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By Muhammad Sabiu

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Federal Government has uncovered the sponsors of the self-acclaimed activist, Sunday Igboho, some of whom are known to have connections with terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram.

The disclosure was made at a press conference held in Abuja on Friday, October 23, 2021, by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

It has been reported that the government has unravelled how Igboho got money from 43 bank accounts, transferred to him by his sponsors.

According to Malami, a committee was set up to carry on an investigation on this self-acclaimed activist.

The 24-member committee comprised of members of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Information, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Agency.

Malami was quoted saying: “The Federal Government has received the report on financers of Adeniyi Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho. The report revealed that Sunday Igboho is a director and signatory to Adesun International Concept Limited registered on 23rd April 2010.”

“Adesun International Concept Limited also has Oladele Oyetunji and Aderopo Adeyemo as Directors. Sunday Igboho is linked to 43 bank accounts in 9 banks.

“The major financier of the fugitive and separatists was found to be a Federal Law Maker in the National Assembly. A total sum of ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN MILLION, ONE AND FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND NAIRA ONLY (N127, 145,000.00) was received by Igboho from his financiers between 22nd October, 2013 and 28th September, 2020 through Adesun International Concept Ltd accounts.

“A total sum of TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED NAIRA ONLY (N273,198,200.00) transaction outflows was recorded from Sunday Igboho’s account between 15th March, 2013 and 11 the March, 2021.

“Investigation reveals that Adesun International Concept Ltd (belonging to Igboho) transferred the sum of twelve million seven hundred and fifty thousand naira (N12, 750,000) to Abbal Bako & Sons.

“It might be recalled that Abbal Bako & Sons and its promoter Abdullahi Umar Usman are suspects in the on-going Joint Terrorist Financing Investigation. Abdullahi Umar Usman is by way of financial transaction connected to SURAJO ABUBAKAR MUHAMMAD (who was sentenced to life imprisonment in UAE on charges of financing terrorism [Boko Haram]).

“This report shows the nexus between separatists’ agitation, terrorism financing and disruptions of peace in the country,” Said Malami.

By Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan

Audu Bako, a Police Commissioner, the first military governor of the old Kano State from April 1967 to July 1975, was a wonderful human who executed superhuman projects that were, to this day, unsurpassed. When he came, Kano was the most educationally deprived among the 12 states created in 1967. Nevertheless, he made it compete with the rest before he left.

Together with his dutifully well-meaning permanent secretaries and commissioners, Audu Bako charted a good Kano development plan that was followed by successive governments up to the year 2000. Only a few changes were effected in the last 20 years. However, he was regarded as the most insightful governor of Kano to date.

Audu Bako gave Kano life when he came despite having met only 743 staff in the entire state, most of them junior officers; no single Kano indigene that could operate a bulldozer; only 241 primary schools, 16 post-primary schools and 139 teachers; no tertiary institutions in the whole state except Bayero University College and Advanced Teachers College, ATC Kano.

With the take-off grant of N10 Million on 1st April 1968, Audu Bako created six ministries, (1) Agriculture, (2) Forestry and Community Development, (3) Justice, (4) Education, (5) Finance, Industry and Commerce, and (6) Works and Surveys, as well as three other commissioners under the governor’s office who took charge of Home Affairs, Local Government and Information Division.

To bring the government closer to people, Audu Bako established 8 administrative headquarters: (1) Kano North Central -Ɗambatta which includes Ɓaɓura, Garki, Ringim, Gabasawa, Gezawa and Minjibir; (2) Kazaure, Comprising Roni, Yankwashi and Amaryawa; (3) Gumel which includes Sule Tankarkar, Maigatari, Ɗanzomo and Gagarawa.

The fourth (4th) was Haɗejia comprising Birniwa, Malam Madori, Guri, Kirikasamma, Auyo, Bulangu and Kafin Hausa. (5) Kano West with headquarter at Gwarzo includes Dawakin Tofa, Bichi and Ƙaraye. (6) Kano South-East with headquarter at Birnin Kudu has Gaya, Jahun, Dutse, Sumaila and Gwaram. Then (7) Kano South-West -Rano, Dawakin Kudu, Kura, Ƙiru, and Tudun Wada. Lastly, (8) Kano Metropolitan that comprises Ungoggo, Kumbotso, Kano and Waje.

This way, the far-sighted governor touched the lives of everyone in the state. Among his accomplishments, Audu Bako expanded the government house, built administrative area offices, the famous Gidan Murtala, the Audu Bako secretariat and the State Fire Service. He also built the Bagauda Housing Estate at Dakatsalle, Bagauda Lake Hotel, 13 junior Staff quarters, the 500 Housing Units at Tiga workers village, the bedroom houses at Suleiman Crescent and WRECA Staff quarters at Challawa and Gari Dams.

He also built 130 housing units at the pilgrims camp and junior staff quarters at Haɗejia and Gumel. Similarly, he built Teachers’ Housing Estate at Gwammaja as well as Waziri Giɗaɗo Flats at Lagos. As for roads, he laid tarred roads at Gwagwarwa, Tudun Wada, Kano City, Gyaɗi-gyaɗi, Tarauni, Nassarawa, Sabon Gari and other places.

He dualized Murtala Muhammad Way, from Ahmadu Bello way to Triumph Junction; BUK Road, from Ƙofar Nassarawa BUK; Aminu Kano way; Triumph Roundabout -Ƙofar Mazugal, Ƙofar Ruwa, Katsina Road Junction; Ibrahim Taiwo to Ƙofar Mata, Ƙofar Ƙwaru, Ƙofar Kudu, Kasuwar Rimi to Ƙofar Nassarawa. Still, he dualized State Road from Silver Jubilee Roundabout to Audu Bako way. Others are Lagos Street, Airport Bridge, Mandawari to Ƙofar Kabuga and Suleiman Crescent.

These were part of his achievements in infrastructure. The next write up will look at his success in Kano rural areas, Agriculture, education and health sectors. Indeed there were leaders who, because of their honesty, integrity, political will and commitment, achieved, in about 8 years, what present leaders put together can not achieve in 30 years.

May we learn from this past!

Mal. Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan is a Lecturer at Alƙalam University, Katsina and writes from Kano State.

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

I begin, after praising Allah and sending blessings to the beloved Prophet peace be upon him, with three stories from Nigeria. They are all real. The first is of a rich man who died and was survived by a wife and her two children. His estate included mansions in choice areas, high worth investments, company shares, farmlands, etc. This “beloved” wife was advised to make a waqf (perpetual charity) of just a mosque as a source of everlasting reward for the late husband from the hard-earned wealth he spent his life gathering. She was reminded that less than one per cent of his wealth could do it.  The wife answered in one word: “Impossible”! Rather, she offered to cook rice and beans every Friday and give to the begging Almajiris around as sadaqah. To be fair to her, she did so for some months until she met a new darling husband with whom she now enjoys her inherited, halal fortune! End of story!

The second story is that of a religious and highly influential personality who died and left behind several sons and daughters, all of whom had already grown wealthy and influential. The deceased’s bosom friend, who was the custodian of many of his possessions, approached the heirs. He pinpointed a plot of land in a choice area in one of the largest Nigerian cities and offered that if they would designate it as a perpetual charity, he would build an ultramodern Islamic centre there as a waqf for their late father. This, he said, was to create a ceaseless flow of rewards to their late father. Alas! To his face, they simply said no! And the rest is history.

The third is the story of a woman philanthropist who was the wife of an influential person. She was known for her dedication to building mosques, schools, among other charitable interventions. After her demise, the husband learned of several uncompleted mosques and schools that were part of her charitable initiatives. He called her children to a conference and suggested that from her inheritable wealth, they should dedicate what would be enough to complete such ongoing projects. And what a small portion of her wealth was that! They unanimously rejected his offer, departing in a “just give us our money” mood. It was the father who used his resources to finance the completion of the projects. I gather that he was lucky to have learned some lessons here and begin to emulate his late philanthropist wife. He actually increased his budget for Islamic philanthropy as he was already known for charity also. May Allah accept it for him, and for her.

I am sure by now you, my dear reader, have started to recollect several similar stories you have heard on several occasions or which might have even happened close to you. I also have many to share. But these ones suffice as examples. At least for now. What lesson, then, have you learned from this?

Now, remember the Prophetic hadith in which he explains that the moment a person dies, his reward fetching deeds terminate except three; waqf or perpetual charity being the first of them. The other two reward sources are the prayer of a pious child and beneficial knowledge. Interestingly, in the hadith is an equitable distribution of reward sources of some sort. The wealthy folks no doubt have access to the “lion share” in terms of perpetual charity. Beneficial knowledge is the share of the scholars essentially. For the non-rich, non-scholar believer, giving a good upbringing to his/her children guarantees them prayers from pious children and a continuous flow of reward.

Many owners of surplus resources miss the opportunity of making a waqf due to procrastination and other flimsy considerations. By doing so, they deny themselves the most important investment of their lifetime. How can Allah give you the opportunity of making an investment that may pass a millennium fetching you rewards only for you to refuse to do so? Daniel Crecelius explains to us that several waqfs, created for the provision of various social, religious, educational, economic and welfare services free of charge to the public, have survived for five centuries, and some for over a millennium. Now! Imagine yourself, in your grave, receiving “alerts” of rewards daily while charting with the Angels! Can you imagine the amount of reward you would earn by continuously creating benefits, solving problems, drawing happiness to thousands or millions of needy and poor lives for decades, centuries or even a millennium after your departure from this deceptive world? Consider the following stories.

You already know the third caliph of the Prophet, Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him). After the migration to Medina, access to water became a great challenge for the believer. They had to buy from a Jew who owned a well called Ruma. The Jew was so wicked, charging exorbitant prices, and making life difficult for the believers. The solution was for the Muslim community to own it. The Prophet peace be upon him announced a guaranteed direct entry certificate to Jannah for whoever purchased it. Uthman did. He surrendered it as a waqf. People now could get water at zero cost. This charity became blessed and continued to expand. During the Umayyad period, it began to grow date palm trees in its surroundings. Many grew. The Ottoman Empire paid particular attention to developing the trees generating income from them. The returns would then be shared into two; a portion distributed as charity and the other saved. Later, the Saudi Arabian authorities opened a bank account in the name of Uthman Bin Affan. They save half of the returns and distribute half in charity. As the savings grew, a hotel was built in Medina, still in the name of Caliph Uthman. Half of the returns is reinvested while the other half, amounting to about 500 million Riyals annually (equivalent to about USD14 million) is distributed in charity. 1400 years of ceaseless reward, thanks to waqf!

Then the story of the great philanthropist, lady Zubaiyda, daughter of Ja’far al-Mansūr, granddaughter of the second Abbasid Caliph Abū Ja’far al-Mansūr; wife of the 5^th Abbasid Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd and mother to the 6^th Abbasid Caliph, al-Amīn. Although she died in 216 AH (832 CE) in Baghdad, her source of reward is still yet to! In 186 AH (802 CE), she visited the Holy land as a pilgrim. She then noticed the serious difficulty people experienced in Mecca vis-à-vis accessing water. There were no reliable wells and springs from where to fetch portable water. The people rather relied on rainfall or poor wells that were irregular in providing water. She then ordered her treasurer to look for “world-class” engineers and professionals from different cities to embark on the work of constructing a befitting well. Having observed how difficult the project would be due to the nature of the soil which was rocky and hard, she declared her readiness to pay a dinar for every single digging, until they reached water level. Soon, highly professional engineers and experts flooded Mecca and started work, surveying between hard rocks until they were able to sink the well. In the end, they parted with the dinars and she parted with the never-ceasing reward! She dedicated the well as a waqf for the residents and visitors of Mecca. Water became abundantly available. Water scarcity became history.

But not only this. Zubayda also did a waqf for the waqf; waqf of rentable houses and landed properties for the maintenance of the water wells.  The ‘Ayn Zubaydah has been described as the largest waqf known in history in terms of the cost of its capital, the magnificence of its design, as well as its contributions to welfare in a sustainable manner. Importantly, the Well of Zubaydah, as it came to be known, has remained functional and productive to date. About 1200 years? It is being utilized by the people of the city as well as visiting pilgrims to the Holy land.

Dear reader! Make a waqf. Look around you. Investigate; what is the greatest problem of the poor around you? Food? Water? Lack of a clinic? Lack of a school for their children? Lack of capital for the poor widows who need money-generating ventures? Make a waqf to provide a sustainable solution for them. Build a plaza, a shopping complex, a rentable house, a garden or buy shares and dedicate as waqf for funding such charitable courses. Do not wait for your wife to make sadaqah of rice and beans for you on Fridays! If you want to enjoy your wealth perpetually, why not just make a waqf NOW?

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido is the Chairman, Zakah & Waqf Foundation, Gombe, Nigeria. He can be contacted via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earmarked N500 million grant to the universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.

CBN said that the effort is to help the teeming youths in tertiary institutions to promote entrepreneurship and also reduce unemployment.

In the report titled: “Guidelines for the implementation of tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme”, CBN made this known on Wednesday

“Five top Nigerian polytechnics and universities with the best entrepreneurial pitches/ideas shall be awarded as follows: first place – N150m; second place – N120m; third place – N100m; fourth place – N80m; and fifth place – N50m,” it said.

According to the guideline, the aim of the scheme is to promote access to finance by undergraduates and graduates of universities and polytechnics in Nigeria.

Students will be help with innovative Entrepreneurial and technological ideas to enable them build their future.

The guidline added that Individuals will be entitled to a loan limit of N5.0 million to be paid within the maximum period of 5 years at an interest rate of 5 percent for each year.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Following the lingering request by Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education (SRCE) management, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has revealed that the institution would be upgraded to the university status with the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Ganduje stated this when the management team of the institution led by Prof. Yahaya Isa Bunkure, the Provost of the College, paid him a courtesy visit.

In a release issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abba Anwar, Ganduje said: “I am happy that the College is now a degree awarding institution. Therefore, the call for the upgrading of this College to university, is without much financial commitment.

“Because most of the facilities needed are already there. Even lecturers we need to employ Professors.

“We can see how we can pursue this, so that we can actualize it. The only thing is, it will not continue awarding Certificate of Education. But we can still move all NCE Courses to other institutions. Just as some of our institutions have already started awarding NCEs,” Ganduje said.

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I, Dr Baffa Abdullahi Bichi, on behalf of my family, One-2-Tell-10 Compassion and the entire good people of Kano State, rejoice with His Excellency Sen. Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso on his 65th birthday.

We thank Almighty for sparing our lives to witness another propitious anniversary of our leader, Kwankwaso.

The achievements of your first and, especially, your second tenures as Kano State Governor, in both human and capital development, are unprecedented. The revival of education, leadership by example and touching the lives of millions of people, among many things, will always make me proud to associate myself with you.

As I join millions of Nigerians in felicitating with you on this joyous occasion of your 65th birthday anniversary, I wish you Allah’s guidance, good health, prosperity and many happy returns.

Happy birthday, sir!

By Abdurraman Muhammad

As many Muslims around the world are celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be unto him), the former Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr Abdullahi Baffa Bichi has distributed food items to over 500 households as a philanthropic gesture to commemorate the 1443 Maulud Celebration.

Speaking during the distribution exercise, that took place in his residence at Bayero University Kano, Old Campus, Dr Bichi said the essence was to put smile on the faces of people by cushioning the effect of harsh economic situation in the country.

He noted that many people are finding it difficult to feed their families and therefore, his action was to make them happy on this festive period.

The donated items included a bundle of cloth, bag of rice, millet and maize each and a portion of meet.

“As we are today celebrating the birth of our Noble Prophet SAW, we feel obliged to put smiles on the faces of our brothers who could not afford a good food for their families”.

Many people who benefitted from the gesture expressed their appreciations by describing him as the rising politician who has the interest of a common man at heart.

After collecting his items, Malam Abubakar Idris said, “the items came handy as he had no single grain in his house with a family of five.

Another woman busted into tears of joy, lamenting that it has been over a week since last they cooked a solid food in the house. They just rely on other difficult means.

“We were surviving on crunches for the last few weeks, as we have nothing in the house, my husband died last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, he left me with five children and no one to feed us. The selling of akra I was doing did not last long due to lack of capital. In addition to the food items, he equally supported us with a  by to take-off money to start a business. We really appreciate him and may Allah continue to guide him. Alhamdulillah.”

A director in the One 2 Tell 10 campaign organisation of Baffa Bichi, Honourable Ghali while explaining the concept of human empowerment, noted that the desire was to bail out the needy especially widows, orphans and other needy persons in the society.

Honourable Ghali disclosed that the only way out of the economic crunch is for all the wealthy and public sprites individuals to come up with program that would have a positive pact on the lives of the less privilege by providing them with capital money so as to be independent and self reliant.

“Our desire is to empower people to be self-reliant so that they can as well be productive to the society. No nation can grow and prosper if the teeming populace are in abject poverty and economic dependency. Ours is to teach a person how to fish so that he can be productive in the society,” he declared.