Vicious attack on families

Vicious attack on families
Last week I received a forwarded message from my friend, Comrade Sani Bala Shehu of the Civil Liberties Organisation, written by Alhaji Ahmad Salisu, titled KANO INCESSANT JUVENILE DEFILEMENTS. I was extremely shocked by the story and it makes me wonder what kind of society we are living in. For those who were not privileged to read the story, the story was not talking about indecent dressing in Hausa films or acting immorally or jeeps controversy, which in recent time occupied headlines from Kano but a true life story of shameless adults whose animalistic behaviour could not only ‘stir emotion but draw a stream of tears to any right minded human being’.
But one place where I tend to disagree with Mallam Salisu is his outright blame of the government of Mallam Shekarau on what was happening. We cannot completely exonerate the government, especially considering that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the lives of its people but the fact remains government alone cannot be blame for the upsurge of moral decadence in our society. To me the problem lies in our total disregard for the family unit which is regarded as the foundation upon which the society is built.
A stable family unit is the one that brings about not only social order, but offers peace and security and is seen as essential for the spiritual growth of its members. It is accepted by majority of Islamic sociologists that the family unit create harmonious social order in which children are treasured. Islam exhorts its adherents to maintain close contact with family members and to care for each other including the elderly and the extended family.
The importance of the family unit stems from the fact that family is the foundation of each and every society. The strength or weakness of this building block makes it a distinctive mark on the social and cultural structure of a society. The weakness of a nation as well as destructive recipes for a well-maintained one, start and end with the family. Today, not only in Kano but in other places like Gombe or Bauchi or worst Adamawa, Taraba and Borno, the family, or what is left of it is under vicious attack from various fronts. Our families are splited, mutilated, alienated and polarized and we are living in a society where the bond - harmony, love and respect that is the feature of our society is completely destroyed.
Mallam Salihu, it is unfortunate that marriage today, which binds the family, has been bastardized, relegated and instead of being a shield for married men and women from committing Zina, it has even become a license for some people to engage in it. Majority of our people today don’t regard zina as harem or sin. I am not trying to pretend being holier than anybody, but it is pathetic the way these set of people shamelessly engage in illicit sex without considering the consequence of their action.
Take a trip to Abuja or Kaduna or even Zaria and see how married men in their dozens, shamelessly pick young ladies young enough to be their daughters to go and have sex with them. Lagos street in Garki or Zone 4 in Wuse are two most popular places in Abuja. If you are in Zaria please visit Magume where the state polytechnic is located or FCE Zaria or ABU Zaria, you will wonder if this is happening in another community not a Muslim community. Therefore, the issue is not of the failure of Shekarau’s social re-orientation and whether the programme is working or some people find an avenue to enrich themselves, but the fact remains that moral decadence in our society has reached an alarming rate, and my believe is that while government can take a substantial amount of the blame, we as individuals take the largest share. Women everywhere are turned into sex machines, enslaved for lust not minding age or status. There are a lot of rape cases which are not reported, because people involved are members of the same family or very close relatives or the women involved do not want the world to know about it.
These are few problems that most girls or women face in our society today. The most pathetic thing is that so many women groups are created daily but most of these groups have become a platform for some opportunists to make money from international donors without really helping those in need. I was equally shocked when I had a discussion with Mrs. Anita Dogo, the Gombe state coordinator of the WRAPPA, who told me how women are abused either by their husbands or relatives especially the issue of inheritance.
Change in any society starts from the individual, who translate it to the family unit and subsequently moves to the whole society. But in a situation where by a husband can cheat on his wife or a wife cheating on her husband, tell me Mallam Salisu how are we going to have a stable society? Or what do you think Mallam Shekarau’s social re-orientation can do? Families today, not only Muslim families alone but other societies living with them have to cope with the problems of rapid urbanization, and the pressures of living in cities and in cramped accommodation. A father, mother and their grown up children live in the same room and palour apartment in a large compound that combines people of different background and culture, what do you expect?
Comrade wallahi sometimes I don’t like talking about Nigeria’s problem, not because they don’t bother me but I find it difficult at the end to proffer a convincing solution to solve these problems. Corrupt leaders, disorganised society, moral decadence, yan kalare, unemployment, poor social welfare system, poor education system, unstable economy, no basic amenities, poor housing, poor roads etc etc the list is endless and then you just add another to this endless list, that is incest, rape and violation and abuse of small children. Our scholars always tell us to be prayerful and that is what we are doing daily.
Kabiru Danladi,
Lawanti Village, KM25, Along Gombe-Bauchi Road,
Akko LGA, Gombe State.
Kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08054546764, 08035150369