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Tag: message

  • What message will America send?

    What message will America send?

    In November 8, 2016, America, the Beautiful, will make a choice of leadership and priorities. Will the choice be “Morning in America” or, as one insightful Washington Post columnist puts it with a foreboding imagery, “Mourning in America”? Whatever her choice, America will send a message to an anxious world.

    For 240 years, American democracy has presented to the world an enviable resilience. For many, if not most of those years, she has struggled with her own demons—forced enslavement of Africans, disenfranchisement of women and freed slaves, Jim Crow, the internment of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor, and police profiling of minorities.

    Official and quasi-official acts of discrimination, these have placed an indelible blot on an otherwise outstanding story of democratic governance in which the ideal of “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” is the ultimate goal.

    It is this pledge, deliberatively and deliberately embedded in the American experiment that stands it out and recommends it to the world as a beacon of hope for a humanity that needs to see itself as one, even in the face of evident divisions of race, gender, language and ideologies.

    The need is crucial and unassailable if the world must combine its forces to combat the most dangerous enemies of its kind, whether natural or contrived. It is unclear how long the world, as we know it, is programmed by nature to last; but it is clear that by our own (in)actions, we could dangerously accelerate the imminence of that natural order.

    America has sought to present itself as a bulwark of democratic governance with an abiding interest in protecting the downtrodden across the globe and spreading the good news of freedom and justice. It has not always been perfect, especially in reconciling its interests with those of the nations that it proclaims to protect. This accounted for its cold war practice of protecting and supporting dictators whose loyalty she could count upon even as they oppress their citizens. Yes, mistakes were made. But America has also made important contributions to those nations.

    As a land of immigrants, America has been welcoming to citizens of other countries as they seek better lives for themselves and their dependents. Many of the poor countries of the world across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia have a lot to be thankful for the better lives that their citizens have found in America not only on account of the huge amount of remittances they receive, but also in terms of the opportunities for professional advancement that the United States provides.

    Such is the case with Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a Nigerian medical doctor, who received his medical degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and relocated to America.  He and his colleague detached a 23-week old foetus from her mother’s womb, removed her tumour and then placed her back in the womb. The baby thereafter developed normally in the womb until she was born again at 36 weeks, literally answering Nichodemus’ question in our lifetime.

    But what message will America send to the world on November 8? Anyone who has been watching the United States’ presidential campaigns for at least the past 15 months cannot but be concerned about the gutter level of political discourse in the foremost democracy that the world looks up to. The nativism and ultra-nationalism of one campaign is a dangerous recoil from the world, with far-reaching consequences. If Brexit sent a chilling message to Europe, the whole world can expect “Amerixit” to be a damning catastrophe. It is not a coincidence that the only world leaders that have embraced Trumpism are dictators from Asia to the Middle East. No doubt, African dictators will soon join the fray.

    “Amerixit” in Trumpism is not just a withdrawal from the world. It is also a dangerous reversal of the enduring message of hope enshrined in The Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

    This was the America that welcomed the Irish, the East and Western Europeans, the Jews fleeing from the Holocaust, Latin Americans, Caribbean, including Cubans and Haitians, and yes, Africans. It was the America that welcomed President Obama’s father. At more than 50% approval rating two months till the end of his presidency, clearly, that immigrant-friendly America is worth preserving. On his part, the president has at every opportunity reminded his fellow citizens that only Native Americans have a claim to America as original indigenes. Everyone else is an immigrant.

    Surely, there is a broken immigration system which needs fixing. Reasonable leaders in both parties, including former President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain, have at various times risked their political capital to deal with a comprehensive reform only to be rebuffed by die-hard nativists in their party. Now this latter group has a champion in Trumpism. And it seems clear that with a Trump presidency, immigrant-friendly America is doomed.  That prospective message should alarm the world.

    Trumpism is not just anti-immigration; it is also dangerously anti-diversity. A good number of commentators have identified a dark side in the “Take Back Our Country” and “Make America Great Again” campaign slogans of Trumpism as a not-so-veiled resentment against the “other” who happen to be non-white.

    The former Speaker, John Boehner, a Republican himself, saw through this rhetoric when he observed during an interview that there are not enough white men to propel a candidate to the White House. And of the population of white men, Trumpism cannot count on the support of many college-educated men. Nor can he count on the backing of suburban white women with college degree who resent his macho personality and evident demeaning of women.

    Some of those independent observers who see the trouble with Trumpism also have problem with Clintonism. They reference the scandal about the candidate’s use of private server as Secretary of State, a practice that is unsupported by long standing policy. They also cite the rumoured problem with Clinton Foundation. And the much talked about untrustworthiness of the candidate bothers a good number of people for whom this last issue is an umbrella that shelters the others. It is untrustworthiness that births the email saga and the Foundation rumour.

    Certainly, Clintonism has not done a good job of setting the record straight, and therefore much of the rumour and innuendo have been self-inflicted. The email issue should have been settled early on in the campaign with a straight-forward “I am sorry. I made a mistake.” When she finally made this declaration, it was apparently too late. But we know that the FBI decided against prosecution because it considered it a “careless mistake” that was not intentional. The eleventh hour reopening of the investigation will most likely end with the same conclusion. But this matter has undoubtedly given a lifeline to the drowning campaign of Trumpism.

    The truth, however, is that between Trumpism and Clintonism, there is no good ground for comparison. On the basis of policies, Clintonism is right on target regarding education, the economy, security, foreign policy, and yes, immigration. While Trumpism has pivoted to the worst extremism of his party, Clintonism has remained at the centre of discourse and practice where the American people increasingly find themselves.

    And on the matter of character flaws, there is also no comparison. No candidate in modern American history has ever matched Trumpism’s appeal to the worst instincts in humanity with regard to the words that flow therefrom regarding women, immigrants, people of other faiths, and inner city. That many Republican leaders have distanced themselves from that rhetoric and refused to endorse the candidate is instructive.

    With only four days to election, what message will America send to the world? For Lincoln “elections belong to the people… if they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” Trouble is, with America’s stature, the blister may spread, and infect the whole world.

  • The Message @ 10

    Prologue

    Time flies.

    It was like a dream ten years ago when this column named ‘The Message’ debut in the great newspaper called The Nation.

    By then, this columnist (being a journalist) had written Islamic and sundry other columns for about 24 years in various Nigerian and foreign daily newspapers as well as weekly magazines. Such newspapers and magazines included National Concord, Tehran Times, Vanguard, The Monitor, Inquiry, Africa Today, Africa Now and a host of others. Naming the column ‘The Message’ in The Nation  was deliberate.

    Perhaps, no other name accurately matches the divine religion called ‘ISLAM’ as much as ‘The Message’ being the greatest mission to mankind from the Almighty Allah through His greatest Messenger, Muhammad (SAW).

    Hitherto, the column had borne various names in various newspapers, such as ‘Islam’, ‘Islam Today’, ‘The Sermon’ and others.

     

    First outing

    In the preamble to the very first article published in this column 10 years ago, yours sincerely stated inter alia as follows:

    “Here is an Islamic column entitled ‘The Message’. It is starting today in the name of the almighty Allah, the compassionate the merciful. It will appear in this space henceforth, every Friday in The Nation , Insha’Allah. This column will be meaningful, both in title and in contents, to the Muslim Ummah, home and abroad as well as to others.

    Starting at a time when technology has reduced the world into a village and paring with the visionary title of the great newspaper called The Nation, this column promises to deliver The (great) Message of Islam to all those who are ready to receive it with open minds and genuine intention”. Its language of communication will be English in its received form and lucid standard which will be comprehensible to all who are literate enough to read and understand simple English language.

     

    Central Focus

    The central focus of ‘The Message’ shall be the Man. And the word ‘Man’ here does not refer to Male gender alone. It rather refers to the most important creature of Allah on earth around whom all issues in the world rotate” and with whom all other creatures can be relevant.

    However, it should be quickly added here that man, whether in the primordial or contemporary sense, is a product of family. There can be no talking of over seven billion citizens of the world today, without a fundamental reference to the family”.

    The world of man is like a gargantuan tree with rich roots that supply its strong stem and foliages with highly nutritious and sustaining food. Just as no tree can stand without roots so can no social life of humans be peacefully sustained without solid family backgrounds.

    Thus, the human family can be incontrovertibly described as the root of the tree of human life.

     

    The family angle

    Based on the fact that every clan, tribe or nation starts with a family, ‘The Message’ shall be addressed first and foremost, to the family. And, since there can be no survival for any family without business, it also becomes necessary to view the family from the premise of the business in which it is engaged”. Business is the chief determinant of human movements and standard of living.

    Arguably, the peace or otherwise of this world depends on those two fundamental concerns: family and business. Each of these shall form a major chapter in ‘The Message’ column. The rest shall be like stars supporting the moon in its celestial entourage.

    This column will therefore be interesting not only because of the depth of its research and the clarity of its language but also because of its participatory nature which will enable its readers to make contributions directly or indirectly.

    Besides, the right of readers’ responses shall be treated as sacrosanct and, there shall be no discrimination either on the basis of creed, gender, tribe or race. But every rule has its own exception. The exception here is that any response or reaction that tends to abuse this opportunity may not be accorded the privilege of rejoinder. Welcome on board of ‘The Message’ being delivered to the nation through The Nation.

     

    A Child @ One

    When this column was one year old in The Nation in 2007, an article entitled ‘A child @ one’ meant to celebrate the occasion was written. As a reminder, yours sincerely decided to recall that article here today for the purpose of gratifying the Almighty Allah who piloted us to this day through that intellectual odyssey and to show appreciation to regular, invaluable readers without whom the column would have been meaningless if not irrelevant. The article went thus:

    “The young shall grow. With his brain, teeth and limbs, he shall develop through motherly nurturing and evolve as a dependent adolescent. Then, through the various circumstances of life, he shall garner experiences that will help him to grow into an independent adult. It is assumed that in that process, he must have learnt how to suck mother’s breast milk; how to eat solid food; how to sit unaided and how to crawl riskily from fire place to water storage. He must also have mastered the art of walking around with no sense of any danger and that of running from pillar to post in a seeming rehearsal for the struggles of life.

    Thereafter, like a competent Cadet, he shall rise through the ranks to become an army general one day. Like a prince, he shall struggle through thick and thin to become a king one day. Like a student, he shall study days and nights to become a professor one day. Like a servant, he shall serve and serve loyally until he becomes a master one day. Then, rising to a status of prominence, he shall ask himself the vital question: “how did I reach this stage?” That child is ‘The Message’ column.

     

    Soliloquy

    “It is not just by leading battalions of army to war or by conquering an avowed enemy that a General of worth emerges. What makes a worthy general is the ability to care for the rear as much as he concentrates on ravaging the rough road that leads to the war arena. A general who does not care about the soldiers he leads to war is only risking his life and his fame as he may end up being a General without troops.

    For most Nigerian Muslim readers of newspapers, especially The Nation, this column is a ‘General’ in its own right. And, to be worthy of the name, it becomes a sine qua none to look back, at this point, and see if the archers are still there with their ‘bows’ and ‘arrows’”. The archers in this case are the readers. Without them, there can be no general called ‘The Message’.

     

    The Ark

    Today, ‘The Message’ as a column, is ten years old. It was all like yesterday when it started cruising, like the Ark of Noah, across oceans and seas of life, some of which were ‘Atlantic’ while others were ‘Pacific’. “On board of that ‘Ark’ were a number of issues revolving around man and his faith and the norms that guide the moral existence of Muslims.

    As expected, along its cruise rout, the ark encountered some whales and sharks as well as crocodiles and hippos thereby becoming a target of dangerous threats at various stages of the voyage.

    In a nutshell, ‘The Message’ has consistently been a lily by the mossy stone. Yet, like any newly christened child, not many readers were aware of the existence of this column until a couple of years after its debut.

    “Today, however, the story is different. In virtually all corners of Nigeria and even some countries abroad, ‘The Message’ has become a house hold name just like The Nation. Its readers are not from amongst the Muslims alone. They are not from amongst Nigerians alone. They cut across religions, tribes, nationals, races, genders, ages, ideologies and interests. Their responses and reactions confirm this”.

    If ‘The Message’ has not been publishing reactions in recent times, it is not because there are no reactions but because most of the incoming reactions are from abroad and mostly complimentary.

    To consistently publish such reactions may amount to self-adulation by the columnist as it may create boredom for the readers.

    Unlike in the past, most Nigerian readers of ‘The Message’ hardly react to the contents of its column in writing these days. They prefer to call by phone and discuss verbally with the columnist an indication that newspaper readership is being reduced to a sheer leisure matter. The purpose of displaying the telephone number and email address of the columnist in this column is not for the readers to call but to send reactions in writing so that fellow readers can share their expressed ideas.

     

    Original design

    “As a column, ‘the Message’ was originally designed, to serve the purpose of a weekly Friday sermon in a written form. Thus, like any informed sermon, it discusses, comprehensively, all issues affecting the lives of Muslims vis a vis the fundamental principles of their religion”. It ascertains all perceivable problems in the society and proffers possible solutions to them where necessary from Islamic perspective based on indepth research and the intellectual ability of the columnist to interpret such research and present it to the public in the purest form”.

    Going by its title, this column is not a message to the Muslims alone. It is rather a message to all civilised people who want to know the reason for the existence of Islam and the extent of its workings. It is also a mode of interaction between the Muslims and non-Muslims over some issues hitherto considered knotty and unresolved. Thus, by making the column a participatory one whereby readers are privileged to express their opinions and observations in reaction to its contents, a better understanding is gradually being forged between the adherents of Islam and those of other religions.

    As a result, the perennial mutual suspicion, particularly between the adherents of Islam and those of Christianity in Nigeria, has drastically been reduced. Now, it is becoming clearer that religion should not be by coercion but by personal conviction based on persuasion which must not be offensive to others who are yet be convinced. However, if in the process of practising what is believed, some elements of bigotry are reflected, let that be attributed to the messenger rather than the message.

    Not all ambassadors are worthy of the missions entrusted to them. There is no sphere of human life without bigotry. Globally, it is not in religion alone that fanatics are found. They are also found in politics, business, professions, cultures and even sports. If this is the case, human nature must be separated from the precepts of religions. Nigerian Muslims do not attribute the crimes committed by some Christians to Christianity as a religion. Therefore, let Nigerian journalists learn a lesson from this and stop using the media to champion sectarian strife between two religious blocs”.

     

    Peace and no rancour

    “Now, by understanding that religion, in any society, is like a university where various faculties exist and admission seekers can enroll in any faculty without one obstructing the chance of another,  readers of this column are beginning to see religion as an instrument of peace rather than that of rancour”.

     

    Spheres of life

    In Islam, there is no barrier between one sphere of life and another. The temporal and spiritual lives of Muslims are fully governed by the tenets of their religion. And those tenets cut across all spheres of life without any demarcation. Thus, just as it will be improper and irrational for those in the economic or business sector to scare away politicians from economy so it is for politicians who want to prevent religionists from commenting on politics.

    That is an intolerable aggression which ‘The Message’ as a religious column will not condone. Those who don’t want religion to be mixed with politics should neither ask for votes in Churches and Mosques nor seek political patronage of religious pundits.

    As for some religious demagogues and their congregational zealots who think Islam must be practised according to their own perception of life, such a parochial wish must be stopped henceforth. Nothing causes religious rancour in Nigeria as much as provocation. This has been tolerated for a very long time by Nigerian Muslims. It must not continue. As Muslims, we shall legitimately resist any attempt by anybody to use our political mandate to devastate our religious lives with a view to gagging us in a country to which we all belong. ‘The Message’ shall continue to champion such a course in sha’Allah.

     

    Nigerian Media

    In this same sphere, some Nigerian media practitioners are like politicians. They simply hide under the cloak of reportage to paint white substance in black colour and give blackmail a preference, especially in matters relating to religion. It is they who coined such words as ‘marginalisation’ and ‘Islamisation’ both of which cannot be found in any English dictionary. Like politicians and religious fanatics, most Nigerian journalists are at their very best in displaying ingenuity when it comes to evil disposition. They are the primary inventors of political and religious conflicts in Nigeria. Yet, they behave like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand while its huge body remains exposed. They are a dangerous species to be wary of in the country as they cunningly impede all avenues of peace and harmony.

    Regardless of the evil antics of Nigerian politicians, journalists and unrepentant bigots in other religions, this column will continue to commend good deed and condemn evil actions in all spheres of life no matter whose ox may be gored. Islam is an international religion. It has no barriers in terms of nations, races and tribes. A Muslim in New Zealand is a brother to another in Alaska or Beijing.

    That is why ‘The Message’ must comment on Muslim activities around the world if only to inform its local Muslim readers about the affairs of their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world”.

     

    Conclusion

    This columnist is not apathetic to criticism since there can be no growth without constructive criticism. But a poisoned food is not worth the name of a meal. Any reaction that is deficient in language and reasoning will not be accorded the privilege of a rejoinder in this column.

    Meanwhile, I wish to express a profound gratitude to genuine readers of this column. Their readership is the impetus propelling the spirit behind the informed ideas, deep thoughts and researched writings appearing in this column every Friday. Without informed readers, there can be no informing columnists. Thus, readers are greater than writers. I am proud of you.

    I pray the Almighty Allah to safeguard our well illumined path from getting thorn-blocked by the forces of darkness who think they can extinguish the light of Allah. God bless you all!

  • The medium and its message

    • In Obasanjo, you take the message and leave the medium

    As medium belting out urgent positive change, former President Olusegun Obasanjo comes with loud dissonance. For one, as first president of the present Fourth Republic, he exemplifies, more than anyone, the skewed affairs of state business, which nearly spiralled out of control under President Goodluck Jonathan.

    For another, as crusading anti-corruption president, Obasanjo huffed and puffed. But no thanks to his seeming congenital weaknesses, resulting in a rather sorry penchant to say one thing but do the opposite, his anti-corruption exertions were almost always more bark than bite, except in the gripping imperatives to settle political scores.

    That, therefore, may well justify Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s, rather nuanced and definitely generalised swipe that every political actor, from 1999, was responsible for Nigeria’s present woes. That was riposte to Chief Obasanjo’s latest letter accusing the National Assembly of opacity, greed and corruption.

    Dr. Saraki’s response would appear especially apt, because Chief Obasanjo somewhat epitomises what could have been, if the former president had always walked his talk; and also the seedy situation now, for his failure to do so. To that extent therefore, it would appear fair comment; and Saraki deserves added accolade for keeping his response polite, logical and simple.

    However, if Chief Obasanjo is legitimately accused of conflicting legacy, that makes not a few question his credentials to raise his voice against the rot he also cultured during his tenure. The National Assembly, under Dr. Saraki, stands even more legitimately charged as a reprobate assembly, resolute against any positive change, even if it often regales the polity with cant about buying into the change mantra of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency. Yet, for Nigeria to survive, not to talk of prosper, that drastic change in attitude is imperative.

    Indeed, in the eye of the Nigerian public, if the president stands for lean and Spartan resolve to curb sleaze and allied corruption, the National Assembly appears as a Palladium of decadence, near-completely out of touch with the yearnings of its constituents, and rather obsessed with securing obscene perks for its over-pampered and rather insensitive members, even with a fast-shrinking national purse.

    That has made the Obasanjo letter resonate rather well with the public, even if many also add that the former president is only a pot calling the kettle black. That might well be. But the notorious fact is that the kettle is indeed black, and luxuriating with soot! We wouldn’t get anywhere, therefore, if we didn’t clean it up and fast — no matter who, saint or sinner, is bawling for change.

    The good thing, though, is that Dr. Saraki, in response to the letter, has pledged to give details of the National Assembly’s N115 billion budget for 2016, section by section, as against the omnibus practice of the past, which triggered wild imaginations and spurred conspiracy theories of alleged humongous sleaze, in the nation’s legislative chambers.

    That pledge is welcome; and should be encouraged. That is why the National Assembly must walk its talk by this pledge. More importantly, however, both the Senate and the House of Representatives should do strict and painful introspection, on their perception in the Nigerian mind. While progressive transparency and keen sensitivity to Nigerians’ yearning would be a very good start, both chambers must embark on a conscious, consistent and deliberate rebirth.

    Way back in 1999, Obasanjo’s angst as president was that the National Assembly was treating itself to obscene furniture allowance, when its electors nationwide wallowed in poverty. Today, the general angst is that it is on a gravy train, and share little of the executive’s zeal to curb the decadence in the land.

    We can’t have the people go one way, and their elected representatives go on a diametrically opposite direction. If the Obasanjo letter has served as a jolt, the National Assembly is all the better for it.

     

  • Ahmadu Bello’s Christmas message

    Preamble

    This article was scheduled for Friday, January 15, 2016 to coincide with the 50th year remembrance of Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello’s assassination in Nigeria’s first military coup d’etat. However, since man only proposes while Allah disposes, the plan to publish it that day had to change due to an exigency that required an urgent attention. Nevertheless, despite the two weeks delay, it is hoped that the respected regular readers of this column will still find it as fresh as it would have been a fortnight ago. This is one of the memorable stories of life that often leave a sour taste in the mouth but never get stale in history. We are still in January and the story of Nigeria’s first coup remains inexhaustible.

     

    Death of an icon

    One of the foremost political icons in Nigeria’s first republic and the 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 and 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.

    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 as patriotically. He left only a small residential bungalow in Sokoto at the time of his death. He 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. They were all guilty of it.

    It can be recalled that such organisations as Ibiobio State Union, Ibo Federal Union, Egbe Omo Oduduwa and ‘Jam’iyyar Al-Ummar Nigeriya ta Arewa’ which translated to Northern Elements Progressive Association which later transformed into Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) were all socio-cultural organisations that metamorphosed into political parties. All those parties preceded ‘jamiyyar 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.

     

    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 what he said:

    “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.”

    Thus, to accuse such a person of tribalism and religious bigotry is like searching for a new crescent in a deep well.

     

     His Fabricated ‘Speech’

    However, years after Ahmadu Bello’s unjustifiable assassination, some evil elements in the media, in collaboration with certain political demagogues went to fabricate another statement attributed to the Premier as a justification for his killing. The concocted statement was credited to a publication in an unknown newspaper called ‘The Parrot’. Here is the fabricated statement:

    “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.” The statement was said to have been made on October 12, 1960.

     

    Truth and Falsehood

    Now, looking at both statements very carefully, any sensible person should be able to see clearly, a distinction between truth and falsehood. The Premier’s Christmas message quoted above was made on Thursday, December 24, 1959 through a radio broadcast which 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 as well as many other smaller newspapers in Nigeria. All those newspapers are identifiable in the Nigeria’s media history even though most of them are now defunct. On the other hand, the place and occasion of the second statement attributed to Ahmadu Bello was neither indicated nor can be traced in Nigeria’s newspaper history.

    The first time any genuinely existing newspaper ever made reference to that second statement was on November 13, 2002 (42 years after it was purportedly made. And the reference by ‘The Tribune’ newspaper that published it was to an article published online a few weeks earlier (October 24, 2002) by a Yoruba journalist and columnist (name withheld) and entitled ‘the northern Agenda’. It can therefore be deduced that the statement was actually fabricated not in the 1960s but in October 2002, by the columnist who credited it to a newspaper that never existed, to give it undeserving credibility. What a country! What a people! 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. That is Nigeria for you.

     

    The Coup Episode

    January 15, 1966 was a Saturday like no other one in the history of Nigeria. That day laid the bitter seed which germinated and grew into the thorny tree that now feeds Nigerians with unpalatable political fruits of today. It marked the beginning of an agonising 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 preceding Friday

    The preceding Friday (January 14, 1966) had been quite eventful for the then Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello who was extraordinarily busy from morning to night. He had planned to travel to Sokoto with the then Ghana High Commissioner, Mr. Yakubu Tally, who had come to spend the weekend with him in appreciation of his role in ensuring the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) through the merger of the Monrovia and Casablanca groups that had been mutually antagonistic on certain ideological grounds.

    On that Friday, Sir Ahmadu Bello, as usual, observed the Jum’at Prayer in company of a retinue of his Ministers and government officials. He hosted the Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Samuael Ladoke Akintola, (his political ally) in the newly formed Nigerian National Alliance (NNA). The latter had come to alert his colleague of a premonition hovering over Nigeria through an impending bloody coup d’etat that could clear the existing political stable wheat and chaff. His alert was not however strange to Sir Ahmadu Bello who had earlier got the same security report.

    The duo jointly reviewed the then volatile political situation in the country but failed to reach a conclusion on how to forestall the impending calamity.

     

    Akintola’s Effort

    Chief S. L. Akintola, pleaded with his host to persuade the then Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to act promptly to curb the impending disaster that was swinging restlessly like a pendulum over Nigeria before it could devour them all. But Sir Ahmadu Bello was reluctant. He believed that only the will of Allah could prevail in any given circumstance. His fear was that in the sacred month of Ramadan, it would be better to be martyred than to be an assassin. To him, any attempt to foil such a virtually mature coup would be so bloody that even the country would have nothing left to bleed with. By that belief, hardly did Sir Ahmadu Bello realise the implications of paving the way for a ruinous destiny to take its course.

    The whole scenario was like a valedictory drama of fate in which the actors were blind to the denouement which the viewers had vividly perceived. And when it was time for the two Premiers to part, it became apparent that they were meeting perhaps for the last time alive. In a sobre but sorrowful tone, the host bided his guest “buy for now,” and the guest, whose feet were already on the staircase of his aircraft on his way back to Ibadan replied: “if we ever get to see again”.

    Thus, both spoke in coded language in the presence of their entourages who could not decode their language. By the time when cities started to return to life, in the wee hours of the following morning, the die had been cast as the picture had become clear that the night had tragically discharged the contents of its cargo to the amazement of the entire world. A bloody coup in Nigeria had swept the country’s democracy away with the rulers as casualties. It confirmed the maxim of the above quoted poem and the rest has since become history.

     

    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 had 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 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 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 included: Brig. S. A. Ademulegun (South West); Brig. Zakari Maimalari (North); Col. Kur Mohammed (North); Lt. Col. J. Y. Pam (North); Col. S. A. Shodeinde (South West); Lt. Col. Largema (North); Lt. Col. A. G. Unegbe (North); S/Ltd. James Odu (South West) and a host of others.

     

    The Allegations

    It became evident that virtually all the leaders of that coup as well as its executioners were of Igbo extraction. Thus, the other ethnic groups who were severely affected saw the coup as a tribal one. But much more than that, the Muslims in the country saw it as a religious coup that could not be justified in any way, the killing of Chiefs Akintola and Okotie-Eboh notwithstanding. This was because the then Governor of Eastern Nigeria, Sir Francis Akanu Ibiam was as deeply religious as Sir Ahmadu Bello. The one was a Vice-President of the World Council of Churches. The other was the Vice-President of the Muslim World League. If religion was therefore the reason for the coup, the two of them ought to have been killed. But history entails a variety of interpretations.

    Overwhelming majority of the ring leaders of that coup as well as the executioners were of Igbo extraction. The chief beneficiary of the coup (Major-General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi) was 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 in nature?

     

    Nigeria’s Founding Fathers

    In semblance of the above, the great fathers of Nigeria’s independence left a legacy that can be called a footprint on the sands of time. By whatever standard they are measured today, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the first Premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his counterpart of the Eastern Region, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as well as Mallam Aminu Kano and Chief SL Akintola and Chief Denis Osadebay were all exemplary in their styles of life given the circumstances of their governance, their personal weaknesses notwithstanding.

    Their legacy is a fortune which amazingly turned into misfortune in the hands of their successors. Thus, the great hope which those fathers had embedded into our destiny became colonised and turned into personal property by their political heirs. Were those great fathers to wake up from their graves today and see what has become of their sweat, they would just shake their heads in sorrow and return quietly into their graves without comments.

     

    Qualities of Leaders

    Looking at the phenomena of human life critically, one may conclude that human world is depreciating geometrically. The men of primordial years were greater by far than those of the contemporary time. Their lives were more qualitative. Their thoughts were richer. Their intentions were purer. Their gazes were more visionary. Their dispositions were more human. It is upon the foundation of their thoughts and deeds that today’s technological pyramid is firmly built. Yet, they did not allow their reasoning to be driven by the material life of their time.

     

    Exemplary Hadith

    Fearing for their hereafter, some companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once asked him a probing question about the quality of their lifestyle saying in a quivering voice thus:

    “Dear Prophet! The wealthy ones amongst us seem to have gone to the world beyond with all the existing rewards. They worshiped Allah as we are worshiping Him. They fasted as we are fasting today. Yet they were giving in charity, huge amounts of resources to the poor and the needy according to the sizes of their wealth. What is then left for us, if the paradise will be determined by the amount of our rewards…….?” The similitude of the lesson in that Hadith is the situation of Nigeria yesterday and today in terms of leadership quality. Will any lesson be learnt?

  • The Message and the messenger

    The Message and the messenger

    Prologue

    The title of this article is quite symbolic. Islam is the most worthy message that requires a worthy messenger to propagate. And the messenger in this case is any worthy Muslim who is supposed to propagate that divine message in a worthy manner. Invariably, the quality of the message is often vividly reflected in the capability of the messenger.

     

    Clarification

    ‘The Message’ column has noted the venomous reactions of some Nigerian Muslim brothers and sisters to the article on hijab which appeared in this column last Friday. Expectedly, some of the respondents to that article had hardly read it before hurriedly passing their usual heretical FATWA by declaring this columnist a ‘KAFIR’ (renegade).

    Nevertheless, the concern of some of the brothers and sisters about the contents of the article is understandable. The writer’s conclusion in that article was seen as capable of fuelling disturbing implications especially in Nigerian terrain where religion is virtually taken for a tacit war of attrition.

    I must admit that the conclusion of that article was as puzzling to this columnist as it must have been to many readers. Definitely, there was an error. But the particular clause in the controversial conclusion of that article which caused a loud brouhaha last Friday is not strange in journalism. What is strange in that case was the implacable attitude of some brothers who were trying to set the house ablaze in an attempt to chase out a lizard.

    This column is not a monopoly and the columnist is not a perfectionist. Despite being an alumnus of the great institution called MARKAZ, Agege, Lagos State, and despite studying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I have never claimed to be a scholar, out of modesty. Even when I am called a scholar I do not acknowledge it. Thus, the idea of labeling yours sincerely as an arrogant person is a figment of imagination of some people based on sheer ignorance.

     

    Consultation

    Ordinarily, I do not write this column without consulting some trusted learned scholars directly or indirectly. For instance, some highly respected scholars, not less than five, are given the privilege of reading through this column every week before it is sent for publication. If, like me, none of those scholars could sight the faulty clause in the article before it went for publication why should I be taken for an Angel now being turned into a ‘devil’ to be pestered with verbal and written missiles through the apathy of some Islamic enthusiasts? Incidentally, only nine out of 91 people who reacted to the article in question were able to decipher the clumsiness of the controversial clause and four of them were from foreign countries.

     

    The foreign angle

    The very first person to raise a question on the article was a brother from Belgium who had closely monitored my blog for some years and had got familiar with my style. His alert was followed by some others from Ireland, Turkey and Comoro Island. The four noticed the missing link in the conclusion of that article and promptly drew my attention to it in a responsible manner. But then, the die had been cast as the alerts came after the publication.

    Brother Tariq of Turkey was particularly exceptional in pinpointing the missing link when I became confused. He identified the problem as being between my claim to “strongly believe in the use of Hijab” and the sudden advocacy for support of its ban albeit conditionally. He then advised me to go back to the original draft of the article and fish out the printer’s devil. It was only then that I realised having become a victim of that abominable cliché called the printer’s devil.

     

    The Nigerian angle

    Here in Nigeria, about 37 brothers, five of whom are from the academic sector, also hinted me of a possible mistake in the article but none of them could actually pinpoint its place. Delightedly, all those brothers practically demonstrated the difference between education and sheer literacy as much as they exhibited the genuine spirit of Islam. Theirs was a display of thorough understanding and high level of maturity. They are qualified to be called reliable readers and worthy Messengers. God bless them.

     

    Personal angle

    On my own, I also discovered another major error on which some respondents have deliberately preyed to score critical points. That is in the paragraph where I referred to Nigerian female cultural dress consisting of ‘buba’ and ‘Iro’ without mentioning Ibori (big scarf) which is the real equivalence of hijab in Nigeria.

    With such conspicuous omission, I expected some of the respondent brothers who had known me very well for a long time, to understand that as an informed Muslim of Yoruba extraction, I could not have deliberately referred to ‘Buba’ and ‘Iro’ as hijab. But that wasn’t the case.

     

    Purpose of Errata

    Making a sensitive mistake in public communication is not peculiar to Femi Abbas as a columnist. For the same reason of printer’s devil, many print media houses have had to withdraw thousands of copies of their publications from circulation. I can still recall that this once happened when I was in Concord. It also happened once when I was in Vanguard and the world did not crumble. Where such withdrawal became impossible, they simply followed up with the publication of errata.

    To correct any erroneous publication in a newspaper is not a big deal. The writer can easily effect such correction through the same medium by publishing erratum/errata any other day. It is only emotional readers that would want to make a mountain out of a mole hill in such error by treating it as if the world is coming to an end. Most of our brothers are known for such exaggerated reaction.

     

    The original draft

    In the original draft of that article, I discovered that in the process of my final proofreading, while crossing the T(s) and dotting the I(s), I inadvertently removed three words which included ‘BURQAH’, ‘RATHER’ and ‘THAN’.  And that changed the entire concept and intention of the whole article. Unfortunately, this   happened in the most sensitive part of that article. Here was the missing link:

    “Banning Burqah rather than Hijab is not the same as banning Islam”. What appeared in the published edition was: “Banning hijab is not the same as banning Islam”. Anybody who is literate enough can clearly see the missing link which was not deliberate. That I did not notice the error until I got a hard copy of The Nation , shortly before Salatul Jum’at last Friday, was also not strange. A writer can read his own script many times without discovering a mistake in it. If the error in this column last Friday was perceived as a sin, therefore, it must have been committed against Allah. And if there is need to apologise and seek forgiveness, it must be from Allah the ultimate Forgiver of sins. Therefore, those who were calling for apology in their reactions were only arrogantly playing God.

     

    ‘The Message’ Column

    From its inception in The Nation newspaper 10 years ago when it was renamed ‘The Message’, this column has been designed to be a participatory one in which its readers are entitled to reactions which deserve publication. But where such reactions lack decorum and are full of unprintable insults rather than meaningful corrections the columnist reserves the right not to publish. That happens to be the fate of many reactions to last week’s article.

     

    Reflection

    That after 33 years of writing an Islamic column in various newspapers and magazines locally, nationally and internationally, Femi Abbas is now being castigated as a failure and an ‘Islamic outcast’ did not come as a surprise. Even the heretical verdict of excommunication passed by some self-appointed judges was not surprising. It only further confirms the level of those who portend to be propagators of the worthy Message called Islam.

    I, however, take solace in the words of Cat Stevens, a British musician who adopted the name Yusuf Islam after embracing the rightly guided religion (Islam) in 1978. He said: “I thank God that I knew Islam before I knew Muslims”.

    In the same vein, I also thank Allah that I knew Islam by information, education and knowledge before I started interacting with Nigerian Muslims at various strata of life.

     

    Memory Lane

    That I became a journalist and a columnist 33 years ago was not just by fortuity a hard decision that amounted to a great sacrifice. As a fresh graduate in my national service year in 1982/83, I had already secured three jobs before the late Bashorun MKO Abiola personally approached and passionately appealed to me to stay in Concord. One of the secured jobs was in Mobil Oil Company which came because of my Arabic language background. Another was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was due to the grade I obtained in my first degree as well as my proficiency in Arabic language. And the third was in the Lagos State Ministry of Education because of my previous years of teaching experience before I travelled abroad in pursuit of a University degree.

    I resolved to accept Abiola’s offer not because it fetched better opportunities or higher income than the other jobs but because of two fundamental reasons that I kept to myself until now. One of those reasons was my covenant with Allah during my madrasa days. As a very young boy then, without the privilege of a formal secondary school education, I was determined to acquire the so-called Western education because I knew it would become a necessary tool for me in future. I then prayed fervently to Allah to make my life a little staff upon which   many Muslims could rest with confidence in future.

     

    The pledge

    Thus, In the process of pursuing that ambition, I decided to make a pledge to Allah that if He could assist me to succeed in my yearning for Western education I would use it to serve Him throughout my life. The other reason was that if a personality like MKO Abiola, despite his enormous wealth, could endeavor to still want to serve Allah by opening an Islamic column in a national newspaper at a time when such was not fashionable, who was I not to join his spiritual train to convey multitudes of Nigerian Muslims to the cape of Good Hope?

    Ever since, the column debut in 1983, it has remained a mouthpiece for Nigerian Muslims especially in turbulent moments, such as the hullabaloo over Nigeria’s admission into the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC); the King Faisal International Award won by the late Sheikh Abubakar Gumi; the dangerous  Maitatsine crises; the volatile Zango Kataf religious duel; the Islam in Africa saga tagged by non-Muslims as Islamisation Project and the recent declaration of Hijrah Holiday in Osun State.

     

    Comment

    Throughout those turbulent years that I stood firmly as a front line soldier for Islam and Nigerian Muslims in the media, there was never a time when Muslim readers reacted to the contents of my column as they did on this occasion.

    At least, I have consistently championed the media campaign for the wearing of hijab and the declaration of Hijrah holiday in Nigeria since 1984 and throughout my professional odyssey, I never received a ‘brown envelope’ (often attributed to Nigerian journalists), from anybody. I challenge anybody who disagrees with this assertion to come out with facts or conceal such facts and face the wrath of Allah.

    Now, with a single major error in over three decades of service in the trenches of an undeclared religious war, my Muslim brothers are coming up with a verdict of crucifixion without trial. What an irony of life? It is a case of throwing away the baby with the bathwater, a situation that is aimed at turning Femi Abbas into a dormant lion to be taught by some proverbial dogs and puppies how to prey on victims in a familiar games forest.                                              I accept my fate of being called names including “an arrogant columnist, “an ignorant nonentity”, “a rusting gold” and “a sell out and betrayer of trust”. Who am I to reject such fate? After all, even Prophet Muhammad, the greatest man that ever lived was called names.

    The lesson in this situation is well learnt. Genuine friends are like stars. You may not see them always but when the need to see them arises, they resurface to say “we are always there for you”. God bless such friends.

     

    NOTE:

    1 Some publishable rejoinders came yesterday (Thursday) after this article had been sent in for publication. I had to inform the office to add this note.

    1. Reactions will be published next Friday in sha’Allah.
  • ‘My music must send a message’

    ‘My music must send a message’

    His job is to inform, educate and entertain the public – a job he has been doing very well. But, his passion for entertainment appears to be strongest. Ike Uche is a practicing journalist with a national daily, but his love and passion for music is so strong that he believes it should not lie fallow.

    Already with a few tracks to his name and collaborations with artistes such as Iceboxx, Mikolo (Rasta Boy), Mr Jerry Enclap, and Joker, Uche has promises of bringing something refreshing to the musical scene of the country, which has blossomed in the past few years.

    Uche aka B-Lyrics, describes himself as a rapper, who believes in tackling issues with his songs by ensuring that there is a message in every work he does, depending on whoever the target audience is. “B-Lyrics was from the movie 8 Mile. There the B meant Bleed. For me, it stands for Baba. So, you can call me Baba Lyrics,” he said.

    A graduate of Mass Communication from the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, where he majored in print journalism said: “I believe music should be entertaining, but more importantly address issues from politics, economy, social-cultural to ethnic bias and many more.”

    His influences include the likes of NAS, Eminem, Mode 9, IllBliss and Tuface Idibia. “I listen a lot to them and presently, I also listen to Drake, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Jesse Jags and Sarkodie,” he said noting that he is currently working on his mix tape with Kenny EXY and Dr Ritzy all in Calabar.”

    On how he started his career in music, he reminisced: “I started with a group called K-ZONE back in the higher institution, although we had to do different things at that time. While I ventured into journalism others went into business, production, comedy and so on.

    “If I was not practicing journalism music business would have been my mainstay. My greatest challenge is time to record songs. And I have stopped writing lyrics, but I do all my songs on the spot as long as the beat is appealing to my soul.”

    “I want to make music not just for people to dance, but music that will make them think and decide positively and make right choice.

    “Anytime I hear a song or beat, I believe I can do something with it. I don’t believe a musician has to have a particular look like dreadlocks, Mohawks, earrings or any other kind of queer dressing. I believe in the content of what one has to offer.

    “My music consists of several genres for various kinds of audiences. I don’t use any kind of vulgar language. I may use hard words though, if for instance I am angry. My mood affects my delivery. I am a spontaneous kind of musician. I don’t have to think about it, or wait till any particular time for to produce something. It comes to me anytime and anywhere. That is why I feel I don’t need to get high to get inspiration. This is my style and I believe it is unique. I create my own space.

    “I don’t believe music is just entertainment. It is also business. Right now the Nigerian market just seems to be about dance music. We should also have music that would make people think. After dancing and partying, you have to come back to reality.”

    He says he is doing music on part-time basis, but has plans to go into it full time when the time is right.

    B-Lyrics hopes to work with heavyweights in the Nigerian music industry, such as Tuface Idiba, Mode 9, Ill Bliss and Phyno.

     

     

  • Message to Obasanjo

    I make it a point of duty to be respectful of President Olusegun Obasanjo, whether I happen to mention his name in public or in private. I am sure that is part of my respect for my country. For me, it is not a small thing that a person has once been head of the country of my birth.

    In the past few days, President Obasanjo has been widely reported to have made some thought-provoking statements about the issue of leadership in the Yoruba nation. I see no need to probe into his motives for making these statements – and I will not so probe, out of respect. Whether he is out to shoot barbs at some person or persons among the Yoruba people is not unimportant, but I choose not to step into such considerations. It is quite possible to look into the statements themselves on purely objective basis, and that is what I would rather do.

    Broadly, his statements deal with two periods of Yoruba history – the long pre-colonial period and the short modern, Nigerian, period. His views concerning both periods are, I believe, summed up in the sentence in which he said: ”Just as there was no single Oba having sovereignty over the whole of Yorubaland, there was no individual as leader of the Yorubas in Yorubaland. As it was then, it remains till now.” With all due respect, I think he is not exactly correct about either period.

    His mistake concerning the long period of the history of Yoruba kingdoms and their Obas (from about the 10th century to roughly the end of the 18th century) arises from his obvious confusion of the two concepts, “leadership” and “sovereignty”. Yes, no one Oba ever held sovereignty over the whole of Yorubaland; each Oba held sovereignty over his own kingdom. But that does not mean that the concept of leadership, or the concept of prominent influence, was totally non-existent in this long period of Yoruba history. Claims commonly made by various Yoruba circles today for the Ooni or the Alafin as “leading” father of the Yoruba nation is not without some historical foundation. The problem is that those of us making these claims do not try to differentiate between the eras when one or the other had more influence in Yorubaland.

    Historians would now say that there was an early era when the Ife kingdom was widely revered in Yorubaland and that, though the reverence for Ife never totally vanished, there was a later era when the Alafin ruled a large and proud empire consisting of much (though not all) of Yorubaland plus some non-Yoruba peoples, and when the Alafin had very high influence among Yoruba people. There was an era when Yoruba kingdoms that fell into political troubles resorted to the palace of Ife for traditions and rituals for sorting out their troubles. And there was a later era when high officials of the Alafin were commonly sent by the Alafin to go and settle disputes, and prevent conflicts, in totally sovereign and independent Yoruba kingdoms that were experiencing political troubles. The traditions about these things are unambiguous features of our history.

    To go on to the modern aspects of President Obasanjo’s statements, we find him saying very heavy things. He says that there has never been a Yoruba leader in modern times, that it was Chief Awolowo’s supporters who “fixed” the title of Yoruba leader on him during the Nigerian crisis situation in the 1960s, and that there is no need for a Yoruba leader.

    The statement that there has never been a Yoruba leader in modern Yoruba history is simply untrue. In general, in all parts of Black Africa, whenever any nationalities face uncertainties or difficulties in the countries to which they belong, their usual practice has been to generate a leadership to protect their interests. There is no known Black African nation that has never done this. In Nigeria, the examples are legion. In the late 1940s, in the general uncertainty accompanying British deliberations to formulate Nigeria into one country, many Nigerian peoples founded leadership groups for themselves – notably, Ibo State Union, Egbe Omo Oduduwa, etc. One of the most influential forces in Nigerian politics today is the Hausa-Fulani leadership organization called Arewa Consultative Forum.

    Egbe Omo Oduduwa and its leadership spoke very capably for the Yoruba nation and promoted Yoruba interests expertly. In various crisis situations in Yorubaland, it employed its influence effectively to broker peace. And, even in spite of the presence of two powerful political parties, AG and NCNC, in the Western Region, Egbe Omo Oduduwa continued to do these things until the regional crisis of the early 1960s. Is it possible that President Obasanjo does not remember these things?

    During the very troubling months leading to the Nigerian Civil War in the 1960s, prominent Yoruba of all political orientations formed the Yoruba Leaders of Thought, which met frequently to chart our nation’s path through the growing Nigerian nightmare of the time. Most other Nigerian nationalities did the same. We even set up a standing delegation which went to Gen. Gowon many times to present Yoruba positions and make Yoruba demands. Chief Awolowo, first Premier of our Region, and undoubtedly our nation’s highest political assets at that point, chaired the meetings and was appointed by us to lead the delegation.

    I remember the very meeting at which we suddenly chose him as leader of our nation. Nobody had planned any such thing. I know, because I was one of the young academics and professionals who served as organizers and messengers for those meetings of Leaders of Thought. Our nation was under enormous stress. During the days before, there had been a lot of fear all over our Region, because some of the Northern soldiers stationed in our Region had been reported to be threatening to kill members of our delegation. The Western Regional Military Governor, Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo, had appointed some Yoruba military officers to accompany our delegation. And we simply did what human groups do in such circumstances – we appointed a leader and prepared to stand for our nation. The talk that anybody among us opposed, or could have dared to oppose, what we did in that meeting, is totally untrue. President Obasanjo should not let anybody sell to him manifestly untrue twists of important historical facts.

    Also, during the Abacha dictatorship of the 1990s, when state terror was directed against the Yoruba nation, the Yoruba nation threw up a leadership group named Afenifere, which served the Yoruba nation’s interests, and mobilized the Yoruba people, very effectively. Afenifere called up the old warrior, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, to lead the nation; and when Ajasin passed on, they called up Senator Abraham Adesanya. A lot of people still remember that the then Gen. Obasanjo had dealings with either or both of these leaders in their status of Yoruba leader. Sure, many people now lament the fact that Afenifere made a serious mistake in choosing to be closely identified with a political party when party politics returned. But very few would contradict the assessment that Afenifere did, before then, lead the Yoruba nation very effectively. Can it be that President Obasanjo has totally forgotten these things?

    In the light of the above historical experiences, does it make sense to say today that no leadership is necessary among the Yoruba? These days, the Yoruba nation’s situation in Nigeria is more complex, and demands vastly more serious responses than ever before. The challenges are political, economic and cultural, altogether capable of threatening the Yoruba nation’s integrity. I can understand President Obasanjo, as a partisan politician, saying that certain other politicians do not deserve to be appointed as leader of the Yoruba nation. But to say that no leader or leadership is needed in Yorubland is a different thing altogether.Has he ever told the Hausa-Fulani elite that Arewa Consultative Forum is unnecessary and should be disbanded? Or has he ever preached the same to any other Nigerian nationality? Why should he seem to want the Yoruba nation to be different from, and weaker than, others?

  • Message to class of 81

    Message to class of 81

    A warm welcome from your unavoidably absent host to the historic city of Abeokuta, and most especially to this sanctuary of a modest Ijegba Green Belt. My most sincere apologies for my absence – it was one of those obligations that could not be deflected.

    To the Moslems among you – Ramadan Mubarak! as you approach the end of the season of fasting, whose virtue as an annual rite for both youth and adults instills a personal discipline and spiritual solidarity that cannot be underestimated.  I hope the non-Moslems among you will not take it amiss if I base the core of this brief message on the lesson of this season which symbolises the spirit of sacrifice. I do not have to tell you that never was a nation more in need of reflection and selfless re-dedication than at this moment. You, the youth of our northern communities have borne much, sacrificed much, over and beyond what should be expected at your age. Alas, it is not yet over! Your presence here testifies to your courage and resilience, and the tenacity of your parents.

    Whether we choose to admit it or not, we are assailed by one of the most ruthless enemies of humanity that the nation has ever known. It must be an extremely lucky individual among you from several parts of the North who has not lost a family member, a friend, a mentor, or even acquaintance to the forces of death and destruction known as Boko Haram. You all know that in recent weeks, they have even intensified their campaign of terror and intimidation further south — to Kaduna, and the Plateau. Their message to the rest of us, seemingly insulated, is loud and clear. We are all – involved.

    Boko Haram claim to derive their inspiration and commitment to the religion of Islam, but you and I know that they are nothing more than blood-thirsty liars and blasphemers. Their actions brand them as obsessive enemies of learning, enlightenment and indeed, of humanity. My message to you all is therefore straightforward: We must not despair, and we must never submit. We must never forget their victims who must now be counted in thousands. We must dedicate ourselves to the recovery of the missing, the rehabilitation of the displaced, and the healing of the wounded and traumatised. No matter to what part of the nation we primarily belong, irrespective of whatever religion we espouse, and no matter where we find ourselves in these troubled times, we must link arms and stand against the forces of irredeemable evil, and be guided by pronouncements that promote our common humanity in defiance of a murderous minority.

    Islam is a religion that is famous for its love of the Book, indeed, the early followers of that faith were known as ‘the people of the Book’. Famous Islamic scholars have stood guardian at the portals of institutions of learning such as the Library of Alexandria. From time immemorial, they pushed forward the frontiers of learning, authored timeless works that today fill the vaults of the famous libraries of Timbuktu which barbarians like Ansar Dine have sought to destroy. Islamic scholars are leading lights in that mission of expanding the mind, a mission that has resulted in your coming together from all corners of the nation, fostering the togetherness of youth across gender, faith, and accident of birth. These pioneers confronted and denounced diverse apostles of ignorance and divisiveness, upholding the exhortations of great Islamic teachers such as Abbas Mahmoud El Akkad who declared that “applying the mind is an Islamic duty”, and that using one’s mental faculty is an obligation for all Moslems.

    And what goes for Moslems also speaks to followers of other religions or followers of none whatsoever. What binds us all together is that common faculty – the mind – a faculty that identifies us as a living species apart from the common herd, such as those rams and goats that will be slaughtered for feasting when this season of fasting and sacrifice is over. We must not surrender. We must not even accommodate those who believe that our youth exist only for enslavement and arbitrary slaughter. These creatures are not part of us. They belong to no known community of humans.  We must join hands in expelling them from our midst and remain dedicated to that eternal human undertaking – the pursuit of truth and illumination through the exercise of the mind.   Once again, Welcome to a warm embrace in the heartland of the Egba people, known for their love of learning, and – Culture.

  • Message to class of 81

    Message to class of 81

    A warm welcome from your unavoidably absent host to the historic city of Abeokuta, and most especially to this sanctuary of a modest Ijegba Green Belt. My most sincere apologies for my absence – it was one of those obligations that could not be deflected.

    To the Moslems among you – Ramadan Mubarak! as you approach the end of the season of fasting, whose virtue as an annual rite for both youth and adults instills a personal discipline and spiritual solidarity that cannot be underestimated.  I hope the non-Moslems among you will not take it amiss if I base the core of this brief message on the lesson of this season which symbolises the spirit of sacrifice. I do not have to tell you that never was a nation more in need of reflection and selfless re-dedication than at this moment. You, the youth of our northern communities have borne much, sacrificed much, over and beyond what should be expected at your age. Alas, it is not yet over! Your presence here testifies to your courage and resilience, and the tenacity of your parents.             

    Whether we choose to admit it or not, we are assailed by one of the most ruthless enemies of humanity that the nation has ever known. It must be an extremely lucky individual among you from several parts of the North who has not lost a family member, a friend, a mentor, or even acquaintance to the forces of death and destruction known as Boko Haram. You all know that in recent weeks, they have even intensified their campaign of terror and intimidation further south — to Kaduna, and the Plateau. Their message to the rest of us, seemingly insulated, is loud and clear. We are all – involved.

    Boko Haram claim to derive their inspiration and commitment to the religion of Islam, but you and I know that they are nothing more than blood-thirsty liars and blasphemers. Their actions brand them as obsessive enemies of learning, enlightenment and indeed, of humanity. My message to you all is therefore straightforward: We must not despair, and we must never submit. We must never forget their victims who must now be counted in thousands. We must dedicate ourselves to the recovery of the missing, the rehabilitation of the displaced, and the healing of the wounded and traumatised. No matter to what part of the nation we primarily belong, irrespective of whatever religion we espouse, and no matter where we find ourselves in these troubled times, we must link arms and stand against the forces of irredeemable evil, and be guided by pronouncements that promote our common humanity in defiance of a murderous minority.

    Islam is a religion that is famous for its love of the Book, indeed, the early followers of that faith were known as ‘the people of the Book’. Famous Islamic scholars have stood guardian at the portals of institutions of learning such as the Library of Alexandria. From time immemorial, they pushed forward the frontiers of learning, authored timeless works that today fill the vaults of the famous libraries of Timbuktu which barbarians like Ansar Dine have sought to destroy. Islamic scholars are leading lights in that mission of expanding the mind, a mission that has resulted in your coming together from all corners of the nation, fostering the togetherness of youth across gender, faith, and accident of birth. These pioneers confronted and denounced diverse apostles of ignorance and divisiveness, upholding the exhortations of great Islamic teachers such as Abbas Mahmoud El Akkad who declared that “applying the mind is an Islamic duty”, and that using one’s mental faculty is an obligation for all Moslems.

    And what goes for Moslems also speaks to followers of other religions or followers of none whatsoever. What binds us all together is that common faculty – the mind – a faculty that identifies us as a living species apart from the common herd, such as those rams and goats that will be slaughtered for feasting when this season of fasting and sacrifice is over. We must not surrender. We must not even accommodate those who believe that our youth exist only for enslavement and arbitrary slaughter. These creatures are not part of us. They belong to no known community of humans.  We must join hands in expelling them from our midst and remain dedicated to that eternal human undertaking – the pursuit of truth and illumination through the exercise of the mind.   Once again, Welcome to a warm embrace in the heartland of the Egba people, known for their love of learning, and – Culture.

  • Sule Lamido’s message of unity   

    “I have a history to protect, a reputation to promote, a heritage to maintain and an attitude to exhibit, failure is not part of us.” – Sule Lamido at Barewa Old Boys Association (BOBA) symposium lecture in Dutse Aug 30.

    In many parts of Nigeria, those described as “settlers” live in fear for their lives, their property and their citizenship rights. In many parts, that is, except in Jigawa State where Governor Sule Lamido went out of his way to assure non-indigenes living in the state of their equal status as Nigerian citizens.

    Lamido believes in national unity as a matter of political and ideological principle. He said on many occasions that peaceful co-existence, mutual understanding, political stability and unity of purpose are necessary ingredients for the rapid progress of any state and of Nigeria as a whole. He told non-indigenes living in the state that their rights as Nigerian citizens would be protected as a matter of right and not as a special privilege (nepotism).  Nigerians, he said, are free to live wherever they choose and their rights are guaranteed by the constitution. While this right is sometimes abridged by authorities in some parts of the country using various forms of subterfuge, in Jigawa State it is guaranteed in theory and in practice.

    Lamido spoke about the incident in which non-indigenes were forced to register in some states. He said those asking Nigerians to register in their own country were sending a wrong signal that was not healthy for the unity of the Nigeria. Leadership, he also said, is about understanding the people being governed with a view to protecting their dignity, lives and properties irrespective of their religious or ethnic background.

    Lamido also stated that in order to promote peace and unity in this country, every Nigerian must have freedom of movement and to live anywhere he chooses to without intimidation, victimization, humiliation or deprivation. Lamido more than preached mutual coexistence; he felt these people need to feel at home; he then allocated plots of lands with cash donation to all non-indigenous groups living in the state capital, Dutse. The representative of the non-indigenous groups responded with encouraging words of his own, thanking the governor for transforming the state in the seven years of his administration. He said that indigenes and non-indigenes live in peace in Jigawa State and he assured that this will be sustained.

    Lamido has given sense of belonging to all the Jigawa people; he has also opened doors for all Nigerians to come, visit, interact, transact, work and live freely without fear of threats and dispossession. In Jigawa, you will see the Igbo, Yoruba, Anga, the Ijaw, Kanuri, Idoma, Tiv, Jarawa, the Nupe and the Jukun etc. This is a clear sign of selflessness, nationality and good leadership shown by Lamido and is a confirmation that, there is peace and unity in the state. Security, peaceful co-existence, equality, welfare and good salary packages attract Nigerians to resign from their various states to come and seek for employment in Jigawa State.

    Jigawa State under Lamido has now become a rallying point for all Nigerians, in fact day- after- day, all sorts of people are trouping into the state either for visits, meetings, Business, or even leisure. For instance just recently, the premier Barewa Old Boys Association was in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital from August 29- 31, for their 2014 Annual lecture and Dinner. Though Lamido is alumnus of the college, the choice of Jigawa State for this year’s AGM was to satisfy their curiosity over the success recorded by one of their own. All left the state satisfied that the face of Jigawa State has been transformed in the seven years by Alhaji Sule Lamido. Throughout the meeting, the members were seen gaping with surprises that despite the lean resources of the state, Lamido was able to bring development to all sectors and the overall impact has been profound and felt by the people. They commended him greatly for his dynamic administration in which he established schools and hospitals, Jigawa State Television, constructed roads and water schemes etc. BOBA believes that, economic activities have received a huge boost and the foundations have been laid for rapid industrialisation. They saw a first class airport built by Lamido to facilitate the easy movement of goods and services and to facilitate the coming of investors who are set to cash in on Jigawa State’s rich potentials in agriculture and minerals.

    The association extolled Lamido for establishing Jigawa State University at Kafin-Hausa in order to afford state indigenes more access to higher education opportunities. Half of eligible candidates of Jigawa origin who seek admission into higher institutions fail to get it due to lack of opportunities, hence the very warm welcome with which Jigawa citizens received the establishment of the university.

    Lamido prayed for a peaceful conduct of the 2015 elections and urged Nigerians to love one another. Some might say that these issues that he raised are self evident but they bear reiteration and emphasis from a man who saw it all due to present happenings in the country. Lamido’s message about unity of purpose should also attract more than a passing interest from Nigerian citizens. This great stalwart of the old PRP and one of the PDP founding fathers knows what democracy and citizenship with a unity of purpose look like.

     

    • Adamu is Special Adviser to Jigawa state governor on Media.