Mohammed the Brit

Goodbye Jack Smith, hello Mohammed Malik, model British subject. Mohammed, in its various spellings, is now the favourite name for newborn boys in the United Kingdom, edging out Oliver. Those named for the Prophet of Islam ride the Clapham omnibus.

Churn is a wondrous thing, grease in the wheels of vital societies able to adjust their self-images over time. But what to think of the Mohammedization of this murky isle?

Say Luton or Bradford, and the vision that leaps is that of the alienated Muslim radicalized by jihadist teaching and ready — like the Luton-incubated Stockholm bomber Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly — to blow himself up to kill the Western infidel. The London bombers of July 7, 2005, also set out from Luton.

These are potent images. Exclusion exists; its other face is danger. But so does a particular British elasticity that registers Mohammed and shrugs...

Having lived in France and Germany, I’m struck on returning to Britain after 30 years not by the hard lines hiving off immigrant Muslim communities as in those countries but by the relative fluidity that produces Faisal Islam, economic editor of the influential Channel 4 News, or Sajid Javid, a bus driver’s son and Tory MP...

British identity has proved more capacious than French or German, perhaps because, even before the legacy of empire, it had to absorb the English, the Scottish and the Welsh (as well as fail to absorb the majority of the Irish.) The variegated texture of London — projects full of immigrants hard by upscale housing — stands in stark contrast to ghettoized Paris.

I’ve been listening to a BBC Radio 4 series — how polarized America would benefit from a national broadcaster of this quality! — called “Five Guys named Mohammed,” conceived to mark the name’s first-place surge. The programs are a good antidote to the simplistic caricature that conflates Muslim with threat, and a useful barometer of an integration that is uneven, certainly, but ongoing.

There was Mohammed Yahya, Mozambique-born rapper and creator of a Muslim-Jewish band. Or Mohammed Anwar, of purring Scottish brogue, the manager of a Glasgow Muslim day care center, waxing lyrical about Damson Jam and the crush he once had on actress Diana Rigg (who didn’t?) and his 21-year-old daughter, who could do big things if she was not “so laid-back, it’s just unbelievable.” And there she was, more Scottish even than he, laughing over his premature hunt for a husband for her.

Or Muhammad Hasan, a bubbly Birmingham real-estate dealer in his mid-30s, explaining his Islamic investment theory: Because under Islam you cannot charge or pay interest, Muslim investors in his property deals have to take equity rather than lend money — and that spurs motivation.

Bent on business, Hasan has had little time to look for a wife who, in his mother’s view, “has to be a Muslim and from Pakistan and a Princess Diana clone!” He’s now sipping tea with potential spouses while his binocular-armed Mom observes.

Overall, these Mohammeds see themselves as British citizens, not Muslims in the United Kingdom. Their universes may be distinct, as in attitudes to marriage, but distinct in a way that, at best, complements rather than confronts. “There’s an upward mobility and optimism that is much higher than in continental Europe,” said Muddassar Ahmed, a 27-year-old college dropout and chief executive of Unitas, a public relations firm.

Ahmed is involved in the drafting of a letter by 50 British Muslim scholars denouncing Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the 26-year-old killer of Salman Taseer, the Punjab governor assassinated this month for denouncing Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws that prescribe the death sentence for anyone insulting Islam. Qadri, self-described “slave of the Prophet,” has been feted in Islamabad.

In this context, the readiness of European Muslims, many bearing the Prophet’s name, to stand up for values of free speech assumes bridge-building importance. It reflects the experience of faith as practiced within a modern secular society.

Those bridges do not come easily. Britain has been riled in recent weeks by the conviction of Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27, the ringleaders of a gang that raped and sexually abused several white girls aged between 12 and 18 in Derby.

The reaction of Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, was to say a problem exists with “Pakistani heritage men thinking it is O.K. to target white girls in this way.” He said they were “popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically” — so they seek the “easy meat” of white girls.

It was a neat — and explosive — argument. Vigorous debate has ensued. Racial slur? Courageous frankness? I don’t think Straw’s argument stands up to scrutiny of overall sex-crime patterns, but I do think Britain’s Muslim community needs to take a hard look at repressive attitudes toward women. The debate is salutary.

There’s a Mohammed — in fact there are many — in Britain’s future. Oliver’s prospects look more dubious given the ties between the name’s popularity and the heady success of the chef Jamie Oliver — but that’s another story of positive British change.

"Toni and I are separated and a divorce is already in the pipeline. We can never come together again. If people are being fed by wrong sources about the possibility of reconciling, they are hearing from me now that it is not possible. We can't come back." 9ice said in a recent interview.

He went further to reveal that he will never get married again, though he plans to have two or three more children. He already has one son, Zion, with his ex, Toni Payne.

Following an alleged intelligence report that there are planned attacks in Abuja by the popular militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), during the 50th anniversary celebrations, the Nigerian government allegedly prompted the South African Police to invade the Johannesburg home of Henry Okah, the leader of MEND, in the early hours of yesterday.

Sources who spoke in confidence with NEXT revealed that over 30 South African police officers smashed down Mr Okah’s doors and gained entry into his home at about 3am South African time, with sophisticated weapons in full display as well as about six sniffing dogs, at the instance of the federal government of Nigeria.

“We have been told that the Nigerian government informed the South African police that it is imperative that Mr Okah’s home is searched yesterday because they would find arms and explosives. The federal government has been sending spurious petitions to the South African government about Mr Okah, alleging all kinds of things..

“They said he is exporting arms and explosives from South Africa into Nigeria. But when the South African police invaded his home, they found nothing. Even with their sniffing dogs, they did not find anything,” a source said to NEXT yesterday in Abuja.

Reports have it that the search at Mr Okah’s home, which lasted for about 10 hours, from 3am till about 1pm, yielded neither explosives nor arms.

Ima Niboro, the spokesman for the federal government neither responded to the phone calls nor the text messages sent to him to make enquiries about the role of the presidency in the role.

Federal government’s gripe

Although the Umaru Yar’Adua led government released Mr Okah from a 13-month long detention and granted him amnesty in 2009, unconfirmed reports state that Mr Okah’s name has been placed on the INTERPOL red alert in Nigeria, in connection with arms and drug trafficking.

Emmanuel Ojukwu, the spokesman of the Nigerian Police, has denied any knowledge of the raid. Mr Ojukwu, who told NEXT in Abuja that he is also the spokesman for the INTERPOL in Nigeria, said that he was unaware that Mr Okah’s name had been placed on red alert by the INTERPOL.

“I have no information. I am not aware of that. I speak for the Nigerian police and the INTERPOL and I am not aware of either the invasion or any red alert,” Mr Ojukwu said in a telephone interview.

Mr Okah, in response, said that he was unshaken but that he was upset that his children were frightened by the police officers who tore down their bedroom doors and barged into their rooms with rifles.

“I am not surprised by the federal government’s actions. What I am surprised at is that the South African government would allow themselves to be used by Nigerians. I am, however, not moved by whatever means the government is trying to use to intimidate me. I am constantly fighting against the oppression of my people in the Niger Delta,” Mr Okah said in a statement obtained by NEXT.

Who will be promoted & who will join Bode George ? Who is your favourite mallam ?

Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday told a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, that it lacked the power to try him over allegations of abuse of office as minister. He said that the proper court to try him was the Abuja High Court.

Counsel to the former minister, Akin Olujimi, filed a preliminary objection saying that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Matters Commission (ICPC) Act of 2000, which his client had been charged on, had been repealed and so the federal court lacked the jurisdiction to try the matter. “The prosecution acknowledges that the charges stand on nothing,” said Mr Olujimi. “The effect of a repealed law is that it is a nullity, and no charges founded on it can stand.”

In response to the preliminary objection, the prosecution said that the court could assume jurisdiction in the matter because it involved an agency of the federal government and a former minister in the federal cabinet. Trial Judge, Adamu Bello, adjourned ruling on the case to 13th October.

Mr. El-Rufai and two others were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of illegally allocating land in the FCT to friends and relatives, some of whom included Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the daughter of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The other accused persons are Altine Jubrin, former director general of the Abuja Geographical Information System, and Ismail Iro, former general manager of the agency. All three men pleaded not guilty.

AC Ribadu & Oshiomole ticket : as Asiwaju Tinubu Drops Vice Presidential Ambition

If he had held Fash close to his breast who knows as Alamiyesegha is reaping the rewards of patient GodFatherhood


Bola Ahmed Tinubu is no longer interested in the vice presidential race and is, instead, strategising on how the Action Congress (AC) would team up with another party to claim the presidency as well as win all the South Western States, Sunday Independent can reveal.

It also emerged that AC may have concluded plan to field the former anti-graft czar, Nuhu Ribadu as its presidential candidate, with Edo Governor and former Labour leader, Adams Oshiomhole, as his running mate.

That appears to be a fantastic political masterstroke, designed to woo the disenchanted Northerners who appeared certain to lose the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential ticket to President Goodluck Jonathan and draw the organised Labour and younger elements who see Ribadu and Oshiomhole as emerging leaders they could count on.

Tinubu, former Lagos Governor and AC foremost financier, has long been rumoured to be in alliance talk with Muhammadu Buhari to float a joint presidential ticket, a very risky arrangement that would have repeated the Social Democratic Party (SDP)’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 1993 presidential ballot.

Late Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe were Muslims, but the ticket won a landside across the country widely split along ethno-religious lines.

Tinubu’s rumoured VP ambition has seen him criss-cross the length and breadth of Nigeria in the last two years to build bridges as he consulted with top opposition leaders and political parties, including the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

He is said to have resolved to sit back and map out strategies for the AC to regain all its lost states in the Yoruba-speaking South West geopolitical zone as a bargaining chip for the party in its merger talks with other political parties in the country.

This agenda is believed to enjoy the backing of the five former governors of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) with whom he had been involved in series of mobilisation for the new party to be consummated from the years of consultations.

He was also said to have revealed the new move to his political associates and groups in the South West and across Nigeria in the last one month, a decision believed to be behind the lull and change of strategy in the political consultations among the opposition parties.

Sources close to the godfather of Lagos politics said he backs the decision by AC to support a younger element from the North with a running mate from the oil-bearing South South geo political zone, a deft move to dwarf the influence of Jonathan whose support base political scientists say is weak.

Tinubu and AC favour the candidature of Ribadu and Oshiomhole, two fellows whose support bases they believe could jolt the PDP in the ballot, sources said.

The choice of Ribadu over some other young Northerners like former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir El Rufai, is said to have been informed by the high profile and public sympathy over his performance in the anti-corruption crusade, regardless of his romance with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and allegations that the latter used him to hound adversaries.

The choice of Oshiomhole as a running mate, sources added, flow from his coming from the same region as Jonathan and his wide appeal among Nigerians who relished his presidency of workers’ movement, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

A federal grand jury is about to indict John Edwards, sources tell the National Enquirer. The grand jury has been investigating the former presidential candidate since April 2009 for possible misuse of campaign funds -- Edwards had mistress Rielle Hunter on his payroll -- and indictment is now imminent. The Enquirer talked to one friend who revealed that John was "terrified":

"While he believes he's done nothing illegal in trying to hide his extramarital affair with Rielle and their daughter, he thinks the Feds are going to make an example of him."

It hasn't been a great winter for the former presidential candidate. On the one hand, there has been Andrew Young, former Edwards aide and admitted accomplice in concealing the affair, stepping forward with a tell-all memoir of campaign trail debauchery and details of an Edwards-Hunter sex tape. On the other, recently-separated-from wife Elizabeth has threatened to sue Young for "alienation of affection," while friends told the Enquirer that Edwards beat her in a marriage-ending fight.

Meanwhile, rumors float about that Edwards proposed to Hunter and the two plan to move into a recently purchased $3.5 million beachfront home. If the couple do in fact intend to move in together, plans could be delayed if Edwards ends up serving jail time.