2023: Ahmadiyya warns against interim government

BISIRIYU OLAOYE

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria has warned the proponents of interim government to desist from it as it would not do the country any good.

The Amir (National Head) of the Jama’at, Alhajj Barrister Alatoye Folorunso AbdulAzeez, made the on Friday while briefing newsmen on the State of the Nation at the Ojokoro headquarters of the Islamic organization in Lagos.

The Amir said: “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. It is an ill wind that will blow no one any good.

“Let all the leaders and the lead focus on the act of governance and leave every other thing in the hands of Allah to whom all are forcefully accountable and on human side to the tribunals and courts that are saddled with that responsibility. 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”, he added.

The Ahmadiyya Amir said the focus now for all should be good governance, transparency, and accountability, adding that by good governance, “I mean focus on welfare and security of all the people of Nigeria in all ramifications”.

.He urged all the elected leaders and the led to always reflect upon the declaration of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) that: “The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, and who invoke Allah’s blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your leaders are those whom you hate and they hate you, and whom you curse and they curse you,” (Sahih Muslim).

”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.

”It is our prayers that may Allah the Almighty continue to guide our leaders and strengthen them with the sound health and political will necessary for realizing good governance, development, prosperity, peace and happiness of the citizens and the nation”, Amir further said.

On the lessons from 2023 elections, Amir noted that there were several positive performances like legislative 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, Alatoye stated, were all commendable by way of planning.

He, however, observed that “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 casualties, in some places, failure in the transmission of election results, engineering of voters apathy as a result of all these failures”.

Amir then prayed 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 voters 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”, he stated.

Amir also warned against tribalism, nepotism and religious bigotry, racial discrimination, saying that these are alien to rules of Allah as taught in the Holy Qur’an.

According to him, rebellion, gangsterism, forceful imposition in the act of selecting a leader is alien to the teachings of Islam.

“It is totally wrong to group or gang up to endorse a candidate. Individuals are to do that in Islam and the basis is clearly as to whether the person is trustworthy and competent. Self-acclaimed projections mistakenly called prophecies to carry people along for a candidate is unholy and deceitful. It is a mockery of religion totally unacceptable.

“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. They will be building their hell rather than paradise with that. Their reward is in the correct application of the resources without taking a dime that does not belong to them”, he further stated.

He added that making a law to support tort of diversion of resources would surely not avail anyone to such right in the sight of Allah “as his or her conscience through which Allah communicates us would have told him or her that such an action is evil and wrongful. It is pure stealing. Breach of trust of any kind whether overtly or covertly is entirely incompatible with the teachings of Islam”.

He used the occasion to draw the attention of all the elected leaders to accountability to Allah the Almighty God, stating that “it is unavoidable. Governance is question of winning heaven or hell. No one can threaten anyone with heaven or hell but forgetting it totally in our dealings is suicidal in our next phase of life’.

He added:”Remembering this accountability goes a long way to douse the tension of seeking for elective posts and for those elected to be extremely careful and cry to Allah day and night on how they should not fail in their accountability and end up in hell”.

Alatoye congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice-President-elect, 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 spiritual, moral and physical destruction for them. Amin’, Amir Alatoye prayed.

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