Ours is the most populous country in Africa with an estimated population
of about 200 million, and more than 250 languages. Nigeria is also said
to be the most religious country in the world. But in spite of our
diversity, we attained independence without a violent struggle and
fought a civil war without disintegrating. Nigeria is a prosperous
country whose development is on the rise.
In his opening
remarks, the Murshid of the Abuja National Mosque, Professor Shehu Ahmad
Sa’id Galadanchi said that ‘this Special Lecture’ is ‘organized by the
National Mosque, Abuja as part of the 58th Nigeria Independence
Anniversary Celebrations.’ He said we have to be grateful to ‘Almighty
Allah for making it possible for us to gain our independence’ ‘from the
British Colonial Administration.’ ‘Freedom of individuals and nations,
justice and equality are all fundamental matters in Islam.
'As
we celebrate the anniversary of this independence, we need to tarry a
little and speculate and ask ourselves whether or not we have reasons to
celebrate. The answer is certainly in the affirmative, yes we have.
Those Nigerians who knew this country during the colonial period or a
few years after would definitely affirm that our country has made
remarkable changes and developments during this period. However, let me
quickly add that circumstances had caused us to make some mistakes in
our administration; and these could have been avoided. So while
celebrating, we should also continue to correct the mistakes committed
in the past and make serious efforts to take the country to where it
deserves.’
His Eminence, the Sultan delivered his message as the
Chairman of the event without referring to notes and not reading from a
prepared speech. He informed the gathering that this is ‘the third
programme’, in the annual Independence Day Celebrations. In the past, he
said the programme was confined to ‘the special Jumu’a prayers’ in
mosque, ‘but we thought there should be something more’, so ‘we
fashioned out this lecture series to bring together the executive, the
legislature, the judiciary, the security agencies and other Muslim
stakeholders under one roof, to listen to a lecture’ which will address a
common issue of concern among the Muslims. According to His Eminence,
‘such lectures are usually admonitions on what we should do as Muslims
for our country, not what our country should do for us.’ Expanding the
activities of the day to include a special lecture, the Sultan said,
‘was a right decision, putting the programme together, and I wish to
thank the office of the SGF for strongly supporting it and ensuring its
continuity.’
His Eminence further said that the lecture should
make each one of us search for the answer on ‘what should be done for
this country to move it forward? We know as Muslims whenever we are
gathered under one roof, there is a lot of Allah’s blessing in that
place. I’m certain that on this Friday morning, we know and believe that
the Almighty Allah has showered His blessings on all of us here, and
may it continue to be showered on us and on all Nigerians wherever we
find ourselves. Speaking about harnessing our diversity, we all know how
diverse this country is, hundreds of ethnic..nationalities. Let me use
the word nationalities because they call themselves nationalities, but
what we have is one nation called Nigeria, even though they want to be
called ethnic nationalities, to be identified with their own background.
There are so many religious beliefs, but the two main ones we know are
Christianity and Islam, which are still working closely to understand
that we are Nigerians first.
‘We are here as Nigerians first; we
remember with nostalgia the good old days… I once challenged Northern
leaders: ‘Stop talking of Ahmadu Bello; do what Ahmadu Bello did. I also
challenged some other leaders, ‘Do what Awolowo did to the South-West,
and stop making noise about who was Awolowo… The same thing applies to
the south and the good people who were there. These were leaders who
believed in Nigeria and who worked closely to make Nigeria a better
country. But what we have today are people who look at their local
community as the most important thing first, and they call themselves
statesmen and elders.
‘We have leaders whom I call dealers;
dealers in the sense that they deal with all sorts of negative things,
and fuel fire to burn the country down.
‘We have statesmen that I
don’t call statesmen, but I call them men of states because they only
care about their states and their immediate environment as the most
important and don’t care about what happens to other persons in other
parts of the country. These are not statesmen, they are the people
causing problems for this country because the common man listens to
them, they say what they want to say.
‘We have leaders and
statesmen who say so many negative things about the country, about the
leadership, about whatever is right or wrong in the country. We must
check this.
‘We are here as Muslims, not APC or DPD members or
any political party,…though many are they. We are here not as naval
officers, or army officers, or customs officers who came late and
others. (laughter) We are here as Nigerians and Muslims.
‘We are
here to chart a course for this country so that it will be better than
it is now. development is a continuum; you cannot finish it; you have to
keep moving. America is still developing, Britain, Japan, China, they
are still developing, so it a continuous process.
‘Every leader
comes, does his part, and goes away. You cannot be here forever. Today
is Buhari; tomorrow is somebody else, but Nigeria remains.
‘There were 19 sultans before me. I happened to be the 20th, and I won’t
be the last inshaa Allah; there will be others that will come after me.
So whatever I could, I would do it with the utmost fear of the Almighty
Allah Who puts me here; Who sees what I do, Who knows what I’m going
to do tomorrow until I die. So why are we clinging to positions as
though we will not die? That is why we are here Muslims to look at those
issues, and see what can we contribute to this country called Nigeria,
now, not tomorrow. When we do that, we live a happier people than what
we used to be,
‘It is important to ask ourselves as leaders and
statesmen what legacy do we want to leave behind to our grandchildren,
not our children who already know the negativities that happen to this
country because of the social media where you see insults, abuses of our
leaders who passed away hundreds of years ago, and you still feel as
though they are here.
‘You have access to the social media; you
insult people as you want. Columnists insult people and the government
keeps quiet. The government must not keep quiet, because that is an
issue of insecurity with the approaching of 2019 elections.
‘So
can we as Muslims do things right? This programme is beamed live and is
live-streamed all over the world regardless of the number of people
here. Therefore, so many are listening to what we are saying and that is
why I speak on these issues without mincing words, fearing none but
Allah.
‘What do we do also to ensure free, fair elections devoid
of violence? It is heartening to listen to Mr President’s comment that
we shall have free and fair elections. Whoever emerges from such
elections must be accepted by all, including the international community
and Nigeria will move forward. We cannot endure regressing always,
taking one step forward, and two backward.
‘We cannot continue
to say everything is alright; no, there is no time in life that
everything will be alright; never! if you, as a Muslim, feel everything
is right in your life then you deceiving yourself; only the Almighty
Allah is always right in whatever He does, in whatever He says. When the
elections come, it is only Allah who knows who is going to be the
president, the governor…. We don’t know.. only He gives power to whom He
wills, and He strips off power from whom He wills; He raises whom He
wills, and He brings low whom He wills….’
Friday October 5th, 2018
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