News

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity has plummeted to the lowest level since he took over as the country’s leader in 2015, according to the latest Vanguard for Good Governance Initiative (VGGI) survey.

Results of the survey compiled by VGGI, show President Buhari’s popularity has declined sharply during the past two months with his approval rating dropping from 58 percent to 21 percent.

On specific issues, the survey found Nigerians, especially northerners, were unhappy over matters of heightened insecurity. Moreover, concerns about the economy, especially the cost of living and rising inflation are now seeing the president’s popularity hitting an all-time low among Nigerians.

The survey also reveals that the IPOB activities in the South-East is crippling the economy of the region.

VGGI says its survey consisted of phone calls, emails, interviews and text messages over the past three months to slightly more than 150,000 people.

By Sumayya Auwal Ishaq

By Sumayya Auwal Ishaq

By Uzair Adam Imam and Muhammadu Sabiu

The Nigerian presidency has been criticised for failing to immediately offer its condolences to the families of the travellers from Sokoto State who were burnt to ashes by terrorists.

Reports have indicated that the bandits set a vehicle conveying no fewer than 42 passengers ablaze in Sokoto, northwestern part of the country.

What kept the presidency mute after the merciless killing surprised many people, who criticised the government for showing indifference to such a horrible incident.

The Daily Reality learnt that the merciless killing took place on Monday around 09:00 in the morning but was reported Tuesday due to some technical issues.

The security threat of this sort is one of the lingering issues that rock the northern region of the country and succeeded in turning it into a killing field. Scores of people are killed every day, and nothing tangible is seen from the people of authority.

An eyewitness confirmed the incident, saying: “The car which was transiting passengers from Sabon Birni was set ablaze at Gida Village, a few kilometres away.”

According to our source: “I was called when the incident was happening. My uncle, his wives and their four children were some of those that have been killed in the bus.”

Before the presidency mourned, the residents of Sokoto State have been voicing their complaints bitterly, saying that why should the president keep mute on such a brutal massacre of innocent travellers? According to them, this is a national tragedy that deserves national mourning.

Mu’azu Malami lamented that: “It is unfortunate and heartbreaking to have read what had happened to our brothers on Monday. This has indicated that there is a need for the government to do more to ensure the safety of its citizens. And I don’t buy the idea of banning vigilante groups in the state,” he added.

Before the presidency released its condolence statement, he lamented that: “Up to now, there has been no official condolence from the government.”

Chairman Arewa Media Forum, Comrade Abubakar Dahiru, in an interview with our reporter, lamented that: “Neither did the government mourn anyone nor did it take any action.

“In addition to that, the government has even banned the vigilante group in the state despite their tremendous contribution,” he added.

Abubakar Mande said that: “The incident is very sad, and the lives of people are no longer taken as important. As we are mourning this loss, another bad one will occur again. It goes on again and again as it is becoming normal.

“But the silence of the government not to comment about the issue comes to us with great shock,” Mande added.

Also, many social media users from Northern Nigerian aired their grievances over the delay by the presidential media team to offer their condolences, which they did 48 hours after the incident.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has promised Nigeria his support in fighting terrorism and countering religious extremism.

Receiving the Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, Professor Abdullahi Y. Shehu, the president gave his words.

President Putin made the assurance to Nigeria adding that a “very promising expansion on substantive dialogue on topical issues related to maintaining stability in the world hydrocarbon markets, combating terrorism and countering religious extremism.”

He stated that Russia was open to mutually beneficial partnership with all countries without exception.

Putin declared that “Russia is ready for multifaceted interfaces for mutual interests with the countries that their new envoys have come to represent in Russia.”

By Muhammad Sabiu

The governor of Ekiti State and a key figure of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr John Kayode Fayemi, celebrated the late Malam Aminu Kano over his patriotism, advocacy for education and support for the poor.

Delivering a speech on Saturday to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Mambayya House at the Sa’adu Zungur Auditorium Complex in Kano, Governor Fayemi said he was so delighted to be invited to give a talk at such an event, adding that “Mallam stood out in our entire post-colonial experience as the very anti-thesis of money politics.”

Mr Kayode’s speech partly reads: “Born on the 9th of August 1930, and as an early beneficiary of both Quranic and Western education, Mallam as he came to be known affectionately very quickly carved a niche for himself as the pre-eminent voice and champion of the talakawa – that mass of peasants, the urban working poor, and the déclassé.

“His emergence and growth into this role emanated from a deep-seated set of values that he embraced and honed at an early stage in his political career and held on to tenaciously for the rest of his life.

“Concerned by the reported excesses that were built into the colonially-licensed native authority system and convinced that the system needed to be overturned in order for the talakawa to be able to have a fighting chance to lead a decent and dignified life free of oppression, he committed himself to organise the mass of the people to exercise their agency to imagine and create an alternative political order.

“The principal agency through which he did this was the movement which he helped to found in 1950 and which was named the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). The establishment of NEPU was to mark a significant milestone in the history of political radicalism in Nigeria. The tradition of radicalism which it represented was carried over into the late 1970s and beyond by the Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP), which Mallam Aminu Kano also led.”

Malam Aminu was a famous political figure, especially in Northern Nigeria. Public institutions named after him include an airport, a teaching hospital, and a college in Kano and other states.

Many dignitaries from around Nigeria graced the occasion. These include Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar; former Deputy Governor of Kano State, Prof. Hafizu Abubakar; Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, among others.