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Reflections on Sūratu Yūsuf: Lessons For Everyday Life (I)

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2 years ago

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BismiLlāhi’r-Rahmāni’r-Rahīm. All praise is due to Allāh subhānahu wa ta’ālā. May the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon prophet Muhammad and his household and companions. Āmīn.
Sūratu Yūsuf is the most interesting story of the Qur’ān. As Imām bn Kathīr rahimahuLlāh puts it:
“It is a story involving both human weaknesses like jealousy, hatred, pride, passion, deception, intrigue, cruelty and terror, as well as noble qualities like patience, loyalty, bravery, nobility and compassion.”
Of all the prophets of Allāh whose stories were narrated in the Qur’ān, Yūsuf was probably the only one whose story was never repeated in any other Sūrah in the Qur’ān.
Sūratu Yūsuf is very important to read and study for the following reasons:
1. It is the best of stories (verse 4). The human soul is created to desire the best of everything.
2. It contains signs for reflection for those who are inquisitive (verse 7)
3. It is one of the hidden information for many that Allāh has chosen to reveal to this Ummah through Muhammad (verse 102). Thus, reading it will strengthen our belief in the unseen.
4. It contains points of reflection and lessons for people of understanding (verse 111).
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What are the most critical lessons in this Sūrah for our everyday life?

1. Dreams have implications and consequences

Dreams are not ordinary events. They are not like the Yorùbá people say, “àlà gọ”. Yūsuf عليه السلام had a dream in which he saw eleven stars, the sun and the moon all prostrating to him. At the time, Yūsuf was a young man who didn’t understand the implications of his dreams. So he narrated it to his father who was gifted the knowledge of interpretation of dreams (Yūsuf would later be gifted this knowledge, too). He perfectly understood both the implications of the dream and consequences of Yūsuf’s brothers knowing about it. So he told Yūsuf to keep it away from them and he did. This dream would later come to pass in verse 100 of the Sūrah:
“And he raised his parents upon the throne and they all (his father, mother, and eleven siblings) bowed to him in prostration. And he said, “O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before. My Lord has made it a reality.”
Similarly, in verse 36, Yūsuf’s two prison mates had a dream in which one saw himself pressing grapes for wine, while the other was carrying bread in his head from which birds were eating. Yūsuf عليه السلام interpreted both dreams to mean that one or them will become the king’s cup bearer, while the other would be crucified. Both incidents came to pass.
Also, in verse 43, the King of Egypt at the time had a strange dream in which seven fat cows were being devoured by seven lean ones, and there were seven green spikes of grain and others that were dry. When Yūsuf عليه السلام was informed, he interpreted it to mean people will experience seven difficult years in which there will be drought and famine in the land. So he suggested an effective economic template of prudence and saving for the rainy days.
Dreams are not to be taken lightly. It was the medium through which some of the prophets of Allāh received divine guidance and instructions.
For instance, prophet Ibrāhīm عليه السلام received instructions to sacrifice his son, Ismā’īl, through dream.
“And when he reached with him the age of exertion, he said, “O my son, indeed, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you, so see what you think.” He said* “O my father, do as you’re commanded. You will find me, if Allāh wills, of the steadfast.” (Q.37:102)
Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم received the following information through dreams:
* The victory at Badr (8:43)
* The conquest of Makkah (48:27)
In fact, the stanzas of adhān and Iqāmah were revealed through the dreams of two Sahābah (Abdullāh bn Zayd and Umar bn al-Khattāb) and the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم approved of it in his capacity as the Messenger of Allāh.
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‘Ā’isha رضي الله عنها said:
كان أول ما بُدئَ به رسول الله من الوحيد الرؤيا الصداقة في النوم
“The first phase of revelations that came to the prophet were true dreams…”
The prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
الرؤيا الحسنة من الرجل الصالح جزء من ستة وأربعين جزءا من النبوة
“A good dream by a righteous man is 1/46 parts of prophecy.”
He also said:
أصدق الناس رؤيا أصدقهم حديثا
“And the truest vision will be of one who is himself the most truthful in speech,.”

Categories of Dreams

Dreams are of three categories. The Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
والرؤيا ثلاثة: فرؤيا صالحة بشرى من الله، ورؤيا تخويف من الشيطان ورؤيا ما يحدّث به المرء نفسه فإذا رأى أحدكم ما يكره فليقم فليصل
“Dreams are of three types:
(i) A good dream which is a sort of good tidings from Allah;
(ii) A bad dream which causes pain is from the Shaytān;
(iii) A suggestion of one’s own mind.
So if any one of you sees a dream which he does not like he should stand up and offer prayer.”
Once a man came to the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and said:
رأيتُ البارحة فيما يراه النائم كأن عنقي ضُربت وسقط رأسي فاتبعتُه فأخذته فأعدتُه. فقال رسول الله، إذا لعب الشيطان بأحدكم في منامه فلا يحدّث به الناس
Last night, I had a dream in which my head was chopped off but I picked it up and fixed it. The prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “whenever shaytān toys with you in your sleep, do not relate it with anyone.”

What To Do With Dreams/Nightmares

Dreams have no standard interpretation. Two individuals may see a similar thing in their dreams, yet the interpretation might differ. Thus, it is wrong to copy and paste the interpretation of the dream of another person. More importantly, the knowledge of interpretation of dreams is being claimed today by charlatans and fraudsters masquerading as Muslim clerics, hence the need to be extremely careful and cautious.
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The Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم has taught us what to do whenever we have a dream; pleasant or terrible. In the narration by Abū Qatādah, the prophet said:
الرؤيا الحسنة من الله والحلم من الشيطان فمن رأى شيئا يكرهه فلينفث عن شماله ثلاثا وليتعوذ من الشيطان فإنها لا تضرّه (متفق عليه)
“A good dream is from Allāh and a bad dream is from the Shaytān; so if one of you sees anything (in a dream which he dislikes, he should spit on his left side thrice and seek refuge with Allāh from its evil, and then it will never harm him.” (Agreed upon)
In another narration by Abū Sa’īd al-Khudrī, he said: “I heard the Messenger of Allāh saying…
عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ إِذَا رَأَى أَحَدُكُمْ رُؤْيَا يُحِبُّهَا فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ مِنْ اللَّهِ فَلْيَحْمَدْ اللَّهَ عَلَيْهَا وَلْيُحَدِّثْ بِهَا وَإِذَا رَأَى غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا يَكْرَهُ فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ مِنْ الشَّيْطَانِ فَلْيَسْتَعِذْ مِنْ شَرِّهَا وَلَا يَذْكُرْهَا لِأَحَدٍ فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَضُرُّهُ
“When one of you sees a dream he likes, it is from Allāh so let him praise Allāh for it and speak about it. When one of you sees something else he dislikes, it is from Shaytān so let him seek refuge from its evil and not mention it to anyone. It will not harm him.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6584
He also added in some chains of its narrations:
“فإن رأى رؤيا حسنة فليبشّر ولا يخبر إلا من يحبّ”
“If he seems a good dream, he should only relate it to who he loves.”
فليبصق عن يساره ثلاثا وليستعذ بالله من الشيطان ثلاثا وليتحول عن جنبه الذي كان عليه
“(If he sees a bad dream) he should spit drily thrice to his left, seek refuge with Allāh from the evil of Shaytān thrice, and change the side on which he was sleeping.”
Thus, whenever a Muslim sees a good dream (sees something that’s pleasing to him in his dream), he should do the following:
(i) Thank Allāh subhānahu wa ta’ālā by saying AlhamduliLlāh or other similar statements;
(ii) Pray to Allāh to make it a reality;
(iii) Relate it only to his loved ones (someone you love and is sure loves you);
If, on the other hand, he sees a bad dream that grieves him, he should do the following:
(i) Spit drily thrice to his left;
(ii) Seek Allāh’s protection from the evil of Shaytān by reciting adhkār/suwar of protection. For instance, one can recite the following:
“A’ūdhu bikalimāti’llāhi at-tāmmāt min gadabihi wa sharri ibādihi wa min hamazāt ash-shayātīn wa an yahdurūnī”
Or
“A’ūdhu bikalimāti’llāhi at-tāmmāt min sharri mā khalaqa.”
Among others. Or even āyatul kursiyy or the two qul ‘a’ūdhus…
(iii) Perform ablution and observe nāfilah at least two raka’ah (optional);
(iv) Change the side on which he was sleeping;
(v) Never relate it to anyone (even if it’s to seek its interpretation).
It is important to note that approaching soothsayers or fortune tellers irrespective of whatever name they call themselves (Jalabists) is not of the teachings of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The prophet ,صلى الله عليه وسلم had said that whoever approaches them to seek anything from them, his Salāt will not be accepted for forty days!
If Ya’qūb عليه السلام could warn his son, Yūsuf, from relating his dream to his siblings lest they plot against him, how do you feel safe relating your dream to a total stranger who you call your Alfa.
More importantly, as Muslims, we do not take instructions or religious injunctions from dreams. This is exclusive to the prophets of Allāh ALONE. Thus, we do not take serious the claim by Shaykh Ahmad Tijanni, founder of the Tijaniyyah order that he received certain religious injunctions from the prophet in his dream. This claim is a blatant lie and a satanic fabrication.
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Similarly, even if your late parents were to appear to you in your dream and instruct you to carry out specified acts of Ibādah (other than the obligatory acts), you must NOT do it, as this may be the Shaytān trying to trick and lure you to Bid’ah and Shirk.
It is equally possible for an associate or relative to have a dream about you and relate it to you. Such a person, however, does not have any authority to specify for you any act of ibādah or sadaqah. And even if he did, you must NOT carry it out. As for a total stranger who you have never met before accosting you and telling you that he was sent to you from his dream, such person is a barefaced liar that must be IGNORED.
Do not take your dream to anyone for interpretation. If it’s good, thank Allāh and pray over it. If it’s bad, seek Allāh’s protection from it and be fervent in prayer. The Prophet has said that if you do the above, the evil in that dream will not harm you.

Parents Must Not Prefer A Child to the Other

It is wrong for parents to love and prefer a child to the other. Although love is a matter of the heart which one may not have control over, nonetheless, parents must be mindful of the negative effect of showing glaring affection and prefence for a child over the other. Sometimes, such love may be due to gender of the child, or the one whom he/she was named after, good conduct, brilliance, etc.
It is natural for parents to prefer the well-behaved/intelligent child to the ill-mannered/dull child. However, making such love and preference so glaring, and especially to the disadvantage of the other child/children is not permitted by the Sharī’ah. This is the same way that those with more than one wife are warned against showing more affection to one at the expense of the other. In one’s heart, one may prefer one to the other, but he must not show it in his public relationship with them.
The major reason why Yūsuf was so despised by his siblings was their father’s love and preference for him and his kid brother, Bunyamin. In verses 8, they complained thus:
اِذۡ قَالُوۡا لَيُوۡسُفُ وَاَخُوۡهُ اَحَبُّ اِلٰٓى اَبِيۡنَا مِنَّا وَنَحۡنُ عُصۡبَةٌ ؕ اِنَّ اَبَانَا لَفِىۡ ضَلٰلٍ مُّبِيۡنِ ۖ ۚ‏
“And call to mind when the brothers of Joseph conferred together and said: “Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, although we are a group of so many. Our father is clearly mistaken.”
It is mentioned by some commentators on the Qur’ān that Yūsuf and his brother were more loved by their father for three reasons:
i. Their mother had died, so it was natural for him to feel more inclined towards them than his other children whose mother was still alive;
ii. They were his youngest children. Parents often feel more inclined to their young and vulnerable children than they feel towards their grown up siblings;
iii. Yūsuf, especially displayed early signs of righteousness and responsibility, at a time when his siblings were somehow rebellious.
However, this love and preference for Yūsuf cost prophet Ya’qūb عليه السلام so dearly, as the brothers executed a well orchestrated plan to get rid of Yūsuf in order to gain their father’s affection and trust. In verses 9-10, they debated their plan and concluded thus:
اۨقۡتُلُوۡا يُوۡسُفَ اَوِ اطۡرَحُوۡهُ اَرۡضًا يَّخۡلُ لَـكُمۡ وَجۡهُ اَبِيۡكُمۡ وَ تَكُوۡنُوۡا مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِهٖ قَوۡمًا صٰلِحِيۡنَ‏. قَالَ قَآئِلٌ مِّنۡهُمۡ لَا تَقۡتُلُوۡا يُوۡسُفَ وَاَلۡقُوۡهُ فِىۡ غَيٰبَتِ الۡجُـبِّ يَلۡتَقِطۡهُ بَعۡضُ السَّيَّارَةِ اِنۡ كُنۡتُمۡ فٰعِلِيۡنَ‏
“So either kill Yūsuf or cast him into some distant land so that your father’s attention may become exclusively yours. And after so doing become righteous. Thereupon one of them said: “Do not kill Yūsuf, but if you are bent upon doing something, cast him down to the bottom of some dark pit, perhaps some caravan passing by will take him out of it.”
Prophet Ya’qūb عليه السلام suffered a great deal over this. He cried until he lost his vision. He loved Yūsuf to a fault and his sudden disappearance shattered him.
The Messenger of Allāh has ﷺ warned against giving a child preferential treatment at the expense of another. An-Nu’mān bn Bashīr رضي الله عنه narrated that once his father, Bashīr, took him to the prophet ﷺ seeking to make him a witness over a present that he gave him. The Prophet ﷺ asked him:
أكل ولدك نحلته مثل هذا/أفعلت هذا بولدك كلهم/يا بشير ألك ولد سوى هذا/أكلهم وهبت له مثل هذا
“Do you have a chld other than him? Did you present a similar gift to your other children?”
He replied: “Yes, I have other children. No, I didn’t present a similar gift to the others.”
Thereupon, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said,
فارجعه/اتقوا اللَّه واعدلوا في أولادكم/ لا تشهدني إذاً؛ فإني لا أشهد على جور/لا تشهدني على جور!/أشهد على هذا غيري!
“Take it back. Fear Allāh and treat your children justly. Do not make me a witness. I do not bear witness to injustice. Go get another person to serve as witness.”
This Hadīth clearly prohibits treating one’s children unjustly by preferring some of them to the others. The neglected child may be inspired by the Shaytān to harm the beloved one, or even their parents. This is why the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“Be just among your children in gifting, like you would love them to treat you equally in righteousness and kindness.”

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

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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

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1 week ago

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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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