FACTS OF THE MOMENT

As I always said, common citizens have no business in the affairs of the political parties. Except you are part of the membership and involved in their decision process, no one should crucify political parties using religion or ethnic blackmail. It is not only ridiculous and foolish, it is extremely dangerous. A political party is NOT an assembly formed by one ethnic, tribal or religion group. A political party may have dominance in one particular region but members of political parties are present in all the geopolitical zones. Why should the mutual decision of such an all-inclusive union be a cause of agitations and brouhaha? How would any party choose to commit a political suicide if it is certain that such decisions would cause its defeats at the polls? And if in case it does, whose headache? Whichever way the decision of the party swings in terms of its perceived balance or bias, the constant goal remains the same: winning the election. Therefore, except where they are mono-ethn

It is true that bad leadership corrupts followership. Leadership without integrity and justice in any nation would give birth to erosion of enviable value systems in the citizenry.  When the majority in a country falls into that description of a greed and unpatriotic populace, it becomes difficult to reverse the trend.    This is the sad current state of Nigeria. Before getting here, our projectile had a good trajectory at its initial shot. There was a country led by honest and sefless Nigerians united across the major tribes and regions.  Obafemi Awolowo from the West was a selfless leader. He left a legacy of prudent management of public resources during his reign.  The 26-storey high rise building commissioned in August 1965 from proceeds of cocoa-The Cocoa House was an example. That structure still stands prominently in the city of Ibadan till this hour.  The free education that got our village parents educated was another. My mum was a product of Awolowo's free education for e

The courtroom was tense. The eyes of the three men in contention were literally sparkling fire. It was clear from their explanations they were all farmers disputing over the proceeds from a farmland on the same plot in the neighbourhood. It appeared one of them was against the two others and the two were against each other. The contentious farmland was a bit distant away from the respective farms of these two. While crossing to their farms, both had always taught this fallow land probably had no owner! And if it does, it does not seem the fellow would have a need for it anytime soon!! Because of its proximity to the river, both had intended to take advantage of the ‘free’ fertile land to grow the favourite vegetable of the season come next rain. The intention of one was hidden from the other. Just on the day following the rainy night, each of them executed his plan. The seeds were sprayed. One sowed early, by sunrise in the morning; the other just before the sunset. A week after, the

I had prayed in a community with several masaajid. I didn't notice anything unusual with the shoes at the entry. People would simply pray and leave until I moved to a new and a completely different neighbourhood having just only one masjid. It is where I currently say my congregational prayers. I noticed that someone while leaving the masjid would arrange the shoes at the entrance. He would also turn them over to face the direction opposite to the usual way people put off their shoes while entering. This makes it easier to put them on whenever they are done with their ibaadah and coming out to leave. This is mostly after fajr prayers when I usually stayed back longer than usual.  I cannot say whether this action of charity involved one person or different people. Today, I was determined to identify the 'secret man'. I know like me, the person(s) is not from those people who leave the masjid early after the fajr prayers.  So as each team was exiting the door, I would come ou

Between November 17, 2019 when it first broke out and December 31 when it was officially reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO), no one hardly suspected that a local disease outbreak in the Wuhan City in the province of China was on a threat mission globally. Within a short span of three months, it graduated from being a local epidemic to a pandemic in the brand name of Corona Infectious Virus 2019 (COVID-19) in February 11, 2020. In fact, the prediction never came. When it eventually hit Nigeria on February 27 as just one index case as usual and later gradually ascending into a rising curve, people became more surprised: How an event of this worrying magnitude had not made the list of the traditional annual new year prophecies of the ‘men of God’ for the year 2020! As at June, 13, 2020, there are about 225,126 confirmed cases in Africa and over seven million worldwide. Out of this statistics, Nigeria account for 15,181 positioning the giant of Africa 52 nd in the world in

There was a statement that if you want to hide anything for the contemporary Muslims, put it in a book. I cannot agree less. Ours is a generation who chooses comfort and pastimes above reading. Despite the plethora of information online and offline in our time, we are in no way chips from the old blocks compared with the early Muslims. They led as models because they were readers and thinkers. They thought for others and were never thought for. They were trailblazers and not dolls. Unlike us, they were not led along the way like a dog behind its owner. They were disciplined, ascetic and principled. As for us, we are being technically enslaved because we still hold on to ignorance when it is no longer popular among the living. In a digital age, a Muslim proudly announces his birthday without ever caring to find out about its origin. He floods the social media with the pictures of his kid, wife or parent who is a year older! It never occurs to him to explore the same internet to read