HIS JOURNEY TO THE HEAVENS (SAW)

Narrated by Malik bin Sa'sa'a (r.a): The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, "While I was at the House in a state midway between sleep and wakefulness, (an angel recognized me) as the man lying between two men.

A golden tray full of wisdom and belief was brought to me and my body was cut open from the throat to the lower part of the abdomen and then my abdomen was washed with Zam-zam water and (my heart was) filled with wisdom and belief.

Al-Buraq, a white animal, smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey was brought to me and I set out with Jibreel. When I reached the nearest heaven, Jibreel said to the heaven gate-keeper, 'Open the gate.'

The gatekeeper asked, 'Who is it?' He said, Jibreel. The gate-keeper said "Who is accompanying you?' Jibreel said, 'it's Muhammad.' The gate-keeper said, 'Has he been called?' Jibreel said, 'Yes.' Then it was said, 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!'

Then I met Adam and greeted him and he said, 'You are welcomed O son and a Prophet.'

Then we ascended to the second heaven. It was asked, 'Who is it?' Jibreel said, "Jibreel.' It was said, 'Who is with you?' He said, 'Muhammad' It was asked, ''Has he been sent for?' He said, 'Yes.' It was said, 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!"

Then I met Eesa (Jesus) and Yahya who said, 'You are welcomed, O brother and a Prophet.'

Then we ascended to the third heaven. It was asked, 'Who is it?' Jibreel said, ''It's Jibreel". It was asked, 'Who is with you? Jibreel said, 'Muhammad.' It was asked, 'Has he been sent for?' 'Yes,' said Gabriel. 'He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit his is!'

(The Prophet added:). There I met Yusuf and greeted him, and he replied, 'You are welcomed, O brother and a Prophet!' Then we ascended to the Fourth heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens.

There I met Idris and greeted him. He said, 'You are welcomed O brother and Prophet.' Then we ascended to the Fifth heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in previous heavens. there I met and greeted Haroon who said, 'You are welcomed O brother and a Prophet".

Then we ascended to the sixth heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens.

. There I met and greeted Moses who said, 'You are welcomed O brother and. a Prophet.'

When I proceeded on, he started weeping and on being asked why he was weeping, he said, 'O Lord! Followers of this youth who was sent after me will enter Paradise in greater number than my followers.'

Then we ascended to the seventh heaven and again the same questions and answers were exchanged as in the previous heavens. 

There I met and greeted Abraham who said, 'You are welcomed o son and a Prophet.' Then I was shown Al-Bait-al-Ma'mur (i.e. Allah's House). I asked Jibreel about it and he said, This is Al Bait-ul-Ma'mur where 70,000 angels perform prayers daily and when they leave they never return to it (but always a fresh batch comes into it daily).

' Then I was shown Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (i.e. a tree in the seventh heaven) and I saw its Nabk fruits which resembled the clay jugs of Hajr (i.e. a town in Arabia), and its leaves were like the ears of elephants, and four rivers originated at its root, two of them were apparent and two were hidden. I asked Jibreel about those rivers and he said, 'The two hidden rivers are in Paradise, and the apparent ones are the Nile and the Euphrates.'

Then fifty prayers were enjoined on me. I descended till I met Moses who asked me, 'What have you done?' I said, 'Fifty prayers have been enjoined on me.' He said, 'I know the people better than you, because I had the hardest experience to bring Banu Israel to obedience.

Your followers cannot put up with such obligation. So, return to your Lord and request Him (to reduce the number of prayers.' I returned and requested Allah (for reduction) and He made it forty.

I returned and (met Moses) and had a similar discussion, and then returned again to Allah for reduction and He made it thirty, then twenty, then ten, and then I came to Moses who repeated the same advice. Ultimately Allah reduced it to five.

When I came to Moses again, he said, 'What have you done?' I said, 'Allah has made it five only.'

He repeated the same advice but I said that I surrendered (to Allah's Final Order)'" Allah's Apostle was addressed by Allah, "I have decreed My Obligation and have reduced the burden on My slaves, and I shall reward a single good deed as if it were ten good deeds."

📖Allah's instructions to Christians from Quran

O People of the Book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah anything but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Do not say "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One God: glory be to Him: (far Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. 

[4: Nissa-171]

To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: how can He have a son when He has no consort? He created I all things, and He has full knowledge of all things. 

[6: Anam-101]

The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the Son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the 

[9: At-Tauba-30]

They say, "God (Allah) has begotten a son!" - Glory be to Him!" He is Self-Sufficient! His are all things in the heavens and on earth! No warrant has you for this! Do you say about Allah what you do not know? 

[10: Yunus-68]

Say: "Praise be to Allah, Who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation: yes, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!" 

[17: Bani Isra-il-111]

Further, that He may warn those (also) who say, "Allah has begotten a son": 

[18: Al-Kahf-4]

It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter, He only says to it, "Be", and it is. 

[19: Maryam-35]

They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" 

[19: Maryam-88]

Indeed you have put forth a thing most monstrous! 

[19: Maryam-89]

At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. 

[19: Maryam-90]

That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious. 

[19: Maryam-91]

For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son. 

[19: Maryam-92]

And they say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten offspring." Glory to Him! They are (but) servants raised to honor. 

[21: Al-Anbiyaa-26]

No son did Allah beget, nor is there any god along with Him: (if there were many gods), behold, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have lorded it over others Glory to Allah (He is free) from the (sort of) things they attribute to Him 

[23: Al-Muminun-91]

He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He Who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions. 

[25: Al-Furqan-2]

Allah has begotten children ? But they are liars 

[37: As-Saffat-152]

Had Allah wished to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen whom He pleased out of those whom He creates: but glory be to Him (He is above such things.) He is Allah, the One, and the Irresistible. 

[39: Az-Zumar-4]

Say: If (Allah) Most Gracious had a sort, I would be the first to worship. 

[43: Az-Zukhruf-81]

Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth; the Lord of the Throne (of Authority) (He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him) 

[43: Az-Zukhruf-82]

And exalted is the Majesty of our Lord: He has taken neither a wife nor a son. 

[72: Al-Jinn-3]

✨📌To Receive ISLAMIC MESSAGES daily or to ask questions about islam kindly whatsapp your name to

📩+919021219616📲

Idris Alooma (1580-1617)

African King...

Idris Alooma (1580–1617)..

Idris Alwma .......was mai (king) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, located mainly in Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. His name is more properly written Idris Alawma or Idris Alauma. An outstanding statesman, under his rule (1564–1596) Kanem-Bornu touched the zenith of its power. Idris is remembered for his military skills, administrative reforms and Islamic piety. His feats are mainly known through his chronicler Ahmad bin Fartuwa. His main adversaries were the Hausa to the west, the Tuareg and Toubou to the north, and the Bulala to the east. One epic poem extols his victories in 330 wars and more than 1,000 battles. His innovations included the employment of fixed military camps with walls, permanent sieges and scorched earth tactics where soldiers burned everything in their path, armored horses and riders as well as the use of Berber camelry, Kotoko boatmen, and iron-helmeted musketeers trained by Ottoman military advisers. His active diplomacy featured relations with Tripoli, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire, which sent a 200-member ambassadorial party across the desert to Alooma's court at Ngazargamu. Alooma also signed what was probably the first written treaty or ceasefire in Chadian history.

Alooma introduced a number of legal and administrative reforms based on his religious beliefs and Islamic law. He sponsored the construction of numerous mosques and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he arranged for the establishment of a hostel to be used by pilgrims from his empire. As with other dynamic politicians, Alooma's reformist goals led him to seek loyal and competent advisers and allies, and he frequently relied on slaves who had been educated in noble homes. Alooma regularly sought advice from a council composed of heads of the most important clans. He required major political figures to live at the court, and he reinforced political alliances through appropriate marriages (Alooma himself was the son of a Kanuri father and a Bulala mother).

Kanem-Bornu under Alooma was strong and wealthy. Government revenue came from tribute (or booty if the recalcitrant people had to be conquered) and duties on and participation in trade. Unlike West Africa, the Chadian region did not have gold. Still, it was central to one of the most convenient routes across the Sahara desert. Between Lake Chad and Fezzan lay a sequence of well-spaced wells and oases and from Fezzan there were easy connections to North Africa and the Mediterranean. Many products were sent north, including natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, kola nuts, ivory, ostrich feathers, perfume, wax, and hides, but the most profitable trade was in slaves. Imports included salt, horses, silk, glass, muskets, and copper.[4]

Alooma took a keen interest in trade and other economic matters. He is credited with having cleared the roads, designed better boats for Lake Chad, introduced standard units of measure for grain, and moving farmers into new lands. In addition, he improved the ease and security of transit through the empire with the goal of making it so safe that "a lone woman clad in gold might walk with none to fear but God."

History of Pig Fat by Dr M. Amjad Khan

HISTORY OF PIG FAT

by Dr. M. Amjad Khan

In nearly all the western countries including Europe, the PRIMARY choice for meat is PIG. There are a lot of farms in these countries to breed this animal. In France alone, Pig Farms account for more than 42,000. PIGS have the highest quantity of FAT in their body than any other animal. But Europeans and Americans try to avoid fats.

Thus, where does the FAT from these PIGS go? All pigs are cut in slaughter houses under the control of the department of food and it was the headache of the department of food to dispose of the fat removed from these pigs. Formally, it was burnt (about 60 years ago). Then they thought of utilizing it. First, they experimented it in the making of SOAPS and it worked.

Then, a full network was formed and this FAT was chemically processed, packed and marketed, while the other manufacturing companies bought it. In the meantime, all European States made it a rule that every food, medical and personal hygiene product should have the ingredients listed on its cover. So, this ingredient was listed as PIG FAT. Those who are living in Europe for the past 40 years know about this. But, these products came under a ban by the ISLAMIC COUNTRIES at that time, which resulted in a trade deficit.

Going back in time, if you are somehow related to South East Asia, you might know about the provoking factors of the 1857 CIVIL WAR. At that time, Riffle Bullets were made in Europe and transported to the sub-continent through the sea. It took months to reach there and the gun powder in it was ruined due to the exposure to sea.

Then, they got the idea of coating the bullets with fat, which was PIG FAT. The fat layer had to be scratched by teeth before using them. When the word spread, the soldiers, mostly Muslim and some Vegetarians, refused to fight, which eventually lead to the civil war. The Europeans recognized these facts, and instead of writing PIG FAT, they started writing ANIMAL FAT. All those living in Europe since 1970's know this fact.

When the companies were asked by authorities from the MUSLIM COUNTRIES, what animal fat is it, they were told it was COW and SHEEP FAT.

Here again a question raised, if it was COW or SHEEP FAT, still it is HARAAM to MUSLIMS, as these animals were not SLAUGHTERED as per the ISLAMIC LAW.

Thus, they were again banned. Now these multinational companies were again facing a severe drought of money as 75% of their income comes from selling their goods to Muslim Countries, and these earn BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of profit from their exports to the MUSLIM WORLD.

Finally they decided to start a coding language, so that only their Departments of Food Administration should know what they are using, and the common man is left lurking in the dark. Thus, they started E-CODES. These E-INGREDIENTS are present in a majority of products of multinational firms including, but not limited to:

TOOTH PASTE

SHAVING CREAM

CHEWING GUM

CHOCOLATE

SWEETS

BISCUITS

CORN FLASKS

TOFFEES

CANNED FOODS

CANNED FRUITS

Some medication Multi-vitamins since these goods are being used in all MUSLIM COUNTRIES indiscriminately, our society is facing problems like shamelessness, rudeness and sexual promiscuity.

So, I request all MUSLIMS or non pork eaters to check the ingredients of the ITEMS of daily use and match it with the following list of E-CODES. If any of the ingredients listed below is found, then DEFINITELY AVOID IT, as it has PIG FAT;

E100, E110, E120, E140, E141, E153, E210, E213, E214, E216, E234, E252, E270, E280, E325, E326, E 327, E334, E335, E336, E337, E422, E430, E431, E432, E433, E434, E435, E436, E440, E470, E471, E472, E473, E474, E475, E476, E477, E478, E481, E482, E483, E491, E492, E493, E494, E495, E542, E570, E572, E621, E631, E635, E904.

Dr. M. Amjad Khan

Medical Research Institute, United States

CHRONOLOGY OF SULTANS UNDER SOKOTO CALIPHATE FROM SHEHU USMAN IBN FODIO TO SULTAN SAAD ABUBAKAR 111

(1) SHEHU USMAN DAN FODIO  1804_1817

(2) MUHAMMAD BELLO DAN SHEHU 1817-1837

(3) ABUBAKAR ATIKU DAN SHEHU 1837-1842

(4) ALIYU BABBA DAN BELLO 1842-1859

(5) AHMADU DAN ABUBAKAR ATIKU 1859-1866

(6) ALIYU KARAMI DAN BELLO 1866-1867

(7) AHMADU RUFA ’I  DAN SHEHU  1867-1873

(8) ABUBAKAR ATIKU DAN BELLO  1873-1877

(9) MUAZU DAN BELLO  1877-1881

(10) UMARU DAN ALIYU BABBA DAN BELLO  1881-1891

(11) ABDULRAHMAN DAN ABUBAKAR ATIKU  1891-1902

(12) MUHAMMADU ATTAHIRU DAN AHMADU  1902-1903

(13) MUHAMMADU ATTAHIRU 11 DAN ALIYU  1903-1915

(14) MUHAMMADU MAITURARE DAN AHMADU  1915-1924

(15) MUHAMMADU TAMBARI DAN MAITURARE  1924-1931

(16) HASSAN DAN MUAZU DAN BELLO  1931-1938

(17) ALHAJI ABUBAKAR 111 DAN USMAN DAN MUAZU  1938-1988

(18) ALHAJI DR IBRAHIM DASUKI DAN HALIRU  1988_1996

(19) ALHAJI DR MUHAMMADU MACCIDO DAN ABUBAKAR 111  1996-2006

(20) ALHAJI MUHAMMADU SAAD DAN ABUBAKAR 111  2006.

Prof. Wole Soyinka's tribute to Sen. Asiwaju Tinubu.

"I do not admire Tinubu because he is a saint. I do not admire Tinubu because he is from the south. I do not admire Tinubu because he is a Yoruba. If I want saints, I will proceed to heaven, not on earth. Every human is fallible. I admire Tinubu because He saved Nigeria from the danger of falling into a "one-party state." He has nurtured many renowned National successors. He listened to the voice of the masses to surrender his personal ambition at the most critical moment. He strategically terminated PDP's 60-year life span in 16 years. The robust criticism and critique we enjoy today is because Tinubu aligned himself with the masses to return the power to them. Tinubu had the option of joining the PDP elites to hold us hostage for another decade, but he gave his all to the masses to dethrone the elites. Political juveniles believed that APC won because of the votes from the North. No!!!, APC victory was cemented the day PMB and Asiwaju resolved to work together. Asiwaju and PMB almost became Nomadic by visiting every human that can help midwife Nigeria's salvation. Those Nomadic Almajiri walk later brought salvation to us. God willing, PMB is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Anybody, cabal, or Viju milk activist attempting to humiliate Asiwaju must have me to contend with. An average PDP man is sad with Asiwaju because he brought them to their knee. If anyone thinks that bringing down Asiwaju is his project, that mission will not only crash, but it will boomerang. Don't tell me he is overbearing; your "underbearing" mentors were nowhere to be found when this Country was lying critically in the intensive care of the universe. Recall my first line: Asiwaju is not a saint. Stop demonizing what you admire out of envy. Even your mentors admire him.

He owns Lagos! I hear you! Ask your grandfather and parents how they acquired your so-called "family land." Is it God who allocated it to them?

You are terrorizing your neighbors and village with your kpof-kpof kobo, yet you criticize a man who is naturally addicted to technocrats irrespective of their tribe or Religion.

Hmmmmm. I don talk am ooo, Asiwaju is not a political office holder oooo. Please let him be. He is evil, I agree, but we need more of him than you, a saintly species. Dear Asiwaju, the gentle stride of a tiger is not a symbol of cowardice".... Prof Wole Soyinka.

100 direct instructions by Allah

100 direct instructions by Allah in the Qur'an.
1. Do not be rude in speech (3:159)
2. Restrain Anger (3:134)
3. Be good to others (4:36)
4. Do not be arrogant (7:13)
5. Forgive others for their mistakes (7:199)
6. Speak to people mildly (20:44)
7. Lower your voice (31:19)
8. Do not ridicule others (49:11)
9. Be dutiful to parents(17:23)
10. Do not say a word of disrespect to parents (17:23)
11. Do not enter parents' private room without asking
permission (24:58)
12. Write down the debt (2:282)
13. Do not follow anyone blindly (2:170)
14. Grant more time to repay if the debtor is in hard
time (2:280)
15. Don't consume interest (2:275)
16. Do not engage in bribery (2:188)
17. Do not break the promise (2:177)
18. Keep the trust (2:283)
19. Do not mix the truth with falsehood (2:42)
20. Judge with justice between people (4:58)
21. Stand out firmly for justice (4:135)
22. Wealth of the dead should be distributed among his
family members (4:7)
23. Women also have the right for inheritance (4:7)
24. Do not devour the property of orphans (4:10)
25. Protect orphans (2:220)
26. Do not consume one another's wealth unjustly
(4:29)
27. Try for settlement between people (49:9)
28. Avoid suspicion (49:12)
29. Do not spy and backbite (2:283)
30. Do not spy or backbite (49:12)
31. Spend wealth in charity (57:7)
32. Encourage feeding poor (107:3)
33. Help those in need
by finding them (2:273)
34. Do not spend money extravagantly (17:29)
35. Do not invalidate charity with reminders (2:264)
36. Honor guests (51:26)
37. Order righteousness to people only after practicing it
yourself(2:44)
38. Do not commit abuse on the earth (2:60)
39. Do not prevent people from mosques (2:114)
40. Fight only with those who fight you (2:190)
41. Keep the etiquettes of war (2:191)
42. Do not turn back in battle (8:15)
43. No compulsion in religion (2:256)
44. Believe in all prophets (2:285)
45. Do not have sexual intercourse during menstrual
period (2:222)
46. Breast feed your children for two complete years
(2:233)
47. Do not even approach unlawful sexual intercourse
(17:32)
48. Choose rulers by their merit (2:247)
49. Do not burden a person beyond his scope (2:286)
50. Do not become divided (3:103)
51. Think deeply about the wonders and creation of this
universe (3:191)
52. Men and Women have equal rewards for their deeds
(3:195)
53. Do not marry those in your blood relation (4:23)
54. Family should be led by men (4:34)
55. Do not be miserly (4:37)
56. Do not keep envy (4:54)
57. Do not kill each other (4:92)
58. Do not be an advocate for deceit (4:105)
59. Do not cooperate in sin and aggression (5:2)
60. Cooperate in righteousness (5:2)
61. 'Having majority' is not a criterion of truth (6:116)
62. Be just (5:8)
63. Punish for crimes in an exemplary way (5:38)
64. Strive against sinful and unlawful acts (5:63)
65. Dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine are
prohibited (5:3)
66. Avoid intoxicants and alcohol (5:90)
67. Do not gamble (5:90)
68. Do not insult others' deities (6:108)
69. Don't reduce weight or measure to cheat people
(6:152)
70. Eat and Drink, But Be Not Excessive (7:31)
71. Wear good cloths during prayer times (7:31)
72. protect and help those who seek protection (9:6)
73. Keep Purity (9:108)
74. Never give up hope of Allah's Mercy (12:87)
75. Allah will forgive those who have done wrong out of
ignorance (16:119)
76. Invitation to God should be with wisdom and good
instruction (16:125)
77. No one will bear others' sins (17:15)
78. Do not kill your children for fear of poverty (17:31)
79. Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge
(17:36)
80. Keep aloof from what is vain (23:3)
81. Do not enter others' houses without seeking
permission (24:27)
82. Allah will provide security for those who believe only
in Allah (24:55)
83. Walk on earth in humility (25:63)
84. Do not neglect your portion of this world (28:77)
85. Invoke not any other god along with Allah (28:88)
86. Do not engage in homosexuality (29:29)
87. Enjoin right, forbid wrong (31:17)
88. Do not walk in insolence through the earth (31:18)
89. Women should not display their finery (33:33)
90. Allah forgives all sins (39:53)
91. Do not despair of the mercy of Allah (39:53)
92. Repel evil by good (41:34)
93. Decide on affairs by consultation (42:38)
94. Most noble of you is the most righteous (49:13)
95. No Monasticism in religion (57:27)
96. Those who have knowledge will be given a higher
degree by Allah (58:11)
97. Treat non-Muslims in a kind and fair manner (60:8)
98. Save yourself from covetousness (64:16)
99. Seek forgiveness of Allah. He is Forgiving and
Merciful (73:20)
100. Do not repel one who asks (93:10)
Let's share with others so we can all benefit from it.
May Allah continue to guide us, Amen.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria

"I bear no ill will against anyone on past events. Nobody should fear anything from me. We are not after anyone. People should only fear the consequences of their actions." - President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria.

Prof Joy Ugwu's Sabotage on President Buhari

http://saharareporters.com/2015/09/28/un-general-assembly-fiasco-buhari-team-accuse-ambassador-joy-ogwu-sabotage

Members of President Buhari’s delegation to the United nations General Assembly have accused Prof. Joy Ogwu, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, of sabotaging President Muhammadu Buhari’s participation, citing glaring missteps that have embarrassed the delegation and undermined Nigeria’s work.

Prof. Joy Ogwu

The accusation follows curious circumstances in which Nigeria missed two key events, putting its leadership on the spot. The first was a Boko Haram response event chaired by a UN Under-Secretary Mike O’Brien, which Buhari missed completely.

The Nigeria leader, who will speak in the general debate this evening, also missed a meeting with the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, because of his late arrival to the meeting, the bizarre circumstances of which are only just being understood.

Sources within the delegation told SaharaReporters that the delegation also missed at least two other events and has had a difficult time securing full participation in the very important 70th Assembly. 

In the case of the Boko Haram event, the sources told our reporter that it was never put on President Buhari’s calendar by the Nigerian mission.

Regarding the event with the Pope, Buhari missed it because when he came down from his hotel suite, there was no car to take him to the meeting.  When he decided to walk to the event with his entourage, he was taken by Nigerian mission officials to the wrong gate, where they were denied entry by security agents. 

Buhari then walked back to his hotel where, when he got on the elevator, the mission finally brought a car to take him to see the Pope.

Sources say when he made that second trip in the Mission’s car, he was again driven to yet another wrong gate and the delegation was turned back.

Also, yesterday an attempt by the delegation to attend a side meeting where Nigeria was to have declared its support for the “Commitment to Gender Equality” initiative almost failed as the mission failed to provide any secondary party to facilitate the Nigerian delegation’s participation. It took the intervention of the Chinese mission to help former member of house of reps Abike Dabiri and other delegates to get into the event. 

And then today, members of the Nigerian delegation led by the governor of Niger state again denied access to another important event, “EveryWoman, EveryChild,” because of poor organization.

As Buhari prepares to speak today at the UN, the delegation also hit a major hitch as the Mission did not process tickets for all members of the delegation to get into the event. Only President Buhari and a few members of his protocol team were accredited to get in the venue. Our source said it was when Buhari finally got upset about it that Prof. Ogwu when out and processed acoustic tickets to enable a larger number of delegates to attend the event.

Apart from the fiasco with accreditation and general conference management, the members of the delegation are also not provided food in their hotel rooms as is the tradition.  Instead, they are made to eat at a buffet at the Mission. According to his aides, President Buhari refused to go to the buffet.

A UN observer blamed President Buhari for the mess.  He berated the president for his delay in appointing ministers, saying it is the major reason his UN trip is "failing miserably".

One retired Nigerian diplomat told SaharaReporters he hopes President Buhari has seen the folly in relying on unsupervised civil servants, since he came to power, to run the affairs of state.

Earlier Word Of Caution Given On Bukola Saraki

Before You Vote Saraki As The Senate President.

“Before Bukola Saraki is Coronated as Senate President of the 8th National Assembly": A word of Caution to Career Politicians in the Nigerian Senate... By Dr. Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi, a clinical psychologist from Ilorin, Kwara state....JUNE 4, 2015.

Bukola Saraki has been in the news lately. The fellow I understand wants to be the next President of the Senate and the Chairman of the National Assembly. As a Nigerian and a Senator, he has the right to vie for the office in question. His colleagues in the Senate however have a moral duty to reject him unless of course they are as corrupt and criminally inclined as he is.

Before we go further, I must introduce myself. My names are Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi, a clinical psychologist and a scion of the Imam Fulanis of Ilorin Emirate, Kwara state. I have witnessed first hand Bukola’s maladministration in my state. The tales are too many. I will list just a few. Before I do that, I will also make a detour to write about Bukola’s sordid past long before he became Governor of Kwara state – a gift his daddy gave him before he clocked 41 in 2003. It will become apparent in a little while that Bukola is not cut from any moral fiber.

Bukola Saraki and his immediate younger sister, Gbemisola Saraki have always lived on daddy’s dime. In the mid 1990s, Bukola Saraki and his sister were regular visitors to Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba, Lagos, over allegations of theft leveled against the two by the Nigerian government under General Sani Abacha. It is a blatant lie by Bukola to claim that former President Goodluck Jonathan set the EFCC after him because he moved a motion on fuel subsidy – Bukola was only trying to be clever by half. We shall come to that later. It was at CID Panti that Bukola Saraki met one of his later sidekicks, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Lanre Jimoh (popularly called Lanre Olopa). ACP Lanre Jimoh was a junior officer during this period and he went out of his way because of his Ilorin kinship to assist Bukola Saraki maneuver the Nigerian police muddle. I am not aware that the case was ever closed. It was more like it was hushed like everything else in Bukola Saraki’s life. In the mid 1990s when this happened, was Abacha also witch hunting Bukola Saraki?

This is what actually happened from our findings at the Kwara Restoration Project. After Bukola Saraki spent countless years trying to be a medical doctor in England, he finally managed to pass the medical exams in 1988. This, after spending a decade in British higher education in the pursuit of a medical degree. In 1989, Bukola did his House job as a medical officer at one of the hospitals in England and moved back to Nigeria to join Société Générale Bank in 1990 as the Vice Chairman representing his father’s interest. Bukola continued what he knows how to do best – spending other peoples’ money. He didn’t care that there were many other stakeholders at Société Générale Bank – Shareholders, Employees and Customers, he dipped his hands into the Bank’s purse voraciously and his little sister Gbemisola partook in the bazaar. When Abacha took over, he was intent on punishing the bank robbers of the day, Bukola Saraki was one of them and thus Bukola became a regular visitor to CID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

Abacha’s death saved Bukola from going to jail but Société Générale could not be rescued, when the late Admiral Muhammad Lawal, former Governor of Kwara state, fell out with Dr. Olusola Saraki, the Sarakis liquidated Societe Generale to finance Bukola’s governorship campaign. Since then, Société Générale Bank, Nigeria Limited became history until recently when Bukola in cahoots with some others invested in Heritage Bank through proxies.

When Société Générale became insolvent, a lot of hardworking Nigerian families lost their entire savings and many lost their lives in the process. As a clinical psychologist I know that when we talk about money, we ought to go beyond the paper and look underneath to see the men and women whose lives depend on it. Bukola Saraki and his family stole depositors’ money and in the process destroyed millions of lives in the process. These lives are not mere statistics, they are someone’s son and daughter, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, father, mother, mother in law, father in law etc. and the most prominent amongst these individuals is Austin Jay Jay Okocha who lost a considerable amount of money in Société Générale. Later, as Governor of Kwara state, Bukola sought to bribe Jay Jay Okocha with some type of arrangement at the Kwara Football Academy which he established with Kwara state money but later converted into a private concern. There is more to that deal than the scope of this paper will allow.

When Bukola became Kwara state Governor, he continued in his characteristic corrupt ways. He assumed that the Kwara treasury was an extension of Société Générale and daddy’s magnanimity. He dips his hand into the Kwara treasury at will and disregards government due process. Those who try to stand up against his impunity were dealt with mercilessly. Dr. Hezekiah Bamidele Oyedepo was one of those individuals. After the gentleman couldn’t stomach Bukola’s excesses any longer, he transferred his services to the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo as a Director in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. There are countless others who are not so fortunate.

A case in point was when Bukola Saraki, drunk on power slapped Alhaji Saka Isemin, a commissioner under his administration for being more loyal to Bukola Saraki’s own father than to Bukola.

Bukola’s eight years reign as Governor of Kwara state was typified by stealing and the conversion of state properties into his own using cronies such as Kamaldeen Ajibade, the former Kwara state Attorney General and one non Kwara, Yomi Ogunsola. These two individuals more than others within Bukola’s corrupt inner cycle hold many of Kwara’s converted assets.

I will list some of them here; Kwara Cashew Company, Kwara Tourist Kitchen, Patigi Regatta Motel, Kwara Advanced Diagnostic Centre (Now renamed Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre), the Shonga Farms was largely financed by Kwara under a very shadowy arrangement. The Kwara mall and countless other state properties were converted by Bukola Saraki.

Now, some of us at the Kwara Restoration Project are not averse to entrepreneurship. In fact, we welcome it. What we are averse to is stealing of government properties and converting same into personal estates. By all means, if Bukola Saraki makes his own money and invests such in Kwara state, we welcome it and we perhaps may even celebrate it. But in this case, we have incontrovertible evidence of Bukola’s daylight robbery of Kwara state. We were fortunate through our contacts at the corporate affairs commission to get certified copies of how these companies were transferred to the two cronies earlier mentioned. We took it upon ourselves to hand these documents to our senior ulamas (Islamic scholars) in Ilorin to act on and call Bukola to order but they sat on it. During the just concluded elections, the opposition PDP got the documents from us and they sought to publish same in the Punch Newspapers but the Punch Editor told them that Bukola had already got a court to give him a spurious injunction restraining all Nigerian media, print, broadcast, etc against publishing any negative article on his person even if they are true. On this issue of converted Kwara state assets, anyone that doubts the veracity of my claims should please make an independent verification from the CAC in Abuja.

Bukola Saraki has also been linked with Arson in Kwara state. Shortly after Bukola left office as Governor of Kwara state and his personality conflict with former President Goodluck Jonathan is simmering over Jonathan’s refusal to honour his side of the bargain for Saraki’s assistance during Jonathan’s 2011 election as President; Bukola panicked when the EFCC began to go over the Kwara state financials between 2003 and 2011. Bukola in cahoots with some of his foot soldiers like Otunba Tunde Morakinyo organized some cult boys to burn the computer office of the Kwara state Ministry of Finance. The cultists who carried out this operation did not cart away anything besides burning down the documents. It is noteworthy that they went with a generator to perpetrate their criminal act. One security guard who was not in the know of things and tried to resist was shot dead. The police commissioner at the time, an elderly gentleman from the eastern part of Nigeria was in the know and perhaps a few others.

It is also important to point out that the heroic security guard that was killed crossed over to the state police command that is directly opposite the scene of the crime and was refused help before taking matters into his own hands. May his soul rest in peace with his Maker. The state police command is literally opposite the Kwara State Ministry of Finance and yet the cultist stayed for over one hour burning and destroying documents in the middle of the night with no official state power confronting them. The police commissioner who went along with this nefarious act was later shot dead by hired assassins on his way to his village during the Christmas of 2012. I do not know whether Bukola was involved but the coincidence was too ominous.

When Bukola Saraki left office physically in 2011 as Kwara Governor, he made sure to install a placeholder in his stead thus guaranteeing him ruling by proxy. Bukola is the only Nigerian politician who is serving an unconstitutional fourth term because AbdulFatah Ahmed is tied to his apron strings and cannot make any independent decision on his own. Directors and permanent secretaries in the Kwara state civil service have been known to route memos to Bukola behind the back of the placeholder AbdulFatah Ahmed. This is a feat that even his godfather, former President Olusegun Obasanjo could not pull off.

In essence therefore, distinguished Senators of the 8th National Assembly, you are advised to stay clear from coronating Bukola Saraki as your Senate President. He does not typify any decent, democratic values. He is greedy, corrupt, self absorbed, violent, autocratic and does not have regard for the basic tenets of African culture and tradition in the way he treats those older than him with disrespect until lately.

The only reason you will elect Bukola Saraki as your President is only if he is just like you men and women who populate the Senate chamber, in which case, you would have found a perfect replica of yourselves.

Dr. Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi is a clinical psychologist and writes from Ilorin, Kwara state....xxx

The genesis of Nigeria's Senate President Ordeal

Bukola Saraki: Just like his Father;

When the elder Saraki went to the Senate in 1979, his shares with Societte Générale Bank were held in trust for him by his friend and confidant, Chief Kotoye a Lawyer and a Minister in the first Republic under Tafawa Balewa's administration.

To compete for Senate majority leadership, Dr. Saraki borrowed lots of money against the shares he placed in trust and used Chief Kotoye to stand as a guarantor for the loan.

However, when Buhari took over in 1984, and second Republic was dismantled, Saraki came back for his shares.

Chief Kotoye asked for the refund of the loan before the shares could be released to him, Dr. Olusola Saraki went to town, that Chief Kotoye a Lawyer wanted to steal his bank from him.

It became a court case between 1985/86, Saraki was very powerful with the press, somehow, Chief Kotoye was viewed negatively, to clear his name, Kotoye brought witnesses from France to testify in court.

Somehow, a day to the appearance of the witnesses in court one of the white French guys was killed, by suspected hired killers in front of the hotel in Lagos, the other one Mr. Burdillion escaped back to France, he never returned to clear Kotoye of the deal between the two former original owners of the bank. I believe Kotoye lost the bank and all his own shares to Saraki and ended in deep debt and financial crises after.

The children of Saraki inherited everything, but like everything in life it must end. Société Generale Bank was destroyed, it went under in the same way Elder Saraki did to his friend and confidant Chief Kotoye, but in the case of the younger Saraki the law will take care of everything. And the sin of the elder Saraki may be revisited.

I met with Chief Kotoye in Lagos at his Ikoyi office in 2011 to ask for his views on the case.

Stealing or greed is in the genes of all perpetrators , it could be a pass down generation in DNA., or where did you think Saraki got it from?

Where? Our children are watching us, we are the mirror for them, if we are committing crimes, they will do it, lay good example for your children, otherwise they will be worst than you.

You may wish to read " Ogun State Policy of Manipulation since 1976" and "The Vultures and the Vulnerable " for details of that Dr. Olusola Saraki Vs. Kotoye over the ownership of the bank. Thank God Kotoye is still alive.

Only two people can rain curses on any individual according to the holy book, your parent and your spiritual leader.

Dr Saraki disgraced his father politically at the tail end of elder Saraki's life, and he too is currently facing the same or much more political disgrace than the one he inflicted on his father. History is repeating itself.

Former President Jonathan of Nigeria Finally Gives in, agrees to join President Muhammadu Buhari to Fight Corruption when faced with forensic realities:

I Will Join Buhari In Fighting Corruption – Jonathan

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has presented to his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, evidence of infractions committed under his watch in defence of the determination of his administration to probe the previous government.

It was learnt that the president, during a late night meeting with Jonathan at the State House on August 6, showed reports of discreet probes conducted by the new government on the immediate past administration to the former president, New Telegraph reports.

It was learnt that the secret meeting between the two major contenders in the

last presidential election was at the instance of the diplomatic community to douse rising tension in the country.

Multiple sources said Buhari showed

Jonathan evidence of infractions committed under him as a president, especially diversion of funds, unwholesome oil deals, arms purchase and several others.

It was gathered that the president told his

predecessor that he was not playing to the

gallery in the fight against corruption as

the public was made to believe. He said there were proofs of high-level corruption

against some officials who served under

Jonathan. Besides, one of the sources said

Buhari showed Jonathan evidence of

recoveries made so far in terms of assets

and funds from some officials of the

immediate past government.

Of interest was the report of an investigation carried out by a security agency on an aide of the former president from who about N1.5 billion had been recovered from.

“The president showed Dr. Jonathan some

discoveries made on several infractions by

officials of his (Jonathan) administration. He justified why his administration must recover looted funds and prosecute the

offenders. It was a frank talk between the

two leaders.

“President Buhari availed Dr. Jonathan of

reports of various discreet probes on oil

deals, diversion of funds and unwholesome arms deals. From the reports, there is overwhelming evidence of infractions which the former president could not dispute,” the source said.

Buhari stated that he was not out to humiliate Jonathan in his fight against graft and assured him of his highest regards for the former president.

He, however, stated that no sensible person would ignore the spate of impunity that was prevalent in the last administration.

The source said Jonathan, in his response, feigned ignorance of many of the infractions. He was said to have mentioned some of his aides, including one of his former chiefs of staff, as one of those who could assist the

president to unravel the alleged shady deals committed by some top officials of the previous administration.

The source said Jonathan gave assurances

of his willingness to cooperate with the

government if the need arises.

“From the evidence so far, it is either the former president lacks the capacity to govern or abdicated his responsibilities.

Otherwise, he must have been part of the

infractions,” the source said.

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, confirmed this much when he said that Jonathan surrounded himself with questionable characters.

“When it comes to the issue of corruption,

Jonathan surrounds himself with certain

unsavoury characters and that is something you don’t have to do if you are in charge.

“There were forces around Jonathan, which he himself did not understand and that is why I stressed that, you’ve got to choose your circle of advisers very carefully, when you are in charge. He was caged; things were going on that he did not know about,” Soyinka said.

A source said that while the former president might be spared of ‘direct’ probe, his aides, officials and associates who have questions to answer would be prosecuted.

Also, it was learnt that the essence of the August 11 meeting between Buhari and members of the General Abdusalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee was on how to ensure the continued existence of the peace committee and to gain more insight into Buhari’s approach to governance, particularly his anti-corruption drive.

The peace committee, set up by the Federal Government, played crucial roles in ensuring violencefree 2015 general elections and peaceful handover of power

from Jonathan to Buhari.

At the meeting between the president and

members of the committee, which came a

few days after Buhari and Jonathan had met, the delegation asked Buhari if the peace panel should be discontinued, given the fact that it had completed its assignment.

Buhari, according to a source, told the peace committee that he was not averse to the activities of the panel and its continued existence.

“The president told the committee that as a man of peace, he will still need their services,” the source said.

However, it was gathered that at the session, an influential member of the committee complained about Buhari’s strategy to governance, particularly his handling of the anticorruption war.

The member said the ongoing probe was

heating up the polity and perceived as

being selective, especially limiting the inquiry to the Jonathan administration.

While the committee members told the

president to follow due process in the fight against graft, some others described the anti-graft war as a distraction to good governance.

According to a source privy to the meeting, the president pointedly told his guests that he has no apology about his commitment to fight corruption. He told the committee members that what he expected from them is to talk to those who have plundered the nation’s treasury to return their loots, saying this is the only way there can be peace.

“The president was emphatic in his response. He told us that while he appreciates our concerns on his approach

to anti-graft fight, he would diligently pursue the policy. He gave assurances that due process and rule of law will be observed in the anticorruption war.

“The president gave us instances of infractions by officials of the Jonathan administration. He was specific on some

cases and even mentioned names of people involved in highlevel infractions. He asked us what we would do if we were in his shoes.

“In the end, he told us that the peace panel would do the nation good if they can appeal and persuade some officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to return looted funds.

The president said the recovery of the looted funds should be the concern of the committee and not ignoring the infractions by those entrusted with the nation’s commonwealth. The president said nothing would stop him from the recovery of looted funds and prosecuting offenders,” the source said.

I AM SCARED TO DEATH ABOUT THE BUHARI BY Dr. Wumi Akintide

I don’t know about you. I care enough about Nigeria and our new sheriff in 

town to sound this alarm before it is too little too late. Not everybody 

you speak to in Nigeria loves or appreciates the change agenda Buhari has 

been preaching.

The great majority of Nigerians, myself included strongly support Buhari 

and we are rooting for him to succeed. The Christians and the Muslims among 

us welcome his bold pronouncement when he quickly dismissed any attempt by

his hosts in the United States to raise the issue of same sex marriage with 

him. He told his interviewers not to go there. Those of us who support him 

do so with passion because we believe he has what it takes to be the 

catalyst for change in Nigeria.

I am not so sure if the same thing can be said of the superrich among us 

and those who have benefited the most from the rot and the abuse Nigeria 

has endured from the outgoing Jonathan Administration. As a historian, I 

take the position that all it needs for evil to triumph is for good people 

to see evil and to keep quiet or look the other way. I also know that those 

PRESIDENT BUHARI AND THE SSS By Sharon Faliya Cham

Clearly all the newspapers of Friday, June 26, 2015 carried a very trending story that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that the State Security Service (SSS) be kept far from protecting him, and not only that, they were also ordered to keep their distance from his office, his residence and all other strategic parts of the Presidential Villa. It was reported that the SSS could only be at the first gate of the villa but certainly not anywhere near the President. In their place will be a special highly trained protective unit of the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC).

This is very commendable just as much as it was an excellent decision taken by our amiable President for his immediate safety, for the SSS has been badly transformed by the Transformation Agenda we just got rescued from so much that I have often wondered whether the SSS is the same old SSS we knew to be highly patriotic, responsive and non-partisan. The SSS, particularly under President Jonathan, became so compromised and partisan so much that they turned themselves into a security risk to the peace and corporate stability of our dear country. The SSS that was hitherto known to be quiet and effective became very noisy and deliberately ineffective apart from its open partisanship on national issues, and all these they did without reckoning that there is a future and the cards could be stacked against them.

Since President Jonathan recruited Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, the current head of the SSS, in 2010, Boko Haram turned into "Boko Haram" and bombings miraculously transferred themselves from their traditional base of the Niger Delta where both Jonathan and Ekpeyong hail from to Abuja and other key northern cities, and the same SSS that was used by late President Yar'adua to assist the Nigerian Army with intelligence to crush Boko Haram in 2009 became curiously and mysteriously unavailable when "Boko Haram" became a monster that was only active in destroying a particular part of the country, and not once have we ever heard the Jonathan regime querying Ekpeyong and his SSS on how "Boko Haram" managed to secure heavy battle weapons that could have been only brought into Nigeria by sea and moved up north by road, and neither have we heard any explanation on so many other related matters that have been consistently raised on this page. Nigeria became severely insecure during the term of the current leadership of the SSS so much that one wonders whether it is State Security Service we have or State Screwing Service!

And because "Boko Haram" was raised on the ashes of Boko Haram primarily to weaken and destroy a part of the country and to blackmail key politicians of that part of the country as its sponsors, it was reported recently by a national newspaper that this highly compromised, corrupt and ineffective SSS under the unfortunate leadership of Mr. Ita Ekpeyong was known to have written a fictitious Security Report purportedly claiming to link General Buhari with their fraudulent terrorist organisation, which they were quietly using to tarnish his reputation in Jonathan's favourite circles of support, and when I say Jonathan's favourite circles of support you should clearly understand what I mean. Ethno-religious bigotry circles. The newspaper reported that this information was well revealed to General Buhari even at that time, and the desperation got to a head when this same "Boko Haram" attempted to blow him off into pieces with their usual car bombs which the SSS have never ever told Nigerians who owned any of the cars since this bloody racket started in 2011. However, it is still fresh in my head that Asari Dokubo was so angry Buhari did not die in that attempt on his life by "Boko Haram" so much that he angrily called a press conference to vent his anger and frustration.

It is also still fresh how the SSS actively worked against the Card Reader Machines that helped significantly in throwing out the evil and useless regime of Jonathan, and it is also fresh how this same compromised SSS frequently attacked the offices of the APC and even used their loud mouthed Marylin Orgar to lie against the party that the party was cloning Permanent Voter Cards and that the party also wanted to hack into the database of INEC. Up till now the SSS has not bothered to apologise to the APC through their garrulous Marylin Orgar even after the INEC boss, Professor Attahiru Jega, exposed their lie that their database cannot be hacked because it is not online. And another fact that further exposes this SSS as a gang of liars is the fact that they stridently worked against the use of Card Readers for the 2015 elections, and you are left wondering if they (SSS) have accused the APC of cloning PVCs, then why did they work against the use of Card Reader Machines that will easily detect and reject fake PVCs purportedly produced by the APC? We all know that all the persons and groups that campaigned against the use of Card Readers were persons and groups at the beck and call of that corrupt and lacklustre President who all knew that if the elections were to be free and fair he was going to lose, and that's exactly what happened! He lost! Oh thank God!

Now you will naturally think that after Jonathan has left with his baggage of mischief the SSS under Ita Ekpeyong will become sober and patriotic, but it seems they were still bent on achieving an agenda that is not nationalistic nor patriotic. Just last week, a report went viral that this same Ekpeyong hired some Israeli security experts to plant hidden spying cameras all across the Presidential Villa, including the President's office and his bedrooms. It seems Mr. Ekpeyong wanted to be recording everything President Buhari would be doing or saying or writing, including even in his bedroom, which only means Mr. Ekpeyong works for a subversive group that wants to blackmail the President and then subvert the Nigerian State, which is as treasonable as terrorism! It was reported that it took the efforts of President Buhari's very intelligent Chief Security Officer to detect the scheme and the gadgets, and that was why the President was advised against moving into the villa until all the spying gadgets were removed, and that was done under the cover of renovation, and some readers will also recall the news last week that about 255 SSS operatives were sent to the villa by Mr. Ekpeyong but were ordered back out of the villa shortly before the President relocated from the Defence House to the villa!

Well, like I said earlier, this is a good start by the President, and he should go further by completely reorganising the SSS after he must have sacked Mr. Ekpeyong and other compromised heads of the various units of the SSS. Particularly, President Buhari should consider retrenching all the SSS operatives recruited from the year 2010 to early 2015, for I have the suspicion that a lot of "militants" have been clandestinely recruited into this important organ of national security to achieve a certain clandestine agenda against the Nigerian state. Think of the 5, 000 gangsters holding sophisticated guns and wearing DSS jackets dispatched to Osun state in August 2014 to help the PDP rig an election, which, fortunately, failed!

The SSS we have always known will never ever drive into town like gangsters shooting guns into the air, for they were known to operate quietly and smartly, usually anonymously. That action in Osun state must have been by some Niger Delta terrorists wearing DSS jackets under the supervision of Jonathan's gangster government!

It is time for our old SSS to come back!

President Buhari, over to you!

Letter to all Christians from Prophet Muhammad (sa)

https://shar.es/1qc9lr

Original in Istanbul Library Jan. 10, 2014 How should Muslims treat Christians?  With violence? Anger? Hatred?  The answer is none of the above.  Below is the English rendering of a letter written by the Prophet Muhammad (sa) to all Christians. In a time when tensions between Islam and Christianity seem to be at an all …

Buhari's Rejection Of A Rolls Royce In London, Obasanjo And Lessons Of History By Dr. Chido Nwangwu | Sahara Reporters

Buhari's Rejection Of A Rolls Royce In London, Obasanjo And Lessons Of History By Dr. Chido Nwangwu | Sahara Reporters

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Buhari’s First Speech As Nigeria’s Military Head of State In December 1983 - Premium Times Nigeria

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Buhari’s First Speech As Nigeria’s Military Head of State In December 1983 - Premium Times Nigeria

Politics in Nigeria

New York Times)

(KADUNA, Nigeria)

Boisterous crowds packed the streets for the retired general, while young men climbed lampposts, walls and billboards to glimpse his gaunt face. Others danced on careening motorcycles, brandishing homemade brooms, symbols of his campaign.

With Nigeria’s presidential election only weeks away, Boko Haram’s unchecked rampaging here in the country’s north is helping to propel the 72-year-old general, Muhammadu Buhari, to the forefront.

After ruling Nigeria with an iron hand 30 years ago as the country’s military leader, Mr. Buhari is now a serious threat at the ballot box, analysts say, in large part because of Boko Haram’s blood-soaked successes.

“The state is collapsing and everybody is frightened,” Jibrin Ibrahim, a political scientist with the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, said of Boko Haram.

“They are able to capture more and more territory, but also increase the level of atrocity,” he added. “A lot of people are frightened that these people can take over the whole country. So a lot of people are saying, ‘Give Buhari a chance.’ ”

A Buhari win would be a rare upset for the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan, in a country where petrodollars have long flowed and the presidency has great latitude to distribute them.

But oil prices have crashed; attacks on schools, markets and entire villages continue unabated; and Nigeria’s army has been thoroughly incapable of stopping Boko Haram, which now controls substantial portions of the northeast and regularly sends the country’s soldiers fleeing.

“We have to solve it; it’s the first problem of the country,” Mr. Buhari said tersely about the battle with Boko Haram during a long day of campaigning this week.

“This should have been an easy one,” added the former general, who is believed to have been a target of bombings in this city over the summer in which dozens were killed. “But it has been allowed to develop over five years.”

There is much at stake in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, even as it falters — the currency has dropped sharply, questions are swirling about the ability to pay civil servants and the country’s oil-money reserves have withered. The campaign has become a vociferous, at times violent, joust between Buhari partisans in the mostly Muslim north and supporters of Mr. Jonathan in the largely Christian south.

Mr. Buhari’s tenure as Nigeria’s military ruler was brief: a 20-month stint in the 1980s, ended by another military coup. Yet it is remembered with trepidation by many Nigerians. His self-proclaimed “war against indiscipline” was carried to “sadistic levels, glorying in the humiliation of a people,” wrote the Nobel laureate and writer Wole Soyinka.

The current president and his party, which has held power since military rule ended more than 15 years ago, have made this past a central part of Mr. Jonathan’s re-election strategy, hoping to fan old fears about the general.

Full-page newspaper ads suggest that Mr. Buhari is eager to introduce Shariah law all over the country, beyond the northern states where it already exists (in the campaign, Mr. Buhari has not said that).

Other ads remind readers of the retired general’s coup-prone past. (Historians say that even before Mr. Buhari came to power in a military coup at the end of 1983, he played an active role in the coups that marked Nigeria’s early years.)

But Mr. Buhari’s supporters are far more interested in the instability shaking the north, urging a total overhaul of the lackluster fight against the Islamists. Many of them turned out in this northern metropolis this week for a glimpse of the general, who has traded his medal-bedecked uniform for traditional robes and thick-framed spectacles.

Hadiza Bala Usman, the main campaigner for the return of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last spring, was waiting for the general at the airport here. She helped start the group that pressed the government on the fate of the girls, demonstrating for weeks in a public square in Abuja. Nine months after their abduction, the girls remain missing.

“The resources meant for the military don’t go to the military; the bullets and boots don’t go to the soldiers,” Ms. Usman said. “And what is happening to security, you see it in all the sectors.”

“The support we’re giving” to Mr. Buhari “is for ending the insurgency,” she added. “And so no more children are abducted.”

A retired general in the crowd of supporters, Alhassan Usman, who is not related to Ms. Usman, agreed, expressing anger that Boko Haram had gained the upper hand over Nigeria’s soldiers.

“The issue is lack of discipline; the commander has eaten his money,” he said, arguing that officers take money meant for soldiers, who then see little reason to obey orders.

Mr. Buhari stood as ramrod straight as he had in the days when he rose in a coup against Nigeria’s fledgling, but corrupt, democracy. After taking power, he soon instituted what he called his attempt to straighten out a chaotic nation — making tardy civil servants, even older ones, perform frog jumps, for instance, and jailing journalists for critical articles.

That tarnished past has been, if not forgotten, at least pushed aside by many in the tumultuous jumble of Nigerian history. Mr. Buhari is expected to do particularly well in the Muslim north, his home turf, on Election Day, as he did in an unsuccessful run four years ago.

Still, his campaign faces stiff obstacles. Tens of thousands of people in northern Nigeria have been displaced by relentless violence, and many of them will be unable to vote in the Feb. 14 election. Even if they can, Nigerian elections are prone to violence and fraud.

This week, the streets of Kaduna were packed three-deep with people, many waiting since early morning or trekking miles from nearby villages to see him. Partisans yelled as they climbed on the general’s vehicles, frenetically brushing windshields with the symbolic brooms.

Mr. Buhari spoke only briefly to the packed stands in a downtown stadium, vaguely promising greater security, prosperity and better education. But the words appeared not to be the point. It was his presence, and an implicit promise of austerity and military action, that the crowd seemed to want, after years of scandalous stories in the Nigerian news media about missing oil funds and high living by officials in Mr. Jonathan’s administration.

“The enthusiasm for Buhari is almost like a religion,” said Nasir el-Rufai, a former government minister running for governor of Kaduna State.

“Look at all these people,” he said, pointing at the crowds pressing up against his own car before the general arrived. “They are all waiting just to see Buhari.”

As military ruler, Mr. Buhari expelled tens of thousands of immigrants from other West African countries, blaming them for the country’s problems. His government also carried out a bizarre kidnapping plot targeting a former minister who had fled to London. It involved Israeli secret agents, giant packing crates and anesthetic drugs.

In an interview, Mr. Buhari said that the times had changed and that he had changed with them.

“I operated as a military head of state,” he said. “Now I want to operate as a partisan politician in a multiparty setup. It’s a fundamental difference. Whatever law is on the ground, I will make sure it is respected.”

Yet it is Mr. Buhari’s long military career, not the respect for civil liberties he has proclaimed later in life, that will ultimately swing voters wary of his past, analysts say.

“You’ve got the Boko Haram in the northeast, where they bomb churches and marketplaces, and slaughter children,” he said.

But he also noted the security problems in the nation’s south, where militants at oil fields have created havoc for years. “No highway in the country is absolutely safe,” Mr. Buhari said.

Though supporters insist he will knock out the Islamists “in a month,” as Mr. el-Rufai put it, the retired general is far more cautious. He spoke of a methodical approach, declining to say whether he would fire the country’s top military chiefs.

“We have to see the whole picture,” Mr. Buhari said. “We’ll ask them to brief us, one by one. Why haven’t they been performing?”

“Let them justify the use of funds,” he added. “What is the intelligence community doing? Where do they,” Boko Haram, “get weapons?”

He focused on the individual failures in confronting Boko Haram — the misspent money, the lack of weaponry for the soldiers, their lack of motivation for the fight — rather than on an overall condemnation of the army.

His jaw muscles tightening, he said: “This is not the Nigerian Army I knew.”

O Nigerians

40 days to presidential elections. If you're voting remember these factors;
1. The Chibok girls
2. NNPC Scam
3. Police Pension Fund
4. Missing 20Billion
5. $9million Arms deal
6. Bomb Blasts
7. Immigration job scam
8. Petroleum pump price
9. Devaluation of Naira
10. Oil theft
11. Power outage
12. Selling of Power Holdings
13. Selling of Refineries
14. Skyrocketed Power Holding Bills
15. ASUU & Poly Strikes
16. Doctors Strike
17. National Assembly tragedy
19. Stella's Oduah Aviation Scam.
20. Kerosene subsidy
21. Insurgency.
22 Judiciary Strike.
23. 70% increment on used imported vehicles.
Pls vote wisely!