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By Maryam Muhammad Lawan

They both entered Ammi’s room with crestfallen faces.

“Ammi, I don’t know what’s wrong with this boy. I saw him in the afternoon wandering about the street with those ludicrous coteries and now with a gamepad instead of a book!” Yaaya exclaimed. 

Ammi sighed as if she could not utter a word.

I know she could, for she has been trying her best. Anis would only pick his book to study when Ammi sounds emphatic. Not sure if it’s hearty, for he would start to sleep shortly after he starts reading, and that will be the end. 

Yaaya broke the silence in the silent room with a query. “What exactly do you want?”

Mentorship! I answered the question for Anis quiescently.

 He continued, “Unless you straighten up and fly right, our efforts will be fruitless.”

Anis is blessed with a quick cognitive capacity but is prone to play.

 “I’ll try my best and make sure he get his acts together, but he’s listless now. Tomorrow will be a better day,” I said to myself. 

The Next Day

I stealthily entered Anis’s room and met him ironing his sport wears. 

 “This is supposed to be done before today, my friend,” I said teasingly.

 He replied amusingly, “I heard you, but not well. However, I may hear you well when you go out and say Assalaamu Alaikum.”

Deep down, I know he’s trying to requite, for this is always what I say whenever he bangs into my room without saying the Salaam. 

I went out, said the Salaam and entered. 

I soothingly asked about his preparation(s) for the forthcoming exams.

 “Which preparation?” He asked. “Y’all should know that this JAMB is just luck,” he added. 

“So you wrote the exams before, wow! What was your score? “I uttered innocuously. 

“Look, Anis, can you please give me a listening ear?” This time around, it’s more of motherly. 

He switched off the iron and turned his attention to me. 

“Last year, when I did my JAMB examination, were you not proud of my score? Were you not the one that added that to your status with ‘can ur sis be brilliant like this’ as the caption? Do you remember how that result trended? Why? It’s all because of the score, Anis. I wasn’t the only one that wrote JAMB that same year, but mine trended most.” Can you remember how I read hard? Why don’t you do that, Anis?”

The room was silent for a while.  

“There’s nothing like luck, except that in almost everything, there may be a refutation. Some candidates may prepare well, but fail, while others will pass without preparing, but this is a hen’s teeth. I want you to train hard and pray harder, please, dear. Will you do that? “ 

He astonishingly answered in the affirmation. 

“I remember how some students mocked us (me and my friends) just because we were preparing hard. How foolish? None of them scored more than 130. Karina was among them; she scored 98. I know you can still remember that. So, in case you come across those sets of people, get them the cold shoulder. But, eventually, we shall smile together,” I said. 

“It’s almost 7:30 am. Let me leave before your school bus arrives. Peace out, bro, I said and added “no procrastination please,” when exiting out of the room. 

“Anis!! I shall celebrate with you as well, “I said this when I saw him reading voraciously after coming back from Islamiya in the evening. 

I could see happiness in Ammi’s and Yaaya’s faces. 

It’s time for the Maghrib prayers, so the young boy must keep everything and pray. 

He stood up while uttering, “So help us, God.” I wasn’t the only one that said “Ameen.”

Yaaya was at the parlour, ready to move on to the mosque, while Ammi was there to pick the phone she left at the dining table. I, Yaaya and Ammi said that Ameen happily.  

The young boy moved on to the restroom to perform his ablution.

 He held Ammi and Yaaya in awe, they happily prayed for him, and they both left. 

Maryam Muhammad Lawal wrote from Kaduna via mmafamam@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

It is the grass that suffers when two elephants fight. This is the sad situation of students in Nigeria’s public universities. Students find themselves suffering anytime ASUU goes on strike.

The innocent Nigerian students bear the brunt of the impasse of the duo – the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government. At the end of every fight for a better condition of service by ASUU, their remuneration is paid, but the students are left to compensate themselves for the time they lost and the emotional trauma caused by the strike.

As legitimate as ASUU’s demands may be, keeping students at home to pursue these demands does not appear logical to me. As for the government, their attitude reminds me of Gbemisola Adeoti’s poem, “Ambush” where the literary genius described the land using many metaphors to demonstrate how dreams are murdered.

Students dreams are unceremoniously halted whenever ASUU embarks on strike. Some lose interest in education altogether, and others continue with less enthusiasm. Clichés like ‘school na scam’ seems to then make sense and many students embrace crimes like cyber fraud popularly known with the sobriquet ‘yahoo yahoo’ as an alternative to education. This is among the many problems usually caused by strikes.

Adeoti was right in his poem when he said, “The land is a giant whale that swallows the sinker, with hook line and bait aborting dreams of good catch fishers turn home at dusk blue peter on empty ships” Many students often try to escape this land that consumes dreams, they seek education in small neighbouring countries like Togo, Niger and Ghana etc. Some stay back to attend private universities they can afford while politicians and wealthy people send their children to Europe to get education. ASUU’s strike is not only demarketing our public universities in Nigeria. This attitude slowly kills the dreams and the universities, as anyone with a choice will not consider the option of attending one.

ASUU’s strike put students at a disadvantage in the pursuit of their progress, happiness and other life aspirations. It causes them unnecessary delays. They watched their peers in private universities graduate and take on the next steps in their lives while they are consoled with the saying that God’s time is the best. The Nigerian student is often stared in the face with the reality of George Orwell’s saying that “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others. A country that is seemingly careless about the education of its people is breeding the ground for poverty and crimes.

Quality education is no doubt the key to the greatness of any nation. But, sadly, it is not on the priority list of our leaders. While the government takes the most considerable blame for why universities are always on strike; we cannot wholly excuse ASUU for their complicity in killing the university education in Nigeria by going on regular strikes which often leave students stranded and confused.

Please ASUU change your strategy, we suffer every time.

Ahmad Deedat Zakari can be reached via ahmadzakari111@gmail.com.

By Habib Korede

Restructuring has been a topic on Nigeria’s news headlines for decades, and as the 2023 general election approaches, ‘restructuring’ is one optics for political campaigns. However, the unification of Nigeria, which has continually stirred this debate, results from the colonials’ avarice but has fortunately been a blessing.

Before the colonials, Nigeria was home to over 300 ethnic groups, with Hausa in the North, Igbo in the South-East, and Yoruba in the South-West, as the three dominant ethnic groups. These ethnic groups operate under various separate entities such as ethno-religious, geo-regional, and political nationalities under caliphate, kingdoms, and empires,

The colonials amalgamated these entities through divide and rule policy on 1 January 1914, following Frederick Lugard’s recommendation. The colonials take full advantage of their exploration of the country by sternly concentrating power at the centre to favour their political and imperial interests instead of laying a good foundation for nation-building. This has become a puzzle for Nigeria in the post-colonial era. 

Struggles for inclusion at the centre and resource allocation have resulted in many heated controversies, distrust, compromise, and violent conflicts. These include the crisis that emanated in the 1959 and 1964 federal elections, the January and July 1966 coups, the three years civil war of 1967–1970 when the Igbo region wanted to secede into Biafra, followed by several bloody coups and counter-coups.

The unity of Nigeria has also been threatened by various ethno-religious conflicts resulting from bad governance, such as the Kaduna State Zangon-Kataf crisis in 1987, 12 June 1993, Moshood Abiola’s presidential election annulment crisis, and return to the military junta in November 1993.

The return to the democratic system of government under the leadership of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, which gave birth to the presidency of Obasanjo in May 1999, led to a rapid paradigm shift in Nigerian political history.

Deterioration in the governance of the country sparked several protests. Protests like the 2012 fuel subsidy removal and the 2020 #EndSARS that resulted in the death of protesters are only a few examples.

From 1999 to date, every region of the country has shown dissatisfaction with the status quo. This dissatisfaction has led to several agitations and overheating of the country’s polity, which metamorphosed to ethno-religious and inter-communal crises, such as the year 2000 Kaduna crisis, the 7–13 Sep. 2001 Jos crisis, and so on.

These crises triggered the formation of several ethno-militia groups such as the Oodua Peoples Congress, Indigenous People of Biafra, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Niger Delta Avengers, the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and the coordinated Fulani/Herdsmen-Farmers conflict. These militias are agent provocateurs that simultaneously unleash terror in the country to disrupt governance, leading to several national conversations, such as restructuring, decentralisation, creation of state police, and separation. 

The rising agitation for a restructured Nigeria results from perceived marginalisation, discouraging national leadership, identity crisis, ethno-religious intolerance, the concentration of power at the centre, and lack of patriotism.

However, different scholars have interpreted the word ‘restructuring’ differently, and both the antagonists and protagonists for a restructured Nigeria dissent on its meaning. Though, I see restructuring as ‘using an efficient medium to restore a collapsing building to save everyone in the building.’  

From 1914 to 2014, eleven constitutional conferences were held to strategise the most favourable federal system and resource sharing policy to keep the regions satisfied and united. However, the 2014 national conference confirmed inequality in the demand of all the country’s parts. Each region demands a policy for their vested interest even when it disfavours the unity and progress of the country. 

The Southern region suggests the country should revert to the regionalism of the 1963 constitution. Still, this suggestion was frayed by the fear of dominance and marginalisation of the minorities from future governance of the majority in these regions. 

Besides, the founding fathers of Nigeria were more selfless and patriotic than the current group of leaders, and the country’s population is higher than it was; these will make regional governance in contemporary Nigeria impracticable. 

Decentralisation of power and the emergence of state police, as suggested by many, will aid in the production of a pool of authoritarian state governors whose misuse of power will decline the country’s democracy. But, as mentioned by the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, ‘the stronger the boat of (democracy), the more it is able to meet the challenges of its voyage and deliver on its promise to citizens.’

Notwithstanding, the Northern region focused on creating additional states and power rotation among the six geo-political zones. Obviously, creating more states will further deteriorate the already weak economy because of the unnecessary administration cost. 

It is noteworthy that the clamour for creating a new state is not for developmental reasons but political purposes. This will abet the emergence of unproductive parasitic state elites, lead to the agitation for creating additional states, and eventually actuate the aggressive Balkanisation of Nigeria. Like Yugoslavia, East Timor, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and South Sudan. 

The systemic restructure of Nigeria will be insurmountable. The 1999 constitution stands as a considerable constraint to the systemic and resource restructuring because of the intricate processes involved in amending the constitution. This is one of the reasons the 2014 national conference ended in a stalemate; Nigerian leaders benefit from the current state of affairs in the country. They manipulate the system for their selfish interests. These leaders capitalise on the gullibility of the average Nigerian by using ‘restructuring’ as a campaign strategy to divide Nigerians, to amass votes at the polls after every four years. 

Because Nigeria has remained an indivisible entity for over 100 years shows the unity of the country. The many challenges Nigeria is facing arises from the selfishness of the leaders and the mindset of the citizens. It is eminent that Nigerians should recognise the power in population and diversity before it is too late. Thomas Malthus explains that: ‘The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power on the Earth to produce subsistence for man’.

Nigerians yearn for a prosperous Nigeria, and Nigerians need to know that prosperity comes with unity, sacrifices, and patience. ‘The cost of disintegration (of Nigeria) is higher than the cost of being together. We have everything to gain by being united than disunited,’ as stated by the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The perennial agitation for restructuring and separation ensues from bad governance, corruption, insecurity, nepotism, and ethnic intolerance.

Achieving two concurrent goals will solve these problems: the first will be to intensify the country’s social structure, which will aid in reconciling Nigerians and redefine the perception Nigerians perceive Nigeria. The second will be strengthening the central government by building robust institutions where no one is above the law and where meritocracy always supersedes mediocrity.

Social restructuring of Nigeria is achievable under different progressions: by prioritising civic education and history at the basic education level; refurbishment of unity primary and secondary school across the country; the national youth service corps should continue to aid the youths of the country to explore the diverse cultures and enhance pragmatic multicultural solutions to the country’s problem; there should be an effective orientation agency that will be responsible for sufficient enlightenment of the masses, particularly on peace and unity of the country; and investing in intercultural dialogue.

When there is an unarguable socially restructured Nigeria, patriotism will augment, and every other thing will fall into place.

Most of the 36 states governors are doing a lot of things wrong. Still, the centre always receives the blame because of the rising weakness in the capacity of the central government to sanction the misappropriation of resources and bad governance by the state government adequately. Building powerful autonomous institutions will strengthen the central government.

Powerful institutions will enhance check and balance in the activities of the other arm of the government, which will help filter the best candidate for the leadership position in the public sector, and will unquestionably prosecute the guilty ones.

Powerful institutions will promote democracy and credible leaders. In the words of Chinua Achebe, ‘Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.’

Nigeria, a country with the fastest growing economy in Africa, the highest GDP on the continent, and the sixth most populous country globally, has all the potential required to become the world superpower. Good governance will enhance an excellent economy, peace, stability, and prosperity.

According to Ibrahim Index of African Governance, good governance is ‘the provision of the political, social and economic goods that any citizen has the right to expect from his or her state, and that any state has the responsibility to deliver to its citizens’.

Therefore, when the citizens are getting all the social and economic values they are expecting from the government, no region will have the urge to clamour for restructuring or separation of the country. However, there cannot be good governance when there is no equity, equality, transparency, inclusiveness, accountability, justice and responsiveness in the country’s activities

Habib Korede is a BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering graduate and a writer. He authored Propelling Success, and The Kalahari Review has featured his work. He can be reached via habibkorede247@gmail.com.

By Professor Abdelmalik Abdelghaffar Amoka

ASUU in 2008, provided pictorial documentation on the state of infrastructural decay in public universities to the Federal Government (FG). After several struggles and strikes, FG put together a Committee on the NEEDS assessment of the public universities, headed by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the then TETFund Boss. Prof Mahmood Yakubu’s committee after a thorough work recommended that 1.3 trillion naira is required to revitalize all the public universities (Federal and State universities) to make them suitable learning environments for the normal human being.

Just like the 2021 visitation panel report and the 2021 report of the renegotiated 2009 agreement, the NEEDS Assessment report was dumped somewhere till ASUU declared another strike in 2013 for the report to get attention. An agreement was then reached between ASUU and FG after the 2013 strike that the fund will be spread from 2013 to 2018. GEJ’s government released 200 billion naira for 2013 before he was voted out and Buhari’s government took over in 2015. As of 2013, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Mal. Adamu Adamu, Mal Nasiru El-Rufai, Alh Lai Muhammed, and APC as a party believe that the government of Jonathan was “irresponsible” for their failure to implement the agreement reached with ASUU on public universities. They gave all sorts of convincing supporting reasons why FG can meet the demands of ASUU. El-Rufai was in OBJ’s government and he knows how government works. So, hypocrisy did not come to people’s mind, they didn’t see any point in doubting his position and his 2013 post on the ASUU strike went viral.

The general public is always on the fence during these fights for university revitalization. Some choose who to support based on where their loyalty lies at that moment. That is the reason why those who were against the FG on the ASUU strike in 2013 and now supporting FG on ASUU strike on the same issues. Since 2015, the APC government has refused to release the funds for public universities. After about 4 ASUU strike actions for the last 7 years of the government of President Buhari, they have not been able to release up to 100 billion naira for universities revitalization. Meanwhile, they are adding more universities.

There is this class of public school beneficiaries that believe that FG does not have 1 trillion naira to fix our universities to make them attractive to any student except through the introduction of tuition fees. But some of us think that the people, including civil servants, are too poor to afford tuition for University education, else it will become an elitist institution. Public schools produce us and some of us are super-rich. So, if we believe that FG is actually broke to fund education, then we can intervene to revitalize the public universities in the interest of national development and for the love of the country.

Nigerians are cheerful givers. Our business moguls, media celebrities are fond of gifting their friends. Not sure if it’s for show-off. For example, Nightlife boss, Obinna Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana got cash and other gifts worth over 250 million naira for his mother’s burial in July 2021. David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido in November 2021 raised 200 million naira within hours that he donated to the orphanage. I recently saw an unconfirmed impressive list of donations for the Attah of Igala coronation from my brothers. There are several of such donations. This is evidence that Nigerians are cheerful givers.

Nigeria’s generous donation of one million dollars to the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan shows that even the government is generous. Only a cheerful giver will use 100 billion naira to rehabilitate non-functional refineries that are still not functioning. Only a cheerful giver will pay 69 billion naira as salaries to refinery workers that generated zero revenue and only go to work to warm their office chairs.

The public primary school system is dead, the public school system is dead, and the public university system has nearly collapsed. But why don’t we extend this generosity and cheerful giving to the education of the ordinary Nigerian? why can’t the elites donate a fraction of the money they sent abroad to educate their kids?

The agreement in 2013 was for FG to release N210 billion naira every year for 5 years. 9 years later, not up to 23% of the fund was released to the universities after 9 years. Maybe FG is actually broke even though they are establishing more universities and the key players are getting richer. A poor and broken man doesn’t add to his responsibilities.

Let’s apply the principle of our supposed generosity and cheerful giving to solving our education problem. Let’s open a public schools revitalization endowment fund. Let’s get 100 thousand cheerful givers from politicians, businessmen, captains of industries, Bank CEOs, celebrities, and the noisy “Abroadians” to donate 200 thousand naira every month for a year. That will give us 240 billion naira revitalization fund annually. Do that for 5 years and we’ll have 1.2 trillion naira to revitalize public universities.

Put up Board of Trustee and Fund management team from the donors to ensure that the fund is shielded from mismanagement. Nobody wants to see his money misused. Then, ASUU won’t have to go on strike for revitalization and will limit ASUU’s demands to welfare. The government won’t be looking for tuition fee that is not there or students’ loan that is not sustainable, students won’t have to stay at home for months due to strike. The university will be good enough for our big men that ship our money abroad. The industries will get a quality workforce. The universities will be attractive to international students and we’ll start earning forex from education.

But unfortunately, our cheerful giving in Nigeria does not extend to public education. Public education made us and we are either part of those destroying it or watching it destroyed without any slight resistance. It’s like a case of climbing to the top through the public education ladder and destroying the ladder after getting to the top. And unfortunately, the supposed middle class, a class that is nearly wiped out, that needs the ladder is afraid of the oppressors but blames ASUU.

Amoka is a social analyst, prolific writer and a Professor of Physics, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

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.”