Fifty most influential people in Ogun

                    A review by Bayo Ogunmupe

    Fifty most influential people in Ogun State is volume one of who's who in Ogun State. The book is a collection of resume and memoirs of 50 people of Ogun state extraction in Nigeria. This who's who in Ogun state is a publication of the Prestige Newspapers, Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was first published in Abeokuta, in 2018. Its authors are Dada Olanipekun, Chris Omotosho, Wale Afuape and Biodun Ogunyemi.

    Fifty most influential people is in paperback with 298 pages. It is illustrated with the pictures of every person chosen. From this volume you will discover that Ogun state people are enlightened and blessed with human resources. The gateway state: Ogun being the state closest to the sea coast of Lagos lagoon;  the state is through which western education entered Nigeria. By embracing western education Ogun can boast of people of stature in every field of human endeavor. The need to document the heroic deeds of those who have contributed to the growth of the state spurred Prestige Newspapers to take up the task of collating this who's who.

    The personalities captured in this book are not only indigenes of Ogun state, the authors extended their tentacles to identify some distinct men and women who are not indigenous to Ogun state but who have contributed to the growth of the state. The philosophy behind this project is that people ought to be celebrated when they are alive and that documents and memoirs of heroes should be documented for generations to come.

    Initially 100 men and women were targeted for this project. But 50 people met up with criteria and deadline with most of the respondents preferring lucid and well written biographies. Those captured by this volume are not all indigenes of Ogun state. Some of those captured aren't indigenous to Ogun state; they were so chosen because of their contribution to the development of the state.

    This book is the first volume of an on going project of collating the most influential people in Ogun state every four years. A good number of outstanding personalities dead and alive had contributed and still contributing to the development of Ogun state have been left out because our focus is limited to those active and alive. The structure of the book is largely experimental as some were interviewed to further inform readers on the essence of living an eventful and purposeful life.

    This who's who in Ogun state opens with the biodata of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Born in 1937 at Abeokuta, Ogun state, Obasanjo became an orphan at 22 but attended schools at Ibogun and Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta. He enlisted in the Army becoming  a General and military ruler from 13 February 1976 to 1 October, 1979 and an elected President from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. Obasanjo was married four times and has 20 children.

    The second entry into this book is Professor Wole Soyinka. Born Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka on 13 July, 1934 in Abeokuta, he grew up in an Anglican mission compound where his father worked as an Anglican minister and school teacher. A precocious genius who made adults cite comments: "He will kill you with his questions." After leaving the University of Ibadan with a third class degree in the Arts in 1954, Soyinka proceeded to England to continue his education at the University of Leeds where he served as Editor of its magazine, The Eagle.

    Soyinka graduated with a first class bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1958, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Leeds in 1972. In 1986, Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Upon the award, the Nobel Committee in its citation said: "the playwright in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones, fashions the drama of existence."

    As Nigeria's foremost man of letters, Soyinka is still politically active, spending the February 2019 election week monitoring electoral irregularities and ballot box snatching. According to The Guardian Nigeria, Soyinka has been married thrice; he married the British writer Barbara Dixon in 1958; Olaide Idowu, a Nigerian librarian, in 1963 and Folake Doherty, his current wife, in 1989. After being cured of prostate cancer in 10 months, his admirers adorn him a "Kongi."

    My last icon of education in Ogun state isn't indigenous to the state. He is Dr Olusegun Aluko, former rector of Federal Polytechnic Ilaro. Born on 13 May 1960 in Osogbo Osun state. He is a native of Mopa, Kogi state. After primary education at Osun and secondary at Kwara, he proceeded to study architecture at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he bagged B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in architecture in 1982 and 1985 respectively.

    Courtesy his youth service at Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa state, Aluko was appointed lecturer in architecture but for love of adventure he transferred his service to the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro as lecturer Grade 11 in 1988. he was promoted chief lecturer in 2007 and now armed with a Ph.D in environmental management, for his selfless and meritorious service he was appointed rector of the institution. As a married man and dedicated academic, Dr Aluko has proven to be a successful architect of human, physical and organizational structures.

    For the authors of the paperback: Dada Olanipekun is the founder of the Prestige Newspaper. He has been the chair of the Association of Nigerian Authors in Ogun state since 2015. Dr Chris Omotosho is a member of the staff of the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta where he teaches Dramatic Literature and Literary Criticism. Abbey Ogunyemi is broadcast journalist. He retired as manager, News, at the Nigerian Television Authority, Ijebu-Ode. Last but not the least is Dr Olawale Afuape of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. He teaches Communication Skills at the Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa.

My Public Service Journey, Testimony from Bukar Usman

By Bayo Ogunmupe

A voluminous book of 458 pages, Bukar Usman's My Public Service Journey: Issues in public policy and administration in Nigeria is an expository memoir on the Nigerian public service. The book is the perspective of a civil servant who rose through the ranks, climbing to the pinnacle of a career in the public service of the federation. He was permanent secretary for 11 years in a career spanning 34 years. Usman the author, retired in 1999 and since then he has been globe trotting, thrust into the forefront of public discourse through his numerous books and monographs. Usman's creative endeavors include short stories, folktales, an autobiography; his many books in Hausa and his exegesis on Leadership, Security and National Development.

     The book is in two parts; with three sections per part. This volume is Usman's counterpoise to his earlier work: My Literary Journey. This book in review is the judgment of an insider rather than one peeping into the public service of the federation from outside though now in retirement. Though guarded, there is no mistaking the author's desire to bequeath to history the service operated by a retinue of conscientious servants of the people. In his five page foreword to the memoir, the former super permanent secretary and minister of Petroleum Resources Chief Philip Asiodu, called the book a primer for the study of the Nigerian Public Service and the state of the public service today.

    Usman starts each chapter by defining the concepts and issues to be discussed. This gives the reader the necessary background and the gist of his message, enabling the reader to "appreciate the issues and the era being discussed." This book had to be autobiographical because Usman became enamoured with the public service from childhood. Work in the private sector never appealed to him. In section one, the author identified four categories of public policy: Substantive Public Policy, Regulatory Public Policy, Distributive Public Policy and Capitalization Public Policy. There is a basic assumption in his definition of public policy.

    Accordingly, Usman's definition of public policy states that: "The prime goal of all policy instruments is to solve problems efficiently, effectively and in fairness to all." This was true of the service inherited from colonial rule and the immediate post- Independence Nigeria. This was the service of the Prime Minister, the regional premiers, the other leaders of the First Republic and which prevailed beyond the Civil War of 1967-70. However, that old type civil service had to be adapted to the needs of U.S type presidential system which Nigeria adopted with the 1979 Constitution. My Public Service Journey contains the essential characteristics of the legacy of the British Civil Service document signed by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Malam Aminu Kano and Professor Eyo Ita at the 1954 Constitutional Conference.

    That document required non-partisan, non political officials which are never removed after change of government. The service is a service which is objective, merit driven, professional and permanent as it is under British Parliamentary system. The new system after the adoption of the American style Presidential system with which they run the U.S government by only 12 departments. There, those who depart with their appointees are the secretaries of state; deputy secretaries and assistant secretaries. In the Parliamentary system Ministers, ministers of state, Parliamentary secretaries and Parliamentary under secretaries alone depart after a change of government. But these days, Presidential advisers, ministers, think tanks are appointed from outside the civil service.

    In his memorandum to President Umaru Yar Adua's Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, now a member of President Buhari's think tank, the author deals with problems which are still current. Among of these problems are the degraded state of the civil service as regards competence, training, honesty, integrity, insecurity, corruption, law and order and conflict of interest. At section 111, Usman's lectures on ethics and accountability heralded his thoughts on accountability between politicians, the public service and the general public. He describes corruption as embracing a wide range of deviations from correct conduct.

    Bukar Usman decried nepotism, bribery, looting of pubic funds, contract fixing, conflict of interest, police brutality, manipulation of electoral process and various due process violations. He says the main problem in Nigeria is the weak enforcement of anti corruption law. In part B comprising sections 1V, V and VI, Usman deals with many issues of great concern to the public. Among his recommendations is the need for local government police as we had in the First Republic. He discussed the demand for the creation of more states, the restructuring of the country and the people's desire to acquire greater share of oil revenue, which some called resource control. He opposed the creation of more states because the majority of the existing states are unviable.

    In a speech before the 2011 elections, the author demanded free and fair elections which he considered very important. He said: "It is and understatement to say that although Nigerians yearn for democracy, we have not been fortunate to have a settled political structure in the last 50 years which Nigerians and well wishers will be proud of. Instead, we continue to tinker with the Constitution while electoral transparency eludes Nigeria." Though we have survived the elections of 2011, 2015 and 2019, we still need a long way to go to ensure "free, fair and universally accepted election results." But Dr Usman insists that we still need our political campaigns to be issue oriented, campaigns proffering ideas on the Nigerian dreams and the future greatness of Nigeria.

    Usman believes we need to get to the situation observed by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mr Justice Alfa Belgore, when he said at a summit meeting at Asaba, Delta state in 2010 which he quoted as: "The electoral system had failed due to the lack of the acceptance of the rules of electoral process by all stakeholders, including the citizens, the candidates and the umpires."  He hoped a day would arrive when such a situation will no longer apply. For his "Closing Thoughts," Usman looked back on 57 years since independence in 1960, assessing Nigeria's place in the comity of nations. In his assessment, he rated Nigeria low, having been outpaced by nations like Indonesia, South Koria and Taiwan.

    He assessed our living standards, arriving at the damning and true conclusion that our score card was not impressive. He stressed two issues: our inability to conduct free, fair and credible elections and the grossly inadequate power supply. That assessment is as valid today as when he said it. He opined that it is critically necessary to give the two issues top priority. And the response of Buhari's Attorney General, Abubakar Malami to the vexed gubernatorial election in Kogi where the Women leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state was burned to death means Usman might be getting a hearing. In the said Kogi election, Malami disagreed with the Inspector General of Police on the ignoble role of the Police in the election.

    Of great interest are two books given to Usman in October 2011. The first, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, by a journalist Richard Dowden. The second: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by a spy and former operative of the U.S National Security Agency, John Perkins. Dowden's book has a section on Nigeria where he highlights issues dealing with tourism, corruption and elections. From Perkins book, Usman got the disturbing role of economic hit men who apply devious economic methods as directed by the U.S government to ensnare or overthrow nationalist presidents, thereby causing regime changes in target countries of particular interest to the United States.

    The countries targeted were Iran, Indonesia, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, Iraq, Venezuela and Libya. The Halliburton Bribery Scandal was the means by which Angola and Nigeria were targeted at that time. And that scandal and the Malabu Oil deal are  still hanging afire on the necks of the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. The books were lucid, and thought provoking portraits of corruption in high places for the author to digest. They constituted part of the public service experience of the author; enabling him to bring forth issues concerning progress and development in Nigeria.

    Bukar Usman was born in Biu, in the Boko Haram ravaged State of Borno, Northeastern Nigeria in 1942. After his primary school in Biu, he proceeded to his state capital of Maiduguri for his secondary education. He did his Higher School Certificate  at King's College, Lagos. Thereafter, he obtained a degree in Public Administration at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Then, he joined the federal civil service as a clerical officer; rising to become a super permanent secretary for 11 years. He retired from the Presidency after 34 years of meritorious service in 1999. He now devotes himself to writing. My Public Service Journey was published this year by Klamidas Communications Limited, Utako, Abuja. This paperback volume has 32 pages of pictures; showcasing the author as the recipient of many awards: doctorate degrees and national honours. His round the world cruises on the ship Queen Elizabeth, visiting the Moorish Minaret , Cadiz, Spain were shown. The book has 14 appendices and 21 pages of index to make it easy reading for students, politicians and civil servants as well.

A sketch of nemesis

For over two decades, “Sad Sam”, a kingpin in the South American underworld was widely regarded as invincible. The taciturn Brazilian had a hard-to-fathom capacity to make himself virtually invisible to both national and international law-enforcement agencies, all the more so after pulling off one of his numerous heinous exploits against an increasingly vulnerable humanity. Sad Sam and his tribe held sway in those parts, rendering the job of law-enforcement on the sub-continent practically impossible. That cold-blooded operator had once again appeared on the shortlist of prime suspects by US-Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), following the mysterious disappearance of visiting African dignitaries from a world-class hotel in New York. A crack team of Israeli ex-paratroopers had for weeks been on the hunt for Sad Sam with the task proving more insurmountable by the day. Preliminary report on the investigation suggested that the fugitive was as likely to be in “transit”, meaning some obscure little town where no one knew about him or his dark trade. Then…        

At about 7:35PM Bolivian time an athletic lone figure was seen casually stepping out of Pedro Place, donning a red Tee shirt over dark trousers; his foot-wear could not be as soon made out. Seconds after stepping through the revolving glass door the figure was swallowed up by the surrounding pitch-darkness, outside, the last traces of light having ebbed from Sacaba’s sky some forty minutes earlier. But the powerful flood lights overlooking the hotel’s gate compelled the overwhelming darkness to excogitate the lone figure a couple of minutes later. Still maintaining his pace, he, as was expected, turned to his left as he crossed the gate; it could not be ascertained whether or not he saw the two jeeps parked less than fifty meters to the right of the gate. But he strode on as though, saving himself, the ill-lit street was as clean as a whistle; he neither changed his pace nor looked over his shoulders, not even when distinct sounds of two pairs of foot-falls reached his ears. One of the men in the jeeps looking through high-resolution binoculars silently gave thanks to Yahweh for lending His unfailing hand to their present mission. As far as the stealth watcher was concerned the athletic figure was already as good as his personal prisoner.

           

In less than the time it took to exchange fleeting pleasantries the owners of those distinct pairs of footfalls were abreast of the lone walker, each on either side, causing the man in the middle to impulsively dither his stride. But it was all too late! His fate had been sealed no sooner than he had left Pedro Place grounds, but his arrogant confidence in his knowledge of his transit town had rendered his professional antenna wholly unresponsive to signals, which even a Johnny-come-lately in his trade would have picked up. Arrogance, someone had said, had the effect of shutting out the senses. 

           

In fierce but precise movements two determined hands grabbed the sandwiched figure by the waist of his trousers as he beheld reflected lights from the muzzles of revolvers.

            ‘‘What!…What; what do you guys want? Okay, okay, okay, take it easy, take it easy…’’

            ‘‘Shut up! Shut up, and put your hands behind your back!’’ one of the attackers was ordering in military fashion when two Toyota Land Cruisers practically flew to their side. Moments later, one of the most feared kidnappers in South America was sitting in the rear seat of one of the jeeps, sandwiched between David and Jacob, with his wrists in cuffs as the hunting party took its hurried departure from that seeming innocent town. A handful of pedestrians and motorists glimpsed the abduction of the master-abductor but regarded it as nothing out of the ordinary; that, after all, was the world’s kidnapping continent.

            It was a measure of Sacaba’s tranquility and seeming innocence that one of the most wanted men in the world could stride its streets without a single weapon on his person. It was an unbelievable lapse in a seasoned operator like Sad Sam which David, still frisking the master-kidnapper, could not come to terms with. No doubt, thought the Israeli, the hand of Yahweh was in control all the way. As the Land Cruisers rolled and pitched from side to side on their axles the youngest of the hunters was having a hard time fixing a perfect blindfold on their quarry, who enquired for the umpteenth time in a disarmingly calm voice, ‘‘What do you guys want?’’ apparently convinced that his abductors were no other than professionals like himself; at worst, he reasoned, a ransom was as likely their ultimate goal; the entire South America was known for little else outside their common profession and trafficking in hard drugs.

           

Donning a yellow baseball cap and dark spectacles and sitting next to the driver with his back to the door, Marcos, the Israelis’ South American partner, closely watched what could be equated with the taming of a wild creature.

            ‘‘Look guys, I don’t care to see or know who you guys are, but the earlier we begin to negotiate the quicker we can reach…’’

            ‘‘Now! You will shut up and remain quiet until we want you to talk, just shut up, ok!’’ David snarled no sooner than the blindfold was finally in place. Marcos removed his spectacles and again looked beyond the rear seat; only the jeep in which his staff rode could be seen, hot on their heels. Satisfied, he gradually unwound the one hundred and eighty degrees which his head made with the vehicle’s direction of motion. While he was thus unwinding his eyes caught a glimpse of the deep concentration on David’s face, it was the concentration of a man determined to successfully complete his mission against all odd, mused the ex-police officer. ‘‘Angel don’t forget, we want to arrive alive,’’ security conscious Marcos reminded his assistant, settling down for the rest of the journey as the proverbial curtain fell on the blood-tainted career of a notorious kidnapper…

Afam Nkemdiche is an engineering consultant; June, 2019

1963 Republican Constitution, a veritable guide

This is a sequel of sorts to an earlier piece, Restructuring: History 101, published in this newspaper. We now can comfortably presume that the Jury is finally in on the vexed topic: restructuring. If Nigeria were to “catch-up”, she must necessarily restructure her administrative apparatus. Much earlier, another piece in this newspaper, Legislature should elect president and governors, had deployed technical facts to make the point that Nigeria is, indeed, NOT a democracy, but republican. The rising calls for restructuring, and ipso facto a reversion to the 1963 Constitution inspired the current piece. The latter article is quoted in extenso below:

“Were the United States of America a democracy, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate in the 2016 presidential election would have broken the ‘glass ceiling,’ and become the first female US president because she won the popular votes by some three million. Rather, the Republican candidate, Donald Trump became president because the US practises republicanism, thanks to the collegiate votes. Not a few persons still wonder at the difference of the two terms due to the convenient-interchangeability to which politicians have rendered them over the centuries. The thought would not have crossed the minds of the US founding fathers who under the apparent influence of Plato’s Republic, rejected democracy, lock, key and barrel.

“George Washington who had presided over the Constitutional Convention and later accepted the honour of being chosen as the first president of the US under its new Constitution, indicated during his inaugural address in April 1789, that he would dedicate himself to the ‘preservation of the republican model of government.’ James Madison, who is rightly known as the ‘Father of the US Constitution,’ wrote in the Federalist, No. 10: ‘…democracy have been spectacles of turbulence and contentions; have ever been found incompatible with personal security; or the right of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they are violent in their deaths.’ John Adams, a signatory to the US Declaration of Independence, said he championed the new Constitution because it would not create a democracy. He had insisted that democracy never lasts long, ‘it soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.’ Alexander Hamilton in his stead had averred that ‘we are forming a Republican form of government. Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy we shall soon shoot into monarchy or some other form of a dictatorship… Our real disease is DEMOCRACY.’

“It is therefore not a wonder that the word ‘democracy’ is not found in the US Constitution. Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution categorically declares: ‘The US shall guarantee to every state in the Union a Republican form of government.’ Republicanism recognizes the gradations that exist in human societies, and therefore posits that electoral votes be aggregated. Democracy, on the other hand, promotes the doctrine of absolute equality of all humans; each vote carries equal weight. Therefore it is disingenuous to interchangeably employ the two terms; the one is cheese, while the other is chalk.

“Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution could well have been influenced by Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which appeared in the period of US Declaration of Independence. That towering masterpiece traces the Roman history from the middle of the Second Century A.D. to the dissolution of the Western Empire late in the Fifth Century, through the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages in Western Europe, including the history of the Eastern and Byzantium for a thousand years to the fall of the Constantinople in 1453. The Decline and Fall deploys empirical evidence to show that the greatest western empire ever, collapsed essentially due to the failure of democracy in the Roman constituencies.

“According to the treatise, as the Roman Empire’s material wealth attained unprecedented proportions, following many conquests, her emperors felt the irresistible urge to centralize administration. With centralization went the liberty for individual initiative and creativity. Consequently, constituencies’ contributions to the common wealth declined. That declining fortunes adversely affected citizen’s morale, inclusive of the soldiers, thus the fall of the Roman Empire. Centuries after, the Great British Empire would follow that declining trajectory; see The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, (Allen and Co. Ltd, Bocardo Press, Oxford, 2005).

“From the respective fall of both empires we could see that the ‘collect and share wealth’ philosophy, a cardinal attribute of democracy, which only works as long as there is someone else’s money to share, is doomed to eventual collapse. Those receiving are quite pleased with getting something for nothing. But those forced to give are denied the right to spend the benefit of their natural endowments and labour on their own self-interest, which creates jobs no matter how the money is spent. They also lose a portion of their incentive to produce. The result is that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy. This historical lesson must have moved another US founding father, Benjamin Franklin, to define democracy in these graphic words ‘two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.’”

Conclusively, therefore, the United States of America practises a republican form of government. And since we purportedly imported our present form of governments from the US, it is appropriate to aver that Nigeria aspires to practise republicanism. Thusly, a republican Constitution must necessarily guide her endeavours. Need we state that a more forceful argument cannot be made for reverting to the much-acclaimed 1963 Constitution; and by extension, for Nigeria’s administrative restructuring? 

Afam Nkemdiche; consulting engineer. August, 2019    

 

Adopt Stakeholders Capitalism for the Niger Delta

One is deeply appalled that none of Nigeria’s numerous trendy Business Schools, inclusive of the so-called prestigious Lagos Business School, has risen to the challenge of lecturing the International Oil Companies (IOCs) on the acute unorthodoxy and attendant heightened risks in their uneducated decision to relocate their respective headquarters out of their core areas of operations – the Niger Delta region. It is further confounding that apart from the then-Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s flaccid directive to the IOCs to immediately return their respective headquarters whence they had come, no known serious action has been taken by the federal government to decisively address that anomaly; although the legislative arm thereof had belatedly risen to the same challenge, but that attempt met with embarrassing failure.

Recall that one Honourable Goodluck Opiah, in the 8^th Assembly, had sponsored a bill demanding the IOCs to return their respective headquarters back to the Niger Delta region. But the bill surprisingly suffered a humiliating defeat. (I have not completely overcome my shock over that result; and have since wondered whether enough Nigerians drew the necessary lessons from the failure of that glaringly nationalistic bill) In contributing to the debate on the proposed bill, then-Speaker of the House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, inadvertently revealed the abiding insensitivity of some of our elected officials: “I have no say in the decision of where a particular investor locates their headquarters,” the Speaker had gleefully declared in part. Surely, thinking patriots ought to see this as a most unfortunate remark from the 4^th citizen of the country. Speaker Dogara, perhaps better than many another citizen of Nigeria, knows that Nigeria has the leading shares in all the IOCs, which fact confers on every Nigerian the status of stakeholder in those IOCs. Who then says Nigerians do not have a say in the dealings of selfsame IOCs, more so when such dealings impact directly on the wellbeing of the Nigerian citizenry?

Furthermore, and this is my point about Nigeria’s multiplicity of Business Schools, the elementary principles in Risks Management stipulate that business owners and, or business promoters should not only fully engage all identified stakeholders, but should also be seen to have fully engaged all identified stakeholders, in order to keep associated business risks to the barest minimum.  Clearly, therefore, the IOCs have acted in gross breach of those time-honoured principles. Because in unilaterally moving their respective headquarters out of the Niger Delta region, they are simply refusing to engage their respective host/impacted communities, fully. By the bye, that ill-thought out decision ironically confirms the age-old principal complaint of the hydro-carbon bearing communities in Nigeria: “The oil companies do not carry us along,” this is interpreted to mean refusing to fully engage the host/impacted communities. That hard-to-fathom refusal to comprehensively engage host/impacted communities lay at the centre of the problems in the Niger Delta region.

Perhaps it is necessary to state here that there are, as of to-day (2019), enough extant laws in our statute books, which recognize host communities as bona fide stakeholders in all major projects within their domains, or in all projects that impact their socio-economics and environments. The provisions of all such laws require that project owners/promoters fully execute a well articulated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with would-be host/impacted communities prior to embarking on project development proper. But, not unlike the IOCs’ wanton breach of enlightened Risks Management principles, projects proponents in the Niger Delta region notoriously treat that legal requirement with open contempt, while the socio-economic and environmental consequences thereof build up. In the twenty-first century the manifestations of that devastating build-up stands in bold relief before a startled global community.

The widely documented grim details of those social and environmental devastations in the Niger Delta region cannot bear recounting here, but thankfully, the global community is responding positively to those scandalous devastations of whole communities. Typically, it is sad to observe, the federal government has yet to rouse itself to implementing the Phase 1 of the United Nations prescribed clean-up and remediation of parts of the Niger Delta region, over half a decade following.  For its part, the World Bank, among other laudable projects, is vigorously pursuing its millennial Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for developing countries that have been certified ecologically sensitive. Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is a leading member of that hapless club. In addition, and rather inspiringly, no less a global platform than the all-powerful World Economic Forum in her latest editions, has made stakeholders capitalism the preferred variant of economic exploitations. What sets stakeholders capitalism apart from its predecessors of shareholders and state capitalisms respectively, is that stakeholders capitalism fully captures the social and environmental components in projects’ costing.

So far, a little inspiration is coming from the global front for the seriously threatened communities of the Niger Delta region. On the national cum regional fronts, it is time the federal, state and local governments fully roused themselves from decades of slumber, and sternly call the IOCs to global order. And do so in the truest spirit of stakeholders capitalism. What’s more, there couldn’t be a more excellent opportunity so to do than the one offered by the rapidly unfolding controversy, as touching upon the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a commission purpose-specifically established to answer to the preventable lapses aforementioned herein. Namely, Nigeria should earnestly adopt stakeholders capitalism as an effective model for changing the soul-rending narrative of the Niger Delta regions.    

Afam Nkemdiche; engineering consultant; Abuja. December, 2019                                 

Festive hampers for the DSS

Reflecting on the mind-boggling anxiety of our security agencies over the activities of would-be revolutionaries in our midst is fast becoming an instinctive habit in Nigeria. Of course, the degree of indulgence and consequent proceedings vary from one person to the other. Happily, my own reflections have yielded some valuable dividends. (Dividends? our security operatives would relate to the choice of word in the course of reading the last paragraph of this piece). Were I a psychologist, I should readily prescribe George Orwell’s classic novel, Nineteen eighty-four, as a standard text for Nigeria’s security top operatives. My reason is buried in the following extensive excerpts:

“Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world; the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitudes towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium however far it is pushed one way or the other…”

“The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconciliable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are (retain power). The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim – for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives – is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. Thus throughout history a struggle which is the same in its outlines recurs over and over again.”

“For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but soon or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern effectively, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Off the three groups, only the Low are never ever temporarily successful in achieving their aims. It would be an exaggeration to say that throughout history there has been no progress of a material kind. Even today, in a period of decline, the average human being is physically better off than he was a few centuries ago. But no advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer. From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters.”

“By the late nineteenth century the recurrence of this pattern had become obvious to many observers. There then arose Schools of thinkers who interpreted history as a cyclical process and claimed to show that inequality was the unalterable law of human life. This doctrine, of course, had always had its adherents, but in the manner in which it was now put forward there was a significant change. In the past, the need for hierarchical form of society had been the doctrine specifically of the High. It had been preached by kings and aristocrats and by the priests, lawyers, and the like who were parasitical upon them (the Low) and it had generally been softened by promises of compensation in an imaginary world beyond the grave. The Middle, so long as it was struggling for power, had always made use of such terms of freedom, justice, and fraternity. Now, however, the concept of human brotherhood began to be assailed by people who were not yet in positions of command, but merely hoped to be so before long.”

“In the past the Middle had made revolutions under the banner of equality, and then had established a tyranny as soon as the old one was overthrown. The new Middle groups in effect proclaimed their tyranny beforehand. Socialism, a theory which appeared in the early nineteenth century and was the last link in a chain of thoughts stretching back to the slave rebellions of antiquity, was still deeply infected by the Utopianism of past ages. But in each variant of Socialism that appeared from about 1900 onwards, the aim of establishing liberty and equality was more and more openly abandoned. The new movements which appeared in the middle years of the century, Ingsoc (English Socialism), in Oceania (England), Neo-Bolshevism in Eurasia (America), Death-Worship, as it is commonly called in Eastasia (Russia), had the conscious aim of perpetuating UNfreedom and UNequality. Those new movements, of course, grew out of the old ones and tended to keep their names and pay lip-service to their ideology.”

“But the purpose of all of them was to assert progress and freeze history at a chosen moment. The familiar pendulum swing was to happen once more, and then stop. As usual, the High were to be turned out by the Middle, who would then become the High, but this time by conscious strategy, the High would be able to maintain their position permanently…”

Indeed, all of human history is subsumed in a single magical word: dialectics – an endless cycle of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. In the typical Orwellian depiction of human evolution, Nineteen eighty-four identifies the Middle classes as the sole dynamic of that evolution. The High classes are unrepentantly conservative; while the Low classes are incurably inert. The Middle classes are said to be different from the other two classes because the former are comprised of persons endowed with superlative attributes; chief of which are ascetic selflessness, painstaking mental application, visionary, larger-life-audacity, etc. Through rigorous deployments of these attributes, the Middle classes have been able to persuade (enlist - Orwellian phrase) the Low classes to effectively revolt against the High classes.

Now returning our attention to recent developments in Project Nigeria, it is imperative to ask this question: “Does the Department of State Security (DSS) see that members of the Nigerian middle class are endowed with the necessary attributes to enable them to so enlist their ordinary fellow citizens to a revolution – in the true sense of the term? This question is my own sense of a 2019 festive hampers for the DSS.

Seasonal Greetings!

Afam Nkemdiche; engineering consultant; Abuja. December, 219        

Segun Osoba: No longer waiting for Godot

Banji Ojewale

A man will turn over half a library to make one book-Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English critic and lexicographer.

Waiting for Aremo Segun Osoba’s book, BATTLELINES: My adventures in Journalism and Politics, has been akin to the experience of the two characters expecting the arrival of someone called Godot who never arrives. In his 1952 tragicomedy, Waiting for Godot, Irish writer, Samuel Beckett presents the helplessness and an accompanying barrenness of an endless wait for a Godot who doesn’t show up. Joined by three other funny actors, these tarrying figures get further mired in a futile wait for the person they do not know. The play closes, tragically and comically, without Godot being revealed in the two-act work.

Mercifully, lingering for the autobiography of Osoba, former editor of Daily Times of Nigeria, who went on to become the paper’s Group managing-director and the governor of Ogun State, hasn’t followed the trajectory of Godot. Yes, there was a long expectation. But, as it turned out the other day in Lagos, it wasn’t a wait for Godot. Osoba’s own Godot arrived at the presentation of his book ahead of his birthday.

He made the promise to deliver a definitive work on his life a couple of years ago when he spoke with a newspaper reporter. Osoba had been reminded of his great days as a reporter with Daily Times, with the hint that he was the industry’s most illustrious living journalist. Respected newspaper columnist Mohammed Haruna has also described Osoba as Nigeria’s ‘’most successful reporter since Independence’’. The former governor has modestly declined the honour, reminding us that we had in our midst older and more remarkable men: Lateef Jakande and Sam Amuka.  He added: ‘’I am not the best reporter…There are greater journalists than I who still need to be celebrated.’’ Then he spoke of his next assignment: writing his opus.

We have been waiting since. When in 2011, Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe came up with their book, SEGUN OSOBA: The newspaper years, we thought the Godot of the highly garlanded Osoba had landed at last. But our excitement was short-lived. The master’s imprimatur wasn’t in the book. The cover bore his name alright. His clean-shaved face, with a hesitating smile refusing to bare his teeth, filled the window cover. Inside also, Osoba was a perpetual presence. Almost every page had his name mentioned or alluded to in the pronoun. His mentors and colleagues and friends and schoolmates—Babatunde Jose, Lateef Jakande, Sam Amuka, Peter Enahoro, Rasheed Gbadamosi, Titus Sokanlu etc—were summoned to celebrate Osoba in the book. They recollected their relationship with Osoba and agreed that he deserved to be honoured as one of the greats of the profession of journalism.

Despite the presence of these other giants spreading across the 396-page book and their references to Osoba, there is a missing link. Osoba himself is nowhere ‘seen’ talking. He is a silent onlooker, as the venturesome duo of Awoyinfa and Igwe urge a medley of compatriots to take over the show.

So the book despite, its endearing virtues, has the grave drawback of not giving us the full-bodied Osoba. We saw Osoba the journalist as offered by impartial associates, as it were. But we didn’t hear from him. What spurred him to get to the peak he scaled? What were his emotional challenges? How did he overcome them? Certainly, there would be unseen factors influencing him from behind the scenes. Only Osoba would know these and be in a good position to reveal these.

More: SEGUN OSOBA: The newspaper years, had no brief to go beyond the man’s journalism days. In that case, we were to be led into a halfway house, never mind the galaxy of names drawing us in. The ideal is to get Osoba the reporter, Osoba the family man and husband of Beere Derinsola and Osoba the politician, all under one roof, under a completed building. The book’s masterclasss status doesn’t deliver it from the intellectual hunger for the final word from Osoba himself. The book created an interest to have the full-orbed Osoba. So the next stage was to satisfy that crave. Godot must not be allowed to play Beckett’s script.

With BATTLELINES: Adventures in Journalism and Politics, Osoba, turning 80 on July 15, is providing us massive memoir to chew for a proper assessment and understanding of the man. The 341-pagebook aptly captures the life and times of Osoba, an undertaking denied other works on him. Newspaper interviews and articles that have appeared seasonally on him have been sharply constrained because of limited space and a pervading ambience of conflicting interests. Only a book coming from him could address these summons.

The book itself warns readers that the author is leading them into old wars he has fought and won in his years as a journalist and politician. For, you can’t tantalize us with the notion of ‘battlelines’ and withdraw from plunging us into your exploits during the hostilities. You can’t write an autobiography announcing wars and as you flip through it all you see are accounts of tea parties. Segun Osoba battled personal and national wars, which were unavoidable if you were a public-interest newsman and servant-politician.

Osoba’s long-awaited bio-narrative is coming at the right time when we need to crack the crevices of history to grab nuggets of wisdom from outstanding statesmen and professionals. If we agree with the revered novelist, Chinua Achebe, that the leadership question must be dealt with in order to have a radically functioning society, we must get more statesmen to write books on their experiences, so we don’t fall into snares that have kept us from plumbing the depths of our limitless potential.

John Ruskin, English art critic and writer said: ‘’All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour, and the books of all time.’’ I think Segun Osoba’s book, BATTLELINES: Adventures in Journalism and Politics, falls into the latter order. For, following Johnson’s counsel, Osoba must have turned over the libraries of the ages to write it.

FRIDAY SERMON

MAN: A Wonder of Creation

On the earth are Signs for those of assured Faith. 

As also in your own selves: Will ye not then see? (Quran 51:2021)

After looking at the wonders of God’s creation as manifest in the heavens and earthly creatures, man begins to ponder: How does the size and order of the physical universe deepen your appreciation of God?  'He spoke in a loud voice: 'Fear God and pay him homage, for the hour of his judgment has come! Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!'  (Rev.14:7).  How does the earth’s size and proximity to the sun demonstrate God’s wisdom? What purpose does the moon serve? How has God designed humans to enjoy life? There are many questions begging for answers to which science has not been able to offer satisfactory answers. Why are we different from each other in appearance? The Chinaman and the Bantu are not only different in colour but in facial appearance. Is that due to evolution too? The Scandinavian man who is born and lives in Timbuktu all his life will only develop a tan, but never change colour and moreover will give birth to a white baby in Timbuktu. Creation is wonderful in its products. The lizard will never metamorphous into a crocodile, neither will a viper become an Anaconda till the end of time. The million and billions of years of so-called evolution is an abracadabra which science has used to hoodwink us. All animals were created, including their various species. Lucy, that Ape ‘ancestor’ of man is a grand hoax. Lucy was never the ancestor of man. At a point in time man emerged as fully man and not as an ape-man. The National Geographic has perpetuated many of these evolution stories to keep the theory of evolution alive.

“The story of Lucy reeks of evolution-serving circular reasoning. An imaginary ape having human feet and body posture only exists in the minds of those who assume humans evolved from ape-like ancestors. But a look at the fossils instead of listening to evolutionary stories opens a new option: that the Laetoli tracks look human because actual humans made them. But this would force another rewrite of human evolution in general. Paleoanthropologists are actually coming to terms with the fact that the dating of the appearance of man on the evolutionary timeline may be wrong. There are even some suggestions that there were humans during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago as focalized footprints of man and dinosaur side by side had been found. See Mysterious Origins of Man, a documentary anchored by Charlton Heston.  

While the Lucy fossil is 3,200,000 years old, the earliest fossils of anatomically modern humans are from the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago such as the Omo remains of Ethiopia and the fossils of Herto sometimes classified as Homo sapiens Idaltu. There is however a fossil of an anatomically modern human dating 300,000 years found in Morocco.

It is He Who sendeth down rain from the skies: With it We produce vegetation of all kinds: From some We produce green (crops), out of which We produce grain, heaped up (at harvest); out of the date palm and its sheaths (or spathes) (come) clusters of dates hanging low and near: And (then there are) gardens of grapes, and olives, and pomegranates, each similar (in kind) yet different (in variety): When they begin to bear fruit, feast your eyes with the fruit and the ripeness thereof. Behold! In these things there are Signs for people who believe. (Quran 6:99)

What is DNA?  Of all God’s earthly creations, how are humans different? In the Bible, Mathew 6:26-28, we are told to observe intensely God’s handiwork as doing so can deepen our faith, instill confidence in the Creator. The Quran reads:

And Allah has created every animal from water: Of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on hind legs; and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills; for verily Allah has power over all things. (Quran 24:45)

The greatest of all creations is man himself; the marvelous machine—precise and efficient. Though man-made machines are lubricated only by outside sources; the body lubricates itself by manufacturing a jelly-like substance in the right amount at every place it is needed.

The body has a chemical plant far more intricate than any plant that man has ever built. This plant changes the food we eat into living tissue. It causes the growth of flesh, blood, bones and teeth. It even repairs the body when parts are damaged by accident or disease. Power, for work and play, comes from the food we eat.

The body’s cooling system is very efficient during time of excessive heat. The human body has an automatic thermostat that takes care of both our heating and cooling systems, keeping body temperature at about 37°C (98.6°F).

As for the human brain, it is ‘… the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe’, says Isaac Asimov. The brain is the centre of a complex computer system more wonderful than the greatest one ever built by man. And in just one human brain there is probably more wiring, more electrical circuitry, than in all the computer systems of the world put together. Yes, it is a wonderful thing—this brain of ours.

In our eye the focus and aperture are adjusted automatically; a process called accommodation: The act or state of adjustment or adaptation; the automatic adjustment in the focal length of the lens of the eye to permit retinal focus of images of objects at varying distances.

The sound we hear is being played on a perfect little musical instrument inside our ear. The sound waves go down the auditory canal and are carried by the bones of the middle ear to the cochlea, which is rolled up like a tiny sea shell. The cochlea is filled with liquid, and transferring sound waves from air to liquid is one of the most difficult problems known to science. Three tiny bones called the ossicles are just right to do the job that enables us to hear properly. Interestingly, the size of these little bones does not change from the time we are born.

The heart actually is a muscular pump forcing blood through thousands of miles of blood vessels. Blood carries food and oxygen to every part of the body. The heart pumps an average of six liters (1.5 U.S. gallons) of blood every minute, and in one day pumps enough blood to fill more than forty 200-litre (50-gallon) drums.

A far more astonishing wonder is in the development of the human embryos.

Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (foetus) lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blesses be Allah, the Best to create! (Quran 23:12-14)

The wonders which occur during the nine-month gestation period are unsurpassable. During the first four weeks of the new life, billions of cells are formed, and they arrange themselves according to a fascinating plan to shape the new human being: A dramatic new development occurs; the first blood vessels appear. A few days later another wonderful event takes place: Within the tiny breast of the 1.7 mm long embryo two blood vessels join to form the heart, which begins to pump blood through the miniscule body. The tiny new heart provides the developing brain with blood and oxygen. In the fourth month, the heart of the foetus already pumps almost 30 litres of blood per day, and at birth this volume will increase to about 350 litres. These arrangements could not have been by chance.  And all these from a drop of sperm!

In the embryonic stage, lungs, eyes, and ears develop, although they are not used yet. After two months, the embryo is only three to four centimeters long. It is so small that it could literally fit inside a walnut shell, but even at this stage all organs are already present. During the following months the organs increase in size and assume their eventual shape. Allâhu Akbar!

How is it possible that embryonic development does not entail a disorderly growth of cells, but is systematic and purposeful according to a set timetable? A precise plan, in which all stages are programmed in the finest detail, underlies all these processes. Surely, there is God!

Having said all these, Man is a most ungrateful and inconsiderate being. He steals from his fellow man and even commits other transgressions in the name of God. He is a liar, cheat, fornicator and a reveler in all forms of iniquity. Like our political leaders, Man is often not worth the value of the skin that covers his lips. Yet, Man forgets all that Allah has said in the Quran Chapter 76 Al-Insan (The Human Being):

Has there not been over Man a long period of Time, when he was nothing--(not even) mentioned? Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts) of Hearing and Sight.  We showed him the Way: Whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will).  For the Rejecters We have prepared Chains, Yokes, and a Blazing Fire. (Quran 76:1-4)

If only they knew!

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

Babatunde Jose

 +2348033110822

FRIDAY SERMON

ISMA’IL BABATUNDE JOSE: YESTERDAY TODAY TOMORROW

I believe it’s a sin to try and make things last forever
Everything that exists in time runs out of time some day
Got to let go of the things that keep you tethered
Take your place with grace and then be on your way

That’s true not only of people, but of “everything that exists in time.”

- Bruce Cockburn

Late Dr. Ismail Babatunde Jose, Sarkin Muslumi and  Bobatolu of Ikare and the Ba’ameso of Lagos; former President of Anwar-Ul-Islam Movement of Nigeria; past President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and acclaimed doyen of modern Nigerian Journalism, was many things to different  people but one thing he is to all  is that he is today a man of yesterday. Like him we all have our today and our yesterday; but what will be our tomorrow?

Many people of yesterday who bestrode the land like colossi are today mostly inconsequential in the scheme of things. Many are who would pray to be with their maker, at least to avert the shame and ignominy of being looked upon as wasted bullets and spent political arms. Most of them, like the General we saw at a function last Saturday are sorry sights and elicit pity for what the ravages of time; challenges of health and spiritual devastation has wroth on them. Many are who had a yesterday but have been forgotten and all memories of their existence have been obliterated and consigned to the dunghill of history. People without a ‘today can never have a tomorrow’; which is to say a legacy worth talking about. It is said that the ‘evil that men do surely lives after them’. Let it be with the men of yesterday.

For late Alhaji Isma’il Babatunde Jose, his legacy remains untainted and tattooed in our minds. Only last week, the Punch newspaper carried a story on the man Jose as an icon. If he were alive, Jose would have been 94 years old today, December 25, and all roads could have led to his house for the traditional annual birthday prayer and a sumptuous meal for all visitors. Jose’s last outing was his 80^th birthday bash that attracted all-comers. It was a glorious day at the Kings College ground on Victoria Island.

Shortly after that grand command, Jose regressed into the twilight zone of his life. It was to become an anticlimax to a fulfilled life of service to God and man. The Alhaji was a humanist who had perfected the art of good human relations. He was also a kind and forgiving soul who never harbored ill-feeling or grudges against those that trespassed against him. It is this humanism in him that propelled him to extend a hand of forgiveness to his traducers, even shortly after he had been lied against and vilified by those whom he loved. His philosophy was that, since Allah and the regime that set up a probe of his tenure had exonerated him, who was he not to forgive. This spirit was displayed on many occasions to the utter surprise and embarrassment of those concerned.

Till his death he was on cordial relationship with Obasanjo and never expressed any bitterness for the 1975 ‘Daily Times’ takeover and his premature retirement at the age of 50. When OBJ left office, Jose’s printing press made his first call-card as a civilian courtesy of their mutual friend Chief Olopade. However, before Obasanjo left office his regime appointed Jose as the first chairman of the Nigerian Television Authority and he was consulted on crucial issues as they pertain to the press. The mutual respect was carried to an embarrassing level once when Obasanjo stopped his motorcade on the way to the commissioning of the Tolaram Group’s Ethanol factory at Ibeju-Lekki EPZ and asked Jose to join him for the ride. But trust Jose, Baba declined saying he did not want to breach protocol.

Once during a visit to Ibadan, he asked Felix Adenaike to take him to Areoye Oyebola’s house; unfortunately ‘Omo Oye’ was not in his office nor at home where notes were left for him. But, alas there was no acknowledgement of the visit by Oyebola. Yet, on another occasion a former Times man would bring his family challenges for Jose to settle for him; as if nothing ever happened and Jose would plunge into the matter with all that he had. Interestingly, the likes of Gbolabo Ogunsanwo were welcome to the house during his numerous visits. Gbolabo even presented a cow during Jose’s burial rites.

During a chance encounter with Kunle Elegbede, another Times Alumna, I was blown away when he confided in me that of all his bosses, it was only Alhaji Jose that ever visited him at home. That was our father for you. No one was too small in the pecking order for him to fraternize with. This would account for why one should be prepared for surprises when travelling with him, as he could remember that there is someone he would like to visit in one remote, off-grid place along the way.

He had undying loyalty to his friends and associates. The height of his love and affection for Osoba was revealed to this writer shortly after Osoba lost the election and was on television; Alhaji Jose was so emotional that he shed tears. Immediately, he decided that we needed to pay a consolatory and solidarity visit to Osoba, which we did. Osoba however, has always reciprocated that fondness even after Alhaji’s demise.

Despite his humanism, kindness and forgiving spirit, Jose remained a believer till the end. In the last two years of his life, he must have communed many times with his maker and asked the question why a good man should suffer affliction of ill-health that tends to waste the flesh of an erstwhile robust and healthy body. To all those who attended to him in those last days, it raised the issue of theodicy without any valid answer, lest one is thrown into the warm embrace of atheism. Theodicy is the ancient and unsolved problem of how an infinitely beneficent God can allow evil and random disasters. Thinkers have proposed many answers. In the biblical Book of Job, God makes a wager with Satan. Job loses his wife and family, his health and his wealth. Even a sheltering tree withers. He calls on God for an explanation. Literally ‘without any evidence of shame, God tells Job to ‘mind his own business’. Rabbi Kusher, in his thought provoking book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, says that God is not omnipotent; that even He has limitations. But, I do not agree with Kusher whose extreme view borders on the anti-religious.

We still find our future mysterious. It is, however, much less mysterious than it has ever been. Our today demands that we live a fulfilled life and prepare for our tomorrow when we will be remembered for what we sow today. It is the fruits of what we plant today that our children and our children’s children will reap tomorrow. Galatians 6:7-8 says:  Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

How often do we regard something that befalls us to be a great misfortune, when in reality Allah is showing His mercy to us. The opposite is equally true. Allah says: “Perhaps you hate a thing that is best for you, and you love a thing that is bad for you. Allah knows, while you know not.” (Quran 2:216)

Allah’s decree in the world is known to Him alone. Therefore, it is wrong for us to take the general texts that show a cause and effect relationship between virtue and worldly consequences and try to apply them to specific people and circumstances. The Prophets and the righteous people of the past were all tried with serious hardships. We cannot say that they suffered because Allah was punishing them. We can also see that Allah has granted certain sinners and unbelievers with considerable prosperity in this world. We cannot say that this shows Allah is pleased with them.

A believer should live between hope and fear. He should at all times be equally self-accusatory and conscious of Allah’s mercy and grace. The believer’s feelings of self-accusation and his awareness of his sins should be more acute when he is in health and prosperity. A Muslim should always be patient in adversity and thankful in prosperity. To be sure to achieve this state of mind, he should be conscious of Allah’s wisdom in testing us with every blessing and hardship. Such a Muslim will then show fortitude in sorrow and when his means are straitened.

Like Job Allah tested Alhaji Jose, but not with the full force of the afflictions visited on Job. Alhaji Jose did not lose any of his children but a wife whose death he was oblivious to. After his death, his legacy of good has remained and his children and children’s children have prospered; even his protégées have advanced in age and continue to celebrate their association with him. He has not become a pillar of shame or an epitaph of dishonor or embarrassment. Even in death Alhaji Jose remains a man of glorious yesterday, relevant today and a historic tomorrow.  It is a great lesson to all: Is there any Reward for Good other than Good? (Quran 55:60)

May Allah reward him with Jannatul Firdous. Like him we will all return to our maker because: Inna Lillah wa ina Ilehi rajiun.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

A Date to keep: The Unveiling of our book: Reflections on Juma’at Greetings is next Thursday, 19th December at the Sir Adetokunbo Ademola Hall, Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos. At 11 am. Thank you.

Babatunde Jose

 +2348033110822