Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind” ― Mahatma Gandhi

I know when you hear the name Tahrir you will quickly remember the liberation square in Egypt and then possibly start thinking about the revolution. Now, let me make it very clear that I am not here to discuss about “revolution”, in short to me the word sounds like that machine-gun called “revolver” and they all smells blood! So, I distaste it with a passion. I am an advocate of democracy and I strongly believe in the power of votes. I am only here to express my mind about another square in my darling country called the Nigerian Eagle Square, which Saturday hosted our political heavy weights within the ruling party for a special convention and the political fracas that follows. 

I quite agreed with Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon that says “2015 is like political thalidomide”. For those that don’t understand his mumbo jumbo, it simply means like an infected baby yet unborn. The event at the square is like a barometer to what we should expect during the general elections in 2015.

Since the abracadabra that took place at the Nigerian Governor's Forum (NGF) election some months ago, many political observers had cautioned the ruling party and as well the presidency for supporting the imposter Chairman, the governor of Plateau state Mr. Jonah David Jang. They called on them to recognize what is democratically legitimate and avoid using divide-and-conquer in shaving the wings of the NGF. But the ruling party and the presidency turned a deaf ear to this advice and continued Janging around the Janga.

We also watched the second part of this epic movie in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, in what many people described as a film that can easily pass for a Hollywood silver screen; with Hon. Chidi Lloyd, Michael Chinda, Mr. Nyesom Wike and state commissioner of police, Mbu Joseph as the major characters. The role of our First Lady in this script cannot be overemphased. Since then, knowing fully well that the ruling party and the presidency have more at stake than these individual governors, I kept saying to myself - he who lives in the glass house should not be throwing stones.

It actually did not come as a surprise to me when the news broke from the Tahrir Nigeriana that some governors including the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar walked out of the ruling party’s special convention on Saturday. Amongst them was the legitimate NGF Chairman Governor of Rivers state Rotimi Amaechi and the so-called G-5 northern governors that have been parading themselves around the country claiming that they want to salvage the party from self-destruction. All these people are wounded lions, some of them are actually the founding members of the ruling party and they are as well politicians that really understood the Nigerian game. I sincerely think PDP have to be very careful with them, because most of them had been gored by the party at one point or the other.   
It did not actually take long when another breaking-news came in. The Atiku’s faction has organized a parallel convention at a separate venue and went ahead to announce the party’s takeover from the Bamanga Tukur lead executive committee. That was when I quickly remembered that Muhammad Ali wrote in his book, The Greatest: My Own Story - “if you kill my dog, you better hide your cat”. Revenge is best served when it is cold! It actually looks like a revenge mission, but looking critically tells me that this is by far beyond the NGF payback. It is beyond Atiku being ignored by the party. It is beyond Oyinlola having problem with his state executive committee or the Adamawa crises. It is also far beyond the abnormalities and candidates' disqualifications that took place at convention venue. I think it is about desperation to take over the country come 2015.

The Umbulela (apology) can no longer stop the hurricane. After a long oppression by the ruling party, the Talakawas now have a reason to smile. Something to talk about and momentarily forget our sufferings, while we wait for the political dramatis personae to outwit each other. Is PDP truly a cat with nine lives? This is definitely a litmus taste to confirm that.

I dip my hand into my popcorn and watch on.

May God bless Nigeria, amin.

Shafi’i Muhammad Abdulhamid wrote-in from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Twitter: @shafzon
FaceBook:  Shafi'i Abdulhamid

PUBLISHED IN:

1. Daily Trust, "Tahrir Nigeriana: PDP special convention", Monday, 02 September 2013 05:00.
2. Gamji, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!" , 02, Sep 2013.
3. News Rescue,  "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention! ", 31st August, 2013.
4. Skytrend News,  "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention ", 01 Sep 2013 05:51.
5. Universal Reporters, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!",  9/01/2013 02:30:00 am.

6. Talk Africa, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!", 01 Sep 2013.
7. News Diary, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!" , 01 Sep 2013.
8. NigeriaNationalNewMediaOrganization, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!", 01Sep, 2013.
9 . Zimbio, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!", August 31, 2013.
10. African Outlook, "Tahrir Nigeriana: A Special Convention!", 02 Sep 2013.

A Tribute to Sheikh Alhaji Ahmadu Shafi’i Agege

"A truly rich man is the one whom people rush into his arms even when his hands are empty"  - Anonymous.

Some people are sent to this world by the Almighty Allah (SWA) to phenomenally impact on the lives of so many ordinary individuals. They come to touch and change the lives of the deprived, the disadvantaged and the impoverished. They shall be the hand that will stand for the truth and guide the unguided. They shall leave their footprints artistically designed on the igneous rock of time. When it is finally time for them to depart the mother earth, the touched and the changed shall testify that indeed they lived a righteous life.

Girrrrrrrrrrrrrr…girrrrrrrrrr…girrrrrrr my phone rang and rang again! I was still sleeping, so at first I thought it was a dream. It was 5am in the morning, who could this be? What is the matter with this person to be calling at this ungodly hour? But something said to me, who so ever is this, there must be a strong reason for him to be calling you now. So, I quickly rushed to reach out for my phone, but before I picked the call, it hang up. I checked through the menus of my phone only to find out that I already have five missed calls, all from my immediate family members. Immediately, I panicked! The last call was from my senior brother who works in Lagos. I tried to call him back, but his line suddenly became busy. Things are happening so fast that I informed my wife "I think something is wrong”. But before I finished talking to her, another call came through from Zaria. It was my mom, immediately I picked the call she cried out “Innalillahi-wa-illaihi-rajuun, Allah ya yiwa  Baban Agege rasuwa!". My dear, brothers and sisters, that was how we started the morning of 12^th of March, 2012, exactly one year ago. Since then every single day that passes by we always remember and pray for the Almighty Allah (SWA) to grant him Aljanna Firdaus, amin.

Alhaji Ahmadu Shafi'i Agege

Alhaji Ahmadu Shafi'i Agege is also known as Baban Agege among the cycle of family and friends. His profile may not look like that of our political heroes like the Sardauna of Sokoto, Tafawa Balewa of Bauchi (The Golden voice of Africa), Awolowo the leader of the Western region or Azikiwe the leader of the Eastern region (The Zik of Africa). But he has made his own unique contributions and impacted on the spiritual wellbeing of so many individuals and groups across the length and breadth of this country. Many people may describe him as a respectful father, a disciplinarian, a philanthropist or a pious elder. His father was a business man and a philanthropist too, Alhaji Muhammadu Shafi'i dan Saidun Gwandu (whom I was named after), a native of Bida local government in Niger state. Because of the nature of his fathers’ business, he also was widely travelled. History has it that, his father was among the early settlers of Tudun Wadan, Zaria, Kaduna State. That was where Baban Agege was born almost a century ago including all his brothers and sisters.  

Baban Agege will later join in running the business in the Lagos axis with one of his senior brothers late Alhaji Abdullahi Shafi’i (Alhaji Babba, may Allah grant him paradise), together they joined some of the early northern settlers in Agege, Lagos state. They lived peacefully with their Yoruba host community for decades without having any problem. No surprise when some people said "he is a complete Nigerian". One of his legacies was that, he is always eager to help anyone that comes to him irrespective of your religion, tribe or political affiliation, a virtue that is very rear amoung today's men. 

As a kid, I always look forward to the Eid il-Fitri Sallah celebration because I'm very certain that I will have the best of Sallah attires from Baban Agege. He always sows the most fashionable clothes for us. I still remembered one called Shagari style. It was the latest fashion then, and so wearing it make me feel like a celebrity. The legacy here was that, even though we have a very large extended family at different locations in the country, each and every one of us gets that same type of attire before the Sallah day. You can imagine getting the rewards of more than a hundred people. But he did not stop there, if anyone of us is getting married, he gives you a white Babban riga da dan ciki da wando with a unique blue design to be worn on your wedding day. I will like to mention here that I have the singular honour and privilege to be the last family member to have benefited from this unique attire. This was because he passed away just about three months after my wedding (may Allah reward him with paradise, amin). In the same vein, nobody can be able to tell you precisely how many people he had sponsored to Hajj for pilgrimage and the lesser Hajj (Umrah) throughout his life because the number is quite much.

Within hours of his death, a very large number of people gathered in Agege, Lagos. Someone reliably told me that when he entered the local wings of the Abuja International airport that morning, it was as if everyone he saw there are all going for the burial. Alhamdulillah, even though Sheikh Khalifa Isyaka Rabiu of Kano was not able to attend the burial because of his state of health, but he was able delegate and sent Late Sheikh Mudi Salga to come from Kano and lead the burial prayers. The people of Agege said they have never seen such a gathering of northern masses. But how can we forget in a hurry the miraculous signs and wonders that appeared to people on that day of his burial?

For those that are opportune to attend the burial prayers, they all testified that a cold breeze came from nowhere and engulfed all of them in the burial ground. How can we also forget the large crowd of people who trooped to his compound from far and near to witness the illuminated image of Sheikh Inyas that miraculously appeared from nowhere on the walls for the lucky ones to see?

Sincerely speaking, I don’t think I am in the best position to write a tribute to such a great man, even though he is my uncle. But at the same time I see it as an opportunity for me to resend my condolence to his children, brothers, sisters, family, friends and well-wishers, especially that I am now very far away from home. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace, amin summa amin.

Shafi’i Hamidu is a PhD Scholar, wrote-in from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Twitter: @shafzon
FaceBook:  Shafi'i Abdulhamid

PUBLISHED IN;
1.    Kaduna Voice "A Tribute to Sheikh Alhaji Ahmadu Shafi’i Agege", March 11 2013 19:58

2.  9jabook.com  "A Tribute to Sheikh Alhaji Ahmadu Shafi’i Agege",  March 26, 2013 at 11:17am