Gentlemen of the Press,
As- salaam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all). Seasonal greetings of Ramadhan Kareem to our Muslim Brothers and Sisters and Happy Easter Friday to our Christian Brothers and Sisters. May Allah bless you all (Amin).
Foremost, let me thank Almighty Allah for the successful conduct of the 2023 general elections across Nigeria. The election raises some fundamental issues that need to be addressed from religious perspectives. These includes: ownership of government, accountability to Allah and competence, the concept trust and competence, duties of the electorates, duties of the elected to rule; and duties of the rules to the government.
Applying all these to the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria, we cannot but evaluate our performances, try to reposition ourselves and correct our actions as much as possible for better future.
In Islam, the basic concept is that SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE UNIVERSE BELONGS TO GOD. Mankind as representative of Allah is vested with authority in certain spheres AS A TRUST for which they are ANSWERABLE and ACCOUNTABLE to God. This is contained in the Holy Quran. It then means that election into offices must be with the rules of Allah who owned the universe. These rules are fundamental and general universal rules. These are humanity rules that has no religion, color, or creed.
Those rules include; truthfulness and avoidance of deception, justice and fairness, goodness, giving the rights others to them, avoidance of evil, avoidance of indecency, avoidance of rebellion and promotion of peaceful co –existences with all humanity irrespective of the tribe, color or race. These are the rules of the owner entrenched in the Holy Qur’an.
On accountability, people in government, whether elected or appointed are accountable to Allah to men that elected them. In the case of Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism (1709) “the fools rush in where the angels fear to tread”. The fact the politicians avoid accountability to men with impunity make it looks like they can avoid accountability to Allah. That is naivety of the highest order and living in fools paradise. The main trust of this press conference is to draw attention of all the elected leaders to accountability to Allah the Almighty God.
The basis for electing people to any post in Islam is TRUSTWORTHINESS and COMPETENCE. Electorates are to focus on these qualities of the candidates and nothing else. Tribalism, nepotism and religious bigotry, racial discrimination is all alien to rules of Allah as taught in the Holy Qur’an. Rebellion, gangsterism, forceful imposition in the act of selecting a leader is alien to teachings of Islam. It is totally wrong to group or gang up to endorse a candidate. Self acclaimed projections mistakenly called prophecies to carry people along for a candidate is unholy and deceitful. It is wrong for elected or appointed people to use power to convert the land, positions, money or any other resources entrusted to them for their personal use.
Islam places special responsibilities on the governors and the governed, the two being part of any government. The electorates have attempted to elect their leaders. There were several positive performances like legislatives amendments to support credible elections, the assurances of the current government and Independent Electoral Commission, allocation of huge resources, increased turnout of the voters and actual casting of the votes, announcement of results and most importantly, availability of grievance procedures through tribunals and courts. These are all commendable by way of planning.
However, in the execution, obviously there are so many areas of improvement required. Notably; management of vote buying and resources mobilization for election that led to cash crunch and fuel scarcity occasioning untold hardship on the people, instances of threat of violence, disruptions of electioneering processes and causalities, in some places, failure In the transmission of election results, engineering of voters apathy as a result of all these failures.
I pray for the families of those who lost their lives in the process and encourage all losers who could not let go to approach the relevant grievance resolution institutions and under no circumstances should they result to self – help or violence. I also encourage the voter not to be discouraged but look forward to continuous delivery of their duties to Allah as a commandment to select leaders that are trustworthy and competent.
The election has come and gone. It is now important to avoid all negativities such as call for subversion of the concluded processes or interim government or any form of rebellion or insurrection. Any unlawful take over is an act of evil. Let all the leaders and the lead focus on the act of governance and leave every other thing in the hands of Allah. The judges are also accountable to Allah, the Almighty God. I am by no means saying anyone should not pursue his or her rights where he or she feels aggrieved but rather such chase or pursuance must be through peaceful legal means.
The focus should be good governance, transparency and accountability. By good governance, all focus on welfare and security of all the people of Nigeria in all ramifications. All forms of dichotomy should be erased.
It is not out of place to state that, as far as the Ahamdiyya Muslim Jama’at and its members are concerned, with our long history of rendering religious, educational, medical social and humanitarian services to the nation and its citizens, we assure our political leaders of our continued support and prayers for the administration at all levels, as well as our commitment to discharging our civic responsibilities to the country in most peaceful manner.
In this light, on behalf of myself and the entire members of the Ahamdiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, I congratulate His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN, GCFR) the President-elect, His Excellency, Alhaji (Senator) Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, His Excellency, Alhaji Kashim Shetima, all the elected Governors, and National and State Assemblies, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all stakeholders and Nigerians for the success of the 2023 elections. May Allah be the guide and helper of all the elected and may He not make it a source of moral spiritual, moral and physical destruction for them. Amin.
Once more, Ramadhan Kareem and Happy Easter Friday.
Assalamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu
Alhaji Barrister Alatoye Folorunsho Abdul Azeez
Amir (National Head),
Ahamdiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria.
