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Tagged: Democracy, government, Islam, NIGERIA
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Sun 8 Dhul Qidah 1444AH 28-5-2023AD at 2:16 pm #90076
Total votes casted for the Presidential Election that held on the 25th of February 2023 according to INEC was 24,966,218. 24,025,940 were valid votes while 939,278 were rejected votes. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC who polled 8,794,726 votes was declared the winner. Atiku Abubakar of PDP came second with 6,984,520 votes. Peter Obi of LP came third with 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687.
Following the announcement, Tinubu had received Certificate of Return from INEC and extended olive branch to Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso. PDP and LP did not only reject the result, they demanded for INEC chairman’s resignation. While West African leaders and Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs sue for peace, PDP and LP have taken their grievances to court. Whether or not they will come back with anything tangible, only time shall tell.
For different reasons, eight states of the federation did not participate in the March 18, 2023 governorship poll. They are: Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun. In the polls held in the remaining states. Results from 24 states were declared as at when due while those of Abia and Enugu were initially not declared, and those of Adamawa and Kebbi were initially declared inconclusive. LP was later declared winner in Abia, PDP in Enugu and Adamawa, and APC in Kebbi.
Tinubu’s victory also secured APC the retention of its position as the ruling party at Central level after losing some Governors and lawmakers to the PDP and LP. You will recall that before the election, APC was in control of twenty-one states, PDP fourteen and APGA one. The table has been turned around. APC currently has twenty states under its watch, PDP thirteen while APGA, LP and NNPP are in control of one state each. And by tomorrow the 9th day of Dhul-qi’dah 1444 (May 29 2023) insha Allaah, Tinubu and Shettima will make history by being crowned as the 16th “democratically elected” president and vice-president of Nigeria.
As Democrats usher in new leadership to commence their “democratic agenda”, government and the political gladiators across the six geo-political zones are already working round the clock to ensure that they are among the active players or that their nominees are part of the cabinet of the Tinubu-led federal administration. Don’t bother yourself with whether or not they are qualified for positions they jostle for, after all Aregbesola, Adamu and Keyamo confessed that they knew nothing about the portfolios they were assigned and they were there throughout their tenures. That is Nigeria for you.
What is unfortunate is that majority of the Muslims chose to adopt if you cannot beat them join them syndrome. They are either beaters of Democracy drums, dancers to it, hailers of it or/and its prayer warriors. Diversity in political affiliation threatened their pristine Islamic brotherhood, quests to lick politicians’ hands that are soaked in democratic-oil has shattered the Masaajid (mosques). Selfish interests and momentary gains made them jettisoned the very tenets of their religion. Their scholars rather than clothing Islaam are disrobing it. Their ranks and files have become errand boys of the strayed politicians that they are supposed to guide, and they have consciously accepted being inferior to the immoral beings just for worldly gains.
Not minding the extent of some Muslims’ derailment, Allaah’s pleasure remains the goal of every sane and upright Muslim who regard Prophet Muhammad (s a w) as his leader and role model per excellence -in all religious and mundane affairs. The Qur’aan remains the true Muslims’ constitution, Jihaad (striving in the cause of Allaah) is their way of life and martyrdom on Allaah’s path is their ultimate aim. They know that Islaam is beyond the five pillars, that politics and religion are not meant to be separated. They are of the view that Islaam is a comprehensive way of life, and that as Muslims, they are expected to do everything under the shade of Islaam. Under no circumstances should Islaam bow to any un-Godly system what more of a political system where thuggery, lying, manipulation and bigotry are being employed to get to power.
The political gymnastic that produced the about to be sworn-in drivers of democracy vehicles in Nigeria was full of drama. Prominent among the scenes, was the case of Binani. The initial story was that INEC could not successfully conclude the Adamawa state governorship election in some polling units. The cumulative number of registered voters was said to have exceeded the margin with which potential winner of the poll was winning in the affected polling units. Hence, the election was declared inconclusive.
However, before the election was declared inconclusive, the incumbent governor and PDP governorship candidate, Ahmad Fintiri, was in the lead with 421,524 votes as against 390,275 votes recorded by the first runner up, Binani. INEC resumed the election on Saturday March 15 and the collation of result commenced after the votes cast. The State Returning Officer, Professor Muhammad Mele, suspended the collation of results and postponed it to 11am of Sunday March 16. The Adamawa State Electoral Commissioner (REC) Barrister Ari Hudu Yunusa was said to have been led by some of the State Security apparatus into the same collation center around 9am and declared Binani the winner of the election.
Why the perceived conflict between the Returning Officer and the Resident Electoral Commissioner? While confusion, widespread condemnation, and knocks have continued to trail the conduct of the Adamawa State supplementary gubernatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission after it issued a statement nullifying the result of the election announced by the State’s Resident Electoral Commission, Ari Hudu, the REC had announced the result of the election and declared Senator Aisha Dahiru, alias Binani, of the APC as the winner.
In a swift reaction, the Commission posted a statement signed by its National Commissioner of Information and Voter Education, Barrister Festus Okoye, on its Twitter handle, in which it said that the REC usurped the powers of the State’s Returning Officer and, therefore, the announced result is null and void. The electoral body also announced the suspension of the election results collation officers even as it summoned an emergency meeting with its key officers involved in the process. Meanwhile, Senator Aishah Dahiru had already given her acceptance speech having been declared the winner of the election.
Many Nigerians on Twitter knocked the electoral umpire, condemning it roundly for not only failing to give the nation credible elections but also throwing the polity into unnecessary confusion and conflicts as a result of its incompetence. At last, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was declared the winner by the INEC returning officer Professor Mohammed Melle on Tuesday March 20 after waiting and being kept in suspense for 48 hours.
Before the declaration of INEC on Tuesday, Senator Aisha Dahiru Ahmed (Binani) had approached the court and asked it to intervene. But on Tuesday unfortunately, a Federal High Court in Abuja declined the request to hear an ex-parte motion filed by the APC governorship candidate. Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered her lawyer, Mohammed Sheriff, to address the court on whether it possesses the jurisdiction to hear the motion relating to the happenings in Adamawa State.
INEC on its part had written the IGP, Baba Ahmed, to investigate and prosecute the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Adamawa State, Hudu Ari. It also wrote the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to brief President Muhammad Buhari about the action of the INEC. With all the hullabaloo, the final decision of INEC in favour of PDP in the state has come to stay. The pertinent questions at this juncture are: Who is fooling who? Where has Hudu Ari been? What has happened to him since all this while? Who was he working for? How did he arrive at the decision to declare Binani the winner against and without the knowledge of his immediate and other bosses? It is only in Nigeria that these types of scenarios happen! Demonstration of craziness under the shade of Democracy! What a laughing stock Nigeria has become in the comity of nations!
Islaam which means the submission to the will of Allaah willingly or unwillingly in order to attain peace in this world and divine pleasure in the hereafter stands on five pillars. The first being the unapologetic declaration and belief in the fact that there is no deity worthy of worship, obedience, servitude, influence, power, authority, legislation, sovereignty or/and governance except Allaah, and that Muhammad-the epitome of religiosity is the laboratory in which the theories in the Qur’aan are being practicalized. The second being a manifestation and putting into practice such belief through acts of standing, bowing, prostrating, kneeling down and sitting for the service, as a mark of adoration to the Supreme Being Alone. The third is giving out charity to purify one’s wealth and sanctifying it in accordance with the stipulations and directives of the Alpha and Omega, Allaah. The fourth is abstaining from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse for a period of twenty-nine or thirty days from dawn to dusk of each day in the holy month of Ramadaan, as enshrined in His manual of life revealed through the best of mankind to His creatures. And, the last is holy pilgrimage to Makkah to celebrate His praise, commemorate His signs and sanctify His house.
Islaam sees peace as a goal while efforts towards attaining it is submission to the will of Allaah. It commands fulfilling the divine will by worshipping and believing in Allaah in the holistic sense. It thus abhors making Allaah to co-exist with other deities. That is what the concept of Laa ‘ilaaha illaLlaah connotes. No authority, dominion, sovereignty, influence, power, governance, kingdom and legislation save that of Allaah. Denouncing any established false taaghuut and according Allaah alone the deserved divinity is what is expected of every submissive, faithful, understanding, obedient, audacious, free and righteous Muslim.
Some of the many questions begging for answers include: Why are Muslims throwing in the towel? Where do they place lakum diinukum waliya diin(your way of life is yours as mine is mine)? What made them conclude that Islaam does not cover their political life? Why are they Muslims in the mosques and something else elsewhere? Why do they put behind them the popular saying of ‘Uthmaan bin ‘Affaan: “Allaah changes with authority what ordinarily recitation of Qur’aan doesn’t change?” Why do they believe in a part of the Scripture and disbelieve in some other parts? Have Muslims forgotten that: “…His is the creation, and the command; blessed is Allaah, Lord of the worlds.?” (Qur’aan 7:54).
In the modern time, non-Muslims and some Muslims alike tend to be confused about the revival of the khilaafah. This is what has led to the confusion about whether it is justifiable to establish an Islamic government or not, or whether the method of establishing the Islamic caliphate could be put at par with that of the secular system of government or not. Majority of even the Muslims have imagined that reestablishing the Islamic caliphate to be utopia, and therefore settled for fanning the money bags and joining the devilish political queue. They seem not to beware of the statement of Shaykh Nasrud-diin ‘Al-‘Albaani- among many other statements of guidance from various reputable scholars. Shaykh ‘Al-‘Albaani said: “The path of Allaah is long, and we travel on it like turtles and the goal is not to reach the end of the path but the goal is to die upon the path (of Allaah)”.
Every sane, conscious and upright Muslim knows that a surviving bid’ah (innovation) is occupying the position of a demolished Sunnah, just as a kufr act (an act of infidelity) stands in the place of a forsaken Islamic act. In the same vein, Muslims must realize that entrenching Democracy is tantamount to demolishing Islaam. While you lift any un-Islamic system up, you are indirectly pulling down a segment of the Islamic system – consciously or unconsciously.
Ahmad Deedat of blessed memory got it right when he brought about a parable to a teeming audience comprising of Muslims and Christians. He was actually elucidating on “Good Friday”, and said rhetorically: “A household comprising a couple and their innocent kid was attacked by a team of burglars. The family’s breadwinner was killed living the wife widowed and the child orphaned. The assailants carelessly left behind the sword with which the man was killed. On a fateful day – after a number of years – when the boy asked about the cause of his father’s death, the mother narrated the story to him and showed him the sword. Surprisingly, the boy began to dance with the sword.” Ahmad Deedat then asked the two congregations one after the other: “By that action of the boy, was he wise or a fool?” They both answered that he was a fool. He went ahead to ask the congregations: “Those who believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on the Cross of Calvary and still made it a habit to adorn themselves with same cross, are they wise men or fools?”. The Christians answered that they are wise men while the Muslims answered that they are fools.
Muslims who celebrate the advancement and achievements of Democracy while they know that the ideology of natural and universal persuasion that they are supposed to be administered with is sunk in the mud by democracy and other secular ideologies, are they wise or fool?
“And what is the matter with you that you fight not in the cause of Allaah and for the oppressed among men, women and children who say, ‘Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper”. Qur’aan 4 verse 75..
MA ASALAM
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