News

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Bashir El-Rufai, the son of Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has described the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as a “useless union” that should be scrapped.

The junior El-Rufai, on Monday, August 29, 2022, said ASUU is useless and should be replaced with educators that care about the students and Nigeria.

“ASUU is a very useless union. They should be scrapped & replaced with educators that actually give a damn about students and how that translates to the future of this country.” He tweeted

El-Rufai’s condemnation of ASUU is coming after the union extended its ongoing strike in the early hours of this morning. ASUU has been on strike for half a year, an industrial crisis that has crippled the academic activities across Nigeria’s public universities.

By Uzair Adam Imam

At least three people reportedly died while 15 others sustained injuries in an auto car accident that occurred in Takai Local Government Area of Kano State.

The Kano State Fire Service Spokesman, Yusuf Abdullahi, confirmed the development Sunday, saying the accident involved a Toyota Hilux conveying three people from Jigawa State and a commercial hummer bus conveying 15 others from Kano.

Abdullahi, who identified the dead victims as Sani Isah 28, Shamawilu Isah 30 and Musa Yusuf, 32, stated, “On receiving the information, we quickly sent out our rescue team to the scene of the accident for rescue.

“On arrival, we found out that it was a commercial bus (hummer bus) without registration number and conveying 15 people from Kano that had a head-on collision with a Toyota Hilux conveying three persons coming from Jigawa with registration number JMK 142 XA. The hummer bus was engulfed by fire.

“Out of the 18 people involved, 15 people were rescued alive while three out of the passengers from the hummer bus were rescued unconscious. We immediately conveyed them to Takai General Hospital where doctors on duty confirmed the three unconscious, dead,” he said.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano State, has formally rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Shekarau joined the PDP on Monday in Kano after leaving the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman, and other PDP members met with the former governor.

Shekarau joined the NNPP from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and left it two months later.

Shekarau, a senator for Kano Central, previously served as Kano’s governor for two terms and as Nigeria’s minister of education.

He also contested for president of Nigeria in the 2011 general elections.

By Muhammad Aminu

Commuters plying Gwaram-Basirka road in Jigawa state are advised to take alternate routes to their various destinations.

This development followed a bridge collapse along the way due to a heavy downpour the previous night.

The Jigawa state Police Public Relations Officer, Lawan Shiisu, stated this in a terse statement on Sunday in Dutse.

“On 28/08/2022, as a result of downpour over the night, a culvert under Gwaram/ Basirka Road, precisely at Rabadi village in Gwaram LGA of Jigawa State, has been washed away.

“In view of this, road users should seek alternative or use the diversion created by the authority.”

Residents protested earlier this year on the same road that links that part of Jigawa with its neighbouring Bauchi State when a collapsed bridge led to its closure.

By Muhammad Aminu 

Police in Jigawa State have arrested two suspected kidnappers following a raid at the kidnappers’ hideout in Nisan Marke Settlement in Ringim Local Government Area.

The Police, in collaboration with a vigilante group, acting on earlier received intelligence information, carried out the raid successful.

Police spokesperson in Dutse, DSP Lawan Shiisu, said operatives from Ringim Area Command in conjunction with a local vigilante group led by Ringim Divisional Police Officer (DPO), SP Shehu Hamdullahi, acted on credible and actionable intelligence and conducted the operation at the identified suspected kidnapper’s hideout.

He noted that one 45-year-old Muhammad Sama’ila of Madari village in Warawa LGA of Kano State was reported to have been wounded all over his body while fleeing from the suspects.

He explained: “On receipt of the information, a team of Policemen swung into action, visited the scene of the crime and conveyed the victim to the hospital.

“While at the hospital, after regaining his consciousness, the victim revealed that he was Kidnapped on Tuesday 22nd, August 2022, at about 0130hrs from Madari Village in Warawa LGA of Kano State and taken to Nisan Marke Herdsmen.”

He added that when he attempted to escape from the abductors, he was attacked by one of the kidnappers and inflicted injuries on his body.

He said: “On the same date at about 0850hrs, a team of Policemen stormed the Area, where one of the kidnappers named Abdurrazaq Musa, 40 years of Gurgunna village, Babura LGA, Jigawa State was arrested, and the phone that belongs to the victim which was used for ransom negotiation was recovered in his possession.

“Furthermore, one Hassana Jimau, age 30 years of Nisan Marke village, was also arrested at about 1230hrs.

“During interrogation, both the suspects confessed to having abducted the victim with eight other gang members while the effort to trace their accomplices is on top gear.”

According to him, the suspects have been handed over to the team of the anti-kidnapping section of Kano State Police Command for discreet investigation and necessary action.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Over 75 secondary schools in Zambara State were closed due to the menacing security challenges bedevilling the area over the years.

A permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Alhaji Kabiru Attahiru, made the disclosure Saturday in Gusau while reading a goodwill message during a two-day meeting.

It was gathered that the meeting was held to sensitise the National Policy on Gender in Education (NPGE) and was organised by the state’s Universal Basic Education Board in partnership with UNICEF.

He stated that the schools had been closed since September 2021 following attacks on two girls’ schools in the state.

He added that the state government is working very hard to ensure the reopening of the schools that were shut down due to threats by bandits.

Zamfara has become the epicentre of banditry and kidnapping, the development that widowed many and orphaned thousands of kids.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, suddenly turned against the union the moment he was appointed a minister.

The union said the education minister supported ASUU’s agitations, including their industrial actions, before he was appointed to this position.

Prof Lawan Abubakar, ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Bauchi Zone, disclosed this on Friday at the University of Jos, Plateau State.

Abubakar decried the way Adamu has been misleading other ministers and the public about the union’s action.

He also called on Nigerians to hold Adamu and the Federal Government responsible for the incessant strike.

The Chairman quoted Adamu to have said in 2013, “This nation owes a debt of gratitude to ASUU, and the strike should not be called off until the government accepts to do and does what is required.

“So, instead of hectoring ASUU to call off the strike, the nation should be praying for more of its kind in other sectors of the economy.”

The professor went on to say Adamu had also said that whatever he wrote on ASUU, he had totally believed in it, even now that he is a minister.

He said, “You may recall that when asked to make his comments on ASUU’s submission to President Buhari on Tuesday, the 9th of January, 2020, Adamu Adamu said he totally agreed with what ASUU presented, upon which note President Buhari handed him ASUU’s document and directed him to come up with a proposal for an amicable solution.

“For the same Adamu Adamu to now lead his colleagues, the other ministers, to misrepresent facts and mislead the good people of Nigeria against ASUU is rather unfortunate. 

“It is the highest level of unpatriotic disservice a minister would do to his nation, particularly in a sector like education which is the backbone of the development of any country.

“If this is the way to end the ASUU strike, ASUU-Bauchi Zone is taking exception to it and assuring Adamu Adamu that he is wrong; he has rather succeeded in undermining the future of Nigerian youths and Nigeria. If it would take him six (6) months to only come up with this deceit as a solution to the strike, we then have the right to ask whether he really was serious with education or stage-managing it.

“It has now come to bear that the minister had all along been deceiving everybody since 2017, as far as ASUU’s agitations in the tenure of this government are concerned.

“We want the general public to know that the Federal Government through Adamu Adamu did NOT approach ASUU with any reasonable and acceptable solutions to the issues in the contention that led to the current strike,” he stated.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Following their conviction on a two-count charge, the Nigerian Army fired two soldiers assigned to the 241 Recce Battalion, Nguru, Yobe State.

Lt. Col. Ibrahim Abdullahi Osabo, the acting commanding officer of the battalion, stated that the accused were found guilty on two counts: failing to complete military responsibilities and acting in a way that jeopardized service discipline.

Before being completely dismissed the suspects had their ranks downgraded from lance corporal to private.

Remember that after allegedly killing a renowned Islamic cleric named Sheikh Goni Aisami in cold blood, Yobe State police detained Lance Corporal John Gabriel with service number N/A13/69/1522 and Lance Corporal Adamu Gideon with service number N/A13/70/6552, both assigned to 241 Recce Battalion, Nguru, Yobe State.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

The Kano State newly deployed Commissioner, Abubakar Lawal, has resumed duty on Friday at the command’s headquarters in Bompai, a statement Friday by the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, disclosed. 

The Daily Reality gathered that the new CP was deployed to Kano on Wednesday, following the retirement of CP Sama’ila Shuaibu Dikko.

It was learned that, before his deployment to Kano, Lawal was a commissioner of police in Enugu State Police Command. 

Lawal is a native of Daura in Katsina, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and has served in various capacities.

By Sumayyah Auwal Ishaq

The management of the Kaduna State University ( KASU) on Friday condemned a statement attributed to the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who has described state-owned universities as quacks.

The university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Adamu Nuhu Bargo, in a statement on Friday, said, “ASUU, represented by the unguarded vituperations of its chosen President, is not actually struggling for a better educational system in Nigeria but for personal and irresponsible aggrandisement”. 

Mr Bargo further said that “for the benefit of hindsight, KASU is a new generation University and the second most-sought State-Owned University as well as the fastest growing in Nigeria”.

“The general public may wish to note as follows:

1. KASU is recognised by NUC as a standard University.

2. KASU has some of the best brains that are competing favourably with their counterparts around the globe. The world’s No 4 best polymer chemist is in KASU.

3. Lecturers in KASU have attracted grants both locally and internationally and are highly rated.

4. KASU graduates are rated among the best in the world and enjoy scholarships from different parts of the country and the globe.

5. KASU has members in ASUU, and it is unfortunate if the ASUU President is saying that they are quacks while enjoying monthly check-off fees from their salaries. Does this not give a good reason for every reasonable academic staff in the University to pull off from the Union for this labelling and stereotyping?”