I will like to start by admitting there is great wisdom in the words of the former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan when he said in one of his unread speeches that “you cannot keep a goat and a yam in the same room expecting the goat not to eat the yam”. Hence, it is with grief and shock that I condemn the viral information about one Aliyu Musa, a security staff of Kogi state college of education, Ankpa who allegedly stole phones belonging to a staff in the office of the chief of staff.
Before anything, I will like to highlight herein a text of the circulation as copied from the wall of Odaudu Joel Minister, a senior special assistant to Kogi state governor. The caption goes thus-” SECURITY OPERATIVE WHO CAME FOR SCREENING IN LOKOJA ENDED UP STEALING PHONES-A Security Operative with the College of Education Ankpa, Mallam Aliyu Musa has been arrested by security agents. Mallam Aliyu Musa allegedly stole two phones belonging to a staff of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Edward Onoja. He was captured by CCTV camera within the office of the Chief of Staff today in government house. The Security Operative came from College of Education Ankpa and was supposed to be attended to by the Staff Screening Complaints Appeal Committee. The security operative whose name appeared in the uncleared list released by the last Screening Review and Complaints Committee has falsified documents and has since been handed over to security agents for further interrogation.”
The questions which now begs for answers are but not limited to; what is Aliyu’s business with a staff of the chief of staff? How did he get into the office of the chief of staff? Why was he not attended to by the screening complaints and appeal committee? How did a man who has been since handed over to security agents for interrogation gain such freedom? While this questions will be answered by prosperity and time, it is rather unfortunate and consequently disheartening for poor masses whim themselves are into suffering and smiling all in the name of unending screening will find pleasure circulating the ill fated ordeal of Aliyu.
For the purpose of this piece, I am a Muslim and I hold the sanctity of Islam as well as it teaching with maximum regards. In Islam, precisely during the reign of a pious companion of the prophet (Ali Ibn Abu Talib), the punishment of stealing is not enforced on any hungry person who steals. Instead, the society must feed such a poor person. So, according to the allegations here above, the accused persons name is in the list of the uncleared workers. By implication, he has not been paid for the past one year and only God knows how he has been managing to feed himself and his family during this period.
As a matter of fact, majority of kogites are living in abject poverty, many deaths have been recorded (resulting from hunger, difficulty of medical bills, road accident) due to the day mare screening and verification exercise. In the past, mares occur at night but it now a day light thing as long as it relates to screening. Immorality is taking over, prostitution is seemingly becoming a venture as teen girls no longer have a no answer to advancers, gambling (betting) is more of a norm among youths than an exception, our sate has become a hub for Ponzi schemes and kidnapping occurs almost daily. Oh No! This stealing does not deserve the recognition it is receiving. “The Stolen Phone Should Be Blamed On Kogi Government And Not The Thief” as nobody will risk such image damaging act without been in a terrible hard condition.
At this juncture, even though I condemn the act of stealing in entirety, I want to use this medium to call on the state government, our judiciary and security agencies to vividly evaluate and if possible take lessons from the story of an Indonesian judge, Markuzi who showed Marcy to an old woman charged before him for stealing Tapioca from a plantation in Indonesia. The woman in her defense admitted been guilty of the crime but committed it because she was poor and her grandson was sick while her grandchild was hungry.
According to the narration, as the plantation manager insisted that she be punished as a deterrent to others. The judge, Marzuki went through the documents and said to the old woman, “I’m sorry I cannot make any exception to the law and you must be punished”. So, the old woman was fined one million Indonesian Rupiah or serve a jail term for two and a half years as demanded by the law. She wept as she could not pay the fine but Marzuki, the Judge then took off his hat and put in, one million Indonesian Rupiah and said, “In the name of Justice, I fine all who are in the court, fifty thousand Indonesian Rupiah as dwellers of this city and let a child starve until her grandmother has to steal to feed her. The registrar will now collect the fines from all present”. The court managed to collect about three million Indonesian Rupiah, once the fine was paid off, the rest was given to the old woman including the fine collected from the plantation manager.
In conclusion, it us my hope that those in concern will learn from the above narrative and let the dust to settle in the interest of Kogi suffering masses, the family of the accused and our common human values. So I think is the best!
God Bless Kogi State Forever On.
By Comrade A M Nasir
naadejohs@gmail.com
07068416768
You can follow me on twitter via @amnasiru
