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By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

Introduction

In today’s Nigeria, we experience a rapidly growing population at an average rate of 3% per annum. We currently have about 220 million citizens and still counting. Our population is projected to reach nearly 400 million in the next 28 years. It is factual also that the population growth is much higher in the Muslim communities of Northern Nigeria than in other communities in both the North and the South.

Due to many reasons, foremost among which is the widespread practice of Islamically permissible polygyny, our population grows exponentially. At the same time, little is done to plan the expansion of infrastructure and provide alternative ways of coping with the needs of the expanding population. An average Northern Nigerian man likes and practices polygyny (i.e. marries more than one wife). In addition, family planning and birth control are generally considered taboos. Families are, therefore, mostly large.

While the population is supposed to be a blessing, it can also be a curse if not well managed. It is clear also that most of the Muslim masses and a large chunk of the Muslim leaders, intellectuals and even religious scholars are oblivious of the long term consequences of an ever-growing population that is not matched with a corresponding sharī’ah-compliant solid plan for taking care of the education, health, food and other socioeconomic and religio-spiritual needs of the expanding population.

While few are partly aware of some of the projections related to population growth vis-à-vis the socioeconomic and other realities, we are largely oblivious of the need to develop Islamic oriented ways of building the society and coping with the socioeconomic challenges associated with our growing population and exponentially changing societal dynamics. Therefore, the issue can quickly become controversial during any discussion.

But a society that accepts, based on an interpretation of religious teachings and cultural beliefs, that polygamy – rather polygyny – should be widely practised and even encouraged should also be a society that always goes back to the scripture for proper guidance on how to manage polygamous families. Since, as a religious Ummah, we have accepted what Islam has provided for us of the permissibility of having many children, is it not also Islamically incumbent upon us to go back to the Qur’an and Sunnah to learn how to organise the social, educational, economic and other needs of our families? Within this context, I intend to introduce family waqf, an almost entirely unknown Islamic institution for organising and planning the prosperity of families in Nigeria.  

Unpleasant Consequences of Life without Planning

How often have you heard stories that end with statements like: “Allahu Akbar! Late Alhaji Adamu was a wealthy person, a kind, gentle, and successful businessman. But look at how his children are suffering…”; or “Can you remember Alhaji Mai-Turare: the owner of XYZ Business at Tudun Muntsira quarters? Do you know that this hopeless drug addict is his son! He dropped out of school and joined a team of hooligans…Allah ya sa mu gama da duniya lafiya (May we have a good end in this world)”. And similar stories?!

Those are recurrent stories in Northern Nigeria. You have several successful entrepreneurs or accomplished aristocrats and professionals who reached the zenith of fortune in their chosen businesses and professions and lived lives of accomplishment and contribution. However, shortly after their demise, their estates would be shared among their 30 heirs; four wives, over 20 children, etc. After a few years, those inheritors of enormous wealth would fall from the world of prosperity to that of harsh poverty.

Many people would be rich, with an ever-expanding flow of income in the booming years of their careers. Still, they would never think of making a sustainable investment for the future prosperity of their children, not even for their life after retirement. After the family has grown large, inflation has multiplied manifold, and life has become unbearably expensive against their sources of income which have rather contracted due to age and other factors; they turn from affluence to poverty, battling to settle even the most basic of their bills. They neither invested for their retirement nor made an ever-flowing investment for their second life, the eternal life after death.

They have no passive investments that generate income for them at old age, nor a waqf (endowment) that would continue to fetch them rewards even while in their graves. They have no plan for what would sustainably finance their family’s education, health, and other essential needs. And so the worst happens. And the whistle is blown for their final, inevitable transition to the next world, leaving their family in economic and financial confusion, which often spirals into other messes in the spiritual, social and mental spheres. Soon after dearth, history forgets them as they have left nothing that continues to fetch them rewards and people’s prayers, not even for their immediate family.

The Importance of Making a Financial Plan

But why is it essential to make a financial plan for your children’s and family’s future prosperity? Does that have any place in Islam? Sa’d b. Abu Waqqas was an uncle to the Prophet (peace be upon him). He was among the ten topmost companions that received glad tiding of a direct entry ticket to Paradise in one sitting. He was rich. Actually, very rich.

One day, during the farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet visited Sa’d on his sickbed. After exchanging greetings, Sa’d told the Prophet that I am seriously ill, as you can see. He apparently was doubtful of surviving that illness. He said, “And I am a very rich person, but there is no one to inherit my wealth except a single daughter.” He then asked if he could give two-thirds of his wealth to charity, leaving one-thirds for the daughter. The Prophet instantly replied with a quick “No”. “What of half?” The Prophet again said, “NO”! What of one-thirds?” Now, here is where the Prophet reluctantly approved by saying, “One-third! Even one-third is huge and too much”. Anyway, the Prophet followed this with a statement that deserves the attention of parents at all times; “It is better to die leaving your heirs in affluence than to leave them in poverty, so they continue begging people for alms”. 

Many lessons abound in the above conversation of great personalities. One, piety and affluence are never mutually exclusive; you can be profoundly pious and superlatively prosperous. Two, connected to this, enjoying worldly opulence does not preclude enjoying everlasting other earthly felicity. In fact, worldly riches are effective instruments for attaining success in the next world. This is clear in the stories of great companions like Abubakar Siddiq, Uthman Bin Affan, Abdurrahman and, of course, Sa’ad.

Significantly also, you can plan all of these for your loved ones beginning with your children and wives. Not only you can; you have to! This is Prophetic advice, if not an order. The Prophet (may peace be upon him) made it impermissible for a person, especially while bidding farewell to the world, having no chance on sight to go to the market and earn more resources from gifting out his fortunes lest he throws them into poverty after him.

In simple terms, what the Prophet wanted from us is to plan for making our children self-reliant, self-sufficient and socio-economically empowered. With this, instead of being dependent, they will be independent. We should try making them givers, not receivers, assets rather than liabilities. Ask yourself, if not for empowering the deceased person’s posterity, why would the Sharī’ah even prescribe the inheritance laws in the first place? And in the Hadith of Sa’d above, the Prophet wants us to understand that the philosophy behind inheritance itself is to plan for the sustainable prosperity and economic independence of the deceased’s heirs; leaving them with sufficient inheritable resources to make them rich (agniya’) as against poor (alah).  

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido, Chairman, Zakah and Waqf Foundation, Gombe . He can be reached via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Former media aide of President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, has rejected the outcome of the primary election, which was conducted on Saturday. 

In a press statement on Sunday, May 28, 2022, Ahmad gave reasons for denouncing the outcome. 

According to him, the electoral process was marred with irregularities that threatened the election’s credibility.

He alleged that delegates, who were mostly his supporters, were denied entrance to the election venue and consequently could not cast their votes. 

“To the best of my knowledge, election at the primaries stage requires delegates to cast their votes, and a winner emerges with the majority votes. It, therefore, implies that there could not have been any voting process that occurred considering majority of the delegates were neither allowed to vote nor even granted access to the venue.” He stated.

Ahmad also said he was denied entrance to the voting area, which almost culminated in violence.

“On my arrival to the venue as an aspirant too, I was denied access to the voting area. My supporters who were around the premises for the primaries resisted the unjust treatment I was given and attempted insisting on my entrance into the voting area.” He said. 

Ahmad contested for the APC’s ticket to represent the people of Gaya/Ajingi/Albasu Federal Constituency and lost to the incumbent lawmaker, Mahmud Gaya, in the controversial election.

By Faruk Abdulkadir Waziri 

All trouble starts from the most trivial things. Hence the pertinence for instant reaction to even the tiniest disruption to an existing order. When a problem is tagged small and therefore left at the charge of its own amend, without making a move to tug or curtail it solely because it has insignificant effect and consequence, it rides the back of that indulgence and backfires. The minor issue of yesterday, when left unattended or given the least of consideration, becomes the biggest trouble of today and the looming disaster of tomorrow.

A case study in Nigeria’s incessant security ordeal. From the preventable event that led to the birth of Boko Haram in the North East to incompetence that saw the renaissance of kidnapping in the North West and the impassive nonchalance that underpins the thrive of murderous IPOB/ESN in the South East. All these menaces besetting this country today started as problems that could be averted. But the authority charged with this onus chose to go with the approach of levity and lackadaisical confrontation in eradicating them.

Despite the warnings of the impending doom and peril signalled by the early threats of these instabilities, the government was acting with careless flippancy. And this allowed the yield and spread of these acts of terrorism and abetted their growth in a fashion that the thrive of one led to the birth of the other. The lasting of Boko Haram against the effort to wipe them off added fillip to the resurgence of kidnappings, with the added incentive of unaccustomed plight— Banditry. The outlawed IPOB found the stimulus that motivated their cause to unleash terror in the South East from the inability of the government to find a lasting solution to the insurgency of Boko Haram. 

Harira, her unborn child, and four children were unfortunate victims of the country’s crass governance with no regard for human life. The perpetrators of their deaths were barbaric and bloodthirsty IPOB, but the government that allowed the monstrous operations of these savage beasts to prevail is of the bigger fault. Just days ago, a state legislature was decapitated within the same region Harira, and her kids were murdered. Before that, the ruthless mutilation of the military couple was perpetrated within the same area by the same group of demons.

Now,  imagine if swift action was taken after those two extrajudicial killings and the savages IPOB had met their waterloo. Poor Harira and her kids would have been alive today. This is just one to show you how the callous insouciance of the government has been the bedrock of the long-lasting terror in this country.

While we mourn the cruel murder of Harira and her family, bandits on the other end shot and killed 12 farmers in Katsina yesterday. An example that proves not only the northerners in the South are in the face of apparent danger and risk losing their lives, but also the many northerners in the comfort of their respective abode (North). There is no way to limit the killings and other strikes of the instability to tribal tensions alone. Of course, some were informed by groundless hatred and bigotry towards particular ethnicity. But look at the cause that sustains the frequent happening of these calamities. It is the disregard and unreadiness of the government to lay down proactive measures that will prevent the recurrence of these ordeals.

Crimes capitalize on the bloom of lawlessness, lawlessness prevails where there is rife injustice, and it remains the hallmark of bad governance.

May the killers of Harira and her kids never now peace in this life and the one hereafter, ameen.

Faruk Abdulkadir Waziri wrote via farukakwaziri019@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

President Muhammadu Buhari’s former media aide, Bashir Ahmad, has disclosed why he had to leave the venue of the ruling party’s primary election.

According to him, he left the venue because of the security of the majority of delegates, which was being compromised by the presence of thugs. 

Ahmad stated this on his verified Facebook account on Friday, May 27, 2022. 

“As an aspirant, I left the venue of [the] primary election for Gaya, Ajingi and Albasu Federal Constituency because of the security of our majority delegates, if want to compete with the best, thugs shouldn’t be part of any election. A dakace mu [Wait for us]! “He posted

Ahmad had earlier resigned from the president’s media team to vie for the position of member in the Green Chamber, the country’s House of Representatives.

As at the time of fielding this report, the election result has not been announced.

The “Hausa films in English” have, since their debut, been as much praised as they have been criticised. However, while a large section of spectators welcomes the films, many others regard them as a threat to the development of the indigenous language. Others go further to describe them as “non-Kannywood” productions.

However, their initiator and promoter, Malam Kabiru Musa Jammaje, remains undaunted. He is all set to enthral the audience with another Kannywood film in English after the remarkable success of There is a way (2016), This is the way (2017), Light and darkness (2018) and In search of the king (2019).

The soon-to-be-released movie, entitled Nanjala, is the first of its kind in Kannywood. It features the industry’s heavyweights alongside top Nollywood actors like Enyinna Nwigwe, Nancy Isime, Segun Arinze, Sola Sabowale, among others. Moreover, it’s reportedly the most expensive Kannywood movie with a budget worth over N35 million.

The movie was directed by “whizkid” Ali Nuhu, co-produced by Abubakar Bashir Mai-Shadda and titled after its main character, Nanjala. I have only watched its two-minute-long teaser, but I could grasp that the eponymous heroine, Nanjala, is a journalist whose investigative reports would lead to the main conflicts. The film’s themes may include corruption, honesty, women empowerment, the menace of drug abuse, moral decadence, etc. The cinematography is terrific, and the cast seems to give an outstanding performance.

To be right is to describe the film as ‘pan-Nigerian’ due to its production quality, cast, English medium, and the resonance of its message in the country. It’s, of course, promising and will surely appeal to moviegoers from a wide range of backgrounds.

I, therefore, commend the trio of Jammaje, Ali Nuhu and Mai-Shadda for making a Kannywood film with the potential to catapult the overlooked film industry to the international stage. I do hope that it will not disappoint.

Habibu Maaruf Abdu

Kano, Nigeria

habibumaaruf11@gmail.com

27.5.2022

By MMuhammad Sabiu

Rochas Okorocha, who is now in the custody of the anti-corruption agency, the EFCC, was denied bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.

Mr Okorocha’s counsel, Ola Olanipekun, was instead directed to notify the anti-graft agency by Justice Inyang Ekwo.

According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), Mr Olanipekun requested the court to give Mr Okorocha bail on liberal terms awaiting the hearing and resolution of an application on notice filed on May 25.

The ex-parte motion was filed on May 26 and was dated.

However, Justice Ekwo ruled that, because the case would be heard on Monday, it would be pointless to issue a bail order for the member.

The senior lawyer reportedly intimated that he had filed a motion on notice to have his client released on bail.

The judge, who set a hearing date of May 30 for the motions, told the counsel to notify the EFCC.

Following the EFCC’s allegation that it had been unable to serve Mr Okorocha despite multiple attempts, Mr Ekwo gave the anti-corruption commission May 30 as the last time the matter would be deferred, according to NAN.

After two adjournments for his arraignment, the court threatened to dismiss the case if the EFCC failed to present the senator on the next postponed date.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Ulama Forum in Nigeria has condemned the wild killing of Harira and her four kids, demanding the Anambra state government pay full life compensation to the relatives of the deceased.

Reacting with dismay, the forum also called on the Anambra state governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, to take measures to mitigate all forms of barbaric and terrorist acts and to also apologize to the Muslim community the world over.

The clarion call was in a statement jointly signed Thursday by Aminu Inuwa Muhammad and Dr Sa’id Ahmad Dukawa, the Convener, on behalf of the secretary to the forum.

The forum also voiced objection to the release of the IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, blaming him for being responsible for the latest crime by the group he leads in killing innocent souls.

They added that what happened just recently must be added to the list of his unrepentant crimes until the full wrath of the law is brought down on him.

The statement partly read: “While we call upon Muslims in Northern Nigeria and other places to resist the temptation of any unlawful reaction, we at the same time call on the Federal Government of Nigeria and the security agencies to demonstrate that they are capable of protecting the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens irrespective of where they decide to reside in Nigeria, just as sanctioned by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.

“We are in such a state of grief and mental hardship inflicted upon us by IPOB that we need to say no more!!! We are watching to see whether there are responsive and responsible governments in Anambra state in particular and other states in the east where such unprovoked acts of barbarism and terrorism are being perpetrated over the years. May justice and peace prevail in Nigeria. Ameen,” the statement added.

The Daily Reality reported how the outlawed terrorist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has mercilessly murdered a heavily pregnant woman and her four innocent kids in Anambra.

The woman identified as Harira Jibril was killed alongside her four kids and six other persons of northern extraction on Sunday, May 23, 2022.

By Amiru Halilu 

“When the calamity we feared is already arrived, or when the expectation of it is so certain as to shut out hope, there seems to be a principle within us by which we look with misanthropic composure on the state to which we are reduced, and the heart sullenly contracts and accommodates itself to what it must abhor.” William Godwin. 

Somewhere around the globe leaders convey joy, happiness, prosperity and economic development to the ruled. Over a decade, the aforementioned essentials for good leadership have waxed and waned in Nigeria. In the last thirteen years, Nigerians have drowned in blahs and are growing more melancholic every day. The mention of names: “Buhari, Jonathan” made the blood of an average Nigerian to boil. These nightmares ruined the nation beyond a remedied state. Instead of pursuing excellence and give the nation a clear sense of direction, both Buhari and Jonathan pursued retrogression, hopelessness; salivating the underlings and quibbling beyond what is reasonable. 

What really determines a leader is largely one’s political formation, national commitment, love for his country, cognitive intuitiveness of identifying brilliant minds and ideas, self-denial and sound sacrificial ideals. Unfortunately, neither Jonathan nor Buhari possessed and exhibit the aforesaid principles. Throughout the unproductive six years of Jonathan and now the wasteful seven years of Buhari, Nigeria lost international honor recognition and dignity; the nation has been grappling to cast-away the numerous disasters caused by the senselessness of these deuces. Each runs the nation as if he was/is assigned a mission to wreck havoc on the populace.

It is obvious now the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is on the cups of something terrible and that thing is the ugly idea of bringing Jonathan back to the throne. And perhaps, he may be better than many evil contestants under the party’s platform, but surely, darkness reigns at the foot of APC. What does this pack of deceitful scoundrels called APC mean by this suicidal mission? Is APC ready and well prepared to reconcile the clear contradiction between the brand (Jonathan) they putdown, tar-brushed as grossly incompetent, clueless, recklessly insensitive, brazenly irresponsible, irredeemably corrupt and the brand new Jonathan they are now trying to make their standard-bearer?

At this sober time of national renewal, at this time of gross social upheaval when the nation is in the sea of uncertainties, at a time when the economy stocked in reverse gear, in this auspicious moment when character and integrity are the signs and symbols that are absolutely needed, the man that was universally described as ineffectual buffoon and who had already done a colossal damage to the nation is certainly not the right man for the same job that requires certain degree of trust. He who participated in destroying Nigeria in the past would not partake in rebuilding her because destiny doesn’t believe in failure.

A person of Jonathan’s tragic qualification and profile shall never be asked to correct the wrong which he himself had instituted and normalized. We can’t expect the author to burn his own book. Jonathan could no more be a re-builder of Nigeria the way a wind can’t turn to rock or mud into gold. But Buhari and his handlers have seen Jonathan as the ultimate alternative because he managed to sink even lower. It’s hard to ever imagine that Buhari will have a remote link with Jonathan in respect to succession plan, but for an intellectually handicap, politically naive like him who had already convinced the world that there is neither honor nor integrity in governance in Nigeria it’s all in a days work.

Buhari’s attitude towards governance illustrates that Nigeria’s car has continued to be driven in reverse gear by drivers, including himself, who seem to be permanently on drugs. Thinking of bringing Jonathan back is just like calling back the captain of a ship whose negligence and inexperience had caused the death of many. The only thing that such mediocre captain will achieve is to completely submerge the ship and make sure that no single one on board has survived the next accident. Jonathan had melted down Nigeria; Buhari has milked her to her knees, and looking at the caliber of people Buhari wants to succeed him is a confirmation that he doesn’t mean well for the entire nation. 

The only candidate who perfectly possessed presidential credentials doesn’t seems to be Buhari’s favorite. The choice of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu will not and will never go down well with those parasitic cabals who are less assured of themselves about what is possible in private life without the country’s largess. Today, we are just five days to the presidential primary elections yet, the presidency has been in limbo and drowned into the abyss of confusion in view of which puppet to field. A pliable puppet who will carry them along, cover their evil wrongdoings and forever follow their dangerous path and eventually sink the nation even deeper.

They perfectly know that Tinubu is a movement; he will not go with the flow; he will definitely sing a different tune. He is just like a medicine, good for you but hard to take. Those who love the party and those who want to save the party from collapsing before general election, must choose competence over hype; integrity over corruption; decisiveness over wavering; rationalism over chauvinism; action over rhetoric and above all, security over living in fear. Else those who have fed the party so well and feel that they have been paid with evil would likely leave the party after the long awaited presidential primary election.

Amiru Halilu writes from Kaduna and can be reached through haliluamiru@gmail.com or @AmiruHalilu

By Khairat Suleiman Jaruma

For most Nigerians, there is no hope left for this complicated country of ours. As many often say, “Naija is finished”. I disagree that Nigeria is finished. We might think we are having our worst days as a country, but the worst is yet to come, and it will only come when we give up on fixing this dear country of ours.

The younger generation keeps me motivated and convinces me that there is still hope for Nigeria. I see how the Western world shoves the whole LGBTQ ideology down young children’s necks from a very tender age, and these children grow with this ideology strongly built in them. Let us borrow this method of theirs and use it to instil civic education into our next generation so it will be strongly built in them, or use the priming effect method, which effectively works in selling an idea or instilling a belief in people.

The importance of civic education in fixing Nigeria’s mess cannot be overemphasized. The idea behind civic education is to promote the demand for good governance by informing and engaging the public and as a necessary complement to efforts to improve the practice of good governance.

Civic education is perhaps the only tool we can use to address political and governance issues and critical social issues. However, we need to do more than just giving children notes on civic education to copy in schools, and we need to be more intentional about it. I believe that one of the most important things we need to do to change the narrative and set our country on a path of progress is to create a civically well-educated generation. Nigeria needs a patriotic generation prepared for the future and ready to challenge the existing execrable system.

Also, civic education, like we often assume, is not just a subject to be taught in schools only. We need to do more than that. We need to put in more efforts to educate and create more awareness of the role and importance of civic education to a prosperous Nigeria. We all need to be involved as individuals, governmental organizations, civil society organizations, or non-governmental organizations. 

The effort is not limited to young children or the next generation alone. It is essential that everyone learns more about civic education and practice it as, more often than not, young children do more of what they see than what they are told.

The change we seek might take time, and most of us might not live long enough to see the results of our efforts. Still, we need to set a good and solid foundation of positive change for the generation after us, or what we are facing right now might just be the tip of the iceberg compared to what they will face.

According to Bruce Lee, “Real living is living for others”. So let’s live simultaneously for the next generation and a better Nigeria. 

Khairat Sulaiman Jaruma wrote from Kaduna. She can be reached via khairatsuleh@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari.

Human rights activist and former senator, Shehu Sani, has failed to secure the Kaduna governorship ticket of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

Sani only got two votes from delegates in the primary election conducted by the PDP on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.

Sani accepted the election’s outcome as fate and has taken to his verified Twitter handle to congratulate the winner, Isah Ashiru.

“The Kaduna PDP Governorship primaries has [sic] been concluded. I lost, and Honourable Isah Ashiru won.

I wish to congratulate him. Two Delegates voted for me without giving them a dime; unfortunately, I don’t know who they are, so that I can appreciate these clean votes. We look forward,” he tweeted. 

Many believed Sani’s refusal to pay delegates amounts to his failure in the primary election. He has repeatedly vowed not to pay delegates to vote for him, a decision that many consider laudable but has caused him a significant setback in his political career.