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Tag: Muslim

  • FCANHPT Ibadan denies allegations of discrimination against Muslim students

    FCANHPT Ibadan denies allegations of discrimination against Muslim students

    The Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology (FCAHPT), Ibadan, has dismissed claims that it discriminates against Muslim students.

    Provost of the college, Dr. Adekoya Olatunde Owosibo, made this clarification in a statement issued to journalists in Ibadan on Wednesday night.

    The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Oyo State Area Unit, had earlier alleged in a statement signed by Mallam Hussayn Adepoju (Amir) and Mallam AbdulRahman Elegbede (PRO) that the provost threatened to expel female Muslim students who wear the veil (Niqob).

    However, Dr. Owosibo refuted the allegation, emphasizing that the institution upholds religious harmony and tolerance. 

    He affirmed that no student has been discriminated against or prevented from attending classes due to their religious beliefs.

    He further stated that the Chief Imam of the IAR&T community and the President of the IAR&T Muslim community could confirm the college’s commitment to religious coexistence.

    He also explained that the past leadership of MSSN of Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, can also be contacted to testify to harmonious coexistence in the school. 

    He maintained that the institution is concerned about the safety of the students when they go for their hands on practical. 

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    The provost said that the students were advised to go to their practicals with prescribed apparel for safety, which include Laboratory coat and Broiler suit as the case may be. 

    He added that it is not in his his habit to discriminate against anyone based on religious beliefs. 

    He said that he is concerned about the security and safety of the students, saying that he has better relationship with the Imam, Sheikh Elesinmeta. 

    “The above matter is a huge misconception. We are very concerned about the safety of our students when they go for their hands on practical. 

    “They were advised to go to their practicals with prescribed apparel for safety, which include Laboratory coat and Broiler suit as the case may be. 

    “No student has ever been sent out of the classroom or disenfranchised for any reason. Chief Imam of the IAR&T community and President of the IAR&T Muslim community can be contacted to buttress harmonious relationships.

    “In fact, the past leadership of MSSN of Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology,Ibadan, can also be contacted to testify to harmonious coexistence. 

    “In a nutshell, there is no plan for any form of segregation or harassment as the case may be. We assure the general public that it is our duty as the college management to ensure peace and harmony, and that is what we will do.

    “I am concerned about the security and safety of the students. In fact, I have better relationship with our imam, Sheikh Elesinmeta than some Muslim officers in the school”. 

  • Muslim Forum seeks arrest of masquerader causing nuisance

    Muslim Forum seeks arrest of masquerader causing nuisance

    The Muslim Community in Lagos Island under the aegis of the Joint Muslim Forum has strongly condemned the viral video on social media in which a Masquerade was seen solely performing Muslim prayer otherwise known as Solat.

    The disturbing incident which is now causing tension among the Muslim Community and residents occurred at Idumota Bus stop, Lagos Island.

    One of the leaders in the ĝroup, Ustaz Qamardeen Ajala, said that the incident had been officially reported at the Police Command in Zone 2, Onikan.

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    According to him, the unfortunate demonstration which attracted large crowd was provocative and deliberate mocking Muslims.

    Ajala, however, appealed to Muslims and other residents to remain calm and not to take laws in their hands over the matter.

    He called on the Lagos State Government and the Commissioner of Police to launch a thorough investigation into the matter and arrest those behind it.

    He insisted that even when it is clear in Islam that there is no compulsion in religion, it was wrong for anyone or group of people to portray Islam in an embarrassing and comedy manner.

  • Breaking the Muslim unity

    Breaking the Muslim unity

    Preamble

    If anything is called Satan, and that diabolical entity truly lives in the midst of humans, Nigeria must be his abode. As a mysterious entity, Satan may not be physically perceived but his shadow is evidently vivid in the evil machination generally called politics. And the elements in the society often called politicians are his undeniable agents.

    Politics is like infectious leprosy. Any contact it makes with human fingers will surely render those fingers ineffective with contagious implication. The evil of politics in any given society is like the slough of a snake which has no life of its own but scares the people around with its empty appearance.

    Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria has hardly experienced any calamity that did not emanate from politics. Thus, like the Island of Ithaca of yore in Greek mythology, Nigeria harbours a sphinx today that poses unanswerable question to her citizens. And any individual or group that fails to answer the question correctly may be instantly devoured by the mythological sphinx.

    Paradoxical Odyssey

    Today, Nigeria has become a paradoxical odyssey on which the only ferrying vessel is politics. And the driving engine of that vessel is money which seems to be the main determinant of individuals’ Hell or Heaven on earth. We are now in an era when the source of money no longer matters as much as money itself. What really matters today is not how decent you are as a person but how rich no matter the source.

    In a nutshell, a rich rogue is by far more relevant and more important in Nigerian society today than a poor gentleman. As a matter of fact, there is no gentlemanliness without money in Nigeria today. The size of your purse determines the status by which you are recognised in the society. And that is the new definition of pedigree.

    It is not surprising therefore that men and women of letters as well as high caliber professionals are now struggling to become servants to mere nonentities who by hook or crook have stuck the opportunity to occupy public positions in a clueless government and thereby control a treasury. The world has changed so much that the same money which used to serve man in the past is now the master that man serves with relish. In the face of money, conscience has become a lost paradise that no one seeks again. And with its disappearance, human dignity has also become an old wife’s tale. Whither Nigeria’s tomorrow in this?

    In the wilderness of avarice and aggrandisement imposed by money, Nigerians of today have lost the culture of dignity highly cherished by Nigerians of yesterday and there is no sense of nostalgia for it. In solo and chorus, the song of this era is ‘STOMACH INFRASTRUCTURE’.

    When a hopeful country finds itself in this kind of situation she quickly resorts to the last bastion for solution. The last bastion in the case of Nigeria is religion which is supposed to be the first estate of the realm. But can there be religion without clerics? Where are the clerics in Nigeria? That is the indication that Nigeria, as of now, is a hopeless country.

    Sailors without compass

    The so-called clerics in both Islam and Christianity in Nigeria today are like sailors on a strenuous voyage who have lost the compass that guides  them through the waves of water while their congregational passengers continue to pray fervently for safety on a turbulent ocean.

    To them (the clerics) religion is no longer the path to salvation but a means to material wealth even as they have relegated morality to the background.

    Here is a country where clerics do not only preach material prosperity but also live in stupendous affluence in the midst of their wretched congregations. Here is a country in which clerics are either known for trafficking in drugs or gun running or patronage contract for supply of ammunition to the government as in the notorious episode of a recent South Africa mission that ended up in a fiasco or even for taking bribe from the government as in the case of alleged N7 billion that caused wild brouhaha in Nigeria recently. Here is a country where neither conscience nor morality has a role to play in religion any more as the so-called clerics have banished both and thus become not just accomplices of political rogues but also their dogs.

    Meetings without agenda

    As a result of self-denigration by these clerics, the government has turned them into a willing tool in the game of political machinations to the benefit of the political gladiators. And in their desperate search for votes in recent times, the politicians have consistently chased the clerics around with money knowing very well that nothing remains of religion these days in Nigeria beyond money for which the so-called clerics will fall for anybody with money.

    Not long ago, a stone was deliberately thrown into the serene brook of Nigeria’s Southwest Muslims by politicians with the intention of causing implacable ripples in that brook. A clandestine meeting of the League of Imams and Alfas was initiated by the presidency and scheduled to take place in Akure, Ondo State. The agenda of the meeting was not disclosed but its timeliness and manner of mobilisation clearly suggested its undisclosed purpose.

    A similar clandestine meeting had earlier been arranged for Lagos penultimate week by the same Presidency which was botched by the region’s Muslim leadership for fear of being politically blackmailed.

    Yet another clandestine meeting was initiated also by the Presidency this time with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) which was scheduled for the Presidential Villa in Abuja. This is yet to take place as the arrow head and chief mobiliser for the meeting is finding a brick wall on the assignment. The Nigerian media has widely reported these clandestine moves by the government with the headline that read thus: ‘Meeting: Yoruba Muslims Snub Presidency Again’.

    Read Also: Dangote gives rice to Muslims in Ondo

    Media report

    Here is how the media reported the incident: “Yoruba Muslim clerical leaders under the aegis of the League of Imams and Alfas have snubbed the Presidency over an invitation to them for a meeting that was apparently meant to lure them into endorsing the joint ticket of a particular party (Jonathan/Sambo ticket) in the coming presidential election.

    The meeting in which Vice-President Muhammad Namadi Sambo was to represent his boss was earlier scheduled for another day in Akure, Ondo State but had to be shifted to Wednesday in the same state for lack of adequate mobilisation.

    Learning from the experience of their Christian counterparts who were recently enmeshed in a controversial N7 billion scandal that has caused a crack among Nigerian Christians, the leadership of the League of Imams and Alfas in the six Southwest states plus Edo and Delta decided not to be involved in an embarrassing meeting that could cause a crack in the rank of the Muslim Ummah.

    A similar meeting earlier arranged with Yoruba Muslim leaders and fixed for Lagos by the Presidency recently was equally aborted for the same reason cited by the League of Imams and Alfas just a day before it was to come up.

    Our reporter’s investigation revealed that the leaders of the League contacted one another and resolved not to be part of any meeting with any political group or individuals at this time to maintain their neutrality as worthy clerics.

    The Akure meeting said to be coordinated by the Chief Imam of Owo, Sheikh Ahmad Aladesawe, who incidentally, is the current Secretary-General of the league. He (Aladesawe) was said to be passionately involved in mobilising his colleagues in the league for the meeting which ended up in a fiasco.

    Besides Imam Aladesawe, some other Imams who flouted the decision of the League and attended the meeting for a seeming personal gain were the Chief Imam of Osogbo, Alhaji Rabiu Animasaun and the Chief Imam of Ekiti, Alhaji Bello Keulere. The few others who claimed to have attended the meeting as Imams were quite peripheral and not prominent at all in the league.

    From Ibadan, Lagos, Markaz, Agege, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Osogbo, Ilaro, Ado Ekiti, and Auchi as well as other major cities of the region, the common question on the lips of the Imams was “why now?

    Following the failure of the Lagos meeting, the Presidency, in a bid to break the ranks of the Yoruba Muslim Ummah, embarked on an alternative meeting with the League of Imams and Alfas and another with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN).

    The President of MSSN, Alhaji Sirajudeen Abdul Azeez, who was said to volunteer to mobilise the leaders of the group for the meeting with the Presidency, despite a resolution at a recent leadership meeting in Akure, Ondo State, not to attend any such controversial meeting could be said to be acting on his own.

    Reflecting on the repercussion of such controversial action, the leadership of MSSN resolved to disown any such meeting at this politically volatile period and warned that nobody should use the name of the group for any selfish political gain.

    No particular date was fixed for the Presidency’s purported meeting with the leadership of MSSN but inside information suggested that is supposed meeting would come up at the Presidential Villa in Abuja before the Presidential election in March 2015″.MUSWEN’s Communiqué

    Meanwhile, the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) has called on the Muslims in the region to once again pray congregationally for peace in Nigeria as the 2015 general elections approached.

    The apex body of all Muslim organisations in the region made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of a three- day retreat that was held between 13th and 15th of March, 2015 at the Wale Babalakin Estate in Gbongan, Osun State. The communiqué was signed by its executive secretary, Prof. Dawud Noibi.

    MUSWEN specifically slated Sunday, March 22, 2015 for the prescribed prayers that were expected to hold at the Eid praying grounds or local Mosques in every town within the region.

    Quoting the Prophetic Hadith that classifies prayers as the weapon of the Muslims, the Organisation implored the Muslims not to relent in offering prayers especially at this precarious time of the nation’s history.

    MUSWEN however decried the lukewarm attitude of the Southwest Muslims to the institution of Zakah, saying the consequences of such attitude are very detrimental to the propagation and progress of Islam in the region.

    Leaders of prominent Muslim Organisations from Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states, who participated in the retreat said the necessity for prayers by Muslims was most apt then given the prevailing cloudy political atmosphere in the horizon.

    The Apex Islamic body in the Southwest also stressed the need for unity of Muslims in line with the mission and vision of the Organisation stressing that without unity there could be no progress.

    In another vein, the Organisation frowned at the lopsidedness in the federal appointments to political offices from the Zone, saying such appointments clearly put the Southwest Muslims at a great disadvantage and paved the way for unnecessary suspicion.

    It therefore called for equity, fairness and justice by the Federal government in its treatment for the people of the zone irrespective of their religious inclinations.

    Prominent among the Muslim personalities who attended the retreat were Alhaji Najeem Awodele,former Minister, Professor Is-haq  Oloyede, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Justice Abdul Fatah Adeyinka (deceased), a retired Chief Judge of Lagos State, Alhaja Latifah Okunnu, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sekinat Adekola, the Iya Adini of Yorubaland and Dr. Jubril Oyekan.

    Delegates at the retreat also paid a courtesy call on Justice Bola Babalakin (now deceased), the former acting President of MUSWEN in his Gbongan country home.

    Members also prayed for the repose of some of its late founders such as Prof. Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa, (Pioneer President), Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola- Alao, Dr AbduLateef Adegbite and Sheikh Sadrudeen Biobaku. May their souls be blessed.

    The theme of the retreat was ‘MUSWEN: SUSTAINING THE MOMENTUM’.

  • Upholding Muslim Unity

    Upholding Muslim Unity

    The above quoted verse of the Qur’an is a vital obligatory aspect of Islam  which came directly, as a divine order, from the Almighty Allah, Who made the religion of Islam an act of worship for people who sincerely surrender themselves to His will. Thus, any deviation from that divine order is a cultivation of endless restiveness for self, in all circumstances.

    From this, it becomes clear that unity is a vital norm of Islam that no genuine seeker of societal peace would want to discard.

    Web of Unity

    If there is any time, in the history of Nigeria, when the largest Muslim Ummah of the black race, needs to build a most formidable web of unity, as a fortress, it is now.

    For centuries, most Muslims, in various parts of the world, have consistently deviated from holding unity as an Islamic principle while, at the same time, perceiving certain adherents of some religions, other than Islam, as their enemies. But, ironically, in reality, there are no enemies for Islam or Muslims, anywhere, other than the Muslims themselves.

    A thorough and sincere examination of this assertion will surely confirm this. In a nutshell, Muslims are the enemies of both Islam and fellow Muslims.

    Preamble

    Here in Nigeria, if anything is called Satan, and that diabolical entity truly lives in the midst of humans, Nigeria must be its abode.

    As a mysteriously damnable entity, Satan may not be physically perceivable, but his shadow is evidently vivid in the evil machination  generally called politics. And, certain elements, in the society, including some ambitious  Muslims, who are often proud to be called politicians, are the agents of that unperceivable diabolical entity called IBLIS.

    From whichever angle it is perceived, Politics, as played in Nigeria, by Nigerians, today, will be seen as infectious leprosy.

    Any contact it makes, with human fingers,  will surely render those fingers ineffective with contagious implication. Although, Politics, generally, is a social necessity that cannot be totally avoided in any human society because of its irreplaceable role in socializing humanity, nevertheless, the method of handling it in Nigeria, has practically turned it into a paradoxical slough of a snake which has no life of its own but scares the people around it, despite its empty appearance.

    Without the way politics is being played globally, today, the entire world would have been in perfect harmony.

    Reminiscence

    Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria has hardly experienced any social calamity that did not emanate from politics, directly or indirectly. Thus, like the Island of Ithaca of yore, in the Greek mythology, Nigeria, now, harbours a sphinx that frequently confronts all citizens with an unanswerable question. And, the inability to answer that question, correctly, by anybody, has become a desperate sphinx threatening to devour our country from time to time. For how long can we continue to cope with this situation before the bubble will finally bust, is a fundamental question that urgently requires a practically fundamental answer.

    Paradoxical Odyssey

    Today, politics in Nigeria is a paradoxical odyssey, the ship of which cruises dangerously on an ocean of uncertainty. And, the sailor of that ship is the stolen money desperately used by the minority, in pursuit of power, to the gross disadvantage of the majority of citizens.

    We are now in an era when the source of money being squandered on politics no longer matters as much as the money itself.

    What really matters, in today’s Nigeria, is not how decent you are, as a person, or, how valuable you are as an expert in any field of endeavour, but how rich you are, no matter the source of your richness. In a nutshel, a rich rogue is by far more relevant and more important to an  average Nigerian, today, than a gentleman without money.

    As a matter of fact, there is no gentlemanliness without money. It is actually the size of your purse, or that of your bank account, that determines the status by which you are recognized in the society.  And, that has now become the new definition of pedigree on the one hand, and, the secret god which most Muslims have adopted as an option.

    It is not surprising, therefore, that, even Muslim men and women of letters, as well as high caliber professionals are now struggling to become servants to mere nonentities who, by hook or by crook, have struck the opportunity to occupy public positions in a clueless government in order to control an enclave in Nigeria’s treasury.

    The world has changed so much that the same money which used to serve man in the past is

    now the master that man serves with relish. In the face of money, conscience has become a lost paradise that no one seeks again. And, with its disappearance, human dignity has also become an old wife’s tale. Whither Nigeria’s tomorrow, in all these, is a question reserved for the future to answer.

    The Wilderness of Avarice

    In the wilderness of  avarice and aggrandizement audaciously imposed by money, Nigerians of today have lost the culture of dignity highly cherished by Nigerians of yesteryears and there is no sense of nostalgia for it.

    No matter the solo or chorus that the song of this era may bring into today’s music of politics, it will still be discovered that the bottom-line of ambition and desperation, among Nigerian politicians, is nothing but satanic avarice.

    When a hopeful country finds itself in this kind of situation, she quickly resorts to the last bastion for solution. And, the last bastion, in the case of Nigeria, as presented by charlatans, is religion, which is being conspicuously, but undeservedly, displayed as the First Estate of the Realm.

    Sailors without Compass

    As far as religion is concerned, most of the so-called clerics in both Islam and Christianity, in Nigeria, today, are like sailors, on a strenuous voyage, who have lost the compass that should guide them in sailing through the tumultuous waves of water while their congregational passengers continue to pray fervently for safety on a turbulent  ocean.

    Read Also: Abiodun extols Kolapo new Iyalode of Egba Muslims

    To those clerics, religion is no longer the path to salvation but a short cut towards material wealth even as they have relegated morality to its lowest ebb. Here is a country where clerics do not only preach material prosperity but also live in stupendous affluence in the midst of their wretched congregations.

    Here is a country in which clerics are either known for trafficking in drugs or gun running or serve as patrons for suppliers of ammunition as in the case of a notorious episode of a mission to South Africa, in 2014, that suddenly ended up in a fiasco. Some of those clerics are even known for  taking corporate bribes from the politicians as in the case of an alleged N7 billion (when Naira had value) that caused wild brouhaha within the religious sphere, in Nigeria, in the same 2014. Here is a country where neither conscience nor morality has a role to play in religion, any longer, as the so- called clerics have technically banished both and, thus, become, not just accomplices of political rogues but mostly the barking dogs for those politicians.

    That is the situation which became an irresolvable bone of contention and breeder of disunity among Nigerian Muslims, over politics. Now, at the political crossroads, will this situation be further allowed to function at the expense of Islam? That is a question that will be further discussed in this column, in a foreseeable future, in sha’Allah.

  • Our economy’ll boom if Muslims pay charity, says Muslim cleric

    Our economy’ll boom if Muslims pay charity, says Muslim cleric

    An Islamic scholar, Ustaz Muhammad Al-Badawiy, has identified the non-payment of compulsory charity (Zakat) by Muslims, as the reason for the poor state of the economy.

    He said if Muslims give out 2.5 per cent of their yearly earnings as charity, it would not only alleviate poverty in the land, but grow the economy.

    Speaking at the eighth Merit Awards of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Kaduna branch, Al-Badawiy, who is a lecturer at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), said the aim of giving out a percentage of one’s wealth to charity is not just to alleviate poverty but to eradicate it.

    “The prophet (S.A.W.) said when you keep giving failed promises, Allah will send to you bad leaders, when people refuse to give out a percentage of their annual earnings to charity they will never see value for their money and the economy will be damaged and when people see adultery as normal, people will die easily.

    “We are having a poor economy because Allah is angry with us. If we can change our attitude by giving our charity, keeping our promises and avoiding adultery we will not only flush out the anger of Allah, but we will help society because the aim of charity is not just to alleviate poverty but to eradicate it,” he added.

    Read Also: Scholar advises Muslims on sustenance of Islam mission

    He called on Islamic preachers to use the pulpit in their mosques to preach the giving of charity to the poor.

    Chairman of Ansar-ud-Deen, Alhaji Saburi Adeyemi said the ceremony was organised by the society to recognise members and non-members who have contributed to the development of the society and propagation of Islam.

    The branch chairman noted that the society, which was established 100 years ago by a group of 42 young men for the propagation of Islam, is in need of support of wealthy Muslims to keep up its programmes, including education, reformation, propagation, and defence of Islam.

    Governor Uba Sani, who was represented by the Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Pilgrims Agency, Dr. Yusuf Yakub Arrigasiyyu, pledged to support the society in the propagation of Islam in the state.

    Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Amao Ademola Abideen said: “Contributing to Ansar-Ud-Deen means contributing to a better education of the Muslim children, empowerment of the less privileged and other forms of Daawah.”

    Highlights of the event was presentation of excellence awards to outstanding Muslims. They inluded the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG Yekini Ayoku; former General Officer Commanding (G.O.C.) 1 Division Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Kamaldeen Role (rtd); wife of the former Osun State CPS, Hajia Hadrat Onolola Omipidan and Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, Dr. Yusuf Yakub Arrigasiyyu.

  • Christian, Muslim, Jewish clerics pray for Chibok schoolgirls

    The #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) movement yesterday in Lagos rounded off a three-day global event marking the fifth anniversary of the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction.

    Nigerian and American Christian, Muslim and Jewish clerics offered inter-faith prayers for the safe return of the abductees.

    The 276 girls were abducted by members of Boko Haram terrorist group at the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on the night of April 14, 2014.

    Yesterday’s event marked the fifth anniversary of the abduction.

    Of the girls, 112 are yet to be released. Others, including Leah Sharibu from Dapchi in Yobe State, are also being held.

    The advocacy group marked the event simultaneously on three continents: Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria; London in the United Kingdom as well as New York and Washington DC in the United States.

    Participants at the Lagos event – a vigil at the Falomo Roundabout in Ikoyi – included one-time Lagos State Commissioner for Finance Mr Wale Edun; #BBOG Leader Yemi Ransome-Kuti; a former president of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ms Ayo Obe and Executive Director, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE), Yemi Adamolekun, among others.

    Clerics at the event included the Senior Pastor of Trinity House Church, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo; the Imam of Lighthouse Estate Mosque, the “first-ever Islamic estate in Lagos”, Alhaji Nojeem Jimoh and the former pastor of the Church of the Brethren in Chibok, Samuel Dauda.

    The event also featured the reading of a prayer written for the girls by Jewish Rabbis in New York, titled: An Interfaith Prayer for Chibok – Five Years in Captivity.

    Edun thanked the #BBOG movement for keeping the girls’ plight in Nigerians’ consciousness.

    The former commissioner urged the group and other Nigerians not to give up hope but to support the government’s efforts to bring the girls home alive.

    He said: “We are encouraged; 112 Chibok girls are missing, previously it was 276, then 217, now 112. That is certainly progress, and the Federal Government deserves the commendation, credit and encouragement to keep bringing that figure down until it is zero.

    “The President has said he is committed to bringing back all the Chibok girls as well as others who are detained against their will.

    “We need to acknowledge that very worthy commitment on his part and help him in any way we can to achieve that goal.”

    Ighodalo, who prayed God to bring back the remaining girls, urged Nigerians not to relent in their prayers for the nation.

    “Five is the number of grace. In this fifth year, the Lord will be gracious, merciful unto us… Continue to have hope; it is not over until it is over. There is hope,” he added.

    Jimoh prayed for the safe return of the girls, including Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu.

    He noted that Boko Haram and its sister terrorist group, the ISIS, had shown by their acts that they were anti-Islam.

    Dauda, who noted that it was his first time to participate in the event, said he was nearly brought to tears by the outpouring of love for the girls.

    “I was about shedding tears,” he said.

    He urged the Federal Government to do its all to stem the insurgency.

    In London, a panel of discussants considered the topic: #BlackLivesMatter and the #BringBackOurGirls movement: Online struggle for offline justice.

    In New York, the event was marked by an overnight vigil at the Nigerian Embassy.

  • Much ado about secularism (I)

    What better time to talk about state and religion than now. What better time to expose our pretentions to being secular, or our denial of being a multi-religious nation, than now. Annually, by this time, we shut down the entire federal and state bureaucracies in deference to series of religious activities by our Christian brothers. As we do also at other times for Islamic festivities such as Eid-l Fitr, Eid-l Kabir and Maulud. Christian and Muslim holidays are some of the clear examples that although the Constitution purports to be secular, the people it provides for are deeply sectarian. And it prompts the question again: are we truly a secular state or a multi-religious society?

    Or how can we be secular when the preamble to the Nigerian constitution says that we are a ‘Sovereign Nation under God’? Or how can a constitution be secular which recognizes the application of the Islamic personal law? Section 10 of the constitution merely prohibits the adoption of “ANY religion as state religion”. But does it therefore allow the adoption of the two major religions as state religions? These are some of the questions I intend for us to muse over during this wonderful period of Christmas. I will give mostly a universal outlook on the subject this week, and conclude next week mostly with our situation at home. Merry Christmas to my readers; FelisNevidad; Happy Kwanzaa!

     

    State and religion

    I had Nigeria particularly in mind when about three years ago I wrote ‘Secularism Is Not The Enemy Of Religion’ (April 4, 2016); because going by the English dictionary definition of the term ‘secular’, meaning ‘concern with temporal, worldly matters’ to the exclusion of ‘religion’ Nigeria cannot be said to be secular. Evidently our ‘concern with temporal, worldly matters’ is not to the exclusion of ‘religion’. In fact going by that textbook definition, many so-called ‘secular’ nations are not necessarily secular. Most Scandinavian countries especially Sweden, Norway and Denmark with state-established Lutheran Churches many of whose ministers are drown from the civil service, can in fact pass for theocracies. Or bluntly put, ‘governments by God’; which, in a sense, is no less than what our constitution says that Nigeria is a ‘Sovereign Nation under God’. The Scandinavian example provides an apt, existential definition of ‘theocracy’ in its blending of the ‘clerical’ with the ‘clerk-lical’; the ‘spiritual’ with the ‘temporal; or -to use conventional clichés- the fusion of ‘religion and politics’ or of ‘state and the church’. It is ironic that the Scandinavian countries appear more ‘theocratic’ than even a Vatican-hosting Italy which, in spite of its Catholic baggage and its fusion of ‘church’ and ‘governing party’, yet officially could disavow ‘Roman Catholicism’ as state religion. And the question again may be asked: if even after publicly disavowing ‘Roman Catholicism’ as state religion, Italy is still not wholly ‘secular’, can the mere declaration by the Nigerian constitution that no religion shall be made a state religion alone to the exclusion of all other socio-religious considerations, make Nigeria secular?

    By the way, although almost all European nations, on the face of it, are considered ‘secular’, the truth is that in virtually all of them, religion (in this case Christianity) has always played a significant role in their politics. Meaning that in spite of all theoretical claims to the contrary, ‘religion and politics’ on the one hand, and ‘state and religion’ on the other, are essentially ‘inseparable’ in the affairs of these states. And you do not have to go beyond the confines of the church or even outside the very bastion of secularism herself, America, to grasp the echoes of these verities: In 1795 America’s first President, George Washington proclaimed February 19 for National Thanksgiving and Prayer, and at the inaugural of which, Bishop James Madison (cousin to the fourth President James Madison), while speaking on the subject of ‘Divine Providence toward America’, projected a commitment both to the spiritual and the temporal realms. His choice of the biblical “Dear Brethren” and the political “Fellow citizens”, his reference to “American Christians” and to “American ‘patriots’, projected the promise of a nation that was not about to lose her ‘spirituality’ for her ‘secularity’ or vice versa. And George Washington, to affirm the Bishop’s vision of a ‘secular’ America ‘under God’, proceeded also to spice his speech with generous quotations both from the Bible’s ‘Psalms’ -to indicate America’s readiness to give to God what’s God’s- and from John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ -to underscore her readiness to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

     

    Nation under God

    William Safire, in his ‘World Great Speeches’ collection ‘Lend Me Your Ears’ said that not only did a Bishop and a symbolize the ‘secular’ and the ‘non-secular’ but that the two had made no pretence about their desire to “link the notion of church and  state” and to build a “common ground(for) religion and government”. In fact Richard Nixon in his days was also said to have instituted a series of sermons delivered on Sunday mornings in the White House and at the inaugural of which also Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, America’s preeminent voice of conservative Judaism, in a deeply philosophical sermon, reminded American secularists (who had criticized Nixon’s idea of ‘Sunday-Sunday Sermons’ as “a breach between church and state”) of the need to recant their ‘exclusion’ of God in the temporal affairs of man. Said the Rabbi: “How little the mightiest of us can hope to accomplish, and how much we have to leave to God!” Then there was Ronald Reagan, a known proponent of prayer in public schools, who, in 1983 while speaking on the sources of evil in the modern world to the ‘National Association of Evangelists’ meeting in Florida, accused Communist Russia of preaching “the supremacy of the state” and “its omnipotence over individual man”, alleging that “The crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in Communism’s attempt to make man stand alone without God”.

    Then in 1776 there was Reverend John Whitherspoon, the only Clergyman to sign the American Declaration of Independence, who preached the controversial subject of ‘The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men’ and in which, while labouring to couple religion with politics, he said the best friend to American liberty is one “who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind”. Said Reverend Whitherspoon: “God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable”; and he prayed “that the unjust’s attempts to destroy the one may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both”. Again there was Bishop Fulton John Sheen, a long time preacher of the philosophy of religion at the American Catholic University, who, in one of his popular 1941 ‘Catholic Hour’ Radio Sermon -titled that week ‘The Cross and the Double Cross’- warned that “the hour of false freedom is past. No longer can we have education without discipline… individual existence without moral responsibility, economics and politics without subservience to the common good”.

     

  • Hajj 2018: 872 pilgrims from Kaduna return home

    Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board says 872 pilgrims from the state have returned from Saudi Arabia after a successful 2018 Hajj operation.

    The Public Relations Officer of the board, Yunusa Abdullahi, said this in a statement in Kaduna on Tuesday.
    He said the pilgrims returned home in two flights.

    Abdullahi said the first flight brought 560 pilgrims on Sept. 2, while 312 pilgrims returned in the early hours of Tuesday.

    Read Also: Perm Sec to Muslims: be grateful to Allah

    “The 312 pilgrims who are mostly from Igabi and Kubau local government areas of Kaduna State returned via Med-View Airline.

    “The pilgrims arrived with their luggage and will be given five litres of “Zamzam water” each while claiming their luggage at Hajj Transit Camp, Mando.

    “So far, 872 Kaduna State pilgrims have returned home in two flights.”Abdullahi said.
    The News men report that a total of 3,238 pilgrims from Kaduna State performed this year’s Hajj operation.

  • Spying on spouse’s phone in Saudi Arabia now carries $133, 000 fine

    Spying on your spouse’s phone in Saudi Arabia now carries a 133, 000 dollars fine and up to a year in prison, under a new law that aims to “protect morals of individuals and society and protect privacy’’.

    The punishment would apply to both men and women in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, according to a statement on Tuesday by the ministry of culture.

    It could tend to protect husbands from their wives.

    As in many other parts of the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia laws on divorce, inspired by scripture, often required wives seeking alimony to provide evidence of abuse or sexual promiscuity.

    A husband’s phone could be a rich source of such evidence.

    The Anti-Cybercrime Law, says “spying on, interception or reception of data transmitted through an information network or a computer without legitimate authorisation” is a crime.

    It imposes a penalty up to 133, 000 dollars, prison or both.

    “Social media has resulted in a steady increase in cybercrimes such as blackmail, embezzlement and defamation, not to mention hacking of accounts’’, the ministry said.

    A similar law on the books in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates also bars the practice, carrying a minimum three-month prison term and 817 dollas fine.

    The oil-rich and tech-obsessed countries are among the most avid social media users in the world, but traditional values remained ascendant, even in courts.

    Reuters/NAN

  • Kaduna crisis: Senate warns against religious conflicts

    Kaduna crisis: Senate warns against religious conflicts

    The Senate Tuesday asked Nigerians to learn to live in peace and harmony with one another in the interest of the country.

    The upper chamber said that Nigerians should avoid all forms of violence especially those that have religious colouration.

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, gave the advice following a Point of Order raised by Senator Shehu Sani on the violence that erupted in Kaduna State on Monday.

    Reports had it that about nine persons died on Monday in a clash between Christians and Muslim youths in Kasuwan Magani Kajuru Local Government Area, Kaduna State.

    Ekweremadu after listening to Sani’s lamentation over increasing spate of violence in parts of the country warned that religious conflict could be the fasted means to liquidate the country if not avoided.

    Ekweremadu said, “This is one incident too many, killings in all parts of Nigeria. This is becoming very worrisome. What is even more worrying is the religious colouration to the killings, based on what Senator Shehu Sani has said. This is something we need to avoid.

    “That is, any conflict that will have religious colouration. That will be the fastest way to liquidate this country. As leaders, we must understand that leadership comes with responsibilities. It is our job to keep preaching to those who are leading through our actions and words that we belong to one God.

    “The fact that somebody is a Christian or Muslim does not mean that he hates another person. I have not seen any religion that preaches hate killings. It is the way we behave that promotes that.

    “We are talking about hate speeches. The worst of it is hate action. If we treat ourselves as brothers and sisters, those following us will follow us. We must try as hard as we can not to have any religious escalation in Nigeria.”

    Sani (Kaduna Central) in his submission described the incident as unfortunate and lamented the situation where Nigerians are faced with one form of violence or the other every day.

    He said, “I stand to bring to the attention of the Senate and the nation an unfortunate violence we had yesterday in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The violence took the lives of over six to seven people. Houses were burnt and it was a season of mayhem.

    “The mayhem was attributed to youths who decided to take the laws into their hands. But it had the colouration of religious violence. Everyday, we wake up in this country and we are faced with one form of violence or another. We are now accepting the reality that violence is the way of life.

    “It is unfortunate that we wake up everyday and we see killings, kidnappings and other things that shake the stability and unity of this country in every respect.

    “I use this opportunity to appeal to all parties involved in all forms of violence to know that we cannot achieve any progress without peace.

    “The unity of Nigeria is not about the flag or the anthem, but the establishment of a system that ensures justice, harmony and love among one another. I want the Senate to identify with us in our time of crisis.

    “We must live together as Christians and as Muslims in this country. We need to live as people, despite the fact that we are from different parts of the country.”

    Read Also: Nine killed as Christian, Muslim youths clash in Kaduna