Month: March 2022

By Aliyu Nuhu

Call me a military apologist, l don’t care. Democracy is a big let down in Africa. It is an anathema to its growth. You can say all the virtues and beauties of democracy, but the truth remains that Africans and Nigerians are too indiscipline, tribalistic and bigoted to let it work. In fact some of the conditions needed to make democracy work are not yet attained in Nigeria. They are; large middle class and some level of educational attainment among the citizens. On every failure we blame the West. Now tell me it was the West that advised us to promote Almajiri education to state virtue or told Dasuki not to buy the weapons. Tell me it was the West that told us never to punish anyone for stealing. Even when the western countries jailed their nationals in scandals that had to do with us, we promoted our own criminals to position of leadership and blamed the West for our inadequacies.

The Wilbros, Halliburton and Siemens scandals had portrayed us as an unserious nation. Democracies in Uganda, Congo DRC, Republic of Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, CAR,Togo, Angola and Cameroon are better left to history books and historians. In Nigeria, the kind of leaders we saw in the past 23 years are making me to have nostalgia for the military.

The nation did not stagnate under military. There was less crimes because as a nation, Nigeria had the capacity to punish criminals then. The military executed armed robbers, drug traffickers, murderers and terrorists; including their sponsors. Today as we entered our most violent period in peace time, civilians have not been able to carry one death sentence even as terrorists are blowing the nation to pieces on daily basis. No military government will tolerate school abduction and ransom payments the way we see it today. State government officials organize bandits to kidnap students and they withdrew money for ransom and have the students returned after few days.

Armed robbers, kidnappers and ritual killers are living in utopia. The state is on perpetual holiday in dealing with violent crimes. Even with all they stole in the past, at least the military leaders built Third Mainland Bridge and Abuja. No government under this dispensation can build a bridge the length and breadth of the Third Mainland or build a brand new city like Abuja, not even on paper. The military created the states and local governments and demarcated their boundaries. All our social and economic infrastructure were built by them including all the refineries and LNG.

General Abacha in particular, spent 70% of his budgets on capital projects and we are still plying his PTF roads. With all the billions civilians received since 1999, they have failed to repair Lagos-lbadan express or Benin – Ore Road. But Babangida built Abuja – Kaduna – Kano dual carriageway in under 2 years. The road saved lives. In 23 years Abuja – Lokoja express is still under construction. Meanwhile it was Abacha that rehabilitated Port Harcourt – Enugu express and built Aluminium Smelter company in Ikot,-Abasi while Obasanjo built Aladja steel rolling Mills.

The military have really tried and most of our today’s enjoyment as a nation is directly tied to their hard work before and now!

By Muhsin Ibrahim

Cristiano Ronaldo is unquestionably one of the greatest footballers in the world. Needless to say, he has lifted almost all trophies, except the World Cup. Notwithstanding, his recent performance at Manchester United is anything but superb. I am not a football pundit, but I am old enough to understand if someone is no longer in their prime or the odds do not favour them anymore.

Naomi Osaka is a much younger athlete than Ronaldo. She had a winning streak, including defeating her role model, the undisputable tennis GOAT, Sareena Williams. However, the lady luck stopped smiling at her after that remarkable performances and victories. Much unlike her much older athlete colleague (i.e. Ronaldo), she didn’t summon her grit at that time. Instead, she had a rethink. Thus, she tried the fashion industry and, well, succeeded.

In his book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant subtly criticises Angela Duckworth’s argument on grit in her famous book, Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success. He says we should avoid “escalation of commitment”. What’s that?

Grant defines escalation of commitment as “When we dedicate ourselves to a plan, and it isn’t going as we hoped, our first instinct isn’t usually to rethink it. Instead, we tend to double down and sink more resources in the path.” Isn’t it what many of us do?

Of course, Osaka goes back to tennis. And, yes, Ronaldo may come back. However, if I were him, I would rethink my commitment to professional football. Grant (2021:229) points out that “gritty people are more likely to overplay their hands in roulette and more willing to stay the course in tasks at which they’re failing, and success is impossible”. In other words, gritty people go into foreclosure.

Honestly, I side with Grant’s argument more than Duckworth’s. We may be passionate about several things. Nevertheless, we may not succeed even after trying our best possible. For instance, how many relationships have had to let go? That doesn’t mean they aren’t our calling. Instead, it tells us that we aren’t cut for it. Hence, instead of pushing and pushing, rethinking and reversing may be our best way out – and, of course, way forward.

Being on social media for nearly two decades, many young people (I am also young, by the way) have talked to me about their passion for writing or doing postgrad programmes abroad, among other things. So naturally, I do my best to advise many, if not all of them. But, frankly, some of them should rethink their dreams. It’s glaring that some do not have what it takes to be writers or secure foreign scholarships.

I am also experimenting with a profession outside academia. Bluntly, I am beginning to rethink. I am not under duress to foray into any field. I am deeply grateful to God that my take-home salary pays my bills and more. While I may still pursue the – or another – profession in addition to teaching and research, I will not foreclose my thoughts.

Finally, try and try harder. Suppose you fail ad infinitum, please, stop and have a rethink. Rethinking should not necessarily come after a series of failures. It could or should come almost at any time. Moreover, that doesn’t mean grit is unimportant. I think without it, both Ronaldo and Osaka would not have gone that far. Even yours faithfully had to apply grit to be where he is – Alhamdulillah.

Muhsin Ibrahim wrote from Cologne, Germany. He can be reached via muhsin2008@gmail.com.

Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) has declared the recently approved hijab by the Nigerian Police as illegal. The legal luminary made the declaration in a public statement issued yesterday, March 5, 2022. However, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has responded by telling the Nigerian Police to ignore Adegboruwa’s comment.

MURIC spoke on Sunday, March 6, 2022, through its chairman in Akwa Ibom State, Ustadh Jibril Ayu-Akpanim.

The statement reads :

“Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) yesterday declared the recently approved hijab by the Nigerian Police as illegal. Of course, we know his antecedents. He has never shown any support for the civil rights struggles of Nigerian Muslims. His opposition to the approval of the hijab in the police force is therefore understandable. Adegboruwa is simply staying in character. Our considered opinion is that the Nigerian Police should ignore his razzmatazz.

“How can a whole SAN oppose a matter of fundamental human rights? It is paradoxical that those who know the law are the ones who adopt prejudice against civil rights matters. Adegboruwa’s vituperation sprang from personal acrobatic religiosity. His articles and comments on the hijab crisis in Kwara and other places symptomize bias, intolerance and pathological hatred for Muslims.

“Is this the same senior lawyer who has been articulate on human rights in Nigeria all these years? We are appalled that he has elected selective justice. It means Adegboruwa’s definition of human rights is exclusive. Muslims must not enjoy human rights. Muslims have no place in his concept of equal rights, freedom and justice. Adegboruwa has exposed himself as a Muslim-hater nulli secundus.

“Adegboruwa should be stripped of his SAN title. A senior lawyer who ignored the tyranny of school principals and teachers who have been persecuting innocent school girls over an ordinary headscarf for decades but jumps up within 24 hours to oppose a window of liberty for them does not deserve the highest decoration in his profession.

“The SAN is asking how Catholics and Anglican women police should dress now that their Muslim colleagues have been allowed to use hijab. He should tell us how catholic and Anglican policewomen dress in Britain, America, Canada, etc. By the way, is Adegoruwa telling us that he has never seen pictures of Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him)? Has he ever seen Mary without a hijab on her head? Bigotry is indeed an almost incurable disease.

“Adegboruwa should ask catholic and Anglican policewomen to demand their own form of dress code if such a thing exists in real life. He will be surprised to see that Nigerian Muslims will not oppose their demand. Islam condemns pettiness and selfishness. It teaches Muslims to live and let others live. Anyway, Adegboruwa may advise Catholic and Anglican policewomen to dress like Mary, the much-honoured mother of Jesus (peace be upon him).

“Adegboruwa should know that the current uniform of the police satisfies Nigerian Christians because it was designed ab initio by the British colonialists who, essentially, were Christians. That is why Nigerian Christians have never complained about uniforms in schools and security agencies.

“Muslim interest was not taken into consideration by the colonialists when they were designing uniforms for schools and the security agencies. Justice and the need for inclusiveness demand that the design should be reviewed in the post-independence period. That is why even the recent approval must be seen as belated.

“Quarter-finally, has Adegboruwa forgotten the outcome of the hocus pocus created in Osun State when the court approved hijab and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) incited Christian students to wear ridiculous garbs like a church choir, Sango, Oya and masquerade dresses to school? How long did it last? He should go to the state today to see how the female Muslim students shine with their hijab. No matter how fast falsehood runs and for how long, the truth will catch up with it in a single day.

“Semi-finally, we advise Adegboruwa to go to court if he feels so strongly that Muslim female policewomen have no right to use hijab. He may also want to go further by approaching the international court at the Hagues to stop British, American and Canadian policewomen and soldiers from using the same. Islamophobia in the legal profession is not new to us. The Amasa Firdaus matter on our minds. The learned silk may do well to consult his colleagues at the highly esteemed Council of Legal Education and the Body of Benchers before plunging into his prejudiced, ill-advised, ill-fated and anti-Muslim adventure.

“Finally, we congratulate all female Muslim policewomen in Nigeria on their newly won freedom. Nigerians have seen many of them on the streets wearing the hijab with their uniform in the past few days. They look awesome, fantabulous, fantasmagoric and fantaslamic. We urge them to continue using it. Without a court pronouncement, no lawyer from anywhere can force them to remove it. Not even a SAN.”

By Sulaiman Badamasi (Mahir)

Russia of today is not the same as Russia yesterday. Russia used to be the Soviet Union, a superpower that sometimes acted with the West. The war of 1973, when the Zionists wanted both sides of the conflict taken to a draw and in 1954when Russia (Soviet Union) transferred the Crimean Oblast to Ukraine have said it all. Now, it is a post-Soviet Union Russia who toiled when the Soviet Union sagged, but within the breath-span of twenty-something years has grown now to a grandeur position.

The Western world has been ruling over humankind for the past 300 years or more, changing regimes worldwide, especially in the south and central America, which the famous Monroe Doctrine described as “America’s Backyard”. The West has been changing regimes after regimes all over the region. But have we ever asked why they have never changed the regime in Venezuela? America has done everything it could to change the Venezuelan government but to no avail because this can only be achieved through military intervention, and any move of such would mean facing Russia. They do not want to confront Russia. NOBODY WANT TO FACE RUSSIA because Russia is not Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, and of course, not Iraq.

What seemed to have convinced the world further to accept Russia’s predatory position was the tremendously dangerous step it took to intervene in Syria. This could have led to a nuclear war. Russia also took the world by surprise in 2014 when it took over or took back(?) Crimea in just two weeks. It seems like Russia is defeating the West in silence and stylishly repositioning itself back to the Soviet Union’s throne.

For the West to reduce the margin, it swiftly paid back with a regime change in Ukraine in 2014 in what was termed as “The Revolution of Dignity”, which saw the impeachment/replacement of the then Ukrainian (of course Russian loyalist) elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, and Petro Poroshenko (pro-West) became the president, who immediately began with leading the Russo-Ukrainian war in February 2014.

After three months, he forbade any cooperation with Russia in the military sphere and later signed the “Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement in June 2014.” Five months later, in president Poroshenko’s speech to the new parliament in November 2014, Poroshenko stated, “we’ve decided to return to the course of NATO integration” because “the nonalignment status of Ukraine proclaimed in 2010 couldn’t guarantee our security and territorial integrity”. Russia perceived all these, coupled with the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych, as a series of threats right at its closest border.  

Why does Russia detest/is against/is afraid of Ukraine’s alignment with NATO?

If Ukraine becomes a NATO member state, then Russia would have NATO on its very border, which means it will have its military bases a few distances away from Russian borders, where missiles could hit Moscow in minutes. Hence Russia does not seem to accept this security option. It could be said that Russia does not want to invade Ukraine because a full invasion MIGHT provoke a military response from the West (only time could tell, though). But certainly, all parties involved (Russia, Ukraine, and the West) hope the chaos ends through diplomatic means rather than war. Maybe Russia has a military strike as the only option for now?

Territorial control and elimination of perceived possible dangers around borders have become a norm or a widely practised approach by states nations. Let us digest in the following to shade more light:

Cuban Missile Crisis/Missile Scare: when the Soviet Union started installing nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1961 after reaching an agreement with Fidel Castro of Cuba, the Kennedy administration decided that this was too big a security threat to be contained. They put a “quarantine” (a station where weaponry logistics were searched) so that no nuclear missile could be shipped and demanded that all missiles in Cuba be taken back to the Soviet Union.

Syria and Israel: with Russia and Iran as Syrian friends and Israel sitting just 569.17 kilometres away from the Syrian border, it is not a surprise if Israel and her friends (America, Saudi, and Turkey) feel threatened or expect that the worst happens from Israel’s neighbourhood. The military campaign that aimed at toppling the Russia and Iran backed Assad’s government by the Saudi, Turkish and American backed rebel group, which began in March 2011 as an anti-government protest and later escalated to a full-scale war, could be understood as an effort to eliminate an enemy’s friend whose territory can be used to attack an immediate neighbour. Could America and Saudi afford to lose Israel?

Muslim Brotherhood and Israel: when Mohammed Morsi (may Allah have mercy on him) was sworn in as the first democratically elected president of Egypt on 30^th June 2012, he expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s 1979 policy which declared that it stands as a mediator between Israel and Palestine and determined to reset his country’s orientation to one of active support, not for a ‘self-governing authority and ‘autonomy’ in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the attainment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of the Palestinian refugees to return.

In Morsi’s one year in office before his removal through a coup d’etat, he ordered the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah Crossing, the only gateway that connects Palestinians to the outside world. This means Palestinians can travel any time without really passing through strict measures imposed on them by the Israeli government, and different kinds of support could reach them without obstacles. Trade began to flourish between Palestine and Egypt. The Israeli siege on the Palestinian land was eased. He became the first Egyptian president to declare rejection of Israel’s assault on Palestine since 1979. Israel and her friends felt threatened by the closest neighbour, and the result was his forceful ouster, imprisonment, the unjust killing of his supporters. The coup that ended Morsi’s regime has not been justified yet. Why was it done then? To eliminate a nearby perceived enemy.

Saudi and Houthi: the Houthi rebel group, which champions Yemen’s Zaidi Shia followers, took over Sana’a in 2014 and forced the then Yemeni president, Abdurrabbu Mansur Hadi, in March 2015, to flee the country. To many people, “a rebel group has taken over Yemen,” yet to Saudi and her allies, “Iran has succeeded in extending its proxy-war/proxy influence to the Saudi border.” There is no need to emphasise that implication on Saudi, thanks to the firing of ballistic missiles to Saudi Arabia and UAE. Swiftly came a fierce joint reaction from Saudi-led coalition of eight(?) countries with logistics and intelligence support from America and France with Iran backing the Houthi rebels leading to the ongoing multilateral civil war.

Turkey and ISIS in Iraq: another interesting episode in the quest to defy near-border threats is having Turkey, a NATO member-state, fighting ISIS in Syria while ignoring the danger that the same ISIS poses in Iraq. Turkey has so far chosen to sit out the war to allow ISIS to fight the Kurdish militia group in Iraq. Turkey considers the Kurdish militia who craves a breakup to carve out its own country, Kurdistan, a more harmful enemy. Kurdistan encompasses southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan), and northern Syria (Western Kurdistan). Some definitions also include parts of southern Transcaucasia. Certain Kurdish nationalist organisations seek to create an independent nation-state consisting of some or all of these areas with a Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries. Do you see? The same struggle to protect territorial integrity is seen at its peak here.

Iraq invasion and Iran: this is the same reason that encouraged Iran’s interest in Iraq after the US and its allies removed and killed Saddam Hussein. Despite having a not-so-friendly relationship with the West, Iran was in total support of the strike against Iraq (Saddam) in March 2003 when the US, under Gorge W. Bush, led a coalition of the UK, Poland, and Australia to invade Iraq.

This has remained part of history for centuries and means that Russia is not necessarily fighting Ukraine as Ukraine but trying to send a clear signal to whoever wants to near her border in any form of disguise.

Will the war be taken further? I do not think Russia could be smart enough to launch a full-scale war yet. However, if it continues, there is a slim chance of having NATO respond militarily, which could further lead to an unimaginable end. It is to the world’s knowledge that if external forces intervene to support Ukraine, it could mean facing Russia, China, North Korea, Serbia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Belarus, etc.

Are we about to witness another World War? We pray for the best.

Sulaiman Badamasi (Mahir) sent this article via sulaimanmahir@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Nigeria is now ranked sixth in the Global Terrorism Index, as the country’s struggle against Boko Haram insurgents gains more victories.

According to the report, Nigeria fell two spots from fourth place, which it had held since 2017.

Nigeria, Syria, and Somalia are the only countries among the ten countries most hit by terrorism to increase their scores from 2020 to 2021, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) issued by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an independent and non-profit think tank.

The report reads, “Total deaths from terrorism in Nigeria fell to 448 in 2021, the lowest level since 2011. Terror-related casualties dropped by almost half compared with the previous year.

“However, the number of terrorist attacks increased by 49 per cent between 2020 and 2021. 36 per cent of attacks were claimed by ISWAP, Boko Haram being responsible for eight percent and 44 percent not attributed to any group.”

By Uzair Adam Imam

Mixed reactions have continued to trail Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle’s donation of N85 million for the conduct of the Maulud of the leader of the Tijjaniyya movement, Shaykh Ibrahim Inyass.

The state is fast making preparation to host 1.5 million Tijjaniyya followers for the event. The money covers air tickets of Tijjaniya leaders from Senegal, their accommodation, feeding, and other logistics for conducting the 36th Maulud Celebration.

Zamfara has been in the news following armed banditry and kidnapping for ransom that have claimed hundreds of lives, displaced thousands of others and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

The crisis has spilt over to neighbouring states like Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna and Niger.

According to Zamfara Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Fa’ika Ahmad, there are over 785,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), including women and children, in various camps across the state.

However, over 44,000 children were orphaned by the activities of bandits in the last nine years. Not only this, these orphans, who lost their parents to the blood-thirsty demons, are left to cater for themselves.

But since the donation was made public, individuals took to social media to condemn what they called ‘misplacement of priority’, saying the state government needs a rethink on the matter.

‘Misplaced priority’

According to Mrs Ahmad, there are more than 784,0000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), including women and children, in various camps in the state.

However, many concerned citizens described Mattawalle’s donation as a misplacement of priority, considering the number of people presently in dire need of support in the state.

An indigene of Zamfara State, Mu’azu Malami, said the money allocated for the procession should be used to address the plight of IDPs and fight insecurity.

Mu’azu Malami said, “In such a trying time, spending over 80 million naira on a one-day event, despite our challenges, is not but a misplacement of priority.

“By this time, the government should concentrate more on helping banditry-torn villages, especially women and children. They need to be provided with food, shelter and proper education.”

Abubakar Dahiru is another indigene who argued that the government should have initially declined the request.

He said, “The government should not think that it is helping Islam because only the leaders of this association will benefit and share the money among themselves.”

Isma’il Muhammad (not real name) said that the state government is confused.

He added, “IDPs in Zamfara should be the priority. The government should have done everything within its power to save their lives.

On the contrary, Anas Sunusi commended Zamfara State Government for the gesture, saying that other sects had received a similar kind of gesture from the state government.

Anas Sunusi, “I see nothing wrong in donating N85 million by the state government to commemorate the death of Sheikh Ibrahim Nyass.

“Izala had, at one time, received a similar gesture to build a university.”

He added that the amount could not stop the government from handling security challenges in the state, saying the gathering would be used as an avenue to pray for the state and the country at large.

‘We will bring peace to Zamfara’

In an interview with our reporter, a renowned Tijjaniyya cleric in Kano, Sheikh Nazirfi Alkarmawi, said the gathering is meant for prayer to reign in the state.

Alkarmawi said no matter what people say, the money would not be taken back.

He added, “Therefore, people must not grumble. The essence of this gathering is to pray for peace and prosperity across all states of the country.

“Concerning security challenge, we can only pray. The issue is beyond everyone’s expectations.”

By Umar Farouk

Your Excellency, I am writing you this letter with indubitable respect to your humble personality. Unfortunately, I am obliged to address you openly since personal access to you may be barred by your bureaucratic and routine security protocol. Hence, people like me can’t get access to meet you privately.

My joy is neither limited to the letter’s content nor the means of satisfying my professional conscience. It is rather vested in my utmost trust that you have a listening ear. It is on this that I implore that you gracefully through to be mention perception consider the actualisation of the message therein.

I, therefore, pray that this letter meets you well and that God would grant you the grace, wisdom and the presence of mind to accept this for what it is. It’s an honest attempt at giving you a perspective on handling the existential crisis facing Jigawa state and its people.

On many occasions, your administration claimed to be transparent, accountable, and respect the commoner, especially young people. I believe we have to grow beyond sentiments about those that govern us if we really want to move in the right direction, but I think your administration has performed below our expectations. 

Your Excellency, you may kindly wish to recall that the youths have been at the forefront of every struggle since the creation of this state. Also, most of the protagonists for the emancipation of Jigawa from Kano State were young people. 

Sir, youths’ trust deficit and loss of faith in you as the governor of our esteemed state is in dire need of rebuilding and assurance. I am particularly hoping you do this in earnest so that it won’t go down in history as one governor who lost his fort to secure his people out of obscurity and perpetual distrust in governance.

The younger generations have no patience for long messages; their understanding outstrips speeches and press statements lacking facts and pragmatism. They want today a vital social ideal for which to live and labour in. A system that will ensure their voices count while the equitable distribution of wealth and resources is guaranteed now and in the future.

My dear Governor, please note this, our youths, who graduated recently, are in large numbers, and many cannot find means for a decent livelihood. Many who desire to advance their education further cannot do so. Many of them, due to pressure, fall prey to employment scammers. The challenging life experience pushed many into drug peddling, organised groups engaged in stealing and all sorts of crimes. 

It would be a great thing if His Excellency’s administration would avoid lip service to youth’s plights but work concretely with them, not just with celebrities and most opinionated social media activists alone. We must also not forget to accommodate the army of young people that do not possess any skill and therefore would not fit into any formal employment description

The resourcefulness of Jigawa youths is enormous, of which I know your Excellency is very much aware of going by the information at your disposal as our governor.

About 65% of our population are young people between 18-42. Therefore, the need to invest heavily in developing this energetic group can never be overemphasised. Therefore, youth empowerment and development should have been the cornerstone of your administration. 

Your Excellency, after the end of your first term and second year into your second and final term, many believe you have not done well on those matters, and others think you can do better. The unemployment rate in Jigawa is simply worrisome and should not be taken lightly. Furthermore, the NBS reports for three consecutive years have shown we are not doing well in job creation.

I am, however, aware of the various intervention measures your administration has initiated to engage our young people in gainful ventures. Still, they are a far cry from addressing the hydra-headed problem. They need more opportunities to discover their capabilities and an encouraging environment to grow and innovate. For this reason, the government needs to develop initiatives to train and retrain the youth and create awareness about new and emerging fields of entrepreneurship. 

Sir, Your top aides, political leaders within your party and your friends may not tell you the truth even when they complain bitterly within their closets and are quietly compiling a list of your sins they will use against you at the appropriate time.

You must understand that a leader who takes delight or cares less about his people’s disturbing condition is not worth being called a leader. Jack Welch said, “Great Leaders love to see people grow. The day you are afraid of them being better than you is the day you fail as a person” John Maxwell added that “Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.”

Sir, this clamour is not in any way aimed at attacking you, as I remain ruthless in our support to ensure the State of Virtues rise above the shackles limiting it to a desirable standard that places it in the heart of all and sundry, but it’s just as important to speak against the repression of this sort, as I believe and stand convinced that the price of unflinching loyalty shouldn’t be undue abandonment. 

Mr Governor, have my best wishes as you reform and initiate programmes and policies that have positive effects on our State and people. 

Best wishes. Thank you.

Umar writes from Jigawa, and he can be reached via umarrfarouk2015@gmail.com. 

By Musa Idris Panshekara

The commercialisation of job offers is one of Nigeria’s most familiar new faces of corruption. But, on the other hand, there is a constant increase in the numbers of graduates each year produced from different universities and colleges around the country.

Let me begin by citing the Hadith of the Beloved Prophet S.A.W, where he said: “Whoever’s main concern becomes the Hereafter, Allah will make things well for him, and will make richness to dwell in his heart. And the world will come to him despite its unwillingness. And whoever’s main concern becomes this world, Allah will scatter his affairs and will place poverty between his eyes; also, the world will not come to him, except what was written for him.”

You cannot run and surpass your shadow, and you are constantly walking with your preordainment. Let me narrate a brief story of my previous jobs. When I finished my diploma, I worked with two companies. The first one was immediately after the completion of my diploma.

I met with someone and told him that I had finished my diploma. Therefore, if there was any job opportunity, I was available. He answered that he would contact me whenever he got a vacancy. Meanwhile,  I continued with my menial job (tailoring). After some months, I got a call from my friend that, that man asked him to ask me if I have experience of a particular job “he mentioned one working experience, whether I can or not?” I quickly responded, indeed! In sum, I successfully conducted an interview and got the job.

Moreover, a few months later, I got a call from my teacher. He informed me that his friend asked him to find someone who has a certificate in Agricultural science. I replied that I have diplomas in Animal production technology, a certificate in Laboratory science technology, and basic computer skills. He asked me to submit my credentials like that. Some months went by again. Then, I got a call that I should come for an interview. I finally secured the job. I left the present one and switched to the new one. Eventually, I quit the job and went back to school for my HND.

Similarly, after I finished my HND before going for NYSC, a friend of mine (whom we did SIWES together in primary health care) called me that his business partner was looking for an experienced laboratory technician at his newly established laboratory. I got this one, too, after an interview and so on.

Money helps make someone happy but does not mean that money will provide one with all kinds of happiness. Unfortunately, misunderstanding how life is makes many people think that money solves all problems. That is why people desperately toil to earn money to feed themselves and their families legitimately or illegitimately, forgetting the transient of worldly possessions.

Consider my story above; two main things helped me secure the jobs. First is my employability. In other words, my experience before coming across the opportunities. Second, my relationship or connection. Therefore, I am saying that acquiring skills makes a person employable.

Buying or selling job offers will not solve your problem forever. So let us free ourselves from corruption and prepare a better life for our posterity.

Musa Idris Panshekara wrote from Kano via pmusaidris@gmail.com.

By A.F. Sesay

It’s difficult to fathom how a region of such numbers, resources, and beautiful cultural heritage/pedigree came to become such a scourge on national conscience in a space of forty years. What happened to the passion of the Sardauna, the native pride and dignity of your people, the welfarism that always motivated your brothers from the south or neighbouring countries to stay beyond those initial dates of return or even decide to be permanent residents?

If you were to canvas for answers,  different answers would come from different sources based on intellectual and cultural biases or leanings. That’s also the case with all matters of human endeavour. So, no shaking! And the more complex the issue the more divergent opinions and perspectives.

But in the case of recent events in northern Nigeria, with an emphasis on the Muslim hemisphere, there is something striking in the people’s unwanton love for the material side of life, contrary to the previous cultural ethos. Equally matched by this is the fear for death which naturally comes with more cravings for the transient pleasures of life. What happened to the studious efforts of the serious and sincere ulama (religious scholars)?

Let me hazard a few guesses. While some unscrupulous elements in both local and international media make it look like Arewa is Africa’s human abattoir where people are killed for the fun of it, non-northerners who have lived there before this litany of crises have fond memories of a people who are peaceful to a fault. This peace, which was largely a product of a contented heart, died with the pressure to keep up with the Joneses. And in that pressure was buried the deep fear of death. Before this, you knew people who were courageous, who stood for what they believed in no matter whose axe was gored and no matter the deadly consequence.

Crimes like kidnapping and banditry couldn’t reign supreme because criminals weren’t feared. We all remembered the courageous youths of Azare who risked their lives to confront armed bandits in 2012. Instances abound when community leaders (mai unguwas) coordinated young people to serve and defend the community within the ambit of the law. So, what happened?

How did we come to this period of life when people in a region of over 100 million people stood by and watched unknown faces and small groups of scums hack away their future and that of their children, one local government at a time?

Maybe we should look at the trends and evolution of materialism. Look at a few nations whose socio-economic progress have been meteoric in the last 50 years and look at northern Nigeria, you will see a striking lack of priority as well as a  lack of agency and urgency. And what underlies all this is the base love for material things among the elite which oozed out into the wider society rubbed off on the talakawa (proletariat) Suddenly, suddenly every Bala wants this: a luxurious house with a tall gate, a fleet of cars, tall, fair and wide-eyed women and other fine, yet fleeting things of life. Yet, neither the education nor the economy was tailored to sustain this onward rush to glitters: new trends come up annually in the design of houses, new brands of cars, new phones and so on.

Whoever is going to keep up with that has to have unrestricted access to money either through commerce or a job that pays an incredibly high salary. In the absence of this is another companion to money: stealing and everything extortion. Under this falls the myriads of problems we see today: unbridled corruption in governance, banditry, kidnapping and the rest in this nefarious family of ills.

Let’s say we flipped the conversation and say the fault is not in the people, but their enemies. It is logical to think that a region this steeped in tradition, with such great potential in numbers and unexplored resources is bound to be a target of both visible and invisible enemies, what is not logical though is when this becomes an excuse for inertia, baseless polemics, cancel culture and hurling of insults left right and centre. About enemies, who hasn’t had one? About insults, we haven’t seen one- I mean- we haven’t had an economy built solely on the foundation of the people’s ability to hurl insults at each other.

While there are certainly smithereens of enmity and animosity smothered on all of the region’s myriads of problems (a common case is a bias in data and reportage on and about the north, but let’s not digress), there is certainly a need for deep introspection. What happened? Are these manifestations of problems long foretold? Could something be wrong with the very approach to problem-solving? Or is this a huge cultural gap nobody is willing to talk about? Does it have something to do with population or outright carelessness on the part of the ruling class?

The north, in its long political sojourn as part of a nation in which it was severely disadvantaged in education, yet extremely well-positioned in Politics and Administration, has had its fair share of wins and losses. What remains to be seen is the ingenious manipulation of pluses and minuses. The world is watching and history’s pen is looming over you!

All told, the current state of affairs should remind you of the popular hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And if this is a behavioural problem like it was rightly observed, then it’s going to require a behavioural solution: moderate the wanton love for material things and be courageous enough to confront death when your dignity and that of the generations unborn are at stake. 

A.F. Sesay sent this via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.

By Aisar Fagge

A picture of a 13-year-old Hausa boy, Musa Sani, who designed a flyover prototype trended social media platforms with many comments about the magic hand and brain of the young child.

Upon seeing that, there was news that Ronchess Global Resources Plc offered the child a scholarship and an automatic offer at their construction company. The Daily Reality followed up the story and spoke with the CEO and founder of the company, Jackson Ukuevo, who said:

“Yes, it is true. I have spoken to one Ali Usman from Borno, who said he’ll speak to the guy’s parents. We gonna move him to Abuja. I’m gonna put him in one of the best schools in Abuja. A private school. When he’s done from there, I’m gonna ensure that he gets to the United States of America (USA) to further his education to build on his horizon. He’ll then come back and do something real for us.

Because what I saw, I don’t think it is something anyone should leave behind. For that child [at his age] to design that [flyover prototype] and actually build on that, then if we give him the opportunity and put him in the right position, with all the accessories and resources he needs, and also be with the mindset of the same people with the same creativity he has, we’re sure he’s gonna do something wonderful.”

When he was asked whether he has spoken to the child’s parents, he said:

“I haven’t spoken to his parents. I just spoke with someone (Usman Ali) who said he’ll speak to his parents and he’s gonna try to speak with the emir of village or something, then once that is done upon the parents’ acceptance, we will move the child and his parents to Abuja. There I’m gonna ensure that the child gets one of the best schools in Abuja. Then, upon all this, hopefully, he completes his education and everything, we make sure he furthers it outside the country. We believe he’ll come back and give back to the society something great.”

The Daily Reality then asked the CEO when he’s planning to go to Maiduguri and meet the child’s parents to show seriousness in his company’s promise he closed with: “We are just waiting for his parents’ acceptance of our offer. Once they accept it, we’re ready to go down there and meet them. If they accept it today, tomorrow we’ll be there and finalize everything.”

The Daily Reality also spoke with the first person who posted the picture of Musa Sani with his flyover prototype on her Facebook page, Yagana Bukar, on whether she knows Ali Usman, who was given the assignment to speak to the parents of the boy.

She said, “Yes, I know him. Right now, he’s in Abuja, but he’s coming back tomorrow. When I posted the picture of the boy, I tagged him and the governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Umar Zulum, hoping someone will help the child to study engineering abroad. Now Allah has answered my prayer.”