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By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a politician and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said that withdrawing from partisan politics has given him happiness and peace of mind.

Moghalu disclosed this in a tweet on his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday.

According to him, partisanship is divisive and it is time he contributed to nation-building from a nonpartisan perspective.

“I am happy and have found peace in withdrawing from partisan politics. No apologies. As a citizen I will always have my preferences and will vote for specific candidates, but there are times and circumstances when one can better contribute to nationbuilding from a nonpartisan perspective” He said.

Moghalu also disclosed that he would not publicly endorse any candidate despite calls from different people that he should do so. He noted that he could not publicly support such candidates because they were not in anyway like him.

“I understand the passions and goodwill of those who argue on this street that I should formally “declare/campaign for this candidate or the other. They argue so because they believe my views are listened to and may be “influential”. But I urge such people to also understand, and respect my own personal decisions. They have not, like I have been, presidential candidates (without having a war chest of stolen public funds) or stood in the arena. bloodied but unbowed. No regrets, but only I know what I have sacrificed, the personal price I have paid.” He stated

In June 2022, Kingsley Moghalu lost the presidential primary election of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and resigned his membership of the party after the defeat.

By Prof. Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik

A recently published book by Dr Ali Isa Pantami has rekindled the debate between degrees and skills. Even though the book focused on digital skills, “educated” Nigerians are trying hard to separate skills from university degrees (education). That someone graduated in computer science without being able to write a computer code does not mean that all graduates in computer science cannot write computer code.

Public primary and secondary schools have collapsed, and there is no debate on a possible mission to rescue them. The public universities are on the path to the state of the public primary and secondary schools, and all we want is to keep the kids in the class to MILT (manage it like that).

Some of the questions that came to my mind as I watched the debate were: What is skill? Can you truly separate skills from university degrees? What qualified you to receive a degree from a university? What skills do you need to survive in Nigeria? What skills do we need to propel Nigeria to a particular height? Just digital skills? What are the available jobs in high demand in Nigeria? Over the last 20 years, tell me about a job that was advertised, and after all the screening, they could not get a qualified graduate in Nigeria with the appropriate skills for the job.

The debate on degrees and certificates is getting more interesting. It is more interesting to me this time around as the Northern elites champion it. We are growing up.

I did my National Youth Service in a secondary school in Bagwai, Kano state, between 2000 and 2001. One weekend, I went to the market to get some stuff and met the Senior Teacher. I jokingly asked why he was in the market and didn’t let the wife do the shopping. That led to a lengthy discussion where I mentioned the General Hospital, Bichi. As of then, there were 3 Doctors, all male, at the hospital. Two were Yoruba and one Igbo. They were all Christians. There was no female doctor. I told him that they need to encourage their daughters to go to school so that we can have their daughters as Doctors in those hospitals. I guess I was wrong. Degrees are useless.

We are fond of mentioning our iconic automotive designer, Jelani Aliyu, as an example of skills rather than degrees. This is a very interesting example with a missing background. Jelani was a very good student and truly left the university for the polytechnic because he wanted a more practically oriented program. That is what polytechnics are originally meant for. So, after finishing his HND from the polytechnic as the Best All-Round Student, he got a scholarship from the Sokoto state scholarship board to study automotive design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, US. They got certificates every step to show that he has acquired the requisite skills. The rest is history.

You see, anyone can write a book on degrees vs skills, especially people at high places whose entire success is based on their degree certificates. But can the book change our reality? Not likely. Only a few Nigerians actually read books. A long post on Facebook is even difficult to read. We prefer to use the time to argue over who is the football G.O.A.T. How do we change that? There are several challenges to deal with to save our system.

But then, by the virtue of your degree certificate, you got a job as a Graduate Assistant at a public university. You built on that to have your Master’s degree in the university. And being a lecturer in a public university, you got a scholarship for PhD in the UK. With a PhD degree from the UK, you got a job offer as an Assistant Professor at a university abroad. Then, a few years later, you got an appointment outside academia. I guess a skill was identified that took you to all these places. There was no record of industry experience. So, all the skills were acquired at the university. So, what is your problem with the university? If you have got all these skills in the university and the necessary skills that your students in your department need to have are missing, then we should blame you for it.

All that you are was built on your degrees, and the same degrees are suddenly no more important but skills? We are supposed to be the light of our society. So, what is skill? What do we do in the universities? Are university environments unskilled environment? Where do you get the skills? Meanwhile, their kids are in university acquiring degrees. My guess is that you need skills, while their kids need degrees to manage your skill.

One of my senior colleagues once told us during an undergraduate lecture in the ’90s that physics makes you think. That’s a skill. He said, whatever you decide to do after graduation, physics will help your thinking. Sometimes back, I had a discussion with one of our graduates who switched from physics to IT after graduation, and he said IT is a piece of cake compared to Physics. He said he finds it easy having studied physics. Of course, let’s preach skills and not degrees while our best graduates are been harvested by the US, Canada, France, Norway, England, Germany, etc.

Recently, there were some trending Master’s graduation lists from UK universities where the graduates were 99% Nigerians. The tuition fee for the master’s program can start a business in Nigeria, but they decided to give the money to the UK university to acquire a certificate that will qualify them to work in the UK. Their first degree from Nigeria got them admission to a Master’s program in the UK. That qualifies them for the two years post-study visa to get a job. They don’t intend to come back, and they will get a job there with a university degree.

Shaquille O’Neal found it offensive when he walked into business meetings, and people would only talk to his representatives. He felt he was lacking something and found it necessary to enrol in a Master’s degree program at the University of Phoenix. He told them that he wanted somebody to teach him in class but was informed that the course he enrolled for was only taught online and that he can’t be taught alone. He asked for the requirements to have a physical class, and he was told that they needed a minimum of 15 students. Shaq paid for 15 of his friends to join him in the Master’s program. There was a gap, and he got a degree to fill it. It is up to you if degrees are skillless.

Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim recently got a Doctor of Business degree from Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is a billionaire with an MSc in Major Programme Management from Oxford, an MBA from Cambridge, a Certificate in International Tax Law from Harvard, an MPA from Ife, and a Bachelor of Law from Ife. He has been a billionaire. What does he need another degree for?

Our universities are not in the best form, nor are our polytechnics the way they were during Jelani’s days. We watched public educational institutions degrade over the years without any resistance except ASUU. That we have lost some vital components of what made a university a university is not a global case. It’s a peculiarity that we have to deal with to save our system. Our efforts should be towards reviving the lost skills that ought to be acquired at each level of our education, from primary schools to polytechnics and universities. 

Sadly, instead of making efforts to save the education system of the country and direct it toward the developmental needs of the nation, we are arguing over degrees and skills while they are taking the extra steps for the further destruction of public universities. The people telling you to go for skills instead of degrees have got their kids in schools abroad or private universities. What are they acquiring there? Unskilled knowledge? They have systematically destroyed what made the university a university but complained of a lack of skills. Double standard.

Since our brothers are championing the commercialization of public universities and skills rather than degrees, I hope our general hospitals in the North have got enough doctors so that we can close down our degree programs for medical sciences. What about law, finance, etc.? Optic fibre, which has revolutionized medicine and telecommunication, was a product of research from the university. A simple physics concept (total internal reflection in a material) that was engineered. Endoscopy and broadband transmission are not products of questionnaires but skilled thinking.

The World Bank recently said it will take northern states 40 years to catch up with their southern counterparts considering the current growth rates. Meanwhile, northern leaders don’t seem to bother about that but doing politics with the education of the people. I was informed today that grasses have taken over some of the primary schools in a state in the North-central. If we are to stop going to school, we need to start telling them to lead the way on the skills we need to survive in the North and make Nigeria work. Is it farming, as the president advised?

In a recent World Bank report, the Bank stated that “despite its vast natural resources and a young, entrepreneurial population, development in Nigeria has stagnated over the last decade, and the country is failing to keep up with the GDP growth of its peers. Declining private investment and demographic pressure push young Nigerians to pursue opportunities overseas”. Lack of skilled leadership and not a skilled workforce is possibly responsible for this.

It wasn’t a lack of skilled workforce that caused the massive unemployment in the country. There won’t be unemployment if there are jobs. There can’t be jobs if there is no job creation or an enabling environment for job creation. We are quick to forget that every certificate, degree or not, comes with the requisite knowledge and skills. The certificate is to show that you have acquired the prescribed skills. Of course, some find a way to get it without getting the requisite skill. This is Nigeria, where everything is possible. That is a systematic problem. That is why there is an interview.

Are you dealing with incompetent graduates? Blame your hiring process or yourself for not conducting the required interview. That you can’t find a job in Nigeria does not mean you don’t have the skill to get a job. The jobs ain’t just there. Go and study in the UK. If you stay back, you will get a job without any need to know someone that knows somebody. But if you dare return to Nigeria out of that thing called “patriotism” to contribute, you may need to buy a job or know somebody at a high place to get that dream job.

The problem is that we don’t even know what we want. No strategic plans. Everyone is just looking out for his pocket. After seven years, there is no clear education policy for the country. They said there are not enough resources to properly fund education, but they can’t produce a sustainable funding model for education. We are still living and surviving in lamentation mode.

They said a country cannot grow beyond the level of education of the people. Meanwhile, the education system of the country is in a deep mess, and no one is calling for a discussion on the sort of education that we need to aid our development as a developing nation. Every opportunist sits in the comfort of his office to push a policy through our throat, policies that will naturally die after they are out of the office. 

It was entrepreneurship yesterday and that made them introduce entrepreneurship as a compulsory subject in secondary schools and as a general studies course in the universities. But which entrepreneur will go and sit as a secondary teacher in a class to receive slave wages of N40,000 per month? The course is taught at the university by colleagues struggling to get home with their take-home pay.

The subject is taught by people struggling with monthly salaries and doesn’t know what entrepreneurship looks like aside from what they read in the book. The government that introduced the policy, as usual, did not make adequate provisions for it to be taught. But they are happy to have introduced the subject. Not sure of how many entrepreneurs we have produced from the teaching of the courses. Today, it is skill acquisition. Are we confused?

Just like the “entrepreneurship” package of yesterday, “Skills rather than Degrees” seems to be the new gold mine among those in government with different packages for funding from the government. At least we have started spending billions on skill acquisition across states. A report from Vanguard on April 6, 2022, says over N6.2 billion was spent to train and equip 16,820 Bauchi youths in the art of smartphone repairs. That’s about N368,609 per person.

You can write books on skills and get Bill Gates to write the foreword, but that won’t change our situation until we are willing to change it. We are not getting it right with our education system, and we have refused to ask honest questions and find answers to them. Some of the skills needed to be acquired at the university are missing due to system failure, and we pretend that all is well. All that our leaders want is to hear that students are in class and manage it like that. The quality of the teaching is not important to them. After all, their kids ain’t there. Unfortunately, we don’t see anything wrong with the MILT syndrome, and some of the victims even consider questioning/challenging the leaders as insubordination.

A member of this government is championing the “Skills and NOT Degrees” campaign, and he has written a book on it. I did not know that ministers have the luxury of time to write books while in office, despite their tight schedules. Well done, sir. I hope the idea will not die in May 2023 after leaving office.

There is no doubt that all is not well in our universities, from the hiring process to the interference of professional bodies to funding to the strangulation of the system by government agents to the killing of motivation to the localization of the universities to the internal politics to the quest for positions to the loss of a scholarship, etc. But condemning the university system that made us because of our mindset against ASUU won’t solve our problem unless we ask the right questions and find answers to them.

Why did the public primary schools collapse? What is the basic skill requirement at the primary school level? Why are those skills missing? What are the deliverables at the secondary schools? How did we lose it? We had the Government Technical Colleges. What happened to them? Can we restore them? What are the expectations from the polytechnics and the university for national development? What are the obstacles to making the expectations a reality? How do we get rid of the obstacles? The University education system is a universal purposeful system that has not changed. Ours is what we made it to be. We must revive the purposeful educational system towards our developmental needs as a developing nation.

Restoring our universities and other educational institutions to the state they are meant to be needs an honest approach. But window dressing our challenges won’t solve the problems if we don’t tackle them from the root. If we don’t sit to deliberate on the sort of education system we need to aid our development as a developing nation, we’ll keep moving around the clock while our situation keeps deteriorating.

Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik, PhD, wrote from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He can be reached via aaabdelmalik@gmail.com.

By Mubarak Shuaybu Shelleng

The unprecedented mammoth crowd that welcomed Atiku’s campaign entourage in almost every state they visited is shockingly mind-boggling. The recent one in Katsina, President Muhammad Buhari’s home state, speaks volumes and needs no further political argument that the opposition party has amicably conquered the heart and minds of the northern populace.

Most of the north-eastern electorates feel they now have ample opportunity to produce a president from the region after considering the clear development this has brought to the north-western parts of the country. It’s general knowledge that most of the Federal Government initiatives, such as National Social Investment Schemes, N-power, and other beneficial capital projects, under this current government were enjoyed mainly by in the north-western states. They are making it more developed in politics, infrastructure, and the economy.

The above issue is a welcome development because the region is considered core-north large and more densely populated than the northeastern parts.

But, the northeastern parts, for example, are yearning to produce the first-ever president from the region, which will undoubtedly pave the way for social, political, and infrastructural development. Thus, the hit helps curb the devastating effects of extreme poverty, and hardship occasioned by the Boko Haram Insurgency in some parts of the Borno and Yobe States. And communal, Farmers Herder’s clashes in Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, and Bauchi States.

Unquestionably, whoever understands the psyche of a typical northerner must agree that it is difficult for one to reject Atiku despite the current circumstances in the country mindfully. Therefore, the northern populace that massively voted for Buhari in the previous elections unopposed should have no regrets about doing the same for the leading People democratic party’s candidate.

Besides, even the elites and the ruling party stalwart knows that are a shot of words on how to stop people, especially from the north, from voting for the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the upcoming general election. Thus, remain with no option but to beat around the bush, able to maintain their political positions and offices.

Atiku may win or lose the election, but undoubtedly, the staunch and unalloyed support Buhari previously enjoyed in the north will certainly be transferred to him and no other.

The northeastern people have never rejected Atiku Abubakar in Nigerian political history but chose Buhari ahead of him due to the political exigencies of the time.

Interestingly, the era of political manipulation has gone. As a result, an average Nigerian from the remote and urban centrist now has a proper knowledge of the game of politics. Consequently, it allowed individuals to amicably exercise their constitutional franchise by considering the most deserving candidate regardless of religion, region, or political party.

Above all, politics, they say, is a game of numbers and interest, and whoever wants to play it should imbibe the culture of flag-waving, unity in diversity, and national Integration.

Mubarak Shuaybu Shelleng writes from Yola.

By Uzair Adam Imam

There has been tension in Labour Party (LP) as Dr. Doyin Okupe, the Director General of the party, resigned his position.

The Daily Reality gathered that Okupe resigned following his conviction over money laundering charges.

The disclosure was made Tuesday in a later Okupe wrote to Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the party.

He argued that he had rather invested so much in the party’s campaign.Details later….

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) states that it has seized 100 million pills of the prescription painkiller Tramadol in just 22 months.

The agency estimated the combined value of the cash and illegal narcotics to be about N450 billion. In addition, the agency detained 29 drug lords, while detaining 23,907 drug traffickers.

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman of the NDLEA, said this in a statement released on Tuesday through the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

Marwa said the confiscated Tramadol may have had a negative influence on the youth population and the nation’s productivity.

He said this during the Commands’ Awards/Commendations and Decoration of newly promoted officers at the Agency’s National Headquarters, Abuja.

Marwa said, “Within the period under review, the Agency arrested 23, 907 drug traffickers including 29 barons.

“Our seizure was over 5,500 tons or 5.5 million kilograms of assorted illicit drugs, which together with cash seized are worth over N450 billion.

“In the same period, we have taken the fight to the doorsteps of cannabis growers by destroying 772. 5 hectares of cannabis farms. In these 22 months, we have record convictions of 3, 434 offenders. We have equally made good strides in our drug demand reduction efforts where the number of those counselled and rehabilitated is 16, 114.

“The figures are mere statistics until you view them through the lens of human impact and the good or harm that could have come to society, the impact on public health, security as well as law and order if those dangerous drugs had gone to the street. Take, for instance, the one hundred million pills of tramadol seized in the past 22 months.

“If those pills had gone into circulation and ended up in the hands of young people, it would take a heavy toll on lives, families, productivity and, ultimately, the GDP of the country because it will affect these young people who are the engine room of productivity.

“We usually calculate our performance as monthly, quarterly or yearly appraisals. But drug law enforcement is generally a continuum, hence, I am wont to always appraise our efforts from January 2021, when we began far-reaching reforms, reviewed our strategies and rejigged the existing systems to accommodate innovations.

“From then till now, we have been on an upward trajectory. And indeed, what we have done in the last 22 months, from January 2021 to October 2022, based on the available statistics, is cause for celebration.”

By Uzair Adam Imam

The newly appointed bursar of Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK), Malam Ibrahim Lawal, has assumed duty officially on Monday, December 19, 2022.

This was disclosed in a statement signed Monday by Jamilu M Magaji, the school’s Public Relations Officer.

According to the statement, until his appointment, Lawal was the Deputy Bursar as well as the Ag. Director of Procurement at Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State.

The statement read, “Ibrahim Lawal attended Faki Road Primary School, Kaduna, from 1985 to 1990. He proceeded to Command Day Secondary School, Kaduna, where he got the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), after which he moved to Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsen-ma, for an Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) examination between 1998 and 1999.

“Mal. Ibrahim obtained B.Sc. in Accounting, a Master’s in Business Administration and M.Sc. in Accounting and Finance from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2005, 2011 and 2018, respectively. He’s currently pursuing a PhD in Accounting at the Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna.

“Mal. Lawal started his career at Bulet International Nigeria Limited as Executive Officer (Accounts) in 2006. Thereafter, he worked in various organizations where he rose through the ranks to become Chief Accountant at Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State; Deputy Bursar and Ag. Director of Procurement at the Federal University Gusau.

“The new Bursar is a Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), a Member of the Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention, as well as a Fellow of Certified National Accountants.

“The new Bursar shares a vision to improve and maintain a highly distinguished Bursary Department with financial integrity in the management of the University funds through the provision of exceptional services to the University community, the nation and beyond,” the statement added.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Kano State Hisbah Board Monday said it apprehended 19 youths for same-sex marriage in the state.

The Commander General, Sheikh Harun Muhammad Sani Ibn Sina, confirmed the development to journalists.

Ibn Sina said the youths gathered to witness the wedding of two suspected homosexuals, Abba and Mujahid, at one event centre in the city.

However, he said their personnel arrived at the scene before the commencement of the wedding rites and 15 females, and four males were arrested during the operation.

He added that some of the ladies arrested said they were invited to the wedding from the neighbouring states.

He noted that the duo, tagged as bride and groom, Abba and Mujahid, escaped immediately after the arrival of the Hisbah personnel at the wedding venue.

A 21-year-old lady, Salma Usman, who is now in Hisbah custody, was said to be the event organiser.

Meanwhile, while reiterating that the Hisbah will intensify efforts to ensure the arrest of Abba and Mujahid, Ibn Sina said they would hand over those in their custody to the police for further action.

Some of those arrested who spoke to Radio Nigeria, Salma Usman, Sadiya, Aisha Adam, Maryam Ibrahim and Bilkisu Lukman, claimed to have been invited to a birthday party.

The ladies pleaded for leniency and promised not to engage in such acts.

By Dr Sarah Marzouk

There has been quite a bit of online commentary, some of it quite derogatory, regarding the black robe that Lionel Messi wore prior to accepting the World Cup. For context, I wanted to explain its significance.

The garment is called a ‘bisht’, and it is an outer garment worn in predominantly Arab countries. The name is derived from the Akkadian word ‘bishtu’, which means ‘nobility’ or ‘prestige’.

This garment is considered a symbol of great honour. It’s a status symbol amongst royalty, the wealthy and those with high social rank, much like a cross between ceremonial graduation robes or, in Western terms, wearing a black tuxedo on a special occasion.

When it’s the Emir of a country literally gifting you the bisht, putting it on you with his own hands, it’s the highest honour that can be bestowed upon that civilian. It has nothing to do with religion at all.

Messi may not have understood what it meant when he graciously wore it, but it was the Qatari way of recognising him for the GOAT that he is.

By Sheikh Aminu Aliyu Gusau.

The story of AbdulJabbar is that of fanaticism. 

It is about the feud between the Izala and Darika in Kano and across the nation. AbdulJabbar’s over-zealousness, eventually, landed him into trouble. He is from the Qadiriyyah Sufi order, whose headquarters is in Kano, just as Kano is one of the headquarters of Tijjaniyyah. Lately, Kano also became one of the headquarters of factional Izala group, specifically the Salafiyyah.

AbdulJabbar grew up in the midst of an ongoing harsh and hot arguments between the scholars of Izala and that of Darikah. Thinking that he is knowledgeable enough to wade in, he dived into the arguments. 

The fundamental aspect of the Izala argument, which secluded the title of “Ahlussunnah” to itself, is basing everything on the Qur’an and Sunnah based on the understanding of the first three generations of Islam. But they put more emphasis on hadith (sayings, actions and approvals of the Messenger of Allah) with a pedagogical approach. To display that he has an unmatched prowess in that kind of knowledge, AbdulJabbar ventured into the altercation head on. 

That coincided with the emergence of Kano as one of the headquarters of the Shi’a sect, (with whatever you come to Kano, you will find someone/something better). The Darikah Ulama are divided into two, pertaining engagements with Shi’a. While many of their scholars are suspicious about them, some have embraced them for their (Shi’a) near similar stand on the status of the progenies of the Messengerof Allah. AbdulJabbar is one of those who were influenced by the doctrines of Shi’a. He started to turn to their books, which contained condemnation of the companions of the Messenger of Allah and rejection of what they reported directly from the Messenger of Allah. When he went to Iraq for studies, he met many adherents of Shi’a and, consequently, became influenced by their stand on the companions of the Prophet and Hadith.

Thence, AbdulJabbar decided to wage a war on Izala in an unprecedented way – through the condemnation and destruction of the entire Sunni school of thought- to which Izala held on tightly and proudly. Prior to this, no scholar have ever tried that. In addition, all the Darikah scholars believe that they are Ahlussunah, they have no problem with the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). Their problems with Izala is only that of definition, meaning or translation. The Izala, too, according to some scholars among them, agrees that yes the Darikah adherents are Ahlussunnah, in a “broader meaning”, while they (Izala) are the specific/real Ahlussunnah. 

Another influence of Shi’a, specifically the Zakzaky faction, on AbdulJabbar, is the “heedless” confrontational approach. He decided to confront Izala in a “heedless” manner similar to the Zakzaky faction of Shi’a. He failed to decipher that Zakzaky faction only display “heedlessness” while confronting the government, but when it comes to the Shi’a doctrine, specifically on the companions of the Prophet, they apply the  “Taqiyyah”. AbdulJabbar didn’t learn the wisdom behind Taqiyyah, because he thinks that if if he didn’t disrobe himself from the Sunnah he can’t say anything (to suppress Izala) when it comes to “knowledge driven discussions.”

He started by insisting that most of the Ibadat undertaken by Izala were not based on the Sunnah of the Prophet but based on innovations from his companions. He, then started discussing the “innovations of the Sahaba”, giving more emphasis on the second CalIph, Umar. This exposed how deep he was influenced by the Shi’a. He spent time discussing “the fifty innovations” that were smuggled into Islam by Umar.

The fundamental thing that AbdulJabbar failed to realize, when he started his “heedless” sojourn, was that he was invalidating the whole jurisprudence that were in practice by every Muslim who was not a Shiite. He failed to understand that he was, indeed, attacking every Muslim.

When he started this, the scholars at his home quickly realized where he was heading and the danger that lies ahead if their family is to be identified with what he was spewing. Therefore, they tried to stop him, an action that resulted in bitter disagreements between them. Consequently, he parted ways with them and started his own group for his kind of Da’awa.

The advent of Google search engine gave AbdulJabbar quick access to some writings by atheists, Muslim heretics and orientalists from the Christian scholars who satirize the Prophet and his companions. This emboldened him over his attack on Sunnah.

He immediately embarked into the process of invalidating Hadiths. His most important targets were Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, to be followed by the rest of Hadith books. His method was to establish that it was the companions who deliberately concocted  those Hadiths in order to destroy Islam after the Prophet. The Prophet didn’t utter those Hadiths. He insisted that those who reported the Hadiths knew that they were lies, concocted by the companions, but they chose to conceal the truth for over a thousand years! This is exactly the stand of Shi’a on the Hadith believed by Ahlussunnah.

To prove that the companions were against the Prophet and that they were trying to destroy his religion, AbdulJabbar decided to quote the utterances of Shi’a scholars, heretics and that of the atheists, (everything said by AbdulJabbar on this subject was copied from elsewhere, he was not the one who discovered or hypothesized them, as he boastfully claims), that asserts that the companions have disrespected and ridiculed the Prophet, or that they (the companions) have invented some things into Islam that could never have been from the Prophet (PBUH).

This is what the scholars termed as challenging the “Dirayah” (the part of knowledge that ascertain whether or not the import or meaning of a hadith is in concurrence with the shari’ah) instead of challenging the Hadith from the angle of its authenticity or not, through observing the chain of reporters (Riwayah). 

AbdulJabbar used both approaches, but he took an opposing stand to that of the scholars of Hadith’s principles that “a hadith couldn’t be faulted on the basis of the companion who reported it, because all the companions are deemed trustworthy and honest (specifically when reporting what the Prophet said)”. He, instead, selected the stand of Shi’a that asserted that the fault of a companion is also the fault of any hadith from him, notwithstanding who followed in the chain of the narrators.

Muslims in this country have been reading these books and other commentaries on them from the day Islam came into this country, they’ve never heard anyone interpreting them with such bizarre meanings as did AbdulJabbar. But he kept misinterpreting them – as the Judge said in his rulings – “without showing or pointing the exact words in the books, and it was not an interpretation with meaning (which is lawful) but that -as he (AbdulJabbar) claimed- it was an interpretation with a “Shubhul “Ma’na.” 

Therefore, to all Muslims in this country, with the exception of the Shi’a, AbdulJabbar’s failure to point the exact offensive words he alleged were uttered by the companions, meant that those reprehensible words were his, and he is the one who invented those words against the Prophet (PBUH). This ignoble act, prompted all the Muslims in Kano that bear the name of Ahlussunnah, even if it is the “broader meaning” of Ahlussunnah, to merge in order to fight this menace which is simply Shiism in the garb of Sunnah.

The merger scholars were victorious in pressuring the government to prosecute AbdulJabbar. The judge sentenced him according to the Malikiyya school of thought, using the verdict from “As-shifa”, a book made famous by the family of AbdulJabbar for reading it always in public. It was disclosed that the stand of Imam Malik is that “anyone who report offensive comments on the person of the Messenger of Allah, and eventually failed to prove it, will be deemed as the one making the offensive statement, and is liable to be sentenced to death.”

When AbdulJabbar came out “heedlessly” to proselytize Shiism using the garb of Sunnah, in order to suppress Izala, he was oblivious of this statement from “As-shifa”. Eventually, the verdicts of the book have consumed him. He had also forgotten that, by so doing he will be fighting every segment of the Muslims who are not Shi’a. Now the merger has consumed him. He had also forgotten that though it is said that in this country everyone can say whatever he likes, due to Freedom of Speech, the shariah law is exercised in Kano. Now he is consumed by Shariah. 

Overzealousness in sectarianism should be avoided by all, please. 

Translated by Muhammad Mahmud.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

The Abuja-Kaduna train resumed operations after eight months of suspension due to the sad event of March 28, 2022, where terrorists attacked the train and kidnapped 168 passengers, killing eight others. Thus, the situation is now under control. Captives were freed and reunited with their families. We hope not to have a repeat of these ugly scenarios in the future. 

Behold, the Nigerian citizens can’t hide their excitement as the train is back on track after the unfortunate incident. We all call for a proper investigation into the circumstances and, at the same time, call on the authority to remain vigilant. 

However, citizens have the habit of crossing the railway track without proper guidance and caution, resulting in accidents and damage to the public infrastructure, which is public property that shouldn’t be dabbled with. 

There is a sad report of a Toyota Camry with a female occupant that was allegedly crushed by the train as it carelessly came to pass the track. Often those with prior knowledge of the train, especially as you leave Kubwa train station in the suburb of the city centre, Bwary Area Council, the community residents of that axis have a habit of trespassing anyhow without being cautious of the danger therein. This has, of course, inflicted untold hardship on the victims and, at the same time, damage to the slippers of the track. Perhaps people are not aware of the dangers or have deliberately neglected them. 

However, as I went to the axis some time ago, I observed a provision for a pedestrian channel to pass. Sadly, people develop the habit of going through the danger zone. It’s a patriotic call on the ministry of transport to take a leaf from the city centre and provide barricades in such a way that communities have to follow the normal route, which will indeed be a win-win situation, as neither the track will be damaged nor no accident will occur within that axis as long as proper precautions are taken. 

I also laud the measures of the management for the proper check and balance of passengers, where thorough screening is put up so that those with suspicious motives are apprehended. I call on the general public to give maximum support to security agencies and report any sceptical movement for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmoud Street, Kasuwar Kaji Azare, Bauchi State.