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By Aminu Mohammed

In the last few weeks, I have keenly observed discussions about bestie, comrade and recently altercation over interfaith dialogue by our youths on various Social media platforms, particularly Facebook. The debates seem amusing, even though the one on interfaith has generated more altercation between some Islamic scholars and their followers, leading to personal abuse. I am not against people using social media to crack jokes and have fun, but it will show a lack of seriousness when people waste time on meaningless arguments.

I shudder in disbelief, wondering if something is wrong with our youth. I still recall that just a few weeks ago, a Kaduna-bound train was attacked, with many people killed while scores are still in captivity. Yet, we have seemingly forgotten about them. Instead, we dissipate energy on trivial issues. Have we done enough by putting pressure on the government to rescue our brothers and sisters in captivity?

What about using social media to pressure our governments in the region to evacuate Almajiris off the streets and end such child abuse. What about encouraging our brothers to exhibit tolerance towards other sects rather than altercations?

We have many issues at hand, and we can use social media to compel the government to do our bidding. Still, we are more comfortable arguing over trivial matters and abusing those who do not believe in our ideology. Our Islamic scholars seem not to see the urgent need through their sermons to pressure the government to tackle poverty and Almajiri syndrome in the North.

Social media is a gold mine that has provided many opportunities for personal development and skill acquisition for career advancement. But are we utilising the massive opportunities in social media to improve our lives? Are we learning new skills every day to change our narrative and move to the next level? These are questions that we should be asking ourselves.

Many people worldwide are utilising the vast opportunities made available by social media to enhance their lives, acquire new knowledge and boost their income. I still recall a post made by Dr Muhsin Ibrahim on his Facebook page, lamenting how many graduates cannot use basic email to send letters or apply for jobs. One can acquire this knowledge by spending a few hours on YouTube, but our youth will rather spend hours on Facebook attacking one another over frivolities. Frankly, obtaining mere certificates is not enough in the current era. Practical skill is what differentiates between graduate A and graduate B.

Living in Germany in the last few years has exposed me to the notion that a certificate is not enough but practical skills that can help one deliver on the job. I have seen people finish graduate programmes here and struggle to get a job until they learn practical digital skills online.

In the last few months, I have observed that some people got jobs after learning digital skills for six months or more such as web development, app development, digital marking, and programming, among others. This is despite the fact that they completed their degree at the university here – in Germany. The reality is that companies are only interested in knowing if you have the practical skills to deliver on the job and not a simple certificate.

It is pertinent to note that some forward-thinking youths in the Southern part of Nigeria work remotely for international companies due to the acquisition of digital skills. Thanks to their skill, they live in Nigeria and still earn money in foreign currency.

I have decided to devote much time this year to acquiring digital skills for personal development and suggest that to whoever is interested. I will not hesitate to reiterate that our youth in Arewa should embrace digital skills to escape poverty. With your mobile phone, you can learn practical skills free online. There are various mediums to learn digital skills for free such as Google garage, Udacity, Udemy, Coursera, among others. In fact, I am currently learning a digital skill on Coursera.

Please, my brothers and sisters, I believe we can change the narrative. Our region is bedevilled by mass poverty because of the attitude and mindset of our people. An untrained mind will create and recreate poverty irrespective of the available opportunities. So, stop wasting your data on frivolities. Instead, use it judiciously for something meaningful.

Of course, not everyone will be interested in digital skills, but there are other vocational skills you can still learn by watching YouTube videos. For example, people learn how to bake cakes, cook, and do many things by watching videos on YouTube.

Likewise, you can improve your Islamic knowledge by reading good articles and books on various Islamic websites online rather than using social media negatively. The time is now for us to do the right thing and find a way to improve our lives and that of our families. May Almighty Allah accept our supplication in this month of Ramadan.

Aminu Mohammed is at the school of Sustainability, Christian- Albrechts- Universität zu Kiel, Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He can be reached via gravity23n@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Thursday,  April 21, 2022, said the decision to halt the ongoing strike solely lies with the Academic Staff Union of Universities,  ASUU. 

Ngige said this on Channels TV while featuring as a guest in the televised program ‘Politics Today.’

According to Ngige, the time the strike will end is only for ASUU to decide and that it is expected of the Union to decide if they have the student’s best interest at heart. 

On when the strike, which has crippled academic activities in Nigeria’s public universities, will end, the Labour Minister said, “It depends on ASUU. The ball is in their court. They should go and meet the Benimi Briggs Committee and look at what the committee is doing and make further inputs so that work can be accelerated, ” he said

Ngige added that ASUU’s attitude towards the labour crisis is not helping the situation. 

“ASUU has to come down from their high horse. You cannot go and start intimidating people in NITDA and threatening the Minister of Digital Economy and Communication with revocation of his professorship that he is a fake professor. You go to ABU and say you are going to withdraw the certificate of the director of NITDA. That’s bullying. It is not allowed in Labour negotiations,” he stated.

By Uzair Adam Imam

 As part of the contribution toward global peace, Nigeria has deployed about 173 soldiers to keep peace in Guinea Bissau despite rising insecurity in the country. 

The Chief of Operations, Army Headquarters, Major General Oluwafemi Akinjobi, made the disclosure at the pre-deployment training graduation of the Nigerian contingent to the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea Bissau.

He stated that since independence Nigeria has contributed over 100,000 troops to over 40 countries on peacekeeping missions.

Akinjobi, who was reportedly represented by the Chief of Operations, Major General Zakari Abubakar, noted that Nigeria remains the beacon of peace and the gatekeeper of the ECOWAS sub-region.

He added that Nigeria has helped restore peace in many conflict areas around the world.

Akinjobi was quoted as saying: “The nation continues to strive to ensure security and stability in Africa through collective security by contributing to international peace and security, which is essential to Nigeria’s defence policy.”

To borrow from Aditya Chopra in his short review of Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), “It’s a mind-blowing film, a complete entertainer [which] deserves all the success it gets”. This description is apt for the latest Indian Tollywood epic titled RRR.

Directed by S.S Rajamouli, the film is a large scale period action drama that outshines even his record-breaking Baahubali. Its seemingly strange title, RRR, originates from the director’s initials (Rajamouli) and the two protagonists (RamCharan and RamaRao). The three-letter title also stands for Roudram Ranam Rudhiram (Rage war Blood) and Rise Roar Revolt in the film’s Telugu and Hindi versions, respectively.

Firmly placed in Rajamouli’s style of high fantasy, elaborate set design and spectacular CGI, the film is visually stunning and exhilarating. The story is a historical fiction set in the 1920s British India, with Alluri Sitarama Raju (Played by Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Played by N.T Rama Rao Jr.) as the leading characters. Two Indian revolutionary leaders who fought against the British colonial rule at the time inspired these characters.

Plot:

Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) is an anti-British rebel leader disguised as a loyal police officer of the Crown. Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), on another side, is a freedom fighter from the Gond tribe on a mission to attack the British colonial rulers and rescue a girl, Malli, who they enslave. Unfortunately, the British authorities get information about his mission, and their fearless cop, Raju, takes up the challenge to search and arrest him to get a promotion. However, Raju and Bheem become friends as they are unaware of each other’s true identities.

Later on, Bheem reveals his mission to Raju and goes on to attack the British. Raju chases him and succeeds in arresting him after a fierce face-off. Therefore, the British government promotes him to a senior officer, not knowing that he, too, is plotting against them. The story continues…

The film is indeed an exciting movie full of breathtaking adventures. It proves enthralling right from the beginning when it introduces Ram Charan in a crowd scene, where he bravely manhandles thousands of protesters to catch one of them. It then continues with the equally rousing NTR’s introduction scene showing his encounter with wild beasts. It keeps the magic with another thrilling sequence in which the two heroes team up to save a boy from a ghastly train accident. All these, even before the climax! Indeed, director S.S Rajamouli has shown his unrivalled directorial talent in this movie.

The efficient, exciting performance of the two musclebound leading actors (Ram Charan and Rama Rao) makes this film a huge success. They effortlessly excel in the skillfully choreographed action sequences throughout the action-packed movie.

Without mincing words, RRR is a fascinating, thoroughly entertaining movie that keeps the viewer hooked throughout. You will immensely enjoy it. Don’t miss out! Rating 4/5.

Reviewed by:

Habibu Maaruf Abdu

(Kano, Nigeria)

habibumaaruf11@gmail.com

By Ismaila Academician

One could succumb to knowing why Europeans and Americans are so obsessed with photo-keeping culture. Every fragment of their life, whether small or insignificant, is captured in a photo collection that will be made available on display or neatly hidden in a safe for future use.

Although that is not part of my culture, I can reason that they keep a photo collection, contrary to what we think. The Europeans do that to keep memory down history lanes – pedigree, simply because, at times, that is one heck of a thing one can grow up to know about their family. For example, parents die leaving behind their children at much younger ages; the lost ones, the adopted ones, and those who find themselves in the orphanage may get to know and connect with their past from photos made available to them.

That’s their pop culture right before the present day when digital tools made photos even easy to capture and share with FAF, even on the go. But, unlike photo cards, digital images travel far away and faster than we can ever imagine. It also keeps memories longer than photo cards, free from any physical damage, such as loss, overuse, fire and water consumption, etc.

Despite the importance of keeping photos, I feel that we overdo it. Nowadays, we take unnecessary images that we could not even keep, and recently, it’s becoming like an addiction. We just found ourselves taking photos that are not only insignificant but smartly improper that sometimes pose threats to our peace of mind.

On many occasions, photos land us in big troubles: many people lost their jobs, some were convicted and tried; it broke marriages, shattered dreams, and made rich people poor. However, sometimes the photos we take belie our sense of humanity. For example, sharing pictures of victims of a ghastly accident is more horrible than sharing nudes.

Although photos motivate and make things extremely simple, sometimes they appear to be fallacious and discouraging, and when that happens, it does more harm than the purpose it was captured for. Thus I advocate for photos for a good cause.

Ismaila Academician wrote from Kano via ismailaacademician@gmail.com.

By Aminu Adamu Naganye

In this second part of the special report, The Daily Reality reporter narrated how other business activities continue to suffer due to the strike in Nigeria’s public ivory towers. And it is now getting worse as other unions in the universities, such as SSANU, NASU, and NAAT, have since declared strikes following the government’s failure to honour agreements with the workers’ unions.

Okada, tri-cyclists and yellow bus

Commercial motorcycles, tricycles popularly known as Adai-daita and commercial shuttle buses, alias yellow buses (or taxis), are the major means of transportation in and around the universities for students’ daily movements.

With the suspension of academic activities in the universities, the commercial transporters discontinued their operations, rendering hundreds of them without their normal means of earning a living.

Although Okada/Acaɓa (commercial motorcycle ride) riders are still doing skeletal work with very few passengers, as they explained in their interaction with this reporter, tri-cycles and yellow buses have since moved elsewhere in search of respite.

Young Abdurrahman Usman, whose means of eking out a living is okada/acaɓa in BUK. He used to convey students to, in and outside of the university, cater for his family’s needs. He now faces challenges as a result of the strike. He said:

“It is quite saddening. The strike stifles our means of livelihood. There are no passengers now to carry. Students have vacated the campus, and the remaining ones have been served notice to leave since. We are pleading with the government to resolve the problem. Acaɓa riders, students and other business people suffer. Government should meet up with ASUU’s demands for activities to resume on campus.”

“It was unnerving when I first heard there will be a strike”, recalling when his friend told him about the strike as he had bitter experience in the past, adding that “before the strike, I used to make N1500 – N2000 a day but now hardly I make 200 -300 a day. I am in a very tense situation,” Usman concluded.

“Honestly, we can only say Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun! Because this isn’t a new thing to us. Whenever there is rumour of embarking on a strike, we will be praying that the issue gets resolved before the strike commences. But if the strike is declared… it is really usually terrible for us”, said Ado Umar, who serves as the Secretary of the BUK Riders (Acaɓa) Association.

Ado said with the current economic realities of Nigeria, “Federal Government and ASUU, for God’s sake and the plight of the hungry people around and students, should resolve their differences”, adding that “I don’t think any of them can get what he or she desires completely…they should have sympathy for us… businesses in Kano, not just BUK, suffer the consequences of the strike.”

Photographers, barbers decry

Abdulmuiz Ibrahim, with his largest photo studio at BUK, said he had already lost most of his customers, primarily students, due to the industrial disharmony between the government and teachers.

While students vacated the environment, he noted that he had been surviving from a few people who come from outside the university and wedding bookings from outside campus, “we’ve been surviving from one or few people who are coming from outside. And as you know, weddings happen, we get wedding bookings from outside campus. That is what we’ve been using to maintain …the strike hasn’t been fair at all.”

Resilient photographer, Abdulmuiz, who described the strike as less devastating ditto Corona lockdown, said he is determined to survive the strike as he “brushed through previous strikes and Corona lockdown”, adding that “That is part of what I did then because there weren’t outdoor events. There was no event to cover, and school wasn’t in session. So you live on savings from savings to taking money from family and friends.”

He acknowledged that ASUU is fighting a worthy cause but advised them to engage in alternative means of resolving the problem, saying, “The victims are the students, the business owners, the workers, neighbouring communities that sell to students, the markets …this affects everybody.”

He further advised the Federal Government to resolve the problem amicably to avoid forcing youths to be on the streets. “We have seen what happened during the EndSARS protest. If schools weren’t closed, EndSARS wouldn’t have been that successful. If students were in school doing one thing or the other, EndSARS wouldn’t have had that solidarity. I hope they learn any lesson”, he cautioned.

“The Federal Government often talk about self-reliance and entrepreneurship, but they are now destroying our self-reliant businesses …there are over 200 business people in BUK New Site alone, and each has at least ten people under him. So thousands of people are in trouble with this strike. Government should help those who create jobs, not to destroy them” emotionally laden Abdulkadir Suleiman chronicled the chain of employment their businesses provide to people, including students on the campus.

Approaching his photography shop, Abdulkadir was already parking some items, ready to move out of the BUK to find some work to cater for the needs of his wife and six children.

Due to his business’ nature, he shuttles between town and campus, arguing, “With the current economic situation in the country, even the outside is very difficult. Campus remains the best but strike…” stressing further that “we are now thinking of alternative if not one day we will turn to beggars!”

He reminded the Federal Government that people brought them to power, and God will hold them accountable. “They should resolve this conundrum. God give them trust, and He will question them on it.”

A barber, Aliyu Badamasi, noted that the least he could work on before the strike were 15 – 20 people daily, while currently, the average is 2.

Aliyu noted, “It is very, very horrible, that is what I would say… Life hasn’t been easy. If the school is on break, it isn’t funny, not to talk of a strike. It is not easy.”

With his barber’s shop as the only means of making ends meet, Aliyu urged the Government and ASUU to remember that “So many people rely on students’ presence to survive”, appealing to the government “to put education first. They should make it a priority.”

Some businesses are moving off Campus

Abdurrahman Shafiu, who doubles as a student and a POS operator, concluded his plan to move to the town pending the resumption of academic activities at the university.

Abdurrahman said his only option now is to move out of the university to survive the strike, “The strike is really affecting my study and my business concurrently. When students were around, I realised like 6k a day, but now I hardly make 1k. So I’m just coping by the grace of God. I’m moving out of the campus because I’m a family man. I need to feed my family!”

For Khamisu Alhassan Abubakar, the only phone repairer currently available in BUK, said only one-fifth of his customers patronise him presently as most of them have travelled.

With nonteaching staff also embarking on strike, as their unions recently announced, he noted that it is no longer possible to remain on campus.

NASU, SSANU embark on strike

Meanwhile, as ASUU’s strike entered its third month and with no visibly committed resolution efforts from the Federal Government, other unions of nonteaching staff in universities have mobilised their members to embark on an extended two-week warning strike after they exhausted earlier two weeks of warning.

Joint Action Committee of Non-academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) conveyed the message of the strike to their branches in a letter/memo signed by the SSANU President and NASU Secretary-General.

The letter, in part, reads: “In view of the nonchalant attitude of the Government to our demands, this is to direct our members in all Universities and Inter-University Centres throughout the country to commence a two-week warning strike by midnight of Sunday, 27^th March, 2022 in the first instance as earlier conveyed in the Federal Government in our letter.”

The unions said the strike would be comprehensive with no concession.

With this latest strike pronouncement, the public universities in Nigeria will be completely grounded as teaching and administrative activities, as well as any other activities by the members of the trio of ASUU, NASU and SSANU, will be brought to a complete halt.

Incessant strikes may hamper the 2030 agenda

As one of the signatories that ratified and adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nigeria is committed to implementing the goals, especially in the current decade of action.

However, with incessant strikes in universities, attainment of the global set targets may elude Nigeria. This is in view of the fact that abrupt termination or suspension of academic activities in institutions is likely to have a direct and indirect negative impact on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has demanded the firing of the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Sulaiman, after the financial institution made a debatable Easter flyer.

The Christian body accused the bank of likening the Resurrection of Jesus to Agege bread, in response to which the CEO apologised.

A statement released by the CAN has described the comparison as “ungodly, wicked, insensitive and deliberately provocative.”

“The attention of the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria has been drawn to an ungodly, wicked, insensitive and deliberately provocative advertisement of Sterling Bank, comparing the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ to ‘Agege bread’ amidst the Easter celebration.

“In case the management of Sterling Bank is not aware, the Resurrection of Jesus witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the Resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, then He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not worthy of our faith and worship.

“Only He who created life can resurrect it after death; only He can reverse the mystery that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting and gain the victory over the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death,” the statement read partly.

By Ahmad Abdullahi

About eight years ago, the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to be in a huge dilemma over the selection of a Presidential Running Mate who will fly the flag of the party alongside its candidate General Muhammadu Buhari who just won the party’s primary election. APC’s dilemma was justifiable as they were trying to bring on someone credible that will balance the ticket and make it acceptable enough to stand a strong chance against the mighty PDP.

After so much intrigue within some intense and eventful 48 hours, Professor Yemi Osinbajo got the Vice-presidential ticket to the surprise of many Nigerians. Many expressed fears about whether he carries the political capital strong enough to help the ticket deliver. Little did many know of the Professors’ charming simplicity and intelligent technicality alongside his mass appeal that saw the ticket going all the way. The rest is now history.

Like in 2015, today, we are again witnessing a period when Presidential candidates are being profiled based on their ethnic affiliations instead of their pedigrees. We are having candidates getting attacked desperately on sentiments and arguments that bring nothing to the table except confusion and division. Being a front-runner for Nigeria’s number one job, the Vice President is one of the most prominent victims of these ethnoreligious motivated attacks

As expected, the build-up to Osinbajo’s presidential declaration has been greeted by so many criticisms, many of whom are targeted towards tarnishing his image and rubbishing his candidacy through lies, character assassination and carefully tailored misinformation. Osinbajo’s attackers are hell-bent on bringing down his candidacy even before it gets started. This goes to tell how significant he is in the political equation of 2023 despite many trying hard to dismiss his impacts over the last seven years.

The Vice President has been accused of being a religious and ethnic bigot. Some have gone as far back as his pre-political life to try to convince people of what many facts have proven him not to be. If we are to be fair to Osinbajo, the man is solely building his presidential campaign on the strength of his adventures of the last seven years in which opportunity has entrusted him with a national assignment that requires him to be fair to all Nigerians. As such you cannot use any other criteria to judge him.

In his first five years in office, he has supervised and presided over the initiation and implementation of the largest Social Investment Programme in the history of Contemporary Africa. A program that has been transparent, just and detribalized. Nobody can prove that he has used his position to skew the benefits of the social investment programme towards favouring any religion or region. It is one of the rarest programmes that tricked down to the doorsteps of the poor and downtrodden across all states of the federation.

In mid-2017, Nigeria almost plunged into a national ethno-religious crisis when the Biafran agitators were at the peak of their renewed call for separation. The Federal Government under the wisdom and initiative of the then Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo conducted a series of consultative meetings with various groups of leaders and people of societal influence across the country to make sure that the situation is tamed and controlled. Osinbajo tirelessly interacted separately with leaders of thought from the North and the South East, traditional and religious leaders from the same regions as well as all 36 state governors. This was no doubt a big positive step that even the opposition Peoples Democratic Party commended.

In their first tenure, Osinbajo’s same Christian constituency which some believe he is favouring accused him of working with President Buhari to Islamize Nigeria. The outcries became so worrisome that Osinbajo made a public clarification. He said that one day, he woke up around 6:00 am in the morning and saw a text message on his phone sent by a renowned Christian leader who said to him that one day he will account for his actions of allowing Muslims to dominate and take over the government of Nigeria. The Vice President has passed through all this only now to be labelled a Christian bigot.

He further said that he wondered what informed that sort of message while statistics show that there are two more Christians than Muslims in Buhari’s cabinet as of then. He cited an example of a time when a Northern Senator visited President Buhari in his presence and complained bitterly about the marginalization of his people. He however left with the embarrassing information that North West, his zone was leading in the number of heads of government parastatals with 47, followed by South West, South-South, South East, North East and then North Central. Why didn’t this senator do his homework before complaining? Misinformation.

I remember in one of our interactions with him in the last two years, he said if Nigeria disintegrates into smaller countries that can be run over at will by powerful ones, every region will be disadvantaged in different proportions. He, therefore, said our strengths lie in our diversities, number and size. He gave the example of Lagos State’s economy being six times bigger than that of Rwanda despite all the so-called giant strides recorded by Paul Kagame over the years. He emphasized that the country needs not to disintegrate into smaller parts for people to have the opportunity of holding public office and if it is his face or that of President Buhari you dislike that you want secession, then know that, their days in office are numbered but Nigeria can live forever.

As Acting President, he made one of the most diplomatic and yet authoritative efforts to save Nigeria from untimely disintegration in 2017. He brought together all political, traditional and professional stakeholders in Aso Rock to further boost their confidence in the Nigerian Project. Therefore, no one can question his resolve for national unity and integration.

I think the Vice President can be accused of anything but not religious, regional or ethnic bigotry. If anything, he is perhaps the most qualified Nigerian among those seeking the Presidency. He is the first and only Professor to become President or Vice President in Nigeria and has so far adequately demonstrated why the most educated among us need to be allowed to serve at the highest level. He is the most adequately educated and professionally inclined Presidential hopeful among the very top living Nigerians today.

The Vice President has delivered within the limit of authority, opportunity and responsibility at his disposal. He has spent seven solid years serving Nigerians and the President with uncommon patience, dedication and humility. He has never been disappointed in any task assigned to him. Unlike many Presidential hopefuls who are planning to run from regional, religious, political and selfish motivations, the VP plans to become a true Nigerian candidate and a president for all Nigerians.

That he has been to almost every Local Government in Nigeria is not and cannot be an exaggeration. His long-life push for justice reform in Nigeria has taken him to so many nooks and crannies in the country, The trader and market Moni social investment programmes have seen him monitor and visit rural and remote areas that even ward councillors may not fancy going. The same people who accused him of show-off and pretence when he was making such visits are now the ones denying he ever embarked on such visits.

That he has declared to continue from where the President Buhari has stopped is a diplomatic way of saying that he is the man who understands all the successes of this administration and is in a better position to build on them, and also the man who understands all its shortcomings and is in a better position to make up for them. However, some are hell-bent on twisting the narrative.

Those accusing him of political betrayal are tactically telling Nigerians that the Presidency is the birthright of some mighty individuals and it is, therefore, a crime for ordinary people like Osinbajo to make an attempt on it. What some people are having very difficulty swallowing is why will an ordinary teacher and lawyer who is not even a former governor or ex-minister and has become Vice president just become President? Who is he? But they forget, that power belongs to God.

The 2023 presidential election would have been won and lost by this time next year. It may be Osinbajo or anyone else. However, it is clear even to his worst enemies that the Vice President has all the required credentials to make a good President. Deploying arsenals of calumny campaigns to stop him will not work, only divine destiny can do that.

The writer is the Team Lead of the Osinbajo-Face of Hope Project. He can be contacted via info@ofaceofhope.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Community members of Dutsen Reme, Funtuwa in Katsina State were thrown into mourning as bandits launched a fresh attack leading to the death of two citizens, Buhari Ahmadu and 11-year-old Usman, last night.

A source who exclusively spoke to the Daily Reality disclosed that the bandits roamed the community last night where they arbitrarily gunned down many people.

He said Ahmadu, a member of the Bakori local government council staff, passed on instantly as he was shot in the head, while Usman also died in the wee small hours of today.

The bandits, about 100, were said to have trooped to Dutsen Reme Tuesday around 10:30 pm, where they operated for almost 2 hours without any security intervention.

Our reporter gathered that this was the third time in ten days and during this holy month of Ramadan that these heartless bandits attacked this community, the development that strangled peace in the area.

The residents who spoke to the Daily Reality confirmed the incident wailing on the government to come to their rescue and end the incessant bloodshed in the community.

A resident, Lawal Hamisu, confided in our reporter that insecurity had strangled the peace in their community these days.

He said, “This is just not the first time. The bandits attacked this community three times in ten days. In the first place, they abducted a lactating mother. Until now, no one knows her whereabouts.

“On their second attack, they abducted two women and robbed people of their money, phones and whatnot. And sadly enough, the bandits on a fresh attack last night gunned down two innocent people in our community,” Lawan said.

Another resident, Mujahid Aliyu Maigora, recounted the harrowing tale of the incident saying, “it happened last night around 10:00 pm when I was coming back home from a cinema alongside my cousin. It surprised all of us to have heard gunshots in the air. We could not help but run away to save our dear cheap lives.

“The bandits walked, passed my house and made for one stall. So I think their intention might be to take away the cows there,” he said.

A resident, Amb Funtuwa, lamented that this is the time the government should mitigate banditry in Nigeria. He said, “government should just warrant order so that our security forces will confront these bandits.”

The residents pleaded with the government to do whatever possible to put banditry to an end in Nigeria, let alone the Dutsen Reme community.

All attempts to reach the Katsina State Police Spokesperson for comments proved abortive.

By Uzair Adam Imam

A newly-elected councillor in Katsina State was gunned down as bandits rampaged through Gozaki town of Kafur local government area of the state.

The late councillor, Alhaji Nasiru Magaji, was killed in his residence in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Multiple sources confirmed the incident, saying the bandits had also abducted the two wives of the slain councillor.

A resident, Abdullahi Gozaki, said the bandits, who were about ten stormed the community, killed Magaji and abducted his wives.

However, the wives have reportedly regained freedom without any ransom.

“They attacked in the early hours of today (Wednesday) around 12:30 am, killed the councillor and abducted his two wives but later sent them back home,” he said.