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Tag: legacy

  • Dickson: I want to leave good legacy behind

    Dickson: I want to leave good legacy behind

    Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State spoke to reporters in Yenagoa, the state capital, on his plan to transform the state in his second term in office. The governor also spoke about some of the key proposals in the state’s 2017 budget. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE was there.

    What is the N14.5 billion recently given to the state by the Federal Government meant for?

    It is a refund from excess deductions on account of World Bank and Paris Club and other loans that the Federal Government took and repaid. Our federation is a very wonderful one, where as state governors, you just wait and at the end of the month they come up with whatever figures and throw them at you at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting. It was discovered that most of what they did at that time was not proper; they repaid with states and local government funds and governors came together to fight for what rightly belonged to their states. This N14.5 billion was not given to Bayelsa only, but to almost all states of the federation. We have put out the figure as a result of our transparency policy. The civil servants have been very understanding; in the last one year, we had to manage a very tough situation concerning our revenues.

    Why is the 2017 budget christened Budget for Repositioning for Consolidation?

    It is so-called because in the last five years or so, we have embarked upon an aggressive and ambitious programme of infrastructural development, to expand the economy of the state. Now, we are repositioning to consolidate, because in this budget, so much will be done and so many of these projects and ideas that were started will come to fruition. Thus, if we faithfully implement the policies and the principles behind this budget, at the end of the year, there will be a fundamental and almost irreversible paradigm shift in a lot of things. In this budget, so much will be done. Already so many projects have been completed. For example, in the health care sector, the diagnostics centre and the Government House Hospital, which has a public and an executive wing, have been completed. We also have the referral hospitals in the local government areas. So much is happening in education too; we have the boarding schools that will start soon and the constituency boarding schools that we will be completed within the year. So much is happening in the field of agriculture as well; we can see the massive cassava farms that will be kick-started in this budget year. That is why we say the aim of this budget is to finish up all of these. Also we will position the state sector by sector in such a way that Bayelsa will be ready to take off. Take for example the issues that I raised in the budget, the fundamental principles in the budget, the issue of increased revenue drive is critical. In this new year, Bayelsa will accelerate her IGR drive. In the housing sector. You are going to see a lot of estates. In sports-tourism, you will see the golf course and estate, the polo field coming up. The sports academy will also open for business.

    I also raised other fundamental issues in this budget. For instance, Bayelsans are going to make a giant leap forward this budget year, by way of breaking this attitude of not engaging in business. That is critical to the economic future of the state and so in this budget we have provided for a N10 billion entrepreneurship development fund. We aim to provide N5 billion direct contribution to that fund. Then, we will work with our partners, the Bank of Industry, the Bank of Agriculture and other commercial banks that are already indicating interest to work with us to contribute to that fund, so that Bayelsa business men and women will be trained and educated in the businesses and enterprises that they want to be engaged in. We will train them and put them in the industrial park; we will create a farm settlement where they will reside and do business. That fund will be utilised to settle them in those businesses. They will be mentored, monitored and supervised. And it is our hope that from this intervention fund, so many young people who are currently unemployed will not just employ themselves but will become employers of labour.

    The policy of subvention to tertiary institution is also being re-worked. Because of the way the state came into existence and the political upheavals with no governor completing two terms and staying for eight years, to follow through with any real programme of development, we have had a situation where state-owned universities and other tertiary institutions behave as if they are entities that can only be there to be cost centres. We want them to look within, generate revenue, supporting government in a more strategic sense beyond paying salaries, because the current system is such that every month we pay about N500 million as salaries of the Niger Delta University (NDU) lecturers for example. We have said as a government that every tertiary institution will only be entitled to subvention. So, lecturers and university administrators should begin from now to put on their thinking caps. But we are also giving them a soft landing in this budget, with a special intervention fund for tertiary education, which is meant to fund not just the payment of salaries, but also to put something aside to build many facilities and modernise existing ones. So for the NDU’s College of Education, the College of Health Technology Otuogidi, and the BYCAS, there is good news in this budget year for them.

    Considering the scope of the ongoing development projects, do you think the amount appropriated to the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure will be enough to sustain the tempo?

    We have major infrastructural deficit and challenges. We have tried in the last couple of years to see what we can do, but because the funding situation has become very harsh, on account of the recession, you can see that a number of these projects have been stalled for some time. For example, the dualization of Isaac Boro Road, which is our flagship road almost cutting through the entire length of Yenagoa. It is very easy to forget how that road was before we came into office, because human memory is very short. This budget is about completion of such projects. The amount we have appropriated for infrastructural development is not as robust as we will like it to be, but a budget is a product of what you expect. For example, last year, we expected we will get so much, but we ended up with only about 46 per cent of the anticipated revenue. So, if you look at it from that perspective, you would understand why we did not achieve much. For example, you see the Igbogene bypass, that road has been in existence for over 20 years. But you have seen the beautiful dualized roads we have made like the Opolo-Elebele Road. That is why we give them to Dantata and Sowee, CCECC and Julius Berger and the like. I wish we have more resources for infrastructure, but given the economic environment this is the best we can do.

    In 2016, the government proposed N191b and in 2017 the proposal is N221b. Given the current economic realities, what informed this increase?

    The sectoral performance report will be given by the commissioners and the media and finance team. They will begin to analyse the budget performance. But, I have already said that we received only 46 per cent of the budgeted revenue for the outgoing year and that should let you have an idea. But, if we did not receive the money we anticipated, then, it goes without saying that government didn’t have enough money to do quite a number of things. That is why I am talking about the delay in the critical projects like the dualization of the Isaac Boro Road and the stopping of work at Oporoma and so on. But all of these we intend to kick-off.

    To your next question of why our expected revenue is slightly higher this year, I talked about the fundamental principles underlying this year’s budget, which we must all understand properly and collaborate to achieve. The first one is the increased revenue drive. There are states that get between N10b and N20b IGR. Some are even approaching N30b. In those states, if you own a property, you pay tenement rate, property tax etc. You pay for permit to build a house. This is how modern states and economies are run. We have assessed our possibilities and worked with the other arms of government to collaborate on redesigning the mechanism that will deliver on increased IGR for the state. For example, a lot of legislations that were not there to create a legal framework under which people will now go and then do most of this services. The judiciary is setting up a revenue court; we already have the tribunal that will handle cases from urban and regional planning board. These are all mechanisms that will increase IGR. We have blocked leakages, and will continue to do so, particularly with regards to the collection and management of tax revenue. Already, all revenues generated are channelled to a single account and we see it on the platform. All my key officials have the details and I monitor it too. So with a combination of all of these and with the cooperation of the people we intend to be able to raise money. We have the capacity. This state is very well endowed. This is one of the most blessed states in the country and anywhere in the world. It is just a question of laying the right foundation. We are trying to redesign the foundations.

    What plans do you have for rural development in your budget?

    Your question on community development is very important. When in the course of electioneering campaigns, I went round this state, I did so not just because I was soliciting for votes, but that opened my eyes to the realities of rural life and the challenges and the potentials and so. In this current year, the Ministry of Community Development, which we have created just to address these issues will be very active. Almost all communities will be touched. Teams will go round to assess the real needs of the communities, starting from the small ones to the big ones. For Azika, we will have you and other rural dwellers in our mind. We will give you attention. Concerning the Biseni road that you talked about; there are two roads that are critical that we want to do. My predecessor started the road that will link to Onopa, but that road has a lot of stories including people who ran away with billions of naira. But as our resources permit, we will address all of those roads.

    What measures have you put in place to check the growing cases of cattle destroying crops and prevent clashes between farmers and herdsmen?

    We have been taking a lot of measures to prevent clashes from occurring. Let me say we condemn the attitude of herdsmen who come into this state and carry their cattle to people’s farms and destroy them and attack farmers and villagers. But part of what we have been doing quietly is to work with the security officials and the leaders of the herdsmen and a lot of progress is being made. I am aware of those instances and I want to say that people should not take the law into their hands. We will not allow herdsmen to intimidate Bayelsa people. That will not happen under my watch; you can be sure of that. Any herdsman who is armed with any dangerous weapon will be promptly dealt with according to the law. We have decided that we will open up ranches where people will be engaged in animal husbandry.

  • A legacy in ruins

    A legacy in ruins

    Sagging ceiling, shattered windows and defaced walls. These are the lot of the 58-year-old Enugu State Central Library. The legacy structure is in ruins. The library is battling with antiquated academic materials and decaying infrastructure that are giving users unpleasant experience. Will the government allow the library to collapse? JAMES OJO (400-Level Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and GIDEON ARINZE (300-Level Mass Communication) report.

    It used to be a prized knowledge base for researchers and students. For academics, it was a pristine environment for scholarly exercises. The Enugu Central Library was a hub of academic excellence.

    Today, all these have become past glory. Sagging ceiling, shattered windows and defaced walls have become the lot of the 58-year-old library. The once-vibrant public library is now a shadow of itself, because of its structural decay. Located on Ogui Road in Enugu, the library has been allegedly abandoned for many years by the government.

    Established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1958, it is reputed to be the first public library in West Africa. The facility was built to provide a serene environment for research and acquisition of knowledge. Because of its quiet location, researchers frequented the library.

    In line with the UNESCO mandate, the 100-seater library was filled with loads of useful textbooks, educational and research materials. It was gathered that users preferred the library because it housed materials that were not available elsewhere.

    Ironically, the library now offers antiquated materials that cannot add value to modern knowledge and research.

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited the library, only a few users were there. A look at the book shelves left much to be desired; they hardly contained updated books.

    Most of the books are remnant of torn textbooks and research materials. Inside the stuffy library halls are old and broken tables and chairs. The halls are hardly ventilated, making studying difficult.

    Some users go with hand fans and other light materials for ventilation. There is no physical change in the facility, indicating that nothing had been done to expand it. The library presents a grim picture of itself, indicating that it is in need of attention.

    To worsen the situation, the library is daily choked by the noise around it. Located in front of it is an bus park. At the back is Ogbete Main Market. The noise from speaker at the park and at the market is enough to discourage first-time users of the library. The users also battle with the odour of urine, oozing from its fence close to the bus terminus.

    More so, the library lacks functional computers that can provide e- library services and easy access to information. The 10 computers in the library, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, were donated by the Wawa Women in Texas, United States.

    According to the Acting Director, Enugu State Library Services, Mr Jude Offor, the Central Library was conceived to be situated in a quiet environment to enhance learning and promote research. He regretted that the facility is now choking in noise.

    He said: “People around the world used to visit this library for research. We used to boast of well-trained staff whose jobs were to make users have good experience. We used to sponsor our staff to attend local and foreign workshops to improve their knowledge.”

    Offor said the library was struggling to achieve its mandate because of lack of funding. “As you can see, we don’t have modern books. The environment looks deserted and bushes are overtaking the structure,” he said.

    A user, Franklin Igwe, described the library as “unorganised”, saying it lacked modern books. “I have come here several times to research on financial management, but I could not find anything related to the topic,” he said.

    Amaka Okwuiyi, a worker, said the library may collapse if the government did not take steps to solve its challenges. She said: “We don’t have regular source of power supply. There is no water. There is no functional ventilation system that gives users good experience.”

    Offor blamed it all on what he called the government’s lukewarm attitude towards  giving the library a facelift. The government, he claimed, had not responded to calls to adequately fund the library.

    He said workers were being owed seven years subvention, amounting to about N50 million. He added that retirees were owed allowances of about N45 million.

    Offor said: “The library is placed under parastatals and not ministry. It receives insufficient subvention from which workers are paid salary. Each time we receive the subvention, we manage to pay workers. The bulk of the money goes for repairs.”

    He appealed to the government to attach the library to a ministry for it to have a special budget. This, he said, would make the facility reclaim its glory. Offor said the library’s challenges must be addressed promptly to enable it meet its mandate.

     

     

     

  • A mixed legacy

    A mixed legacy

    •This, perhaps, best describes the late Israeli President Shimon Peres’ life and times

    In a political career spanning seven decades, he was a permanent, influential and often controversial fixture in his country’s public sphere. The iconic life of Shimon Peres, foremost Israeli statesman and politician, who died on September 28, at the age of 93 was intricately intertwined with that of his country. There is hardly any major event in the history of the Israeli state that he was not involved in. This was, of course, inevitable. But for three months in 2006, he served continuously in the Knesset from November 1959 until 2007 when he became the ninth President of Israel, an office he occupied till 2014. Apart from being elected prime minister twice, he was also at various times minister of foreign affairs, minister of finance as well as minister of transportation and communication, thus contributing significantly to the evolution of Israeli public policy, particularly in the areas of defence and foreign relations.

    Shimon Peres was widely perceived by many as a leader who strived for peace in one of the most volatile areas of the world divided by fierce ethnic, cultural and religious animosities with deep historical roots. Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize along with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) for their roles in the peace talks that culminated in the historic Oslo Accords. As foreign minister, Peres was central to secret negotiations that radically changed Israel’s long standing policy of refusal to negotiate directly with the PLO and ultimately produced the agreement between the two bitterly feuding sides.

    “We mean business. We do not seek to shape your lives or determine your destiny. Let all of us turn from bullets to ballots, from guns to shovels”, Peres had said at the historic signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House Lawn on September 13, 1993. Earlier in 1987, also as foreign minister in a coalition government, he tried without success to actualise a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan by proposing an international peace conference on the Middle East. However, on October 26, 1994, Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty initiated by Peres along with Prime Minister Rabin, bringing to an end 46 years of official war between both countries.

    Unfortunately, so passionately do the contending sides in the enduring Middle East crisis detest each other – Jews versus Arabs, secular versus religious Jews, contending Arab countries and Islamic sects – thereby making efforts for peace in the region by pacifists like Peres unsustainable and of negligible impact. Indeed, as prime minister in 1996, Peres ordered massive air raids and extensive artillery bombardment of Southern Lebanon in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel by the Hezbollah Islamic organisation. In 2002, members of the Norwegian committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize expressed regrets that Peres’s award could not be withdrawn because he had violated the ideals he proclaimed when he accepted the award by not preventing Israel’s re-occupation of Palestinian territory.

    Even though he was genuinely committed to peace in the Middle East, Peres was equally uncompromising in his belief in a militarily strong Israel and the protection of the safety of Israeli citizens everywhere. In 1976, Peres as minister of defence, played a critical role in the spectacular Entebbe operation that saw the Israeli military successfully rescuing 99 of 100 Israeli Paris-bound travellers on Air France held hostage in Uganda. He was responsible for strategic alliances and critical arms purchases that laid the foundation for a fearsome Israeli military machine, including the establishment of the Dimona nuclear reactor that facilitated Israel’s capacity for producing nuclear weapons.

    Shimon Peres was undoubtedly a great statesman committed to peace in a deeply divided region that also required that he helped build, maintain and enhance his country’s capacity for war. His is indeed a mixed legacy.

  • Legacy outlets open in Lagos

    Legacy outlets open in Lagos

    Medium scale enterprises and ambitious business owners in Lagos may soon have profit margins boosted by Legacy Serviced Offices, outfits dedicated to the provision of furniture, internet access, security and other office facilities which opened recently in Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The  outlets, among other things, are meant to take care of small and medium scale enterprises that are already profitable and have raised funding.

    The proprietor of Legacy Serviced Office, Kayode Adegbola, in an exclusive chat with The Nation explained that he opened the office outlets to provide services to local and international companies who do not need to bring in their own furniture, internet access, security and other amenities needed in an office outlet.

     “Our space is beautifully designed, keeping in mind what the customers need. There are also other things that customers may think they do not need, but if we offer them, then they will realise that they need them,” Adegbola said.

    He noted that the central location of the office in the heart of the island is an advantage to businesses poised to rebrand their ventures.

  • Braithwaite: Legacy of social justice

    SIR: It was Robert Kennedy, the former United States Attorney General who once said: ‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance’.

    This statement underscores the life and times of Tunji Braithwaite as a staunch advocate of human rights and social justice. He gained singular reputation in his own right as one of the finest leaders of the pro democracy movement in Nigeria. He electrified the country with his passionate speeches for democracy and social reforms. He was an outspoken defender of fiscal federalism, the poor and a champion of education, rule of law and other issues confronting the Nigerian state.

    His political and social construct recognise the evil forces and economic constraints surrounding the oligarchic political regime in Nigeria with a profound understanding of social change dynamics and outcomes and he also paid an exceptional attention to the quality of state institutions, the design of public policy, and the promotion of self-directed role of leaders and stewardship in nation – building efforts.

    Indeed, Braithwaite’s exit from the political landscape marked the beginning of the end of courage, character, vision and ideology. He belonged to the last generation of welfare and pro-people ideologist who participated in the struggle for national liberation through the demand human rights and he became a revolutionary force for the enthronement of civil rule in Nigeria. His political and legal activism was driven by great intellectual and ideological ferment and his words ring true today. His austere political leadership and intellectual notions of human rights continue to expand today and no doubt enrich the political conversation on the national question and the urgent need to tinker with the territorial dimensions of the contrived Nigeria state. He represents a socio – political movement that is unequalled in the Second Republic politics in Nigeria particularly in the area of political party formation, organisation and ideology devoid of ethnicity and religious colouration of that era.

    As we celebrate the exit of Nigeria’s finest social crusader and political reformist, it is painfully clear that ‘mosquitoes and rats’ are still looting the commonwealth with reckless abandon and the tragedy of the Nigerian situation is that majority of the elite are still engaged in misappropriation of public wealth squirreled away in offshore accounts which weigh down social investment and development. Nigerian elites have failed to transform their political kingdoms into ecstasy. The inescapable image, therefore, is a picture of a people deprived of their basic needs in conditions of extreme hardship as state mangers and leaders fail to or seem incapable of advancing policies and programmes that would alleviate the plight of the ordinary man which Braithwaite championed and campaigned for in the last 50 years of his political activism.

    Finally, as a national reformer and a social rights campaigner, he may have been disappointed that Nigeria’s political landscape is still infested with ‘mosquitoes and rats’, but he would certainly be inspired if in the nearest future we play by the rule of law, popular democracy and social justice. There is a silver lining but we must be vigilant as a people in need of progress and development. That is the greatest mark of respect we can pay to a political and civil rights movement icon. Tunji Braithwaite made a difference.

     

    • Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje,

    Lagos

  • Tomlinson’s imperishable legacy

    Tomlinson’s imperishable legacy

    •What was life like before email — electronic mail?

    Persons born in 2000 and later cannot even conceive it.  Those born in the last two decades of the 20th Century, the so-called dot.com generation, can recall only dimly some aspects of social life and business transactions before email came along.

    They remember “snail mail,” the material you transmit through the post office, which is still with us. Older persons will of course remember the telegram, and the telex which, until email came along, were the fastest means for conducting urgent communications

    But in these parts, you had to go to the post office to send your telegram, and to the less accessible telecommunications office to send your telex. The telegram was transmitted by telephone to the nearest postal centre for delivery to the addressee. If there was no post office where the receiver lives, delivery could take several days. The telex was faster and less cumbersome. But, as with the telegram, point-to-point delivery was not assured.

    Electronic mail changed all that.

    It eliminated distance and physical barriers and rendered time immaterial. You type your message, you hit the “send” button, and in an instant it bobs up on the recipient’s computer screen next door or half a world away. You can send that same message to hundreds, even thousands, by the simple expedient to typing in their addresses, unlike in the past when you had to send a paper copy to each addressee.

    You can attach documents of every description. You can attach pictures, architectural drawing, sketches, musical compositions, and video. You can do all this and much more at a fraction of the cost of transmitting it by the old traditional mail. You can store your email and retrieve it just as easily.

    The world owes this technological device that has transformed the way we live and relate and create and do business to the electronics research and development engineer Ray Tomlinson who died last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 74.

    Electronic mail was not Tomlinson’s first epochal achievement, however. He had become a cult figure since 1971 when he invented a programme for ARPANET, the Internet’s predecessor that enabled people to send person-to-person messages to other computer users on other servers.

    Like many inventions that have revolutionised our world, email was a product of chance, an accident as it were.   Tomlinson was “just fooling around, “according to a 1989 profile in Forbes magazine, looking for something to do with ARPANET when he stumbled upon it. His first message was to two machines placed side by side.

    When the message went through, he reportedly pleaded with a colleague, “Don’t tell anyone! This isn’t what we’re supposed to be working on.”It was only when he was satisfied that the programme really worked that he announced it by sending a message to co-workers explaining how it could be used.

    At the time, few people had personal computers. The use of personal email would not reach high numbers until years later. Today, it is an indispensable part of modern life.

    Sadly, it is not always used for beneficent ends. It is daily employed to spread falsehood, to promote hatred, to disseminate pornography, and to perpetrate extortion on a grand scale. There are no obvious cures for these perversions, and no foolproof answers.

    These unintended and unfortunate consequences represent the price society pays for breakthroughs that help improve the quality of social life.  Without question, email constitutes one such breakthrough.

    According to philosophers of science, revolutionary breakthroughs, the type emblematized by email and the Internet, come after long intervals. Scientific and technological advancement generally occur by accretion, in small, incremental steps, while huge leaps manifest only once in a while.

    Are our universities and research laboratories equipped to do the kind of work that can lead to the next scientific breakthrough of global significance and thus establish Nigeria as a crucible of innovation?

    This question should guide those who make and administer educational policies and disburse funding for research in Nigeria.

     

  • Legacy, pragmatism and idealism

    Today’s  title stems  from the   post – debate   categorization   by analysts  of the world views of the leading two US Democratic Party presidential candidates this  week. Senator  Bernie  Sanders  was labeled idealist, and Hillary  Clinton as pragmatist based on her exposure and stint  as Secretary  of State before. Both  were sworn as  it were  to defending the Obama legacy although Hillary  took a swipe at her  opponent by wondering what the Republicans would be left to say given the way the Senator was attacking the Obama legacy especially on the state of the US economy.

    I take  issues today with  this simple branding of the contestants as well  as the concept  of the legacy they are both beholden to defend because their  party has been  in power  for the last eight years in the US.  Consequently  and  ipso  facto   they  must  accept responsibility for the state of both the domestic and global  economy as well  as global  security  and  foreign  policy given  the  US leading role in world politics.  That  in reality means that as they sell  their  candidacy  they must  articulate  new ways that  they have in their arsenal to make things better  for the  American electorate  which  is their first  constituency  and vote catchment environment.

    In  contrast however  one   must  bear in mind that the Republican Party  has no such  responsibility  or  albatross on its neck  because it  has  been out  of power  also   for eight years.  However,  if Donald  Trump’s  views on the Obama Administration are representative of that party’s  judgement  of the performance of the Obama  tenure, then the two terms have been a mere waste of time and the US government needs to be rewound, reset, rejigged under an  angry Trump Administration, the prospect of which is giving even the Republican establishment nightmares and jitters  on how Trump or have gotten to such an  alarming   head  or  situation.

    In  addition  to  these  I  intend to measure some of the actions of the Buhari Administration in Nigeria in terms of these  concepts as well  as well  as the legacy  bequeathed to  it  by the Jonathan Administration it succeeded after winning  the 2015  presidential election.  I will  take  a look at the workings of our separation of powers, our 2016  budget and the decision  to take a  loan  from the World  Bank  to  finance our huge deficit in the face of falling oil prices.

    Now let  me air  my views  on the categorization  of  Sanders as idealist  and  Hillary  as pragmatist  as well as the political capital  that either can make with the American  electorate over the Obama legacy. Personally  I found Sanders  more profound and interesting  than  Hillary. The  debate looked as if Hillary  was taunting Sanders who looks  like an old man but has a lot of fire in his belly given his utterances on new ways to create jobs and improve the lot of a stagnating middle  class  as well as looking after the lot of the old and war  veterans.

    At a stage in the debate Sanders roared at Hillary  that you  are not president yet. Undoubtedly  if Sanders had his way he would not be defending the Obama legacy but the party potential  candidates  had been roped into that when Vice President Biden dropped his bid to contest and was literally policed by his boss to the venue where he announced his withdrawal  from the presidential race. Biden insisted   then  in his   speech that whoever gets the Democratic  Party’s  nomination  must defend the Obama legacy.  But  he also pointed out that the party must reduce poverty and the gap between the rich and poor  which  he said had not been that high in the US  history. That really  is what Sanders  has been saying and that doesn’t  sound as a  sound  legacy  of  the Obama Administration two terms of eight years of which Biden was the  No 2 helmsman.  The  debate  and battle between Sanders and  Hillary  will eventually  unravel whether  Biden’s admonition to sell the party  on the Obama legacy  was  given  in good  faith or was just   sour grapes and his    way of throwing spanner  in the works  for those who did not allow him to succeed  his boss.  Surely time will tell  between now and July when the convention to select the party’s  candidate will take place this year.

    One  thing that is clear from the  debate is that Hillary  looked and sounded  tested –  like  someone  who  knows  the limitations of power having been a president’s wife and  Secretary  of State. Undoubtedly the Democratic  Party is still the darling of the minorities in the US whose demographics  have swelled  such  that calling them minorities has  become a misnomer and  anachronism given their numbers  and polling might in the US today.  Such  political capital  appears to be Hillary’s  for the taking but  a formidable Sanders stands in her way.  She  should  be careful for that was what  happened eight  years ago when a virtually unknown senator stole  her thunder  at  the convention  to become the first black  US president.  History  has a way of repeating itself   for good  or bad if care  is  not taken.

    Let  us now  go back to the Nigerian  context of this analysis.  The first  is the legacy  of the Jonathan Administration that the Buhari government inherited. It is a legacy  of profligacy  and corruption on which it appears nothing solid can  be  built  and  for which  the new government  seems  sadly   ill prepared to address. That  really  is the truth. You only need to read the papers on revelations on Dasuki gate and  the properties  being seized  from  military  chiefs who own state  of the art  hospitals  to know that the government is in dire straits. It must prosecute and punish to  deter, but it must also govern and fulfill its promise to the masses  which  elected it.  But then does  the government have the requisite  manpower and resources for this? Given the present   pace of policy formulation  I doubt this and  I stand  to be corrected.

    On  the workings of our separation of powers I see a separation of ways emerging between the three tiers  of  government. This  week the Chief Justice defended the Supreme Court judgements which overturned some election victories  and reversed some other judgements. That is how it should be because the Supreme Court is the court of the highest  arbiter and its word must  be respected as the law.  So  for the Chairman of the ruling party to wonder aloud at some judgements of the court is in bad taste and is not good  for constitutionalism.

    Similarly the legislature and the executive  are on collision course largely because the executive did  not do its home work well  on the budget  and also  because  the legislature  is trying to make  a meal of its oversight function  of approving the budget. The  legislature has highlighted discrepancies  in budget  figures  but that is part of its function and the executive should reconcile its figures. But  it was lazy  of the executive to have prepared its first budget  along the lines of the  paraphernelia,   values  and  life style  of its extravagant and  inept  predecessor which created the war  chest  of the fight against  corruption.

    There should  have  been  a departure to cut costs in the face of dwindling oil  revenue  and to call on the judiciary and legislature  to  do  like wise. Worse  still  is the decision to take World Bank loan to finance our deficit. Taking a loan to finance a productive deficit  meant  for   infrastructure, jobs and  poverty  alleviation  is in order. But  taking a World Bank  loan at this time is like walking blindfolded  again back  to where  our former  Minister of  Finance, an  agent  of the World led us and our economy into the woods  while  she was rewarded by the Bank with promotion at her first  calling and juicy  consultancies at her last outing.

    At  a time when we should be asking Okonjo-Iweala to explain why she gave the NSA the recovered Abacha  loot that crystallised into Dasukigate, we  are like  a dog returning to her vomit and playing into the hands of the World  Bank  and its infamous and inhuman loan  conditionalities. I really  feel we should  look elsewhere to finance our deficit. Perhaps  China while  making sure we monitor  our loan disbursement critically. Surely we are in dire straits economically and in terms of security but its high  time we learnt  to cut our cloth according to our size  in all facets  of our responsibilities  and obligations. Once  again long live the Federal Republic of  Nigeria.

  • Ekiti tragedy as Obasanjo’s legacy

    The sickening confession by Dr. Tope Aluko that in effecting what he described as a coup against the people of Ekiti, they “went into the election with 1,040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 ‘unrecognised soldiers’ brought from Enugu by a serving senator from the South-East;  raised 44 special strike teams brought in (with) Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha and made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the strike team with  each of them given a black band for identification” was but a confirmation  of the hijacking of our nation by PDP brigands. For 16 years, PDP and its leaders operated with impunity, engaging in war of attrition and assassination of their members over the sharing of offices and our resources.

    Fayose said we should look at the messenger and not the message. But there are compelling reasons to believe Aluko is a witness of truth. First Aluko confessed he and Fayose have been friends for 40 years. The closer we therefore look at these two friends, the more the possibility of agreeing with the saying by our people that ‘‘it’s only a thief who can accurately identify the foot print of another thief on a stone”.  For lying under oath at the tribunal claiming ‘the election was free, fair and credible’, Fayose wants Aluko committed to prison for three years for perjury. That Fayose’s Freudian slip, in itself, is all that is needed to confirm Aluko’s claim that the election was sham. But Fayose himself is no less guilty of perjury according to his political detractors who reminded us he claimed in his nomination form that he had never been indicted by any panel of inquiry. If the Supreme Court ruled he was not properly impeached, that came eight years after the event and long after filling the nomination form.

    There are other compelling reasons why we cannot doubt Aluko’s claim that Fayose, after purchasing his victory in the primary with Jonathan misapplied $2m state funds, went back to tell the president that there was no way he was going to win the election without the use of the military.  Here was an impeached former governor, chased from pillar to post by EFCC for alleged financial and murder charges and who in his own words, “flee (sic) with all (his) property left in the Government House, and taken to court about 59 times aside the 45 days (he) spent in detention”, pitched without an agenda against a performing incumbent few months after losing a senatorial contest. Little wonder, Fayose was to describe his victory “a rare miracle” and his “return to government as not common in history”.

    But Obasanjo is the source of Ekiti people’s nightmare. Precisely because of his contempt for them and their pursuit of academic excellence to advance in the social ladder, Obasanjo who self-conceitedly claimed he achieved on a platter of gold what Awo could not achieve through a life-long struggle, probably saw imposition of Fayose, considered half-literate by his people, a way to humble the Ekitis. In total disrespect of the feelings of the people, Obasanjo also sent Brigadier Olurin his kinsman to supervise the rigging of the 2007 election. The task was made easy with the exploitation of the intra-party feud in ACN by Obasanjo and PDP. Dissident ACN members, misled to believe they were out to prevent Tinubu from cornering the resources of the state  were armed with large sums of money, vehicles, communication and logistics to aid the rigging of the 2007 election later nullified by the courts. By the time Fayemi retrieved his stolen mandate, nearly all the legacies of Awo and his successors had been erased. The state College of Medicine which professors Oyebode and Oyebola tried to nurture had been traded for Fayose’s fraudulent poultry project. Christ School, one of the earliest and best secondary schools in Nigeria secured less than 30%success in WAEC examination. Other public schools suffered worst fate. This is the genesis of the present generation of Fayose’s area boys, ‘okada’ riders and political thugs. After four years of valiant effort by Dr Fayemi to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that befell a whole generation of our children, Dr. Aluko has now confirmed how he along with Fayose and some other Ekiti people colluded with outsiders to sabotage that effort.

    But Obasanjo and not Jonathan, a master of political subterfuge who merely used Fayose to settle scores with his estranged godfather, should be held responsible for the coup staged against our people. He set the precedent during his 2007 ‘do or die’ Ekiti battle and its rerun supervised by another spineless Egba woman. Jonathan alleged commitment of $37m to his own variant of ‘do or die’ 2014 pacification of Ekiti by all means was only an improvement on the unspecified massive deployment of funds through ACN dissidents in 2007. If  Jonathan and PDP subdued Ekiti with 1,040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 ‘unrecognised soldiers’ brought from Enugu in addition to  44 special strike teams brought in (with) Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha in 2014, Obasanjo and PDP in 2007 provided ‘security, logistics and communication’ to break the will of Ekiti people.

    Aluko was only confirming what we all heard and saw on national television when he said ‘we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi from coming into Ekiti. So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on Election Day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units’. It was a known fact that Fayose, Obanikoro, Adesiyan and Chris Uba reduced Ekiti to a conquered territory on Election Day in 2014.

    But as said on these pages two years ago, weep not for Ekiti but for the nation.  Bode Thomas in the fifties canvassed for regionalism in order to save the Yoruba country from the rule of a one-eyed king. The tragedy is that the whole country has been afflicted by a spectre of one-eyed king, a euphemism for incompetent leaders since independence. While the west burned in 1966, Balewa waited patiently for Ahmadu Bello who returned too late from his pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The bungling after the failed 1966 coup by ill-equipped Ironsi led to the civil war. The destruction of the bureaucracy and the university, the two major institutions that sustain the survival of society by Murtala Mohammed and Obasanjo who were ill-equipped to manage society is responsible for today’s corruption in the civil service and the collapse of our university system which once ranked with the best in the world. In 1979, Obasanjo who claimed the best didn’t have to win the election supported Shehu Shagari whose only ambition was to become a senator. Shagari smoked away while the economy of the nation was wrecked by his NPN led by Akinloye. We have had an Ibrahim Babangida whose regime Obasanjo dismissed as a government ‘deficit in honour’. Babangida destroyed all our values and institutionalised corruption.   We have had Abacha, a common thief whose obsession seemed to crudely ferry raw cash with boxes from the central bank. We have had Obasanjo, widely regarded and rejected as a one-eyed king by the Yoruba but wildly celebrated by the rest of the country as messiah. His legacy in the last 16 years is the seizure of our country by PDP brigands headed until recently by Goodluck Jonathan, his godson.

    The way forward is restructuring of our multi ethnic and multicultural society so that each group can decide who manages its affairs. Ekiti must be allowed to decide if it wants to be ruled by Fayose, his thugs and ‘okada’ riders just as Delta should be allowed to choose if they want to be ruled by militants led by Government ‘Tompolo’ Ekpemipolo. The beauty of federalism is that it liberates groups and individuals from the tyranny of the state.

  • Remembering Akintola’s legacy

    Remembering Akintola’s legacy

    The family of the late Premier of the defunct Western Nigeria, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, organised a public lecture to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his passage. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI was there.

    The life and times of the late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (SLA), the 13th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland and former Premier of the defunct Western region, was the focus of discussion at the weekend in Lagos, when family members, associates, friends and well-wishers gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his passage.

    Man of many parts

     Chairman of the occasion, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, described Akintola, one of the victims of the ill-fated January 15, 1966 coup, as a man of many parts and one of the politicians that made the First Republic interesting. He said it was important that the event took place, because so many prominent Nigerians under 50 may not know much about the politics of the First Republic and the trauma of the coup.

    Ekwueme said: “SLA was a master of the politics of the First Republic. He was a teacher, lawyer, journalist and politician who believed in the rule of law and democracy.”

    The ageing politician who was accompanied by his wife, Helen, said Nigeria not where it should be today because the coup disrupted the country’s first attempt to imbibe the democratic culture.

    Similarly, the Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr. Tunde Durosinmi-Etti, who represented Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said the event was a beautiful tribute to the late Akintola who dedicated his life towards the advancement of Nigeria, particularly the Southwest, adding that the late Premier was a bundle of intellect and integrity.

    In his lecture titled, “Chief S. L. Akintola, 50 Years After His Assassination: Continuity and Change in Nigerian Politics”, Guest Lecturer, Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun, said the consequences of the January 1966 coup are still visible in Nigeria today, because it led to a chain of events that disrupted the country’s normal democratic trajectory.

    Osuntokun who described the former Premier was a polyglot who spoke many languages, including Yoruba, Hausa and English, said there is no doubt that he was a formidable figure in the politics and evolution of Nigeria, given the roles he played as a federal minister, leader of opposition in the federal parliament in Lagos, successful mover of the motion for the independence of Nigeria in 1957 and Premier of Western Nigeria between 1959 and 1966.

    To situate the late Akintola within the context of his environment and his people, the professor of history traced the history of Ogbomosho, the town where the late Premier was born, saying it is the fourth largest town in Nigeria and that perhaps it is the shortage of employment opportunities at home, among other factors, that made Ogbomosho people to to wander as itinerant traders throughout West Africa.

    On the social context of Lagos into which young Ladoke Akintola moved in 1930 as a pupil-teacher at the Baptist Academy, the guest lecturer said the substance of his politics was already present in the ethnic rivalry between the Igbo and the Yoruba, the political rivalry between  conservative and traditionalist northern Nigerians and the impatient and sometimes unrealistic southern Nigerians and also in the sharpening racial antagonism between the ruler and the ruled, the African and the European.

     

    Akintola, a political realist

     The guest lecturer said Akintola was a realist politically. His words: “As a realist he knew that ethnic alliance and alignment were the rule, rather than the exception, in governing a pluralist and largely uneducated country like Nigeria. He was not too happy about the self isolation that the defunct Action Group (AG) imposed on itself and that this was neither in the interest of Nigeria itself. The Federal Government from 1957 to 1965, those crucial years before and after independence was therefore largely an alliance between the Igbo-dominated National Council of Nigeria and Camerouns (NCNC) and the Hausa-Fulani Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), to the exclusion of the Yoruba people.

    “Chief Akintola had made his views known to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, his party leader that the Yorubas could not rule Nigeria alone even with the support of the Northern and Southern minorities, which Chief Awolowo cultivated. In most cases, this support was bought by the generous financial inducement of their leaders by the AG, relying on the large financial reserves of the Western Nigeria Marketing Board.

    “It was largely because of these differences in strategy and not in goal that bedeviled the relation between the leader and his deputy. Of course there were other reasons such as the ambition of some of Chief Awolowo’s supporters like Anthony Enahoro, Samuel grace Ikoku and Joseph Tarka. When crisis eventually ensued in the action Group between 1961 and 1962 this minority leaders stoked the fire of division in the party. Ironically, the three of them were to desert Chief Awolowo’s political party and team up with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979, the party of Northerners, the same Northerners they crucified Chief Akintola for associating with.”

     

    His enduring legacies

     Osuntokun said the late Akintola has been vindicated by current developments. He said: “What has happened since the end of the Civil War, particularly the fact that the federal cabinet has within it representatives of every state, and therefore of the major and minor ethnic groups, has confirmed Chief Akintola’s belief that there can be no peace until there is a feeling of belonging to a ‘Commonwealth’, in which every group has a share, even though his party, the NNDP, never managed to rise above its origins as an opportunistic amalgam of personalities and power blocs.

    “Chief Akintola in a brutally frank way made it quite clear that Nigeria belonged to all of us and that a policy of exclusiveness and nepotism manifested by one group could not help but draw appropriate reaction from those who feel shut out of the normal run of things and the attendant ethnic or regional benefit accruing from shared revenue and shared risks and responsibilities of living together in a federation.”

    The lecturer said one thing that emerged through the study of the life and times of Akintola is that: “despite the fact that many Yorubas believed in what Akintola stood for, particularly his idea that culturally Yoruba people have many things in common with the Hausa-Fulani, and that this should be translated into political cooperation. Yet, the Yoruba people have always drifted away from cooperation with the Hausa-Fulani.”

    Osuntokun said the reason for the sour relationship between the two major ethnic nationalities is historical. He said: “In the first place, the AG leadership, including Akintola himself, always saw Hausa-Fulani leaders as obscurantist oligarchs who had no idea of democracy and who were hands in glove with British imperialists during the colonial days. The second and perhaps most fundamental reason was the impact of Usman Dan Fodiye’s jihad of the 19th century, which led to the forcible incorporation of Ilorin province into Northern Nigeria.

    “Until Ilorin is seen to be absolutely out of northern political control, the Yoruba are likely to continue to develop a revanchist tendency towards the Housa-Fulani, which will make cooperation very difficult. The Yoruba, even though they lack unity, are an extremely historically aware people and the Ilorin seizure by Alimi from Afonja more than a century and half ago is still a vivid part of modern-day political awareness, an awareness which, to put it mildly, immediately leads to a lowering of the group’s ethnic self-esteem.”

    The professor of history said if Nigeria is to survive and prosper, a means must be found to actualise the idea of an ‘Ethnic Commonwealth’, to lessen the political tension in the cou8ntry. He added: “This is not to suggest that a loaded epithet such as ‘federal character’ or any other is the panacea to all Nigerian problems; but the recognition of the ethnic factor in our country as a potential for divisiveness, and the willingness to deal with it on a realistic basis of consensus politics may  yet be the strength of the Nigerian federation. This is what Akintola stood for and history has proved that to that extent and in spite of the way he went about effecting the principle, he was right.

    “The zoning of political offices and alternating the presidency between North and South are attempts to paper over the fundamental division in the country. Indeed, it would have been helpful if the six recognized zones could be made the federating states, instead of the puny 36 states which are too weak financially and politically to restrain the tendency for abuse of power by the centre. No matter how long Nigeria survives, the fact will always remain, as it has in Switzerland, Belgium, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and even the United Kingdom, that linguistic and cultural differences are not easily obliterated and that recognition and accommodation of these differences are the sine qua non of political wisdom. This political realism is Chief akintola’s major contribution to Nigerian politics.”

    Osuntokun said the Civil War ought to have taught the country a lesson that every Nigerian group is capable of pressing its claims of inclusion in the government by violent means, if the peaceful approach fails. “It is in the interest of all that things do not degenerate to this level. Realism and tolerance must be the basis of a Nigerian federation. To survive Nigeria must recognize that if one part of the country is disgruntled, the others cannot ignore it,” he noted.

    He added: “This is what Akintola stood for after his disastrous 1953 venture into the North as Action Group leader. The experience convinced him that Nigerian politics in the future must be based on the kind of compromise which would permit a capable Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, or any other to be President, and as President to command respect of the entire country. Recent events have shown that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, and that the body politic of Nigeria is flexible enough to accommodate all the shocks and challenges the future may have in store for us.”

    In her remarks, daughter of the deceased, Dr. Abimbola Akintola, said the family does not bear any grudge against Nigeria for the murder of the patriarch of the family. She added that her father, a lay preacher in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, was a family man and was very open-minded.

  • An orphan’s legacy

    Preamble

    This is a season which some Muslims celebrate as a festival. They call it Eidul Mawlid (meaning festival of birth). Their intention is to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). This, in Islam, does not anyway enhance the great Prophet’s achievements. If anything, it trivialises such achievements.

    No man in history is as great as Prophet Muhammad (SAW). He is, no doubt, the indisputable greatest man who ever lived. His legacy is the solid foundation upon which the contemporary civilisation is built. But despite the vivid visibility of that legacy it remains invisible to many eyes that are alien to the light of Islam. Thus, the Prophet’s legacy is like the beaming sun which no blind person can see and no seeing eyes can perceive in its natural nakedness. Yet, both the blind and the seeing feel the burning effect of the sun ‘willy nilly’ even as it photosynthesises the plants around them.

    This article is not meant to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for which last Thursday was declared a public holiday in Nigeria.

    As far as ‘The Message’ is concerned, what is to be celebrated about this great Prophet is by far beyond his birthday. His achievements clearly transcend his birth. Thus, there is no need wasting time on celebrating his birthday.

     

    The Prophet’s biography

    From the creation of Adam, the first human being, till date, no man’s biography has been so much written and read as that of Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah and Aminah. This man’s biography has been written from all perspectives, positive and negative, by various men and women of diverse races, tribes, ideologies and religions in the past 1437 years or there about. And the biography is still being written and re-written authoritatively and un-authoritatively, today, in uncountable languages.

    Through the writings of this Prophet’s biography, some people have zoomed into un-dreamt fame. Others have sunk into the abyss of permanent oblivion. But virtually all the writers have benefitted from their writings directly or indirectly in coins and in kind. No other Prophet’s biography has attracted as many writers from believers and non-believers, from friends and foes alike as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    Every aspect of this Prophet’s life including the dresses he wore, the food he ate, the way he spoke, the wives he married, the children he bore, and the wars he fought, has formed the basis of his biography. In short, next to the Qur’an, no book is as much read daily in the world today as the biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one form or another.

    Question

    But there is a vital question: why is the global focus so much on this unlettered Prophet from Arabia? The answer to this question is not far-fetched. The world has not produced any other personality like him and it will not. He is the seal of all Prophets and the epitome of human exemplariness. In him alone are found all the traits of what a perfect gentleman should be in all ramifications.

    If Prophet Muhammad had not been an orphan, he would not have been able to guide humanity on how orphans should be treated, especially with regards to inheritance. If he had not been a husband, his marital life would not have been an excellent example for others to emulate and women’s rights would have been permanently ignored. If he had not been a widower the world would not have realised the plight of widows and learnt how to provide for them. If he had not been a father, the proper care for children by parents would have been relegated to the background in Islamic doctrine. If he had not been trustworthy, the value of trust would have been totally lost on mankind.

    His migration from Makkah to Madinah paved way for the culture of hospitality universally imbibed today and the wars he was forced to fight engendered the law of war, armistice and peace. Without his conquests in some wars, the word magnanimity would not have found a place in the dictionary of man and if he had not suffered defeat in war, the vanquished would not have learnt the act of gallantry. If the Prophet had not been a judge, the virtue of justice would have been globally thrown to the winds and survival in all societies would have been for the fittest.

    If he had not been a democratic ruler, the relationship between the ruled and their rulers, all over the world, today, would not have been dissimilar from that of slaves and their masters and dictatorship in governance would have known no bounds. If Prophet had not been poor despite being a Head of State, the policy of social welfare adopted in civilised societies today in favour of the poor, would not have been possible. If he had not been an illiterate, the world would not have known the difference between literacy and education. And, if, despite all these qualities in him, he had not been humble and affable, arrogance would have been the main character of all privileged people in the world today.

    His qualities

    Who else can be compared to this man called Muhammad (SAW) in history? And, in which anyone else could all the aforementioned qualities have been found in history? There can be little wonder then why so much focus was and is still being beamed on the personality of this extra-ordinary human being. That is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for you, the like of whom the world has never seen and will never see again. If this man is celebrated anytime, anywhere, in the world, it is definitely not because he was born. His achievements transcend his birth and to concentrate on the celebration of his birth is to trivialise his achievements.

    But for him, the world would have remained in the dungeon of ignorance and primitivism, while humanity would have remained at the level of crude beasts. It was he who brought back the manual of life to mankind after it had been lost in the search for sheer vanity. Manual of life is the divine instruction which came gradually from Allah to mankind according to the growth rate of human intellect. But such manual is not peculiar to man alone. All other organisms have their own instructions from Allah which in a way constitute their own manuals of life.

    The path and the pathfinder

    However, due to the intellectual superiority of man, the various divine instructions to other organisms were incorporated into man’s own manual of life. This is to enable man understand the complexity of his environment vis a vis the essence of his own existence and thereby act effectively as Allah’s vicegerent on earth. Although because of the differences in times and methods, Allah’s message is perceived differently, the fact remains that the message is only one coming from only one and the same God. This message is the ‘RIGHT PATH’ to salvation which came to mankind after several millennia of wandering in the wilderness of ignorance and vainglory. And the man, Muhammad (SAW), through whom that Message reached us is the ‘PATHFINDER’. Thus, the quality of the message is vividly manifest in the personality of the Messenger. There are many attestations to this.

    Attestations

    For instance, after many years of scientific experiments, a German-born American physicist of Jewish ancesary and Nobel Laureate, Albert Einstein, the inventor of atomic bomb who is generally known as the 20th century creator of special and general theory of relativity, compared his works with the contents of the Qur’an and concluded as follows: “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind”. He then called on fellow scientists to endeavour to read the Qur’an without bias in order to know the true origin of science in human life.

    And as if responding to Einstein’s call, Professor Tagatat Tajasen, Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University in Thailand accepted Islam on the strength of just one scientific sign accurately mentioned in the Qur’an. He had spent a great amount of his time, as a professor, in search of pain receptor. When his attention was drawn to the Qur’an, he did not believe initially that such a highly sophisticated aspect of science could have been mentioned over 1,400 years ago. But when he confirmed it by himself in the translation of the Qur’an, he became so much impressed that he purposely attended the 8th Saudi Medical Conference held in Riyadh where he publicly embraced Islam.

    Further attestations

    Another leading scientist, Professor Marshall Johnson, the Head of the Department of Anatomy, a Director of Daniel Institute at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, USA, was asked to comment on the verses of the Qur’an dealing with embryology. In response, he said it was probable that for Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to have given such vivid description of foetus, he must have had a powerful microscope. But when he was reminded that the Qur’an was revealed over 1400 years ago and that the invention of microscope took place only a couple of centuries ago, Professor Johnson laughed and made the following remark: “I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved when Muhammad recited the Qur’an….”.

    Yet another Embryologist, Professor Keith Moore of the Department of Anatomy, University of Toronto, Canada, after carefully examining the translation of the Qur’anic verses presented to him admitted thus: “most of the information concerning embryology mentioned in the Qur’an is in perfect conformity with modern discoveries in the field of embryology and does not conflict with them in any way”.

    Professor Moore had no prior knowledge of anything leech-like about embryo until he read chapter 96 of the Qur’an where Allah says “Read! In the name of your Lord who created. He created man out of a leech-like clot…” He then went to verify this fact in an embryo under a powerful microscope and compared his observation with a diagram of a leech. He was astonished at the resemblance of the two. That prompted him to go fully into studying the Qur’an and Hadith to acquire more knowledge until he was able to answer about 80 hitherto unanswered questions in that field.

    His discoveries thus, influenced the correction of the contents of his book ‘The Developing Human’ which he published earlier and re-published in 1982. It was with that revised edition that he became the recipient of an award for the best medical book written by a single author in the 20th century. That book has been translated into many major languages of the world and is mostly used as textbook of embryology today in the first year of medical studies in various Universities in the world.

    Sciences and signs

    Yet, despite talking about all sciences, the Qur’an is not a book of Sciences but that of ‘Signs’. Those ‘Signs’ invite man to realise the purpose of his existence on earth and live in harmony with nature.

    Judging the above verses of the Qur’an revealed over 1400 years ago with the wonderful reality of scientific civilisation of today, what further proof does anybody need of the genuineness of the Qur’an? And who else can give better guidance than the Supreme Creator Himself? And who else can be better called the ‘PATHFINDER’ than Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who showed humanity the way to that all time guidance?

    Perhaps, this was why Michael Hart, a Jewish American Astrophysicist, named Prophet Muhammad the greatest man that ever lived in his famous book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History’.

    Further testimonies

    If all the descriptions given above about Prophet Muhammad (SAW) sound exaggerated because they are given by Femi Abbas, a Muslim and an ardent follower of that Prophet, and if Michael Hart is seen as crazy in his judgment, let us read the views and impressions of some other non-Muslims about this great Prophet. One of them (Alphonse de Lamartine of France) had the following to say in his book ‘Histoire de la Torque’:

    “Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been interposed between man and his Creator; to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing.

    Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself, and no other, except a handful of men living in a corner of a desert…. If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled before their very eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of a book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race…..As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man in human history greater than Muhammad?”

    On his own, Napoleon Bonaparte, the great 18th century French conqueror of Europe was so much amazed by the traits of Islam which he saw in Egypt during his military expeditions that he made the following historic statement about that divine religion and its great Prophet:

    “Muhammad, in reality, was a great leader of mankind. He preached UNITY among Arabs who were, till then, torn asunder due to internecine quarrels, sometimes resulting in bloody war fares. He brought them out of the obscure world in a short time and the discipline which they maintained under his leadership was simply marvelous, and so was their bravery, courage and devotion to the cause which they loved and cherished. This, coupled with the contempt for death, as taught by their leader, made them great soldiers and fighters like of whom history rarely produces. I simply marvel at the achievements of this great ‘Son of the Desert’ within a mere period of less than 15 years; a thing which Moses and Christ could not do in 15 centuries. I salute this great man; I salute his qualities of Head and Heart….”

    George Bernard Shaw

    And, in corroboration of the above statements, variously made by renowned men of letters and intellect, another foremost Orientalist, playwright and dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, had the following to say about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in his book ‘The genuine Islam’ (vol. 1 No 8 of 1936):

    “The Christians and their missionaries have presented a horrible picture of Islam. Not only that, they also carried out an organized and planned propaganda against the personality of Prophet Mohammad and the religion he preached. I have carefully studied Islam and the life of its Prophet. I have done so both as a student of history and as a critic. And I have come to the conclusion that Mohammad was indeed a great man and a deliverer and benefactor of mankind which was till then writhing under a most agonizing pain. I have always held Islam in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing face of existence which can make it appealing to every age. I have studied him-the wonderful man and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the saviour of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness.

    I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today”.

    For confirmation of Bernard Shaw’s remark quoted above, see ‘The Genuine Islam, vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.

    Conclusion

    These are just some of the facts that make an unlettered orphan like Prophet, Muhammad (SAW), the greatest man that ever lived on earth. None of the attestations above made any reference to his birth or birthday because they knew that his birth had no contribution to his achievements. If non-Muslims could go as far as shown above to benefit from the greatness of Prophet Muhammad’s mission on earth what is expected of Muslims for whom that mission is primarily meant should not be mere celebration of his birthday.