Three days ago, the professor better known as ‘sex-for-marks’ professor was sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment for doing what his colleagues have done for generations and got away with. How unlucky! Of all the professors and lecturers who have awarded marks for sex, to think he is the one – the only one – who got caught must be a terribly sour pill for anyone to swallow.
I left the university in the mid eighties and, even as I write, I can recollect names of lecturers who in my days had a reputation for sleeping with young students and rewarding them with marks. Whether or not they actually did, is a different thing entirely as, half the time, rumours which tend to make the rounds among students are mere that – rumour. But then, as the old saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire.
Professor Akindele is a Reverend. Half the time, he is called Reverend Richard Akindele – a calling which calls for a higher level of moral standing. Before him, Reverend Jolly Nyame – former governor of Taraba State was sentenced to a cumulative 14 years’ imprisonment for stealing his state dry. He was ordained a reverend by the United Methodist Church of Nigeria long before a became a governor. I would like to make two points about this ‘holy’ men with big titles.
The first is that these titles are no more than that – titles. Reverend, Bishop, Imam, Shaykh and Cardinal. I have been around long enough to know that behind the scene, these people are very rarely of any higher moral standards than Joe Blog on the street. Only a few weeks ago, the Pope apologised for the worst kind of sex scandals committed by Fathers and Cardinals across Europe and America who are officially celibate and supposed moral consciences of the society. The very people to whom sinners go to confess their sins. To pretend that Muslims are better would be to live in obvious denial. We know the stories we have heard from some of our mosques.
The final point that I want to make concerns you and me. Truth be told, we are not any better. We are only better to the extent that the covering of our creator remains on our nakedness. Search your conscience. All that has happened to Richard Akindele is that his creator opted to remove that covering. Ditto Jolly Nyame. To this end, I am coming to the conclusion that perhaps the greatest mercy that our creator has bestowed – and continues to bestow on us – is the covering of our nakedness of sins.
With each new sin though does a little of that cover come off. Monica Osagie was not the first student this professor attempted to sleep with. According to the recorded telephone conversation between the two, he had already slept with Monica’s friend. He referred her to the same friend by saying during the conversation “…….ask your friend and see what I did for her……..”.
So, how much of your covering is already off? How close are you to losing it completely? Allah says in the Qur’an, chapter 53 verse 32 “let none of you ascribe purity to themselves. Only Allah knows who is truly conscious of Him.” There’s a secret to keeping that covering on though – and that is to stay away from sins as much as possible. The wherewithal to be able to do this is all I ask Allah to grant you and me. May the covering of our nakedness never be removed.
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This is a very beautiful sermon and therein, are admonitions for the people who can reflect. Baba Najim, my beloved father in the faith, deserves both spiritual and academic accolades for this brimful and precise piece. Bārokallōhu fil Imam Najim bn Jum’ah Abu Qosim, Al-egbawiy.