By Babatunde Jose
Behold, We have made thee a [prophet and, thus, Our] vicegerent on earth: judge, then, between men with justice, and do not follow vain desire, lest it lead thee astray from the path of God: verily, for those who go astray from the path of God there is suffering severe in store for having forgotten the Day of Reckoning!” – Quran 38: 26.
“The richest people in Africa could easily be former and current presidents and rulers of African countries. But don’t expect to find them on our FORBES rich list. And that is very true because “Forbes has long separated rulers and dictators from our annual rankings of the World’s Billionaires, distinguishing between personal, entrepreneurial wealth and wealth derived largely from positions of power, where lines often blur between what is owned by the country and what is owned by the individual.” Forbes Magazine.
The more reason you will not find any of our presidential aspirants on that list because the lines blur between their supposedly riches and ‘our money’.
Our parents and grandparents of old were people of integrity and held accountability in all walks of life very seriously. Any infraction of this principle was seriously dealt with. It starts with the abhorrence of lying and petty pilfering such as stealing meat from the pot of soup. These are infractions which if not curbed will metastasize into full blown corruption, which simply translates into stealing.
This is the bane of our society today. The absence of accountability knows no gender, tribe, or tongue; neither does it respect colour or nationality.
The saddest part of the matter is the attitude of society to this malaise. Rather than condemned and ostracized, we eulogize and award them chieftaincies; celebrate and idolize them. We have therefore promoted thievery into an art form. And a thriving national industry.
The slow pace of our judicial system has not helped matters and it often gives the impression of acceptability. This is one of the causes of impunity on the part of the corrupt.
There is no doubt most Nigerians are honest, hardworking people that just want the government to provide basic services, and then get out of their way so that they can take care of themselves. “These people deserve strong institutions that can protect them from corruption.”
Unfortunately, these institutions are weakened and compromised by the corrupt operators. According to former Finance Minister, Okonjo Iweala, “Years of development experience have shown. . . that regardless of the instruments, such as incentives and disincentives, that are available to reformers, corruption cannot be fought successfully from the outside or by outsiders. It must be by ‘insiders and from the inside’.” But when the ‘insiders’ are corrupt, aid and abet corruption, there will be no end to the cancerous growth.
A report by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), disclosed that “55 politicians, high-level public officials and leaders allegedly stole N1.354trn between 2006 and 2013 from Nigeria’s treasury.” “Evidence abound that judges, judicial officers, lawyers and military officers are participants in the frenzy of despoliation of national wealth.”
This is what has become our lot in this country. Monies which could have been utilized for uplifting the welfare of our people is being channeled into the private pockets of officials: All because the principle of accountability has been jettisoned.
But there is bound to be a Day of Reckoning. And on that day, there will be no escape.
And be conscious of the Day on which you shall be brought back unto God, whereupon every human being shall be repaid in full for what he has earned, and none shall be wronged. (Quran 2:281)
Immanuel Kant the German Philosopher once said: “The drama of this life is not complete; There must be a second scene to it . . . Therefore, there must be another world, where justice will be carried out”
Most agree with Kant above that there must be a reckoning. Only by this would justice be meted out. In the good books, there are numerous references to this day, variously referred to as Yawm al-Qiyamah, the Day of Reckoning and Day of Resurrection.
“Theoretically, Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former military ruler, was a billionaire – and not in naira, but in dollars. Upon his death in 1998, the Nigerian government uncovered over $3 billion linked to him, held in personal and proxy bank accounts in tax havens as diverse as Switzerland, Luxembourg, Jersey, and Liechtenstein.” Forbes. Where is he today?
“Another theoretical billionaire was Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over his 30-year reign as ruler of the resource-rich Central African country, Sese Seko amassed a personal fortune estimated by various sources (including Transparency International) at somewhere between $1 billion and $5 billion.” Forbes. But where are those villas today?
“One of the wealthiest, albeit lesser talked about African leaders to emerge from Africa is Nigeria’s former military president, Ibrahim Babangida. The general is unofficially one of the richest men in Nigeria and in Africa.” Forbes. But what will become of his 50-bedroom Mountaintop castle with the fullness of time?
“In Kenya, there is former president Daniel Arap Moi, who is unofficially one of the richest men in the country. During his 28-year rule, which lasted from 1978 to 2002, Moi famously channeled nearly a billion dollars from his country’s coffers to family-owned bank accounts and private estates across the world using a web of shell companies, secret trusts and front men, according to Kroll Associates, a corporate investigation and risk consultancy company.” Forbes. But where is Moi today?
Wither all these ‘vile’ men? They are in the ‘Hall of Infamy’, populating the dustbin of history: “The evil that men do lives after them.” William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
If only man could take a cue from past leaders. The same goes for the ‘Lions of’ wherever they call themselves: Men whose only known source of wealth is having been governors or military administrators and who today are ranked the wealthiest people in society, with Bombardiers and Falcon Jets to play with. However, those who consume ‘gbi’ will surely die ‘gbi’.
Surely, there will be a reckoning; it is as certain as daylight.
“. . . Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ”. (Quran 2:113)
The Day of Reckoning is coming. A day at the end of time following Armageddon when we will all have to account. On that day, according to Luke 13:28: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. . .”
For my friend Akin Aloba believes: “the day of reckoning is here on earth, but my experience of life shows it may not be for everyone. Some do get away with it here on earth. As to getting this judgement somewhere else am not too sure. Yes, that may be the position of the scriptures and a very difficult position to verify.”
It is understandable for some to hold this position, but judging from the philosophy of justice, the concept of retribution, judgement and reckoning is as old as the dawn of man’s realization of his position in the scheme of things. Our concept of moral values is intricately dependent on this core concept of justice and judgement.
Without the concept of reckoning, the powerful will ride roughshod over the weak and the world will have no regard for the concept of right and wrong or what is acceptable conduct and behavior. Society will be devoid of rules of human engagement and there will be no respite for the weak and powerless.
It would be a situation of ‘dog eat dog’, of anything goes and ‘no one can question me’. The whole essence of morality would become nonexistent, and the world will be in a Hobbesian state of nature, where life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”.
Oskar Ernst Bernhardt said: “You who are yearning for understanding, do not let yourselves be deceived. Each one of you in his thoughts and works has heaped up a heavy burden of wrongdoing for which each one of you must individually atone, for no part of it can be laid on the shoulders of another. Such is the law, otherwise Divine justice would be but an empty word, and without Divine justice all would crumble to ruins.”
The realm of Day of Reckoning and Resurrection is more of a spiritual proposition than physical. It is this that explains why some of the wicked seem to be getting away with their iniquities while on earth.
It is often said that the hypocrites could be rich and wealthy, have many children and live a good life; but their end is never good. That end is usually in the Hereafter.
In the non-Abrahamic religions, they talk of ‘karma’. Our conducts are to a large extent regulated, modified, and subject to the possibility of the truth in that future state referred to as the day of reckoning. Our whole belief system has as its bedrock the possibility of that day when we will be held to account for our actions and inactions while on this part of the divide. This is the more reason why people want to be on the right side of morality.
“There is no partition between this life and life in the next world. All is an immense entirety. Like an extraordinarily ingenious, never-failing mechanism, the whole mighty Creation, visible and invisible to us, interacts on itself. Uniform laws bear the whole, permeating it and connecting it like strands of nerves, in constant action and reaction.” Abdrushin: 5 Responsibility.
Even the laws of physics recognize this simple principle of action and reaction which according to Newton’s 3rd law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is inescapable. If you sow good, you will reap good, if you sow evil, you will surely reap evil. Those who sow the wind must for sure reap the whirlwind.
There will be no escape from the judgement. “God’s justice remains austere and severe in His eternal laws. What a man sows, that will he reap: Divine justice does not allow that one farthing be remitted”.
In some cases, those who are seemingly wealthy from perpetrating evil could look as if they have escaped, but their names in the end are obliterated from the annals of history. Both they and their offspring are never remembered as if they never existed. Why labor, for all the fruits of our work to be destroyed at the close of day. This recalls the story of the People of the Garden in the Quran:
Indeed, we have tested them just as We tested the People of the Garden when they vowed they would gather its fruit at dawn. (Quran 68:17)
“The separation of spirit from matter, the perfectly natural consequence of the working of the law, is the so-called Day of Judgment — a day that will bring great disturbances, convulsions, and upheavals. Everyone will easily understand that this disintegration cannot take place in one earth-day, for it is written: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8
Those who have ears, let them listen now!
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend
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