NIGERIants OR NIGERIANS!

So it’s another day to recall democracy, sometimes I feel Fela was right to have called it demonstration of craze. Little wonder there was demonstration of craze today as  UNILAG students took to the street to protest as the name of their school became MOSHOOD ABIOLA UNIVERSITY,  LAGOS (whether it is MALU OR MAUL na una sabi) by the Federal Government  but then let’s talk about something else, something more important than the ‘swag’ in a name.

            I was listening to the national anthem on the radio today. When the second stanza was sung I reflected on the meanings and I realized this should be our first stanza, this should be the anthem all Nigerians should recite every day especially the innocent children in primary and secondary schools before they grow up and lose their innocence. At least may be God can answer our prayers through them. May God bless whoever wrote the second stanza for that is truly an ANTHEM. So I have decided to do the ‘Tafseer’ of the second stanza and maybe you would concur with me that it should be the first stanza and also a prayer Nigerians should say often. Below is the second stanza and we would go through the explanations line by line

OH GOD OF CREATION,

DIRECT OUR NOBLE CAUSE,

GUIDE OUR LEADERS’ RIGHT,

HELP OUR YOUTH THE TRUTH TO KNOW,

IN LOVE AND HONESTY TO GROW

AND LIVING JUST AND TRUE,

GREAT LOFTY HEIGHT ATTAIN,

TO BUILD A NATION WHERE PEACE, AND

JUSTICE REIGN.

Now for my explanations. I love the first line for it is in this line you find the confirmation of Tawheed (Oneness of God) precisely Tawheed  ar-Rububiyya (maintaining the unity of Lordship). That God created all things. How wonderful a start. Could there be a better beginning for an anthem? Now to the second line, Direct our noble cause. What is our cause? Our purpose? As Nigerians? As a Nation? As a people? To worship the God of creation of course. Do you see the link with the first line? This worship does not have to do with praying to God alone but being good to our neighbors, being kind to the wayfarer, by not being Murderers and thieves, by being of good conduct. What a noble cause we have. GUIDE OUR LEADERS’ RIGHT, what more could Nigerians pray for. Right guidance for our leaders but we don’t. Cursing our leaders is now the normal thing we do, we call them names and see nothing wrong in it and then you say Nigeria is bad, we’re just starting unless we change. No wonder we are Nigeriants and not Nigerians. If the head is good then we know it is most likely the body would be good. Imagine you are travelling by public transport and you then curse the driver of the vehicle you boarded. If you have an accident, remember that you are part of the cause, remember you cursed your driver. The fourth line is a message for me and for you if you are a youth especially those of us who are students of UNILAG or is it MALU or MAUL, for if we know the truth we would not come out to protest and say UNILAG is a brand, as if the name UNILAG would remain forever, even if it is not changed now it would be changed in the future that is one certain thing. By now we ought to  have realized that CHANGE is the only CONSTANT thing. As youths we would we should not act and think later but think before we act because tomorrow is ours.

            IN LOVE AND HONESTY TO GROW, this is the fifth line. Now I want you to imagine a Nigeria where we all grew up with these two cogent ingredients LOVE and HONESTY. These are the things we need in the basic unit of a society, the family. Love and Honesty between couples, between families, between tribes, and then as a nation. These are strong foundations on which relationships should be built: LOVE and HONESTY. The sixth line further buttresses the line before it. We need to LIVE JUSTLY and also our love for one another should be TRUE and not I scratch your back you scratch mine love. Following the message before it this line tells us where we would be: LOFTY HEIGHT. Of course we would attain lofty heights if we followed the messages in the line before it to the letter and then the concluding part, TO BUILD A NATION WHERE PEACE, AND JUSTICE REIGN. What more do we want in Nigeria, We all want a Nigeria where PEACE and JUSTICE shall reign. What a wonderful anthem. So tell me, my fellow Nigerians do we know this stanza by heart? Do we recite it often? Are we NIGERIants or NIGERIANS?

THE FUN THEY HAD

It is funny how Agricultural Science students in LAUTECH travel from Ghana to Nigeria without boarding a plane or a bus, their 'leggedizbenz' must be hyper-super but we all know their secrets (don’t we?). I am starring at the marble which has the details of when Ghana House was commissioned. The name Olusola Alagbe Luther king catches my eye. I know that name.  Seeing the name takes me back to my sophomore year, to the beautiful city of Accra, Ghana’s capital.  Mr. Luther king had hosted those of us who went to Ghana under the umbrella of the SCSN (Students Chemical Society of Nigeria). ‘Bruce’ was then social director of SCSN.  I was not surprised when he became PASSA (Pure and Applied Sciences Students' Association) president. There was no doubt that the journey to Ghana was a real boost to his political career which helped him to become ‘prexy’. I recalled when we were at the border before we entered Ghana officially and we had to sing the Nigerian national anthem to prove that we were Nigerians since none of us had a national passport. No doubt traveling long distances by road is stressful but it sure did have its fun side. 

It was June 27, a public holiday in Ghana. It was Ghana’s republic day, unlike Nigeria, Ghana’s republic day is different from her day of independence. It was our first day in Ghana and most of us were fatigued from the few days journey. It had rained lightly but then we decided to go out. I thought we were just going to take a tour around Ghana’s capital little did I know that my eeman was about to be tested.  I remember there was a little argument about which fun spot we should head to but then I think majority agreed we should go to the beach. ‘The Beach! But it just rained’, I thought. Little did I know that was the beginning of my worries?  It was a long time since I had been to the beach, I think the last time was at Badagry beach in Lagos and it was really a long time. You know Lagos has all the fun spots but then I was young and innocent. The weather became clear and you would think it never rained earlier except for the wet ground and some puddles. We got to the beach and before the bus came to a halt the males in the bus were already screaming and waving like they had never seen girls before(my sisters, you know how boys can be). Then I looked at the reaction of the ladies in the bus, I saw their eyes, I could recognize those eyes anywhere, I had seen them before. It was those same eyes the girls in your secondary school gave you during your school’s inter-house sports if they caught you looking at girls from invited schools or worse still if they heard you say something  nice about them and funny enough when you were together  they didn’t ‘send you’(my brothers you know what I mean ) . Those eyes said only one thing ‘envy’.  I smiled at the drama happening before my eyes, boys and girls, men and women, males and females we would always be different.  The Ghanaian girls waved back and smiled, they liked the attention, (which female doesn’t like the attention?). Though they were amused at first but I guess when they saw the inscription on our bus they knew we were strangers in Ghana.  The sun was out and a lot of people where at the beach, after all it was a national holiday. The boys couldn’t wait to get out, I can’t remember vividly but I think some  of them even jumped out through  the window.  It was nice to feel the sand in between my toes. I looked around  and could see a  lot of boys with Rastafarian hair and Bob Marley tattoos all over their bodies. I thought these guys must be Bob Marley crazy. I looked round trying to find a good sight but everywhere I turned my eyes fell into sin. I decided to return to the bus. I think could hear some of my friends calling,  they were already in the water.  I took a seat at the back and sat close to the window and looked at the Sun, it was going to set soon, may be in a few hours.  I noticed the presence of someone else in the bus, she was a Muslimah. She sat in one of the seats in the front rows. I had noticed her earlier during our journey to Ghana. She was easy to notice since she was the only female donning the Hijab. I think she was  one level ahead of me but I was sure were both in the same department.  I wanted to talk to her, to ask her what she was thinking, to know if our thoughts were similar, if she was thinking of the fun they were having. If a part of her thought like me that life was a prison for the believers and Paradise for the disbelievers. I wanted to talk to her but I decided to stay put. I looked outside  the window and I could see some ladies by the Deejay’s stand drinking and dancing. It was obvious it was alcohol they were gulping since they were holding those amber bottles. Suddenly I got afraid, afraid that what if a tsunami happened here right now and we all died here. What a bad place to die. I recalled the verse in which Allah says:

‘And Guard yourselves against a chastisement which cannot fall exclusively on those of you who are wrong-doers, and you know that Allah is severe in punishment’ Q 8:25

Some punishments affect both good and bad people but was I a good person? I was afraid and yet I wanted the Qur’an to give me hope. I didn’t like the present situation I found myself. I had been in a similar situation in my freshman year when I attended SCSN dinner award.  It was at NUT plaza and a fight ensued. I had decided then that I would not attend such gatherings but here I was in a similar gathering. I want to die in a good place with good people around. My name sake Abdul-Mujeeb Abdul-Razaq experienced what I desired later that semester, May Allah forgive him. That night in Accra, in the beautiful duplex that Mr. Alagbe Luther king hosted us I could hear the boys talking about the fun they had. Everyone had something to say except me and they gave me that look that… that look that said ‘boy, you missed’, like they felt sorry for me . I left the gathering and found a quiet spot in the house; it was easy to find one since the house was big. I reflected on the day’s event, thinking, asking myself if I was up for this, if this is the path I was going to take, if I wanted to become a stranger. Why did everyday seem like a battlefield?  Would I be firm on this path?  Only time would tell but I must try my best and pray that my Rabb keeps me firm on this path.

‘To the righteous (when) it is said "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" they say "All that is good." To those who do good there is good in this world and the Home of the Hereafter is even better. And excellent indeed is the Home of the righteous’    Q16:30

                                                                                                                                                 

FUTURE AMBITION

I can still hear them laughing sarcastically, laughing at my friend, laughing at the elder sister I never had. It was in the staff room. There they were mocking, I was in fury mode but I tried to conceal it. I wanted to defend my friend, to stand up for her, I wished they would stop but they jeered on.  What could I do after all they were all my teachers. ‘Future ambition: Housewife!’, I think one of them said. They were reading an edition of THE BEAM (AFCS IBADAN’S school‘s mag).  I was in my final year in high school and the edition of THE BEAM was the just concluded edition. Some pages, particularly in the middle of the magazine were usually dedicated to the graduates of that year in which the magazine was published. The pages included their pictures, Future ambition, address and phone/e-mail. I can’t recollect what I was doing in the staff room but I remember vividly that I was there. Bidemi had just graduated and her profile in the magazine had caused an uproar. She had put in HOUSEWIFE  has her future ambition and like most  present day educated ignoramus my teachers had thought that was backward just like many people would think. Though back then I might not have had cogent reasons to defend my friend if I was given the opportunity to but now I know better and Bidemi, may Allah bless her wherever she is (sad, that I have lost contact with her)  knew better even when we were that young.  Now, we might think Bidemi is just some ordinary girl that was never exposed or brain-washed by some ‘alfas’, Well you’re very wrong. Kudirat Abidemi  Yussuff was no ordinary lady, she was well exposed. This is late Air Marshall N. Yussuf’s daughter I am talking about here. Her Dad was the former CAS (Chief of Air Force Staff) in the early nineties when the military were in POWER! To me, he practically owned AFCS IBADAN because it was during his tenure as CAS that AFCS IBADAN came to being. (My secondary school used to be a Teacher Training college). I never had the opportunity of meeting Bidemi’s Dad but I knew he was a very PRINCIPLED man and I pray Allah forgives him. This was a man whose son didn’t pass the interview examination to gain admission into AFCS IBADAN, and since he didn’t pass he tried again the following year and then got admission! So Bidemi was not an ordinary lady and if Abdul-Mujeeb Onawole was to give a list of influential people in his life with respect to the deen in particular and he forgets to add Bidemi’s name he should be SPANKED SERIOUSLY.

What could have made me to remember Bidemi’s future ambition after all these years?  Well, it’s Rifdha, a 10-year old wonderful Hafiza from Maldives, (you need to hear her recite the Qur’an). I saw Rifdha in the documentary titled KORAN BY HEART by GREG BAKER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpO-a8AIz7M). She had the highest score of 97/100 and even before I saw her score, I knew she surpassed all other contestants despite the fact that she was the only female in that competition.  Rifdha is a lovable individual, she’s shy and yet funny in a special kind of way, mama’s best friend and I guess you get the rest of the picture. She tops her class and she wants to become an explorer but her Papa, who repented and became a better Muslim on his Father’s death bed after about 30 years of Jahiliyya, wants her to become a housewife, now this is where Bidemi and Rifdha meet. Rifdha’s father understands that when you educate a female, you educate a nation but when you educate a male, you’ve educated only one individual.  By the way kudos to Lautech sisters, I know a lot of them are striving to be students of knowledge as compared to we, brothers and it gives me this great hope that the future is going to be so bright considering the impacts they would have on their children but then it saddens me that the gap is too wide between the Sisters who know and those who don’t (that’s what I’ve observed and I stand to be corrected). I know some brothers might not attend circles of knowledge regularly but there are some basics of the deen they know but I can’t say the same for the sisters. Sometimes I just get shocked at the level of ignorance. Rifdha’s Dad thought that Egypt would be a good place to migrate to but upon getting there he realized that things aren’t the way you imagine. He found out that they might have good Qaris (reciters) in Egypt but he hardly saw people who practiced the deen from their appearance with respect to the beard and Izbal issues.

The stereotype idea that someone who is going to be a housewife should be uneducated should be DELETED WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT from those who still have such in their heads.  If you meet some females and you try to know why they are in school you would realize a lot of them are in school for the wrong reasons. I’ve met ladies who came to earn a degree so that they can have something to ‘fall-on’ when their husbands start cheating on them, some came to do engineering courses  just to prove that what a man can do a woman can do better, can you imagine! I recall during my IT attachment, an Engineer gave me and a lady a lift  his car to the factory as we entered through the factory gates, I could hear the Engineer teasing the lady while signifying to a man who was leaving the factory gates.  The woman was resuming for morning duty while her husband was leaving the factory after working on night duty, little wonder the world is in a topsy-turvy.  I look at A’isha Al-Hajjar , an editor on SAUDILIFE, who HOME- SCHOOLED EIGHT CHILDREN. Do you think she is a block head who doesn’t have a college degree or do you think the job of home-schooling children is a walk in the park? Among the things Islam as taught me is that JUSTICE IS NOT THE SAME THING HAS EQUALITY and when you look at the Qur’an and Sunnah you find places where the men are above women, places were women are above men and places where we’re both equal. Look at people the world refers to ask ’successful women’ you’ll find out that their family life is (or was) trash, is it Oprah Winfrey or Tyra Banks or Queen Elizabeth the first.  During my IT there was this Engineer Obasanjo that specifically said with his own mouth that women were not supposed to be working in factories like this. He further suggested that they should be in the education sector and this is what I tried to portray in Aisha’s  character in my VALENTINE’S STORY:JUST ANOTHER DAY (http://www.mujeebunleashed.blogspot.com/2012/02/just-another-day.html) and in some cases you have SAHM-WAHM(Stay At Home Moms- Work At Home Moms). I do not know where Islam stopped women from working, from earning her own wealth but what I know is Islam greatly encouraged women to stay in their houses and we have people that work from home and are millionaires, some are even more famous than people who go to  another location to work.

I know Rifdha is very smart but I hope she’ll understand that her father wants the best for her. I hope she’ll understand what Bidemi understood. So I’ll conclude with the words of Francesca in the movie, THE PERFECT SCORE when asked what she wanted to be. She said ‘…I’d just be a mom. Not just a mother. I would be a real mom. Who cared more about the title of parent than the one on her business card…’