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A Muslim cleric sent shock waves through my spine. I cannot bear it. It is alarming. It is unbelievable, uncivil, undemocratic and, worst of it, ungodly. While we have our biases and choices which are legitimate and which define us as humans who are free to choose, to think your choice of whom to vote for must be the choice of all other people is pushing bigotry to the extreme. To impose your choice of candidate(s) even on your wives and children whom you feed from your pocket is domestic dictatorship and is absolutely wrong. Freedom to choose makes us humans.
To set the record straight, I am not Tinubu’s fan and I cannot imagine being his fan. As I have shown in all my previous writings which featured Tinubu, he doesn’t fit into my leadership template. His politics is, to me, awkward and non-progressive which leaves much to be desired; yet to many, his politics is the very reason why they idolize him as if he is an angel that never erred and who must always get it right. This is diversity of views, of thoughts and of choices. It is one of the beauties of democracy.
Therefore, it is annoying, nauseating and disappointing seeing a Muslim cleric raining curses on whoever votes for Tinubu in the next coming election. Though, he is not setting a precedent, before him a cleric had once rained curses on former President Jonathan and PDP while on the pulpit. This cleric is now enjoying himself with sealed lips in the APC government—which has dwarfed the cluelessness, rudderlessness, corruption, wickedness and atrocities of the PDP’s. In fact, the corruption or lawlessness of Jonathan’s government pales into insignificance when juxtaposed with the present regime.
While we enjoy the democratic and constitutional right to analyse, critique and even criticize government’s actions and inactions, it is uncouth and totally wrong to curse people for making a choice different from ours. This cleric said in Hausa what can be roughly translated as “collect everything Tinubu is sharing…but no one should vote for him. May God destroy the finger you are planning to use to cast vote for Tinubu.” This curse is nullity, no doubt. God is not man. He doesn’t accept this kind of prayer even from His closest friends. The prayer reeks of stupidity and bigotry taken too far.
There is nothing wrong if a cleric—Muslim or Christian—chooses to be political. In fact, that is my advocacy and I believe that man is political by nature. We express that politicalness differently. And we suppress it at times not because we are not political but because we are determined to be apolitical. So when a cleric bows to his political instinct, he should play his politics with some decorum. That distinguishes him from thugs. Cursing whoever votes for Tinubu is thuggish, not clerical.
Tinubu has committed many sins in the opinion of many for which he should never be voted for. Conversely, he is the most virtuous Nigerian—still living—in the eyes of many and most deserving of presidency. His sins for which a cleric thinks it is religious duty to curse all those who plan to vote for him are not farfetched. A renowned Kano based cleric (now late) once gave a command that Tinubu’s blood must be spilled anywhere he is found. He said if it is not possible in his life time, those after him should execute the instruction. He lamented that under Tinubu’s watch as a Governor, northerners were killed in their thousands in Lagos State by O’odua People’s Congress (OPC).
Tinubu had claimed in the past that he did not believe in one Nigeria. This is considered a sin that should not be forgiven. It is argued that if given power, he will instrumentalize it (the power) to divide Nigeria which oneness he anathemizes or once anathemized. Some northerners even argue he is not a Muslim or a good Muslim he claims to be. They allude to his Christian wife. To them, the so-called Muslim-Muslim ticket appears to be Christian-Muslim ticket. Any attempt to pair Tinubu with a Christian running mate is tantamount to Christian-Christian ticket. Though hilarious, these are some of the alleged sins of Tinubu.
May be these sins are real or appear to be real in the figment of those imagining them to be real, are they enough reasons to place a curse on any Muslim who intends to vote for Tinubu? This is nonsensical extreme political view.
Lest I forget, there is one other sin of Tinubu: his entire existence is said to be laced with and immersed in fakeries. This is an allegation from a Yoruba man like him. A former Governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, made this claim. According to him; “Everything about Tinubu is fake, ask him to raise his clothes, what you will see will shock you, his age is fake, his state of origin is fake, his educational background is fake, his father is fake, his mother is fake.” This is serious!
These allegations are weighty but there is nothing new about them. Oyinlola also claimed that Tinubu is actually from Osun not Lagos State. Addressing these last allegations, I wrote a column which was widely circulated in January 2021 titled “Tinubu’s Parentage and His State of Origin Hullabaloo: An Islamic View.” In that article, I urged Tinubu to come out clean on his parentage and state of origin. I advised him to “soro soke to set the record straight as a Muslim.” But here we are, these allegations are still being recycled—going round again and again.
All said, any Nigerian or any Muslim has the constitutional right to vote for Tinubu. No cleric, ustadh, or malam should scare anyone with useless curse. I have made my personal choice not to vote for old people who should be digging their graves and taking stock of their past deeds and misdeeds. You can accuse me of ageism, the predicaments we are subjected to under this current old President ought to have taught us a lesson. You are at liberty to make a different choice.
All that I wrote above is just an analysis. No one can be cocksure that so and so is the right man for the job who will rescue Nigerian sinking ship. Due to our limited knowledge and ignorance of the future (the unseen), we can only pray to the Almighty for the right President. May we get it right.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
@salahuddeenAbd
