It's by no way wrong for any couple to celebrate their 100th year of peaceful coexistence with excellent history and fruitful union. The 1st of January 2014, marks the 100th year of forceful merger between the Northern and Southern protectorates and the birth of Nigeria. Ours is simply a celebration of a failed nation. Nigerian Government is preparing to throw up a huge rascality and a jamboree to celebrate a century of misfortunes and accidental union. An act which translates the silent meaning of transformation agenda, looting. The feast amounts to a celebration of mediocrity. It is therefore unnecessary and a waste of resources, it has no significance in the amelioration of the challenges of Nigeria's nationhood.
In 100 hundred years, we have become an example of the ruination of a nation with a bright prospect. At amalgamation and even at independence, Nigeria had bright prospects for the black race and for Africa but 100 years down the line because of the mismanagement and misrule of our past leaders, the country today is a shame. We are lagging behind in every sphere and all global indices now. The country is being robbed by insecurity – today 70 per cent of our people live below poverty line; all our infrastructures have collapsed at 100.
We are a divided people; and the government is using divide and rule to govern the country. We are besieged by all manner of crises and the life expectancy is 51 years. In every sphere of human live, we have lagged behind and corruption has become our grand commander in chief at 100. The ruling elite have lost the sense of shame; they are totally bereft of any sense of responsibility that they will think the next line is to celebrate.
What are we celebrating? We are celebrating the failure of a nation, it is a big shame that even at 100, we are bogged down by leadership that cannot appreciate the situation of things on ground. They cannot realize that what we need is a sober reflection of how we have lived and lost our chances. We are now rolling out the drums and it shows that there is no redemption for the country. The way forward is for Nigerians to take their destiny into their hands, they must reclaim their country and to know that our salvation is not in the hands of the ruling elite. They must take their destiny in their hands because the ruling class does not have any vision for the country.
There is nothing to celebrate as far as centenary is concerned, government just wants to waste billions of Naira for nothing.
Many are poor while the few are getting richer by the day; many billion of Naira being stolen by the day by public office holders. A nation cannot be built in this manner. You cannot talk of a nation when you don’t create opportunity for your citizens to excel; you cannot talk of a nation when many Nigerians are living poorly and in a bad condition.
I feel the Nigeria government should just forget about this celebration because a slave cannot be celebrating in it slavery.
The legality of the amalgamation is even a subject of questions. Based on a research conducted through the UK parliamentary archives by Tayo Oke Ph,D, it reveals that Lord Lugard presented a series of “reports”, one of which was published in May 1913 in which “the secretary of state has decided that the combined territories of Northern and Southern Nigeria, divided into two or more subsidiary administrations, shall be placed under the control of a single Governor-General...” . Lugard had simply prevailed on the secretary of state to rubber stamp his wish to rule over a vast swathe of land which he had Christened Nigeria. The next occasion of historical significance that took place in relation to this was when Lugard actually delivered the “amalgamation speech” on the “amalgamation day of January 1st 1914”. He boldly announced to the world, based on his agreement with the secretary of state the previous year, his ‘desire therefore as briefly as possible to describe to his audience, and through them to the official and unofficial community of Nigeria the basis on which this Amalgamation is to be carried out..’ The basis, of course, was to facilitate the continued exploitation of the people and their natural resources. Let’s not forget, this was done as World War 1 was just breaking out, Parliamentary process was thus dispensed with. It is my submission, therefore, that a Nigerian court of competent jurisdiction can and should be given the opportunity to rule on the said Amalgamation. Committed eminent Nigerian lawyers could, if they choose to, seek a judicial review of the decision to amalgamate as soon as it is practicable to do so. A declaration that the decision is null and void should usher in an immediate convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to give Nigerians the long awaited say on this most vexed of all issues.
Having said that, I can hear discordant voices saying: ‘leave well alone; let it be; the fraud was perpetrated long time ago; it’s an Act of God; it’s our destiny to be together, etc. These voices are well meaning, but wrong in a fundamental respect. In 1707, the previously disagreeable Kingdoms of Scotland and England were merged together by King James (1), a Scottish Monarch, and was later ratified by Scottish and English Parliaments when they both met for the first time in October 1707. There lies the basis of the United Kingdom as we know it today.
Why was this precedent not applied to the Amalgamation of Nigeria over two hundred years later? Nonetheless, Parliamentary legitimacy notwithstanding, the “Act of Union” between Scotland and England has been a running sore in the hearts of many Scots for a long time. With its population of just over five million compared to England’s fifty three million (or 84% of total UK population), Scottish nationalist leaders have long felt ‘sub-merged’ and ‘marginalised’ within the UK although, this may be more apparent than real to an outside observer.
Nonetheless, because this feeling runs deep, it was given political expression by the formation of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) in 1934. Why can’t, for instance, Boko Haram be allowed to express their political grievances through a legitimate political party with the sole aim of establishing a Sharia state in the Northern region? Why not? Once you have feelings of ‘injustice’ running so deep, and being so visceral, it needs to be given democratic expression or, the people will resort to violence.
Anyway, back to Scotland. The SNP was berated and shunned for much of its early existence, until it gradually began to win the hearts and minds of the Scottish people. It won its first Parliamentary seat in 1945, then, substantially increased its representation in 1974 with eleven Members of Parliament, before finally becoming the majority in Scottish Parliament in 2007. The party’s mantra since formation has remained full independence for Scotland and a break away from the UK. Guess what? The UK Parliament has now agreed a referendum of the Scottish people to take place in 2014 to determine whether Scotland should opt out of the UK and re-start life as an independent entity. The campaign has already started between pro and anti independence camps. It promises to be lively and enlightening. My haunch is that there will be a narrow victory for those who wish to remain in the UK and the nationalist fervour would have been extinguished for the foreseeable future. The question for us in Nigeria is why are we afraid of an open democratic debate about the terms of our existence as a state? Why is this type of debate encouraged in Western countries as a mark of political maturity and it is discouraged in our society as heresy? Why do we want to spend a trillion naira bringing out dance troupes and masquerades next year to celebrate the centenary of an amalgamation, which to all intent and purposes is a legal infamy? Our leaders appear to have taken leave of their senses with this one. Let’s hope common sense will eventually prevail.
We have not been happy in this country; we have not had a happy relationship with one another in this country, particularly between the north and the south. So, I don’t think it is a moment ordained for celebration. But it should not go unmarked because a major event, political, of great significance, occurred. I believe that what we should do at this stage, since the very future of this country is now in contention, is that instead of celebrating it, we should use it to reflect, to retrace and then, chart a way forward. That is what we should do.
The celebration is another illustration of foolishness of this country which does not know how to react in a particular situation. Instead of sitting down in a sober manner, appointing various groups and having various seminars to have various discussions on the way forward as a united country, we are celebrating. Celebrating what?
There is nothing to celebrate because Nigeria is almost a failed state right now. There is crises, there is Boko Haram, there is kidnapping, there is insecurity, infrastructural breakdown, everything is bad. So, there is nothing to celebrate. Those in government who are fueling arrangements for this celebrations are just trying to establish another avenue to loot our nation's wealth. They will embezzle our wealth, the masses will be paid to dance on the streets as part of the celebrations. They will simply be celebrating fools at 100 while their bank accounts will be turning to billions in 100ths. Thieves
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Friday, 16 August 2013
Tributes To D.C A.A. Dandare By Usama Dandare
It is exactly 2920 days since the exit of my mentor, our role model, our hope and my pride.
The Tuesday of August 16, 2005 will forever be etched in the minds of my family members and our well-wishers, as one of the darkest day in our memories. Without any alarm, death got hold off the breath and freezes the body of my dear father A. A. Dandare (A Deputy Comptroller in the Nigerian Customs Service), his feet and palms where suddenly changed to a greener colour proving the absence of blood, his eyes where wide open but couldn't see any object, his mouth was open but his tongue can't say a word and his heart suddenly pause to pump. It will pump no more.
Due to complications surrounding his illness, he was taken to a Missionary hospital in Parakou, a bordering town in Benin Republic after visiting many hospitals both at home and abroad. With him was my step mom and his younger brother (my uncle).
He was immediately attended to by medical experts on duty and was admitted into the hospital. On admission, the doctors ordered he should have some rest and be giving time to relax, he should be serve a liquid meal when he woke up. He slept for a while and woke up after several hours, a liquid meal to be serve and he asked for pap rather than custard. My step mom plugged a kettle boiler to heat some water so as to prepare a pap for him. She turned to pour the boiled water into a container and took away her eyes off him for scarcely forty seconds. She turned back to found him on his hospital bed, peacefully gone to sleep -- but for ever. Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun! Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun! Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun.
Well wishers had thronged our residence in Kebbi State, with the aim of wishing him a get well message. Little did they knew, that he has already gone back to his creator thousands kilometers away from home. As if my mum knew that she will never set eyes on him or hear a word from his tongue, she decided to visit and pray for his quick recovery but it was already late, as he died many hours before she could arrived. She met our house like a paper market, full of people but zero sound with tears running down the chicks of every face she looked at, she joined the wagon and cried for the lost of a great hero. His corpse was brought home that same day escorted by Customs Officers in charge of Kamba border in Kebbi State and was buried immediately according to Islamic rights.
I left for a test that morning as a university undergraduate, my mom has gone to Kebbi to check on my dad health. I returned home from school and was very shocked to meet my Grandma alone at home telling me to leave for kebbi immediately where my family live except my mom and i. I rang my sister's mobile but couldn't reach her online, i rang almost everybody's phone but it was unreachable. I turned to my granny and asked what may be the reason for summoning me this late hours? Her reply was nothing as she looks shattered. I asked her for the second time then she said, your father's health is in a terrible situation, so your presence is needed immediately to be close to him.
I was still not satisfied with her answer considering the way she looks. I decided to pass a night before embarking on the journey.
I left immediately after dawn and arrived before the expected time, i covered the distance of about 2-3 hours in less than one and half hours. On reaching the junction of our street, everywhere was full of cars.
Hundreds of people hustling to gain entry into our house, a signal that alerted me something wrong must have happened.
Tears began rolling down my eyes, people began welcoming me even before my house, many greetings with condolence messages. My heart skipped and was about fainting before a friend held me up and sat me in his car to relax, he gave me some words of encouragement, he made me to recalled that God gives and God takes, every soul shall taste the bitterness of death, he said " the only thing you can do is to pray for his soul and ask God to grants him pardon and to look after your kinfolks" being me the second child in a family of thirteen. His words of encouragement gave me hardihood, his guts enable me to control myself and lower my body temperature.
I went to the house and stood quietly at the gate quietly. Wondering how on earth will i survive in the absence of my host? I geared up and entered the premises of my house. The first person i jammed was my immediate younger sister, she hugged me and started to cry, i can feel the wetness of her tears on my right shoulder. She delivered a message to me from our late father i will never in my life forgotten, she said
"Daddy said i should tell you to be praying for him, you should make sure all of us are united, you should forgive him what ever wrong he did to you as he has forgiving all of us. He said never shall any of us try to pathways with his brother, we should be our brother's keepers, we should not allow what he left as inheritance to separate us and that he loves of all us." I can't say anything rather than Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun, Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun, Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun (from Allah we came, and to Him we shall return).
She lead me to the palour where people that came to register their condolence are entertained. As we entered, everybody boasted into tears as soon as they set eyes on me. Many cried as they saw me because i am an image of the late Custom officer, i am exactly a carbon copy of my late dad. I raised up my head, and saw all the wall pictures of my dad turned backward. That made me to cry loudly until my step mom calm me down and asked me to join her in prayers, which we did together.
She served me breakfast, i couldn't eat because i've lost appetite for life in general. I washed my face and put on a dark shed to hide away my swollen crying eyes and sat on the carpet by the side of a chair where my Dad normally sit watching televised news.
Our house was filled up with women at every corner and at any visible location. As news of my presence began to circulate, people of all sort converged to soothe me over a great lost not only to me but to everyone linked with our family. I still don't believe i will no longer set eyes on him again because he was buried a day before i could arrived or even before i was informed, i felt like seeing him coming out of his apartment when ever i turned around and looked through his room. What triggered the sadness in my heart was i didn't even set eyes on my father's corpse, he left me without saying goodbye. Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun. As the increasing number of people coming to sympathize with us got so huge that we can't longer received and accommodate them all, we decided to divide them into two. Men are to receive men at my dad's family house while women to receive women at my father's house.
I lead all men to our family house where we sat receiving visitors. People from all works of life are converging to sympathize with us over the exit of our breadwinner. I couldn't stop crying when ever someone condole me, i replied people with nodding my head instead answering Amen. My throat was dry, my spit has seized, my eyes were like that of an owl as a result of unstoppable tears, my nose was blocked. Where i sat was very sunny but can't even feel the scorching sun until someone told me to shift and sit in a shed or under one of the canopy.
I can't believe this to be true, i never imagine to live without my dad. Dad, you left me the time i needed you most, the time when life is becoming difficult to me, you left me when i was about to face the real challenges of this wicked world. As an undergraduate, the university days are the best moments someone needs attention and care, it's the best period any child requires funding, constructive advice, someone to lead him to the outside world where life was never easy and the time of increase responsibilities. This was the time God took him away from me. I love you dad but i know God loves you more, so He (God) took him away and he will never come back to me.
On the third day after his death (the three days mourning period), we all assembled with our sympathizers to pray for God's marcy, blessings, favours and trust upon him. We prayed for him, eternal peace and paradise, we prayed for God to grant him pardon to any of his wrong doings.
Before his death, he has instructed that all his children should be taken to the cemetery where he was buried to pray for him. We headed right away to the graveyard and walked straight to his resting place, prayers were massively offered and i marked a sign for me to identify his grave anytime i visited to pray for him. That was when i wished my dad farewell and thank God for the wonderful and beautiful life he gave him but was unable to hold tears on my eyes, tears all over my shirt.
I tilted down his grave and said, what have you done wrong to me that you asked for forgiveness?
I don't need to forgive you on anything, you have not done wrong to me on any issue. But as you requested, i have forgiven you on everything you ever did to me which i don't know any and never recalled what wrong you ever did to me. I waved him goodbye and stood on his side until i was pulled by an uncle who took me away to the car. I was forced to leave the cemetery by my uncles as i don't want to go away from my dad.
He was to us, as tires are to a car. He was to us, as blood is to human body. He was to us, as skin is to flesh. He was to us, as cement is to a block. He was to us, as elephant is to its sibling. He was to us, as tongue is to mouth. He was to us, as water is to life. He was to us, as water is to earth. He was to us, as sun is to green plant. He was to us, as spica is to the moon. He was to us, as oxygen is to life. He was to us, as brain is to human. He was to us, as health is to man. He was to us, as cloud is to rain. He was to us, as land is to crops. He was to us, as education is to the society. He was to us, as wealth is to the rich. He was to us, as engine is to a machine. Infact, he was our life. We will forever be painful over his death, no life on earth can replace his to us. We have now nothing as all what we have has gone back to his creator. You will never know how wicked people are until you lost your dad.
My father, has contributed immensely to the development of this nation. First as a teacher in a teachers college where he taught many of our expert now. He mentor many young men who has now turn in to be successful and contributed meaningful development to their societies. He was a patriotic citizen with discipline and a comrade. He was responsible or part of many achievements recorded in the Sokoto Teachers College, he played a very important role in developing the school to what it is today.
He was hard working and like to crack jokes, but he can change all of a sudden to his other part when ever something was done. He valued education than anything in life, he was religiously active and a hospitable man. You are the best dad ever and the best thing i had ever heard of, you death was the most painful and saddest event in my life.
When he was in the Nigerian Customs Service, he did his best to halt corruption where he can and introduce a fair system for all. He served in many borders, seaports and airports across Nigeria as a result of hard work and dedication. He was a devoted Custom Officer that raised to the rank of Deputy Comptroller until his death. A well intelligent father that chooses for his children the right way and later you must concur and realized his choice was the best. A man of wisdom, a hero, a brave man, charismatic and a faithful father. Until his death, he was serving with the Bauchi command of the Nigerian Customs. He earned a Bachelors Degree and a Masters before joining the Customs Service in the 1980s.
Today, we remember the life of a great man, a hero and an honest servant of God.
On behalf of my family, our family friends and all our well wishers. We are soliciting and begging for prayers to send to the soul of our dear father. We want everyone to join us in a special prayer session to ask God for forgiveness toward our beloved father. As we remember the exit of this devoted and selfless servant, please pause to pray with us.
(Allahhum maghfirlahu warhamhu wa'fu 'anhu wa 'afihee wa-akrim nuzuluhu wa was-si' mudkhalahu, waghsilhu bil maee wath thalji wal bardi, wa naq-qihi minal 'khataya Kama yunaq- qath thawbul abyadu minad danasi, wa abdilhu daran Khayram min darihi, wa ahlan Khayram min ahlihi wa zawjan khayrum min-zawjihi, wa adkhil hul jan-nata, waqihi fitnatal qabri wa 'Azaban nar)
O Allah! Forgive him and have Mercy on him and give him strength and pardon him. Be generous to him and cause his entrace to be wide and wash him with water and snow and hail.
Cleanse him of his transgressions as white cloth is cleansed of stains. Give him an abode better than his home, and a family better than his family and a wife better than his wife. Take him into Paradise and protect him from the punishment of the grave (and of the fire)
For Adults
(Allahum maghfir lihayyina, wa mayyitinaa, wa shaahidina, wa ghaa-'ibina, wa sagheerina, wa kabeerina, wa dhakarrina wa untha. Allahumma man ahyaitahu mina fa ahyihi 'alal Islami wa man tawaf-faytahu mina fatawaffahu 'alal imani. Allahumma la tahrima arjahu wa la tudhillana ba'dahu)
O Allah! Forgive our living and our dead, those who are with us and those who are absent, our young and our old, our men and our women. O Allah! Whomever you keep alive from us keep him alive on Islam, and whomever you take away from us, take him as a believer. O Allah! Do not leave us bereft of his good and do not send us astray after them.
(Allahumma inna A. A. Dandare fi dhimmatika, wa habli jiwaarika, faqihi min fitnaltil qabri, qa adhaban-naari, wa anta ahlul Wafaa'i wal-Haqqi. Faghfir lahu warhamhu. Innaka antal Ghafurur-Raheem)
O Allah! Surely A. A. Dandare is under Your protection, and in the rope of Your security, so save him from the trial of the grave and from the punishment of the Fire. You fulfill promises and grant rights, so forgive him and have mercy on him. Surely You are Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.
(Allahumma abduka wabnu amtika ahtaaja ila rahmatika wa anta Ghaniyyun an 'adhaabihi in kaana muhsinan fazid fi hasanatihi, wa in kaana musii'an fata-jaawaz 'anhu)
O Allah! Your slave, the child of Your slave is in need of Your mercy, and You are not in need of his torment. If he was pious then increase his rewards, and if he was a transgressor then pardon him.
May the soul of my faithful father continue to rest in peace and may he be among the favoured creatures in the hereafter. AMEN
The Tuesday of August 16, 2005 will forever be etched in the minds of my family members and our well-wishers, as one of the darkest day in our memories. Without any alarm, death got hold off the breath and freezes the body of my dear father A. A. Dandare (A Deputy Comptroller in the Nigerian Customs Service), his feet and palms where suddenly changed to a greener colour proving the absence of blood, his eyes where wide open but couldn't see any object, his mouth was open but his tongue can't say a word and his heart suddenly pause to pump. It will pump no more.
Due to complications surrounding his illness, he was taken to a Missionary hospital in Parakou, a bordering town in Benin Republic after visiting many hospitals both at home and abroad. With him was my step mom and his younger brother (my uncle).
He was immediately attended to by medical experts on duty and was admitted into the hospital. On admission, the doctors ordered he should have some rest and be giving time to relax, he should be serve a liquid meal when he woke up. He slept for a while and woke up after several hours, a liquid meal to be serve and he asked for pap rather than custard. My step mom plugged a kettle boiler to heat some water so as to prepare a pap for him. She turned to pour the boiled water into a container and took away her eyes off him for scarcely forty seconds. She turned back to found him on his hospital bed, peacefully gone to sleep -- but for ever. Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun! Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun! Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun.
Well wishers had thronged our residence in Kebbi State, with the aim of wishing him a get well message. Little did they knew, that he has already gone back to his creator thousands kilometers away from home. As if my mum knew that she will never set eyes on him or hear a word from his tongue, she decided to visit and pray for his quick recovery but it was already late, as he died many hours before she could arrived. She met our house like a paper market, full of people but zero sound with tears running down the chicks of every face she looked at, she joined the wagon and cried for the lost of a great hero. His corpse was brought home that same day escorted by Customs Officers in charge of Kamba border in Kebbi State and was buried immediately according to Islamic rights.
I left for a test that morning as a university undergraduate, my mom has gone to Kebbi to check on my dad health. I returned home from school and was very shocked to meet my Grandma alone at home telling me to leave for kebbi immediately where my family live except my mom and i. I rang my sister's mobile but couldn't reach her online, i rang almost everybody's phone but it was unreachable. I turned to my granny and asked what may be the reason for summoning me this late hours? Her reply was nothing as she looks shattered. I asked her for the second time then she said, your father's health is in a terrible situation, so your presence is needed immediately to be close to him.
I was still not satisfied with her answer considering the way she looks. I decided to pass a night before embarking on the journey.
I left immediately after dawn and arrived before the expected time, i covered the distance of about 2-3 hours in less than one and half hours. On reaching the junction of our street, everywhere was full of cars.
Hundreds of people hustling to gain entry into our house, a signal that alerted me something wrong must have happened.
Tears began rolling down my eyes, people began welcoming me even before my house, many greetings with condolence messages. My heart skipped and was about fainting before a friend held me up and sat me in his car to relax, he gave me some words of encouragement, he made me to recalled that God gives and God takes, every soul shall taste the bitterness of death, he said " the only thing you can do is to pray for his soul and ask God to grants him pardon and to look after your kinfolks" being me the second child in a family of thirteen. His words of encouragement gave me hardihood, his guts enable me to control myself and lower my body temperature.
I went to the house and stood quietly at the gate quietly. Wondering how on earth will i survive in the absence of my host? I geared up and entered the premises of my house. The first person i jammed was my immediate younger sister, she hugged me and started to cry, i can feel the wetness of her tears on my right shoulder. She delivered a message to me from our late father i will never in my life forgotten, she said
"Daddy said i should tell you to be praying for him, you should make sure all of us are united, you should forgive him what ever wrong he did to you as he has forgiving all of us. He said never shall any of us try to pathways with his brother, we should be our brother's keepers, we should not allow what he left as inheritance to separate us and that he loves of all us." I can't say anything rather than Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun, Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun, Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun (from Allah we came, and to Him we shall return).
She lead me to the palour where people that came to register their condolence are entertained. As we entered, everybody boasted into tears as soon as they set eyes on me. Many cried as they saw me because i am an image of the late Custom officer, i am exactly a carbon copy of my late dad. I raised up my head, and saw all the wall pictures of my dad turned backward. That made me to cry loudly until my step mom calm me down and asked me to join her in prayers, which we did together.
She served me breakfast, i couldn't eat because i've lost appetite for life in general. I washed my face and put on a dark shed to hide away my swollen crying eyes and sat on the carpet by the side of a chair where my Dad normally sit watching televised news.
Our house was filled up with women at every corner and at any visible location. As news of my presence began to circulate, people of all sort converged to soothe me over a great lost not only to me but to everyone linked with our family. I still don't believe i will no longer set eyes on him again because he was buried a day before i could arrived or even before i was informed, i felt like seeing him coming out of his apartment when ever i turned around and looked through his room. What triggered the sadness in my heart was i didn't even set eyes on my father's corpse, he left me without saying goodbye. Inna Lil Lahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun. As the increasing number of people coming to sympathize with us got so huge that we can't longer received and accommodate them all, we decided to divide them into two. Men are to receive men at my dad's family house while women to receive women at my father's house.
I lead all men to our family house where we sat receiving visitors. People from all works of life are converging to sympathize with us over the exit of our breadwinner. I couldn't stop crying when ever someone condole me, i replied people with nodding my head instead answering Amen. My throat was dry, my spit has seized, my eyes were like that of an owl as a result of unstoppable tears, my nose was blocked. Where i sat was very sunny but can't even feel the scorching sun until someone told me to shift and sit in a shed or under one of the canopy.
I can't believe this to be true, i never imagine to live without my dad. Dad, you left me the time i needed you most, the time when life is becoming difficult to me, you left me when i was about to face the real challenges of this wicked world. As an undergraduate, the university days are the best moments someone needs attention and care, it's the best period any child requires funding, constructive advice, someone to lead him to the outside world where life was never easy and the time of increase responsibilities. This was the time God took him away from me. I love you dad but i know God loves you more, so He (God) took him away and he will never come back to me.
On the third day after his death (the three days mourning period), we all assembled with our sympathizers to pray for God's marcy, blessings, favours and trust upon him. We prayed for him, eternal peace and paradise, we prayed for God to grant him pardon to any of his wrong doings.
Before his death, he has instructed that all his children should be taken to the cemetery where he was buried to pray for him. We headed right away to the graveyard and walked straight to his resting place, prayers were massively offered and i marked a sign for me to identify his grave anytime i visited to pray for him. That was when i wished my dad farewell and thank God for the wonderful and beautiful life he gave him but was unable to hold tears on my eyes, tears all over my shirt.
I tilted down his grave and said, what have you done wrong to me that you asked for forgiveness?
I don't need to forgive you on anything, you have not done wrong to me on any issue. But as you requested, i have forgiven you on everything you ever did to me which i don't know any and never recalled what wrong you ever did to me. I waved him goodbye and stood on his side until i was pulled by an uncle who took me away to the car. I was forced to leave the cemetery by my uncles as i don't want to go away from my dad.
He was to us, as tires are to a car. He was to us, as blood is to human body. He was to us, as skin is to flesh. He was to us, as cement is to a block. He was to us, as elephant is to its sibling. He was to us, as tongue is to mouth. He was to us, as water is to life. He was to us, as water is to earth. He was to us, as sun is to green plant. He was to us, as spica is to the moon. He was to us, as oxygen is to life. He was to us, as brain is to human. He was to us, as health is to man. He was to us, as cloud is to rain. He was to us, as land is to crops. He was to us, as education is to the society. He was to us, as wealth is to the rich. He was to us, as engine is to a machine. Infact, he was our life. We will forever be painful over his death, no life on earth can replace his to us. We have now nothing as all what we have has gone back to his creator. You will never know how wicked people are until you lost your dad.
My father, has contributed immensely to the development of this nation. First as a teacher in a teachers college where he taught many of our expert now. He mentor many young men who has now turn in to be successful and contributed meaningful development to their societies. He was a patriotic citizen with discipline and a comrade. He was responsible or part of many achievements recorded in the Sokoto Teachers College, he played a very important role in developing the school to what it is today.
He was hard working and like to crack jokes, but he can change all of a sudden to his other part when ever something was done. He valued education than anything in life, he was religiously active and a hospitable man. You are the best dad ever and the best thing i had ever heard of, you death was the most painful and saddest event in my life.
When he was in the Nigerian Customs Service, he did his best to halt corruption where he can and introduce a fair system for all. He served in many borders, seaports and airports across Nigeria as a result of hard work and dedication. He was a devoted Custom Officer that raised to the rank of Deputy Comptroller until his death. A well intelligent father that chooses for his children the right way and later you must concur and realized his choice was the best. A man of wisdom, a hero, a brave man, charismatic and a faithful father. Until his death, he was serving with the Bauchi command of the Nigerian Customs. He earned a Bachelors Degree and a Masters before joining the Customs Service in the 1980s.
Today, we remember the life of a great man, a hero and an honest servant of God.
On behalf of my family, our family friends and all our well wishers. We are soliciting and begging for prayers to send to the soul of our dear father. We want everyone to join us in a special prayer session to ask God for forgiveness toward our beloved father. As we remember the exit of this devoted and selfless servant, please pause to pray with us.
(Allahhum maghfirlahu warhamhu wa'fu 'anhu wa 'afihee wa-akrim nuzuluhu wa was-si' mudkhalahu, waghsilhu bil maee wath thalji wal bardi, wa naq-qihi minal 'khataya Kama yunaq- qath thawbul abyadu minad danasi, wa abdilhu daran Khayram min darihi, wa ahlan Khayram min ahlihi wa zawjan khayrum min-zawjihi, wa adkhil hul jan-nata, waqihi fitnatal qabri wa 'Azaban nar)
O Allah! Forgive him and have Mercy on him and give him strength and pardon him. Be generous to him and cause his entrace to be wide and wash him with water and snow and hail.
Cleanse him of his transgressions as white cloth is cleansed of stains. Give him an abode better than his home, and a family better than his family and a wife better than his wife. Take him into Paradise and protect him from the punishment of the grave (and of the fire)
For Adults
(Allahum maghfir lihayyina, wa mayyitinaa, wa shaahidina, wa ghaa-'ibina, wa sagheerina, wa kabeerina, wa dhakarrina wa untha. Allahumma man ahyaitahu mina fa ahyihi 'alal Islami wa man tawaf-faytahu mina fatawaffahu 'alal imani. Allahumma la tahrima arjahu wa la tudhillana ba'dahu)
O Allah! Forgive our living and our dead, those who are with us and those who are absent, our young and our old, our men and our women. O Allah! Whomever you keep alive from us keep him alive on Islam, and whomever you take away from us, take him as a believer. O Allah! Do not leave us bereft of his good and do not send us astray after them.
(Allahumma inna A. A. Dandare fi dhimmatika, wa habli jiwaarika, faqihi min fitnaltil qabri, qa adhaban-naari, wa anta ahlul Wafaa'i wal-Haqqi. Faghfir lahu warhamhu. Innaka antal Ghafurur-Raheem)
O Allah! Surely A. A. Dandare is under Your protection, and in the rope of Your security, so save him from the trial of the grave and from the punishment of the Fire. You fulfill promises and grant rights, so forgive him and have mercy on him. Surely You are Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.
(Allahumma abduka wabnu amtika ahtaaja ila rahmatika wa anta Ghaniyyun an 'adhaabihi in kaana muhsinan fazid fi hasanatihi, wa in kaana musii'an fata-jaawaz 'anhu)
O Allah! Your slave, the child of Your slave is in need of Your mercy, and You are not in need of his torment. If he was pious then increase his rewards, and if he was a transgressor then pardon him.
May the soul of my faithful father continue to rest in peace and may he be among the favoured creatures in the hereafter. AMEN
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Kindergarten President, Childish Handler By Nasir El-Rufai
Posted: 15 Aug 2013 06:55 AM PDT
I still recall how one of my sons behaved before going into kindergarten. He did not know how to share toys or food, threw tantrums whenever he failed to get his way or insulted his siblings or sulked when criticized. With years of parental effort at home, and intervention of handlers in nursery school, our son learnt the virtues of sharing, inclusion and getting along with those that he disagreed with.
I guess this is the experience of many parents. I have always wondered what manner of person would resort to abuse, bigotry and division when his or her conduct and utterances are interrogated, instead of simply responding in civilized language. APC chairman Bisi Akande’s characterization of Jonathan as a kindergarten president explained everything. And surrounded with equally parochial, morally-flexible handlers, one is bound to read the kind of falsehood that emanates from the likes of Reuben Abati from time to time.
It was Aeschylus, the ancient Greek dramatist who said, “In war, truth is the first casualty”. Thank God, despite the provocations of the Dokubos and the Clarks, Nigeria is not at war, but the presidency and presidential hangers-on have distorted democratic politics into some sort of warfare. President Goodluck Jonathan’s response to an interview I granted over the weekend is indicative that truth has become a casualty in his shoddy attempt to belittle the salient issues concerning Nigeria that I spoke about, and the weighty fact that the president is the promoter and apostle of ethnic and religious division of Nigeria, purely for political gains!
For the records, I was featured on Liberty Radio’s Guest of the Week where I spoke on a number of issues, including the fact that the proceeds from crude oil theft (as confirmed by the Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson) were being used to procure arms to wage war on Nigeria in the event that Jonathan lost his re-election bid in 2015. I also stated that, “PDP has become a virus that is infecting and destroying the country because they are not doing anything productive. They have changed our politics into that of ethnicity and religion to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and looting of the treasury.”
Instead of addressing the issues I raised, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati chose to muddle the discussion and confuse the public. According to a report issued by Governance and Sustainable Initiatives Ltd., entitled Analysis and Lessons of the Current Geopolitical Distribution of Federal Appointments, the Jonathan administration is said to have favoured his home state of Bayelsa 200% times more than the next states with the highest federal representation – Delta, Edo and Anambra.
If Jonathan is not playing the ethnic card, can he possibly explain to Nigerians why Bayelsa which has the smallest population in Nigeria and the fewest number of local government areas, has more than double the number of federal appointees measured by population and weight of responsibility than that of the next state, whilst the most populous states of Lagos and Kano were at the bottom of the representation ladder. What is the president’s response to that?
If President Jonathan is not playing ethnic politics, why was he quick to exonerate those he called “my people” in the aftermath of the October 1st 2010 bombings in Abuja? Did Henry Okah, who was eventually convicted of the offence in South Africa, not reveal in court that he was contacted by a high-ranking official from the presidency who told him to implicate some northerners in the bombing?
A year later, after his highly divisive election, he told a delegation of the Ohaneze that he believed that the only votes he got from the North were from Igbo residents in the North. Are those the words of a patriot or an ethnic bigot? This was after an election where he received nearly 100 percent of all votes cast in the South South and South East states, in some cases getting more votes than there were registered voters or even residents. The presidency did not respond to these facts, but chose to distort the matter in order to sweep the issues under the carpet. It may interest the president to know that Nigerians are much wiser now and will not be deceived by the antics of a drowning president and his desperate aides.
The president, rather than responding intelligibly to my charge that Jonathan has a deliberately evil strategy of using religion to divide the country for electoral gains, decided it was story time, and proceeded to announce that the president also fasted along with Muslims. It may interest him to know that former president Olusegun Obasanjo also fasted while in office, but did not broadcast it for any political gain. Incidentally, fasting goes beyond abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours; it is an intrinsic spiritual contact between man and his Creator to strive for higher ideals including truthfulness, honesty and keeping promises. Which promise has Jonathan kept? Where is the integrity in this government? Where is the genuine fear of God when looting is the order of the day?
Nigeria, by the will of the people, is a secular state. But of all Nigerian leaders, no one except Jonathan makes policy proclamations from his place of worship. Perhaps, the irony is lost on the president, but not only is it religious politics to make policy statements before only a section of the populace, the implications of making those promises in the house of God, then refusing to fulfil them are serious. Are we not told not to take the name of the Lord in vain?
As testimony to the fact that truth has become a casualty in the presidency, Abati went beyond that and concocted a lie that I said Christians were behind the Church bombings that took place in Nigeria. I never said anything like that. All I wrote was that the late National Security Adviser to the president, Gen. Owoye Azazi, and a small group known to him, were behind the dastardly acts, and I pointed out the fact that the moment he was removed as NSA, the church bombings virtually stopped as mysteriously as they started. I would have expected the president to set up an independent panel to find out and tell Nigerians the truth about the horrific church bombings. Why the conspiracy of silence?
I am keen to know why the presidency chose to keep quite on my charge that President Jonathan is the godfather of the oil thieves. If that is not the case, how come oil theft jumped from about 100,000 barrels per day before his election to a staggering 400,000 per day now? Can Jonathan explain why he ordered the removal of recognised maritime security officials from the creeks and handed over pipelines and oil installations security to militants? In what country does a bank employ a former bank robber to guard its vaults? Is there not a grand strategy to ease oil theft and procure arms for the militants to use against their fatherland? Why is there no response to this issue?
In the interview, I mentioned that the vice president, Namadi Sambo left massive debts as governor of Kaduna state with little to show for it, the same attitude that permeates every facet of Jonathan’s government. Anyone in doubt should check with the Debt Management Office. Kaduna state has the second highest debt of all states in Nigeria, thanks to loans that Sambo pursued as governor for projects that no one can see on the ground. Kaduna is a short drive from Aso Rock, so Jonathan and his cohorts can take a quick drive to see things for themselves. Nothing beats personal experience.
One of the largest and longest ‘ongoing’ projects in Kaduna state is the Zaria Water Supply Project, which was awarded to Sambo’s company before he became governor. Though Zaria is his hometown, he did not complete the project as contractor despite payments, did not conclude it as governor despite his office and is today uncompleted, despite his position.
Up until last week, most of Zaria
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