NIGERIA (APRIL 2018)
All praises to Allah and Peace and Blessings on His Prophet.
[8:5] Then your Lord willed that you leave your home, to fulfill a specific plan, and some believers were reluctant.
[8:42] Had you planned it this way, you could not have met. But GOD was to carry out a predetermined matter,
We could resume this campaign by great suffering and great results. We conducted 2 campaigns in Nigeria previously, in 2009 and 2011. We did not manage to train any Nigerian, and the 2 centres we have in Kaduna and Abuja are run by foreigners. It is very hard to get patients and when we preach the usual way in mosques and radios we get nearly nobody because people are so much used to be abused. The conclusion I reached that time was that the only way to work in Nigeria was through community leaders (unless some high responsible calls us to clean the country): there are big Islamic organizations and if their shaykh introduces us to his followers we will get patients and trainees. So what made me change my mind and return to Nigeria? An imam came to see me in Cotonou and presented himself as imam of a large zone in Lagos (Lagos has 23 Million population, largest city in Africa) and running 8 ruqya centres and wanting to receive me to adopt my methods and lead a campaign. But as soon as I arrived in Lagos, I was informed that that imam withdrew as soon as he returned to Lagos because his group did not accept. So why did the organizers not inform me? I let you guess. For sure, I would not have come if I knew, but that is the will of Allah, and we thank Him for His decisions for us and ask Him to use us for His deen.
I haven’t realized in previous campaigns how miserable Nigeria was, because we only were in capital of states. Indeed Nigeria has better rank in World Bank rating than many countries, but I haven’t seen such misery in Niger or Burkina that are ranked very last in human development. Can you imagine whole cities with no water supply? People buy water in jerry cans! When the main expressway crossing from state to state goes through cities, there is not any built road in the city besides the expressway crossing it (except for capital cities)! All the rest is just natural land where people drive and the paths get full of mud when it rains and sometimes inaccessible. The electricity has got better than before, so in best areas we get 8 electricity hours a day but others are still with 1 hour a day. Like many other African countries there is nearly no industry throughout the country. Yet, you see everywhere big and beautiful universities. What for? As there is no industry. Most hope to be employed by government. Another fact in Nigeria is that prices are so low, pulled down by low petrol cost, so when you think you are earning well, if you leave the country you realize you don’t have much. Another fact is that each state (36 states for 175 Million population) is isolated from the rest of the country, and in each state every local government is isolated from the rest; because roads are so bad and people are so poor and just struggling for their daily life, they hardly ever move to other places or hear news from other places.
Are you asking where the petrol money has gone since all these decades? Let me give you 2 images of corruption in Nigeria. We went to Kogi state, where the governor Yahya Bello, since elected 2 years ago did not pay the salaries of all government employees! In a zone where people rely mostly on government salaries, can you imagine the poverty and misery that creates? No one can open his mouth and police and army are with him to beat or jail anyone complaining. That is how a single person can sacrifice millions. And do you know which kind of sorcery he is ready to do to reach that position, to keep it and to neutralize all his enemies? In fact, he was not elected and reached second at primary elections, but the elected governor was sitting in his home watching the results on TV and strangely, one minute before results were declared, died in his chair. That’s how Yahya Bello became governor. Welcome to Nigeria. A second example is the president of senate, Saraki. You certainly have heard of the Muslim herdsmen killing farmers in Christian states. Those states have voted for General Muhamad Buhari in last election 2015. Because of those killings – one happened less than 24 hours after the Vice President visited that state – population is angry against Buhari. So many believe it is opponents of Buhari paying for that to make him loose next elections. So we did catching for that and in a few days, some of those killers were caught and said president of Senate Saraki paid them and gave them weapons to do that. Most senators hate Buhari because most of them have been convicted for corruption. Now you understand why the country is so miserable and how important the sorcery is.
Another fact is the churches everywhere and they all claim to do miracles and plenty of Muslims join Christianity through them, not to talk about the shirk talisman imams.
So concerning the campaign, we spent 4 days in Lagos, then 3 in some village, 3 and 4 days in a village and a city in Kogi state, a week in Abuja, 3 days in another city, a week in Lagos and 1 day in Ibadan. In all these we had learners (except Abuja) and hope those centres will continue in sha Allah, so that is a real and great success in this country. Of course we intensively caught for the situation of the country and some changes have been felt and we are hoping more Mercy from Allah.
Concerning our sufferings, I will just say that in the last 24 hours I got injured and bleeding lost my purse with my ID and driving licence and missed my flight. Yes, all this is nothing compared to what our patients suffer and to the loss of my son 2 months ago, but we hope Allah will accept and bless our intentions and I call again on all Muslims to get up for Islam, to learn, practice and spread Islam and struggle for the guidance of Muslims and others.
Concerning the progress of ruqya, level 1 exams are now ready in French and English and in sha Allah soon in Arabic, so all our raqis are invited to contact us to go through exams and get their diploma.