By Uzair Adam

The Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria (DSFN) has called on the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to integrate and strengthen inclusive education policies, curricula and practices to ensure equitable access to quality education for all learners, particularly children with disabilities.

The development was disclosed in a statement signed on Saturday by the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Salisu Shehu, following a courtesy visit by a delegation of the foundation led by its Programme Coordinator, Adeola Adeniji, to the council’s headquarters on June 25.

Speaking during the visit, Adeniji said inclusive education ensures that all learners, including children with disabilities, those with learning difficulties, language barriers and other marginalized conditions, receive quality education in mainstream schools with the necessary support.

She expressed concern that despite Nigeria’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups in the Federal Capital Territory and across the country continue to face significant barriers to quality education.

According to her, the challenges include non-inclusive curricula, inadequate numbers of teachers trained in special needs education, inaccessible school infrastructure, lack of assistive technologies and weak implementation of inclusive education policies at sub-national levels.

Adeniji noted that NERDC, as the nation’s apex curriculum development body, occupies a strategic position to embed inclusive education principles into national curricula, teacher competency frameworks and instructional materials.

“We call on NERDC to take urgent and deliberate action on curriculum reform for inclusivity, explicitly incorporating Universal Design for Learning principles, integrating disability-inclusive content, sign language modules and Braille literacy provisions into approved curriculum frameworks,” she said.

The programme coordinator also urged the council to ensure that curriculum materials are produced in accessible formats, including large print, audio and digital versions, and to develop a national competency framework for inclusive education that would be adopted by pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes.

Responding, Prof. Shehu commended the foundation for its resilience and commitment to education and humanitarian service, noting that persons with special needs are often neglected in development planning and policy implementation in Nigeria.

He encouraged the organisation to expand its advocacy beyond educational inclusion by promoting the mainstreaming of children with special needs into society.

According to him, efforts should be directed towards preparing such children to function effectively within society, stressing that segregation could hinder rather than advance their development.

The Executive Secretary expressed NERDC’s willingness to strengthen advocacy and partnerships aimed at advancing inclusive education and pledged the council’s support for the foundation’s cause within the scope of its mandate.

He assured the delegation that their concerns and requests would receive due consideration and reaffirmed NERDC’s commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in the pursuit of quality education.

Also speaking, the Head of the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC), Dr. Chima Egbujuo, said NERDC consistently takes  into account the needs of all learners in curriculum development processes, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

He emphasized that the council operates on the principle that no child should be left behind and disclosed that NERDC has a dedicated Special Needs Education Unit actively working to support the participation of persons with disabilities in its programmes.

Egbujuo added that the council takes pride in ensuring that persons with disabilities are represented in its activities and are able to participate and interact freely with others.

In his remarks, the Special Assistant (Technical) to the Executive Secretary, Dr. Garba Gandu, commended the foundation’s advocacy efforts and noted that NERDC has developed several policies and frameworks over the years to promote inclusion.

Similarly, the Head of the Special Needs Education Braille (SNEB) Unit, Dr. Ndubuisi Iroham, highlighted the council’s longstanding efforts to support persons with disabilities.

He explained that NERDC has established facilities such as a Braille Press and specialised studios to provide accessible educational resources, reaffirming that inclusive education remains central to the council’s mandate.

Members of the DSFN delegation included Nenkang Banaya of DSFN; Ayobami Adefioye and Thomas Tobi David of The Engraced Ones; Peter Chidi Ugboije and Saidat Usman of the Joint Association for Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD); and Bekky Selekere of RMB Autism Foundation.

Also present at the meeting was the Head of NERDC’s Policy and Programmes Unit, Dr. Famade Oladiran.

By Mubarak Umar

There are television series you watch for entertainment, and there are those that remind you what storytelling is truly capable of.

Matan Gida, created by Abubakar Bashir Maishadda, is one of those rare productions.

For years, Hausa television has largely remained within the familiar territory of domestic disputes, predictable romances, and neatly resolved family conflicts. Audiences have become accustomed to stories that rarely challenge expectations. Matan Gida breaks away from that tradition with remarkable confidence.

The series is driven by a screenplay that feels fearless. I can sense that when Ibrahim Birniwa opened his PC to draft Matan Gidan, he wasn’t writing to satisfy convention; he was writing to provoke thought. The script explores uncomfortable realities, moral ambiguities, power dynamics, and the hidden complexities in our everyday lives, subjects that many filmmakers have hesitated to approach. Every episode feels intentional, with dialogue that carries weight and scenes that linger long after the credits roll.

The entire cast truly deserves equal praise. The ensemble is balanced, with each actor bringing a distinct personality and energy to the screen. There is no sense of characters competing for attention; instead, every performance contributes meaningfully to the larger narrative. It is this diversity of characterisation that gives Matan Gida its emotional richness and realism.

Abubakar Maishadda deserves credit for trusting a script that challenges Kannywood’s conventional cinema. Because producing a series like Matan Gida is a creative statement. It proves that audiences are ready for mature, thought-provoking stories.

And now comes the real test.

With Season Two premiering today, expectations are high. The first season didn’t just tell a complex story—it raised the standard in Kannywood. Audiences will be expecting deeper conflicts, higher emotional stakes, more character arcs, and answers to the questions deliberately left hanging. More importantly, viewers will expect the series to preserve the boldness that made the first season stand out rather than retreat into familiar territory.

If Ibrahim Birniwa’s pen remains as fearless as it was in Season One, and if the series continues on the pedestal that challenges both the industry and its audience, Matan Gida has every chance of becoming one of the defining works of modern Hausa television.

By Anwar Usman

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said on Friday that Nigeria’s integrated identity management system led to the arrest of seven suspected Boko Haram and ISWAP commanders returning from the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage.

‎The minister made this known at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026 into law, as contained in a statement signed by the President’s aide, Bayo Onanuga.

According to him, the suspects were arrested last Thursday at the Katsina airport after returning from Saudi Arabia and were subsequently handed over to the Department of State Services.

He said the arrests were successful as a result of integrating the National Identity Management Commission database with the Nigeria Immigration Service database and connecting it to Interpol.

The statement in part reads, ”I know, sometime ago, the Senate President was alarmed by how some terrorists went on pilgrimage, wondering how they crossed our borders. We inherited a fractured system.

‎”But I’m happy to tell you that even last week, Thursday, seven of the known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP at the point of coming back from Mecca were arrested in Katsina at the airport and were handed over to the DSS.

‎”This is only possible because NIMC’s ID is already connected with the immigration database, and it’s already speaking to even the Interpol 24/7, and we have been able to automate this,” the minister said.

According to the minister, the newly signed NIMC Act would further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture by improving the harmonisation of identity databases and strengthening inter-agency collaboration.

‎He further revealed that the law will enhance the integrity of the National Identity Number system while boosting the country’s capacity to combat identity theft, terrorism, financial crimes and other security threats.

He said that before Tinubu’s government, identity management systems were fragmented, noting that services such as passport issuance and driver’s licence processing were disconnected from the national identity database.

President Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 on Friday. In attendance were the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and other senior government officials.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

Management authorities have ordered the immediate expulsion of Gombawa Motors Nigeria Limited from the Ibrahim Dankwambo Mega Park in Gombe State, citing persistent violations of park regulations and multiple complaints from fellow operators.

In a formal notice issued on Thursday, Principal Facilities Management Limited, the park’s managing firm, informed the automobile company that its continued operations within the facility had become untenable. The decision, backed by a resolution from the park’s Oversight Committee dated June 25, 2026, follows a broader restructuring and realignment exercise conducted with stakeholders in November 2025.

According to the eviction letter, Gombawa Motors repeatedly flouted agreed-upon operational rules, disregarded established procedures, and failed to adhere to the framework designed to maintain order and fairness in the park. The management noted that these infractions had drawn significant complaints from other businesses operating within the premises.

Consequently, the company has been given 24 hours from receipt of the notice to vacate the park entirely. Officials stated that the measure was necessary to protect the peaceful and efficient functioning of the facility.

The directive has been copied to key state authorities, including the Gombe Revenue Optimization Company (GROCOL), the Oversight Committee chairman, the Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Security Services, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, signaling potential enforcement action if the company fails to comply.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

A Kaduna-based mechanic, Aliyu Muhammed, has accused police officers of handing his wife, Ummulkhairi Muhammed, over to an angry mob that allegedly lynched and burnt her to death after accusations of child trafficking.

Muhammed, 42, said the incident happened in Mararaban Jos area of Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State after his wife was accused by some women of attempting to traffic children.

Speaking about the incident, he explained that his wife left home on the day of the attack for an Islamiya school in a neighbouring community while he travelled to Kaduna town for work.

According to him, he later received a call from his wife’s phone around 11:21 a.m., but a man answered and informed him that she had been accused of attempted child trafficking.

“He told me that some women had accused her of attempting to traffic children but added that it was only an allegation that had not been confirmed,” Muhammed said.

He said the caller asked him to contact someone who could quickly reach the location where his wife was being held. Muhammed said he immediately contacted a friend, Suleiman, who later informed him that a large crowd had gathered at the scene.

The mechanic said his friend contacted the Divisional Police Officer and requested security officers to move his wife safely to a police station.

Muhammed explained that he informed family members and rushed back to Mararaban Jos with his elder brother after receiving the distress call.

He said while approaching the area, he noticed smoke rising from a distance before receiving another call from his second wife.

“Shortly afterwards, my second wife, who was crying, called me and told me they had killed her,” he said.

According to him, residents stopped him from rushing to the scene because they feared the mob might attack him as well if they discovered he was the victim’s husband.

He said he later saw his wife’s burnt body on the road after the Commissioner of Police arrived at the scene.

Muhammed alleged that his wife had earlier been rescued and taken to a police station before officers allegedly released her to the mob.

“My elder sister was with my wife at the police station after she was rescued. While they were inside the station, the Divisional Police Officer came in and asked where the suspect was. My sister replied that my wife was not a criminal,” he said.

He further alleged that the DPO dragged his wife out of the station despite pleas from family members.

“The DPO held my wife’s hand and started dragging her towards the station gate. My sister asked where he was taking her and pleaded with him not to take her outside because the mob would kill her,” he stated.

“She tried to pull my wife back into the station, but another police officer allegedly struck her hand, allowing the DPO to drag her outside. Once my wife was pushed outside by the DPO, the mob descended on her, beat her, placed her motorcycle on top of her, and set both her and the motorcycle ablaze.”

The grieving husband said the tragedy has left his family devastated, especially their four children who lost their mother.

“Since that incident, I have not been myself. I have been sick. I hardly sleep because I keep thinking about what happened and crying over the tragedy that has befallen my family,” he said.

He added that he was unable to speak with the Commissioner of Police at the scene because of the emotional trauma.

“Neither the Commissioner of Police nor the DPO spoke to me. The police only provided two vehicles to convey my wife’s body for burial,” he added.

Muhammed also claimed that some suspects had been arrested in connection with the incident, although he had not received official confirmation from the authorities.

“I heard that about 22 people are in custody, but I have not been officially informed or shown those who were arrested,” he said.

The mechanic demanded a full investigation into the role played by the DPO and questioned why his wife was allegedly released to the mob after she had already been rescued.

“I want the DPO to be thoroughly investigated. Even if my wife had been guilty of the allegation against her, does the law permit a police officer to drag her outside and allow a mob to kill her?” he asked.

He also urged the public to avoid jungle justice and allow security agencies and courts to handle criminal allegations through due process.

“The public should learn that when someone is accused of an offence, people have no right to take the law into their own hands,” he said.

Muhammed said he wants his late wife to be remembered for her care for her children and peaceful relationship with members of the community.

“I also want the Mararaban Jos Bridge to be renamed in her honour. That would preserve her memory and serve as a reminder to future generations of what happened to her when she was only 35 years old,” he added.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

Fresh tension has spread across parts of Benue State after unknown gunmen killed the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the state, Alhaji Risku Muhammad, alongside his associate, Yakubu Isah.

The attack reportedly took place on Friday at Okudu community in Otukpo Local Government Area shortly after the victims attended a peace meeting in neighbouring Ohinmini LGA.

Sources said the meeting was organised by the Divisional Police Officer of Ohinmini. Community leaders and Fulani herders attended the dialogue to discuss ways to restore peace in Ayunne Community, where a recent attack claimed several lives.

Residents said the victims were travelling home after the meeting when armed men intercepted their vehicle and opened fire on them.

The eldest son of the deceased, Idris Muhammad, confirmed the incident during a telephone conversation with journalists on Friday night. He said his father came under attack while returning from the peace meeting.

The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, Maxwell Ogiri, also confirmed the killing and expressed concern over the development.

“It is true that the state chairman of MACBAN was killed within Otukpo Local Government Area this afternoon. The killing has raised tension in the community and neighbouring areas,” Ogiri said.

He appealed to residents to remain peaceful and assured them that security agencies were handling the situation.

The Chairman of Ohinmini Local Government Area, Adole Gabriel, said the deceased participated actively in the peace dialogue before the attack occurred.

“You know there was a crisis at Ayunne Community where some people were killed some time ago, and the DPO of Ohinmini convened a peace meeting involving Fulani herders and members of the community.

“I was told the meeting was fruitful and, at the end of it, the man (MACBAN chairman) left. Unfortunately, I learnt that some gunmen ambushed his vehicle at Okudu Community in Otukpo Local Government Area and killed him alongside one other person,” Gabriel said.

The Benue State Police Command confirmed that it received a report of the incident. The command’s spokesperson, Udeme Edet, said an investigation had started.

“I have received the report and investigation is ongoing,” Edet said.

Communities in Otukpo and Ohinmini local government areas have recorded repeated violent attacks in recent months. Several of the incidents were linked to suspected armed herders.

Meanwhile, the national leadership of MACBAN condemned the killing. The association described the incident as a “dastardly and deeply disturbing act.”

In a statement signed by its National President, Baba Othman-Ngelzarma, the group said the circumstances surrounding the murder had raised serious concerns.

MACBAN stated that it was troubling that a leader who attended a peace meeting became a victim shortly afterwards. The association also raised concerns over reports that one of the deceased’s children, who is a lawyer, was allegedly attacked in a village about a week earlier.

The group urged security agencies to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the matter.

“The killing of community leaders and peace advocates threatens efforts towards reconciliation, dialogue and peaceful coexistence among communities. Those who seek to destabilise society through violence must not be allowed to succeed,” the statement added.

The association also sympathised with the family of the deceased and members of MACBAN in Benue State. It reaffirmed its commitment to peace and cooperation with security agencies in addressing insecurity across the country.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 21-year-old suspect, Samson Onilewaji, after he was allegedly found with a suspected human hand, firearms, and other items during a stop-and-search operation along the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

Police spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, disclosed the development in a statement posted on the command’s official X account on Friday.

According to the statement, officers intercepted an unregistered commercial shuttle bus carrying six passengers during a routine security operation. A search of the vehicle and its occupants reportedly led to the recovery of several items from the suspect.

The statement read, “During a search of the vehicle and its occupants, the suspect, identified as Samson Onilewaji, male, aged 21 years, was found in possession of a suspected human right hand, two locally made pistols, one live cartridge, two axes, one POS terminal machine, and five ATM cards.

“The suspect confessed to have recently robbed three individuals of their personal belongings, including the recovered POS terminal machine and ATM cards. Efforts are ongoing to identify and contact the victims for the return of their recovered property.

“Investigation is also ongoing to ascertain the identity of the owner of the recovered suspected human hand, the circumstances surrounding its possession, and its intended use. Further efforts are being intensified to identify and apprehend other criminal associates connected with the suspect. The suspect will be charged to court upon the conclusion of the investigation.”

The police said investigations are continuing to determine the source of the severed hand and uncover possible links to other criminal activities.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, called on residents to remain alert and continue providing useful information to security agencies to support crime prevention efforts across the state.

By Ibraheem A. Waziri

Moses E. Ochonu, Boko Haram: The Past of the Present Upheaval, University of California Press, Oakland, 2026.

There are books that inform, books that provoke, and, rarer still, books that compel you to interrogate not merely their subject but the assumptions through which it has long been misread. Moses E. Ochonu’s Boko Haram: The Past of the Present Upheaval belongs, in large measure, to this last category. It is a serious, learned, and often illuminating work. It is also, at a foundational level, a work that mistakes genealogy for inheritance. In a region where the stakes of historical narrative are measured in mass graves rather than academic citations, that error deserves honest reckoning.

Let me be clear from the outset: Ochonu is no lightweight, and no serious reviewer should pretend otherwise. His central argument, that Boko Haram did not emerge in a historical vacuum but must be situated within a long tradition of Islamic reform, dissidence, and theological contestation in Northern Nigeria, is not only defensible but necessary. His four-phase map of postcolonial Muslim dissidence, from Sheikh Abubakar Gumi’s pragmatic shiga a gyara (enter to reform) politics, through the revolutionary “Islam Only” radicalism of the 1980s, to the Salafi fence-sitting of the 1990s, to the full-blown jihadism of Muhammad Yusuf, is genuinely useful. His insistence that Boko Haram be studied as a rational, calculating actor rather than dismissed as inexplicable barbarism reflects an intellectual courage sorely needed in the debate. All of this deserves acknowledgement. 

But respect for a scholar’s craft does not require silence about where it occasionally leads him astray. After sustained engagement with this book, I find that Ochonu’s historical genealogy – meticulous and intellectually compelling as it is – ultimately commits the cardinal error of confusing proximity with equivalence. That the Fodiawa jihad and Boko Haram invoke similar texts, deploy similar vocabulary, and emerge from overlapping cultural landscapes does not make them participants in the same civilisational project. Resemblance is not identity. And a genealogy is emphatically not a pedigree.

The fact that Boko Haram claims Dan Fodio does not mean Dan Fodio claims Boko Haram. Throughout history, movements of radically different character have invoked the same ancestors. Revolutionary France invoked Rome. Such invocation tells us about the claimant; it tells us nothing reliable about the legacy claimed.

The Missing Dimension: What the Genealogy Leaves Out

Ochonu’s framework operates almost entirely along the axis of theological and political dissidence, the reformist impulse, the grievance against corrupt rulers, and the appeal to textual authority. What it leaves almost entirely out of view is the civilisational dimension of Northern Nigerian history: the long, patient, and extraordinarily durable process by which the Hausa-speaking world built not only political orders but also moral architectures, shared systems of meaning, obligation, hierarchy, and dignity that survived dynasties, empires, conquest, and colonial transformation alike.

That moral architecture did not originate with Dan Fodio. It was already ancient when the Fodiawa arrived. The old Hausa city-states and the Kanem-Bornu, which Ochonu himself acknowledges as a sophisticated Islamic civilisation predating Sokoto by centuries, had already created the conditions for a complex society organised around recognisable concepts of hierarchy, obligation, and social responsibility. The Fodiawa did not create this order. They found it, deepened it, gave it sharper Islamic articulation, and codified it in law and administrative structures. This is the real achievement of the nineteenth-century jihad, not that it overthrew the existing order, but that it built upon and consolidated what was already there. The Caliphate succeeded because it was, in the deepest sense, continuous with the civilisation it reformed.

At the centre of that civilisation lies a concept absent from every reformist movement Ochonu analyses, whether in the Fodiawa corpus, the MSSN anthems, or a single Boko Haram sermon. It is the concept that the late Anthony H. M. Kirk-Greene famously described in his landmark essay, “Mutumin Kirki: The Concept of Good Person in Hausa.” Mutumin Kirki, The Good Person, is the civilisational ideal at the heart of Hausa moral order.

The Mutumin Kirki ideal captures something no purely theological analysis can adequately convey: that social legitimacy in Hausa society derives not from ideological purity or reformist credentials, but from kirki, the cluster of virtues encompassing mutunci (dignity), kunya (shame as a moral conscience), responsibility, restraint, and recognition of one’s obligations within the social order. The framework placed duties on Sarakuna and Malamai alike, gave meaning to the roles of Attajirai and ordinary farmers, and even extended its logic to those society defined as marginal. Everyone knew where they stood. Everyone knew what was expected. Dignity required discipline. Power required restraint. And knowledge without wisdom was understood to be incomplete, even dangerous.

Colonialism, for all its violence and extractive logic, largely preserved the structure within which this framework operated. Indirect rule in Northern Nigeria worked precisely because the existing institutions already possessed legitimacy. The Emirates, the Alkali courts, and the hierarchies of office were incorporated into, and in some respects reinforced within, the colonial administrative framework. The resulting order was imperfect, as every historical product is. But it remained broadly legible to the moral universe the Kirki framework had constructed over centuries. In this sense, each successive political order, from Kanem-Bornu to the Sokoto Caliphate to colonial administration, can be understood as a successive tenant of the same civilisational operating system, adapting it, straining it, but ultimately operating within its logic.

The Verdict: Why Boko Haram Is Different, Categorically

Against this backdrop, the comparison between Boko Haram and the Dan Fodio jihad does not merely strain; it collapses. The Fodiawa jihad, whatever its human costs, was oriented towards institution-building. It produced a legal system, an administrative hierarchy, an educational network, a scholarly tradition, a literary culture, and a deepened moral framework that placed obligations on rulers and ruled alike. It expanded the universe of the Mutumin Kirki ideal; it did not attack it.

Boko Haram has done the exact opposite, systematically. It has attacked schools, murdered scholars, destroyed markets, abducted children, and reduced entire communities to rubble. It has not built a single institution that a future generation will inherit with gratitude. It has not produced a single scholar whose work will outlast the insurgency. It has not deepened the social hierarchies in which dignity and obligation are mutually reinforcing; it has weaponised those on the margins of society and enslaved those it was supposed to protect. Whatever else this represents, it is a direct assault on the civilisational operating system that both Kanem-Bornu and the Sokoto Caliphate spent centuries constructing.

Ochonu acknowledges this divergence; he explicitly notes that Boko Haram’s positions “directly contradict major aspects of the Fodiawa reformist creed and statecraft.” Yet within his framework, these divergences occupy a subordinate position. Structurally and rhetorically, the main assertion is the connection. And it is that connection, Boko Haram as participant in Northern Nigeria’s reformist DNA, that lingers in the mind and provides precisely the legitimacy Boko Haram’s ideologues have always craved. This is not a small risk. It is the central vulnerability of an otherwise admirable intellectual project.

Those of us who have observed Northern Nigerian politics, society, and intellectual life across decades, including pundits and commentators who know this civilisation not only from the archive but from the inside, find this framing, however sophisticated its execution, essentially uninitiated. It reads like the work of someone who has mastered the grammar of Northern Nigerian Islamic history with enormous care but has not quite absorbed its spirit: the civilisational confidence, the deep institutional memory, and the quiet but unmistakable recognition shared by virtually every segment of Northern Nigerian society not affiliated with Boko Haram that this movement does not belong to the tradition it claims. It is not reform. It is rupture, a specifically anti-civilisational rupture that the region’s history has not witnessed in any comparable form.

A movement may quote the same texts as its predecessors and still negate them. The Dan Fodio movement built what endured. Boko Haram destroys what was built. That distinction is not a footnote to the history of Northern Nigeria. It is the history of Northern Nigeria.

Final Reckoning: The Question History Is Actually Asking

Ochonu’s book asks: Where did Boko Haram come from? It is a vital question, and the book answers it with real skill. But the deeper question, the one the civilisational history of this region most insistently raises, is: What does Boko Haram’s existence reveal about the resilience of the moral architecture it attacks?

The long view of Northern Nigerian history suggests this: the Kirki operating system has survived before. It survived the disorder preceding the Fodiawa jihad. It survived the internal rebellions of the post-jihadi Caliphate period. It survived British conquest and the dismantling of the Sokoto political order. It survived the postcolonial state’s repeated failures to honour the obligations the Caliphate tradition placed on rulers. It did so because it is not merely a political arrangement or a theological position. It is a civilisational inheritance, embedded in culture, language, social practice, and moral imagination, that no single insurgency, however violent, has yet to erase.

Moses Ochonu has given us an important, serious, and deeply researched book. He has expanded our understanding of the landscape in which Boko Haram emerged, and he has done so with intellectual integrity. But genealogy, to repeat, is not pedigree. The real story of Northern Nigeria is not the story of rebellion. It is the story of civilisation, the long, patient construction of a moral society anchored in dignity, responsibility, learning, and character. Measured against that standard, Boko Haram appears not as the culmination of Northern Nigerian history but as its most violent recent attempt at self-erasure.

And on that measure, the verdict of civilisation itself remains, as it has always been, clear: this is not our inheritance. This is our wound.

By Abdurrazak Mukhtar

The late John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu, spent decades making Nigeria laugh. He gave his best years to Nollywood, entertaining millions across Africa with his unique comic genius and irreplaceable screen presence. He was more than an actor. He was a cultural institution. Yet today, the story surrounding his estate and his family’s welfare is anything but funny. It is a tragedy of greed, betrayal, and inexcusable injustice.

Mr Ibu rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most recognisable faces in Nigerian cinema. His comedy was not merely entertainment. It was a mirror held up to society, reflecting the struggles and absurdities of everyday Nigerian life with warmth and wit. When he fell ill, Nigerians did not hesitate. From all walks of life, fans, colleagues, and well-wishers contributed generously to his medical bills, demonstrating the depth of love this nation had for him. That outpouring of support was a testament to the kind of man he was and the joy he had brought to so many homes.

Reports indicate that Mr Ibu left behind significant assets, including properties in Lagos, Enugu, and Asaba, several cars, and substantial funds. Beyond his personal estate, generous Nigerians donated large sums during his illness to cover his medical treatment. Additional funds were raised at the time of his burial. By all reasonable accounts, there was more than enough to ensure that his widow and young children would be protected and provided for in the years ahead. But that is not what happened.

His son, Somotochukwu, came forward with a deeply troubling allegation. He claimed that his stepmother, Stella, sold a Lagos property for ₦60 million, an Enugu property for approximately ₦17 million, and another in Asaba for ₦11 million, yet he received only ₦40,000, presented not as his rightful share of his father’s estate, but as a personal gift. Furthermore, family members accused one another of embezzling the very donations that kind-hearted Nigerians had sacrificed to give during Mr Ibu’s illness.

The consequences of this alleged mismanagement are not abstract. They are visible and heartbreaking. Mr Ibu’s widow is reportedly fetching water from a well because she cannot afford her rent. Three young children, aged 10, 12, and 14, have been forced to drop out of school. The family’s electricity was disconnected for months, leaving them to depend on neighbours to charge their phones. These are the children of a Nollywood legend, reduced to conditions that no Nigerian child should endure.

This is not a private family matter to be quietly swept aside. It is a public failure with public consequences. The funds donated by ordinary Nigerians for Mr Ibu’s treatment were not gifts to any individual. They were acts of collective love for a man who belonged to the nation. Those who received and managed those funds bear a moral and legal responsibility to account for every naira. Silence in the face of such allegations is not neutrality. It is complicity.

The Actors Guild of Nigeria, Nollywood stakeholders, and relevant authorities must not look away. If funds donated publicly were misappropriated, the law provides remedies, and those remedies must be pursued. Transparency is not optional in matters such as these.

To the family of Mr Ibu, this moment calls for maturity, unity, and honesty. Whatever grievances exist between the widow and the children from other relationships, they must not be settled at the expense of the innocent. Those children did not choose the circumstances of their birth. They did not create the disputes dividing this family. They deserve access to education, shelter, and a dignified life, not as charity, but as their rightful inheritance from a father who worked hard all his life.

It is strongly advised that all parties submit to a transparent, legally supervised process for the distribution of Mr Ibu’s estate. A lawyer or court-appointed administrator should be engaged immediately to protect the interests of all dependents, especially the minor children. Settling this matter in the media through emotional appeals and counter-accusations serves no one, least of all the children.

The story of Mr Ibu’s family is not an isolated one. Too many Nigerian entertainers have died, leaving their families in poverty, not because they did not earn, but because there were no structures in place to protect what they built. The entertainment industry must begin to take the welfare of its members seriously, not only in death but in life. Wills, estate planning, life insurance, and welfare funds are not luxuries. They are necessities that every serious professional body must promote and facilitate.

The Actors Guild of Nigeria and similar bodies should establish a dedicated welfare framework that provides legal and financial guidance to members, ensuring that what happened to Mr Ibu’s family does not become a pattern.

Mr Ibu gave Nigeria laughter when it needed it most. He gave the film industry his talent, his energy, and ultimately his health. In return, the very least Nigeria owed him was the assurance that his children would be cared for and that his legacy would be honoured with integrity.

It is not too late to make it right. Mr Ibu’s children are still young. They still have futures ahead of them. Whoever holds the keys to their father’s estate must open that door with justice, fairness, and the fear of God. Because a man who made millions smile deserves far better than to be remembered as a cautionary tale about family greed.

He deserved better. His children deserve better. And Nigeria must do better.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

An Ekiti State High Court has sentenced 2 men to death by hanging over the abduction of an official of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Omoboade Adesina.

The incident happened on April 22, 2022.

The convicts, identified as Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar, were found guilty of kidnapping the NYSC staff member.

However, the court cleared a third defendant, Usman Abubakar, after ruling that prosecutors failed to prove his involvement in the crime.

The 3 suspects were earlier arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) before they were arraigned in court.

Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Lekan Ogunmoye, delivered the judgment. He held that the prosecution successfully established its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge said evidence from the identification parade and call data analysis linked the 2 convicts to the kidnapping.

Ogunmoye thereafter sentenced Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar to death by hanging.

The court also discharged and acquitted Usman Abubakar due to lack of sufficient evidence connecting him to the offence.