I am starting this write up in a rather weird way, which is to discongratulate and congratulate you at the same time. I am discongeatulating (if there is such a word in the English language, which you so excelled) you for being godless. That is ‘you do NOT believe in God’, not to talk about the prophets and the messengers He sent to earth, with various religions to mankind and jins.

I have the distinctive feeling that your ‘millions’ of supporters  worldwide might probably skin me alive for having the temerity to advice you to ditch your age old belief in the traditional African religion and convert into the religion of peace, which is Islam. Other people who see in you a role model, might also want to roast me alive for having the cheek to advise you in the English language that you consider as your first.

Well, it is better for me to be roasted alive in this world than to be roasted in the hereafter world. And, I would hate to think that you would roast in hell for your unbelief in the existence of one and only true God.

I am talking about the God That sent all the prophets and the messengers to earth, including Isa Alaihis Salam (AS), who the Christians refer to as Jesus Christ. The God Who sent Muhammadu as the last of His prophets and messengers to teach mankind and jins Islam, the religion of peace.

Then I am congratulating you on the milestone of your 90th birthday. Ninety years on this earth, and the years have not shown on you, is a remarkable achievement which is however, not of your own making. It was just the way that The Creator of heavens and the earth, Allahu Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala (SWT), wanted you to be at this mature age of yours.

The world literally took notice of your birthday, with many people at home and abroad celebrating and saying ‘happy birthday to you’. The Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, His Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima, the leading opposition candidates in the 2023 Presidential Elections, Atiku Abubakar (AA) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), among many prominent and not so prominent Nigerians greeted and congratulated you on your 90th birthday.

Abroad too, you have received good well messages from presidents, heads of government, ambassadors, some of whom extended their personal messages or on behalf of their governments and leaders. This must have made you to feel proud and on top of the world. Do not be or even feel prideful with your attainment of 90 years, alive and kicking. It was not your own making or that of your ‘traditional religion’. It was the doing of the One who does as he pleases. That is Allahu, the only one true God.

I am not by anyway an Islamic scholar or Islamically knowledgeable person to be preaching to such a world giant of a person, and, for sure, a prince of the globe. But those who are, will  not hesitate for a second to assist you the moment you decide to accept the words of conversion to Islam. Others might have tried you along this path for all I know. I am only chipping in my own advice now.

I have never been privileged to meet you in person, but I could certainly claim to ‘know’ you on four different occasions. These occasions are, firstly, your famed idolatry,  secondly your equally famous prison notes, two of which made yours a household name, thirdly your ‘globe trotting’ as a lecturer in some of the finest Ivory Tower institutions, and fourthly your one time advice to a former president-elect, to ‘throw away the poisoned chalice’ as you put it, because you believed him when he claimed to know that the election that he  ‘won’ was not perfect. The advice went unheeded, anyway.

By the way, I am not ‘here’ to discuss the past, but the present, since you just notched your ninetieth birthday. The sincerest birthday gift I ever could ‘present’ to you, is to advise you to become a Muslim. One could convert and be accepted into the religion by God and man, even if it were his last day on earth.

Anyway, many notable thinkers, and personalities of old and new times, had seen the shining light of Islam and accepted the religion without fanfare. They had observed the wonders of the Holy Koran, its timelessness and the many prophetic words of the Holy Prophet of Allah, Muhammadu RasululLah SallalLahu Alahim Wasalam (SAW). It is not for me to say who and who converted to Islam from other religions or atheism. One is supposed to convert for the sake of Allah, not because others before him had done it.

Moreover, millions of those who see you as their role model worldwide, would definitely join you in your ‘new’ faith, which is Islam, wherever they might be living at the moment.

I have decided to ‘meet’ you this way, because it is my only chance of getting your attention.

Think of and about this advice even at your ripe age of ninety, which you recently clocked. Look at the message, not the ordinary messenger, which happens to be yours sincerely, in-Islam, hopefully.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.