulegun; Brig. Zakari Maimalari; Col. Kur Mohammed; Lt. Col. J. Y. Pam ; Col. S. A. Shodeinde; Lt. Col. Largema; Lt. Col. A. G. Unegbe; S/Lt. James Odu and a host of others.

    Coup planners and executors

    That overwhelming majority of the planners of that coup as well as its executors were of Igbo extraction could not have been a mere coincidence. It is particularly notable that the chief beneficiary of the coup (Major-General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi) was also of Igbo extraction. Almost all the military appointments after the coup were

    for men of Igbo extraction and none of these, except Hassan Katsina and Muhammadu Shuwa was a Muslim. How else could a coup be tribal and religious?

  • The Ramadan Family

    Preamble

    At no time in the life of man can the true nature of human existence be more manifest than in Ramadan. It is in this sacred month that Muslims reflect mostly on this. Some people fasted actively last year but are no more today. Some put their feet at the door step of Ramadan this year but never entered it. Some fell by the way side along the line.

     

    Human life

    Human life cannot be measured in history by the time or manner of his or her death. In Islam, death is neither the consequence of sin nor the repercussion of ignorance. There are instances when the sinless dies and the sinful lives. There are also instances when the learned dies while the ignorant lives.  The schedule of life and death is not in the custody of any human being. Death is a debt which every living being owes and must pay.

    Not even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was spared of death or given a foreknowledge of its time.

     

    Spiritual value

    Some people look but never see. Some claim to see or know in falsehood even when and where it is humanly impossible to see or know. The factors that determine the time, the place and the manner of death are known only to the the Almighty Allah, the omnipresent, the omnipotent.

    It is only in the imagination of man that age should be a factor of death. We shall all die at our scheduled time. Therefore, whoever is privileged to pass through this year’s Ramadan successfully should endeavour to add spiritual value to his or her life and not diminish in faith after the sacred month. We shall all account for that value before Allah.

     

    Reassessment

    After Ramadan, in a few weeks’ time, we shall start looking back, with nostalgia, not only the essence of Ramadan but also the good things we have done in the sacred month. For instance we shall remember that in no other month of Hijrah calendar is the role of Muslim women more pronounced than in Ramadan. Like in other months, they often exhibit the roles of wives, mothers as well as that of their husband’s confidants. But more than in other months, they also display their religious dedication in Ramadan.

     

    Women’s resilience

    In that sacred month Muslim women fast like their men counterparts. They pray five times daily. They join those men counterparts in observing Tarawih. Some of them even attend Tafsir and public lectures. Yet they never relent in carrying out their daily official daily duties just like men either in the offices, shops, or farms. And all these are in addition to their permanent matrimonial duties.

    Even as they assist their husbands financially in maintaining the homes, these women still take care of those husbands as well as the children and relatives domestically.

     

    Tireless in nature

    At the time of the day when their husbands are knocked out by fatigue arising from fasting, these wives are still busy in the kitchen preparing Iftar for the household. And at the time in the night when some husbands are engaged in Tahajjud, or are snoring in bed, the wives are already up in the kitchen preparing the Sahur for the family.

    Some of these women are carrying pregnancy. Some are suckling their children. Some of them are knowledgeable enough to do the Tilawah (recitation of the Qur’an) like their husbands.

     

    Their financial assistance

    Some of them are rich enough to finance their matrimonial home fully or partially.

    And, in all these activities, they never feel tired. Where and when they feel tired, they never show it. If any month has ever depicted the virtues of women, it is Ramadan and the women activities in it.

    If for the reason of their activities in Ramadan alone, they deserve tenderness and dignified treatment in the hands of their husbands.

     

     How children thrive

    Also after Ramadan, we shall recall the role of our children in the sacred month and then endeavour to ensure the continuity of those rewarding activities.

    At that time, it will occur to us that children are Allah’ greatest gift to man. Their presence in a house is blessing. Their contribution is immense. At times,  they can act like teachers just as they can play students. They learn fast, they teach fast. They are a major security for parents in any given environment.

    Children have both temporal and spiritual roles to play in a matrimonial life. And with such roles, they sometimes create hope for humanity and sometimes, they signal despair. They are the greatest asset in the possession of parents in time of peace.

     

    Children as weapons

    They are also the greatest weapon for those parents against the forces of Satan.

    Because of their innocence, children pave way for God’s forgiveness and quick acceptance of prayers. And, most importantly, children guarantee the continuity of man’s existence on earth through heritage. It is only with them that the fulfilment of today’s promise is possible tomorrow.

     

    The Qur’anic children

    In the Qur’an, children are mentioned many times and most often with reverence. They are treated in that glorious book as a major issue in the life of man. As orphans, they do not only have a role to play, they also compel some adults to play a role relating to them.

    As heirs to their parents, they have substantial shares in inheritance. Muslim children are like cubs. They follow the footstep of their parents or guardians a scrupulously. They are often with their parents during the five daily prayers. They watch their parents as the latter give charity to the poor. They accompany them to public lectures and Islamic social gatherings.

    And, in Ramadan, children are part of the Muslims’ total spiritual package. They wake up with them at night. They fast with them in the day. They break the fast with them at sunset and observe Tarawih with them in the evenings. They join their parents at Tafsir and night lectures. They participate in Laylatul Qadr and in giving Zakatul Fitr to the poor.

     

    Encouragement

    In all these activities, they are supposed to be spiritually nurtured and encouraged. At the tender age of seven, they should be guided to fast even if for half a day. And when they reach the age of 10 they should be strengthened in faith and in religious deeds. They should be provided with necessities of life both of the temporal and spiritual means. With these, they will grow up to become the fulfilment of their parents’ dreams.

     

    Good or bad

    Most children grow up as good or bad by emulating their parents. A child is therefore what his parents make him. If advantage of Ramadan is not taken by Muslim parents to mould their children into good Muslims what other platform will be used? Your child is your sun. Make hey with it while it shines.

    We shall also recall how we related to our neighbours especially the non-Muslims among them in that month.

     

    Like family, like neighbours

    In Islam, neighbours are as important as the next of kin. And, Islam attaches so much respect to them. According to Bukhari and Muslim, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was reported to have once sworn by Allah three times saying: “he does not believe in Allah whoever creates fear in his neighbours atrociously”

    In another Hadith also reported by Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet was quoted as saying that “Whoever believes in Allah and the last day let him be nice to his neighbours and respect his guests”

     

    New Toga

    In the month of Ramadan a good Muslim is expected to wear a new toga of sobriety and repentance. He doubles his good deeds to his neighbours extending generosity to them and cultivating a new atmosphere of friendliness and trust with them. He genuinely gives them as much impression of love and brotherhood as he does with his consanguine relatives.

    It does not matter whether the neighbours in question are Muslims or non-Muslims. Neither does it matter whether they are tribesmen or non-natives. The Prophet did not discriminate in his Hadith when he was admonishing on neighbours. And that is the inalienable position of Islam on neighbours.

    Therefore, whoever might have quarrelled with his neighbours go and settle the quarrel No one knows which Ramadan will be his or her last.

     

    Purpose of Ramadan

    Ramadan is not made a pillar of Islam by accident. Its purpose is to return man to the original state of purity into which he was born. That Allah entrusts the world to man is also not by accident. Allah consulted widely and far before entrusting this great responsibility to man having volunteered to bear it. This much is contained in Qur’an 33:71 thus: “We offered the trust (of the world) to the heavens; the earth and the mountains they all turned it down and were afraid of it. Man undertook to bear it but he has proved to be insincere and deceitful”.

     

    Reconfirmation

    For man to re-examine himself, repent his misdeeds and be redeemed, therefore, Allah brought Ramadan as a means of rescue.

    It is in the month of Ramadan that Muslims reconfirm NEEDS rather than WANTS as the necessities required for the sustenance of their lives.

     

    Needs and wants

    Muslims, by their faith and orientation, are not, ordinarily, given to WANTS. They are more concerned about NEEDS than WANTS. The reason for this is not far-fetched. With NEEDS come contentment and satisfaction while WANTS are the cause of greed and avarice.

     

    Divine provision

    Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, had divinely provided the needs of every living creature even before its creation. But then, He knew that of all those creatures man alone would go beyond NEEDS into the realm of WANTS. That was perhaps what informed the negative role which Satan assumed in the life of man shortly after the creation of Adam.

    By introducing WANTS to man, what Satan did was to create a permanent job for himself in the life of man. Without WANTS the world would not have been what it is today. Blood would not have been shed. Money would not have been deified. Hatred would not have been known to man. And, man’s inhumanity to man would have been totally averted.

     

    Effects of wants

    The effect of WANTS first became known when Qabil (Cain), the first son of Adam preferred his brother’s wife to his. In the argument which ensued, Qabil (Cain) killed his brother Habil (Abel) and combined the latter’s wife with his. Thus, greed and avarice became ingredients of man’s culture. And WANTS rather than NEEDS became the domineering factor in the life of man.

     

    Youths and Mosques

    One delightful thing in the sacred month was to note that Nigerian Mosques were full of Muslim youths. By this, a silent Islamic renaissance seems to be going on especially in Nigerian society. It looks like a repeat of the situation that led to the formation of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) in 1954. With this development, two great possibilities are expected to sail Islam through the coast of good hope in the 21st century. One is the return of the Mosque to its original objective. The other is the inalienable continuation of Islamic dynamism in reshaping the destiny of mankind.

     

    Ultimate hope

    The hope that these two possibilities are achievable in the hands of today’s teeming Muslim youths is in fulfilment of a fundamental prophesy about the signs of the last days. One of these signs is that ‘the sun will start rising from where it used to set’. The reference here is not to the physical sun. The Prophet was referring to the spiritual photosynthesis of the souls of mankind for the ultimate metamorphosis of those souls from mortality to immortality. The instrument of photosynthesis in this case is Islam. And, the fulfilment of this prophesy is gradually being confirmed today either by technology or science.

    When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) established the very first Mosque in Madinah (Masjid Al-Qubah) in 622 A.C, the purpose was more than just Salat.

     

    Functions of Mosques

    Ordinarily, the Mosque is not supposed to be just a house of worship. It should also be a school, a library, a hospital, a court, a media centre and a parliament. Without the Mosque, the unity of the Muslim Ummah would have been impossible.

    A Mosque is the meeting place for offering Salat five times a day. It is the centre of congregation for Jum’at prayer every Friday. It brings the Muslims together twice in a year for congregational observance of Eidul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha. Yet, the meeting place called ‘Arafah which is the climax of Hajj and at which the largest human congreagation meets one a year is a Mosque.

    The great Mosques in Makkah, Madinah, and Quds (Jerusalem) serve the same purpose as those in Cairo , Jakarta and Sydney . And, there is no difference between the Mosque in Sokoto and the one in Rio de Janeiro .

     

    Fortification

    Generally, the Mosque plays a central role in fortifying the unity of the Muslims wherever they are. But unfortunately, with time and with crave for personal benefits, the Mosque has been relegated to just a place for Salat alone. That is the real cause of the backwardness in which the Muslim Ummah is now wallowing. With the experience of the sacred month of Ramadan, fasting Muslims have gained bounteously. Such gains must not be allowed to slip off their hands. An opportunity may not come twice.

  • Fear in a free world

    Fear in a free world

    There is fear everywhere because the threat of political, religious and racially-motivated violence is alive. It shows on the faces of people who are otherwise cheerful and lively. Persons with a natural endowment of warmth, who ordinarily would open their arms wide for a bear hug, have become unusually reticent. They now wonder who to trust.

    It is a season when God’s children are supposed to bask in the generous warmth of the sun, having fun in the park or around town in tour buses. Now, they must consider and calculate the new risk of becoming an innocent victim of a sidewalk vehicular weapon or a hand-held dagger in the bus.

    A people who consider themselves to be born free, and who resent the chain of law monitored by elected representatives, now find themselves subject to the chain of terror controlled by foreign and domestic agents often beyond the monitoring capacity of any government. How has it come to this?

    The irony is brutal. Political philosophers take great pain to provide a moral justification of the obligation that citizens owe to their government. They contend that losing the absolute freedom of the state of nature, where there is no political authority breathing laws down our throats, is worth it because we will gain limited but tangible freedom under the constraints of the law. For this reason, we feel safe to give up our natural rights to self-protection because the state can protect us more effectively. This is what freedom under the law means.

    We readily agree to let go of our weapons, putting our utmost trust in the state to the dismay of anarchists. However, unfortunately, it turns out that the state is no more the Leviathan that ubiquitously checkmates the intrigues of the crime-inclined, while protecting the innocent. Have we given up absolute freedom only to be enslaved to the whims of the lawless?

    The free world is being victimised by at least three shades of hate and terror: political, racial and religious, none of which can survive thorough moral scrutiny. Needless to add, the perpetrators of terror are moral degenerates who could care less about the verdict of morality. Still, while none of the three is morally defensible, the difficulty of defensiveness increases as we move from terror motivated by politics to one motivated by race to one motivated by religion.

    Political terror is perpetrated by those who harbour a political grievance against the state. They want a territory. Or they seek to overthrow a government. Whatever their objective, they would rather set about achieving it by means of terror and anyone and everyone is target. The immediate aim is to terrorise all. The overriding aim, however, is to realise their goal when everyone would have been exhausted and would have given up the battle.

    That it has never happened that way does not come into the reckoning of the political terrorist. It does not matter to young and upcoming terrorists that their seniors in the business never achieved their overriding goal using the tool of terror. Meanwhile, the arbitrariness of the tactic and the randomness of the victims make free movement in free world a challenge of immense proportion.

    With racial terror, belonging to a different race is the only basis for being a potential victim. Not what you do but who you are and how you appear. It does not matter that you are not responsible for how you appear. Or that your creator gave you your skin colour as he gave your violators theirs. Coming out of the same creative genius of God does not appear to impact the warped reasoning of perpetrators of racial terror.

    With its hateful message of white supremacy, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) emerged as the loathsome racial terrorist in the last century. And while reasonable people thought that enlightenment has taken hold, rationality has prevailed, and the ideology of hate has been buried in shame, it only morphed into something that is subtle but certainly not less sinister as a new White supremacist movement in the 21st century.

    White supremacists have dealt a blow to the proud portrayal of the land of the free where all of God’s children pursue dreams of the good life. This cannot be good for the image that we send out to the world. Concerned about the damage to that image, minority populations have sought to bring the nation back to reason.

    “Black Lives Matter” does not deny that all lives matter. But in the context in which black people are routinely violated and demeaned, they seek to remind the violators that their (Black) lives matter too. It is a message to the New York assassin of a Black homeless man and his ilk. And to the White police officer who killed an unarmed Black driver without provocation.

    Religious terror is most probably the least defensible. A victim is targeted because he or she is of a different faith or of no faith and the perpetrator wants us to believe that he is doing the bidding of God and that there is ample reward for him in the afterlife. This is not a new development as there are ample examples of the same reasoning throughout history. All religions have been equal opportunity offenders at various times. But if we can dismiss past errors as born out of ignorance, how has modernity been different?

    The hate-filled suicide bomber in Manchester, United Kingdom, did not know any of his victims. Many of the dancers at Ariana Grande concert probably have no ideological beliefs. He did not care who they are. Some of them may even share his faith. Some were probably of no faith. They were just out for fun. Teenagers and children were among the victims. They were all God’s creatures. It did not matter to him. They were random collection of souls. Their killer did not profile them. Imbued with a self-conviction about what his “God” demands of him, and a chilling self-righteousness about his action, he blew up innocent souls.

    How possibly can anyone defend that action on religious ground? Does piety obligate the killing of innocent people? In other cases where responsibility for such attacks has been claimed, the motive has been attributed to revenge for the actions of Western forces in Iraq or Syria. But how can you claim a morally-justifiable revenge against innocent people who have not in any way been responsible for harming you? Some of the people killed may have even opposed the involvement of their government in the war effort! The logic of terror justification is curiously distorted.

    In an Oregon commuter train ride, a human creature of God with “Christian” as his last name, stabbed three fellow human creatures, two of them fatally, while a third was sent to the hospital with serious injury. He did not know their faith. But he was enraged that they intervened on behalf of two girls, one wearing hijab, which gave her out as a Muslim. Christian had engaged in angry rants against the girls telling them to go back to Saudi Arabia. The Good Samaritan intervention of the two men ended their lives in a jiffy.

    One of the two who died was a recent college graduate. He was looking to a bright future. The other victim was a family man with a wife and three children. He was a veteran who had served his country for 23 years in the military. What insanity has overtaken the world?

    As tragic as the commuter train gruesome killing was, it also demonstrated to us that humanity can still rescue itself from terror and hate. That was what the intervention of the three men meant. Convinced that the ranting hater did not represent human values, and that innocent women riding a train deserved protection from a White Supremacist terrorist, the three chose the side of virtue. They taught us that when our common humanity is debased, we have a duty to courageously summon the better angels in us. That is how the human race can survive and prosper.

     

     

    Follow me on Twitter:

    @SegunGbadeg2002

    @HarvestDayPub

  • Ambode at mid-term: Things not done

    Ambode at mid-term: Things not done

    t would be difficult for one to go to bed with a quiet conscience if one did not speak about the matters untouched and spaces uncovered in the first two years of the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State. One would have particularly failed, considering the fact that eulogies have rent the entire spectrum of media space extolling his great deeds in just two years. The plaudits are probably well earned, but we insist there are things that ought to have been done but are left undone. That is the concern of this column; and this is in aid of further enriching the big, bold mega city spirit.

    Albeit, we shall indeed start off with the good news, the things accomplished and achieved. And first, the intangibles. While many are carried away by flyovers and expressways, what one considers the grist of this administration is the public demeanour and temperament of the chief executive. This variable will define the actions and activities of this administration for as long as it lasts.

    The very first and perhaps most laudable action of Governor Ambode was to defang LASTMA and curtail its impunity. By the time he took over on May 29, officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, set up to improve traffic flow, had become lords unto themselves and a burden to commuters. They charged, they bailed, they arrested and convicted. They extorted and were a revenue machine for themselves and the government at the expense of the people.

    LASTMA kicked and yelled, even tried blackmail for a few days as he tried to change their deplorable attitude to work. But Ambode stood his ground. The government and her officials must have a human face, he insisted. LASTMA is a much changed and better agency today. Commuters are happier for it.

    As if to reiterate the message of humane-nity in public service, he recently banished the more despicable Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO). That a governor in today’s Nigeria would re-orientate public servants to render service with respect and dignity for the citizenry is for me, the acme of good leadership and a greater achievement than any brick and mortar. (Though one thinks the services of the VIOs are still required if only they can be made to do their jobs of ridding the city of smoky, rickety vehicles that ought to be banished from the roads).

    The second significant difference that has been made by the Ambode leadership in the last two years is the ability to quickly pigeon-hole the centres of traffic jam in the emerging mega city and unbundle such dark spots, so to speak. Some parts of Lagos had been remorselessly bedevilled by gridlock for the best of two decades without let. Commuting in some of these places is better now.

    The Dopemu, Iyana-Ipaja, Abule Egba- Agege, Ajah, Lekki corridors were notorious. But then, the magnificent flyover of Abule Egba unveiled last week and a similar one in Ajah are palliatives which are at once profound and salubrious to the well-being of the city and her people.

    In other words, the Ambode government has a good face, it has a big heart and it’s doing brave things including the massive international highway from Badagry to CMS, Lagos. The work started long before his time on this major artery including the adjunct rail and water transport but the pace now seems to be non-stop – day and night, rain and shine.

    THINGS NOT DONE: Salutary as all the above may be we are yet to see that holistic and integrated approach we canvassed for at the outset and which can drive the city to its destination as a world class metropolis in a short stride. Here is a checklist.

    One: No matter how brave, plucky and even omnipotent a governor can be, unless his local government councils are working in tandem with him, he can only do so much. The LGAs in Lagos have not been up to speed with the governor. And we say that the onus, the power and authority lie with the governor to make every unit of administration under his control to function effectively.

    While Ambode attends to major roads how many inner roads have been repaired or refurbished in two years? We all live in LGAs; do we see the drains being cleared, do we have the small streets and lanes attended to; in fact do we notice the presence of the local councils in any form whatsoever? No, unless they want to collect one rate or the other.

    And this applies to the entire country. Until we get the third tier of government working in Nigeria, not only will development elude us, chaos and calamities will continue to trail us as is witnessed all over the country. And it must be noted that any governor that manages to get his LGAs working accountably would be the governor that can lay any true and genuine claim to performance in office.

    It also must be said that making an LGA work is easy for any governor who seeks true glory and here is how: have serious-minded people head the LGAs; approve their budgets; fund their projects, supervise and monitor them closely. It’s as simple as that.

    Imagine that half of the inner roads in Lagos had been fixed now? Imagine that LGAs are managing their refuse and their neighbourhood security, to mention just a few examples?

    And speaking about security, no reasonable commentator can in good conscience give Ambode a pass mark. But not because he has not given it a good shot; not because he hasn’t invested billions of naira in the last 24 months; but his efforts have not worked largely because the LGAs are not working.

    Brigands terrorize Ikorodu, Igando and other areas kidnapping and maiming because we have vast unmanned and un-networked spaces. If all our LGAs, LCDAs, wards, CDAs and landlords associations are working in tandem, there would be no place for any hoodlum to hide. Unless we link up all these chains and have them well oiled, we would be wasting too much time and efforts.

    Two: this administration has not been able to tap into sports, tourism, aqua-nomics, targeted agro-hub and entertainment to boost revenues and develop our youths. Too many young girls and boys are loitering about the city unengaged. A Lagos football league, enabled by the state government will immediately engage about 10,000 boys and girls and distract over 100,000 from certain mischief every match day. Other team sports leagues can follow. The economics of this is huge and value chain long.

    The huge tourism potentials of this mega city have not been broached; so have the water transport and aquatic economy not yet ignited; imagine ten million Lagosians daily consuming poultry produced in Lagos… the opportunities are limitless.

    True, the governor has a good sight and a lot of energy but the scope of action is yet narrow.

     

    Edo Line: To kill a great brand

    It was a spectacle watching Governor Godwin Obaseki and a motley crew of hapless workers in what turned out to be an epilogue for a once illustrious public transport brand, Edo Line. In a fit of much restrained anger, the governor declared to the world that he had deployed the morose crew (that drove the firm aground) to the Ministry of Transport and that Edo Line would be history.

    We think the governor is in error. First, state transport firms are the biggest, cheapest and easiest source of IGR for states. Second, Edo Line is among the oldest and best of such brands with good parks in many cities of Nigeria, thus it remains very viable. Third, all the governor needs do is concession the brand to God is Good Motors; GUO or any other transport firm on a yearly contract and he could get N250m delivered to Edo State’s coffers every month; without spending a dime, without lifting a finger.

    Edo Line is a gold mine, don’t kill it.

  • Guest of all seasons

    Preamble

    To most pious Muslims around the world, the month of Ramadan is Allah’s special blessing with which to rescue mankind from the dragnet of Satan.

    This blessed month has always come to the earth annually for the past 1438 years or thereabout. And its mission has invariably been to liberate all willing Muslims from the scourge of Satan.

     

    Repackaging life 

    Whenever Ramadan comes, all Muslims and non-Muslims alike repackage their lives in a way suitable for the sacred month even as Muslims welcome it  with the best spiritual  hospitality while  chanting a sprcialn chorus of blessing. Ramadan Karim!

     

    Nigerian Muslim preachers

    It is quite unfortunate that this great month of Allah’s unsurpassable blessings has become the choice of some Nigerian Muslim clerics/preachers to feather the hat of Satan through abuses, curses and counter curses on radio and television stations sometimes using vulgar languages. By such preaching, most of those clerics often strip themselves of Allah’s bounteous blessings as much as they smear the religion of Allah on a platter of sheer whim.

     

    Warning

    The Message column hereby warns such preachers to desist from such satanic acts and fear Allah if they are truly Muslims. Otherwise, they may face the wrath of Allah. A Muslim without piety, particularly in the month of Ramadan is like a snail without shell.

     

    Status of Ramdan

    Ordinarily, Ramadan is one of the twelve Islamic months. But spiritually and psychologically, it transcends the status of a month having become the custodian of a whole pillar of Islam. Thus, from all indications it has assumed the posture and characteristics of a season.

     

     Characteristics of seasons

    Seasons are like the tides of an ocean. They roll out spirally in quick succession and reshape the world’s environment from time to time. They come in multiples of months as no one can measure a season in the absence of months.

     

     

    Seasons in the West

    The people of the West have so much respect for seasons that whenever  they have an important guest they call him an ‘August visitor’. The month of August is the peak of summer season in Europe where the season called Summer contains the most comfortable months of the year. In that season, the Caucasian race of Europe do treat their guests with maximum hospitality.

     

    Venerable guest

    In Islam, the most venerable guest is Ramadan. Its visiting time is not restricted to any particular season of the year. It may arrive in the world in any season. That is why it is called a guest of all seasons in this article.

    With Ramadan as a dignified guest, not only the Muslims but also, the entire humanity are consciously or unconsciously engaged in non-such hospitable activities in the sacred month. Those who do not fast in the month because they are not Muslims do take advantage of its blessed presence to engage in one business or the other. Farmers, manufacturers and service providers, all prepare their products for the arrival of the month thereby confirming that there can be no indifference to the awful presence of the sacred month in any part of the world. Perhaps nothing else is as captivating as this unique month.

     

    Ramadan’s voyage

    Although Ramadan perches on the earth every year, no one knows its port of embarkation. No one knows its destination. All we know of it is that of a guest that is so vividly present in our world and yet so invisible. It is through the Qur’an that we came to know ‘RAMADAN’ as the name by which the sacred month is divinely christened.

    Ramadan’s coming is often heralded by a retinue of envoys.

     

    Ramadan’s Entourage

    The months of ‘Rajab’ and ‘Sha’ban’ are the immediate signals that alert mankind of Ramadan’s imminent arrival. Thus, like the sun in the midst of stars, Ramadan ascends the throne in full regalia and all other months, (lunar and solar) quickly take their bow.

    If you call Ramadan the king where other months are mere chiefs you will be quite right. If you call it the medical doctor in a world of sick people you will not be wrong. If you call it the compass in the wilderness of straying humanity you will be speaking the absolute truth. If you call it the reformer of human soul or the sterilizer of human spirit or the purifier of human body you will not be disputed.

    In its entourage also are invisible ministers such as piety, knowledge, truth, justice and peace all of which usher it into the world with splendour.

     

    Meaning of Ramadan

    The name Ramadan is derived from the Arabic word ramad meaning hot ashes. The name had evolved since the time before the establishment of Islamic calendar. But it was not attached to any religion. And due to ignorance, humanity did not know the benefit of this month until the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who opened the eyes of the world to it.

     

    The Sacredness of Ramadan

    With the advent of Islam, the entire month of Ramadan is spent in fasting from dawn to dusk. Such fasting is not only an abstinence from foods and drinks alone. It is also about self-restraint from all sinful acts and repackaging of one’s destiny through a new but sincere resolution.

    Fasting during this month is believed to figuratively burn away all sins.

     

    Ramadan’s relationship with the Qur’an

    It was in the glorious month called Ramadan that the revelations of the Glorious Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) first began. It was in this month that all the previous divine revelations to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were divinely renewed and repackaged not only as a reminder but also as a reconfirmation of the authenticity of the Qur’an as Allah’s anchor message to mankind.

    In this month, all gates of paradise, (according to a Prophetic Hadith), are open while those of hell are closed.

     

    Segments of Ramadan

    Ramadan is divided into three main segments of ten days each. But the third segment may sometimes be limited to nine days. The first ten days in this sacred month are blessings galore for those of the Muslim Ummah who need Allah’s blessings and seek them. The second ten days personify forgiveness for those who realize the gravity of their sinful acts, repent on them and resolve never to return to such acts again. The last ten or nine days are meant for the liberation of mankind from the manacles of Satan. Whoever is so liberated automatically becomes like a newly born baby arriving in a new world with a clean slate (tabularasa).

     

    The Night of Power

    In the last ten days is a particular night called Laylatul Qadr in which the secret of human destiny is encapsulated. It is otherwise known as the ‘Night of power’. Meeting that night consciously and spiritually is like securing the key to one’s own apartment in Paradise. But one needs to remain awake throughout those nights to be fortunate to receive the blessings of the night.

     

    Searching for the Night

    Allah did not disclose the particular night called Laylatul Qadr even to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), But by asking the Muslims to look for it in the odd nights of the last ten days, the Prophet had assisted us tremendously. However, who can be so sure of the odd nights when the issue of sighting the crescent before starting Ramadan remains a subject of heated controversy?

    That is why some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), go for Umrah in Makkah or take to I’tikaf (spiritual seclusion) locally, in the month of Ramadan to reaffirm their total submission to the will of Allah.

     

    Zakatul Fitr

    Within the last ten days of Ramadan is also a common charity made compulsory for all Muslims irrespective of age, gender and status, to be given to the poor and the needy. This is called Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr. It is given out in the very early morning of Ramadan Festival Day or the night before it to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the rest of the Ummah.

     

    Vital questions

    Ramadan never perches on earth without certain vital questions such as the question of sighting the crescent before commencing the fast in it; the question of how to prepare for it socially, physically and spiritually; the question of what to do and what not to do in it; the question of who should fast and who may not fast in it; the question of how its days and nights can be spent; the question of what to benefit from Tafsir and how to observe Tarawih; The question of I’tikaf (seclusion) and what to do therein; the question of Laylatul Qadr that is said to be more beneficial to genuine Muslims than 1000 months; the question of Zakatul Fitr, Eidul Fitr and the features that characterize them as well as many other questions including marriage, divorce and sexual intercourse in this sacred month.

     

    Conclusion

    Where else can a guest like Ramadan be found? Where else can one meet a guest that hosts his host and heals him of his ailment of ignorance and other diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guest” That guest is Ramadan. That is why Muslims often say in this unique month: ‘RAMADAN KARIM’. Read the details of the features of Ramadan in a dauly column called ‘RAMADAN GUIDE’. It is written daily in The Nation newspaper by yours sincerely.

  • Another Democracy Day

    Another Democracy Day

    As the nation marks another Democracy Day on Monday, it is an auspicious time for a candid discourse on where we were, where we are and where we could be in the journey to nationhood and true democracy.  Notice my sense of what the nation is about to do on Monday: We will mark, not celebrate.

    It has been built into the national psyche that, on May 29, the workforce in the public and formal private sectors should mark the day with a holiday from work. It is also a fact that millions of citizens in the informal sector, including millions of petty traders, cannot afford that luxury. Working hard seven days a week with little to no improvement in their conditions, a day-off could be economically fatal.

    However, even those who enjoy a day off on Monday will not be celebrating. What is Democracy Day to workers unable to pay their bills or feed their families because they have worked without pay for months? This is a reality of the situation that must not escape us. An economy in doldrums is truly dispiriting.

    Yet as important for our physical survival and material well-being as the economy is, it is not the be-all and end-all of national greatness. Nations have pulled themselves together out of worse economic conditions. From the depth of national malaise that the Great Depression tossed the United States in the first quarter of the 20th century, the New Deal was born and the nation bounced back to life and to an enduring greatness. That feat took leadership courage and knowledge. It also took, significantly, an overwhelming embrace of the national cause by citizens.

    On the part of Nigeria, I have no illusion, of course, that not a few may consider my statement of the challenge a bit pretentious. “Who says that Nigeria is on a journey to nationhood and democracy?” they will ask. And frankly, I have no convincing answer to this overriding question other than refer them to the professions and proclamations made on behalf of scores of millions of citizens by the writers of the constitution.

    First, the document reports that we have all “firmly and solemnly resolved, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God” (my emphasis). Second, it states that “the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice” (my emphasis).

    Third, the constitution spells out what democracy requires with its declaration that “(a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority; (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; and (c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with (its) provisions.”

    There have been negative reactions to the declarations contained in the 1999 Constitution. For its apparent evocation of a unanimous authorship of the document, reflective citizens have considered it a “big lie” and a “fraud”. To the extent that it was a military-imposed document, which was hastily approved on the eve of its departure, without a formal referendum that sought the approval of the people for its adoption, these charges cannot be pushed away.

    For comparison, with the 1979 Constitution, at least the military pretended that the people mattered. They made efforts to involve civilians, first, through the appointment of a 49-member Constitution Drafting Committee and second, through a partially elected Constituent Assembly.

    But if the 1999 Constitution was flawed for the reasons adduced, what have we done since civilians took over the reins of governance? The fundamentals of the constitution which was imposed by the military have remained untouched. If the constitution remains a fraud and a big lie, then, it is either because most citizens have no interest in attaining the truth and freeing themselves from the negativity of fraud, or they are too powerless to demand that freedom. A consequence of the truth of this disjunction is that the “big lie” remains the foundation of our compact.

    But not all is lost. Of the three fundamental principles that the constitution identifies, namely nationhood, democracy and social justice, I do not think that the last two are as contentious as the first. Whether we end up as citizens of our various clans, tribes, nationalities, or as one indivisible country, I am sure that everyone still yearns to be part of a governance system that prioritises the principles of democracy and social justice. Complaints of marginalisation across every zone of this country are about the abandonment of democracy and justice.

    The Southwest has been the hotbed of the agitation for a true federal structure for the nation. It has also been the epicentre of sectional agitation for recognition and inclusion by “marginalised minorities” or “sidelined majorities” in states within the zone. Whether it is the Oke-ogun people in Oyo State, or residents of Ajegunle in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government of Lagos State, or Yewa people of Ogun State, what we are seeing is an intra-zonal affirmation of the national agitation of IPOB or MASSOB or Afenifere for restructuring and true federalism.

    One major reason for the near-universal mockery of the constitutionally-declared aspiration for national unity and nationhood then is that the aspiration lacks substance and credibility, and cannot motivate action if the effective drivers and motivators of national unity, namely democracy and social justice, are missing. The agitators are declaring that “we are not ‘one people’ if you deliberately treat one section of a state or one zone of the nation as a door-mat to be used and dumped, and not good enough for leadership of the state or the nation.”

    This is the fundamental issue. Most citizens are not against the country’s aspiration to nationhood. They are not against national integration. But first, they are against the injustice of exploitation and marginalisation in the name of national unity.

    Second, they are against any policy which privileges a uniformity that seeks to obliterate cultural, religious or linguistic diversities. Nigerians still subscribe to the ideal of unity in diversity which animated healthy competition in the areas of education, social welfare and infrastructural development at the beginning of the republic. Third, the demand for political restructuring should be seen in the context of its attraction for economic prosperity and national advancement. Let me elaborate a bit on this last point.

    Unfortunately, some thoughtful citizens, with demonstrable leadership credentials in various capacities, still misconstrue the idea of restructuring. They think wrongly that it is a demand by some zones for the deliberate underdevelopment of other zones. At the same time, they nostalgically recall the quantum of development that Nigeria experienced when she operated a true federal structure. But this is precisely the point of the advocacy of restructuring from our current unitarised federalism to a truly federal structure.

    Due to limitation of space, I can offer just one example of our current tendency toward over-centralisation. On May 14, 2017, Premium Times published its Special Report on the dilapidated state of Federal Government Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country. The focus of the report was on the poor state of the PHCs and the need for budgetary allocation to make them function properly.

    However, there are fundamental questions: Should the Federal Government be involved in building, equipping and staffing PHCs across the country? Or should it, through the Federal Ministry of Health (FMH), focus on health policies, such as National Health Insurance and broad guidelines for their implementation, while the states are empowered with resources to provide health facilities for their residents?

    That PHCs are dilapidated is not a surprise. The Second Republic Federal Housing Scheme suffered a similar fate, as most of the buildings became shelters for rats and reptiles. The Federal Government cannot effectively supervise such facilities scattered across the country. States are suffering from stunted growth because a greedy Federal Government has starved them of resources. The surprise is that two years on, a progressive party in power has not recognised the imperative of restructuring for balanced and equitable development.

     

    Follow me on Twitter:

    @SegunGbadeg2002

    @HarvestDayPub