Blasphemy: Kano’s theocracy stands against constitutional democracy

Centre for Nigeria Progress

Reporting Nigeria

EVERY lover of democracy in Nigeria and abroad is appalled and horrified by the recent death sentence handed down to a musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, by an Upper Sharia Court in Kano State. The judge, Aliyu Kani, found the 22-year-old musician guilty of committing “blasphemy” in a song wherein he allegedly elevated an imam above Prophet Mohammed. Earlier, irate protesters had burnt down Sharif-Aminu’s family home, demanding his death. On the same day, the judge sentenced a 13-year-old boy, Umar Farouq, to 10 years in prison for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed during an argument. This is despite the fact that Farouq is a minor by Nigerian law.

The entire episode, which is reminiscent of the religious fanaticism that characterised the Dark Ages and partly the justification for Boko Haram terrorism, has again exposed the constitutional violations, structural deficiencies and legal contradictions inherent in the Nigeria project.

The 1999 Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, prohibits state religion or giving preferential treatment to any religion. Section 10 of the constitution states, “The government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion,” but 12 Muslim-majority northern states, for political reasons, promulgated the Sharia Penal Code. Sharia law imposes punishment in the name of religion while the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and association. The then Olusegun Obasanjo administration failed the country by allowing the flagrant constitutional aberration to stand. It is a basic principle of the law that where the provision of any law contravenes that of the constitution, it is to be declared null and void to the extent of the violation. And for this reason, every law must conform to the constitution of the land. Therefore, the Sharia penal code contains and prescribes punishments that are repugnant and have no place in a country that claims to practice constitutional democracy. Some of these punishments include floggings, amputations and stoning to death.

Being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the recognition of blasphemy as a crime in Nigeria contradicts the articles of that declaration, as well as sections 38 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression, thought and religion.

The incessant summary mob killings of Nigerians of different faiths in the North under the pretext of defending a religious belief and the inability of law enforcement agencies to protect victims and bring the perpetrators to book remains one of the biggest failures of the Nigerian State. It is more disgraceful that even the Nigeria Police Force, which is a creation of the constitution, tasked with maintaining law and order, detains alleged “blasphemers” and helps in enforcing Sharia laws. An atheist, Mubarak Bala, has remained in the custody of the Kano State Police Command without trial for nearly four months supposedly to protect him from being lynched by youths because of blasphemy.

The adoption of Sharia in some Northern states has been used to justify cruel punishments such as amputation and stoning, as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress, and independence. Kano’s religious police, Hisbah, says the ban on the consumption of alcohol applies to all residents of the state regardless of religion. Vehicles transporting alcoholic beverages are also not allowed to pass through the state. According to Hisbah Commander-General, Aminu Daurawa, 12 million bottles of beer were destroyed in 800 operations executed in seven years. Annoyingly, the state takes an undue share of VAT revenues from alcohol consumed elsewhere. And what will become of Nigeria if other states make such discriminatory laws and enforce them?

In the past, alleged blasphemy had sparked riots, killings and arson in several northern states by restive sanctimonious youths. Christina Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, a secondary school teacher and mother of two in Gandu, Gombe State, was lynched on March 21, 2007 by her students for allegedly desecrating and mutilating the Koran while supervising an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam. She was stabbed to death while the school principal, a Muslim, was beaten up for offering her refuge but luckily escaped. The rioters burned down three classroom blocks, the school clinic, the administrative block and the library.

In February 2006, thousands of rioters went on a rampage in the North, burned churches, torched shops and homes, and killed 16 people because of an alleged blasphemous cartoon in a magazine, Jyllands-Posten, in faraway Denmark.

For 74-year-old trader, Bridget Agbahime, in Kofar Wambai Market in Kano State, her demand that a customer must not perform ablution in front of her shop cost her her life as she was lynched by a mob while her husband watched helplessly. Her murder was condemned by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and the Sultan of Sokoto; both of whom urged an urgent and diligent investigation by concerned authorities. After arraigning five suspects for homicide, the Abdullahi Ganduje-led government of Kano State mysteriously withdrew the charges without explanation. While the families of victims are never given justice, the government merely advises residents to “try to live in peace and respect one another’s religions.” In normal societies, it is the law that rules, not religion.

It is not surprising that Nigeria continues to rank low on the Religious Freedom Index and has been designated as a country of particular concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Laws emanating from religion, creed, tradition and customs are based on conviction. They ought to be personal since Nigeria does not practice a theocracy. Unfortunately, there have been instances where elected officials, for political reasons openly and carelessly place their personal beliefs over and above the constitution they swear to uphold even though the very offices they occupy are creations of the constitution.

The Boko Haram menace, which has plunged Nigeria into an existential crisis with thousands dead and millions displaced also thrives on the same logic that religious laws are superior to the constitution of the country, the Grundnorm,  which all other laws are subject to.

Yet, the hypocritical implementation of Sharia law, which was borne out of politics, has not improved the standard of living of its adherents, which has remained the poorest regions in the country. A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and erstwhile Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, explained it succinctly at a Mo Ibrahim Forum saying, “Zamfara State started Sharia in Nigeria; it has the highest rate of poverty in the country today. It is a matter of time for people to realise that this is all deception, this is all politics, this is not religion; it is about politicians appropriating religion as a discourse for getting into power.”

Nigeria should return to a workable federal system and stop muddling through this pathetically unjust political structure. It is then that states like Kano will be free to choose between theocracy and democracy. In the meantime, the Buhari regime should ensure that the arbitrariness, abuse and misuse of religion in Kano State is arrested. The rights of Nigerians as guaranteed by the constitution must be respected to the full.

KOMMONSENTSJANE – DON’T FALL FOR IT – KAMALA HARRIS EXPOSED.

kommonsentsjane

Science has come a long way. An Indian mom and a Jamaican dad can now produce an African American. Must have been a gene that causes LIBERALISM!

KAMALA HARRIS EXPOSED! She now refers to the ticket as the HARRIS AND BIDEN CAMPAIGN. Here they go again. Remember Senator Kaine in that black church promised them a black president?

Steve Baldwin, former Congressman, State of California

Steve Baldwin Exposes Kamala Harris:

“I watched an interview with her. She is attractive, animated and absurd. She stated that she never had children; yet was a “Mother to her husband’s children.” And she “loved being a Mother.” She said the children called her “Momela”.

Anyway, she led her audience to believe that she mothered these kids. I looked her up. She married her husband when the son was in his 3rd year of college and the daughter was in 10th grade and they actually…

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This Day in History: September 16

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Featured Event

1620 – Mayflower’s departure for America. On this date in 1620, English colonists aboard the Mayflower set sail for America, where they founded Plymouth, Massachusetts, after 41 men, including William Bradford and Myles Standish, signed the Mayflower Compact.

1978 – Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq was proclaimed President of Pakistan.

1970 – King Ḥussein of Jordan declared martial law following the hijacking of four international airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Leadership is Language

09.14.20

THERE was a time when it made sense to have a group that thought about the work and another group that performed the work. A manufacturing environment lends itself to this kind of structure. The thinkers and the doers. It was the most efficient way to build the momentum of the Industrial Revolution.

This structure also helped to reduce variability, which is just what is called for in a manufacturing environment. When Henry Ford began to build his Model T, he didn’t need a lot of freethinkers on the assembly line. What he needed was people to consistently perform in an efficient manner. No variations. Reducing variability was the key to a great manufacturing environment. And we find that the leadership approaches and the language used aligned itself with that goal.

This mindset is not only found in the manufacturing environment but just about everywhere else where humans are involved. We quite naturally like to reduce variability. But without variability, we don’t improve. We don’t innovate. We don’t grow.

Today the workplace has changed. Along with the velocity of change we see around us comes the need to embrace variability just to stay relevant. We now need the people doing the work also to be thinking about the work.

It is this need that David Marquet thoroughly discusses in Leadership Is Language. How we communicate with each other can help us to embrace variability and is our best shot at success. If we are not tuned into this principle, we reduce variability and risk irrelevance or even extinction.

We were first introduced to Marquet and the USS Santa Fe, in Turn the Ship Around. In this account, we learn of his efforts to change his leadership approach from leader-follower or thinker-doer to a leader-leader approach that allowed for everyone to lead, think, and do. Moving from a leader-follower dynamic to a leader-leader dynamic requires a change in the way we approach and communicate with one another. This is the subject of Leadership Is Language.

Arising from the thinking-doing playbook we have followed since the Industrial Revolution has been an imbalance in the rhythm between doing and thinking says Marquet. “Doing and thinking are the basic building blocks of all human activity. The correct balance of these two activities helps us achieve our goals.” He clarifies:

In short, the right balance of doing and thinking drives learning. It keeps the company relevant and solvent. By doing, I mean physical interaction with the world.

Doing something doesn’t mean you aren’t thinking, but the brain operates much more automatically. Doing is our default mode because it is faster and more efficient, and our brains are nothing if not efficient.

By thinking, I mean deliberate, curious, and open exploration of information, beliefs, stories, and assumptions in order to interpret the world around us.

We need a new playbook. “We need to call the plays that will balance all that doing with more thinking at every level of the hierarchy, not just at the top.”

The chart below provides some of the differences between doing, what Marquet calls Redwork, and thinking or Bluework. The key difference is “thinking benefits from embracing variability. Doing benefits from reducing variability.

In the old playbook, our language is primarily about doing, not thinking. Redwork sounds like this: “Get it done! Make it happen. Let’s finish this, and Are we on track?” Marquet notes that the “language that sounds natural to you has probably been optimized for rework.”

Bluework sounds like this: “How do you see it? How ready are we for this? What can we do better? And What did we learn?”

The Six Main Plays of the New Playbook

1. Control the Clock

We are programmed to obey the clock—get it done, keep moving. Controlling the clock is the start of the redwork/bluework cycle. It is the deliberate move to exit redwork and shift to bluework.

Controlling the clock is a mindful pause from all of our doing. It’s calling a time-out on ourselves to pause in order to learn, improve, and collaborate.

We get there by not just calling a pause, but by making it possible. Avoid statements that erect barriers to questioning and reconsidering a decision, especially in the light of new information. To make it stick, practice doing it. Call a time-out even when no pause is needed. It may be hard for team members to call a pause because they “might be lost in redwork because of the stress of the clock.”

2. Collaborate, Not Coerce

Sometimes collaboration is really an exercise in coercion. “Bosses try to be compelling, not curious. They ask leading and self-affirming questions. They suppress dissent and push for consensus. This is not collaboration. This is coercion disguised as collaboration.” “Build consensus” or “Get everyone on the same page” is another way of saying, “I’m right, and you need to change your thinking.”

The solution is to let the doers be the deciders. Get their thoughts first before expressing your opinion. Instead of asking yes or no questions, ask how questions. Instead of, “Can we launch on time?” ask, “On a scale of 1 to 100, how strongly do you believe we should launch on time?” And in the face of an outlying opinion, ask, “What do you see that we don’t?”

Marquet offers seven ways to ask better questions. “The point is that we do not want a ‘harmonious conversation.’ What we want is an accurate picture of reality.” He also makes a good point with “Give information, not instructions.” Very helpful.

3. Commit, Not comply

If you want to keep your commitments, don’t make it about the behavior but more about who you are. Not, “I can’t,” but rather, “I don’t.”

Compliance may have worked for simple, physical, repetitive, individual tasks, but it does not work for complex, cognitive, custom, team task. Compliance only gets minimum fulfillment of requirements, whereas commitment invites discretionary effort.

A way to execute this play is to focus on learning by “developing hypotheses to test rather than making decisions to execute.” This makes it easier to shift from redwork to bluework. Rather than “What are we going to do?” create a mindset of “What are we going to learn?”

Instead of making a one-time decision, break it up into decision points. Make the redwork a “series of smaller increments divided by bluework decision points.” This was instructive: “Here’s the rule about the blue-red-blue cycle length: shorter periods of redwork increase learning but reduce production output, and vice versa. Therefore, in environments and under conditions of high uncertainty and unpredictability, we need to shorten redwork periods. As the product or exterior conditions become more defined, we can extend the length of the redwork.”

4. Complete, Not Continue

The Industrial Age mindset is to continue—to keep on producing—nothing is ever complete. The idea was to maximize the time spent in redwork. Completion marks the end redwork.

While in redwork, we benefit by having a prove mindset. However, our overall mindset guiding the redwork-bluework rhythm is on of improve.

Focus on the journey, not the destination.

When people think of their achievements in terms of mile markers in a journey, they are more likely to continue the behaviors that resulted in them reaching that goal.

5. Improve, Not Prove

Improvement is the core purpose of bluework and is meant to improve redwork. Here we reflect, ask questions, and seek feedback. We run the improve play at the end of redwork.

Now we need people to do both redwork and bluework. We are all both redworkers and blueworkers. This requires us to be able to step out of our roles as producers and look back at our production with the dispassionate eye of an improver.

Marquet offers four ways to execute the Improve play. First, look forward, not backward. “What do we want to remember about this for next time?’’ Second, focus on others rather than the protection of the self. “If someone else had to take over this project, what would you say to them to make it even more successful?” Third, focus on the process and not on the people. This helps to minimize our defensiveness. “How could this be done better?” and forth, seek excellence rather than trying to avoid errors.

6. Connect, Not Conform

Connect is the mindset behind all of the other plays, enabling them to work better. It is about caring— “caring what people think, caring how they feel, caring for their personal goals.” Instead of over, it is with.

Connect is not a superficial “friendship” but caring for someo0ne else and wanting the best for them. Connect is love.

Part of flattening the power gradient involves leaders demonstrating vulnerability and being able to admit they don’t know.

Great takeaway here: “Never underestimate the power of fear to distort common sense in environments with a strong culture of control and compliance.”

The Science of Lockdown, Masks, & Vaccines Is Crumbling

Source: The Science of Lockdown, Masks, & Vaccines Is Crumbling

Self-censorship in the US

The US nominally enshrines the most far-reaching freedom of speech, thanks to the First Amendment of the Constitution. Yet the average number of Americans who self-censor is slowly beginning to approximate that of Germany, where… ‘Nearly two-thirds of

Source: Self-censorship in the US

Being an effective witness for Christ to a lost world

An effective witness for Christ could be defined as a person whose life bears fruit for the gospel. Ultimately, when a person is saved, it is by God’s power (1 Peter 1:3-5), not ours, and as we speak the truth to unbelievers, it is important to remember that their salvation does not hinge on our speaking abilities or the strength of our faith, or how well we know how to explain things. Even in cases where we speak the truth very clearly and with conviction, it may not result in the salvation of the hearer. In the end, each person bears the responsibility for his own choices (Galatians 6:4-5). This should not be a deterrent, however. We are called to do everything in our power to witness to the lost, and to aim for effectiveness. Here are a few basic guidelines to being an effective witness for Christ. An effective witness is humble. We cannot judge who will or will not accept the message of the cross, so we should be impartial and unprejudiced about whom we approach with the good news, remembering that our own need for salvation is just as great as the need of every person yet to be saved (Romans 3:19-20). An effective witness will approach unbelievers with kindness and patience, rather than an arrogant, quarrelsome attitude (2 Timothy 2:23-26). An effective witness represents the Scripture. God has chosen to reveal Himself to the world in part through a book, the Bible. Regardless of whether this makes perfect sense to us, it is the way He chose to do things. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador for a nation speaks only what he hears his king or President speak—no more, no less. When we invent new gospels, or bend the truth in an effort to make God’s message more palatable or easier to accept, we are being unfaithful, and if people are converted, they are converting to a false gospel. The truth will always be fragrant to the one who desires salvation, and powerful to effect that salvation (2 Corinthians 2:14-17). We should not be ashamed of it (Romans 1:16). An effective witness represents the Savior. Just as we are faithful to accurately speak His Word, we should be faithful to accurately portray His character. The world has an image of Jesus that is often incorrect, and we should strive to make His true nature known to them. Jesus Christ was not always nice. He rejected the hypocritical religious leaders of His day, pronouncing woes on them (Matthew 23:1-36). He spoke the truth with conviction (John 3:1-15). He confirmed the existence of eternal separation from God (Matthew 7:21-23). At the same time, He accepted the outcasts of society and forgave them freely (Luke 19:1-10). Nobody who wanted to be with Him was rejected. His focus was to save them, rather than to judge their sin (John 3:16-18). An effective witness for Christ will be intimately acquainted with Christ’s character and attempt to emulate Him. An effective witness is honest. Not every mystery in the Bible can be explained or understood, even by the wisest theologian or the most studied scholar. If an unbeliever asks a question we cannot answer, we should not be afraid to say “I don’t know.” Honesty, and acceptance of our inability to fathom God, is not a sign of weakness, but rather a trust in God that is unfathomable (Hebrews 11:1-3). How can we hope to fully understand a God whose mind is so far above ours? But we are not called to fully understand, but simply to trust (Proverbs 3:5-6)

‘We must beg God for forgiveness as a NATION, and pray for redemption or be overrun by DEMONS’, Adams

Tuesday, September 15, 2020 by: Mike Adams

(Natural News) The crisis America is facing today isn’t merely a “current events” crisis involving riots, arson, attacks on police and extreme censorship of conservatives and Christians. It’s much more than that: It’s actually a spiritual war being waged across this planet, with left-wing demons rising up to try to destroy society, mass murder Christians around the world, silence all voices of reason and burn down human civilization.

This is further evidenced by the fact that BLM leaders are heavily into witchcraft and satanism. As explained by Alex Newman at TheNewAmerican.com:

Now, newly released audio recordings reveal the occult practices, ancestor worship, African paganism, and literal witchcraft of at least one of the national group’s co-founders, as well as the founder of BLM’s Los Angeles chapter. Apparently the entire George Soros-funded leadership of BLM is involved in these practices as well.

In the audio, BLM co-founder Patrice Cullors, who boasted in a TV interview of being a “trained Marxist,” revealed that she is also consulting spiritual entities and allowing them to “work through” her. “I’m calling for spirituality to be deeply radical,” she said. “We’re not just having a social justice movement, this is a spiritual movement.”

Yes, a BLM co-founder is actually summoning demonic “spirit guides” to work through her to destroy humanity. Here’s the video mentioned by Newman:

https://www.brighteon.com/embed/4bff068c-386e-49f1-87b2-c075712c900d

These BLM terrorists actually invite the demonic spirits into their bodies, and they often work with multiple infestations of demonic entities:

In a recorded conversation with Cullors, BLM Los Angeles founder and California State University Professor of “African Studies” Melina Abdulla reveals more than she thought she should have. “Maybe I’m sharing too much, but we’ve become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly, right.” she explained. “Like, each of them seems to have a different presence and personality, you know. I laugh a lot with Wakisha, you know. And I didn’t meet her in her body, right, I met her through this work.”

Note that she is a professor of “African Studies,” which has already morphed into an anti-human, anti-white indoctrination training system that’s turning young human beings into Satan’s soldiers for destruction and mass death.

As Newman explains:

Talk-show host and Christian attorney Abraham Hamilton, III, first aired the audio recordings on August 19 during his show The Hamilton Corner. His conclusion is that the conversation proves top BLM leaders are involved in witchcraft, “summoning the spirits of the dead,” and engaging in other satanic practices that are firmly condemned and strictly prohibited in the Bible.

The solution to the rise of demonic Leftists can only be found in God

The war we are facing in America today is not merely a kinetic war, and not simply a culture war. It’s a spiritual war being waged by openly demonic, anti-Christ forces who worship death and beg evil spirits to give them the power to destroy. These people are called “Antifa” or “Black Lives Matter” terrorists, and they have long since ceased to be human, as they are literally infested with demonic spirits.

While some of the actions of these demonic Leftists can be countered with force, the greater answer to all this must come from God. Specifically, America must end its evil ways and beg God for forgiveness or be destroyed as a result of its collective sin.

America’s 60+ million abortion murders cannot be swept under the rug. They have unleashed an enormous ripple of evil — a kind of tearing of the fabric of the divine cosmos — that has allowed Satan-worshiping demons to enter this realm and literally occupy the bodies of left-wing activists, many of whom welcome these demon forces as revealed above.

New York City is the epicenter of abortion murder and evil in America, which is why it’s collapsing into a ghost town

If the Holocaust was a crime against humanity with six million murders, what should abortion be called with 60 million infant executions? The epicenter of this murder is New York City, which recently suffered extremely high death counts during the early days of the coronavirus bioweapon release. New York City is where left-wing Satan worhippers light up buildings to celebrate the mass murder of babies after they’re born — straight-up infanticide — while state legislators cheer the laws that legalize such practices.

Under the rule of the radical Left, America has become a nation steeped in pure evil: Abortion, transgenderism, Satan worship, witchcraft and the overt destruction of property, life and liberty. These are all signs of a demonic war being waged against America… a war that must be answered with the power of God.

https://brighteon.social/@HealthRanger/104870108801094780/embed

In this video, I urge all Americans to awaken to this essential, powerful truth. We must join together and denounce abortion, transgenderism and pedophilia. We must beg God to forgive the sins of this nation, and just as importantly, we must steer America onto a new course that is aligned with God’s plan for a nation founded on Christian principles.

This is the only path for saving America, and the time is growing late. The left-wing demons have already overtaken Hollywood, the corporate media, our school systems and much of the government. They run the medical system and fund the sciences. They promote vaccines made from aborted human fetal tissue, all while funneling money into virology labs to build more biological weapons to be unleashed against humanity.

Meanwhile, California just legalized pedophilia, allowing adult men to sodomize young teen children and get away with it. This evil must be halted, and to do that, we must invite the blessings of Jesus Christ into our lives and beg God to forgive our nation

Nigeria’s inflation hits 13.22 per cent, highest since 2018

NIGERIA’S inflation rate climbed by 13.22 per cent in August, which is the highest increase since 2018, according to the NBS.

Source: Nigeria’s inflation hits 13.22 per cent, highest since 2018 | International Centre for Investigative Reporting

Nigeria’s crude oil output rises despite fall in global oil prices to $39

BRENT crude, Nigeria’s oil benchmark remained at below the $40 per barrel mark on Tuesday, following a drop in demand.

Source: Nigeria’s crude oil output rises despite fall in global oil prices to $39 | International Centre for Investigative Reporting