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By Abdu Rafiu
Two major events occurred last week. The collapse of the 21-storey building under construction at Ikoyi filled airwaves, the print and the digital media. Hearts were gripped with anxiety and certain sense of foreboding. The second event was the Anambra State governorship election which was keenly contested and was watched with more than passing interest, indeed with our breath in our mouth against the background of the threat by IPOB, and also the caliber of the contestants—Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo a renowned economist and former Governor of Central Bank leading the pack; yes, eventually he led the pack. His closest rival was Valentine Ozigbo who brandished the PDP flag. He has impeccable credentials, waving before our gaze– a First Class in accounting and a Masters which has attached to it a glittering distinction by the authorities from Lancaster University, United Kingdom. Of course we had Andy Uba, the grassroots man who has been in public consciousness since he was a special assistant to President Obasanjo. There was also brave and daring Senator Ifeanyi Ubah. I cannot now swear on oath between Soludo and Andy Uba for whom Obasanjo would have cast his vote were he eligible to do so. He loves them both but esteems Soludo exceedingly highly for his scholarship. And he has implicit trust in Andy Uba. But I knew the contest was clearly between Soludo and Ozigbo. I believe that was the basis of anxieties, especially for a people who have elected to stand alone by the party that represents their aspirations—APGA. As our fathers would say, you don’t all sleep and your heads would point in the same direction! There was a sense of relief when the news flash came and pronounced Soludo the governor-elect.
But then it was when Nigerians were grappling with consternation and extreme grief over the Gerrard Road disaster, Ikoyi that an immature young man attempted to foul up the South Western environment, their world view, values and civilization. Families thronged the site of the high-rise building that caved in for their loved ones. No one knew who was safe and who had died and buried under the rubble. As the number of the dead being excavated was rising, so were anxieties. They stood with baited breath with some women carrying their arms on their heads and others folding them on their chests. There was hope when a handful were rescued, brought out alive even if wounded. Ambulance was racing from there to Lagos Island Hospital with siren typically blaring. The air was thick with sorrow. Within 72 hours, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the young man with the right application to work, had visited the place three times, even in the dead of the night. His deputy, Dr. Hamzat had also rushed to the scene.
Where is Femi Osibona? The question was ringing out from different parts of the site, from the anxious and from sympathizers. There was grave concern for him by those who saw him enter the building. Osibona was the developer of the property under the name of his firm, Fourscore Homes Limited. It was in this atmosphere that the young man, Adewale Sikiru said to YouTube Channel, NA 24, that the building came down only minutes after he left there. Fine enough. But he went on to state his mission to the building. He said that he was there for an interview for the position of a site engineer. Although he was found qualified, yet rejected on account of being a Muslim. He was reported to have quoted Femi Osibona as telling him that he could not work with a Muslim. Would it not have been enough if he had said he miraculously escaped being a victim of the collapse by the whiskers; that the building came down only minutes after he left there, and that he thanked his stars? Nothing could be more in bad taste and cruel. Drained of compassion, he did not care about those trapped in the rubble made up of broken concrete blocks, pillars and twisted iron rods as well as broken wood among other sharp and piercing objects. It was in the sordid atmosphere he decided to deride and gloat. For him, the collapse served Osibona right after all he denied him his first job! It was a one-sided report, indeed poor and perverse editorial judgment to have aired such a story. Osibona is not alive to confirm or deny the story. The job seeker must have lent himself to dark influences that are looking for a trigger to cause ethnic and sectarian commotion and breakdown of law and order in a region known for liberalism and accommodation in religious matters. I will return to this presently. In the meantime, the following are survivors of the collapse: Ndajor Ahmed, Yunusa Abubakar and Ajiboye Habib. These are not Christians working in the building. The managing director of Prowess Engineering Limited the firm of structural engineers that withdrew from the project in February last year, 2020, is Mr. Muritala Olawale. The company was not on disagreement over spiritual values each party may profess, but because, according to his letter, his company “no longer shares the same vision” with Femi Osibona as the client of his company, Fourscore Homes Limited, in what was called terms of how the project was being executed. They were not getting the result of concrete cube test for each stage. “Specifications were not met in terms of concrete strength,” the firm says in its letter and it would not like to bear responsibility for any further construction errors.
Osibona was from Ijebuland. The Ijebus are too broadminded to begin to discriminate against anyone on account of his faith. What better proof can one have than the yearly Ojude Oba Festival which is used to round off the Eid-el-Kabir, the main Festival of Muslims, and to celebrate the paramount king, the Awujale of Ijebuland? It is an event that brings all Ijebu people together, Christians and Muslims. What a delightful event to behold every year with the people filing out according to age groups and associations, different groups gaily dressed in different colourful attire. There is horse riding. There is dancing and rejoicing. People with financial muscle, notably Mike Adenuga, pick the bill. Adenuga is not a Muslim. Among the prominent faces who attend the occasion every year are Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of Afenifere, and Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State. Both are Christians. Otunba Daniel is son of a clergy man, and he himself is a Christian. He built a church in memory of his father at Shagamu.
The claim by the guy seeking job must therefore fall flat. But it has found resonance in the sentiments of MURIC which has lapped it up without questioning. It is the kind of situation MURIC has been waiting for to stoke its fire. Says Professor Ishaq Akintola, its director: “That video clip is an undeniable evidence of the alienation, marginalization, improvisation and persecution of Yoruba Muslims by no other than their fellow Yoruba who happen to be Christians.” I recall when the South West Governors decided to establish Amotekun to boost security in the Region, Professor Ishaq Akintola said Muslims were being discriminated against in recruitment when the exercise had not even begun. During the imbroglio over Hijab-wearing in Christian mission schools in Kwara State, Professor Ishaq Akintola wading into the issue said: “We warn the Kwara State Government (KWSG) against compromising its authority over this issue. Any attempt by KWSG to spoon-feed CAN or to sweep the right of Muslim girl-child to wear Hijab under the carpet will be resisted by the Muslim community. The law is on our side. On Hijab we stand. There will be no retreat, no surrender.”
When Brig.-General David Bamigboye, the governor of the state took over in 1972, he said in his address on the subject on July 3, that it was an intervention, not a take-over. He explained that what led to the “intervention” was the need for job security for teachers in voluntary agency schools. It also arose from the need “to improve as well as unify service conditions of teachers in all voluntary agency schools.” He gave two other reasons bordering on enthronement of uniformly high standards between government and voluntary agency institutions, need for adequate staffing and lastly the imperative “to close gaps in educational provision amongst various areas in the state” He then gave the assurance that the government was only taking over staff management of grant-aided institutions and not the institutions themselves. The right to nominate members of the Board of governors for the day to day management and welfare of the institutions would remain. The agreement was that “the proprietary rights of the owners would remain…the religious orientation and practices in the schools remained undisturbed.” As I did argue earlier in the year, General Bamigboye was an officer and gentleman and would like to be regarded as an honourable man whose word was his bond and what he made plain was that the proprietary rights of the owners remain and … and their religious orientation and practices in the schools remain generally undisturbed.” These are clear statements both the governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and Professor Ishaq Akintola dishonorably glossed over and attempted to set aside. They will not succeed in the long run.
The people of South West must be wary of the campaign to set the region on fire. It is the most peaceful in the country. They should not allow themselves to be lured into conflict and chaos engendered by falsehood. Fanatics whether they are Christians or Muslims are not servants of Truth. They are in fact harmful to the cause. The Son of God after Whose Teachings Christianity arose was and still is the Prince of Peace, the Love Arm of God in the Trinity and the Holy Spirit, the Justice Arm. The Two are Parts of the Whole, Christ on the right-hand side, and the Holy Spirit on the left-hand side of the Father, the Godhead, a picture which can be likened to two hands of a man. It is one and the same person who swings them. When God acts in Love, He acts in and through Jesus Christ and when in Justice, in the Holy Spirit. The Lord Christ enlightened us on this when He said: “The Father is in me and I am in the Father. The Father and I are One”. Prophet Mohammed (May Peace Be unto Him) after whose Teachings Islam came into being was sent by God. After Christ left to rejoin with His Father and become One with Him, mankind went back to their old ways, errors and wrong- doings. Prophet Mohammed was sent to quickly come to arrest the decline of mankind. Without Him coming, mankind would have gone into perdition before the End Time, the Age of the Holy Spirit reserved for Him, the time in which we are in the present time.
In the South West as I pointed out during the Hijab controversy, religion was not an issue. There is hardly any family that does not boast of Muslims and Christians, and animists and who do not have one another as friends. Because of their education, culture, exposure and age- long civilization, they do not ask whether a person is a Muslim or Christian before relating with him or her. They just get drawn to themselves through the Law of Homogeneity which ensures that people of the same tendencies and relative inner maturity are drawn to themselves. The leaders have set good examples to follow. Islam came to Yorubaland in the 1400s, 14th Century from Mali. This was long before Uthman Dan Fodio set foot in Nigeria in 1804. The Yoruba refer to it as Religion from Mali which over time became distorted to read and sound ‘Esin Imole’. As examples the leaders in this zone have set, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Christian (Jeremiah) was the first as Premier of Western Region to set up in Nigeria a Pilgrim Commission for Muslims. His own sister, a Muslim he sent on pilgrimage to Mecca. His nephew, Abimbola, the son of the sister is a Christian. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is married to a Christian, Remi. She attended Our Ladies of Apostles Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode. When she was ordained a deaconess, Bola Tinubu was in attendance on the occasion at Redeemed Christian Church of God camp. As an active Christian, Remi Tinubu established the yearly interdenominational worship and songs at Lagos State House, Marina, an event that is held every end of year rolling into the New Year up till this day. Babatunde Raji Fashola, governor in succession to Tinubu is married to a Roman Catholic Christian, Abimbola. His 87 –year old mother is a Christian so was his grandmother. The late Abiola Ajimobi, former Governor of Oyo State was married to a Christian, Florence, now his widow. The former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun is married to a Christian whose father is a clergy man from Osogbo. The mother of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila is a Christian while Gbajabiamila is a Muslim. I know of a neighbour who is a Christian but whose son is a Muslim. Whenever the young chap was back home from the university, the mother, a Christian would wake up to prepare the meal at dawn for him during fasting period. He was known in the neighbourhood for calling out Muslims for morning prayers. When the young man finished at Ife, he was posted to Sokoto for his Youth Service. Because of the state of insecurity in the state the parents knew fear. Their friends wanted to see if they could get him re-posted to the East, Edo or Rivers State to serve. He refused bluntly. He said it was just as well that he was posted to Sokoto; he had longed to go to Sokoto to deepen his knowledge of the Quoran. Today whenever he visits the parents, his wife walks up and down the house in full and black regalia of Muslim women, covering head to toe.
Most prominent Yorubas were educated in Christian schools. The late Dr. Lateef Adegbite, one-time secretary general of Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs attended Baptist Academy, Obanikoro, Lagos; the same school Professor Aliyu Babatunde Fafunwa went to. Well-known business mogul, Moshood Kasimawo Abiola, also the winner of the 1993 annulled election, attended Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, as did Justice Bola Ajibola, today the founder of Crescent University, Lafenwa, Abeokuta. Hadjia Mrs. Lateefat Okunnu attended Methodist High School, Yaba. The Emir of Ilorin, His Eminence Ibrahim Kolapo Sulu-Gambari attended Offa Grammar School, Offa. The school was set up by Offa Descendants Union and had a Methodist missionary as the first chairman Board of Governors. Other old students of the school are General Alani Akinrinade, General David Jemibewon, the irrepressible J.S Olawoyin, Professor Mobolaji Oyawoye, the first professor of geology in Africa. Indeed, Offa has produced at the last count over 100 professors, eight of whom have been vice-chancellors of universities in Nigeria. Salihu Modibo Alfa Belgore, one time Chief Justice of Nigeria and Justice Saidu Kawu attended AIONIAN secondary schools, either at Ilesha or Offa. These are schools that are either owned by the Anglican Church or affiliated to it.
It is hardly remembered that Lateef Jakande, former Governor of Lagos State attended Ilesha Grammar School. So did Alhaji Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, the Baba Adinni of Yorubaland. Alhaji Jakande was managing director of the Nigerian Tribune founded by Awolowo for decades until close to being sworn in as Governor of Lagos State. The closest friend industrialist Oba Otudeko had was Arisekola Alao, Baba Adiini Musulumi of Oyo State, but now of blessed memory. Buhari’s former Minister, Adebayo Shittu went to Baptist Boys High School, Shaki. The first head prefect of Cherubim and Seraphim College, Ilorin, was a Muslim while the principal, pioneer Principal, David Akintola was a Christian of very high ranking in C&S Church. Politician Olawepo, a Muslim was among the early set of the Cherubim and Seraphim College.
So, where is the discrimination? The people of South West should be on their guard, indeed alert to reject the insidious campaign by people with sinister motives to inflame passion and set the West on sectarian fire with Yoruba Muslims set against Yoruba Christians. They should continue to uphold their accustomed respect for one another’s recognitions and convictions in the exercise of their inalienable free will. They rejoice and celebrate Festivals with one and another. There are no questions when they exchange banters and work together.
Wedge between Bola Tinubu and Segun Osoba
There is a determined attempt to draw a wedge between former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, and Bola Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos state and presidential hopeful of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The attempt is driven with curious and injurious insinuations to throw their supporters in disarray, based on falsehood and ignorance. Both former governors underwent surgery in the knee in the United Kingdom. The insinuations should be thrown out of the window. (The editor says my time is up. The subject to be fully addressed next week).