MUSLIMS IN POLITICS-MATTERS ARISING

              Nigeria As Case Study

Introduction

Experience is the best teacher. The trend of globalization is that one way or the other, every nation is embracing the concept of Western Democracy. This paper is not to examine whether a Muslim should participate in politics or not.  The truth is that in the present day Nigeria, a lot of Muslims are participating in politics.  They are our brothers and sisters in Islam for they are still professing the Kalimah.  Nigerian Muslims have choice whenever they should be represented in Government.  There is a need for good representation; a Conscious Muslim will best represent the Muslims than an unconscious one or an unbeliever.

 

Nigeria is endowed and blessed with materials and human resources in abundance, the centre focus and giant of Africa. Because of her population, for every six blacks there is a Nigerian, the country has ever being a role model of other nations in the continent. The beauty of the country is in her multicity of religion.It can not be overemphasized , Nigerian Muslims impact were  and are felt throughout Islamic world such as  a great legacy of Sheu Usman Dan Fodio’s scholarship and  Islamic revival. There are more Muslims in Nigeria than there are Muslims in any Arab country, including Egypt.

This is the cause for the need to bring matters arising from the participation of Muslims in politics from Nigeria angle, which may be peculiar (or with slight difference) with other Africa Nations or throughout the third world countries. The paper explains the concept of Muslims in Nigerian Politics; it describes the scenario of Nigerian Politics and life goal of a Muslim.  Necessity for Good Governance, Money politics, Corruption, Rigging, Tribalism, Thuggery, Fetishness etc are matters which dominate politics and affect Muslims life. All these call for proper management of Muslims in politics the effort to which will make a Muslim politician’s Islam to be intact when running after an elective post, when he gets the post or failed to and when his tenure ends.  The content of this paper is based on the experience of the author as a Muslim, a politician and more importantly as a Gubernatorial Aspirant under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP) one of the registered political parties and the  in Nigeria for year  2003 Election.

 

Nigerian Politics

Section 15 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly defines the Nigerian Political Objectives; its subsection 3(d) states: ’to promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic, linguistic, religion or other sectional barriers’.  In line with Section 10, which prohibits the adoption of any religion as state religion, political parties are formed without religious motive.  Few religious based political parties were never registered. This makes it to look as if religion is a taboo in political parties.  It also gives impression that Muslims should run away from any organization that has no religious connotation while few sincere Muslims that found themselves in political parties are looked upon as renegade while their party members see them as threat to ‘progress’ and fanatical.

 

The political scene is very murky.  Some politicians proudly say it that “there is no God in Politics”.  The goals are not God but the ‘Party’. The party must win at all costs. This brews thuggrey, assassination of political opponents (even party members), name smudging and all sorts of vices, which are antithetical to Islam.  Inter and intra party election is money and Godfatherism and for instance, primary elections are won by highest bidder and through the influence of power that be the resultant effect is the manifest corruptible act of governance, because the elected has to recoup his money and settle those who influenced his being elected.

 

The political rallies are the pick of deceit to the electorate wherein the contestants make empty promises.  It is an avenue to destroy the oppositions; abuse them, lie against them, all in the name of convincing the electorate.  Fight can break up at any point in time during the campaign, thus each politician is always with his thugs who are ready to spur into action at any given opportunity. They are gingered up with alcohol, marijuana /Indian- hemp etc and are confident with their charms, cudgels and guns.

 

Within the same party, there are different factions or caucus(es), and each caucus would like to control the party by having the large number of the group in the executives or among the candidates to be fielded for the election.  The same scene is what is obtainable in the political rallies.  Within the same party, fightings do breakout and may lead to loss of lives or direct assault on and or assassination of the ‘enemy’.

 

Muslims in Nigeria Politics

According to Islam, whoever upholds the Kalimah is a Muslim until he renegades.  This definition has simply recognized anybody that calls himself a Muslim to be.  Thus, we have Ramadan Muslims – they only recognize themselves as Muslims during the months of fasting for they will fast but they may go to beer-parlor in its evenings or immediately after Ramadan ends.Some are Subhi Muslims-  they only offer salatus Subhi (early morning prayers) and that’s all; they may attend a social function in the church or participate in Masquerades festival.  Nevertheless some are fully conscious of their duty to Almighty Allah, and submit wholeheartedly to the teachings of Islam.  To the non-Muslims, they don’t distinguish among these categories of Muslims. To them a Muslim is a Muslim, whether he is a drunkard or womanizer, provided he is seen at least once in the mosque or he bears a Muslim name.

 

Because the political parties were not formed considering religion, for the fact that there are various people professing to be Muslims and the fact that the level of Islamic awareness of Muslims on their duty as Muslims outside the five pillars of Islam is very low, Nigerian Muslims also participate in the political system like any other citizen.  The Islamic ideology and its ethics are totally absent in politics.  He who wants to be Islamic is looked at as an outcast. That is why we can find Muslims among political thugs; on many occasions they constitute majority.  They participate in all the vices that characterize the political parties. They freely consume alcohol and even harass their fellow Muslims in politics to bring out money for alcohol and for other corruptible vices otherwise they will not be voted for.  Infact, a Muslim brother’s name was substituted for a non-Muslim in a Local Government election because the Muslim brother was “too Islamic”; that if he won the election he might not play according to the game. Unfortunately those who blocked his chance were his fellow brothers in faith.

 

Participation in politics can be divided into three: (i) the general voters, (ii) active party members and (ii) party candidates. Muslims are found in these strata.  Majority of the Muslims do vote, however, conscious Muslims are not active members nor do they aspire as party candidates.  This is a dilemma facing the Muslims in Nigeria.  When it comes to representation, they are not represented by conscious Muslims even in states where Muslims are the majority.

 

Goal of a Muslim

The essence of life is to worship Allah.  This is the only reason for which Allah created mankind and Jinns. Q>  This is the correct belief of Muslims and it is the perimeter to determine weather a Muslim is God-conscious or not.  Every activity of his is to worship his Creator.  Worship is not limited to mosque alone, nor fasting and the other known pillars of Islam, but even his transactions with his other fellow human-beings, his sleeping, his eating and even going to toilet etc are considered by him as worship. Allah says:

                    ” Say: truly my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my

                       Life and my death, are all for Allah, the cherisher

                       Of the worlds”  (Q6:162)

Therefore, if a Muslim would cast his vote or attend a political rally or even seek for a political party candidacy, he is supposed to know and bear in mind that he is doing it as an act of worshipping Allah with the hope that he will be rewarded abundantly.

 

Since a Muslim must always conduct himself only in the ways dictated according to Islam, failure of which takes him out of Islam, it is expected of him to remain Muslim when he is among non-Muslims or transacting business.  The slogan –“ Give to Caesar what belong to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” is anathema to his faith.  Both Ceaser and what Ceasar has belong to God.  Therefore when he is in political arena he should bear in mind that Islam forbids indecency, thuggery etc (Q16: 90).

“Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and giving to kith and kin and He forbids all indecent deeds, and evil and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition”

 

He has a big duty to fulfill for his community for Allah qualified him among:

            “… are the best of people, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is

             Right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah…. “Q3: 110

Therefore his sojourn in life is to be best in wherever he is, either in conduct or services to the people. These were the virtues that the early Muslims were noted for.  It will then be suicidal for any Muslim community to be represented by whoever lacks enumerated above.

 

 

 

 

MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

The idea of management is to sustain a tempo of a system or organization in order to achieve better result, continuity, and focus.

The paper is not to determine whether to or not to participate in the present political dispensation.  In fact the truth is that lots of Muslims are voting, many are playing active roles in party politics and some are even political office holders.  It is also true that the system does not recognize religious ideologies in a party manifesto.  The Muslim community has a duty, which is to make a Muslim to remain a Muslim at any point in time.  This is what brings about the concept of management of Nigeria Muslims in Politics.  The system no doubt is rotten but should we allow our Muslim brothers to rot away with it? Definitely, NO.  If politicians are corrupt and the Muslims among them are also corrupt, then how do we showcase to the world that the Muslims must not steal and what ‘peace’ does Islam preach when Muslims at Political rallies kill each other etc? We only have to strive in concert to help the Muslims participating in politics to sustain their Islam so that we can have better achievement at the end.

 

WHO TO MANAGE

There are two sets of Muslims in Nigerian Politics to manage – the electorate and the practitioners (politicians).

Muslim Electorate

Muslims must be focused, whereas the general electorate are not. Electorate only consider who will represent them based on political ideology or tribal affiliation etc.  They are also ready to vote for highest bidders for they believe strongly that immediately a candidate wins election, he may not bother about his promise to the electorate again except his own purse.  Muslims must understand Islam and be ready to apply its teachings.  Therefore they must be taught on how to conduct themselves in public according to Islam and whenever they want to vote, they should vote for somebody who is God-conscious, responsible and who will be able to represent their interest both mundane and spiritual.

Practitioners

The Practitioners are those Muslims that were fully engaged in politics as Party office holders or Elective Post seekers.

The party decision lies in the hands of party Executives and the elders.  They decide who to be what in their party.  Muslims among them should always have it at the back of their mind that they are not only responsible or accountable to their party but also to the Almighty.  This should guide their actions.  Islam believes in justice, they must be fair to all and should not be blindfolded with material wealth.

Since the essence of management is to make the Muslims remain as Muslims both before and after elections, it is unfortunate and regrettable to say that most of our good Muslim brothers that had earlier played active roles in Islamic Organizations such as MSS, NACOMYO etc change dramatically upon joining politics.  If you greet some of them with “assalamu alaykum” you will simply be replied with “how are you?” Many of these changed brothers now keep girl-friends, fail to establish their salat regularly, make use of alcohol during celebrations in order to prove to their supporters that they are men of the people and not men of the Muslims alone and scarcely do majority of them get chance for Islamic activities again, not to talk of funding them. Some even embezzle public funds as done by most of their colleagues.

These are some of the woes which betide the Muslims in Nigerian politics.  The more Muslims move towards the political powers the less they move along with Islam and this is contrary to their Christian counterparts; it is when majority of them attain political power they become born again and come closer and be more committed to the church and excel in paying their tithe.  In fact this is one of the things that some Muslim brothers envisaged or saw that made them to conclude that Muslims should not participate in politics.

It has been discovered that our brothers in Nigeria politics that have derailed from Islam might have not assuming if they were properly managed; for there are lots of factors which are capable of inhibiting the practice of Islam right from the first day a person sets out to seek for an elective post. Therefore those of us seeking for elective posts must be managed.  A Ditto for those of us who are so lucky to have secured elective posts. Otherwise they may also derail. This is because it is difficult to manage success than failure and lastly, a Muslim that fails in his more attempt to cling an elective post should also be managed.

 

MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL OFFICE SEEKERS

This paper shall limit the meaning of political office seekers to Muslims aspiring to be Councilors, Council Chairmen, House of Assembly members, Senators, Governors and President.  It is these people in politics that the outsiders use in judging Islam and Muslims.

Seeking for these offices involves a lot of intrigues.  A Muslim who does not understand Islam very well nor practices it as it should be, may never be a good ambassador of Islam.  Therefore, Muslims should work as a team towards the success of conscious Muslims aspiring for elective posts should borrow a leaf from the Islamic Salvation Front of Algeria (FIS), where the students of Islam were nominated to contest elections for the certainty they would never betray Islam.

Godfatherism seems to have come to play a big role in Nigeria, politics.  It will therefore not be out of place that Muslim office seekers should have a reliable, understandable Muslim godfather in order to ensure victory at polls.  The implication of this is that Muslims should also be reliable in their party.

Associating partners with Allah is a grievous sin to be committed by a Muslim.  There are lots of ‘shirk’ that crop up when seeking for posts.  A candidate may be invited to come and swear to an oath with some elders, or he may be called to ‘fortify’ himself using charms and hamlets, etc, or even he may be advised to go to a soothsayer or fortuneteller to find out if he will win the election or not.  All these are tantamount to associating partners with Allah.    

             “Allah forgiveth not (the sin of) joining other gods with

            Him; but He forgiveth who he pleaseth other sins than       

            this; one who joins other gods with Allah, hath strayed

           far, far away from right “  Q4:116

The role of money in the Nigeria Politics can not be over-emphasized. It is no longer news that politicians use money to “buy” the electorate and apart from the money for campaign logistics like feeding, rallies, transports and general mobilization is very enormous and essential, depending on the posts being contested for.  The area of management that is very crucial is the source of fund for the aspirants.  He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Any aspirant that has his campaign bankrolled by a group of crooks will always hold his sponsors in high esteem.  This explains why when our brothers get posts they always find themselves in the group of crooks.  They give to them the best of contracts and in order to quickly recoup the money they invested in the election (since they do not know what can happen in the next minute), contracts are hyper inflated.  There may be situations that contracts awarded are not even executed, the office holder would not prosecute the contractors simply because they have assisted him in winning the election. Thus the financiers have a big say after the election is won.  The Muslim community should not close their eyes to this.  If other interest groups are sponsoring candidates and bankroll election, Muslim should not fail to do same, otherwise they will not be able to influence the office holder during his tenure.

 

Spiritual assistance to the candidates is also essential, preferably at no costs.  If non-believers are ready to give charms and harmlets to support the candidate for him to win and as a source of protection, Muslims should do better.  The memory is even there, if the candidate wins; he will always remember those who assist him spiritually.  Infact, there is the believe that election cannot be won except through spiritual means.  If a Muslim gets his spiritual support from the ‘cultists’, he will never see anything wrong in whatever they are doing if he wins the election

 

Ideological indoctrination will assist Muslims in Nigerian politics. Allah says:

                 “Let there arise out of you a band (group) of people inviting

                    To all that is good, enjoining what is right, and

                    Forbidding what is wrong.  They are the ones to

                    Attain felicity” (Q3:104)

Muslims must always show good examples even within this corrupt and murderous political system or ours.  This Ayah implies that whoever should be ambassador of Islam must be among the ‘group’.  This group should understand Islam vis-à-vis the society and the group should have a lot of sayings on its ambassadors.  The ambassadors also must recognize that they are part and parcel of the group and be willing to give their loyalty to the group.  This is the concept of FIS in Algeria.  If this has not been attained good representation shall be an illusion.

 

MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL OFFICE HOLDER

Equally, the meaning of ‘Political Office Holders’ shall be limited to those Muslims who are successful in winning the election to become Councilors, Councils Chairmen, Honorable members of the House, Senators, Governors, President.  Their performance and activities shall be under the searchlight of the people.  Their tenure in office is history; they will be referred to as Muslims in government.

 

It is a difficult task to manage success. Getting a political office will drastically change the holder in terms of appearance, outings, etc.   Depending on his office, he is being closely monitored and programmed by his security aids and protocol officers.  They determine his where to go and when, pencil down who should visit him and even when to eat and sleep.  His close associates and family that are used to seeing him anytime as they want would now be filling forms before they see him, even when he gives them appointment to meet him in the office they will now sit for more than three hours before they are ushered in, if at all they will see him.  Those friends who are eager to see him in order to advise him may be unfortunate, as many a times their filled forms or letters to book appointment with him end at the desk of security officer who may be a Police Constable and not even the Protocol Officer.  All these draw away brothers from reaching the office holders and make them to conclude that immediately an office seeker gets what he wants, he forsake his constituency.

 

On the part of the office holder, he is now surrounded with new set of people; party supporters, godfathers, contractors, sycophants, etc.  His life style has changed.  He has every authority with him in line with the party ideology and dictates of the party elders, godfathers and Sponsors.  Every authority will end at his desk.  He has access to funds, he awards contracts and scholarships, and he donates money on behalf of his office.  He has access to liquid cash to manage or mismanage. 

 

The Management of the office holder is very important because he is a Muslim.  His policy must not be such to antagonize Islam; he must be just and fair to all irrespective of their religious affiliations.  He must make a mark in his office that when he leaves, traces of corruption should not be found.  It is expected of him to leave an indelible mark such that his regime will ameliorate the life of the downtrodden masses.  People should be able to count his success and achievement based on the projects and legacies he leaves behind and not on the number of personal houses, jeeps, etc that he used public fund to amass.

 

      “the mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this

        world) diverts you (from the more serious things) until

        ye visit the graves

         But nay, ye soon shall know (the reality)  “ Q102:1 –3)

 

If he failed to deliver, his failure is the failure of the Muslim Ummah.  Therefore there is need for his being closely monitored.  It is not possible to monitor who is not from among Muslims brothers.  Therefore our contribution and sacrifice during the travails of the office seekers will be a basis of our relation to them upon their becoming office holders.  However, even if we have failed in our contribution, it does not mean that we should abandon the office holders we should still interact with the in order to admonish and remind them of the duty they owe the religion of Allah.

 

With close monitoring, it will be easy to evaluate and assess the office holders and advises them on the smooth running of their offices for a greater impact on the community.  It will not be an avenue to collaborate on how to loot the treasury or circumvent the rules of law.

 

     “…Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye

       ye not one another in sin and rancor:  Fear Allah; for Allah

        is strict in punishment”  (Q5:2)

 

Despite the difficulty that may be involved in seeing the office holders, they should not be abandoned.  If business men and party members pass through the same pain and eventually meet them, it is our duty to see them in order to guide them and establish a good companionship with them not only when donation is needed to execute Islamic programme or when the office holder is needed to Chair an Islamic gathering in order to facilitate the attendance of big men in the society.

 

At times, it may be expected that his office will pay the debt incurred during his electioneering campaign.  His donors and sponsors may see the exercise as a business investment.  This aspect needs serious management by his associates who are expected to be God-conscious people.  Contract inflation, over invoicing and all unlawful means should not be used to recoup the money spent.  If he had chosen a good godfather when seeking for office, the godfather should  be responsible for assisting him to have good governance and making his office responsible and cater for all interest groups.

 

The need for spiritual management cannot be overemphasized.  This can be divided into two: Self Spiritual Upbringing and Spiritual Assistance.

When Allah has favored his servant, he should express gratitude to Allah by increasing in his worship and devotion and shunning evils.  Many Muslims office-holders would want us to believe that “is not easy”. Thus, they will not say their prayers on time and if they will attend Juma’at service it will be when Imam is about to end his Khutbah; whereas their Christian counterparts will never miss any Sunday service and church revivals.  Muslim office holders should also make it a duty to increase their religious duties by attending fora that will reshape their Iman and afford them opportunity to be in company of good people.

 

Nigerian politics is a dangerous terrain where office holders can be assaulted, or threatened both physically and spiritually.  It was rumored recently that a Muslim Minister found a tortoise on his chair. An office holder may be having nightmares or be infected with evil supernatural forces.  Many office holders because of things like these have turned to cult members or churchgoers for assistance. A Muslim office holder may not be exempted from this onslaught.  It is also the duty of the Muslim community to assist in his spiritual fortification.   At times these problems may be psychological, but at times a reality. Whichever it is, there are many ways to ward off evils in Islam.  Muslims should manage this, for Islam has the best solution.

 

        “And we send down (stage by stage) in the Qur’an that which

          Is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: To the unjust                  

          It causes nothing but loss after loss”      (Q17:82)

 

MANAGEMENT OF POLITICAL OFFICE LOSERS

In this context, the meaning of “political office losers” shall be limited to those Muslims who are not successful in wining elections.  They failed in their bid to become either Councilor, Council Chairman, Honorable member of the House, Senator, Governor or President.

 

              “Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and

              Hunger some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of

              Your toil), but give glad tidings to those who

              patiently persevere – Who say, when afflicted with

             calamity: To Allah we belong and to Him our return”

             (Q2:155-156)

 

Failure is an orphan, on many occasions. Any candidate that loses an election is on is own; he will bear the brunt with his family. As many people throng to office holders so also a lot of people move away from the losers, including their sponsors and supporters who will shift ground in order to get good pasture from the winners.  The effect and agony are so serious on some losers that they contemplate to commit suicide while some are psychologically down to the extent that they develop high Blood pressure and die of its complications.  Since politics involves a lot of stakes, a loser has invested many things; he would have abandoned his businesses, resigned from job (if he is a civil servants) he might have sold some of his properties or even deposit some as collaterals for loan, etc.  He would have also promised his sponsors and made different agreements with his supporters and other interest groups.  All in anticipation of his victory at polls.

 

The Muslim Ummah ows it as their duty to manage these sets of politicians.  This is because if they had succeeded, invitation to attend Islamic functions will be sent to them at every other minutes; request for appeal fund to support Islamic programmes will be on daily basis and every Islamic organization would want them to chair her occasion or make them as guest of honor or chief host for their presence will not only add colors to the occasion but also afford “big men” who have been looking for opportunity to meet the office holder to attend the programme.

 

Not only this, Islam owes it a duty to commiserate with Muslims that are afflicted with loss and to assist them in every possible means.  This calls for the management of the losers.  They must be given spiritual succor. Life does not end in a loss and every situation is an experience for a believer which he should use to move at least a step forward.

The management should also be on how to prepare them for future elections.  Politics needs consistency. A looser today can become a winner tomorrow. Therefore, they should be assisted to get non elective posts like advisers, commissioners, ambassadors, etc. This will cushion the shock effect and assist in their finances.

 

CONCLUSION

Honestly speaking, Islam has its own political system and methodology of governance.  This is the ideal atmosphere which the Muslim community should strive for.  We must be focused and hopeful that it shall be achieved, if not during our life but in future.  Muslims in this political dispensation have responsibilities to their Creator. As such, they should thread the path of the present political system in the Islamic-way.  Not until we get the Islamic system that we should do away with corruption, assassinations, thuggery and other vices, it is a disaster if Muslim cannot make a mark by doing away with these vices when he is holding a political office.

 

It is not sufficient to put just any Muslim in office, but such that can defend Islam, stand by it and dispense justice accordingly even to non-Muslims.  This may not be attainable except through proper management of the Muslims in the Nigerian politics.  A Muslim that is seeking for political office if not properly managed may not be useful when he/she becomes an office holder.  Those that failed in their bid to get political office need to be managed through financial rehabilitation and spiritual succor.

 

May Allah be sufficient for us.

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

 

1.        The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

2.       Abu ‘Ala Mawdudi              -           Let us be Muslim

3.       Zanab Al-Ghazali               -           Return of Pharao

4.       John C.  Maxwell               -           Laws of Leadership

5.       Abdul Rahman Ben Hammad Al-Omar  -            The Religion of Truth

6.       Abdul Badei Sagr               -           How to call people to Islam

7.       Islam in Africa                   Proceedings of the Islam in Africa Conference