The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sacred

  • No sacred staff

    Implementing the CBN order for bank workers to declare their assets should proceed in earnest 

    The idea is to follow the money. In a new directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), all bank employees are required to declare their assets. This directive pertains to the 19 commercial banks, also known as deposit money banks, in the country.

    The CBN issued this order through its Banking Supervision Department and reports say that it has already sent existential jitters through staff. The reason is that employees are believed to own assets in cash, properties and other belongings that flatter their comparatively modest earnings.

    We must note that the law is not new, and the CBN order has stirred anxiety because our financial institutions have left the law in the lurch, freeing bank workers with the impunity of acquisition. Many believe the CBN has invoked it in response to the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption war, which has swept into many otherwise hallowed institutions, including the army. Many thought the banks were an inevitable target in this howling wind.

    The order is only revving up the Bank Employees Declaration of Assets Act 1986. According to Act 1 (1) “Every employee of a bank shall, within fourteen days of the commencement of this Act, make a full disclosure of all his assets.”

    To ensure that the affair is not just an internal affair of the banks, section 2 (1) directs that the declaration “shall be executed before and attested to by the Registrar of a High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.”

    To ascertain that this exercise is not a casual declaration, it calls for thorough investigation that should include the “spouse, child, relative, parent, associate or privy.” Section 7 (2) prescribes a ten-year jail term as well as forfeiture of excess assets.

    The war against corruption has unveiled the underbelly of Nigerian thieving, and many persons of standing have been exposed for dipping their lofty hands in the sewers and led to great distrust in those who pilot the affairs of this country.

    It must be noted that the act does not cover the commercial banks alone, but also the CBN. It also nests merchant banks, acceptance houses, discount houses, financial institutions or any authorised dealer appointed under the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act. So, although the CBN directive specifies the 19 money deposit banks in the country, its purview is vast.

    Commentators, including this newspaper’s editorial board, have noted repeatedly that the war against corruption will be futile without the interrogation of the financial institutions. It is the node of corruption. Banks deals with the corrupt persons, broker with them, receive the cash, funnel it, arrange interests, prescribe or suggest or implement investment possibilities, encode them to ward off the peering eye, move the cash around the nation’s financial tunnels, guard them against losses, suggest profiteering potential, launder it and inform the owners of the progress of their investments.

    Many bank top fliers have fallen under the wrong side of he law a few times. They paraded themselves as not only professional geniuses but also moral role models. They were disgraced as liars, cheats and thieves, and cast doubts on the honesty behind their public flamboyance and portrayed the Nigerian moneyed elite as no more than a class of showy brigands preying on other people’s money.

    So, we support the effort to check financial excesses through assets declaration. We, however, want the process to be transparent and not follow the tedium that has characterised anti-corruption prosecutions so far. We suggest that the special anti-corruption court proposed spring into being in time, so the onslaught on corruption is not just in words.

  • Anti-corruption war: No sacred cows

    SIR: President Muhammadu Buhari made no mistake when he said if we fail to kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. It is not disputable that the hydra -headed monster has done incalculable damage to virtually every facet of our national life. At every stop during the campaigns, he trumpeted his desire to crush the monster that has been a barrier to our journey to development. Now that Buhari is president, there is no doubt the war against corruption has begun. It is evident in the amount of cash and property recovered by the anti-corruption bodies. And for the first time, those who misapplied or misappropriated public funds, thinking that day of reckoning will never come in their lifetime now know what hit them. Even the military is not spared as long hidden skeletons are excavated and dossiers of iniquity opened.

    But concerns about the nature of President Buhari’s anti-corruption war remains despite the success it has so far recorded. Buhari is accused in some quarters of fighting a selective war. Some of these accusations range from the ridiculous to the mundane. But one cannot in all honesty dismiss all as mere lamentations of the tribe of wailers.

    Curiously, one wonders why the illegal recruitment at the CBN has been allowed to stand despite the hue and cry that greeted it. Sons, daughters and relatives of the rich and mighty, especially the President’s friends got engaged by the CBN without due process.

    Just as the dust raised by irregular CBN recruitment was settling, the FIRS secretly employed 350 new staff. Like that of the CBN, it was neither advertised nor approved by the Federal Character Commission as the service rules stipulate. What is even more irritating is the watery argument by the CBN that they were ‘targeted recruitments’. And I ask, what are the sins of the ordinary man that makes it a taboo for him to be ‘targeted’ for plum positions? Are less privileged Nigerians only meant to be shepherded to polling booths on election day to give expression to the dream and aspirations of ambitious politicians?

    Away from the hoopla generated by irregular recruitments, one issue many Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction with its handling is the corruption allegations leveled by an online news portal against the Chief of Army staff (COAS ), Gen. TukurBuratai. He was accused of buying mansions worth N120m in Dubai with proceeds of graft.

    The least expected of the nation’s anti-corruption bodies is to swing into action with a view to ascertaining the veracity of the allegations; not the feeble clearance and defence by the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army.

    The chief locust that messes up our collective fabric cannot be killed if the nation’s anti-corruption bodies choose to see with one eye. It is gratifying that the president says he belongs to everyone and belongs to no one. To be fair, nothing suggests that the President would shield his ministers or army chiefs or party members from prosecution. But silence in the face of brazen nepotism- which is in fact corruption- and allowing it to stand as witnessed in the case of illegal recruitments could send the wrong signal to the children of corruption and make a mockery of the war against graft

    Every appearance of evil must be rejected and shot down. Let the searchlight of the nation’s anti-corruption agencies be beamed the way of the broom, the umbrella and everyone that has their hands soiled no matter whose ox is gored.

     

    • LadesopeLadelokun,

    Ogun State.

  • Understanding the sacred status of nature

    Nature is so important in the existence of man that nobody lives without depending on it for survival. In fact, nothing can exist outside of nature. Human beings live in houses, towns and cities and depend on sunshine, rain, clothes and food for survival and growth. In a sense, nature is the platform on which living creatures ride to live and from which they derive all they require for survival, including their respiration. Nature is ever kind, gentle, patient, honest and helpful to all creatures, showing much understanding and respect for their survival instincts and making adjustment for their incursions.

    Unfortunately, the greed of man and his avaricious tendencies has always made him attempt to wipe out nature or twist its course of operation for his own selfish gains.  From the very beginning of his existence, and with increasing intensity, human society has adapted nature and made all kinds of incursions into it. An enormous amount of human labour has been spent on transforming nature. Humanity converts nature’s wealth into the means of the cultural, historical life of society. Man has subdued and disciplined electricity and compelled it to serve the interests of society. Not only has man transferred various species of plants and animals to different climatic conditions, he has also changed the shape and climate of his habitation and transformed plants and animals. If we were to strip the geographical environment of the properties created by the labour of many generations, contemporary society would be unable to exist in such primeval conditions.

    Man is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, the food he eats, and the flow of energy and information. And many of man’s troubles are a response to the natural processes and changes in the weather, intensified irradiation of cosmic energy, and the magnetic storms that rage around the earth. In short, we are so connected with nature that we cannot live outside it. During their temporary departures from Earth, spacemen take with them a bit of the biosphere. Nowhere does nature affect humanity in exactly the same way. Its influence varies. Depending on where human beings happen to be on the earth’s surface, it assigns them varying quantities of light, warmth, water, precipitation, flora and fauna.

    Man and nature interact dialectically in such a way that, as society develops, man tends to become less dependent on nature directly, while indirectly his dependence grows. This is understandable because while he is getting to know more and more about nature, and in the process transforming it, man’s power over nature progressively increases, but in the same process, man comes into more and more extensive and profound contact with nature, bringing into the sphere of his activity growing quantities of matter, energy and information.

    However, man’s technological and scientific breakthroughs over the decades have had certain negative impact on the natural landscape of the earth. Forests, for example, have been destroyed for arable land to increase; the land has been over-grazed, thus exposing it to abnormal conditions. This was all done in the name of civilization. But as time passed, the interaction between man and nature became characterized by accelerated subjugation of nature and the taming of its elemental forces. Mankind became increasingly concerned with the question of where and how to obtain irreplaceable natural resources for the needs of production. Science and man’s practical transforming activity made humanity aware of the enormous geological role played by the industrial transformation of earth. Consistently and continually, man discovered and devised new pattern of coping with the daily challenges of life.

    Modern industrial activity has embraced ruthless ways of crushing global natural systems. Indeed, the prevailing trend of the modern world is the pursuit of activities that portend great danger for the future existence of the earth. In finding solutions to the complex world’s challenges, man unconsciously creates other problems that are often too difficult to manage. Climate change, overpopulation, loss of topsoil and fresh water, increasing rates of species extinction, deforestation, imperiled coral reefs, unstoppable invasive species, toxic chemicals that remain for eons in the environment, persistent human poverty and hunger, and an increasingly inflated and unstable world financial system are some of the results that unwholesome human induced activities have brought upon the world.

    The problem of eliminating industrial waste is also becoming increasingly complex. The threat of a global ecological crisis hangs over humanity like the sword of Damocles. His keen awareness of this fact has led man to pose the question of switching from the irresponsible destructive and polluting subjugation of nature to a reasonable harmonious interaction in the “technology-man-biosphere” system. Whereas nature once frightened us and made us tremble with her mysterious vastness and the uncontrollable energy of its elemental forces, it now frightens us with its limitations and a new-found fragility, the delicacy of its plastic mechanisms. We are faced quite uncompromisingly, with the problem of how to stop, or at least moderate, the destructive effect of technology on nature.

    Human activity at various times has involved a good deal of irrational behaviour. Labour, which started as a specifically human means of rational survival in the environment, now damages the biosphere on an increasing scale and on the boomerang principle—affecting man himself, his bodily and mental organisation. Under the influence of uncoordinated production processes affecting the biosphere, the chemical properties of water, air, the soil, flora and fauna have acquired a negative shift. Experts maintain that 60 per cent of the pollution in the atmosphere, and the most toxic, comes from motor transport, 20 per cent from power stations, and 20 per cent from other types of industry.

    Many people seem not to understand that the quality of our lives as human beings is substantially a reflection of the quality of the environment which we inhabit. Many still seem not to comprehend that the environment which we inhabit, like kola in Igbo culture, is life in itself. It is whatever we give to the environment that it gives back to us. No more, no less. Most cities of the world experience environmental abuse as a result of the ignorance of the people when it comes to environmental matters. It is from this perspective that one really takes exception to various habits and activities of Lagos residents that portend great danger to the environment. How, for instance, does one explain such despicable attitudes as defecating or urinating in public places, indiscriminate refuse dumping, drainage blockage, construction on waterways, drainage alignments, throwing  of refuse into canals and such unauthorised places, turning garden and parks into arena for environmentally unfriendly activities among others ?

    As a people, we need to really come to terms with the significance of an improved environmental habit. When we deliberately choose to act in manners that endanger the environment, we are the ones that would certainly bear the consequences of such actions. Hence, preserving the sanctity of nature should be everybody’s responsibility because when nature fights back, no one could cope with its rage.

    • Ibirogba is Honourable Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Lagos State 
  • Tamuno: The sacred canopy of our rainbow coalition

    Tamuno: The sacred canopy of our rainbow coalition

    He who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12) “Blessed are the meek” (Matthew 5: 5)

    Professor Tekena Tamuno (1932-2015), a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, joined his ancestors on Saturday, April 11, 2015. He once used the metaphor of the “mother banana” and the “banana family” to illustrate the dynamics of the continuum and how our universe functions: that as the mother banana dies it gives birth to a new one! In essence, Professor Tamuno was this “mother banana,” forever green, immortal, and transcendental.

    Most certainly, there are greater minds to attest to Professor Tamuno’s long career; furthermore, there are hundreds of eye-witnesses to recount his days as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan; while there are also far more talented historians than my humble self to highlight his contributions to the writing of Nigerian history. Yet, as an act of fate as someone who interacted with him for over three decades, I have had the privilege of producing this tribute in his honor, and he deserves every laudatory statement I can make. I was drawn to Prof Tamuno in equal percentages: a third because of his personality; another third for his style; and a final third on behalf of his professionalism. Therefore, my tribute is arranged to touch upon each of these triple perspectives that together constitute his heritage. When Malcolm X died in February of 1965, Ossie Davis described him in his eulogy as a shining black star.  Similarly, Prof Tamuno, in my estimation, was one of our shining stars in the sky, one that we looked up to for the light that could illuminate the path on which we walked.

    Professionally, Prof Tamuno was a prolific historian, and without exaggeration, I can underscore, also without reservation, that there was none in his generation that out-produced him. On the leadership front, he was a talented leader, and there was no one that served on more committees, commissions and fact-finding missions more than he did. He got things done, and he produced consensus, indeed far more than anyone of his generation. His overall success, I had come to assume, was because he understood himself: He was open as well as being mutually respectful of others while still being conscious of his terrain and his place in history, unique qualities that he never exaggerated, not even for a moment.

    On my part, I can only offer a summation—indeed a précis—of his glorious career as a professional historian. In it Prof Tamuno was Ibadan personified in a variety of ways: he entered the University of Ibadan in 1953 and he continued to live in Ibadan City, with a few interruptions, courtesy of national and international engagements, till 2015. He was a citizen of the city of Ibadan and he was certainly pre-eminently far more qualified than I, the “son of the soil,” to be an Ibadan chief. There was no significant academic or administrative position at the University of Ibadan that he was not invited to occupy; and as the records clearly demonstrate, he never struggled for any of them, from the Head of Department to the Vice-Chancellor, all positions in which he served with distinction. From his PhD thesis to his very last piece of writing, he was perpetually pre-occupied by not less than six inter-related investigations: (i) the evolution of Nigeria, from its pre-colonial indigenous culture to the modern, and from the creation of amalgamated Nigeria through colonial conquest to the end of British rule; (ii) the creation of roads and railways to provide modern infrastructure and communication systems; (iii) law and order in a changing state, in terms of an indigenous security system, the police force, and the army; (iv) institutions of governance (how federalism evolved, and how our leaders managed and betrayed us); (v) the stages in our growth from 1885 to the present; and  (vi) our various predicaments, including issues of underdevelopment, poverty and leadership deficit.  In all, after offering a sober analysis, he would confess, as he once did in a keynote address delivered in 1983 for a conference on nation-building:

    We are humble enough to acknowledge that we know not yet all we wish to know about this great country, Nigeria, about its great people, and their great problems.

    Limited space is often a thief of money and time, sadly disempowering me from a detailed critical elaboration of the aforementioned points. Yet, I also know very well that space cannot steal reflexivity. “Nigeria matters,” Tamuno proclaimed to all listening ears. In all of his writings, he persuasively argued that the problems of Nigeria would ultimately yield to its success. He gathered tremendous amounts of data on specific institutions, always trying to highlight the weight and import of evidence, and more so the importance of the explicit over the implicit. He was, in varied ways, a masterful storyteller, bringing out variation upon variation in dealing with topics and themes, mapping debates, respecting various opinions, and creating his own ideas. He certainly understood the workings of a nation in formation, a political elite that was conflicted, and of institutions that were in the process of maturation. He had a firm grounding in archival sources, for many years unearthing more archival “gems” than many of his peers. His perspective was both regional and national, as he was always offering nuanced understanding of the Nigerian condition. Irrespective of the moment in our history, our anguish and sorrow, Prof Tamuno applied the gentle balm, as he wiped our tears, and he sang joyful songs, indeed as, inter alia, he once did in the following words:

    Hence, they are

    Songs of joy and sorrow,

    Paeans of pleasure,

    Groans of pain,

    That blends moments of mirth

    With those of wrath,

    But with no target enemies,

    With no firm friends

    With an appeal, or whatever,

    To all of goodwill over the world

    [Songs of an Egg-head (Alafeni: Port Harcourt, 1982).]

    I knew him well as a Nigerian! As I still recall, I was with him for a few days in 1990, when he was at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies at Kuru where he worked temporarily as a Visiting Professor.  In excitement, he took me to visit a plot of land that he bought in Jos to build his retirement house. To my surprise, he confided his retirement plan with me, saying that living in that part of Nigeria, the center of the country, represented his affirmation of the country’s oneness.

    The seriousness of his “oneness” understanding of Nigeria as a nation was the driving force of his intellectual career of well over half a century. He chose themes of oneness, from the evolution of the country’s boundaries to the institutions of managing the state, such as the police. Bothered by issues around violence, he devoted considerable space in his scholarship to the analysis of conflicts and strategies for peace. His demeanour, words, and strategic choices represented peace—both in over a dozen private discussions as well as in public where his humility was always fresh and striking. He was never tired of welcoming guests, giving them food from his garden, laughter from his heart, and generosity from his spirit.

    Symbolically, Prof Tamuno was one of the few lines in the colours of rainbow, the arch in the middle that formed in the sky for us to see and admire. He constituted a shield linked with the cosmos, the extraordinary being of colours, dispersed by the sun’s light, blessed by water droplets from the far sky. We cannot chase the rainbows, as they are too far high in the sky, but Baba Tekena Tamuno brought the lines and colours closer to us, making them reachable and touchable, and ever projecting as well as displaying his light and sunshine.

    He was not easy to imitate, and impossible to clone, for no one can ever garner the rainbow of medals that adorned his walls; and no one can ever come close to the rainbow of love that filled his heart and chest. We have to keep struggling to reach the silver-lining of his illustrious clouds and the gold located at the end of his rainbow. I won’t even try, for his resilience is uncommon, his patience is legendary, and I am too small to learn at his feet.

    A master of long narratives, his nuanced conclusions were open-ended, elastic, and never threatening. Our personality can be embedded in our intellectual projects and self affirmation, as it is possible to link Wole Soyinka’s iconoclasm to Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron. Prof Tamuno was probably seeking to imitate some aged saints or, like a riverine man, he was guided by the calmness of the sea. The rough waves possibly frightened him, and he rather stayed at the banks. That calmness of the sea crystalised into a “Tekena formation” that became defined as the “Tamuno’s humility.”

    There was one Saint Humility during the European Medieval Ages, a real saint, not an imaginary one. In fact, I am suspicious that Prof Tamuno, at one time or the other, might have read about this saint! For, as those who knew him well, as I did, would attest to, he had multiple faces to his personality: one face that looked to spiritual forces, humbling himself before God and His agents. Grace becomes superior to one’s achievements, as Prof Tamuno magnified his own limitations. But there was also the levelling equality with fellow men, in which he constantly lowered his being and self in relation to his colleagues, superiors, and subordinates.

    Being agreeable is no sign of weakness. The definition of a place in history, in space and time, is a recognition of one’s influence. Walking gently, to avoid hubris, does not compromise pride. Recording a life history devoid of narcissism is no limitation to being grounded in humilitas. As one thinks of all of these unique qualities, what comes to mind is the Tamuno magic!

    Prof Tamuno’s writing and life-style became the way to encode the spirit of humilitas, a careful use of oneself to teach practical ethics. I visited his house at Ibadan where he wore his simple top and shorts with many pockets, showing me his plants, his fruits, and his seeds. On one occasion in 2005, in the company of Prof Chris Ogbogbo, the amiable Head of the History Department and Prof Ademola Dasylva, both of the University of Ibadan, Prof Tamuno tried to recruit us into his way of thinking and lifestyle, warning us to be cautious, to exercise restraint, to cultivate wisdom. He invited me to dinner the next day, an appointment that I was unable to keep, thus denying myself of valuable fatherly lessons.

    As younger scholars, the moment we entered our car, we were united in our conversations, engaged in comparing Prof Tamuno to another professor we visited before him, who was full of arrogance and vain words; we chose instead to praise Prof Tamuno’s wisdom. He was modest in prosperity, honourable in status, and graceful in moderate opulence. The visitation, one of many, triggered a series of reflections in me: the Kantian formulation of linking truth-telling with humility; and the Jesusian formulation of death and agony as sacrifice and redemption.

    If the great Prof Tamuno learned from history, and he prospered by it, let us learn from him as well. In violating the tenets of his modesty and humility, I want to create a template for the Tamuno model of living: love Nigeria; read and cultivate skills; use talents; promote virtues; be meek; think of and appreciate others; make your ego small to realise your true humanity and place in the universe; and appreciate your smallness, but remain steadfast and true to your principles!

    Nietzsche, the philosopher, will quibble with my generosity, for he sees humility not as a virtue but as a weakness, a strategy of survival, deployed by the weak to minimise the damage done by the strong, the Übermensch. Prof Tamuno would be a dysfunctional element in the pool that Nietzsche studied made a study of.  To the contrary, Prof Tamuno recognised my own talent and was in praise of it, just as he recognised the talents of others. He did not deny others their honour, even when he was unjustly attacked. He did not build a cult of individualism and never asked anyone to worship him.

    Our star has relocated, not extinguished: you and I are like dust, insignificant, but hopeful: hopeful that what he wanted, a peaceful and united Nigeria, will surely eventually be created.

    Professor Tamuno, sleep well, the great one, and permit me to sing a dirge:

    ‘The honey eater

    Looks not at the edge of the axe

    The astute trader

    Bothers not with the din of the marketplace

    The egg lover

    Regards not the anus of the hen

    Thirsty throat befriends weeping palm tree

    Stretch out your calabashes

    I have poured libation

    Come join the spree

    Baba, rejoice, for you are already fit to receive grace:

    Poet, sing your song

    To the resonant din of the bell

    Ko ko, ko ko, ko ko, ko ko

    At its instance, the rhumba

    Là là, ko ko, là là, ko ko

    The earth must open for the earthworm

    Là là ko ko fè fè, là là ko ko fè fè

    The potter must get her clay

    And the painter his colors

    With a face and nose to the ground

    The writer surely must find his words

    To make flow the rivers of ink

    Là là, là là, là là, là là

    Là là, ko ko, là là ko.’

    Prof Tamuno, I offer a promise: we will keep history alive: If we stay alive, songs and drama will come from Mouths of truth that seek no rewards enduring pain without any gain.

    Great one, we will serve others as a constant reminder of your humility and greatness:

    Judge us: this is all that you know

    Condemn us: the passion of your spirit

    We forgive: when we cross the passage of

    Time, asking questions:

    Were you with us in the grasslands?

    Who laughed with us in the savannah?

    Who cried in the forest?

    Did you hear the story before the stream?

    What did we say at the bank?

    Did you cross the river with us?

    Sir, be assured, we will descale our obsequiousness but enscale our memory of you:

    Flourish Greenfingers

    Like the cornstalk

    Rising in its season

    Flourish, Greenfingers

    The years of your triumph

    Call for celebration

    The labour of truth

    Is evergreen.

    Flourish, Greenfingers

    The one

    Who has earned

    His purple robe

    Swirl, Sway, Swirl Greenfingers

    Ignore the heads in the clouds

    The sure footed

    Must reap bountiful harvest

    Swirl, Sway, Swirl, Greenfingers

    With royal gait

    As you arrive to dine

    At His pavilioned regal tables.

     

    •Prof Falola is of The University of Texas at Austin, US.  

  • The next 10 days

    At the beginning of this sacred month, 11 days ago, an analysis was done in this column classifying the 30 days of Ramadan into three segments. The first segment was said to contain the first ten days during which the blessings of Allah come to the faithful Muslims freely and in abundance. Except for meeting that segment with faith and good intention, there is no working for it. That segment ended yesterday paving way for the second segment that begins today.

    As from today, fasting Muslims, all over the world, will start working for the master key to Al-Jannah through forgiveness. That is the essence of this second segment of the month of Ramadan. During this period, Muslims are expected to intensify worship (Ibadah) by spending their days and nights seeking Allah’s forgiveness and by chanting Istighfar. But such forgiveness is neither automatic nor free.

    Usually, there are conditions attached to it. One of such conditions is that one must admit his misdeeds and repent on them. The second is that he should voluntarily and genuinely seek forgiveness. And the third condition is to resolve never to return to such misdeeds again.

    To seek Allah’s forgiveness during that time, a Muslim should follow the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) on prayers. He was reported to have said that “if you want to speak with Allah, make your request on prostration. And if you want Allah to speak with you recite the Qur’an”. No one who abides by the above conditions and follows the Prophet’s counsel on prayers will ever be disappointed. Allah is both a promising and fulfilling God. He never reneges on His promise. In Qur’an 2:186 He promises thus: “…when my servants ask you (Prophet Muhammad) about me, tell them that I am very close to them. I answer the prayers of whoever seeks my favour if he prays to me (without any intermediary). So, let them expect my favourable response and trust in me so that they may be rightly guided”

    The second ten days period of Ramadan is not just to consolidate on the blessings of the first ten days it is also to prepare the fasting Muslims for the last ten days when they are expected to be fully liberated from the evil machinations of Satanic forces.

     

    The next 10 days

  • No sacred cow, please

    No sacred cow, please

    Violence, killings and terrorism are fast becoming the norm in Nigeria today such that the society is no longer shocked each time Boko Haram strikes. As if here is Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan, Nigerians are beginning to react with less concern to the unnecessary bloodletting in the country by these terrorists.

    There seems to be a sense of déjà vu each time there is another attack on Christians/churches and other innocent Nigerians in the north by Boko Haram leading to loss of lives and properties. Save for those affected in one way or the other, the rest of us seem to have lost count of the number of terrorist attacks and associated deaths/killings since we were pushed on this path by some forces of darkness and are going about our businesses as usual as if nothing is amiss.

    Hope is a tool Nigerians have been using since the existence of time to tackle their helplessness especially in the face of seemingly overwhelming adversities. Hope of a better tomorrow seems to make them live longer even when that tomorrow may never come. Little wonder then that we have been ranked the happiest people on earth even in the face of one of world’s most excruciating poverty.

    With our security forces seemingly incapable of protecting us against the onslaught of Boko Haram, Nigerians have resorted to hope, prayer and in some cases self help to free themselves from the grasp of these terrorists. But instead of the security situation as regards Boko Haram getting better, we are sinking deeper into this bottomless pit with seemingly no end in sight. Instead of our witch abandoning her witchcraft she kept on giving birth to daughters, so the matter continues.

    But since we are told that God is always behind the patient, the patience and hope of majority of Nigerians in this Boko Haram matter seems to be paying off as it does appear that we are getting closer to unraveling those behind this terror against the rest of us.

    Remember President Goodluck Jonathan alleged some time ago that our judicial, legislative and even the executive arms of government have been infiltrated by either Boko Haram operatives or sympathizers. Though he failed to name names, most of us believed him but were and still disappointed that he’s not been able to bring them to book. That seems to be about to change and the National Assembly has been his first port of call.

    Can you still recall one Senator Alli Ndume representing Borno North senatorial district in the National Assembly? The lawmaker accused some time ago of being in bed with Boko Haram? Yes, the same person who is currently battling prosecution in court to clear his name on this terrorism matter. Well, another Borno senator is being fingered again for allegedly aiding and abetting Boko Haram. His name? Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna representing Borno central.

    Both ‘distinguished’ Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have vehemently denied either backing for Boko Haram or support for terrorism. This is not a court of law, so I would rather leave the prosecution to prove its case if any against them and allow the court to judge.

    My concern here is not about their guilt or innocence but the fact that prominent people are being linked to this terror organization confirms my stand that there was no way Boko Haram or any such organization can survive without the support, tacit or full of the leaders and elders of the area concerned. At the risk of abuse and name calling by some elements in the north, especially the northeast axis, I’ve shouted myself hoarse calling for security searchlight to be beamed on the elders, leaders and even traditional rulers of areas where Boko Haram is firmly rooted, Borno and Yobe states in particular.

    The story filtering from Borno and environs shortly after the terrorists began their killings was that former Borno State Governor Senator Alli Modu Sheriff was behind Boko Haram and that he created the group as the militant arm of his campaign organization and indeed his administration, not only to win elections, but also to suppress his opponents. If this was true, he indeed succeeded in his mission as he not only won the elections (not all though) for his All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) but also ruthlessly dealt with the opposition, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Since all bad intentioned things cannot last forever, we were told SAS, as Sheriff is better known, fell apart with his boys who, with the type of training, ammunition and orientation they have been taken through opted for terrorism instead of a quiet and peaceful reintegration into the society. Welcome to Boko Haram. That was the story we were told.

    Now after years of silence, SAS is fighting back and has pointedly accused the PDP in his State of not only being behind Boko Haram and terrorism in Borno, but also fingered Senator Ahmed Khalifa Zanna as being their godfather. Uhuuuum!

    Following the arrest of an alleged Boko Haram operative recently in a Maiduguri house said to belong to Senator Zanna, by security agents, the lawmaker even though admitting the suspect is a relation denied having anything to do with him and said the house in question does not belong to him but Sheriff. SAS, he said should be held responsible. Uhuuuum.

    This is getting interesting. It appears both have something useful to say or know something useful about Boko Haram that could lead us to the solution to this problem and I think it won’t be a bad idea if both are taken into custody by security agents for thorough investigation. Coming out now and throwing this accusation and counter accusation could mean that the heat was getting closer to them and they felt it’s better to open the Pandora box now than keep quiet and suffer alone.

    When JTF began its campaign against the terrorists in Borno, a certain group of elders and leaders of thoughts accused the military of high handedness and called for troops’ withdrawal. Why? May be not unconnected to their desire and determination to protect their personal interests as events have now proven. Do we still need any further evidence to convince us that these so called elders and leaders are part of the problem?

    There are so many of them out there masquerading as leaders and elders, hobnobbing with government in the day but having dinner with Boko Haram at night. Security agents should painstakingly make effort in seeking them, taking them and using them to get to the root of Boko Haram and stamp out terrorism in our land. Nobody involved should be spared, no sacred cow, but at the same time, no innocent soul should be punished.