Death had been perceived by different kinds of people to mean different things. Some people had interpreted death to mean total annihilation, while others had explained death to be a change of abode, a release from the burden of this world. Today still, many people are not such definitive about the meaning of death; and thus, continue to debate about the implications of death.
And to some others, it is a matter of belief that God predestined death for all living things; and for the humankind, to be resurrected in order to account for their deeds in this world. Whatever your belief is about death, you can't deny that people live and die. Besides, death normally struck unexpectedly, leaving relatives and friends in total confusion.
Truly, I had no any intention of writing anything about death before the death of two good and promising friends. One is the death of the elder brother of my former primary school classmate, Muhsin Galadanchi, whose elder brother was said to have died while coming back from a wedding ceremony he had attended in Kebbi State; the other is the death of a high school friend, Farouk Bako. Although I had no such strong intimate relationship with the two deceased individuals, I was emotionally touched when I read of their death on facebook. To be exact, I read of the death of Muhsin's brother, Ahmad Bashir Galadanchi, in Weekly Trust Column written by Dr. Bala Muhammad. When I first looked at the title, I was seized by doubt about which Ahmad the writer was rightly referring to. When I scanned through the article, it dawned on me that the columnist was referring to a certain Ahmad I was friend with on facebook. Nevertheless, after going through the article carefully, I was still not able to believe what the writer was actually saying, notwithstanding that he had already titled his article 'Eulogy for Ahmad Galadanchi'. I was skeptical, and rightly so, because before reading that column some few days back, I had read Ahmad's post on facebook where he wrote about his life. Not only did I read the post, which seemed like an autobiography, but I also left my comment to which he also replied. While I was reading the column, I realized that the columnist had quoted extensively from a write-up I had read before. Quickly and with an instinct to confirm the truth of what I was reading, I logged on to facebook and searched Ahmad's page. I was confronted with condolences dropped by friends and sympathizers. 'How could death be so wicked and sneaky!' I told myself. Knowing, however, that no man was meant to abide in this world forever, I focused on the contents of that column, which was craftily written to make readers reflect upon death.
After some few days, I again stumbled upon a facebook update telling of the death of another friend, this time around a fellow highschool friend one year my junior, Farouk Bako. At first, I was reluctant to scroll to the update, but when I came upon another one announcing of this young friend's death, I sluggishly scrolled over and clicked on it. Though I vaguely read the first update, which I thought Farouk himself was telling of the death of another family member, I found myself being hit by this unsavoury news. I checked some friends' updates and found out that nearly all those who had put on the news of the death on their posts were shocked by the death, and prayers seeking for the repose of the soul of this friend abound in almost all the updates. Few minutes passed and I started seeing his former classmates putting on the pictures they recently took with him on facebook: Farouk is among the class of 2010, the class that graduted recently. Those pictures that were taken during the graduation ceremony and others during the reunion, which also took place some few days after the graduation ceremony, were also published on facebook. Wherever you checked on facebook that day, you find out Farouk's friends reminiscing about their last day with him.
Even though, as I said before, I did not develop intimate friendship with these two great friends, I can as well tell of my observation of them from a distance. Reading some posts on facebook by Ahmad, I knew the guy had Nigeria on his mind, how to bring about positive change and how to impact other people's lives positively. As for Farouk, he was an easy-going individual with a joyful mien and with a disposition to smile at everyone he came in contact with. I have had some chatting moments with Farouk and had observed how he cautiously avoided hurting people's feelings. His classmatess could bear witness that Farouk was not in the habit of squabbling with friends on every insignificant issue. And despite the fact that his classmates were sometimes involved in a brawl that often lead to fighting, he as much as possible prevented himself from being involved- as far as I can recall, I never saw him fighting with any other friend.
Finally, death is inevitable and there is no way to avoid it. Ahmad and Farouk are now there with their Lord. Now, the only way we can benefit them is to continue praying for them. And with their death, there are lessons for us, their friends, before our time comes. May their souls rest in peace.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Tremors in Africa
The story of the young man who set himself on fire in Tunisia because he was humiliated and harrased by police officers will continue to have great consequences on Africa. It was said that the young man, Muhammad Bouazizi, a vendor, embarked on self-immolation after police confiscated his wares. It's believed that if the man had had some money to bribe the police officers, he wouldn't have been subjected to the kind of treatment he received from the police; but, unfortunately, he was struggling to make ends meet.
After the young man was widely reported to have set himself on fire, people were angered by the way government handled the issue which led to the man's death. People in Tunisia trooped out in their thousands to protest the way government was handling the country's affairs. Ben Ali, the man who has been ruling the country for more than two decades, was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia for asylum- It's interesting how Western nations such as the United States and France, who had had cozy relations with him, refused him asylum. At the beginning, the US was not enthusiastic on supporting the protesters, but after some time they backed the protests.
Immediately after Ben Ali was ousted out of power, people in Egypt felt they could also assemble themselves and protest against Hosni Mubarak's iron-fist government. With the help of social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, people mobilized themselves to protest against Hosni Mubarak's government. At first, he thought he could get Western countries to support him because of the good relationship they had been having with him for the way he supposedly blocked 'fundamentalist Muslim groups' from coming to power and his blockage of Gaza for Israel's safety. The tide went against him; and, with the way things were fast changing, Western nations saw that they had to support the people's yearning for democracy otherwise their self-acclaimed confessions of being guardians of democracy would be seen as a farce and hypocritical. At last, people succeeded in making Hosni Mubarak to step aside.
Step by step, people are massively coming together in North African countries and Middle East, which are mostly populated by Arabs and Muslims, to protest the way dictators and monarchs exploit religius sentiment to continue their rulership. Besides, other African countries, mostly those with sit-tight dictators who have been ruling for long years, are also bringing themselves together to bring about leadership change in their various countries. However, dictators in sub-Saharan Africa are known to muzzle-up opposition and media outlets who try to expose their breach of human rights records. It's left to be seen whether people in these countries could assemble themselves by using new technology like Facebook and Twitter, just as it was done in Egypt and Tunisia, to oust out their long-standing dictators.
Meanwhile, people in Western countries have also begun to realize that Arabs and Muslims are not the way they were wrongly made to perceive by their strongly biased and prejudiced media. New polls conducted by various organizations have shown a remarkable shift in the way Westerners view Arabs and Muslims.
After the young man was widely reported to have set himself on fire, people were angered by the way government handled the issue which led to the man's death. People in Tunisia trooped out in their thousands to protest the way government was handling the country's affairs. Ben Ali, the man who has been ruling the country for more than two decades, was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia for asylum- It's interesting how Western nations such as the United States and France, who had had cozy relations with him, refused him asylum. At the beginning, the US was not enthusiastic on supporting the protesters, but after some time they backed the protests.
Immediately after Ben Ali was ousted out of power, people in Egypt felt they could also assemble themselves and protest against Hosni Mubarak's iron-fist government. With the help of social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, people mobilized themselves to protest against Hosni Mubarak's government. At first, he thought he could get Western countries to support him because of the good relationship they had been having with him for the way he supposedly blocked 'fundamentalist Muslim groups' from coming to power and his blockage of Gaza for Israel's safety. The tide went against him; and, with the way things were fast changing, Western nations saw that they had to support the people's yearning for democracy otherwise their self-acclaimed confessions of being guardians of democracy would be seen as a farce and hypocritical. At last, people succeeded in making Hosni Mubarak to step aside.
Step by step, people are massively coming together in North African countries and Middle East, which are mostly populated by Arabs and Muslims, to protest the way dictators and monarchs exploit religius sentiment to continue their rulership. Besides, other African countries, mostly those with sit-tight dictators who have been ruling for long years, are also bringing themselves together to bring about leadership change in their various countries. However, dictators in sub-Saharan Africa are known to muzzle-up opposition and media outlets who try to expose their breach of human rights records. It's left to be seen whether people in these countries could assemble themselves by using new technology like Facebook and Twitter, just as it was done in Egypt and Tunisia, to oust out their long-standing dictators.
Meanwhile, people in Western countries have also begun to realize that Arabs and Muslims are not the way they were wrongly made to perceive by their strongly biased and prejudiced media. New polls conducted by various organizations have shown a remarkable shift in the way Westerners view Arabs and Muslims.
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