₦airaland Forum

And lest I forget, according to an unofficial info I have, SLS approached victims of Churches affected for relief funds too, but they said they needed to get go-ahead from their national leadership first before accepting, and till now no response from them.

First, let me declare I am never a go-with-the crowd analyst like this poster, who I have seen metamorposed from being a Ribadu supporter(when Ribdau was very popular) to being a Buhari supporter(when Buhari took the show) to Buhari critic(when he lost popularity post-election violence) to pro-GEJ to anti-GEJ to so many things, including reading the anti-Sanusi public mood and wanting to align himself and gain some popularity.

I am writing this after a 2-hour phone discussion with a respected CEO of an investment management firm, who I know is very close to SLS. Our discussion was purely on this SLS action and both of us agreed it was not right. In fact, when I first read the story, I sent an instant sms to this SLS friend, lamenting 'I hope this is not true o; your friend is inviting another media backlash o; why? Why didn't he do same for earlier places? Is CBN even meant to be involved in all these?" He said he spoke with SLS shortly after and SLS said he was acting within his mandate. A researcher that this man is, he quickly called friends from American and British financial system and they all said no such relief funds was made available by their Federal Reserve/Exchequer during Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. It was hard to rationalize, because truth is, no precedent for it.

I also discussed same issue with another senior friend, the editor of a leading National daily. He was even the one that first sent me a message asking 'what do u see to sanusi's latest donation?' I told him, I tire o, that, why does sls like playing into the hands of his critics?

Truth, as I see it, is SLS goofed big time this time around.

Now, is he still my role model? Yes, still very much, because he is not perfect and errors of judgement don't disqualify one as a role model

Does he have any agenda? Absolutely no. And I can swear with any permissible thing that SLS(I have observed him from distant and in private) meant well for this country and he is a patriot.

Bilms aka experts, will read from me.

Almost. We are from same town, met on NL, later met off-NL. My exact type of partner(brain and beauty and muslimah), but too late then. We are still friends and currently working on going into business partnership.

Yak fed, scored and tweeted about being better than Torres

Don't know whether they have changed it, but when I wrote their test in 2006(for which I topped with 72%, passed interview, got the offer but declined) it was regular made-in-Nigeria test: word problem, antonyms, synonyms etc. Very simple. But that was when they were IBTCChartered, I doubt if they won't have changed it now that they are international bank.

No

tatabu:
Yes indeed, i just joined the forum! I am a muslim Alhamdulilah.

My name is AbdulGafar i currently live at sokoto state.

I am 22 years old, i am glad i found this site

Wa alaikum salam. I served in Sokoto state(07/08) and still connect with the place. I lived in Sheikh Gunmi College(MCAN lodge) but frequented many places, including Rabah, Balle etc.

I had issue with your state governor though.

Welcome to Nairaland!

.

Get well soon, BAT.

I did primary(private), secondary(public), university(public), 2nd degree(likely abroad).

But I will want my children to do primary(private), secondary(private), university(public - federal uni), higher degrees(abroad).

Faabu o, ko ma roos

Moved

Early monday morning. Bacchanals in the corridors of power. After party atmosphere. We are in the palatial living room of one of the innumerable Presidential Guest Houses in Abuja. Hard liquor from every nook of the world competes for space on the centre table with leftover peppersoup from every cranny of Nigeria. Hints of exhausted Cuban cigars linger in the room. Under-dressed Aristo girls of every hue – depending on the efficacy of bleaching creams – and size loll lazily on the expensive rug. Half-opened Ghana-must-go bags reveal a roll call of dollars and pound sterling, unspent change from the party. The men in the room are in various stages of sleepy hangover. X Project’s “Lori Le” wafts across the room from a powerful gbedu sound system:
 
Sisi ologe, ki lo di saya

So fun mi ki lo fe, mo wa on fire

To ba foju di mi, ma je o lose your temper

Wa binu, demonstrate pelu tumba

Igba yen lo ma mo pe awa l’oba tumba

O ti e le
Bobo yi o ti e le

Wo bo se n fese pale pale niwaju omoge

Ah bobo yi o ti e le
Bobo yi o ti e le

Wo bo se n fese pale pale niwaju omoge
(Enter Ruby, visibly disturbed)
“Orontus! Orontus, wake up! You guys are still here? You slept without even turning off the music. Sunkunrunmus riranmus! Honestly, sunkunrunmus riranmus!
Ah, Ruby, (yawn) take it easy (more yawn). Ol’boy what’s biting you this early morning? Men, you miss yesterday o. We rocked this place!”
“Sunkunrunmus riranmus!”
“Ruby, what’s come over you? Na which one be all dis Latin wey you dey blow here dis morning sef? You work for Aso Rock, not the Vatican?”
“I’m not speaking Latin, Orontus”
“Ehen, I suppose sunkunrunmus riranmus is Ijaw then?”
“For where? It is Yoruba. That’s the Yoruba botanical name for the proverb: a man crying can still see clearly through his tears.”
“Okay o. What are you crying about and what are you seeing clearly through your tears?”
“Can you ask them to excuse us?”
(Orontus barks orders and the girls disappear into various rooms.)
“Orontus, have you not heard?”
“Heard what, Ruby?”
“The announcement by Madam”
“Which of the Madams?”
“Madam Diezani”
“Which announcement?”
“Common Orontus, I’m in no mood for games this morning. She has just announced Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as Chairman of…”
(Orontus bursts into a riotous laughter. Renoks wakes up, yawning drowsily)
“Ah, Oga Orontus, you don wake? Yesterday was wicked! Ah, Oga Ruby, you don land here dis morning?”
“See me o, Renoks. Ruby rushed in to disturb my sleep with Latin dis morning just because of dat thing”
“Which thing?”
“The Nuhu Ribadu thing”
(Orontus and Renoks burst out laughing. Ruby looks even more confused)
“You guys, you think this is funny, abi? The Petroleum Minister jumps up and makes this kind of announcement without…”
“Ruby, who told you she made the announcement without…”
“Ehn, Orontus, you mean…”
“Of course, it’s from the very top. From Oga. You think Madam can just do that on her own?”
“So, the two of you were in on it? Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing here as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity. Things are always going on above my head. Even Renoks, whose office is ordinary Facebook, Twitter, and nairaland, knows more about things than me. Anyway, I hope you guys advised Oga about the consequences of this Ribadu appointment.”
“Consequences?”
“That’s why I said sunkunrunmus riranmus when I came in. I can see clearly through my tears what you guys cannot see with your clear eyes?”
“And wetin you dey see Oga Ruby”
“Renoks, this is no joking matter. You and Orontus are underestimating the extent of this disaster”
“What disaster, Oga Ruby”
“Ribadu of course! His appointment is a disaster!”
How so, Oga Ruby?
“Renoks, don’t tell me that you and Orontus cannot see that he will embarrass Oga with his gra-gra. Between us, we all know how close members of the oil cabal are to Oga. We all know that they put him there. We all know that whether Oga goes through the ballot o or through tenure extension o, it is still the same people that will build our war chest for 2015. Is this the time to let loose that crazy man on the geese laying Oga’s golden eggs? You know he is going to take the job too seriously and go after them.”
“Enough, Ruby! You are such a slow learner!”
“Me? A slow learner? Okay o, Orontus, teach me what I don’t know about this matter. When the man starts hounding Oga’s friends, handcuffing and hauling them to court in Black Marias like he did to Tafa Balogun, I will be the one saddled with the unpleasant task of issuing statements to explain Oga’s closeness to those people in the first place.”
“You still don’t get it, Ruby, do you? This is a win-win situation for Oga. The man’s naïve gra-gra is precisely what Oga desperately needs to appear to be fighting corruption and the oil cabal now. We have explained to all concerned cabal members that there will be a little hounding and some noise making here and there, given the nature of the appointee but he will never be able to do more than that.”
“Orontus, you are forgetting the media! The man is a basket mouth who conducts media inquisitions. He will go to the media and call Oga’s friends names. He will call them the greatest thieves and the most corrupt people he has ever seen. He will indict them in the media. And people will believe him because he has tremendous public goodwill.”
“But that’s precisely what we need him to be doing between now and 2014, Ruby”
“I don’t get it. If we allow him to damage the cabal members between now and 2014, how are they going to be in the position to bankroll Oga’s re-election or tenure extension bid in 2015?”
(Raucous laughter again from Orontus and Renoks)
“Renoks, I give up. Explain things to our friend, Ruby”
“Oga Ruby, don’t you know the man’s antecedents in the business of denying his past statements? Even statements you’ll easily find on Google, the man will swear by the Quran that he never ever made such statements. The list is very long: he denied ever indicting Madam Patience; denied ever opening a file on Oga when Oga was Governor of Bayelsa; denied ever calling Asiwaju the greatest thief in the world. He’s denied so many things. If it ever becomes convenient to deny having ever been the Chairman of the EFCC, the man will not hesitate to swear by the Quran that he has never ever heard of the EFCC in his life.”
“Renoks, I don’t see where you are going with this.”
“Be patient, Oga Ruby. By 2014 when he would have served his purpose, we’ll prey upon his talent for denial.”
“And how are we going to do this?”
“Okay, the man has been honing his international profile since he left the EFCC. He has been a darling of the West and the international community. He has done assignments for the UN and the European Union, abi?”
“Yes.”
“We won’t need him and his gra-gra here after 2015 so we shall send him back to his people abroad as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN. We will dangle that carrot in 2014. Oga has already ratified that strategy. We shall tell him that for him to go to the UN, Oga must be re-elected or he must get tenure extension. And for Oga to be re-elected or to get tenure extension, his oil cabal friends must be fully operational. Trust me, the man will rush to the media and exonerate every cabal member he would have abused and hounded between now and 2014. He will swear and rave that he never called them thieves, never accused them of anything. He will claim that the allegations are the handiwork of mischief makers bent on heating up the polity, bla bla bla. You know the rest of his playbook.”
“Renoks, you are forgetting to tell Ruby one thing. Once we dangle the UN carrot, our friend will also do everything to checkmate that ambitious Nasir El Rufai who is a potential problem for us in 2015. They are no longer friends. Ruby, you really need to learn how we do these things.”
“But, Orontus, why him?”
“Ruby, why who?”
“Why Ribadu?”
“Which kain yeye question be dat? Everybody uses him, why should our own be different? Everybody preys upon his lively innocence and amusing desire to go down in history as the man who moved mountains and singularly changed our way of life in the corridors of power. Baba Iyabo used him to fight his enemies; Yar’Adua used him temporarily before dumping him; Asiwaju used him mightily. By the time Asiwaju was done using him, the man denied three times before the cock crowed that he ever called Asiwaju the greatest thief in the world. Can the EFCC ever go back to that file? So, why shouldn’t we use him too? Why should Oga’s own be different?”
(Ruby bursts into a mighty laughter. Orontus and Renoks watch him in silence)
“OMG! OMG! This is lovely!! This is beautiful. You guys are evil geniuses, sorry, you guys are real geniuses. I was so worried when I got here but now I see you have this all nicely planned.”
“Ruby.”
“Yes, Orontus.”
“You know why we are watching you laugh?”
“No.”
“It’s funny. It’s the irony. This same laugh that you are laughing now, that’s the same laugh we always laugh when we plan and make our moves and later read the syrupy progressive crap you used to write about those of us in government in your articles. We used to read you, laughing over peppersoup and beer.”
“Really?”
“Yes o, Ruby, really. S-t-e-w-a-r-d!!!”
“Sah!”
“Is my morning periwinkle peppersoup ready?”
“Yes, Oga Orontus, e don ready. I spice am well well for you dis morning sah”
“Bring Ruby some peppersoup.”

IBB, GEJ, Shagari, Obj in that order.

I think Deji Akere(Chem Engr, 2006) holds the record of all-time highest CGPA. He finished with 4.94.

He went to Cambridge for his masters shortly after.

dayokanu:
Did you grad from Chemical Engr too?? Ohanomah is with Shell last i heard and i think his record has been smashed a couple of time in Chemical Engr dept

deols:
wow!!!
Mallam Sanusi is an inspiration!
While I have my reservations as regards some of his points (yh! i have to authenticate them first!), I do agree with most of what he said.
It is well known that the shariah being practiced in northern Nigeria is to a large extent political. There wasnt much done to institutionalise it the right way. Many of the judges do not have any formal education in shariah law. I have heard of judges with only a degree in hausa language- you can imagine that.

We need more muslims like mallam Sanusi to preach the true Islam-the religion of Peace!

exactly my take too.

Biolabee(additional), D.A, your donations confirmed received.

God bless

I read Nurudeen Ogbara's interview in one newspaper recently.
He is now a Lawyer and I think an exco in Ikorodu or Ikeja NBA

oyb:
dude, your hatted monkey asked if we wanted fresh air in nigeria. those of us knocking him knew the only thing we would get fro him was a pit latrine, even though muppets like you spammed this board like the man was the second coming try again, and stay ontopic

HMMMN, oya close your laptop and face front.

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/articles/adulteress_diary.htm

The reason I have taken up the unsolicited duty of defending him since I did personal research on him in 2009 was because I believe he is grossly misunderstood. He is and was never an ethnic jingoist or religious fundamentalist. Being someone that talks about everything, including religion and ethnicity, he has the tendency to be misunderstood.

To me, I believe is just one wide-read man that doesn't spare anybody, irrespective of your ethnicity or religion.

He wrote this article in 2001 during the widespread debate of Sharia and exposed the hypocrisy of northern governors. At that time, one Sefiya Husseini has just been sentenced to death by stoning by Sokoto's political sharia. He stood against this, arguing with his Islamic knowledge(remember he is also an Islamic scholar).

For this article he was labeled anti-Islam, anti-Sharia in the North.

THE ADULTERESS' DIARY

BY

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi 
November 2001
 

If you choose to read my diary you must forgive my often vulgar, some times irreverent language. I hope you will also find the moral courage to give the following entries wide circulation, my crude vocabulary notwithstanding. The world should know what injustice is being perpetrated by northern Nigerian Muslim males against their women in the name of Allah and under cover of Shariah. You see, my name is Safiya Husseini, recently convicted for the crime of having been born a woman by a Shariah court in Sokoto. I know you have been told that my crime was adultery, not womanhood. I also know, being a mere woman, that you think I am most probably talking rubbish. When you finish reading this record of my own thoughts, possibly after my death, you will make up your mind. My punishment is to be death by stoning at the hands of men. I cannot tell you where I am, because I am hiding from the men of the Hisbah corps, the fanatical Muslim militia saddled with the task of bringing Shariah offenders to book. I have been told by the scholars, the mallamai (who happen to be men), that I should give myself up and face death like a good Muslim woman. Doing this is a patriotic duty that will cleanse my society of corruption and purify me from my sins. You see our society has become rotten. We are fast becoming like the Jews in the time of Christ. You know Jesus called them a "wicked and adulterous generation". There is too much adultery, fornication and homosexuality. Women, as our mallamai swear our prophet said, are the source of all this evil and our scholars are convinced that the only cure for the fitnah is to put us to death. I can understand how men can accuse women of being the source of all adultery and fornication. But what do women have to do with the widespread fitnah of men chasing men? Surely it shows that men also are evil and need no women to lure them? Do not mind me. I am but a woman-daft and senseless. Do the mallamai not say that the prophet said that women are deficient in religion and intelligence? Back to the point, it is believed that my death will lead to a near-magical transmogrification of the caliphate’s ethical landscape. Our holy land, the land of Dan Fodio, Abdullahi and Bello, will witness a termination of the crepuscular routines of illicit carnality that regularly take place in shadowy alleys, state houses, guest houses and five-star hotels. Our men shall no longer be victims of temptation by evil women. Their purity shall no longer be stained by erotic pursuits. In short every man shall become as clean and sinless as our Shariah governors whom I am told can each swear on the Qur’an never to have committed the capital sin of adultery. This I am ready to believe. You see in Islamic Law it is the governor, as the Imam of our state, who is expected to step forward and cast the first stone. We will on that day prove to the Christians that we are better than Jews. When the Jews wanted to stone a harlot, Jesus threw them a challenge. "Let he among you who is without sin," said he, "cast the first stone". They all sulked away, the hypocrites. If you heard our governor in his BBC Hausa interview, in all his righteousness, then you know that he is not like those hypocritical Jews. Allah ya sauwake! He will step up majestically and after giving me a magisterial rebuke cast his stone. The other sinless members of our society-the emirs, the mallamai, the politicians- will follow. With my death, as you have heard often, the land shall become cleansed of crimes of the flesh.

 

In addition to this service to the community, I am told on the authority of no less than the prophet himself that submitting myself to this punishment is my ticket to heaven. I shall no longer face the humiliation of being treated like a lumpen-slut. I shall be transformed into a voluptuous, voracious virgin in paradise. You laugh at this because you do not know the value of virginity to our men. I too did not understand this obsession until I read Jarasimus Mhanna’s Rasa’il al-Jahiz (The Letters of al-Jahiz). In one of his letters, the African poet quoted the second Caliph ‘Umar as saying to fellow men: "Marry young virgins; they have perfumed mouths and narrow vaginas." Only Allah knows if ‘Umar actually said this, but I know our men have taken this advice far beyond ‘Umar could ever have intended. They marry the girls at too young an age when the opening is so narrow they end up with VVF when giving birth, at which point the men abandon them. But this is not my concern right now. I was saying that I will become a heavenly virgin. No more menstruation, no more toileting, no more pregnancy and yes, I will enjoy pure unadulterated sex. I like that word unadulterated. I suppose unadulterated sex means sex that will not be called adultery. I know I am probably murdering the English language but who cares at this point? I will have my choice of men and believe you me I will ask for our shariah governors whose own ticket to heaven is through whipping, stoning and amputating the fornicatresses, adulteresses and common thieves in our society. Their own sins are forgiven if they ensure that we poor sinners, especially the women, are subjected to Allah’s laws. I am told not to grieve over all those posh totties who hang around the high and mighty in this world and laugh at us because they use condoms and pills and can have abortions. Our illiteracy is in reality our saving grace. This is why we were removed from school and married off at a young age. Now I also understand why our mallamai have stoutly opposed sex-education. Those so-called "educated" high-class whores may escape in this world but they will pay in the hereafter. They are going to hell. Ditto the men who fornicate and commit adultery with us but get away with it. Imagine that twit Yakubu denying that he was the one who impregnated me! But the alkali (bless his soul) could do nothing. His hands are tied. How could he take my word, mere woman that I am, that Yakubu was the father of my baby? The law says I should produce four male, honest, reliable witnesses who are to testify to having visualized the twittering idiot’s you-know-what physically embedded in my you-know-what like a kajal stick inside its hollow case! Unfortunately we did not have sex in a nudist camp. And even if we did, the term honest, reliable male is an oxymoron. No man can possibly be honest and reliable, especially if his honesty would convict a fellow-man. How could I ever produce four? Since I could not meet this order then I am a liar, like all women. In the unlikely event that I speak the truth, Yakubu will pay on the day of judgement. As for me, I shall have the honour of a union of sorts with the holy governors. Forgive my language, but just imagine what I would do on laying my hands on their collective genitals, with the angels looking the other way! But that will be in heaven, if they manage to make it there.

 

I listened to the mallamai with all respect, but packed my things and ran away the moment they left. You see I happen to believe that the law under which I was convicted is not Allah’s law. It is true that the alkali, (Allah bless him again), has told journalists this is Allah’s law and anyone who questions it is not a good Muslim, perhaps not even a Muslim at all. Somehow I have my reservations. It seems to me the law is what the alkali understands of what some men living at some time in some foreign land claim to be the Law of Allah. His understanding may be flawed. Other men may have made different claims than these in the name of the same Allah. And of course in all this we have not heard the voice of women. Surely if I suggest that it is not Allah’s law I do not lose my faith? But you see I am only a woman. So I tell myself to stop thinking and challenging these things. It is not my place. Let me tell you a few of the thoughts that crossed my mind and made me run away from this perverse judgement. Who knows, perhaps there may be some sense in me, after-all.

 

You see according to press reports, my case started when some "unnamed informants" told the police that I, Safiya the divorcee, was pregnant without husband and "fingered one Yakubu Abubakar, a married man in the same village, as being responsible for the pregnancy". Ya Salam! Any one who knows Islamic Law knows this is not a case of adultery but of slander. These "reliable sources" should have been arrested immediately and charged to court. They are to produce four eye-witnesses to the crime of zina (illicit sex) of which they accused a believing woman behind her back. This much is clear from books of Law and Ibn Rushd, the Maliki jurist, stated in his book al-Muqaddimat al-Mumahhidat that if anyone says "so-and-so is an adulteress" he must produce four witnesses. It is not enough for us to have been seen playing together, you know. In the time of the second caliph ‘Umar, some companions reported one of his governors, Mughira Ibn Shu’ba, for adultery. Three of them testified to having visualized the governor’s dinky in the woman’s pinky but the fourth witness faltered. He said he saw some swinging bum bums but as for the real thing he could not swear. So the three of them, including one of the Holy Prophet’s closest companions ‘Ammar Ibn Yasir, were given eighty bulalas for slander. This story is there in the books of Law as a precedent. I hear even books of history, like Ibn Katheer’s al-Bidaya wa ‘l-Nihaya have the record. Why was my case different? Why was I called to defend myself when the charge of slander had not been prosecuted? Point number one.

 

May Allah bless the companions of the prophet who gave women the benefit of doubt. A woman was brought before ‘Umar with pregnancy and she said; "O Caliph! I am a heavy sleeper and a man came upon me one night. I did not wake up until he had finished and turned his back." He let her go. Another woman said to ‘Umar: " I was thirsty and I asked a shepherd to give me water to drink but he refused unless I lay with him so I did." ‘Umar said to ‘Ali, "what is your view on her?" ‘Ali replied, "I think she was pushed by necessity". So ‘Umar gave her a few lashes and asked her to go. In fact a woman was brought to ‘Ali when he was caliph and he kept saying to her, "perhaps he romanced you? Perhaps he merely rubbed himself between your thighs? etc" until she took the hint and said "yes." It is not that the Caliphs believed these incredible tales. But they believed that the gates of Allah’s mercy were very wide. They knew that it is better for 1,000 adulteresses to escape stoning by man than for one innocent Muslim woman to be so stoned. Those who escape can always repent and be of use to their society and religion. Allah is a Most Merciful God. This much the Caliphs, but not our generation of mallamai, understood. For this reason in every Sunni School of Law today I can go back to court and say I lied, that I do not know how I got pregnant, or that I was charmed or tricked or anything and I am free. But not the Maliki school, which we insist on following in this matter. Here, pregnancy is evidence of zina and I am presumed guilty until I prove my innocence. If I say I was raped I must prove it. If I say I made a mistake it will be accepted only if "reliable men" in my village testify that I am a nice girl. It is a Law that contravenes the general principle that I am innocent until proven guilty. The fact of pregnancy is taken as proof of guilt even though zina requires, in addition to proof of intercourse, proof of consent and knowledge. These points are documented in books of Law. You can check Ibn Qudamah’s al-Mughni, or al-Jaza’iri’s Kitabul Fiqh ‘ala ‘l-Mazahib al-Arba’. I know some Hanbali jurists, notably Ibn Taimiya, support Malik’s view. Fortunately, our mallamai have always taught us not to listen to that puritanical predecessor to the Wahhabiya and ‘Yan Izala. So who decides for me that I must be judged by Malik’s Law? To ask me to prove my innocence contravenes Islamic Jurisprudence, Fundamental Human Rights and the Nigerian Constitution. To bring me to court, even after I ran away in terror the first time, nullifies my confession. It was clearly extracted and not voluntary by virtue of the circumstances. This seems clear from Shaikh Wahba al-Zuhaili’s work, al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh. If my confession is invalid, then my conviction is based on the fact of pregnancy and valid under Maliki Law only. Why can’t I be judged by the Law of Shafii, Abu Hanifa or Ibn Hanbal? If Malik’s Law is "Allah’s Law" then whose Law do the Shafii Muslims (of Indonesia, Malaysia, East Africa etc), and the Hanbali Muslims (of the Arab Gulf), and the Hanafi Muslims (of the Indian sub-continent) operate? But you know I am a woman. I cannot argue with the alkali.

 

There are other interesting points to note is that stoning to death, as punishment for adultery, is not mentioned in the Qur’an. Believe me. The Qur’an says in Chapter 24: Verse 2: "The woman and the man guilty of zina flog each of them with a hundred stripes." This is what the Book of Allah says and the word zina refers to sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to each other. No verse of the Qur’an was revealed abrogating this judgement or amending it ( If you discount the problematic claim by some that ‘Umar said that such a verse existed at a point. Its text was abrogated but its verdict remains!). However, Muslim jurists make a distinction between fornication (or zina by one who has never been married) and adultery (zina by one who has passed through Ihsan and become a Muhsan). A Muslim becomes a muhsan once he/she consummates a valid marriage in a state of adulthood and sanity. So if he/she is found guilty of zina the punishment, according to jurists is stoning to death, based on the Traditions of the Prophet, not the Qur’an. Most jurists of Sunni and Shiite Islam accept this position. Some early jurists, particularly among Kharijites, reject this distinction as a baseless innovation. In addition to the verse quoted above, a second verse makes the matter most problematic. In the Qur’an Chapter 4: Verse 25, Allah encourages Muslim men who cannot marry free women to marry Muslim slaves with the consent of their families or owners. He then adds: "If, after their Ihsan, they are found guilty of indecency their punishment is half of the punishment of Muhsanat." Now if the punishment of the free-born adulteress is 100 lashes then the punishment of the slave adulteress is 50 lashes and there is no problem there. If however we say the punishment for the muhsanah is stoning to death, what does Allah mean by prescribing half of that for the slave? You must forgive me, for I am a mere woman. I am unable to calculate half of stoning to death. Is it stoning to half-death? Or half-stoning to death? Or stoning half to death? The Kharijites gave our ulama a lot of trouble on this point. One of our best brains, Ibn Qutaiba, wrote spirited defences in two books, Ta’weel Mukhtalaf al-Qur’an and Ta’weel Mukhtalaf al-Hadeeth. On this point, though, I am not sure he answered more questions than he raised. It seems to me he ended up saying that Ihsan does not mean consummating marriage so he turned everything we read in Law on its head. He also resorted to drawing an analogy between woman, on the one hand, and a cow or she-camel, on the other, to wriggle out of the problem. Anyway all this is water under the bridge. The reality is that this debate has been buried so deeply it cannot be revived-certainly not before my sentence is due to be carried out. In any event, the Kharijites are counted among the lost sects (al-firaq al-dhaallah) so their view carries no weight with our scholars.

 

 

You see, dear reader, I remain faithful to our scholars. I do not challenge them, even where I have my doubts. Ask the alkali. As he pronounced his sentence on me, I said nothing to indicate I knew these things. I am a woman, totally invisibilized behind the veil and inside kulle. I know my place. But one thing I cannot accept is to die alone when I know and the alkali knows I could not have made this baby alone. I mean I am not the Virgin Mary! Even that inyamiri, Anyim Anyim, has said so. The jurists, including Maliki jurists, who produced the body of knowledge called fiqh (or law) lived at a point in time in history when there was no way of establishing the paternity of a child. I can understand if they said pregnancy is evidence of zina, even though it is a harsh verdict, but I know the only reason they prescribed nothing for the man was because they had nothing to go on apart from the woman’s word. Today the alkali has options. Science can establish who is telling lies between Yakubu and I, and DNA tests are used by courts all over the modern world to settle these matters. Of course they are not 100% faultless but my guilt has also not been 100% proven. At least he should take that one step of testing for paternity. But no. This will not happen because men will also die. If we stick to the law as inherited from the past, men of the present can impregnate us and deny us. Brilliant, aren’t they, these men? They commit a crime in the 20th Century with rooms and curtains and airconditioners available but can only be convicted based on a Law of Evidence made for the 7th Century with people doing it in the open desert or makeshift tents! Four eye-witnesses to sex in the NICON Hilton in 2001? So Bariya was whipped, Safiya will be stoned, who next? All the men escaped because of lack of evidence. So long as men are not punished for impregnating women nothing will change. And herein lies the injustice of the Law. I sleep with Yakubu and get pregnant. Because only I will be punished, I insist that my crime is not adultery, but pregnancy. Since only women can be pregnant this means that the real crime is being a woman. The man will always commit adultery and escape. The woman is the only one who can ever conceive, the unknowing depository of the traitor’s semen. It is not Allah or his Prophet or even Malik who says so. It is our scholars, our men, who hide behind the lie of being loyal to the past to perpetuate the crimes of our present and escape. Now you know why I said I was convicted of being a woman. Maybe it makes sense to you, maybe it doesn’t. I have no illusions, for I am a mere woman.

 

I am glad Nigerians are talking. I have already filed an appeal. I am not asking for my death and Yakubu’s. I want to be given the benefit that the early Caliphs gave all those women. I want the chance to repent. Allah has opened His doors to his servants who go astray and wish to repent, why should men close that door in my face? I want the Law to be truly Allah’s Law and not a concoction by men. And if men themselves differ on what Allah means, who is to decide Allah’s true intent? With your help I may yet live. I only pray I will not be back on trial for murder. You see, given my experience with my husbands, my lover, my fellow-villagers, the police, the judiciary and even my governor, I have come to see men in their true colours. I have seen, first hand, the extent to which they have cheated women, and the lies they have spun in the name of Allah and His Messenger. Now this is my fear. If any man after this as much as winks at me, I will most joyfully slice off his you-know-what.

November 2001

pcicero:
@ kamali
Abeg, no twist history oo. Ropo Ewela was never the president of the SUG. We were in ANA (association of Nigerian authors) together. I learnt he contested but he never won. Carl was before Tony Fash. There was no SUG election after Tony Fash until Vakama's election.

I hope NASU(Non Academic Students) or sesewa have not invaded the thread o

Subscribing

rabzy:
Jarus, you political foot soldiers especially from the DSM bloc did a lot of harm of avoidable harm, i did not have time nor patience for most of your rhetorics because i could see thru them and politics for me was just too selfish.
A lot of political violence was caused by DSM, i remember how they beat 'have you eaten' to coma and that was the end of the guy. Nobody heard from him ever since, i think that was the election that brought in Burkina.

I was never a DSMite, nor a Marxist like them. In fact, I have more leaning towards Pacesetter than DSM. They are too ideological and sometimes violent for me.

I actually wasn't active at the campus level, only in my department where I played Godfather role until i came out for election myself in final year and lost

But I followed campus politics very well and did some underground work for Hemhem. I also used to use my weekly column, POINTBLANK, in Economics Dept's press outfit, ECONOMIC INSIGHT, to express strong voice on campus politics.

Manifesto nights are usually sights to behold. 5000 seater Amphi theatre filled to brim with every space filled. The crowd, the fun, teh fireworks, the politicking, the shouts, till late in the night and the political songs after the manifesto.

Great refresher there, Cicero.

I came in when Burkina was the president. The guy was a good speaker and a fine boy, to boot. I remember the day he was impeached. It was in Amphi theatre and he restricted all moves to get him impeached but after a couple of attempts the students succeeded.

After him was Akin Revolution. He also tried. Then came Hemhem. Hemhem was like a school father to me being a friend to my sister in their set. I worked for Hemhem; in fact, our room(Rm 189 Awo) was his informal campaign secretariat. In fact, I was one of the first people to advise him to contest for Presidency, having lost Secretary General in 3 consecutive times. I read the political mood on campus at the time and I knew Hemhem stood chance. Hemhem used to be a well respected voice in Students congresses then and his suggestions on 'way forward' were usually widely accepted at that period when the campus needed vibrant leadership. It worked. He won.
But along the line he derailed in his presidency, and trust Great ife students, they wasted no time in impeaching him.

Then there was Diamond and later Saburi who had also lost an earlier attempt.

Ife politics was interesting. One thing about Ife is that if a leader messes up, teh students waste no time in impeaching him.

rabzy:
Congratulations OAU, The most wondrous of memories happened there.

Do you know diamonds nickname in part one was Toofan. He was caught removing fans from rooms and selling them to others. Na small remain dem for give am ferefe sisi.

Aluta against fees, Aluta sports festival, Aluta Market,  Obele nbe tuubu, Trust Zobo, Zobotiano,

Pit theatre (the best shows of my life was seen here.), Pharmacy pomo buka, Akanseere, Orunmila, Old School, dapson of the homo fame, Have you eaten,  
Se e need e.

That orunmila guy enlivened Awo hall with his morning ewi. I remember old school too  

I remember when Diamond was mooting his aspiration, the opposition(I suspect the DSM) pasted posters around the campus showing a picture of FAN and put the question: WHO STOLE THIS FAN FIVE YEARS AGO IN ANGOLA?
That propaganda never worked though, he still won.  

Demdem:
i could still remember that evening vividly. i was in block 8 Awo when one guy kept running towards the building hysterically and panting heavily. we all were concerned and thinking of hearing another sad news like the Africa debacle. after much waiting he declared, " Obirin ti gba Ijobaooo. Won ti gba SUG" (the ladies have seized power, they are now occupying the SUG building) Come see curses Guys heap on this fellow. was really a scene  

I still remember that election. It was like the GEJ election of last year. The ordinarily politically inactive, usually sentimental people were the ones that voted for Diamond(GEJ) while the progressives and politically actives were divided between Wale Eleto(Buhari) and Saburi(Ribadu) then.

I worked for Wale Eleto(my classmate and an avowed Marxist), but Diamond(like GEJ) won based on sentiments.

Ife campus politics na die
They tried repeating same thing next session but the poor guy was rigged out for Saburi(progressive candidate)  

cindylee:
2004-2008. I lived in Moremi in my first year and finak year. 2nd year was spent in Ladoke Akintola Hall a.k.a sports hall. One of the dirtiest hostels I have ever stayed in my entire life. 3rd year was spent squating from one room to another beginning from town igboro(however it is spelt). I liked reading in Amphi theatre especially at night. Too many distractions but I love reading in a noisy place. I so much liked risky burger and coke while sitting under those trees in frot of oduduwa hall.

I loved my fellowship then- R.C.F. Still miss it though as all these churches we have cant't be compared to the raw fire brand fellowships in schools then. I met Jesus on O.A.U Campus in my 1st year and spent so many years praying in sports complex. It really formed me.

Academic life was hectic. Reading as if there was no tomorrow. I can't even go back and do my masters there because I will read my eyes out. Great Ife!

One last thing, I enjoyed the aluta especially during elections. I campaigned for Diamond in my second year even though I did't know him personnally. He was a fine boy and gave us mirrors. lol

We know all you fellowship people voted for Diamond
Saburi, Saburi ayi ayi o

Demdem:
After my Angolan sojourn in my first year, the next 4yrs was in Awo hall.
Nothing like Awo Hall. No dull moments at all. fajuyi guys really missed a lot.

Faj na dull place. For awon omo butter, awon omo mummy.