Almighty Allah says in the Holy Qur’an, An-Nahl, 16:30-32: “To the righteous (When) it is said, ‘What Is it that your Lord Has revealed?’ they say, ‘All that is good’. To those Who do good, there is good In this world, and the Home Of the Hereafter is even better And excellent indeed is the Home Of the righteous,—Gardens of Eternity which they Will enter: beneath them Flow (pleasant) rivers: they Will have therein all That they wish: thus doth God reward the righteous,— (Namely) those whose lives The angels take in a state Of purity, saying (to them), ‘Peace be on you; enter ye The Garden, because of (the good) Which ye did (in the world).’”
Just as God Almighty elevated Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to prepare him for the evangelisation of Islam and elevated him to earn the title of El-Amin – The Trustworthy, Almighty Allah prepared Justice Bola Ajibola, SAN, for the great assignment of propagation of Islam. This is what led to my meeting him on Monday, January 22, 1996 (first Ramadan 1416 A.H.).
Almighty Allah declares in the Holy Qur’an, Anbiyaa 21:106-108: “Verily in the (Qur’an) Is a Message for people Who would (truly) worship God. We sent thee not, but As a mercy for all creatures. Say: ‘What has come to me By inspiration is that Your God is One God: Will ye therefore bow To His Will (in Islām)?’
God actually inspired Justice Ajibola then at the World Court at The Hague, Netherlands, about the propagation of Islam. He had to come home to the then Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr Lateef Adegbite, of blessed memory, his bosom friend from youth in Abeokuta. They discussed about the downward trend of da’wah activities in Nigeria; low propagation of Islam on radio and television; non-establishment of universities for the Muslims; no hospitals for the Muslims; and many more.
But Dr Adegbite highlighted the activities of Najah Joint Muslim Organisation (NAJOMO) that he set up in the western states of Nigeria and the activities of the NSCIA. Justice Ajibola went home disappointed and unsatisfied, especially coming from The Hague because of the issue.
At his house at Asero, Abeokuta, he was observing Maghrib prayer. At every prostration (Sujud), he felt an increasingly divine challenge to do an assignment Allah had preferred for him and stop looking for people to do it. A big challenge for Justice Ajibola!
Almighty Allah declares in the Holy Qur’an, Al-A’raf 7:184-186: “Do they not reflect? Their companion is not seized with madness: he is but a perspicuous aarner. Do they see nothing in the government of the heavens and the earth and all that God hath created? (Do they not see) that it may well be that their term is nigh drawing to an end? In what message after this will they then believe? To such as God rejects from His guidance there can be no guide; He will leave them in their trespasses wandering in distraction.”
Thus, Justice Ajibola remembered that he bought cassettes of the complete Holy Qur’an recited in Arabic and English from his last umrah in Makkah, Saudi Arabia and said it had not been recited on radio, as in the olden days. He went with the cassettes package to Alhaji Salih Lai Labode, the Assistant General Manager, Programmes, at Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC), and told him his determination and willingness to sponsor the recitation of the complete Holy Qur’an on the radio station. He immediately paid for one year broadcast of the recitation of the Holy Qur’an on OGBC 2 FM, which eventually ended after three years of sponsorship.
I was charged with the presentation of the ‘Assalam Alaekum’ weekly programme on OGBC 2 FM since January 1995. Alhaji Labode looked for me for two weeks and asked the OGBC studio not to record me for my Ramadan programmes unless he saw me. On the eve of Ramadan 1, 1416 A.H. (Monday, January 22, 1996), when the programme was to start, I had to see him. After I apologised for my inability to see him, because I taught Mass Communications at the Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta and shuttled to present programmes at the radio station, he gave me the package of the Holy Qur’an to present a 15-mnute programme every day of Ramadan.
I asked him the concept of the programme and the sponsor. He said I should just design it, title it and ‘do the presentation starting tomorrow at 6:10a.m. after the national news on OGBC 2 FM as the first Muslim-sponsored programme on the station regularly. Yet, I had two programmes that aired on OGBC 2 FM every day of Ramadan, including the sponsored “Hadith Qudsi” and station’s programme, ‘Ramadan Kareem’.
I designed the concept of the programme at his office, and he refused to look at it, saying he was satisfied with whatever I did. I asked for the producer of the programme, and he phoned Bimpe Awaye immediately to come in as the producer of the programme and gave us new tapes for the programme. I titled it ‘At-Tanzil – The Revelation’. After the recording, we went to him and asked him to listen. He refused to listen,and asked the producer to schedule it for broadcast immediately. We broadcast every day of Ramadan and every week on Friday for three years till the end of the Holy Qur’an.
Initially, the sponsor mentioned was ‘A Muslim’. There was no mention of the name Justice Bola Ajibola as the sponsor of the programme, as he had instructed. He said he couldn’t sleep overnight waiting for the broadcast.
The first broadcast was a blast to the entire West African countries. Justice Ajibola asked Alhaji Lai Labode to bring me at 6:a.m. He said I was difficult to pin down, but he would come to know the reactions to the programme. This was the beginning of the Islamic Movement for Africa (IMA) and later Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA), when Saudi Arabian experts and government advised that “movement” connoted violence and friction. Justice Abdul-Jabbar Bola Ajibola, SAN was the President; Alhaji Sulaiman Osho, Secretary-General; and Alhaji Salih Lai Labode, Treasurer: just the three of us at the start. We extended it later to Alhaji Miftau Adeolu Balogun as Deputy-President; Alhaji M.A. Ola Yusuf, Vice-President; Professor Kamil Koyejo Oloso, Islamic Adviser; Mr Ma’ruf Adesegun Ajibola, Legal Adviser; Architect Ishaq Alaka, Designer of the Research Centre and Supervisor of Projects; Alhaja Risikat Ogunfemi, Women Leader; Architect Akiyode; and Alhaji Rasheed Raji, Financial Secretary.
We received lots of opposition from the leaders of the opposite religion with lots of petitions to the radio station and newspapers which led to emergency management meetings of OGBC. Although there were lots of positive responses from listeners, even non-Muslims with over 100 letters in the first week, commending the programme; requesting for copies of the Holy Qur’an and books on Islam. The requests came from within Nigeria, from Benin Republic, Ghana, Togo, among others, as the OGBC 2 FM reached far distances, with the masthead reaching far distances at 1,000 feet above sea level.
When we arrived to break fast with Justice Ajibola on the first day of Ramadan in 1996, as Alhaji Lai Labode introduced me to him that this was the presenter of the programme, and I prostrated, he hugged me, and held my head to pray for me. It was my father, Alhaji Muzammil Idris Osho that first did that to me when I was going for national youth service in Niger State in 1985.
As we sat down to break the fast and pray Maghrib, I asked for his comments on the programme. He said: “The presentation was fantastic; great voice; powerful diction and fine finishing.” We reviewed the negative reactions of the leaders of the other religion, and he expressed satisfaction; that it signalled the greatness of the impact of the programme on the people. He jetted back to The Hague the following morning. He returned almost monthly as we progressed with the programme and the IMA.
May Almighty Allah continue to guide us aright. Ameen.
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