Opinion

By Abdulrahman salihu

Electricity is one of the most crucial factors in the development of every industrial country, which factories, financial hubs, and technological companies rely heavily upon for their operations.

In Nigeria, on 1st April 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) increased the price of Kilowatt per hour by 300% from N68 Naira to N225 Naira to urban Customers popularly known as “Band A” customers, who are 15% of the total number of Electricity Consumers in the country.

The electricity tariff increment comes after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy in his inauguration speech on 29 May 2023, which triggered massive hyperinflation in Nigeria that resulted in hikes on almost every commodity and inflicted severe suffering among Nigerians.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has claimed that the hike in the electricity tariff will only affect the “Band A” customers. Therefore, the remaining 75% of customers (Band B-C-D-E) who get less than 20 hours daily will not be affected.

However, the multiplier effect of the tariff increment dramatically influences the cost of production of foodstuff processing companies, manufacturers and other producers of goods that the masses use, thereby affecting the price of commodities.

Moreover, some artisans and small business owners have been put out of business because the financial institutions will increase the interest rate to meet the electricity tariff hike, making it unaffordable to businesses that take loans from them, rendering the artisans jobless. Businesses will collapse in the long run.

On the other hand, the government may not be able to generate revenue from the businesses that shut down, so also the artisans and craftsmen will not get customers as a result of lack of adequate electricity in their “Band”, which will make them unable to pay taxes to the government. 

Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the federal government and the stakeholders in the power sector should suspend the electricity tariff increment and invest in modern solar power plants. This will generate more power for the country and will go a long way in mitigating global warming and climate change.

The federal government should also find ways to improve the electricity supply, as the current supply is insufficient to make things work effectively. 

The governors of hydroelectric power-producing states should initiate policies and partner with international investors to boost power generation for their states and the country. At the same time, the other states should also render support where necessary.

This will encourage foreign investors to troop to Nigeria for investment, bringing job opportunities and facilitating unprecedented revenue flow into the accounts of both the federal and state governments.

Abdulrahman Salihu wrote via abutalatu72@gmail.com.

By Abba Sadauki

Introduction

There comes a time when the world’s weight seems unbearable, making each breath a struggle. Like a midlife crisis, this pivotal moment is when one confronts the reality of their material existence. It’s a stark realisation that all the goals and aspirations pursued were essentially economic activities aimed at providing for oneself and loved ones. 

Another revelation compounds the gravity of this understanding – the fact that these efforts have primarily served to enrich others. Despite all the hard work, one finds themselves barely making ends meet, with the prospect of accumulating enough wealth for a comfortable life or pursuing truly fulfilling endeavours seeming increasingly elusive. 

The weight of economic struggle is a universal experience shared by countless individuals across the globe. This article aims to shed light on the historical journey that has shaped this experience, particularly within the context of Northern Nigeria. 

We will explore, starting from the feudal reigns of the Sarkis (Kings) and Amirs (Emirs), delving into the transformative impact of British imperialism. Our journey will culminate in an analysis of post-colonial governance and the pervasive influence of global capitalism, painting a picture of our present reality. 

Through this, we will uncover the roots of the stark wealth inequality that pervades our society, understand the purpose and implications of debt, and confront the enduring reality of class struggle. 

As we navigate through the complexities of these issues, we will question the viability of our current system in the face of 21st-century challenges. The 2008 economic crisis is a stark reminder of these challenges, prompting us to reevaluate and rethink our economic structures. 

The Emergence of Capitalism in Northern Nigeria: Pre-capitalist Economic Systems

The Emergence of Market Societies

As in the bible, we will start at Genesis, to the very inception of our economic systems. In the beginning, there were no economies, only markets. But what exactly are markets? They are places where a willing buyer and a willing seller meet to exchange goods or services. Here, we encounter the first myth that capitalism propagates – the notion that markets did not exist before its advent. However, markets existed long before capitalism emerged as a system during the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 18th century.

You might wonder, what do I mean by “there was no economy”? The answer lies in a simple yet crucial condition for markets to evolve into an economy – the existence of a “surplus”. A surplus refers to the excess resources that can be accumulated and utilised.

When our ancestors first tilled the land and initiated the process we now know as agriculture, they created resources that exceeded immediate needs. This surplus transformed markets into an economy – a complex network of relationships that emerges in societies with a surplus.

This economy enabled us to produce food and, more importantly for this discussion, tools and instruments that wouldn’t exist with labour alone. The first instrument of this system was likely writing, used to account for the units of agricultural produce stored by an individual in the communal granary. These units were probably represented by engravings on shells, signifying the value of the stored produce.

These shells could be exchanged between individuals for goods or services. If this concept sounds familiar, it’s the precursor to what we know as money today. Instead of shells, we now use pieces of paper or digital representations.You could also borrow these shells or promise a specific amount in the future in exchange for immediate service. This is the concept we now understand as debt.

Someone had to ensure the value of these shells was guaranteed, often through force. In today’s terms, this individual might be known as a king, whose domain of influence is a state. The king would have people managing the accounting and others enforcing his guarantee, akin to modern-day police.

As we can see, a “surplus” led to a radical societal transformation. However, this transformation was not without its adverse side effects. One of these was that the king and his bureaucracy accumulated a surplus, leading to an overconcentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few. This process, which we now call inequality, is still a pressing issue in our modern society.

Now, let’s dive into the heart of our economic systems, armed with conceptual toolboxes that will guide us through its intricate workings. Our first concept is a ‘commodity’. Simply put, commodities are goods produced to be sold. Each of these goods has a market price reflecting its exchange value.

Next, we explore ‘production’, the transformative process that turns raw materials into components or finished goods. This production journey begins with the first factor, the raw materials and the infrastructure used to extract them, such as tools and machines. These are what we refer to as ‘capital goods’.

To carry out this process, we need a location—land or space—our second factor of production. Lastly, we require human labour to transform these raw materials into finished goods. This production process forms the bedrock of an economy, making it tick and thrive. 

The Hausa Feudal Society

The early days of the Hausa kingdoms are shrouded in various myths used to legitimise their existence; the most plausible scenario of how they came to be is that diverse ethnic groups cohabited in the same area, known as Kasar Hausa. These groups were often embroiled in relentless resource conflicts, leading to chiefdoms composed of dominant families.

As time unfolded, the chiefdoms with superior military prowess and organisational structures absorbed the weaker ones, giving rise to kingdoms. The less powerful chiefdoms gradually became vassals, paying tribute to a king or Sarki.

The kingdom’s population began to stratify. The most influential family head ascended to the position of Sarki, distributing offices among his followers from other families. The lineages of these followers evolved into Sarakuna, the aristocracy. These Sarakuna integrated into Sarki’s military organisation, acting as vanguards in establishing dominance over weaker groups and compelling them to pay tribute.

Over time, the Sarki and Sarakuna transformed into the leisure class, while the rest of society, forming the base of economic production, became subordinate to them. Within the broader Hausa society, another stratification layer emerged based on the economic services offered. Free peasants, serfs, and enslaved people emerged as the new classifications of the labour class.

Each kingdom mentioned earlier was divided into administrative units (fiefs) by its ruling class, with a titled lord or his representative serving as its overseer. The kingdom’s capital depended on the resources sent from the labour class in the fiefs and political power in the form of laws, and their enforcers came from the capital to enforce them in the kingdom’s territory.

Society was broadly divided into two distinct classes. The’ Isarakim’ ruling class comprised the king and his officials. On the other hand, the ‘Talakawa’, or the ruled class, consisted of peasants, serfs, and enslaved people.

As we’ve observed, the ruled class formed the backbone of the economy. The ruling class appropriated their labour and the fruits of their production through tribute, taxes, special levies, and forced labour. This arrangement, where the ruling class expropriated labour at the expense of the commoner, is a characteristic feature of all feudal societies

Rise of Merchant Class and Beginnings of Capitalist Spirit

Trade in the Hausa states was determined by the basic facts of geography and communication, the primary routes linking the area to the rest of the world being the trans-Saharan caravan routes. The main imports from Europe and North Africa were cotton and calicoes from Lancashire, cotton and sugar loaves from France, red cloth from Saxony, beads from Venice, needles, mirrors, and paper from Nuremberg, sword-blades from Solingen, razors from Styria, fine silks from Lyons, coarse silks from Trieste and Tripoli, red fezzes from Leghorn, and all kinds of Arab dress from North Africa. In contrast, the main commodities the Hausa exported to balance its trade with the outside world were cotton, goatskins, leather goods, and slaves.

The acquisition of wealth from these ventures eventually led to new values within the ruling class and new members of that class—the merchants. These emerging values played a crucial role in shaping modern social stratification and the formation of nation-states.

The merchants and their heirs, often referred to as the “nouveaux riches,” found themselves beyond the control of the aristocracy. With the support of imperialists, they absorbed ancient traditional kingdoms, uniting them into regional and national entities under their control. In the following discussion, we’ll explore the process by which this transformation occurred.

The Creation and Evolution of Capitalism and Its Effects in Colonial Northern Nigeria

1. The Birth of Capitalism

In the earlier societies we explored, none of the factors of production were treated as commodities. For instance, consider labour: throughout history, people worked, but during feudal times, this labour was not sold or rented to the aristocrats. Instead, a portion of the talakawa’s harvests was forcibly taken. The tools of production—such as hoes and cutlasses—were often crafted by the talakawa themselves or by craftsmen from the same fief. In exchange for these tools, the talakawa provided food to the craftsmen. Land, too, was never treated as a commodity. The sarakuna never sold it; such an idea would have been unthinkable. Land ownership was either inherited or forever out of reach.

The process by which these factors became commodities began with the development of shipbuilding in Europe and advancements in sea navigation. European merchants traded vast distances, shipping wool from England to places like Shanghai in exchange for silk and other Asian goods. Upon returning to England, they exchanged these acquired goods for even more wool than they had initially started with. The traded products gained international value through these exchanges, and those involved in their production or sale amassed significant wealth.

By observing these nouveau riche individuals—whom they considered social inferiors—amassing fortunes that threatened to overshadow their own, English aristocrats adopted a classic strategy: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” They disrupted the existing system built by their ancestors. They uprooted perishable crops that lacked international value and fenced off their land. Peasants who had lived on that land for generations were evicted and replaced with sheep, whose wool could fetch a healthy price in international markets. It is estimated that around 70 per cent of the peasants were displaced during this transformation. Ultimately, this process turned Britain from a society with markets into a market society, effectively commodifying land and labour.

Indeed, the commodification of labour emerged from the basic human need to survive. As the newly evicted peasants wandered from village to village, desperate for sustenance and shelter, they knocked on countless doors, willing to do anything in exchange for those necessities. In this process, they unwittingly auctioned their labour, transforming themselves into the precursors of modern workers—the very traders of their own toil.

The land was commodified when aristocrats decided to lease it rather than directly oversee wool production. They set rental prices based on international market conditions. Some former serfs accepted these offers, as it was a choice between that or poverty. They signed leases hoping that selling wool in the market would cover rent and wages for other serfs working under them, with any leftover funds going toward their families’ sustenance. These transformations, coupled with the invention of the steam engine, eventually gave rise to what we now refer to as industrial society. This development reinforced the Great Contradiction: the simultaneous existence of unimaginable new wealth and unspeakable suffering. As a result, the inequalities that originated during the agricultural revolution, which we encountered previously, increased dramatically.

New creations also came about due to the birth of this new system, and the concept of debt has existed throughout human history. In simpler times, it might manifest as a neighbour helping another in need, with the recipient expressing gratitude by saying, “I owe you one.” No formal contract was necessary; both parties understood that the favour would eventually be repaid, settling their moral debt. However, with the advent of capitalism, this moral obligation became legal. Debt now comes with terms—precisely, exchange values. When a debtor borrows money, they agree to repay the original sum plus a little extra to compensate the creditor for granting the loan. This additional amount is known as interest.

Another new creation was the subversion of production by distribution; in the feudal system, the production process followed a specific order: serfs worked the land (production), feudal lords dispatched agents to collect rents (distribution), and any surplus from rent collection was converted into money. This allowed the lords to purchase, offer loans, and pay for services (credit-debit).

 However, under the new capitalist system, distribution began before production. Former serfs, now renting land from landowners, supervised the production of wool and crops for profit. But they needed capital upfront—for wages, seeds, and rent—before producing any goods. To acquire this capital, they turned to debt. Those who lent them money naturally expected interest as profit. Since all the production processes (wage payments, rent to the landowner, procurement of raw materials and tools) occurred before actual production commenced, distribution now preceded production, and debt became the primary lubricant driving the capitalist machine.

2. Capitalism and Imperialism in Northern Nigeria 

We previously touched upon the collaboration between imperialists and the nouveau riche, which is pivotal in shaping today’s social stratification and nation-states. The process unfolded through a series of significant events.

Firstly, colonial assaults weakened the power and economic position of the feudal aristocracy. Territorial fiefdoms were abolished, along with the economic foundations of feudalism—such as tribute, taxes, levies, tolls, and forced labour. The military hierarchy was dismantled, and the judicial powers of the feudal class were curtailed. These measures effectively stripped the feudal class of its political influence.

Subsequently, during independence movements, the imperialists lost ground to the merchant class. As political power shifted, so did economic power. The traditional elites—the former ruling class—also experienced this loss.

The new elites, primarily merchants, leveraged the state’s economic structure to accumulate wealth. They secured loans from state banks and participated in emerging enterprises. However, they didn’t entirely abandon the traditional aristocracy. Instead, they strategically married into feudal families, accepting honorific titles from kings. This move allowed them to invoke an ethnocentric ideology reminiscent of feudalism, defending the unity of the now-defunct feudal kingdoms and their values.

For instance, the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) was entangled with the emirs—a metamorphosis of feudal society in a new guise. Yet, the forces of modern capitalism compelled this new ruling class to target vital vantage points of feudal state power, which they perceived as impediments to the evolution of capitalism.

“All these forces transformed the merchant class into the new bourgeoisie in modern capitalist Northern Nigeria. This class spans both the public and large-scale, foreign-controlled capitalist sectors. Its dominant elements include administrative, managerial, and supervisory roles alongside local private capital and professional groups.

The arrival of oil revenue further strengthened the federal drive at the centre, led by the federal bureaucracy. This allowed the state to play a crucial role in creating a national base for capital accumulation. The state achieved this through infrastructure expansion, the development of a local financial system, the growth of state capital in industry and agriculture, and measures to increase local ownership and control.

Conclusion

The Nature of Capitalism

Throughout this journey, I have aimed to demonstrate that capitalism is not a natural system, as some claim, but rather a created system that evolved and transformed through historical conditions and forces. While capable of generating immense wealth and development, capitalism also bears the responsibility of allowing a select few to accumulate wealth at the expense of the majority, pushing the system to its limits.

Capitalism has historically experienced periods of crisis, but the current crisis extends beyond mere stagnation in productive forces. It encompasses a broader cultural, moral, political, and religious turmoil. The 2008 financial crisis marked a significant turning point. World capitalism has never fully recovered from that shock; massive government interventions were necessary to prevent total catastrophe. However, these measures led to uncontrolled inflation and substantial public, corporate, and private debt. 

Now, the entire process must reverse. The world hurtles toward an uncertain future marked by perpetual cycles of war, economic collapse, and increasing suffering. Even in the wealthiest nations, rising prices erode wages, while cuts to public services like healthcare and education exacerbate social inequalities. In poorer countries, millions face slow starvation, trapped by the grip of imperialist moneylenders.

The comforting myth of equal opportunity for every citizen has shattered. Obscene wealth flaunted alongside poverty, unemployment, and homelessness highlights the stark contrast. Capital increasingly concentrates in the hands of a few billionaires, giant banks, and corporations. We must seek a new system that acknowledges the unsustainable status quo and upholds the sanctity of life. The era of the sarakuna has ended, and the time has come for a new bourgeoisie to emerge. The shifting sands of the North must transform into an oasis of new ideas and a system dedicated to uplifting all.

By Aisha Musa Auyo

Hormones influence or determine a considerable percentage of our behaviours and physical appearance. If we say our hormones are what makes us, we won’t be exaggerating. Yet, we hardly discuss it. Yet very few know about it; very few believe in its impact. From genetics to behavioural scientists to physiologists and psychologists, these specialists believe in the power of hormones, especially in women. I will try my best to write in the simplest language possible so that I will not suffocate you with medical jargon.

Hormones are chemicals that coordinate different bodily functions by carrying messages through the blood to the various organs, the skin, muscles, and other tissues. Hormones are the signals that tell your body what to do and when to do it. There is no gainsaying, therefore, that hormones are essential for life and health. So far, scientists have identified over 50 hormones in the human body.

 Hormones control many bodily processes, including metabolism, homeostasis (constant internal balance), such as blood pressure and blood sugar regulation, fluid (water) and electrolyte balance, body temperature, growth and development. Hormones also affect sexual function, reproduction, sleep-wake cycle, and mood.

With hormones, a little bit goes a long way. Because of this, minor changes in levels can cause significant changes to your body and lead to certain conditions that require medical attention. The levels and nature of hormones in the body correlate with our moods, sense of smell, body odour, taste buds, thinking faculty, energy, and looks. 

In this week’s outing, I will start with women, as they are the gender whose hormones have a greater influence and impact on their lives. If you have a woman in your life, regardless of your relationship with her, know that hormones are constantly influencing her. 

Growing up and transitioning into a woman is a roller-coaster of emotional and physical changes. There will be noticeable differences in her attitude, looks, behaviour, and even how she smells. There will be irritability, sadness, and heightened or lowered confidence.

Women have heightened hormonal influence during certain periods. When she grows from a girl to an adult, when she’s ovulating, and at different times when she is on her monthly period. There is a hormonal influence in pregnancy when she is breastfeeding and when she is using hormonal contraceptives. There is yet another hormonal issue at menopause, just as it is at adolescence. 

A few days to menstrual onset (ovulation periods), a woman experiences a libido boost, appetite changes, heightened sense of smell and mood changes…usually in a good mood. But, during the onset of their period, a woman will experience cramps, dizziness, bloating, acne breakout, feeling tired, and mood swings…sadness, anger and anxiety. It isjust a roller-coaster of feelings and emotions. 

When pregnant (this should be a topic of its own), a woman is most likely to experience, among other things, morning sickness, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting; strange food cravings; fatigue; heightened sense of smell; forgetfulness; lack of patience; and crying for no explicit reasons. Bro, be patient and empathic; it’s beyond her. 

Then there comes the postpartum and breastfeeding period, which is associated with crying, difficulty in making decisions, lack of sleep or oversleeping, tiredness, mood swings, etc. Not infrequently, a woman may fall into depression at this phase. 

Then, there are issues relating to the use of contraceptives. These range from headache, migraine, acne, weight loss or gain, hair loss, smooth skin, dryness, and mood swings. The signs are numerous, depending on the woman and the type of contraceptives used.

Then, there is the advent of menopause, which comes with palpitations, hot or cold flashes, difficulty sleeping, tiredness and irritability, dryness and a whole lot of other changes.

Have you ever noticed how a woman can be so lovely today and nasty the next day for no reason? Have you ever seen a woman cry just like that? Have you ever seen a woman with clear skin today and skin full of rashes or acne tomorrow? Have you ever noticed that a woman can be thin today and bloated the day after? Know that these amazing, dramatic transformations result from the interplay of hormones. You have to be tolerant, understanding, and kind.

As a husband, father, son, brother, or friend, you need to understand the complexities of hormones in women to a certain level. This will help you make informed decisions about certain behaviours. This might help explain some oddities in women’s behaviour you experience or notice. The knowledge will help you and be the person she needs during those trying periods.

Sometimes, all a woman needs is space, silence, patience, kind words, empathy, massages, or a shoulder to cry on (that is, if she’s your wife, yauwa!). Chocolates, a listening ear, a credit alert (LOL!), hot tea, a pain killer, or taking her on a walk may be the healing or soothing balm.

The above is just a summary of what women go through. I will expound on each stage in subsequent editions, each stage as a topic of itself, and see how we can navigate through each milestone of hormonal symphony and the complexities of women’s health and emotions. Insha Allah.

Dear reader, but do you know that men, too, have hormones and emotional issues which we overlook? From childhood to adolescence and adulthood, men also come under certain societal expectations and pressure to suppress their feelings. I will try to summarise that in my next article.

Aisha Musa Auyo is a Doctorate researcher in Educational Psychology, a wife, a mother of three, a homemaker, a chef, and a parenting/ relationship coach. She can be reached via aishamuauyo@live.co.uk.

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

The history of Islam – and religion in general – in post-colonial Nigeria is incomplete without a detailed analysis of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN). All the important Muslim figures, including politicians like Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna and MKO Abiola; scholars like Sheikh Mahmud Gummi, Sheikh Sherif Ibrahim Saleh and Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Lemu; intellectuals like Professor Oloyede, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Malam Ibrahim Sulaiman and Prof. Salisu Shehu; traditional leaders like Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano, Emir Maigwari of Birnin Gwari; Aree Musulmi Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao; accomplished Muslim women like Alhaja Latifat Okunnu and Hajiya Aisha B. Lemu or distinguished business persons and technocrats; will all have a mutilated history of religious engagement if the chapter of their engagement with the MSSN is removed from their biographies.

These people (mentioned above) interacted with the MSSN as mentors, some as members, some as patrons, others as leaders, and so on. However, their relationship with the MSSN is vital because it is direct, mutually beneficial, and socio-religiously impactful. In case you did not know, the MSSN nominated Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gummi for the prestigious King Faisal International Award. When Hajiya Aisha Lemu came to Nigeria, she asked her husband, Sheikh Lemu, to link her up with the MSSN. And so is the story with almost every educated Muslim in Nigeria.

As an intellectual, reformist, ideological, moderate and resilient Islamic movement, the MSSN, in the last 70 years, remained the primary engineroom of Muslim intellectual development and the religious focus for Muslims. MSSN promotes the pursuit of Western-style education without compromising the Islamic faith. It encourages Muslims to learn from the West without being Westernized, to pursue “secular” education without embracing secularism, and to excel in all specializations without deviation. In MSSN, people learn how to learn, plan, earn, and live a life of faith, health, and wealth. It strikes a balance between the spiritual and the mundane, the worldly and the otherworldly. MSSN, in short, is a blessing to the Muslim Ummah and the entire Nigeria.

The primary operational arena of the MSSN has always been the academic institutions. While secondary schools are the recruitment centres of new members and the place where they are vaccinated with a sufficient dosage of spiritual, ideological and moral training, the higher institutions, particularly Universities, have remained the bastions of advancing the intellectual capacity, religious consciousness, leadership acumen and civilizational alertness of Muslim students. The Universities, in particular, have been the arenas where the philosophy of MSSN is built, its vision formulated, its projects designed, its programmes implemented, its members developed, its objectives pursued, its impact felt, and its strength consolidated. This has been the case since the 1960s when it was only about a decade old.

In this regard, three universities in particular distinguished themselves as the strongholds of the MSSN in its early history (especially from the 1970s to the 1980s): Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), University of Ibadan (UI) and Bayero University Kano (BUK). Details of how this happened are beyond this piece. But what suffices here is the fact that ABU and BUK took centre stage as the rallying point of young MSSN intellectuals, especially those who grew to be (among) the topmost Muslim intellectuals of the North, especially from the 1970s, at the peak of the booming days of communism and Marxism on Nigerian university campuses. It was then that emerging scholars like Malam Ibrahim Sulaiman, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, Prof. Auwal Yadudu, Dr Usman Bugaje, Prof. Ibrahim Naiya Sada, and a host of other MSSN leaders took the pen and the pain to counter the bane of the Ummah: they faced the challenge posed by the anti-religious radical left-wing Marxist socialist intellectuals. They wrote papers, presented lectures, engaged in debates, published magazines, made press releases and participated in on-campus and off-campus national discourses.

At the peak of the intellectual engagements of the MSSN in the late 70s came the Iranian Revolution. Since MSSN is an Islamic reformist movement, it was easy for it to join the global Muslim community in celebrating the emergence of the Iranian Revolution spearheaded by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 while the first generation of the MSSN intellectuals had graduated from the universities, even as they maintained contact with the Society’s leaders and members.

When Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who was then the Vice President (International) of the society and among the few remaining older members on campus, represented it at an event in Iran, little did anyone know that the visit would open a new chapter not only in the MSSN movement but in the entire history of Islam in Nigeria. What did he do in Iran? How was he received? How did he receive their reception? What did he do after his return home? How, when, where did he start promoting Shiism? What was the reaction of the MSSN intellectuals? What then happened? The answers to these and many related questions are still scantly discussed, even in the highly scanty historical documentation of the MSSN itself. This is despite the importance of that discourse in the history of MSSN and Islam in Northern Nigeria.

By April 18 2024, MSSN had turned 70 years in its history. As part of the celebration of the Platinum Jubilee, a book was launched with the title MSSN @ 70: The Evolution, Success and Challenges of the “A” Zone, Northern States and the FCT. In this book, many actors like Dr. Usman Bugaje, Prof. Idris Bugaje, Barr. Muzammil Hanga, Alahaji Babagana Aji, etcetera shared illuminating perspectives about the MSSN in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The book provides valuable insights into the events that culminated in El-Zakzaky’s embracing Shiism and his subsequent everlastingly irrevocable divorce from the MSSN. The book contains a rich rendition of events in the MSSN. Due to this, I wrote its review (on June 6 2024) on Facebook, mainly referring to El-Zakzaky’s Shi’ism-MSSN matter.

In the review, I referred to “how El-Zakzaky clandestinely planned to divert the MSSN to Shiism and how men like Dr. Bugaje and others were able to tackle him and save the Society from his sinister objectives”. But that led to a fascinating written conversation with Dr Abdulbasit Kassim; that bookworm was highly prolific and inquisitive but often interpreted by some as a “controversial” emerging Nigerian intellectual. Dr. Kassim is interested in African Islamic movements and has written extensively on important contemporary topics like Boko Haram, Salafism, Arabic manuscripts, Islamic intellectual developments in sub-Saharan Africa, and other issues. He raised questions. Our elder scholar-intellectual, Malam Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa, made clarifications. I responded. And the conversation continued. I share the interesting scholarly engagement with you here verbatim.

Dr. Abdulbasit Kassim wrote:

“Brilliant and timely! This book is an excellent sequel to Professor Siraj Abdulkarim’s “Religion and Development: The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria and its Contribution to National Development,” published in 2014. I highly recommend that MSSN A Zone create a digital archive of all the issues of Radiance Magazine and other publications published throughout the 80s and ’90s. If digitized, this repository would be a vital primary source collection for those seeking to learn more about the evolution of the organization and the ebbs and flows of ideational shifts of its leaders. 

“While I wait to read this book, I have a brief comment about the oft-repeated attempt to single out Zakzaky for his supposed “clandestine role of smuggling Shiism into MSSN.” This framing of Zakzaky, in my opinion, is a half-truth. A close reading of all the catalogue of articles our fathers published in the 80s and 90s about the Islamic Revolution in Iran belie the narrative they sometimes portray about their ignorance of the creedal orientation of the Iranian government. 

“Zakzaky was not a lone actor in that milieu. Several leaders of the MSSN, including my honoured father, Mallam Ibraheem Suleiman, wrote articles in New Nigerian, Triumph Newspaper, and Radiance magazine that were covertly and overtly sympathetic to Shiism. On March 3 1989, Dr Aliyu Tilde wrote “On the Path,” praising Zakzaky for leading the Iranian-style Islamic revolution in Nigeria. Dr Tilde wrote this letter nine years after Zakzaky publicly espoused his Shii affiliation at the Funtua Declaration on May 5 1980. Inayat Ittihad, the spokesman of the Iranian Revolution, was a regular keynote speaker at the International Islamic Seminar on Muslim Movements organized by MSSN at BUK in the early 80s. Inayat was public about his Shii creedal orientation. He preached the “Khomeini Model” to the MSSN members. At the same time, Sayyid Sadiq Al-Mahdi advocated for the Mahdiyya model in the struggle to achieve Islamic change.

“Although most MSSN leaders have embraced new ideological currents, it is important for our fathers to be honest in acknowledging their transitional phases and the seismic shifts in their orientations rather than scapegoating Zakzaky alone. The ebb and flow of ideations was not limited to Pantami alone. The ‎التراجعات was a common feature of all the prominent Muslim figures in the 80s and 90s, including Mallam Ibrahim Ado, whose translator’s introduction of Jihad in Kano captured the prevalent thought in that milieu. Even Zakzaky has passed through different ideological phases, such as Mallam Abubakar Mujahid et al. It is important to tell the complete story and explain the nitty-gritty nuances.

“I hope this book sheds light on the relationship between MSSN and IIFSO. I am also quite curious to read what the MSSN leaders wrote about the ideological proteges of Aminu Kano and the firebrand radicals who inherited the radical struggle against the feudal rulership in northern Nigeria, the likes of Balarabe Musa, Abubakar Rimi, Gambo Sawaba, Bala Muhammad, Sule Lamido, Ayesha Imam, Bala Takaya, Shehu Umar Abdullahi, Bala Usman and Yohanna Madaki. Some of these figures were the ideological adversaries of the MSSN leaders. 

“Congratulations to you, Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido. May Allah reward all the contributors who have documented the history of MSSN.

The following is my repose: 

Dr. Abdulbasit Kassim!  

Thank you for this intervention. As always, I like your consistency in trying to checkmate our intellectuals, especially what you see as their “methodology” of rendering historical narratives, which often presents “half-truth” and “belied” narratives. I believe your intervention is a continuation of your championing of suppressed history. Of course, just as you question these scholars and activists for always trying to give “half-truth” or one-sided aspects of history, so are others quick to read the same bias in virtually all your interventions on such matters. But that is what perspectives always mean.

You see, while I like us always to try to query narratives and ensure we get all the bits of it to have a comprehensive, nuanced reading of history, I doubt if defending the supposed “other side” at all costs will help us either. What seems clear is that you mistake being “sympathetic” to the Iranian Revolution or the “Khomeini Model” as being the same as accepting the “creedal orientation” of Iran. This, indeed, is misleading. Again, what escapes you is that Zakzaky never agreed to accept that he was Shia at that early time. He, in fact, “overtly and covertly” rejected being associated with Shi’ism. He was always quick to insist he was Sunni, Maliki. You can check that. However, even the Iranians who kept sending books to the students only sent books on Revolution, governance, justice, civilization, etc. 

By the way, I have not seen in your intervention here any substantial evidence to support your claim that “a close reading of all the catalogue of articles our farmers published in the 80s and 90s belie the narrative they sometimes portray about their ignorance of the creedal orientation of the Iranian government”. What I expected to see was where Malam Ibraheem Suleiman, Dr Tilde or any one of them declared or promoted the Shiite creed, not just showing sympathy to Iran. And I still need evidence to understand how “Zakzaky was not alone in that milieu”. Who and who were with him in promoting Shi’ism at that early stage? At least those “our fathers” have told us that not sooner than Zakzaky returned from his visit to Iran did they realize he had shifted from only romancing the Iranian Revolution to promoting strange ideologies. Immediately, people close to him started to caution the younger ones. And what I found in the narrative of Malam Baba Gana Aji in the MSSN @ 70 book is how Zakzaky got the opportunity, after most elders had left campus, to be virtually the only elder around and, therefore, take total control of contact with the younger ones.

Now, is it also part of the “belied” narratives that El-Zakzaky was alone when he started organizing what came to be known as “extension” after the Islamic Vacation Course (IVC)? Who was with him, please? Is it also “half-truth” that people like Dr Bugaje and others who later formed the Muslim Ummah were against him immediately after Zakzaky started his Shi’ism? Any evidence to the contrary? Is it also not true that people like Ustaz Abubakar Mujahid only continued to be with Zakzaky for some time because they liked the Iranian Revolution even as they disliked the Iranian Ccreed Are you saying there were no people who followed Zakzaky for some time while insisting they were Sunnis? Why were some people called yan karangiya by those in Zakzaky’s camp due to their anti-Shiism-pro-revolution posture even later? 

It is good that we study the issues and learn more about history than our assumption of reading “all the catalogue of articles” from the 80s and 90s. When we do so, perhaps we will be more educated about the matters and then see the apparent difference between sympathizing with the Iranian Revolution and embracing Shi’ism, especially at that time. 

But the fact that the MSSN was a group of people trying to bring societal change based on Islam, it should not be difficult for one to understand how easy it was for the MSSN to sympathize with whoever declared an Islamic Revolution at that time. By the way, praising and sympathizing with the Iranian Revolution was a common thing in the Muslim world, even among the global Sunni population. Even Azhar scholars could agree to work with Iran to unite Muslims and many of them after the Revolution. Scholars like Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi also joined their call for taqreeb. They only abandoned that project and often declared them hypocrites or so after discovering that they were using that to spread their Shiite creed. Could these scholars accept the “creedal orientation of the Iranian government”? 

You see, to date, some of the older MSSN people will still insist that they like the “Khomeini Model” of establishing an Islamic government, but they never like his creedal “model”. At least you have read one from one of our elders here. 

So, please, let’s expand our reading of the issues and understand them more.

Mal Ibrahim Ado Kurawa wrote:

“Professor Abdulbasit Kassim, I agree with you entirely, even though I haven’t been privileged to see the MSSN book. It is not unusual for people to follow different trajectories. I visited Iran in 1983. I didn’t like their Shiism but still respect their Muslim solidarity, so we indeed need a complete story. When the Iranians came to Nigeria, they didn’t begin by openly preaching Shiism. They even promised to translate the books of the Sokoto Jihad leaders, which they had never done then. They began propagating Shiism after Zakzaky accepted to become one. My last physical encounter with Zakzaky was in Makkah in 1984. Some of us left him to seek knowledge in Egypt and Saudi. Therefore, I cannot recall what transpired thereafter.”

After the above intervention by our elder brother, Dr. Abdulbasit Kasim wrote 

“Jazakallahu Khairan Amir Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido. May Allah reward you for your intervention and continue to guide and direct our affairs. Amīn. There is a famous saying that فللسؤال أهمية كبرى في طلب العلم فالأسئلة مفاتيح العلم (questioning is of great importance in seeking knowledge, for questions are the keys to knowledge.). This phrase is similar to what Imam al-Bāqillānī said العلم قفل ومفتاحه المسألة (Knowledge is a lock. And its key is questioning) and the well-known saying of Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī العلم سؤال وجواب (Knowledge is question and answer). The key to knowing for a seeker of knowledge is to ask questions with بلسان سؤول وقلب عقول (the tongue of a questioner and the heart of a thinker).”

My previous submission is devoid of malicious intent (an apology for the use of the word “belie” or “half-truth”) or an attempt to validate predetermined frames and outcomes. Instead, it is solely aimed at reconciling competing and sometimes contradictory interpretations of events that took place in the past. Alhamdulillah, no figures in MSSN I described as honoured fathers have ever ascribed ulterior motives to my questions. Since 2006, they have continuously accommodated the micro-details I pick up on and the torrent of questions I submit. I am indebted to them for granting me access to their libraries, encouraging critical historical questions, and helping me and other younger folks better understand where we are coming from and how we got where we are now. May Allah reward them abundantly in this world and the hereafter. Amīn. 

”How do we know what happened in the past? This mutual exchange is aimed at reading against the grain, reading between the lines, paying attention to what is not said, and listening to silences and absences by carefully engaging in comprehensive evaluation and chronological interrogation of a portfolio of primary sources generated contemporaneously that provide evidence or first-hand testimonies about the events in the 80s and 90s. While we respect our honoured fathers for their service to Islam, we must ask questions and subject the verbal and written testimony of events they present to us to thorough scrutiny by weighing, cross-referencing, or bringing their accounts into conversation with other disparate source materials and distinct authorial perspectives. This was the intent of my submission.

”The 11th February Revolution of Khomeini had a global appeal in the Muslim world. It had the Bin-Laden effect. What started as hysteria over the successful defeat of the Western colonial powers and their Arab secular puppet (the Shah regime) later transitioned into disillusionment after the creedal orientation of Khomeini became self-evident despite his call for Islamic unity. In Nigeria, the timeline of events could be traced from January 1980, when Zakzaky visited Iran and was reported to have personally met Imam Khomeini on his sickbed, to July 10 1994, when Shaykh Abubakar Mujahid and his followers in JTI successfully broke away from Zakzaky. 

“There was clear opposition from the MSSN leaders towards Zakzaky’s attempt to spread Shiism. This position was made clear by Shaykh Abubakar Mujahid during his 1998 interview when he said:“When he (Zakzaky) started he had not got any feeling towards Shiism. But at one point, when he started collecting money from Iran, they started bringing Shiism. What we did, we said no. Their beliefs and our beliefs are not the same. We operate the Mālikī School of Thought. They operate the Jaʿfarī School of Thought, so a clash will occur. Why don’t we go on with our revolutionary zeal, which was gaining momentum at the time, rather than bring this Shia? The people at the beginning were accusing us of being Shia, which we were not. Then they understood we weren’t so they started joining, and if we turned around and became Shia, we would be deceiving them. In 1989, he came back from prison in Port Harcourt. When we saw these moves in Shiism, we started to preach against them. That is, the members of the group who were entering Shiism, we preached against them, saying we are not Shia. We will not do Shiism, we will do the Maliki School of Thought.” [End of Quote]

“Before gaining further clarity from you, Amir, and our honored father, Mallam Ibrahim Ado, I struggled to reconcile the clear oppositional stance of the MSSN leaders towards Zakzaky’s Shiism with their admiration and reproduction of articles on the central tenet of the “Khomeini Model of Islamic Governance,” which revolved around the concept of “Wilāyat al-Faqīh.” My brain could not process why MSSN leaders would preach against Shiism yet write editorials and articles on Wilāyat al-Faqīh – a political theology Khomeini popularized in Iran with copious citations from the works of Shi’i theologians, including Mullah Ahmad Naraqi, Muhammad Hussain Naini, and Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. If I could recall accurately, Mallam Ibraheem A. Waziri and Dr. Muhammad S Balogun once had an exchange about this subject in the past. 

“No doubt, our honored fathers yearned for Islamic models for societal change. They read and learned about Muslim movements across different historical periods, seeking a common method of formation, mobilization, and strategy that Muslims could utilize in the struggle to achieve Islamic change. The Khomeini, Fodiawa, and Mahdiyya models were some of the models they wrote about in the 1980s and 90s in their attempt to awaken the Muslim population to Islamic societal change. 

“What I learned from this exchange is that even when the MSSN leaders wrote about the “Khomeini Model of Islamic Governance” and the concept of “Wilāyat al-Faqīh,” they approached the idea as a political model without embracing the Shi’i creedal component Khomeini deployed to legitimize the concept as a political theology. 

“Let me conclude by saying once again Jazakallahu Khairan for providing safe spaces of dialogue and intellectual engagement where curious seekers of knowledge can ask the who, what, where, when, why, and how historical questions without invoking the binary of he belongs to “our side vs. their side” or “us vs. them” dichotomies. As Ibn Hazm said صفة سؤال المُتعلِّم هو أن تسأل عمَّا لا تدري لا عمَّا تدري (The characteristic of a learner’s question is to ask about what they do not know, not about what they do know.) The more we ask questions and try to reconcile competing ideas and narratives, the more we gain a comprehensive picture of the past.

Abdullahi Lamido responded 

Abdulbasit Kassim Masha Allah Prof. May Allah reward us all and bless our little efforts. You know, we are all passengers in the train of never-ending learning or what is called life-long learning. Interestingly, that is the first thing we learnt from the MSSN; that learning begins from the cradle and only ends in the grave. So, we always pray to Allah for more knowledge using the “And say O Lord increase me in knowledge” formula. We “ask those who know” so as to unlearn, learn and relearn.  

Through our usual lengthy, fruitful phone engagements with you (which often take us between two and four hours), I know that you are not only a scholar but one who is serious about learning. I have also understood that your questions are born out of an insatiable curiosity, a burning desire to know more and more and more. And I understand this further through your acceptance of every single issue where stronger evidence becomes clear to you. Unfortunately, not every social media friend of yours has the opportunity to have such heart-to-heart, deep, mutual scholarly engagements with you. 

However, the more interesting thing to me is the quantum of knowledge I gain from you via such amicable, mutual exchanges. I often deliberately bombard you with questions to trigger powerful, fact-supported responses that are usually backed by numerous references from books I have never read. I do not even have the time and energy to read them. You read too much!

Back to the “Khomeini Model” and the “Wilayat al-Faqih” question. As you rightly said, Wilayat al-Faqih is essentially a political concept and a convenient political instrument Khomeini used to establish the legitimacy of his Revolution and government. It is not fundamentally a theological concept. That is why he was comfortable spreading it even before starting to export his Shiite creed. And by the way he needed it at that time… 

Secondly, you seem to think that our fathers who were in the MSSN at that time had a prior sufficient knowledge of what Shi’ism entailed. No. Shi’ism had never been present in our community. So, nobody knew it. After all, those our fathers were not even necessarily deep in the knowledge of Sunnah and even the dominant Maliki jurisprudence back then. Their main sources of Islamic knowledge were the English translations of ikhwan books coming from Egypt and those coming from Pakistan. You should not expect them to just easily detect the traces of Shi’ism by mere reading a seemingly innocent political concept even when it was supported by Shiite authorities who, by the way, were not known here. 

I thank you very much and pray that this useful intellectual discussion will continue. And I look forward to reading your review of the MSSN @70 Book Insha Allah. 

Greetings to the family. 

Wasallam 

Finally, Dr. Abdulbasit Wrote

“Jazakallahu Khairan Amir Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido. May Allah reward you for helping me and other young folks to better understand the complexities of the history of Islamic thought. 

“Thank you for being generous with your time. I appreciate your patience and willingness to clarify all the torrent of questions on Wilāyat al-Faqīh that came up during our lengthy phone conversation. 

“May Allah reward you and all our fathers at MSSN who served the organization with the sole aim of uplifting the Dīn. May Allah bless the publisher, editors and contributors who worked on the book project. In sha Allah, I look forward to learning more from you and all our honoured fathers. 

“As promised, In sha Allah, once I receive the copies of the MSSN @70, I will distribute the book to different libraries where more people can access, read, and cite it in their research and writing. 

“Extend my Salam to the family. 

Wa Alaykum Salam.”

Conclusion

I have learned from the above engagement that there is a need to write more about the MSSN and its evolution and contributions to national development. A lot is missing and in need regarding the written history of MSSN and other Islamic organizations in Nigeria. May Allah bless our little efforts and grant us enormous rewards for them.

 Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido can be contacted via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Jamilu M. Magaji

In the weaving of life, exceptional individuals leave a lasting impression on the hearts and minds of those they meet. Today, I grieve the loss of a truly extraordinary person who exemplified greatness through his steadfast dedication to his beliefs, compassion for humanity, and inspiring leadership that influenced many lives.

I was tidying up titbits for the June issue of FUBK Chronicle Magazine when I received a call from my former senior colleague, Mal. Abubakar Adamu recently retired from Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK). He delivered the shocking news that prevented me from continuing my work until the following day. Social media was flooded with continuous updates on the tragic event. I hurried to pick up my children from school and return home, filled with sorrow and dismay.

When I joined the services of FUBK in 2014, I questioned the future of my career progression in the newly established institution. I pondered the obstacles of starting a new department, particularly as a founding staff member. My encounter with Prof. Yusuf Saidu proved to be fruitful. I worked closely with him for nearly seven years, serving as Chairman and Secretary of various committees. He was crucial in establishing the Federal University Birnin Kebbi Seminar Series as the founding Chairman in 2015.

Prof. Yusuf Saidu exemplified integrity and exceptional qualities. His extensive administrative and professional expertise positively influenced my professional development and the institution we both served. I believed he was destined for greater achievements. His diligent work ethic and inspiring nature served as a beacon of motivation for many. His leadership approach was exceptional, earning trust in carrying out demanding tasks assigned to him.

Yusuf Saidu is a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Nigeria. He graduated in 1990 with a B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from UDUS, winning the Northco Holdings prize for the best-graduating student in Biochemistry. He obtained an M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Jos in 1994 with distinction and had his PhD in Biochemistry from the UDUS in 2005. 

Bandits killed Prof. Yusuf Saidu on June 24, 2024, en route to Kaduna for an official engagement. Until his sudden death, Prof. Saidu was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Development of UDUS. He was the Director Research, Innovation and Development, UDUS and the University Governing Council member representing Convocation. He served as a member of the TETFUND Standing Committee on Research and Development and a member of the National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee. He was equally a member of the Education and Training Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Prof. Saidu was the Head, Department of Biochemistry, UDUS (2018-2020) and the pioneer Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University Birnin Kebbi. He also led many other ad-hoc and standing committees at UDUS and FUBK.

Prof. Saidu, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FNSBMB), was widely published with over 100 papers and three (3) patents to his credit. He attracted research grants from the Education Trust Fund (now Tertiary Education Trust Fund), Abuja, Nigeria; the International Foundation for Science (IFS), Sweden; Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and Science and Technology Education Post Basic (STEP-B). His research interests are in oxidative stress and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus/hypertension, as well as the elucidation of the mechanism of action of medicinal plants used to manage diabetes mellitus and infant and preschool children.

As a visionary leader, Prof. Yusuf Saidu motivated others to achieve their full potential and strive for excellence in all their endeavours. He set a remarkable example, guiding them with wisdom, patience, and unwavering support. His ability to lead with integrity and humility earned him the respect and admiration of all his colleagues, leaving behind a legacy of empowerment and growth that continues to influence those he mentored.

In 2021, I paid tribute to his appointment as the pioneer Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research, Innovation, and Development at UDUS. I recalled a citation from Prof. Sahabi Danladi Mahuta during Prof. Yusuf Saidu’s inaugural lecture in 2017, where he boasted of having a great friend in Prof. Saidu. I, too, celebrated and acknowledged him as a remarkable mentor. Today, with a sense of longing, I mourn the loss of my esteemed mentor.

Prof. Saidu was a leader, mentor and guiding light in a world often clouded by darkness. His remarkable attributes, profound religious dedication, compassionate qualities, and forward-thinking leadership have had a lasting impact on all who know him. As we say goodbye to a cherished mentor and father, let us carry on his legacy of love, empathy, and leadership, ensuring that his memory remains alive in those he influenced and guided.

I express my sincere condolences to the immediate family of the deceased. I also sympathise with all his extended family members in the academic community at UDUS, UNIJOS, FUBK and the entire country.

May his spirit continue to inspire us, his light keep shining brightly, and his legacy of exceptionalism always be cherished in our hearts. May Allah (SWT) grant him eternal bliss in Aljannah. Ameen

Malam Jamilu Magaji, Head of Information and Public Relations at Federal University Birnin Kebbi, wrote via mjmagaji@gmail.com.

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

I had not written anything for publication in a while. I had been occupied with things that reduced my little intervention on critical issues, which I have done over the years. However, I believe it won’t be right if I do not express myself and forward my position at this material time for posterity. This may be misconstrued or rightly received as my little contribution to the progress of our beloved state.

Governor Agbu Kefas’s administration has started on a good footing based on the yardstick of development in nature’s gift to the nation. The last few years have been extremely tough for Nigeria as a nation. This was compounded in the state by how the previous administration had handled the affairs of the state.

Hence, it is a complete deviation from the recent past and a potentially breakthrough moment for the state that has everything to be one of the most developed states, with years of constant progress judging by how endowed the state is.

However, despite modest attempts by successive administrations, the state has not sailed through.  Thus, it is yet to prevail over the tempestuous murky waters of politics, let alone be set for developmental strides worthy of the state’s potentialities.

Governor Agbu Kefas came into power at the most polarised moment in our history. The state was sharply divided along religious, toxic partisan, and ethnic lines. All those in the state during the electioneering period witnessed it as akin to a war. The worst of Tarabans came to bear most glaringly. The quest for power destroyed relationships that had taken decades to build.

Therefore, the next governor of Taraba would meet strenuous tasks and a problematic start that could threaten to crumble what was left of the state. It would take extraordinary leadership acumen to overcome those things that have characteristically held up the state.

On 29 May 2023, Gov. Agbu Kefas assumed office as the governor of Taraba State, having been declared the winner of the 18 March 2023 Gubernatorial election. Legal battles ensued, and questions were raised about the credibility of the electoral victory. This is a major blame game point for leaders who do not want to work.

One that could be used as an excuse to cover for incompetence and outright leadership failure.  However, the governor chose otherwise to lessen the heated polity and unite the people by inclusion. This resolve to give Tarabans a sense of belonging by appointing more diverse Tarabans into various offices across the state has given Tarabans a new lease of life to participate more in acts that move the state forward.  Of course, the hitherto neglected have every reason to believe things can improve.

This ushered in an era when abandoned projects like the modern abattoir in Wuro Sembe, the most sought-after minimum wage that some states had implemented, and Taraba joined that masses-centred list with the governor’s pronouncement on the implementation of minimum wage.

The removal of the Petroleum Subsidy by Mr President, a single decision that has had far-reaching consequences on our economy, the people of Taraba state received the news of the implementation of the minimum wage with utter joy， as it would help in cushioning the effects of the hardship， pending on the completion of discussion on a new minimum wage to meet the realities of the moment by the Federal government and the labour union.

Governor Dantala Kefas has done relatively well in so many sectors that I am brimming with hope of a new, better, more inclusive Taraba where every  Taraban can aspire to become anything and live in an atmosphere conducive to their personal growth and collective development. This is most apparent in the education sector, where I am most concerned.

The Kefas administration has made education the cornerstone of its agenda. This has proved not mere rhetoric, as primary and secondary education have been free. This has drastically reduced the number of out-of-school children, reducing the likelihood of having children who could constitute a nuisance to society and fundamentally helping the state’s security. The administration has slashed a whopping 50℅ of the tuition fees in the state-owned tertiary institutions, reducing the financial burden on the parents in this cash-strapped country.

The administration has gone ahead to effect some major infrastructure changes, renovating and building infrastructures in the state’s owned institutions: Taraba State University,  College of Nursing and Midwifery, and College of Agriculture, which had yarned for development for decades, with little executed. Education is the bedrock of all development, as it is widely known and accepted. The Kefas administration has gotten it right by making it a core part of its administration agenda and going ahead and walking the talk.

Recently, the governor decided that all government principals would be given official cars. I have seen some objecting to it. I think it is the right step in the right direction. Teachers are nation builders and deserve to be treated as such. If elected and appointed government officials are given official vehicles, and we see nothing wrong with that, we should see nothing wrong with the same treatment to provide principals, who toil to pass knowledge and incalculate morals that build students who shape the destiny of our nation.

For Gov. Agbu Kefas, he has started well, given our history as a state, the state’s debt profile and the nation’s economic challenges. I can only employ him to do more, especially in areas of rural roads. This will open up the state more, allowing local farmers to sell their farm produce without much hassle. This singular effort will create room for more investors to come in. Agriculture alone can change the economic narrative of our state, let alone combined with other sectors, such as tourism and mining, to mention a few.

I come from a farming community, Sansani, Wuro Jam Ward, Gassol Local government, which has an unmotorable road. A deathtrap has hindered the village’s substantial Agricultural potential and denied so many farmers an opportunity to enjoy their hard-earned money. Massive amounts are always kept to pay exorbitant fares to transport their produce to the nearest big market.

Taraba is an Agrarian state. Farming communities like Sansani, Gassol, Wuro Jam, Sendirde, Takalafiya, Sheka, Dakka, Karim Lamido, and Kurmi, to mention a few, deserve to have good and qualitative roads that open up the state for more economic activities and accelerated economic growth， which translate to actual economic development.  Governor Kefas has started well. He should not deviate. I admonish him to keep increasing the tempo; he will leave a good legacy. Power is transient.

Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani is a former TV Presenter and producer at Haske TV， Jalingo， Taraba State.

By Sani Surajo Abubakar

Some days ago, Kano Government House was agog with guests from within and outside the country, primarily stakeholders in the education sector who thronged the state to witness the historic declaration of a state of emergency on education by the state government under the stewardship of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The declaration was necessitated by an alarming proliferation of out-of-school children, with its figure currently at 989,234 for both genders. This situation threatens to rob the entire generation of their education rights and a brighter future.

Dilapidated school structures, lack of instructional materials, a severe shortage of qualified teachers, and inadequate teacher training programs coupled with the socio-economic challenges in basic and post-basic schools across the state made learning and teaching challenging, if not impossible.

Statistics at government disposal indicate that out of the 42516 total classrooms available, a mere 22% meet the basic standard of habitability as nearly four out of every five classrooms in Kano’s primary and secondary schools are marred by dilapidation and disrepair, rendering them unsuitable for the noble pursuit of knowledge.

At the secondary school level, less than 30% of classrooms can be deemed habitable, leaving significant students of such schools grappling with inadequate facilities that impede their intellectual growth and development.

Looking at the science and technical schools, the pathetic story is the same, with less than 20% of classes meeting the essential criteria for habitability, making it difficult to nurture the next generation of scientists, IT experts and engineers when the very environments in which they are meant to learn are ripe with inadequacies and deficiencies.

Passionate and committed to rescuing the education sector from total collapse, on Saturday, 8th of June, 2024, the Kano State Government declared a state of emergency on education to address the critical challenges facing the sector with a clarion call to all the stakeholders to unite and prioritize the revitalization of the education system for the overall benefit of the society.

The cardinal aim of declaring a state of emergency on education was encapsulated in the overall vision for the education delivery in the state as articulated in a statement viz:

Every school, a good school; every child, enrolled in school; every student, an engaged learner; every teacher, a caring educator; every parent, a supportive partner; and your government, a committed investor in human capital development.

The declaration, as envisaged, will enable the government to mobilize resources, implement urgent reforms, and focus on strategic interventions that will rebuild educational infrastructure, provide necessary materials, and reclaim schools from encroachment.  


To ensure effective revitalization of the education sector, restore its lost glory and take Kano State to greater heights educationally, eleven robust commitments are put in place that include;

In the 2024 fiscal year, Kano State has made an unprecedented budgetary allocation of 29.95% to education. This was made based on the fact that significant financial resource allocation will address underfunding problems bedevilling the sector.

Two, for the smooth operation of basic and post-basic schools, restoration has been made for the payment of upkeep and overhead funds for all secondary schools in the state.  The timely release of the funds will allow schools to maintain their infrastructure, procure essential teaching and learning materials, and aid in conducive teaching and learning processes.

Third, plans have been made to build an additional 300 state-of-the-art laboratories across 100 schools in the state. The provision of such needed facilities will go a long way in providing students with hands-on experience in scientific inquiry, fostering a culture of experimentation and discovery needed for their future and success in their chosen endeavours. The provision of laboratories is another 300 earmarked for overhauling 100 secondary schools.

Four boarding secondary schools that were hitherto closed by the immediate past administration are to be reopened and re-boarded within the next academic year. Such schools provide a supportive environment for students, particularly those from remote areas or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Five, to consolidate the drive to improve the education sector, approval has been granted for a comprehensive renovation of all primary and secondary schools in the nooks and crannies of the state in the subsequent two academic sessions. In this regard, the Community Re-orientation Committee (CRC), Kwankwasiyya, Lafiya Jari, and Kano Pro-PA will handle minor repairs, while the Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) will shoulder all major repairs through competitive bidding.

Six, to achieve the commitment of clearing out of school children roaming the streets, 28,264 additional classrooms will be built across the state within the next three years to accommodate such children through the supervision of the Ministry of Education, SUBEB, and to be monitored by the Ministry of Project Monitoring.

Seven, to make pupils engage learners with utmost attention in their classrooms, arrangements are made to distribute free one-meal per pupil per day in all primary schools. The CRC, assiduously working as preparations, has hired cooks for the home-grown feeding program. This is in addition to the plan to re-introduce the distribution of free uniforms to all primary I pupils in all primary schools in the state.

Eight, to show a solid commitment to tackling teacher shortage and positively adjusting the students/teacher ratio, 5632 BESDA (Better Education Service Delivery for All) teachers were fully employed. Also, the governor has approved hiring an additional 10,000 teachers to go ahead with SUBEB to chart a training roaster for all teachers in the state government’s employment.

Nine arrangements are going on to commence the renovation of schools affected by fire outbreaks in the last eight years in Madobi, Gaya, Ajingi, Kiru, Dawakin Tofa, Kano Municipal, Gezawa, Kabo, Gwarzo, Dambatta and Bichi local governments respectively.

Similarly, in his second tenure, 44 schools for Islamic Studies and 44 Technical Colleges initiated by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso would be completed and put to use in earnest.

Ten, to boost the morale of teachers and prioritize their welfare for quality service delivery, approval has been granted for the disbursement of the sum of three hundred million naira as a revolving soft loan to primary school teachers in the state.

Eleven, as a government with a resolve to project Girl-Child-Education and reduce pressure on parents to transport their girls’ children to schools daily, 70 high-capacity buses are shuttling in the Kano metropolis for such purpose.

All the commitments stated above are in addition to other feats achieved that range from sponsoring 1001 first-class degree graduates for foreign post-graduate studies; settlement of registration fees for Kano indigenes studying in various higher institutions of learning across the nation; payment of NECO and NBAIS fess; renovation and upgrade of two bilingual academies of French and Chinese located at Kwankwaso town and Niamey, capital of Niger Republic to mention but a few.

With the above-stated commitments and concerted efforts of all the relevant stakeholders, one can optimistically conclude that Kano State has begun a journey of education transformations.

Sani is an Assistant Chief Information Officer at Government House, Kano

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgain

The former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Kaduna State Assembly. The lawsuit was presented today, Wednesday, at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

El-Rufai is demanding a public apology from the lawmakers for a report they published, which he claims defamed him and his cabinet. The State Assembly’s report alleged that the former governor misappropriated over ₦423 billion during his tenure.

El-Rufai’s legal team argues that the report is both false and malicious, designed to tarnish his reputation and discredit his administration’s achievements. They assert that the allegations have caused significant harm to his personal and professional standing.

The former governor, noted for his developmental policies and efforts to improve infrastructure and education in Kaduna State, has consistently defended his administration’s transparency and commitment to public service. He maintains that the Assembly’s allegations are politically motivated and lack any substantive evidence.

The legal proceedings have drawn significant attention, with many awaiting the court’s decision on the matter. The outcome of this case could have substantial implications for El-Rufai’s political future and the current political landscape in Kaduna State.

By Jamilu Uba Adamu

It’s impossible to start this column without some reflection, especially with my interest in Kano football history.

After holding its AGM meeting last week, the Kano State Football Association (KSFA) organised an award night to honour the achievement of some truly deserving individuals. 

For some reason, I have not been able to attend the event, but from the videos and the pictures I saw, the award night was a resounding success and full of important guests. 

The venue was beautifully decorated, and a giant screen was mounted on the stage with a background picture of each recipient of the award playing, just like we usually see at international events. 

It was top-notch, from the meeting to the plaque award presentation to the awardees. The awards themselves were a fitting tribute to the outstanding contributions of the honorees. 

It was a night to remember, and the Kano State Football Association, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Sharu Rabiu Inuwa Ahlan, has set a high standard. It deserves a standing ovation for organising an outstanding event. The efforts have made a significant impact.

Aside from all that, after going through the list of the award categories that include NLO Kano State Football Association Best Player, NPFL Best Player and SWAN Kano Chapter Award, a reflection that comes to my mind, especially considering my interest in the history aspect of sports, I observed that there is no inclusion of posthumous award category among the list. 

This means that as laudable as the award event is, there is no recognition for a posthumous award to those who deserved to be honoured for planting the seeds of the game of football in Kano long ago. It continues growing as we have it today. 

Those individuals are worth mentioning for special recognition for their contributions to nurturing the game and setting the pace we are following today. 

On such award occasions, the KSFA ought to create a posthumous award category for people like the Late Muhammadu Ɗanwawu Fagge, the man who led the legendary Kano XI to win the 1953 Challenge Cup and the sponsor of the defunct Ɗanwawu cup.

Pioneer Kano Pillars FC Chairman late Alh Isiyaku Muhammad (whom his blossom friend, Alh. Isiyaku Umar Tofa, on so many occasions, used to say it was him that convinced him to be sponsoring the Tofa Cup back then). 

Also, former Kano Pillars FC Chairman’s Late Alhaji Hassan Na-Abba, late ACP Sabo Abdullahi, Late Hon. Ɗanlami Hamza, Late Sani Muhammed Usman, and late Alh Kabiru Waya or even the famous legendary Kano XI squad, that consists of the Late Sidi Coach, Maxwell, and Okoh brothers, that won the first Kano state football trophy in far away Lagos in 1953, the list goes on.

Each of those mentioned above-listed individuals deserves to be posthumously awarded. I am sure honouring them this way can be an opportunity to celebrate a legacy, inspire others, and preserve history because omitting posthumous recognition can lead to forgotten legacies and leave a legacy uncelebrated.

With this, I urge the Kano State Football Association to, in the future event, seriously consider bestowing posthumous awards to these deserving historical individuals who put not only   Kano State but the whole of Northern Nigeria on a football map. 

Let me close by extending my wholehearted congratulations to Kano State Football Association and the awardees.

Jamilu Uba Adamu is a freelance sports writer and can be reached via jameelubaadamu@yahoo.com.

By Haroon Aremu

On a peaceful Sunday afternoon, I found myself immersed in the music of Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, a pioneer Fuji maestro known for his deep and meaningful lyrics that reflect Nigeria’s socio-political landscape. As I listened to a track titled “Adieu MKO,” which began with Nigeria’s newly adopted anthem, I was inspired to delve deeper into MKO Abiola’s legacy in relation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential journey and the adoption of the new anthem, as I began to wonder if all this could be a strategic message to Nigerians.

Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, a renowned Fuji musician, frequently added societal issues into his music, notably addressing the life and contributions of MKO Abiola. Barrister’s songs portrayed Abiola with admiration, acknowledging his philanthropy, political influence, and commitment to democracy. Barrister shared personal anecdotes, portraying Abiola as a humble figure despite his wealth and influence, creating a multifaceted portrayal of the Nigerian icon.

According to Historical research, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola began his journey from humble beginnings. Born into a low-income family in Abeokuta, Ogun State, he started earning money at a young age by performing odd jobs, including singing and drumming at events. His exceptional intelligence earned him a scholarship to attend the prestigious Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta. Later, he received a government scholarship to study at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he earned a degree in accountancy.

Beyond his political aspirations, Abiola was a successful businessman who built a vast business empire with interests in telecommunications, oil, and banking. He founded the telecommunications giant ITT Nigeria and was also involved in the publishing industry, owning newspapers like Concord Press. His philanthropy earned him the title of “Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland,” a highly esteemed traditional title.

Abiola is most famous for his presidential bid 1993, which is widely believed to have been the most free and fair election in Nigeria’s history. Despite winning, the election results were annulled by the then-military government led by General Ibrahim Babangida, leading to a significant political crisis. After declaring himself the rightful president of Nigeria, Abiola was arrested in 1994 by the military regime of General Sani Abacha. He remained in detention for four years and died under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998, the day he was due to be released.

Despite the controversies surrounding his death, Abiola’s legacy as a champion of democracy in Nigeria is honoured. In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously awarded him Nigeria’s highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), and declared June 12 as Democracy Day in recognition of his contribution to Nigeria’s democratic struggle.

Abiola was also a cultural figure with deep connections to the Yoruba cultural renaissance and promoted Nigerian culture globally. His influence extended beyond politics and business, impacting social and cultural spheres in Nigeria. He maintained extensive international connections in business and politics, improving Nigeria’s relations with other countries.

MKO Abiola embodied the patriotic spirit that “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” represented. As a businessman, philanthropist, and political leader, Abiola’s efforts were always aimed at uplifting Nigeria and contributing to its progress and unity.

The newly adopted anthem’s lyrics, emphasising unity and patriotism, reflect Abiola’s vision for Nigeria. He consistently advocated for a united Nigeria, free from the divisions that plagued the country. His presidential campaign in 1993 was a significant demonstration of his commitment to national unity and democracy.

Abiola’s contributions to Nigerian culture and his promotion of the Yoruba cultural renaissance align with the pride and national identity celebrated in “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.” He supported cultural initiatives to foster a sense of pride and belonging among Nigerians.

The anthem’s call to serve the nation resonates with Abiola’s extensive philanthropic activities. He invested in education, healthcare, and community development, reflecting the anthem’s spirit of dedication to the well-being of Nigeria and its people.

The period during which “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was the national anthem corresponds with a formative time in Nigeria’s political history, including the early years of independence. Abiola’s political career, especially his role in the 1993 presidential election, continues the struggles and aspirations encapsulated in the anthem.

With some sense of factual comparison, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s relationship with MKO Abiola reflects a shared commitment to democracy, justice, and the advancement of Nigeria. Both leaders believed in the country’s potential and actively worked towards its progress. Tinubu and Abiola were influential figures in Nigeria’s political landscape, with Abiola’s 1993 presidential bid resonating with Tinubu’s political aspirations and being associated with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Abiola’s leadership qualities, philanthropy, and vision for Nigeria deeply inspired Tinubu, who likely admired Abiola’s ability to connect with the masses and his unwavering dedication to democratic ideals. 

Like many other pro-democracy activists, Tinubu supported Abiola’s mandate and condemned the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, forging a bond rooted in shared democratic principles. Tinubu continued to champion democratic values, electoral reform, good governance, and the rule of law, echoing Abiola’s vision for a democratic Nigeria. 

Furthermore, both leaders have been actively involved in philanthropic activities and community development initiatives, aligning with Abiola’s legacy of social responsibility. The Fuji icon King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal has sung about Tinubu following Abiola’s legacy, highlighting their enduring connection and further reinforcing the significance of Abiola’s impact on Nigeria’s political landscape. 

Considering the recent anthem change by the president, one could perceive it as a message of togetherness and an assurance of following Abiola’s legacy, given the similarities between Abiola and Tinubu, including their association with Muslim-Muslim tickets and other shared values.

To President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I implore all citizens to wish and pray to God to grant him insight and foresight. Imight (strength) need to realise the democratic journey that Abiola envisioned.

Haroon Aremu Abiodun is a youth Corp Member with PRNigeria centre, Abuja and wrote in via exponentumera@gmail.com.