Opinion: Contextualising the crimes of illicit sexual affair, rape – Newstrends
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Opinion: Contextualising the crimes of illicit sexual affair, rape

Published

2 years ago

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Zinā is the technical term for any act of illicit sexual affair in the Sharī’ah. Literally, it connotes the act of casting lustful gaze at the opposite gender, engaging in dirty and flirtatious talks, listening, touching and making such moves that are aimed at gratification of the carnal desires.

Muslim reported on the authority of Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ عَلَى ابْنِ آدَمَ حَظَّهُ مِنَ الزِّنَا، أَدْرَكَ ذَلِكَ لاَ مَحَالَةَ ، فَزِنَا العَيْنِ النَّظَرُ، وَزِنَا اللِّسَانِ المَنْطِقُ ، وَالنَّفْسُ تَمَنَّى وَتَشْتَهِي ، وَالفَرْجُ يُصَدِّقُ ذَلِكَ كُلَّهُ وَيُكَذِّبُهُ

“Verily, Allāh has decreed for every son of Ādam his share of Zinā, which he will inevitably commit. The Zinā of the eyes is looking; the Zinā of the tongue is speaking; the soul may wish and desire, and the private parts confirm that (engage in it) or deny it (refrain).”

This hadīth confirms that every human being is guilty of the crime of Zinā in the literal sense, since everyone falls into it at some point, advertently or inadvertently. However, one may NOT be referred to as Zānī (adulterer/fornicator) or Zāniyah (adulteress/fornicatoress) unless he or she engages in the physical act of intercourse.

The punishment for Zinā in Islām depends on marital status of the individuals involved. For the SINGLE Zānī, it’s a PUBLIC floggin of a hundred strokes of cane, and banishment for the period of 1 year, while the MARRIED Zāni is to be stoned to DEATH. This is the consensus opinion of the scholars of the Ummah since the time of the Rasūl ﷺ till our present time. It is also the view of all the scholars whose opinions on matters of the Dīn matter.

فإذا كان الزاني حراً محصناً رُجم حتى الموت رجلاً كان أو امرأة ، وهو محل إجماع

“If the Zānī is a freeborn who is married, he is to be stoned to death, whether male or female. This is a matter of consensus.”

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Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله said:

وأجمع عليه أصحاب محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم ، وعن أحمد رواية أنه يجلد ويرجم ، والمذهب الرجم فقط ، كما اتفق الفقهاء على أن الزاني غير المحصن رجلاً كان أو امرأة يجلد مائة جلدة إن كان حراً ، وأما العبد والأمة فحدهما خمسون جلدة سواء كانا بكرين أو ثيبين

“The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ all agreed on this issue. A report from Imām Ahmad states that such a Zānī be flogged a 100 times & then stoned to death. However, the position of the Hanābilah madh-hab is stoning to death only. The jurists are also unanimous that the unmarried Zānī, male or female is to be lashed a 100 times if he’s a freeborn. As for the slave male or female, the punishment is 50 lashes whether he/she is married.”

It is important to note that the hadd punishment mentioned above is APPLICABLE only to the traditional definition of Zinā as
إيلاج/ مَغِيبُ الحَشَفَةِ ,في فَرجٍ مُحَرَّمٍ
“penetration of the vagina (or anus) that is legally prohibited with the tip of the penis (whether or not ejaculation occurs).” That is, the perpetrator would be guilty of Zinā even if it was just the tip of his penis that had penetrated the forbidden hole.

Further explanations reveal that the act must neither be done under duress nor in ambiguous circumstances (شُبْهَة). Any other illicit sexual affair will carry the DISCRETIONARY punishments to be determined by the judge. Such includes touching, kissing, romancing, penetration of the mouth, the breasts, the hips, etc with the penis.

Furthermore, the Sharī’ah’s perspective of Zinā has NOTHING to do with CONSENT. What distinguishes Zinā from licit intercourse is VALID MARRIAGE, not CONSENT. This is also why the concept of MARITAL RAPE has NO BASIS in the Sharī’ah. Marriage validates sexual gratification among spouses. A woman may not refuse her husband sex without valid reasons of menstruation, postpartum bleeding, illness, obligatory fast, or injury. If he goes ahead and penetrates her forcefully, against her will, he’s a sinner but not a RAPIST in the context of the Sharī’ah.

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The crime of Zinā is established in the Sharī’ah through voluntary confession of the culprit(s), statements of FOUR credible witnesses, or (in modern times to some extent) through DNA tests. However, as Shaykh Wahbah Az-Zuhaylī puts it, “The DNA does not provide independent evidence in the sense of the court issuing a sentence solely on its basis, but it does provide supportive and persuasive evidence for a court decision.”

The reason for this skeptical approach to DNA results in establishing crimes is the fact that it may be fabricated, falsified and tampered with, just as its reliability may diminish with the lapse of time between the occurrence of the incident and its collection.

Concerning rape, the technical term for it in the Sharī’ah is الاغْتِصابُ. Literally, it means to take a thing by force. It is the worst form of Zinā because of its physical, mental and psychological effects on the victim. All the Scholars of Islām condemn the crime of rape in the harshest of terms. They are also unanimous in their opinion that a rapist is deemed a Zānī and would be punished according to his marital status (as stated above).

Imām Mālik رحمه الله in his Muwatta’ (2/734) said:

الأمر عندنا في الرجل يغتصب المرأة بكراً كانت أو ثيبا : أنها إن كانت حرة : فعليه صداق مثلها , وإن كانت أمَة : فعليه ما نقص من ثمنها ، والعقوبة في ذلك على المغتصب ، ولا عقوبة على المغتصبة في ذلك كله ” انتهى .

“Our position on the rapist who forcefully has carnal knowledge of a woman whether she’s single or married is that, if she’s a freeborn, he must pay her the dower of a woman of her status and if she’s a slave girl, he must pay the sum of what has diminished of her value. The punishment for the crime is on the rapist. The victim is not to be punished in such cases.”

Ibn ‘Abdilbarr in al-Istidhkār 7/146 further elaborates on the issue when he submitted thus:

وقد أجمع العلماء على أن على المستكرِه المغتصِب الحدَّ إن شهدت البينة عليه بما يوجب الحد ، أو أقر بذلك ، فإن لم يكن : فعليه العقوبة (يعني : إذا لم يثبت عليه حد الزنا لعدم اعترافه ، وعدم وجود أربعة شهود ، فإن الحاكم يعاقبه ويعزره العقوبة التي تردعه وأمثاله) ولا عقوبة عليها إذا صح أنه استكرهها وغلبها على نفسها ، وذلك يعلم بصراخها ، واستغاثتها ، وصياحها

“The scholars have all agreed the rapist shall be given the hadd punishment if credible proofs necessitating such punishment are established against him, or he confesses to committing it. In the absence of such proofs, the judge shall exercise his discretion in punishing him in a way that will deter him and others like him. The victim is not to be punished if it’s proven that he overpowered her and forced himself on her. Such can be known through her cry for help and shouts.”

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Protection of life and honour are fundamental aspects of the Cardinal Objectives of the Sharī’ah. It is for this reason that it has laid down strict procedures for the establishment of claims against one another. Bukhāri & Muslim reported on the authority of ibn Abbās that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

لَوْ يُعْطَى اَلنَّاسُ بِدَعْوَاهُمْ, لَادَّعَى نَاسٌ دِمَاءَ رِجَالٍ, وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ, وَلَكِنِ اَلْيَمِينُ عَلَى اَلْمُدَّعَى عَلَيْهِ

“If people were given whatever they claimed (in disputes), some people would claim the lives and wealth of others; but the oath (of denial) must be taken by the defendant.”

In the narration by Al-Bayhaqī:

اَلْبَيِّنَةُ عَلَى اَلْمُدَّعِي, وَالْيَمِينُ عَلَى مَنْ أَنْكَرَ

“The burden of proof lies on the claimant, and oath must be taken by the one rejecting the claim.”

Based on this hadīth, the crime of rape cannot be brought against anyone without CONCRETE proofs beyond any shadow of doubt. Crimes are to be proven before the judge in a court of competent jurisdiction and not on the social media. Where there are no concrete proofs establishing guilt of the accused, the judge may look into the circumstantial evidence and exercise his discretionary powers.

However, if the victim was able to prove that the rapist gagged her mouth and restrained her, or knocked her out by the aid of pills or gas, or threatened her life with dangerous weapons, such a RAPIST is considered a مُحارِبٌ and, depending on the degree of his culpability, the judge is expected to apply any of the injunctions in Q.5:33 based on his discretion:

إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الأَرْضِ فَسَاداً أَنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلافٍ أَوْ يُنْفَوْا مِنَ الأَرْضِ ذَلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

“The penalty of those who wage war against Allāh and His Messenger and seek corruption in the land is to be killed, or crucified, or to have their hands and feet cut on alternate sides, or to be banished from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter they shall have a great punishment.”

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In a situation (though rare) where the victim of rape is a male, scholars of Islām have differed on the appropriate ruling in this regard.

قال ابن قدامة
فَصْلٌ: وَإِنْ أُكْرِهَ الرَّجُلُ فَزَنَى، فَقَالَ أَصْحَابُنَا: عَلَيْهِ الْحَدُّ. وَبِهِ قَالَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ، وَأَبُو ثَوْرٍ؛ لِأَنَّ الْوَطْءَ لَا يَكُونُ إلَّا بِالِانْتِشَارِ، وَالْإِكْرَاهُ يُنَافِيهِ. فَإِذَا وُجِدَ الِانْتِشَارُ انْتَفَى الْإِكْرَاهُ، فَيَلْزَمُهُ الْحَدُّ، كَمَا لَوْ أُكْرِهَ عَلَى غَيْرِ الزِّنَى، فَزَنَى.

Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله notes:

“Chapter: If a man was forced to commit Zinā and he commits it, our companions (Hanābilah) said: he shall face the hadd punishment. This is the view of Muhammad bn Al-Hasan (Ash-Shaybānī) and Abū Thawr. This is because sex cannot occur without erection, and duress makes erection impossible. So if he has erection, it’s not treated as forced sex and as such he would be given the hadd punishment just as if he was forced to do something else and he commits Zinā.”

He continues:

وَقَالَ الشَّافِعِيُّ، وَابْنُ الْمُنْذِرِ: لَا حَدَّ عَلَيْهِ؛ لِعُمُومِ الْخَبَرِ، وَلِأَنَّ الْحُدُودَ تُدْرَأُ بِالشُّبُهَاتِ، وَالْإِكْرَاهُ شُبْهَةٌ، فَيَمْنَعُ الْحَدَّ، كَمَا لَوْ كَانَتْ امْرَأَةً، يُحَقِّقُهُ أَنَّ الْإِكْرَاهَ، إذَا كَانَ بِالتَّخْوِيفِ، أَوْ بِمَنْعِ مَا تَفُوتُ حَيَاتُهُ بِمَنْعِهِ، كَانَ الرَّجُلُ فِيهِ كَالْمَرْأَةِ، فَإِذَا لَمْ يَجِبْ عَلَيْهَا الْحَدُّ، لَمْ يَجِبْ عَلَيْهِ. وَقَوْلُهُمْ: إنَّ التَّخْوِيفَ يُنَافِي الِانْتِشَارَ. لَا يَصِحُّ؛ لِأَنَّ التَّخْوِيفَ بِتَرْكِ الْفِعْلِ، وَالْفِعْلُ لَا يُخَافُ مِنْهُ، فَلَا يَمْنَعُ ذَلِكَ. وَهَذَا أَصَحُّ الْأَقْوَالِ، إنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى.

“Ash-Shāfi’ī and ibn al-Mundhir said: he shall not face the hadd punishment, based on the general implication of the texts, and also because capital punishments are waived by ambiguities. Duress is a form of ambiguity and as such, hadd punishment shall not be applicable in such circumstances. This is the same ruling if the victim were a woman. If a man’s life was threatened, his case is similar to that of a woman penetrated by force. Both would not be punished. As for the statement of those who say, “threat to life makes erection impossible, this is not correct. This is the most sound of opinions.”

Nowadays, it is possible to force a man to have erection through admission of aphrodisiacs (injections, pills, or drinks). This further refutes the claim of those who say that duress makes erection impossible.

Finally, it is important to abide by the clear rules that Islām has laid down aimed at blocking all the means to evils. Our emphasis should not be on the sexual aspect of rape only, but on all forms of objectification and degradation of women’s status by artists and business owners through advertisement of goods and services.

Dr. Sanusi Lafiagi is a lecturer in Department of Islamic Studies, Al-Hikmah University Ilorin

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Opinion

Ademola Lookman showed Davido and Kemi Badenoch that wisdom is not by age – Omokri

Published

4 days ago

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December 18, 2024

By

Reno Omokri, Ademola Lookman, Davido and Kemi Badenoch

Ademola Lookman showed Davido and Kemi Badenoch that wisdom is not by age – Omokri

Recently, the singer David Adeleke was given a global stage to do whatever he wanted and deliver any message.

Sadly, Mr. Adeleke used the opportunity to speak in an American accent. Not only that, he used that American accent to talk down on Nigeria and tell the world not to invest in Nigeria because, as he put it, Nigeria’s “economy is in shambles”.

Coincidentally, a month after his faux pas, Kemi Badenoch, probably inspired by Davido, used her British accent to talk down Nigeria, calling us “a very poor country” where the police rob citizens.

But the interesting thing about her own case is that the next day, the BBC featured a panel of Conservative Party big shots, and one of them, Albie Amankona, a party chieftain from Chiswick, who is also a celebrity broadcaster, said, and this is a direct quote:

“If you are a Brexiteer, and you are saying we need to be expanding our global trade beyond the European Union, we want to be looking at emerging markets for growth, don’t slag off one of the fastest growing economies in Africa.”

Is it not strange that it took the BBC and a British politician to promote Nigeria as one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa?

And just when we thought it was all bad news, God gave us a breath of fresh air in the youthful Ademola Lookman, who used the global podium granted to him by his winning the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award to promote and project Nigeria and the Lukumi Yoruba language to the world.

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Wisdom is not by age. If not, Ademola Lookman, who is just twenty-seven, will not have displayed greater wisdom than David Adeleke, who is thirty-two, and Kemi Badenoch, at forty-four.

Mr. Lookman proved that the age of Methuselah has nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon.

And it is not as though other ethnicities with global icons do not also project Nigeria. They do.

Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke Igbo on the podium of the WTO in Geneva. In terms of prestige, she is FAR above Lookman.

My campaign is not for the Lukumi Yoruba alone. It is for all sub-Saharan Black Africans to learn to speak their language and not use ability to speak English or another colonial language as a measure of intelligence.

Besides Lukumi Yoruba and Hausa, every other Nigerian language, including Fulfulde, is gradually dying out.

General Buhari is half Fulani and half Kanuri. Yet, he cannot speak either Fuifulde or Kanuri. But he speaks Hausa and English.

Fact-check me: In 2012, UNESCO declared Igbo an endangered language.

However, the Lukumi Yoruba are to be commended for their affirmative actions to advance their language and culture.

Let me give you an example. All six Governors of the Southwest bear full Lukumi names: Jide Sanwa-Olu, Seyi Makinde, Dapo Abiodun, Ademola Adeleke, Abiodun Oyebanji, and Orighomisan Aiyedatiwa.

No other zone in Nigeria has all its governors bearing ethnic Nigerian names as first and second names. They either bear Arabic or European names as first names or even first and second names.

If we truly want to be the Giant of Africa, we must take affirmative steps to preserve our language and culture so we can have children like Ademola Lookman.

Teach your language to your children before you teach them English. They will learn English at school. Being multilingual is scientifically proven to boost intelligence.

Fact-check me: In the U.S., Latino kids do not speak English until they start school. They learn Spanish as a first language.

Even if you relocate to the UK, the best you can be is British. You can never be English. And if your choice of Japa is the U.S., the highest you can be is an American citizen. You will never become a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant WASP.

Your power lies in balancing ancient and modern, Western and African, English (or other colonial languages) and your native tongue.

That is the way to reverse language erosion, like the Lukumi Yoruba.

Ademola Lookman showed Davido and Kemi Badenoch that wisdom is not by age – Omokri

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Opinion

Kemi Badenoch’s Hate for Nigeria – Femi Fani-Kayode

Published

1 week ago

on

December 15, 2024

By

Femi Fani-Kayode

Kemi Badenoch’s Hate for Nigeria – Femi Fani-Kayode

“I find it interesting that everyone defines me as a Nigerian. I identify less with the country than with my specific ethnic group. I have nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, the Boko Haram, where Islamism is. Being Yoruba is my true identity and I refuse to be lumped with the northern people of Nigeria who were our ethnic enemies, all in the name of being called a Nigerian”- @KemiBadenoch.

Dangerous rhetoric

Kemi Badenoch, MP, the leader of the British Conservative Party and Opposition in the @UKParliament, has refused to stop at just denigrating our country but has gone a step further by seeking to divide us on ethnic lines.

She claims that she never regarded herself as being a Nigerian but rather a Yoruba and that she never identified with the people from the Northern part of our country who she collectively describes as being “Boko Haram Islamists” and “terrorists”.

This is dangerous rhetoric coming from an impudent and ignorant foreign leader who knows nothing about our country, who does not know her place and who insists on stirring up a storm that she cannot contain and that may eventually consume her.

It is rather like saying that she identifies more with the English than she does with the Scots and the Welsh whom she regards as nothing more than homicidal and murderous barbarians that once waged war against her ethnic English compatriots!

All this coming from a young lady of colour that is a political leader in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural country that lays claim to being the epitome of decency and civilisation! What a strange and inexplicable contradiction this is.

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Her intentions are malevolent and insidious and her objective, outside of ridiculing and mocking us, is to divide us and bring us to our knees.

I am constrained to ask, what on earth happened to this creature in her youth and why does she hate Nigeria with such passion?

Did something happen to her when she lived here which she has kept secret?

Was she the victim of some form of deviant behaviour, abuse or perversion that has resulted in trauma, long term psychological damage & mental health issues?

Is this why she sees red and gets her pretty knickers in a twist whenever she hears “Nigeria”?
Why does the mention of the name of our country trigger such compulsive, violent and aggressive emotions and impulses in her?

Given her pathological hatred for Nigerians these are legitimate questions that need to be answered.

Nigerian community

She hates us with what the Bible describes as “a perfect hatred” yet in a much publicised and widely read open letter written in 2010 during her first bid to be elected into the UK Parliament she begged the Nigerian community in her constituency to support her.

At that time, when she still needed us, she identified with Nigerians but everything changed after she was elected.

At that point, in her conflicted and confused mind, all Nigerians became demons, all Englanders became angels and her disdain and contempt for us was unmasked!

She hates us with a perfect hatred yet she still has the effrontery and nerve to haul her rotund posterior back to our country with one Hamish, who I am told is her English husband, to watch polo at the Lagos Polo Club.

This is the same country that she has described as being a lawless jungle and corrupt stinking edifice from which no good can come and that is filled with nothing but apes, monsters and the criminally insane.

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The truth is that the creature called Kemi Badenoch is nothing but a b*tch on heat. She needs to be tamed and caged.

She is Aunty Jemima on steroids and the President of the International House Ni*gers Association.
Her Nigerian passport (if she still has one) ought to be revoked and she should never be allowed to set her leprous foot in our country again.

She should take Vice President Kashim Shettima’s @KashimSM counsel seriously and drop Kemi as her name.
She should formally wipe her maiden name of Adegoke off the record as well and publicly renounce and disavow her father, mother, siblings and Nigerian lineage and heritage.

She does not want to identify with us and we do not want to identify with her.

She sees us as being corrupt and evil and we see her as being the devil incarnate and the spawn of Satan. There can be no fellowship between us.

The truth is that she is no longer a mere irritant or the inconsequential object of our contempt and ridicule but she can now be comfortably and legitimately described as ‘public enemy number one’ of our beloved nation.

She should stick to the affairs of her UK, face it’s ruling Labour Party and it’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer and LEAVE NIGERIA ALONE!

Polo

On a lighter note it is a pity that I stopped playing polo many years ago because if it had been in my days that she attempted to visit the Lagos Polo Club she would not have got past the gate and if she managed to do so our grooms and horse boys would have pasted her self-hating, unpatriotic, ungrateful, treacherous and ever so plain face with Argentinian pony dung before tarring and feathering her.

How times have changed!

 

Kemi Badenoch’s Hate for Nigeria – Femi Fani-Kayode

•Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is the Sadaukin Shinkafi, a former Minister of Aviation and a former Minister of Culture and Tourism of Nigeria

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Opinion

The cockroach called Dele Farotimi (1)

Published

1 week ago

on

December 13, 2024

By

Tunde Odesola

The cockroach called Dele Farotimi (1)

Tunde Odesola

(Published in The PUNCH, on Friday, December 13, 2024)

The official name for cage fight is Mixed Martial Arts. Street fight, known as ‘ìjà ìgboro’ in Yoruba, is the bane of Ibadan people, says the panegyric of Oluyole, the city of brown roofs scattered among seven hills. MMA, I think, is organised street fighting.

But, long before MMA became a global combat sport in 2000, little devils of St Paul Anglican (Primary) School, Idi-Oro, Lagos, and Archbishop Aggey Memorial Secondary School, Mushin, Lagos, engaged in ‘ìjà ìgboro’, the progenitor of Mixed Martial Arts. Retrospectively, I’m guilty of being part of the little devils of both schools.

Because, instead of heeding the ‘blessed are the peacemakers’ injunction in the Holy Scriptures, to ‘inherit the kingdom of God’, what we did as little demons that we were was to add fuel to the embers of hostility smouldering among fellow students.

As soon as you noticed two students in a heated argument, instead of you to sue for peace, the naughty reaction was for you to grab some soil in clenched fists and spread your fists towards the two disputants, daring both pupils to slap one of the outstretched fists: ‘Ení bá lè jà, kó gbon!’

‘Ení bá lè jà, kó gbon!’ was a call to arms. To prove you’re a lionheart ready to fight, you slap the clenched fist open and watch its content pour out to the ground.

So, in a jiffy, you would see friends who were laughing a while ago, engage in a free-for-all instanter. Regrettably, I initiated some of such fights and participated in not a few. You probably can’t grow up in Mushin and be fainthearted.

Taliatu Mudashiru was my friend and classmate in Forms 1 and 2. Occasionally, when I didn’t get dropped off at school by my father, and I had to make it to school on my own, I first trek from our Awoyokun Street residence to Taliatu’s house on Adegboyega Street before both of us would head up to Akinade Ayodeji’s house two blocks away en route to school.

I thought I was stronger than Tali, as we fondly called him, or Pali Tutu (Wet Cardboard) – if the caller was a mischievous classmate – until one day when we disagreed during a break-time chatter involving other classmates.

A peacemaker stepped forward with clenched fists, chanting, ‘K’éyin lè jà, k’émi lé wò’ran, Èsù ta’po si,’ evoking Baba Devil himself. I slapped one of the fists; Tali slapped the other! ‘Ha, Tali ke? I go kill sombodi!’

Toe-to-toe, Tunde rained blows. Tit-for-tat, Tali responded. We upturned desks and seats as the brawl spiralled to the delight of cheering classmates. But it was short-lived as the break-time bell saved the day. We swore at each other but classmates begged us, like peacemakers, to save our punches and wait till after-school hours to throw them.

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After school, excited classmates such as Taliatu Olokodana, Akinade Ayodeji alias Kuruki, Hakeem Adigun alias Slate, Jide Oladimeji alias Agama; Kunle Adeyoju alias Iron Bender, Sunday Pedro Oshokai, Sanmi Okuwobi, Sule Mustapha alias Maito; Olalekan Egungbohun, Kazeem Osuolale alias Oju etc led Tali and me to ‘Ojú Olómo ò to’, an arena so named because no parent or guardian’s eyes ever got to see what happened there.

Only Lukmon Yusuff aka OC, Jide Ajose and Segun Majekodunmi would have separated us if they were around. For his good-naturedness, Jide got the nickname Unreasonable while Segun was called Brother because he belonged to the Deeper Life Church and Yusuff got nicknamed O.C. because of his effectiveness as a football defender.

The ‘Ojú Olómo ò to’ was the playground of a primary school that had closed for the day. Impish classmates sat around the edge of the big field, leaving Tali and I at the centre to unleash the devilry in us.

Tali, bigger and an inch taller, was hoping to use his weight to an advantage, grabbing at me but I knew if he slammed me he would feed me with sand, so I used my fists to keep him off.

We wrestled and boxed and kicked and clawed for God knows how long. There was no referee. There was no timeout. There were only ringside viewers who laughed and cheered every kick and blow and the sight of blood. Tali and I bled all over, spent and gasped for breath.

Then I threw a punch, it caught Tali right in the face, and he first went down in a squat, before flattening out on his back. I should have jumped on him and finished him off, but I was barely breathing. I just left him and I turned away to look for my bag and shoes.

The following day, Tali was looking for me on the assembly ground. He appeared proud of us. He shook hands with me vigorously and we hugged for a long period – like warriors after a pyrrhic victory. He earned my respect, I earned his. Tali probably thought I was a sportsman for not finishing him off when he blanked out, but little did he know that all that was on my mind when he fell was me getting home. I probably would’ve fallen too if the fight had lasted longer.

There are similarities between my fight with Tali and the ongoing fight between one of Nigeria’s heavyweight lawyers, Aare Afe Babalola and human rights activist and lawyer, Mr Dele Farotimi.

I know Nigeria is broken and needs fixing urgently. I know that to fix it, something has to give. I know Nigeria’s coconuts of corruption must be cracked on skulls and the water thereof used as atonement for the nation’s corruption.

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I see many coconuts. I also see the head of Babalola and that of Farotimi. I see other heads, too. But whose skull(s) would crack open the coconuts?

I see a poisonous cockroach encircled by a brood of chickens. Among the chickens is the breed called Supreme. There’s also a breed called Appeal and another breed called High. There’s yet another breed called SANyeri, a name symbolising the breed’s big gowns. The chickens thrust their heads forward, sharply looking right and left, watching intently, communicating in esoteric language. What shall we do to this irritant?

Yet, the cockroach is adamant in the valley of jeopardy, six legs gangling, two antennas roving; person wey wan don die jam person wey wan kill am.

Tali Vs. Tunde. Today, I can’t even remember what caused the disagreement that snowballed into our fight, but I can never forget the pain of the fight. I had thought I would make light work of Tali but I didn’t see his gallantry coming.

Although I’ve never met Baba Babalola, he comes across as a man of commendable philanthropy and frankness. It’s only frankness that could make him stand by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, in the 2023 presidential election when the elite of his tribe was queuing behind Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as ‘Shon of the Shoil’.

In the 2023 presidential election, I was neither BATified nor Atikulated just as I wasn’t Obidient. In some articles during the countdown to the election, I called for an overhaul of the 1999 Constitution before the conduct of the general elections, saying none of the presidential candidates would succeed as president if the Constitution wasn’t amended.

I also said there was no ideological difference among the All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party. If they were different, Nigeria wouldn’t witness six House of Representatives members of the Labour Party defecting to the APC recently, despite LP’s promise of a new Nigeria. While I predict more defections in the coming days, those already defected include Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Daulyop Fom (Plateau), Donatus Matthew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Fom Daniel Chollon (Plateau).

In my recommendations, I called for devolution of powers to the states, resource control, independent candidacy and patriotism by the generality of Nigerians for a new order.

And I’ve not repented from my belief that elected Nigerian politicians loot the treasury according to the amount of money available in it, not because one was more decent than the other or one party was better than the other.

This is why I find the anti-corruption campaign of 56-year-old lawyer and human rights activist, Dele Farotimi, assuring though I’m not going to touch the libel stuff just yet.

Although Farotimi is an LP member, his rhetoric resonates with equity, fairness and justice – cornerstones of democracy.

However, there are concave and convex perspectives on the Babalola-Farotimi issue. In secondary school, Physics was intriguing to me, though I found its abstraction intimidating and perplexing. It was in Physics that I learnt about convex and concave lenses. I was taught in secondary school that both lenses are used for correcting short-sightedness and long-sightedness.

Tali died a long time ago. May his soul rest in peace. Baba Afe Babalola is 11 years older than my father who died last March at 84. May the Lord grant Baba Babalola more years in good health, and may he see the end of this war.

To be continued.

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The cockroach called Dele Farotimi (1)

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