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By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

As the 2023 elections draw near, the two big parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), parade several contenders for the Kaduna South Senatorial seat. 

Being one of the strongest senatorial zones for the PDP since 1999, the aspiration of APC bigwigs from the zone is challenging PDP’s dominance. As a result, political pundits opined that next year’s senatorial election in the zone will be a fierce contest between PDP and APC.

For the APC, political observers believe that the expression of interest of Honourable Bulus Banquo Audu is receiving a massive boost in the zone. He’s believed to be one of the most experienced and most politically savvy APC politicians in Southern Kaduna that could defeat other contestants and amass votes for APC in the forthcoming election.

As a grassroot politician, Bulus played a critical role when APC won the seat of member House of Representatives in Kachia/Kagarko Constituency in 2019. Recently, his political influence paved the way for a more remarkable outcome for APC in the last local government elections. He wields enormous influence among the Christian communities in the zone.

Investigations revealed that the recent mass defection of members of the PDP to APC in the zone is not unconnected with Hon. Bulus’ senatorial ambition. One major determinant of which party wins an elective position at the end of the day is the choice of the party candidate. With the changing political atmosphere in Southern Kaduna, any party that makes the mistake of presenting a weak candidate or person with questionable character will undoubtedly lose the election.

By Murtala Uba Mohammed

Governor Ganduje’s romance with capital project is too obvious and apparent. Only a bias mind can deny him his love for billion of Naira capital projects such as construction of some urban roads, underpasses and flyovers which qualify the city to lead in terms of transport infrastructure all over the country. Governor Ganduje’s interest in commerce and revenue drive is quite vivid considering his bias towards conversion of every available inch of land in the metropolis into commercial property. This is in addition to the proliferation of shops created in over ten markets in Kano Metropolis. In his zeal to generate revenue, Baban Abba has transformed Kano Road Traffic Management Agency (KAROTA) from law traffic enforcement to tax collection agency!

History of Kano would definitely remember this government of converting some of the most sacred spaces such as prayer grounds, cemeteries and historical places into commercial plots. While, Colonel Idris Garba has found it wiser to relocate Kano City Animal Market from its old location to accommodate the increase demand for bigger Kano Central Eid Ground and to give the ancient city a kind of Eid ground it deserves; Ganduje felt it is necessary to downsize it to nearly one fifth of its original size in order to make way for his dearest commercial land use. In fact, governor Ganduje’s romance with commerce qualified him to have national honour award of commercial order for Niger (CON)!

It is also obvious that governor Ganduje has given Kano more than what it requires as centre of commerce by converting the remaining open spaces, green areas, blue ecosystems and city’s recreational gardens into commercial plots, leading to the emergence of multi-million plazas in all parts of the already gentrified city. The case of destruction of the last phase of the city wall along BUK road, the Freedom pond along Gwarzo Road, the Dan’agundi on BUK Road and many other smaller water bodies are just tips of Ganduje’s land conversion icebergs. A case of city garden along Maiduguri is another justification for his romance with commerce.

Also, many waste collection centres were either allocated to Ganduje’s political lieutenants to develop it for commercial use or sold to a highest bidder. No thanks to irrational desperate attitude of Kano people to land acquisition which Bandirawo capitalized upon and coupled with the creation of plots on many state’s parks located in peri-urban local government under the forestry department of Ministry of Environment. Ganduje would have converted city’s Zoological Garden to commercial plot if not for the outcry and serious pressure from good sons and daughters of the State.

While, expanding the commercial land use and (possibly) enlarging what goes into supposedly state IGR, the government action is negatively affecting the environment. The governors love for the building of commercial areas at the expense of other landuses affects the functioning of the ecosystem there by distorting the near equilibrium state of the environment. A city without parks and green areas is just like child whose nose was covered or severed; suffocation is inevitable and death is the end point. Our governor (whom the law saddled with responsibility of land protection) should be reminded that the green areas are not just for decoration, they are carbon sink meant to absorb harmful air like Carbon dioxide, Sulphur oxides, chlorofloro carbons and other pollutants which are hazardous to human health. They also help in moisture retention, groundwater recharge, check soil erosion and ecosystem stability. The importance extends to social and economic contribution by providing revenue, connecting people with past and providing shades. Kano City is already noisy, building more roads and destroying greens which this administration is supporting and encouraging, make people to own more cars and reduce the functional attenuation city’s noise. In a city where transport is not regulated and left at the mercy of highly informal private individuals, one will just end up with a growth that is going in a reverse way. Today, only God knows the number of tricycles in Kano that pollute the air and colliding with peoples’ vehicles.

Nowhere, water and blue infrastructure is as important as dryland, however, unfortunate the protector turns destroyer. The city therefore is witnessing urban drought due to water table dwindling. The city dwellers now buy water from cart-pusher, whose hygienic condition is terribly bad, at the rate of 50 to 100 naira per 25 litre jerrycan. The state’s own water supply is just a nightmare.

Kano city now witnesses intrusion of newly emerged hills, not of lava, rather of refuse. This is a clear pointer to the problem of rush in privatizing the long-time government’s REMASAB to a very little-known private company. Surprisingly, rather leasing the formal areas (where pilot testing were done through Franchisee System), the government decided to include the informal areas where residents are overwhelmingly poor and unlikely to afford commercial waste service. The government had successfully improved its revenue by not shouldering part of its social responsibilities, but it had traded-off the health and well-being of the public for worthless amount of money. The city-folk now pay the price through living in the mid of waste.

No matter how crucial it is, revenue is not in any way akin to destruction of environment. One can get good revenue without depriving the environment its decency. This can be achieved through verticalization of buildings where shop demands can be met without losing open and green areas. Also, city’s green and open spaces can be privatized in their natural state to generate more revenue. The recent proliferation of Event centres and sport Centres can utilize the city’s ponds and open spaces without necessary building up permanent structure.

While the state makes a lot of noise on domination of public transport by Adaidaita sahu tricycle where revenue was difficult to generate, not much was done to introduce more formal public mass transit such as Bus Rapid Transit and Bus Mini Transit that would fetch more revenue to the government with less damage to the environment. It is still not late for the government to reverse and rethink of best ways to manage the waste generated. Commercial, industrial and formal areas can be made to pay for waste services, but not slum and shanty areas. Let the state engage radically in educating and reorienting the citizens, this will make people to be more formal in their businesses, and which will eventually boost the state’s revenue.

It is important to note that for every city to be liveable, certain ecological services and resources must be retained at all cost. Failure to keep them is tantamount to exhibiting nonchalant attitude to nature despite that Nigeria is a signatory to most environmental treaties. It implies that one is at war with descent living. I am afraid, history will judge this administration for destroying the little it inherits of environmental heritage in the name of foolhardy capitalism. I hope His Excellency was not punishing us for someone’s faults. Other individuals might have done some wrongs to him, but let him remember that he has no place like Kano. Let us give Kano a descent ecosystem, not only for us but for the yet to be born generations.

Murtala teaches Geography at Bayero University, Kano.

By Ibrahim Nasidi Saal

Troops of the 93 Battalion have launched a  search and rescue mission for personnel missing in action while responding to a distress call of an attack on the Tati community in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State in the early hours of Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

The troops acted swiftly after receiving a distress call that the Tati community was under attack by suspected bandits. While pursuing the bandits, troops fell into an ambush staged by the criminals. The troops fought fiercely through the ambush neutralizing four of the bandits.  Sadly, six gallant soldiers paid the supreme price during the firefight, while one person was missing in action.

However, a reinforcement team from the 6 Brigade deployed against the fleeing bandits at Ananum village in Donga Local Government Area of the state, neutralized two additional bandits and recovered one Ak 47 rifle, one pistol, one locally fabricated gun, 2 AK 47 Magazines, 19 rounds of 7.62 mm special, seven rounds of 9 mm ammunition and three motorbikes.

Troops are currently pursuing the bandits and will leave no stone unturned in the ongoing search and rescue operations for the missing personnel.

The good people of Taraba state are urged to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement to security agencies.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

The National Assembly urged the Chinese government to help Nigeria rescue the Abuja-Kaduna abducted train passengers.

Today marks exactly 45 days since the 62 passengers were attacked and abducted while in transition on March 28, 2022.

The Daily Reality reported how bandits stormed the Abuja-Kaduna train, gunned down eight people and abducted over sixty people in March. 

The Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transportation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, expressed sadness over the failure to rescue the victims 45 days after.

Also, the people concerned have shown great sadness over the government’s failure to rescue their loved ones and threatened that the train service must not resume until those abducted have regained freedom. 

The lawmaker representing Oyo North in the National Assembly decried that the attack had created fear in the minds of Nigerians who had started embracing the railway.

He said, “The Chinese government makes money from the many rail projects that are being handled by CCECC in Nigeria, so asking them to help us is not out of place.

“Nigerians are no longer ready to listen to the number of passengers that have been carried by the trains since they were commissioned. Nigerians are not interested in what has been put in the various stations by the CCECC. What we want to hear now is the effort being put into rescuing those people in captivity.

“If a Chinese national was among those people abducted, we know that the Chinese government would have come to rescue him.

“I remember when an American was kidnapped, the Americans came and took him away from where he was held captive. We know that with the level of technology that the Chinese have, even without leaving Beijing, they can help us track where these people are, or even give us enough intelligence that would aid their rescue,” he added. 

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari.

Adamu J. Garba, a tech-entrepreneur and former presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has left the party.

Garba tweeted a video of himself removing the APC flag in his office on Wednesday, May 11.

He captioned the video, saying, “We joined APC for the sake of Nigerians, now that all is not looking straight. We believe only Allah is the Guarantor & Grantor of Authority. He never ever gives up on the betterment of humans. Trusting in Him, following His Guide, we bow out of APC in peace. The flag is down.”

Garba’s dramatic exit from the APC is coming a day after his withdrawal from the presidential race on the party’s platform.

Recall that Garba in a press release announcing his withdrawal, he told his supporters that it is the beginning of their political journey and that they should wait for further directives.

By Ibrahim Nasidi Saal

Days after nine Kano State House of Assembly members defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, three more lawmakers have dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, for the new party.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Assembly, Uba Abdullahi, announced their defection, citing three separate letters the legislators sent to the speaker, Hamisu Chidari.

According to the statement, the members notified the House of their defection from the ruling APC to NNPP through the letters dated May 5, officially received by the House.

The defecting lawmakers are:

Hon.Abdullahi Iliyasu-Yaryasa, member representing Tudunwada Constituency;

Hon.Muhammed Bello Butu-Butu, member representing Tofa/Rimin Gado Constituency.

Hon.Kabiru Yusuf Ismail, member representing Madobi Constituency.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) will commence a two-week warning strike on Monday, May 16, 2022.

According to the ASUP president, Anderson Ezeibe, the decision was borne out of the emergency meeting of the union National Executive Council on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

However, this is coming amidst worries over the extension of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

ASUP decried that the federal government has refused to meet their demand, making it necessary for the union to embark on a strike.

Recall that ASUP has suspended its industrial action declared on the 10th of June, 2021, following the Memorandum of Action (MoA) which the government had signed.

The union said in a statement, “Non-release of arrears of the new minimum wage: The owed 10 months arrears for the Polytechnics is yet to be released. The composite amount covering all Federal Tertiary Institutions to the approximate figure of N19Bn currently exists as an AIE in the Accountant Generals Office.”

“We are deploying this medium to equally appeal to members of the public to prevail on the government to do the needful within the two weeks period so as to avoid an indefinite shutdown of the sector,” the statement added.

By Ibraheem Abdullateef

Ahead of the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria, the race for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has never been so terribly chaotic and funny. Pegged at an outrageous N100 million naira, no less than 25 aspirants have obtained the nomination and expression of interest forms as of Friday 6, May 2022 to contest in the primaries later in the month. As Nigerians, including the media and the CSOs, were still debating the moral rectitude and leadership capacity of the long list of contenders, the news hit the airwaves on Thursday that the Central Bank Governor of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele has also obtained the form by proxy. 

There is no word fit to describe this action, not even anomaly. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele is taking Nigerians and Nigeria for a ride with his presidential bid. By the extant Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007, the Bank is an independent, apolitical body and whoever is the Governor is not allowed to be partisan. The series of political-related activities, consultative meetings, and branding in his name would vitiate the law and ethics of professionalism, and it makes a mockery of the public image of the nation’s apex financial and monetary authority in the international community. 

As if to forestall quackery, the section 8 (1) which is on Appointment, Qualification, and Remuneration of Governor and Deputy Governor of the CBN says both of them “shall be persons of recognised financial experience and shall be appointed by the president subject to confirmation by the Senate on such terms and conditions as may be set out in their respective letters of appointment.” 

While corroborating it, the next section in the Act, Section 9, on full devotion to the service of the bank, says “Governor and Deputy Governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the Bank and while holding office shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation whether remunerated or not except such personal or charitable causes as may be determined by the Board and which do not conflict with or detract from their full-time duties.” 

Yet, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has continued to pursue a presidential bid under the APC. What started a few months back recently reached a crescendo when pictures of about 50 well-branded campaign vehicles hit social media. It also followed the hosting of banners, including rallies across the nation. Despite denying the ambition in April, the eventual purchase of the nomination and expression of interest forms less than two weeks to party primaries show that Emefiele is partisan and has been involved in activities, not in tandem with his office. This impunity is unprecedented. It is not unexpected the outrage of Nigerians, condemning what is perceived as immoral and unethical behaviour. 

As a Nigerian, the 1999 constitution allows Godwin Emefiele the right to pursue any political ambition. But to pursue a presidential bid without resigning, may erode the confidence of investors, international partners, business magnates, and other stakeholders in the financial sectors in the Bank, thereby affecting the economy. Many Nigerians have begun to wonder if the weakening Naira values, including the introduction of policies like E-Naira and banning cryptocurrencies, were not informed by decisions influenced by partisan interests. Regardless of the intentions, the moment Emefiele submits his nomination and expressions of interest form, he must not spend a minute longer as the CBN Governor, unless it becomes a sad precedent to other officeholders, further bastarding the national institutions. 

While spelling out conditions for disqualification and cessation of appointment, section 11 (2) (f) of the CBN act empowers the president to remove the governor. The CBN governor may also be relieved of his appointment if he is “guilty of a serious misconduct about his duty under this Act.” By being openly partisan, it is enough ground for the Board or the National Assembly to summon and question the professionalism and ethics of Godwin Emefiele, in relation to this stewardship. 

The only way Emefiele stays in office is to dissociate himself from this development. If truly he has an ambition and would rather face it squarely, he should vacate the office immediately (provided that he has given at least three months’ notice in writing to the president of his intention to do so). It is not the time to keep mute and be evasive. It is rather a moment to prove a test of character and integrity. President Muhammadu Buhari must address the issue and take positive action to salvage the sanctity of the nation’s foremost financial and economic authority now. 

Ibraheem Abdullateef is a Nigerian youth leader and freelance journalist. He tweets at @_ibraheemlateef.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

A father of a four-year-old girl, Khadijah Abdullahi, popularly known as “Ilham” has recounted the traumatic incident of how his neighbour allegedly connived with some people, kidnapped and killed his daughter after collecting ransom at Tilden Fulani, Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi state. 

Speaking to The Daily Reality, the father, Abdullahi Yusuf, said the girl was abducted during the Ramadan fasting period on April 11, 2022. But according to the Nigeria Security & Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), they received this shocking information on Saturday, 23rd of April, 2022.

Yusuf narrated how the suspect mercilessly strangled the little Ilham to death and later buried her in the kitchen of his house, and kept on demanding more ransom.

The prime suspect, identified as Alhaji Kabiru Abdullahi, was said to have sympathized with the victim’s father and joined a group of people who trooped out in search of the innocent Ilham before the investigation pinned him down. Though, another suspect, Alhaji Yawale was apprehended by the NSCDC officers of Toro Division.

The incident has left the Tilden Fulani community in great fear, as parents were left in the dark.

A source, Hussaini Narabi, confided in our reporter that they took to their social media platforms to announce the mysterious disappearance of the little Ilham and post her pictures.

He said, “However, Ilham was not found, but the alleged abductor was arrested by the security personnel.”

My last moment with little Ilham – father

Recounting the traumatic experience, Abdullahi Yusuf, the father of the murdered innocent girl, said he had a joyous moment with his little kid before he finally made for the market where he was running his business. 

He said, “It happened one Friday when Ilham went out in the company of her little friends to school. In the early hours of that day, before I went to the market, Ilham came to me with excitement asking me to buy her biscuit. 

“Sadly enough, on that same day, I was called by her mother around 5 pm to inform me that Ilham was missing. I didn’t hesitate to run back home.

“We trooped in search of Ilham, unknown to us that we will never see her again. Despite an exhaustive search for her, we went back home hopelessly as the search was fruitless. 

“A few days later, the abductors contacted me demanding for N1million ransom. They resolved to accept N150,0000 after a serious bargain.

‘Suspect spying on me’

Yusuf said he began to suspect his neighbour, Alhaji Kabiru, when he sent his son to spy on him every morning. 

He said, “One day when the boy came in early in the morning, I threatened to break his legs if I ever saw him again in such hours. 

“Two days later, my neighbour packed to another area without informing me. Since then, I began suspecting him. So I went ahead to tell the police who came to investigate the matter. 

“On seeing them, the man, to the surprise of anyone, began to yell for help atop his voice. They arrested him. And after a thorough investigation, the man confessed to both kidnapping and killing my little Ilham. 

Yusuf described his neighbour as ruthless when he saw IIlham’s corpse as she was unburied. 

Speaking, the Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakili, confirmed the incident but said the case is yet to be brought to the command.

He said, “The case is with Bauchi State Civil Defence. I watched it on TV news. But they are yet to bring the case to the police.”

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Adamu J. Garba, a tech-entrepreneur and presidential aspirant on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, has withdrawn from the presidential race.

In a press release on Twitter on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, Garba cited the monetisation of the political space as the reason for his withdrawal from the presidential race. He argued that the nomination form is recklessly high and amounts to the commercialisation of the political space.

“Our generation should not set an example as part of the people that supported the financialisation/commercialisation of our political space, especially the public office, considering the prohibitive cost of the nomination forms. The highest in the world.” He stated.

Garba also stated that the APC would not conduct a primary election despite the humongous amount of money for the party’s expression of interest and nomination form.

“We further discovered that even if we went ahead to obtain the form, the party has foreclosed the plan for primary election because of the presence of the request for a Letter of Voluntary Withdrawal on page 18 of the nomination form.” He wrote

Garba claimed he had raised the sum of eighty-three million from online donors. As to what will happen to the donation consequent of his withdrawal, he said donors would be refunded upon request.

According to Garba, the withdrawal from the presidential race is not the end of the journey, and his supporters, whom he thanked graciously in the press release, should patiently wait for further directives.