Wassalaam Alaikum

Anybody who has heard the imperial proclamation from Abubakar Atiku a Fulani prince and does not sit up is bound to end up in sorrows, tears or dead. Therefore, may I humbly call on the Umma in the name of truth, honesty and fair play, and, on the principle of the Shari’ah, to intercede between Abubakar Atiku and my people. I will start by asking, is there any member of the Umma that does anything without saying the Basmalah? Did Abubakar Atiku recite the Basmalah before issuing the threat to the people of the Niger Delta? I confess that I am an unbeliever and I do not know how to recite the ‘al-asma’ al husna’, but, this is different from being a kufr or a munafiqun, yet, I still ask you to forgive and show us mercy. "Allah is Forgiving, Merciful" Qur’an 3:31]

Let me state categorically, that I am NOT supporting any act of vandalization or strife in the Niger Delta. I also attest that, the government has the right to safeguard properties in anyway they see fit, but, I assert that, the two weeks deadline by a member of the Umma, your son, Abubakar Atiku; before the invocation of the military onslaught on my people, is ‘unrighteous conduct’. It should be noted, that, the government has the wherewithal to employ people to guard pipelines. There is nothing wrong with that, but, military action not even police action, that was declared, in the case of Biafra; on both the guilty,[ who must have a suicidal bent] and the innocent., within a political space which we all share, albeit, in a master servant relationship, is un Islamic. Others might argue, that, it was ‘the bully from Owu,’ that passed the injunction because the Egbas want to move out of their state and migrate to the Delta as the Ijebus are making life difficult for them, but I think that will be uncharitable.

It is a Fulani Muslim, a man steeped in the doctrine of munyal, who possesses an over abundance of hakiilo, that issued the threat, and, we know well enough not to take the Fulanis lightly. Dear Umma, you might think that those of us who occupy the Niger Delta have just heard of you and your forebears, but, kindly read an extract from a letter written by Mr. C. H. Coulthurst to Colonel Nicolls who was based at Fernando Po.

March, 1832… at Duke Town, Old Calabar

"I told him [Duke Ephraim the Obong of Calabar] how the king of Funda had been enabled, by means of the European musketry which had reached the coast, to make head against, and drive back Sultan Bello and his Fellatahs. He said he had heard of their wars and conquests; and I then observed, that not only himself, but every Negro chief on this coast, had a common interest in preventing the Moors and their Mullams from usurping the whole of the country trade into their own hands, which, since their acquisition of Nyffe, where the palm oil trade begins, they have aimed at doing".

Copied from original documents in the Royal Geographical Society: ‘Failure of another Expedition to explore the Interior of Africa’. Journal of the Geographical Society, Vol.2 [1832] pp 307-308.

"Say, O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty! Thou givest sovereignty unto whom Thou wilt, and Thou withdrawest sovereignty from whom Thou wilt. Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt and Thou abasest whom Thou wilt. In thy hands is the good. Lo! Thou art Able to do things."[Qur’an 3:26]

Please, remind your brother, that, God alone has the authority to exercise power in the heavens, on earth, and over the entire creation. That, we humans enjoy the mercy of God Who is kind and Good. God’s mercy is to anyone, believer or unbeliever, obedient or disobedient, Muslim or non Muslim, black or white.. Yes, Abubakar Atiku and Olusegun Obasanjo have the power of life and death over us as they wrongfully believe, but, nobody, I repeat, nobody, can ascribe untruths to the holiest of books, the Quran. Tell him that, Allah has issued a serious admonition to those who hold power, that they should remember that God gives power as He pleases., because He is the Lord of power.

"…….. O ye who believe! Be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or [your] parents or [your] kindred, whether [the case be of] a rich man or a poor man, for Allah is nearer unto both [ than ye are]" Qur’an 4:135]

Dear members of the Umma, I call on you to bear witness against one of your own, for failing to keep a treaty [constitution, which guaranteed a 13% minimum derivation allocation to the people of the Niger Delta] which he swore to uphold. I call on you to witness the negation of the Shari’ah which is a code of Allah. I need not remind you that, justice is the most cherished virtue of the Umma, and those who have studied the Hadith know that the greatest jihad [striving in the path of Allah] is the word of justice, said to an unjust leader. It has been written that the Umma must strictly follow God’s guidance. I call on all followers of the path or road that leads man to peace, to call on their brother Abubakar Atiku to follow the Constitution and pay the south/south their minimum 13% derivation allocation, and not pay the 7% as being done presently. The Shari’ah, if I may add, is the road to right conduct. The word is etymologically derived from an Arabic root ‘the trodden path’ It is well detailed on, how a Muslim should conduct his life, how to deal with his neighbor, and those under him. It virtually commands him to practice mercy and teaches him how to lead a government.

"I smite with My punishment whom I will, and My mercy embraceth all things, therefore I shall ordain it for those who ward off [evil] and pay the poor-due [south/south]". Qur’an 7:156] "it is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteousness is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the Prophets; and giveth his wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the God fearing." [Qur’an 2:177]

Dear Umma, help us, for it is the will of Allah and the Qur’an has guaranteed our payment.

9/7/00