National

By Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar

The term ‘University’ has its roots from the Latin word ‘universitas’, which translates to ‘the whole’ or ‘the totality’. This is said to have originated from medieval Europe where groups of scholars came together to form communities dedicated to education and research.
In essence, universities of good standing, regardless of ownership (public or private) are specialized spaces for universal education that have established traditions of research and innovations aimed at tackling societal issues. Also, these are the fundamental reasons why they are referred to as such.

Newgate University, Minna (NUM) can be counted as one of the best academic institutions that aim to promote qualitative education. This can be justified precisely through the NUM’s rigorous curriculum, exceptional faculty members who are experts in their respective fields with committed culture of inquiry that pushes the boundaries of knowledge.

NUM – the Newgate University, Minna, was licensed by the National Universities’ Commission (NUC) in April, 2022 as the first private university in Minna, the Niger State capital, with a reputation of an orientation that is focused around student-centered learning to meet the needs and interests of students within reasonable grounds.
At the heart of the university’s tradition is a unique combination of research exploration and academic excellence, expressed through its motto ‘explore to excel’. Also, Newgate University, Minna entices students to embark on a splendid journey of self-discovery by presenting them with a diverse range of academic programs that are tailored to their individual passions and interests.

However, the university’s philosophy of exploration extends beyond academics to encompass a comprehensive range of extracurricular activities, such as community service, practical experience, among others that aid students in expanding their horizons and discovering their true potential.

Newgate has distinctive strategies and academic culture exemplified by its provision of four (4) distinct teaching and learning packages to its students: cognitive, digital, interpersonal and intrapersonal study packages. The cognitive package being offered by Newgate University instills in its students, the ability to devise innovative solutions to emerging challenges in their respective fields of study. Meanwhile, the digital component of the university’s curriculum ensures that students become responsive digital citizens, capable of keeping pace with the ever-evolving digital landscape. To enhance comprehension and facilitate recall, the university employs cloud-based teaching and learning techniques such as virtual reality, streamed lectures and relevant practical videos.
At NUM, both the intra and interpersonal components of the study packages are given key attention, with emphasis on orientation and training that will equip students to assume leadership and negotiation roles, while instilling in them qualities of service, passion, adaptability and empathy. These components are intentionally designed to meet the growing global need for hard and soft skills which are crucial for employability.

The impact of Newgate University’s distinctive and impressive strategies to university education extends beyond the classrooms, to equipping students to become leaders in their communities and in societies at large. By providing a holistic university experience that emphasizes on critical thinking, creativity, innovation and problem-solving, NUM proves that, it can be a model for other institutions to emulate.

Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar lives and writes from Minna, the Niger State capital and can be reached on muhammadcares4u@gmail.com

By Aisar Fagge

About fifty trainees graduated from the Dangote Articulated Truck Driving School. The effort was to minimize the rate of auto crashes involving its drivers and other road users in the country.

The trainees who celebrated the success amidst joy have passed through a specially designed and rigorous educational curriculum, said the Divisional Director Transport (DDT), Mr Ajay Singh.

Mr Singh, who spoke at the graduation ceremony, said the trainees would now be exposed to practicals through attachments for an additional six months.

The Daily Reality gathered that the school at Obajana is one of its kind, having been the only accredited truck driving academy in Nigeria.

It was learned that the school was commissioned last year by the former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi.

The effort was to bring solutions to the menacing issue of auto crashes involving articulated trucks in Nigeria.

Mr Singh said that the school would not only bring down the rate of crashes involving articulated vehicles but also positively impact other drivers.

He was quoted as saying, “The ultimate objective was to achieve zero accidents for all subsidiaries in the Dangote Group.

Also speaking, Mr Daniel Marcus Akuso said the intensive training was carried out in collaboration with the FRSC and Fantique Driving Training Centre of South Africa.

According to the Manager of the school, the three months training programme has been a big success and changed the orientation of the trainees.

He said, “This is the only articulated truck driving school in Nigeria where the students are paid stipends, trained, tested, certified, licensed, and employed. Our products are not only for Dangote Cement but for all subsidiaries of the Dangote Group in Africa.”

By Khadijah Tijani

Today is #InternationalWomensDay so I thought I should write about a not-so-popular topic.

This is a reality that many Muslim female physicians, including myself, face everyday, but people don’t seem ready for the conversation. When we try to bring up the topic, the same people who call themselves advocates of equity, justice and inclusion would only pay lip service to the issue and nothing is done about it eventually.

These biases are often rooted in stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam and Muslim women. For example, people believe that “All Muslim women are oppressed or subservient to men and therefore, therefore, they don’t belong in a prestigious profession like medicine.”

This is nothing but fallacy. The opposite is, in fact, the case. We have a long record of historical Muslim women who have excelled in the health field, even before the Western world started allowing women to learn about healthcare and medicine. The Prophet himself (peace be upon him) permitted women to be involved in healthcare. Neither the fathers nor the husbands of these women had any objections. We had women like Rufaydah Al-Aslamiyyah and Nusaybah bint Ka’ab who followed the early Muslims to the battlefield and provided care for the wounded soldiers.

Muslim women are encouraged to pursue careers like medicine because it fits our feminine nature. We are empathetic and resilient. We have seen a lot of young muslim women graduating from medical schools with excellent performance. We don’t want to waste those brains, do we? We want them to be helpful to the community and to the world at large.

These biases can manifest in several ways, such as assumptions that Muslim women cannot make decisions for themselves or that they cannot effectively communicate with male patients or colleagues or that they end up not practising medicine after all the educational investment. Muslim women are just like any other human being. Allāh has given us the ability to think critically and make decisions that can lead to the preservation of lives and limbs. We may have some limitations and boundaries, but nothing stops us from saving lives.

According to Khan et al. (2022) “gendered Islamophobia is prevalent in Canada and is premised on the stereotype that Muslim women are powerless victims of their religious tradition. Visibly identifiable Muslim women in health care professions are affected by gendered Islamophobia in the form of exclusion and discrimination, which can result in lack of safety, fear, decreased job satisfaction and burnout”. (Culled from Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Muslim women in medicine also face discrimination or stereotyping based on their appearance or religious practices. For example, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab may be perceived as less professional, or may face challenges in finding work or career advancement opportunities. Many have been forced to change the way they wear their hijabs, or even, remove it altogether!

Some patients or colleagues may have negative attitudes towards Muslim women who pray during work hours. This often leads to overt bullying and hurtful comments. While I was working in a particular hospital in Nigeria many years ago, it was hard for me to boldly take an excuse from my seniors when it was time for prayers. I had to sneak out and ask a fellow junior doctor to cover for me. In contrast, when I was in Saudi Arabia, prayer times were respected and each medical employee was allowed, and even encouraged, to pray at the right time.

Another common bias against Muslim women in medicine is the assumption that they are not proficient in English or that they are not familiar with Western medical practices. This happens when women from African and Asian countries travel to the West for further training. Muslim female physicians are often overlooked for certain positions or not being taken seriously in their work, unless and until we prove our worth beyond reasonable doubt.

These biases can have significant negative impacts on the careers and lives of Muslim women in medicine. They can lead to loss of opportunities, increased stress and burnout, feelings of isolation and exclusion, and finally, total loss of interest in the profession. These things shouldn’t be happening to us, considering the need for female doctors in the Muslim community. We need more female gynaecologists to take care of our women, but the journey is riddled with these biases we’re talking about.

You may begin to wonder…”but there are still many Muslim women doing just fine in their profession”. The truth behind their success is hidden under the sea like an iceberg. They won’t tell you how they had to reduce their hijab to a certain length so that they won’t be seen as extremists. They won’t tell you how they missed salah because the environment was not fit for praying. They won’t tell you how their marriage crashed (or almost crashed) because of an unsupportive spouse. They may also not tell you how they constantly regret the moments they were not available when their children needed them most.

It is important for the medical community to actively work towards addressing and dismantling biases against Muslim women in medicine. This can involve education and awareness training for medical professionals and staff, creating more inclusive workplace policies, and actively recruiting and promoting Muslim women in medicine.

Khan et al. (2022) opine that “Education about Islamophobia and gendered Islamophobia should be incorporated within existing anti oppression and transformative learning-teaching practices in medical education. Research and stronger institutional policies and practices are needed to mitigate the harmful impact of gendered Islamophobia on Muslim women in medical spaces.”

In conclusion, discrimination against Muslim female medical professionals is a real problem affecting Muslim communities in many parts of the world. Not all of us will be able to relocate to Islamic countries. Some of us may have to stay in our home countries or travel to the West to gain more knowledge and expertise. By addressing these biases, we can create a more equitable and just environment for all medical professionals, irrespective of religion, gender, or cultural background.

Khadijah Tijani is a medical doctor. She writes from London, Ontario and can be reached through askdoctorkt@gmail.com or @AskDoctorKT.

By Ibrahym A. El-Caleel

First, I am neither a propagandist nor an apologist of any of the personalities mentioned in this article. I am a Nigerian with keen interest in the Nigeria project.

Gov Nasir El-Rufai is many things. I used to say Governor Hajjaj bn Yusuf Al-Thaqafiy of the Umayyad Dynasty and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State share some leadership traits. Both of them are efficient leaders who lead with uncommon pragmatism. They set and achieve their goals not minding whose ox is gored in the process. They made stellar achievements that haven’t been recorded by their predecessors. Both Hajjaj and El-Rufai are vicious in handling political rivalry. They fight it with mightiness, or what Robert Greene would say; crush your enemy totally. Juxtapose everything that Hajjaj did in Iraq with El-Rufai’s lockdown during Covid; mass sackings or what he calls right-sizing; demolition of houses. How El-Rufai demolished the house of his political rival and a serving senator, Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi is an example of how extreme he can handle political rivalry. So this is a man who you should ordinarily avoid when selecting a wrestling mate in the political ring. But somehow, the Kaduna Christian South establishment seemed not to have studied the personality close enough.

Their melodrama was so graphical that they presented the region as a sworn political opposition to El-Rufai. From 2015-2019, El-Rufai’s deputy, the Late Arc Barnabas Bala Bantex was from that region and a Christian himself. They have been friends from their university days and worked amicably as leaders of Kaduna State. El-Rufai would travel and give Bantex the acting governor capacity. But that hasn’t fetch El-Rufai any political capital from the region where his deputy hails from. In 2019, Bantex decided to contest for a senatorial seat in the same Kaduna Christian South but he failed the election. Thanks or no thanks to his dining with a man whose politics they are not in good terms with. On his part, El-Rufai felt he has nothing to gain politically from a people who abhor his politics. So, he decided to pick a Muslim running mate from the minority in that region. He was willing to test the depth of the river with both feet. He must be a daring researcher to experiment a Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State. No one has tried it since the return of democracy in 1999. He took the calculated risk and it eventually worked. Today, anyone can try it knowing that it flies to victory.

Kaduna State looks like Plateau State from the demographics. El-Rufai must have borrowed the template from neighbouring Plateau State, which despite having a significant Muslim population, have always fielded a Christian-Christian ticket which has always succeeded. It has never been a Christian-Muslim ticket in Plateau. We underestimate these politicians, but they are cunning. We waste so much time insulting and criticising them, while they study us carefully. Bravo to them. In this article, let’s review how they successfully study and beat the intellect of the proletariat. When did the choice of a running mate began to matter?

Five Nigerian heads of state have died while in office. Three were killed in bloody coups, while only two died from natural causes to pass the leadership mantle to their deputies. Few civilian governors died in office to give way to their deputies. In conclusion, most elected leaders complete their tenure. However, there is a developing appetite to discuss the possible death of a president or governor. The main aim is to develop some vibrancy around the offices of Deputy Governor and Vice President; to show that it matters.

These two ”assisting” offices are largely inert. When you occupy either of them, then literally, the only freedom you have is the freedom to choose the type of tea you drink in your office. The president/governor is the man who calls the shots. You don’t get to do much “to your people” unless Oga gives you the go ahead. You will be visibly absent in the news. Indigenes of your village will unconsciously forget that they have their brother in government. I explained this better in the long Hausa article I wrote in defence of VP Atiku who is constantly fired that he hasn’t done anything for the north.

If you ask my view, I would say the Vice President and Deputy Governor positions are ceremonial. Unless you have a boss like President Buhari who will gladly give you the “Acting President” for two months to show your muscle; or you have a boss like Gov El-Rufai who will give you “Acting Governor” position to swing the armchair for 3 weeks. Many ogas never give their deputies any chance to do something tangible. If a deputy is quite ambitious, then his Oga’s men (aka cabal) will easily notice it. They will set him at loggerheads with Oga. He is eyeing your seat! This is how Ogas and their deputies usually start their fight. Go and verify!

How was VP Goodluck Jonathan faring under President Yar’Adua? Was he doing anything spectacular in his native Niger-Delta region? Was Deputy Governor Ramalan Yero even in the mass media while Gov Patrick Yakowa was calling the shots in Kaduna? Deputies are not even visible, talk less of executing anything so serious. VP Yemi Osinbajo is only lucky that President Buhari is a nice Oga. Yemi Osinbajo could even use his ad-hoc “Acting President” muscle to dismiss DG SSS, Lawal Daura. He was given the opportunity as an Acting President to swear-in Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria after Buhari kept the judge in an acting capacity. Buhari is a soft and simple Oga. No Nigerian Vice President in the last 24 years enjoyed this opportunity and audacity. It was on this basis that I made my case saying VP Atiku was being unfairly flogged over something that was beyond his control. In his case, he was not just ambitious, he was fighting with Oga’s third term agenda. How could Oga give him any breathing space to look politically relevant in his region?

Anyway, back to my main discussion:

Today, these deputy posts have only become a discussion topic because politicians are playing to the gullibility of the fairly-conscious electorate. Religion is serious and appeals to the sensibilities of the average electorate. In a state like Plateau with a very large number of Muslim population, it has always been a Christian-Christian leadership. Currently in Kaduna, APC is hosting a Muslim-Muslim ticket, while PDP is hosting a Muslim-Christian ticket. In Plateau State, both APC and PDP are hosting Christian-Christian tickets. The same faith ticket in Plateau has become a culture in such a way that no one is even talking against it any more. Any major political party that dares host a Muslim deputy governor in Plateau State is already wearing a political disadvantage. Ditto Taraba and Benue States.

El-Rufai and Kaduna APC have understood that a Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna appeals to the majority of the voters in the state as well. It worked perfectly in 2019, this is why the template is re-applied in 2023. The only reason why the success is not guaranteed this time around is because of El-Rufai’s excesses in mass layoffs, demolitions, prolonged lockdown of the major cities and markets during the pandemic and other anti-proletariat actions. This is why some voters are thinking they need to punish El-Rufai by not voting his anointed candidate in the APC. But religion is something we place above everything. When the average voter remembers the Plateau and Taraba scenarios, his mind will draw him closer to vote for the Muslim-Muslim ticket in favour of the APC. Especially since this time around, El-Rufai is not the face on the ticket. Uba Sani is largely seen as generous and will not be as socioeconomically toxic as his friend. This is why Uba Sani has better chances of coasting to victory than Isah Ashiru. 



If the APC makes it to the Kashim Ibrahim House another time, then the PDP might have no choice than to also start adopting a Muslim-Muslim ticket effective 2027. I told you that both APC and PDP are fielding Christian-Christian tickets in neighbouring Plateau State. No political party exists to appeal to your personal religious sentiments. What maters to every political party is to win elections by virtue of what majority of the electorate are okay with. This is why it was laughable watching some Islamic scholars on their pulpits explaining how the Tinubu-Shettima ticket is the next best thing to Islam since Salahuddeen Al-Ayyubiy. It is all politics!

Tinubu is a veteran politician. He knows that picking a northern Christian means he wants the PDP to defeat him as early as 8:00 am on the election day. In your right senses, do you think Tinubu believes that Yakubu Dogara or Babachir Lawal as Christian northerner will earn him the huge political capital laden in the populous Muslim North? It is said that Yoruba Muslims are a minority when you look at the entire population of Southern Nigerian. So Tinubu emerged from the so-called minority there, then he will come to the north and pick a running mate from the Christian minority again? Two minorities on a ticket? Isn’t that a recipe for defeat? This was why he picked Shettima; to tap into the political capital in the Muslim North. Not because he will launch Shari’a in Abuja. If he was that type, he wouldn’t be confidently telling you his wife is Christian. Expectedly, the average Nigerian christian electorate ran away from that ticket as if it was sponsored by ISIS; while the average Nigerian muslim electorate welcomed it as if it was formed by Shehu Usman Danfodio 200 years ago. But it was all politics! Apologies to Simon Kolawole. Tells you that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu knows his onions. A long time ago, even Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has testified that Tinubu is a great politician. 



The same faith ticket will still be a key discussion in the 2027 polls especially if Tinubu is able to get it correctly on either security or economy, or both. These two issues are the main troubles affecting the north at this time. Even if he fails every other thing, but gets these two correctly, then the north will still be so passionate about the Muslim-Muslim ticket again. The average northern electorate will only have second thoughts if he sees the same Buhari poor scorecard is what Tinubu is generating. This is when the opposition parties can have a space to gain some votes, just like we are seeing in Kaduna. Uba Sani’s strongest opponent is not Isah Ashiru. It is Gov Nasir El-Rufai. Had people not felt that El-Rufai mercilessly dealth with them, then Isah Ashiru would have been a walk over for Uba Sani. The mere mention of Muslim-Muslim ticket will command a huge voter turnout, and Uba Sani would not have so much to worry about. Especially since Uba Sani appears to be more qualified and ready for the job than Isah Ashiru.

Same-faith tickets give very little room to discuss what matters in a nation like ours. No time to discuss quality of the candidates and what they have to offer for our myriad of problems. In 2023, Nigeria that used to be richer than Singapore does not have a stable electricity; her universities could be closed for a whole academic session because of striking lecturers; her doctors are leaving its underfunded health sector. Many pressing issues. But politicians are using religion to take away the minds of the suffering electorate from all these pressing needs.

It shall be well, someday!

Ibrahiym A. El-Caleel writes from Zaria, and is reachable via caleel2009@gmail.com

By Ishaka Mohammed

The Department of State Services (DSS) has launched its official social media accounts to enhance public and stakeholder engagements.

In a statement released on Monday, March 6, 2023, the Service publicised its presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and dissociated itself from any handles other than the ones listed therein.

At the time of filing this report, the Twitter handle, @OfficialDSSNG, has over 44,000 followers, notable of whom are the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami; the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Human Angle Media, and APC Nigeria.

The statement also revealed the Twitter handle of the spokesperson for the Service, Dr Peter Afunanya. “Similarly, the PRO’s Twitter handle is @DrAfunanya_PNA. Hitherto, the Service did not own or operate these handles. Its decision to operate them with effect from 6th March, 2023 is to enhance public and stakeholder engagements,” part of the statement reads.

Below are the social media handles.

Twitter: @OfficialDSSNG

Facebook: OfficialDSSNG

Instagram: @OfficialDSSNG

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Kaduna Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has endorsed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Isah Ashiru, for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state.

The State CAN Chairman, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, disclosed in a statement on Monday.

According to CAN, they arrived at the decision after reviewing the just concluded presidential and national assembly elections. They added that owing to the Labour Party’s performance in the presidential election, a vote for the party is a complete waste.

CAN also said they have reached an agreement with the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Isah Ashiru, on positions he will reserve for Christians in exchange for their votes.

CAN further explained that they are not comfortable with the background and the religious disposition of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Uba Sani. They said he favours the Muslims and the marginalisation of Christians will get worse if he becomes governor.

Part of the statement reads, “That it has been observed that aside being a son of a prominent Islamic cleric in Zaria, the APC gubernatorial candidate is more likely to promote Islam than the current governor. Because he is constantly seen around Islamic clerics and making huge donations to the propagation of Islam in Kaduna State. he also facilitated the disbursement of CBN’s non-interest loans. 80% of the beneficiaries in Kaduna were Moslems. Therefore, Christians should bear in mind that our current marginalisation will only become worse if he is voted as governor!”

By Uzair Adam Imam

The African Union (AU) has called on the discontent presidential candidates to maintain peace and order as they seek redress over the outcome of the election results in court.

The AU’s Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, made the call in a statement he issued to journalists on Friday.

Challenging the outcome of the election results that declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner, both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) have vowed to drag INEC to the court over the results.

Mahamat said, “In this regard, the Chairperson urges all stakeholders to uphold peace and the rule of law and further urges that any post-election dispute or grievance be pursued through the judicial system, as provided for by the law.”

“The Chairperson expresses his deep gratitude to H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, former president of the Republic of Kenya, for his outstanding leadership as head of the African Union Election Mission to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Chairperson also extends his appreciation to ECOWAS and other partners for their fruitful collaboration in support of a peaceful election process in Nigeria.

“The Chairperson renews the commitment of the African Union to support the sisterly Federal Republic of Nigeria in her journey to deepen democracy, good governance, sustainable development and consolidate peace, security, and stability in the country,” he added.

By Isma’il Hashim Abubakar 

I was primarily not comfortable with the idea and bid of a Muslim-Muslim ticket, which the ruling party APC had issued to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as its presidential candidate and running mate, respectively. I held this view for several reasons, some of which were equally articulated by various analysts, commentators and opinionists.  

Like many thousands of Nigerians, particularly Muslims, I also believed that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was a necessary deceptive winning strategy rather than an intrepid move toward the triumph of Islam in a pluralistic country that has been suffering from the demographic competition. In 2015 when Muhammadu Buhari became the flag-bearer of the APC, there were indications that Bola Tinubu (a major stakeholder in the political merger that culminated in the sweeping victories of the APC during the 2015 elections) had a strong zest to be picked by Buhari as the latter’s running mate. But the old general refused to do so, obviously to carry along the Christians and canvass their support and secure their votes; no farsighted politician would risk hurting the sensibilities of even a small number of voters, let alone a big population that once claimed to possess demographic supremacy in the country’s entire population. 

The Muslim-Muslim presidency was thought by the Christian population but, in fact, to many Muslims as well to be a permanent impossibility in Nigeria’s political arena. Christians, who are a Nigerian minority as it has been proven now beyond the cobwebs of doubt, had been regarding Muslim-Muslim presidency as a unique Muslim utopian vision and a fruitless attempt of flying a kite either to see how high it would go in the sky or to gauge the direction of the wind.

Thus, Nigerian Christians never hid their opposition to the development and spared no effort to fight the bid. Churches became platforms for homilies on Christian unity and mobilization of support and strong, formidable religious support and solidarity in favour of the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, the only  Christian who contested against three Muslims in the race for the highest political office in the land.

The defeat of Peter Obi, as portrayed in the milieu of Christians, was akin to the fall of the rising Christendom and the failure of the Christian cause in Nigeria. Therefore,  not minding the huge irrecoverable costs of putting their eggs in one basket, Christians unanimously gathered their voting strength on their own candidate and wholeheartedly threw their support to Peter Obi. Although, like their Christian counterparts, Muslims had also used religious infrastructure to mobilize support for Bola Ahmed Tinubu and framed casting votes for him as a “political Jihad”, it was understandably impractical since Muslim votes must be inevitably divided between the three other contenders, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP and Bola Ahmed of APC.

After all, many northerners were yet sceptical of Tinubu’s nationalism and cosmopolitanism, and he was certainly viewed as an ethnic champion and a pursuer of Yoruba’s agenda. Added to this, the fact that Tinubu’s wife (and an acclaimed pastor, for that matter) and the majority (if not all) of his children are said to be Christians, some northern Muslims felt that Tinubu’s victory should in some form be considered as the triumph of Christians. As such, Muslims believed that the influence of these important organs around Tinubu must be beyond imagination. 

In the runoff to the 2023 presidential election, the Muslim society in northern Nigeria, which, as always, largely relies on the homilies of the clerical establishment in the region, became extremely divided as to which of the three candidates Muslims should support. Scholars who were loyalists to northern governors, some of whom were/are among their political appointees, had preached in favour of Tinubu and showed his election as a necessity that Muslims must wholeheartedly work for. Other scholars, most of whom were independent and largely young scholars, openly campaigned for Atiku Abubakar and warned northerners against voting for someone outside their region. The majority of scholars, however, seemed to take a neutral position and advised that Muslims could vote for any of the three candidates since each of them is a Muslim.

Despite the respected Jos-based cleric Shaykh Jingir defied this order, it was the position popularized and voiced loudly by the outspoken Izala, the proto-Salafi group which in the past used to explicitly campaign for Buhari and make it a religious obligation upon all Muslims to vote for the old general. It appeared that the group decided this time not to openly side with any of the candidates since some people had been launching attacks on the group for asking them to vote for Buhari, but then the group failed to criticize Buhari’s leadership failure. It was even argued that Izala (whose top figures are friends and loyalists to some northern governors) was inwardly supporting Tinubu’s candidature, but it was afraid of the protest and condemnation of its followers and the larger Muslim public. Thus, it decided to exhibit outward neutrality. 

Whatever the case, the Muslim-Muslim ticket has, despite these binaries, scaled through and Muslims in the North had already accepted the development as a valid testimony of their numerical supremacy in the country. And here is why.

Out of 23377466, the total valid votes cast, 17275933 represent the voting strength of Muslims who divided their votes for the three Muslim candidates. No analysis of the results of this election can ignore the possibility of overlaps of votes between Muslims and Christians in favour of each of these three candidates. But since this was very minimal, the outcomes of the elections have solidly reflected the religious affiliation and sociopolitical orientation of the voting population. After all the mobilizations in churches and social media platforms, including the voluminous circulars disseminated to all chapels and chapters by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and sister bodies, the results of the election show that Peter Obi had merely scored 6101533, fewer than 27 per cent of the whole valid votes cast. 

Of course, a case cannot be made on fixed and exact statistics on Nigeria’s population through the results of polls, but some circumstances, like elections, are yet crucial in arriving at some useful hints.  A lot of factors have combined to contribute to the rapid increase of Muslims and give them a numerical edge over their counterparts.

The Muslims, who still retain the age-old culture of growing extended families, have a prevailing polygamous lifestyle and have not, to a large extent, assimilated to the western childbearing orientation. Research has shown that Muslim women have a higher fertility rate than non-Muslim women.100 According to the data of Nigeria‘s National Population Commission, as of 2008, birthrates per woman in the North West and the North East stood at 7.3 and 7.2, respectively, while in the South, it was less than 5 children per woman (available on https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr222/fr222.pdf).

Although democracy is a game of numbers and it depends on the principle of “the majority carries the votes”, Nigeria’s democracy has since 1999 been characterized by zoning and rotation between the two major regions and religions  (North and South and Islam and Christianity). And although many politicians have adopted zoning and rotation in the spirit of carrying everyone along, there are places where rotation based on faith is an impossible matter. For instance, Muslims in Gombe State account for about 75 per cent, yet the state has been electing a Muslim and Christian governor and deputy governor for over two decades.

In Kaduna State,  until 2019, when Governor Nasir El-Rufai chose a Muslim deputy governor, the state has been pairing a Muslim and Christian for these two powerful ranks. Other examples can be confidently cited, and it is Muslims who make the most concession. In states like Plateau and Benue, however, which although having a sizable population of Muslims ranging from 40 per cent to above in the case of the former and about 25 per cent in respect of the latter, no Muslim has ever been selected as deputy governor since the return of the present democratic dispensation in 1999. 

Politicians do not toy with the matter of votes irrespective of who the voter is, but the 2023 presidential election will go down in history as a solid testimony establishing the fact that Muslims can determine their political fate and can win the election of the highest political office in the land without the votes of the Christians. And going by the case study of Plateau and Benue states, one may be justified if he alleges that had it been that it was Christians who possessed similar numerical strength to Muslims, no one could guarantee that they would concede the position of vice president to the Muslims.

Whatever the case, it is now clear that propaganda and powerful and frequent presence in the media is not and can never be the practical elements with which to substantiate persistent claims of being half of Nigeria’s population. 

Despite the foregoing arguments, a question that may yet beg for an answer is, does the faith of a president necessarily ensure that his coreligionists enjoy the dividends of democracy better than those with whom he does not share his faith? No clear-cut answers can be supplied to this question. But the attitudes of some presidents since 1999, starting from Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’adu’a, Goodluck Jonathan and the outgoing Muhammadu Buhari, testify that some presidents may be too partial to members of their faith to the detriment of others. 

The Muslim-Muslim presidency may benefit Nigerian Muslims through the pleasure they will derive, which is inherent in sharing the same faith with the commander-in-chief and his deputy, but also in putting an end to the fact of their disputed majority. Meanwhile, it is likely that Christians, who will henceforth restrategize to launch further onslaughts on the presidency, and of course, consistently cry wolf where there may be none at all, will, in the long run, be the greatest beneficiaries of Tinubu’s leadership. The justification for this assertion is obvious; Christians recorded bigger gains from his two terms as a governor of Lagos State and perhaps even in the succeeding years.

And despite that it is now clear that there is a wide numerical margin between Muslims and Christians, this may not be radically reflected in the constitution of the presidential cabinet; out of the 40 (or thereabout) ministers that the new president will be appointing in the next few months, it will be hard if he will summon enough courage to appoint 11 Christian ministers which is the proportionate numerical representation of Christian population supplied to us by the 2023 presidential election.

During my childhood, I used to hear Muslims say that Saudi Arabia had a diplomatic policy of raising or lowering the flag of each country according to the faith of its president. I could remember vividly when after Muslims were tired of the Obasanjo administration and Umaru Musa Yarauda, the unfavourable candidate had defeated Buhari (the saint as of then) when some people, despite the dark outcomes of the election results, expressed delight and commented that at least Nigeria’s flag would be raised in Saudi Arabia after it had been dumped on the ground for about eight years. If this diplomatic principle in Saudi Arabia is true and still valid, Tinubu’s victory will now mean that Nigeria’s flag will at least spend twelve uninterrupted years flying in the Saudi sky, and only God knows when it may be lowered. 

In a different essay I penned more than a year ago. I argued that if the situation would warrant that Tinubu’s victory would only be guaranteed if he embraced Christianity, he might end up becoming a Christian just to realize his lifetime ambition. Based on the goings-on of the present political season and the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, it is also safe to argue that despite being admittedly a nominal Muslim as shown by his self-orchestrated  Fatiha recitational suicide, Tinubu had, by picking a Muslim as his running mate, audaciously accomplished what many Muslim politicians could never mull over not to talk of giving it a try.

Ismail wrote from Souss, Southern Morocco, and can be reached at ismailiiit18@gmail.com.

By Muhammed Tukur Gwarzo

After all the series of controversial letters you wrote, which almost all Nigerians have lost count as well as interest, you have now unveiled your personal agenda towards the whole country. You have for long turned into more of a comedian than a real Statesman.

You do not seem to love Nigeria Sir! And this is a fact! You did all your best to kill everything during your tenure, every good work initiated by our Heroes Past, you either damaged, manipulated, changed or even destroyed it completely. You don’t have anything to tell Nigerians. Therefore, it would not be surprising when someone who is drowning and totally oblivious of the current realities of the country, perhaps due to old age, motive or both, displays such divisive comments at this critical moment in the history of the country. We are not surprised. If you don’t know, now you should know that you have lost all the Moral Rights of an Elder/Statesman, to even think of coming out to advise anyone. You are already partisan. You publicly supported a candidate. Why would you now turn and act as if you are neutral? The respected statesmen of your caliber did not openly support any of the four leading candidates, but you did. Many Nigerians believe that you are acting a script of a hidden agenda.
History will be just to list you as someone who meddles into the affairs of each government since Shagari Administration to date. There is no Nigerian leader you didn’t belittle in the eyes of Nigerians and the International Community, in order to make them look bad, including those that brought you out of jail. They have really made a mistake of taking you out of prison. Their biggest mistake was how they promoted and supported you to be President. And instead of being grateful, you became disrespectful and rude to all of them.

One thing that you think that Nigerians haven’t noticed from you is your attitude of arrogating to yourself a messianic charisma. You always portray yourself as someone who has the full grasp of Nigeria’s problem, not knowing that YOU are the problem! You are among the top three problems of Nigeria and you should know that. You look down upon all the
Nigerian leaders, past and present, simply because you wrongly feel you are better than them all.

Furthermore, it is obvious that you are envious of even someone from your tribal and ancestral extraction. Then who do you think you Obasanjo can spare? Now that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a fellow Yoruba Man from the South West is accepted by Nigeria to be its President, you feel that you are now seconded. You feel: why should Tinubu second you? This is the reason you started spewing divisive commentaries and calls for cancellations of the election, so that another Yoruba cannot be sworn in.

You want it to be on record that you are the only Yoruba man who made that record.
You are even lucky that due to the Esprit de Corps known within the military, most of the well-meaning gentlemen of the military respect you. You mistake that as fear and you do not reciprocate that respect to even General Gowon and likes, who happen to be your seniors.

Another point which you are wrong is on the issue of this public show of self-importance, which is part of you. As someone who studied Theology up to PhD level, you ought to have known that it is religiously wrong to advise a leader in such an open manner. You have direct access to all the leaders but you always choose to tar them in the market place.

As a citizen, and more so a former leader, you have the right, 100%, to make appeals and give advice to government and citizens alike, provided they are unbiased and do not infringe on the unity and stability of the country as you always do.

The way you think that the 2023 general elections results are manipulated defies logic. Lagos was taken by LP, Buhari’s Katsina went to PDP, and many other PDP/APC states were lost to LP. Serving and former APC Governors lost their bids for senate seats; Kano is lost to NNPP; but still, you questioned the results.
During your semi-dictatorial reign, you supervised the most rigged and questionable elections, especially in 2007 when Maurice Iwu was the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Even the elected President, the late ‘Yar’adua of blessed memory, accepted and admitted that the process was flawed. Before then, you were widely suspected to have sought for a third term, which was unconstitutional. When that attempt failed, you then almost truncated the electoral process through a “do or die” politics.

When you were in power, nobody dared advise you for a better cause since you arrogate to yourself wisdom, and never accepted whatever was not from you, even from those that made the mistake of bringing you back to power. They brought you back not because you were the most qualified, but in order to appease the South West over Abiola’s June 12 saga. By then, Olu Falae, a politician and a tested technocrat would have been a better choice but you still cannot reason and remember all these. You are now clearly bereft of ideas in the polemics you wanted to present during your latest presentation. You look like someone entering into a boxing ring, very certain of your defeat. You know that Nigerians will never fall into your trap again. You should not have talked at all!

Sir, you should know that Nigerians are wiser now. They have known all your antics and antecedents through your utterances. What you did can cause an uprising and breakdown of law and order. It is something that borders on National Security, which should not be taken lightly by any serous government.
I advise the present and future governments not to allow such a situation of national security breach from you again and you should be tamed. But if you continue, the government should have an ideal way of dealing with you and your likes decisively!!!

Muhammed Tukur Gwarzo write from Kano, Nigeria.

By Abubakar Suleiman

The period preceding the presidential elections was greeted with intense and unrestrained emotions, outright bigotries and zingers from political opponents and supporters alike, so much that discussing issues that really matter was out of the table.

Public pundits who tend to raise their voices or pen down their thoughts on the challenges ahead got their ideas or pressing questions drowned amidst fierce online arguments. Discussing the manifestoes of the parties of the major contenders took the back seat while bickering on variables like the contestants’ age, health, religion, region, and ethnicity became the front burner across many platforms.

As the wave of the electioneering is beginning to disappear and the elections have been won and lost, I think we can start to ask the president-elect, where do we go from here? His job has been well cut out for him. And it will definitely not be an easy ride, and we need to be realistic.

Contextually, should subsidy finally go or stay? Should education at tertiary institutions be subsidised or commercialised? How do we push the country towards a knowledge-based economy? How will the poor access quality basic and tertiary education? How do we fund deficits in the power sector to make industries wake up? Can we change the security architecture? Should state police be created? Should we continue to maintain two chambers in the National Assembly? And how do we source the fund to run the government? To what extent should we play politics with governance? Can all these and many more be done in 8 years? The questions are many.

The election and its aftermath exposed the fragile unity between the regions and religions that made up this geographical space called Nigeria. Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the President-elect should hit the ground running by reaching out to aggrieved regions and their leaders by assuaging their real or imagined fears and grievances.

The problems of the country are too enormous to be dragged back by agitations and the feelings of being left out. Therefore, an inclusive government and approach to governance have never been this necessary.

Security

Just when President Muhammadu Buhari was about to claim victory over Boko Haram and insecurity in the North East, unprecedented spates of killings, kidnappings and banditry reared their ugly heads in Northwestern Nigeria.

A huge swathe of land became inaccessible, many major roads were deserted, farming nosedived, and a humanitarian crisis ensued. With these problems, many people found themselves in the yolk of poverty. Others became homeless, and fangs of hunger rendered many others dead.

The security structure is in dire need of an overhaul. Community policing, intelligence gathering, using a non-kinetic approach and the continued procuring of more weapons cannot be over-emphasised. The procuring process of these weapons should be monitored to evade financial abuse by unpatriotic elements in security management.

Personnel on the front line serving the country should also be motivated. A situation where underperforming service chiefs are rewarded with tenure extensions or a slap on the wrist should end with President Buhari.

Furthermore, I think decentralising the Police Force is necessary to curb the spread of insecurity across the country. State police is an idea that could be floated and established while strong laws preventing sub-national governments from abusing it should accompany such establishment.

Successive governments have failed to face and address the epileptic power supply problem headlong. A humongous amount of public funds have been infused into the power sector only to purchase more darkness for Nigerians. We had intermittent national grid failure with President Buhari. Many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) depend on the power supply to fester as many others have yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and cashless policy shocks and effects.

The state of the economy is scary. Unemployment has increasingly become high; inflation rates are biting hard; economic growth is sluggish; the country’s debt burden upsurged; the gap between the poor and rich has widened; and the conservatism of the Central Bank was thrown to the dogs by Governor Emefiele thereby making monetary and fiscal policies blurred.

These indices have been detrimental to the security and well-being of the citizens and their businesses. Therefore, the President-elect has a considerable responsibility to close the gap between the rich and poor through job creation, effective wealth distribution, social protection programs with measured outcomes and strengthened fiscal policies.

Subsidy

Only a few among the unlettered in Nigeria don’t know this word. Even those who cannot speak English have a name for it in their language. It is obviously no longer sustainable, as we even borrow to close budget deficits. However, oil is the most critical ‘social safety net’ for the poor in Nigeria; a tweak in its price is greeted with snag, suspicion and impoverishment.

The distrust between the leaders and the led has reached a crescendo, and the oil sector is marred with irregularities so much that we are not even sure of the amount of our domestic oil consumption. Therefore, critical infrastructure needs the money channelled into the subsidy to enhance economic diversification and gradual departure from over-reliance on oil.

And an excellent way to allay the masses’ fears that the money derived from the lack of subsidy might be squandered is through involving vital stakeholders like the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, civil societies, sub-national governments, community leaders, and other relevant bodies. A comprehensive Key Performance Indicator or milestone should be developed and tracked by these stakeholders, and a project implementation and result delivery unit on the side of the Federal Government.

ASUU-FG Debacle

Another problem the President-elect will carry forward from President Buhari and even presidents before him is the ASUU-FG debacle that has refused to succumb to any pragmatic solution. Fake promises and insincerity on the side of the Federal Government and dogmatic or unbending approach on the side of the Academic Staff Union of Universities have made it impossible for the two to reach a sincere, realistic and practicable solution on the way forward.

Corruption

Plus, we are still battling corruption. Padding in the budget, red tape in the civil service, inflation of contracts and other forms of abuse of public office for personal gain are still with us. Corruption has basically been cancer eating up the already meagre and dwindling resources meant for economic growth, nation building and stability.

Corruption will not disappear overnight, but with the help of technology, building strong institutions and strengthening existing ones like the Judiciary will go a long way in minimising it.

The issues mentioned above and many more are parts of the conversations we should naggingly keep having with the President-elect, who will be sworn in as the President come May 29, 2023.

We should be less tendentious in doing so, but we should never relent in holding our leaders — presidents, governors and other elected or appointed public officers —accountable as humanly possible. The era of lack of communication and the body language that being our President is like doing us a favour should end with President Buhari.

I wish the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, successful days in office. May Allah grant him firm political will and a competent team to drive good policies and push the country towards greatness. Let the conversations continue.

Abubakar Suleiman writes from Kaduna and can be reached via abusuleiman06@yahoo.com