By Uzair Adam 

Three scholars from Bayero University, Kano (BUK), have been named among the top 2% of the world’s most influential scientists in the 2025 global ranking released by Stanford University in collaboration with Elsevier.

The Daily Reality reports that the list, which draws on data from the Scopus database, recognises researchers whose work is among the most cited worldwide. 

The ranking evaluates research impact using standardised metrics, including total citations, h-index, co-authorship-adjusted index (hm-index), and a composite indicator (c-score), across 22 fields and 174 subfields.

The BUK academics featured in the 2025 ranking are Professor Abdulrazaq Garba Habib of the Department of Internal Medicine, who ranks 82nd globally in Clinical Medicine, subfield Tropical Medicine, with an h-index of 11 and an hm-index of 5.

Dr. Sunusi Marwana Maniadan from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, ranked 4,131st in Enabling and Strategic Technologies, subfield Materials, with an h-index of 14 and an hm-index of 4. 

Dr. Isah Baba Abdullahi of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, ranked 142nd in Physics & Astronomy, subfield Mathematical Physics, holding an h-index of 8 and an hm-index of 4.

The Stanford-Elsevier ranking is widely regarded as one of the most credible indicators of scientific influence, spotlighting researchers whose work is highly cited and influential in their fields.

Commenting on the achievement, BUK Vice Chancellor, Professor Haruna Musa, described the recognition as a reflection of the university’s academic growth and research excellence on the global stage. 

The inclusion of these three scholars’ positions BUK among the select Nigerian universities with multiple entries in the prestigious annual ranking.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

A Nigerian senator has called on the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, to stop uniformed personnel at the country’s airports from begging travellers for money.

The appeal was made by Senator Osita Izunaso during an event in Abuja on Monday.

He described the conduct of some officials from agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service as a “national embarrassment” that tarnishes Nigeria’s image, especially for foreign visitors.

Izunaso specifically pointed out the practice of officials using excessive greetings like “Your boys are here, Sir!” as a subtle but widely understood demand for tips.

However, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Dr. Ike Neliaku, countered the claim, stating that he recently travelled through an international airport and experienced significant improvements with no such demands.

In response, the Minister of Aviation pledged that Nigeria would be ready to warmly welcome all visitors for the upcoming 2026 World Public Relations Forum, which the country is set to host.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

The Joint Union of Tertiary Institutions of Kaduna State (JUTIKS) has suspended its indefinite strike, bringing relief to students and staff across the state’s polytechnics and colleges of education.

The industrial action, which began on September 30, 2025, was called off on Monday, October 20, 2025, following a meeting between union leaders and the State Governor.

The strike was initiated to demand the implementation of a new CONPCASS/CONTEDISS salary structure, which had been stagnant for over 16 years, and the extension of the 65-year retirement age to include non-teaching staff.

According to a statement released by JUTIKS Chairman, Comrade Usman Shehu Suleiman, the Governor approved key demands during a meeting on October 17, 2025.

The government agreed to implement 70% of the 2024 CONPCASS/CONTEDISS salary structure, effective from the October 2025 payroll, and to include non-teaching staff in the 65-year retirement age policy.

“In view of the above, the leadership of JUTIKS hereby suspends the indefinite strike action with effect from today,” the statement read, directing all member unions to comply with the directive.

The union also expressed gratitude to its members for their “support and resilience” during the three-week strike.

Academic and non-academic activities are expected to resume immediately across the affected institutions.

By Uzair Adam

Governor Dauda Lawal has emphasized that addressing insecurity in Zamfara State remains a shared responsibility of his administration and all stakeholders.

He made the remark on Monday while presiding over the 18th Executive Council meeting at the Government House in Gusau.

A statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Suleiman Bala Idris, said the council deliberated on critical matters such as security, education, health, and infrastructural development, among others.In his opening remarks, Governor Lawal said, “I would like to remind us of our collective obligations in this administration concerning the fight against insecurity.

“We have made significant progress and succeeded in restoring relative calm to most areas of the state. The terror of bandits has been crippled, unlike in previous years.”

He urged council members to be proactive, maintain accessibility to their constituents and local government officials, and consistently provide reports to the Commissioner for Security.

“Let us pray for the souls of all our fallen heroes,” the governor added.

Governor Lawal also encouraged members of the council to build strong working relationships and ensure synergy with other political appointees and elected officials for better governance.

By Ibraheem A. Waziri

(My other essay, Against The Hadith Problem, discussed how Muslim empires in the past lived on a quartet of paradigms produced through the synthesis between the Qur’an, the body of Hadith, and reason. That provoked questions regarding the future of Muslim societies and states, hence these reflections and projections into 2075.)

It is 2075, and the world I walk through feels at once strange and familiar. The glass towers still gleam, drones still hum, algorithms still rule, yet beneath the circuitry there is a slower pulse: the rhythm of old fiqh and older faith.

For all our talk half a century ago of a secular age, the present belongs to hybridity. Constitutions speak the language of the Qur’an without calling it revelation. Western democracies borrow the moral grammar of Medina without feeling conquered. The four old schools of law (Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanafī and Ḥanbalī) and the three great theologies (Ashʿarī, Māturīdī and Atharī) are no longer museum exhibits. They are living systems quietly moderating the noise of modernity.

West Africa: The Mālikī Republics

I began this journey in Abuja. The city has doubled in size, but its heart beats in rhythm with the Mālikī canon. In the courthouse, digital panels display sections from Mukhtaṣar Khalīl beside constitutional clauses. When a judge calculates inheritance shares, the algorithm he uses is Mālikī too: transparent, fair and incorruptible.

Even non-Muslim states around the Sahel now use these formulas. Ghana’s civil code borrows Mālikī inheritance rules, while Benin’s marriage registry follows the Islamic ʿaqd nikāḥ (marital contract) model because it ensures equity and consent better than the older colonial templates.

Banking has gone moral. Nigeria’s hybrid finance sector runs on maṣlaḥa-based smart contracts, while interest systems survive only in history syllabi. The ulama sit on the Council of Moral Economies, auditing state budgets for ethical imbalance. “Sharia,” an elderly economist told me, “is not our government; it is our conscience.”

Arabia: The Neo-Atharī Technocracy

From the Sahel, I flew east to Riyadh. The skyline looks like circuitry: solar glass towers, sky bridges humming with data. The Atharī–Hanbalī paradigm still shapes law, but it is encoded now in a literal sense. Hanbalī jurists work with AI engineers who have trained “Hadith logic engines” to map rulings from canonical texts.

The constitution speaks of dual sovereignty: divine law for the moral order, human law for function. A court clerk showed me how every regulatory draft is first run through an algorithm trained on Ibn Ḥanbal and Ibn Taymiyyah, then reviewed by human jurists.

Even cinema has turned pious. Historical dramas about early scholars play in multiplexes. Young Saudis quote Ibn Ḥanbal as easily as they quote quantum code. The result is not rigidity but confidence. They see tradition not as a wall but as a coordinate system for the future.

Southeast Asia: The Shāfiʿī–Ashʿarī Democracy

Jakarta feels like the world’s conscience. The call to prayer threads through a metropolis of electric trams and vertical gardens. The parliament convenes only after the Majlis al-Maqāṣid, the Council of Objectives, certifies that each bill meets four of Sharia’s six ethical aims: life, intellect, property, faith, lineage and justice.

This “maqāṣid democracy” has become the envy of the developing world. Corruption is rare because legislation itself is filtered through moral metrics. University students still memorise al-Nawawī and al-Ghazālī, but they also code in Python and quote maqāṣid theory in debates on climate law.

Shāfiʿī jurisprudence has not stifled freedom; it has disciplined it. A new civic pride glows here. Islam and democracy are no longer hyphenated; they are married.

Ankara: The Ḥanafī–Māturīdī Continuum

And then there is Turkey, the quiet custodian of the Ottoman inheritance. Its universities still teach Māturīdī theology as the bridge between revelation and rationalism. The state calls itself secular, yet its courts and social policy breathe Ḥanafī air.

In 2075, the High Directorate of Moral Logic, a successor to the old Diyanet, reviews every national reform for philosophical balance: does it protect reason (aql) and faith (īmān) equally? The framework is pure Māturīdī.

Turkey’s digital constitution, ratified in 2060, encodes “Ḥanafī modularity,” a principle allowing law to flex with circumstance. The same logic shapes its AI governance, its family law, and even its diplomacy.

From Istanbul outward, this Ḥanafī–Māturīdī ethos has spilt into Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Uzbekistan’s civic schools teach both Avicenna and al-Māturīdī. Pakistani fintech startups run on ḥiyal-based smart contracts. The Ottoman blend of faith and rational statecraft has found its second life in circuitry and policy code.

Europe: The Mālikī Renaissance

In Paris, I walked past a law office advertising “Islamic Equity Contracts.” Mālikī inheritance rules, once exotic, are now embedded in the French civil code for their mathematical clarity. Every December, the city hosts La Nuit des Saints, honouring figures from both faiths such as ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazāʾirī, Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya and Francis of Assisi. The night ends with poetry readings under the Louvre’s glass dome.

Across the Channel, the United Kingdom has normalised Sharia arbitration. The Hanafi–Maturidi tradition, brought long ago by South Asian immigrants, is now part of national legal pluralism. Judges quote Abū Ḥanīfa in footnotes. Friday sermons mingle Qur’an with Shakespeare, and the term Anglo-Muslim has lost its hyphen; it has become a cultural fact.

The Global Drift Towards Muslim Norms

What surprises me most in 2075 is not conversion, though that too has surged, but imitation. The world has adopted Muslim social standards almost unconsciously.

The ʿaqd nikāḥ, once seen as a religious marriage, is now the global model for civil unions, prized for its symmetry and consent clauses. UN inheritance reforms draw on Mālikī logic for equitable estate division. Even secular citizens in Europe and East Asia now choose contracts modelled after fiqh because they feel fairer, cleaner and more human.

Reverence for saintly figures, long dismissed as superstition, has made a comeback. Shrines to al-Ghazālī, Rūmī, Ibn ʿArabī and even non-Muslim sages now form a new “pilgrim’s circuit of wisdom.” Modern psychology calls it “ancestral grounding.” We simply call it barakah.

As for conversions, some call them reversions; they grow yearly. Not by the sword of argument, but by exhaustion. People wanted meaning, proportion and discipline. They found it in Islam’s cadence: prayer as pause, zakat as fairness, fasting as freedom from appetite. In Europe, nearly one in five now identifies as Muslim or Muslim-shaped; in North America, one in ten. Many of them began not with belief but with admiration for the order that belief produced.

The Entangled Civilisation

By 2075, no state is purely Islamic or Western. The categories have dissolved.

The UN’s Council on Civilisational Ethics opens its sessions with verses from the Qur’an alongside Kantian aphorisms. Global digital charters cite ʿadl, justice, as their guiding principle. Algorithms that allocate water or distribute vaccines carry lines of fiqh-based code to ensure fairness.

The old paradigms have not conquered the world; they have simply proven indispensable. Mālikī–Ashʿarī, Shāfiʿī–Ashʿarī, Ḥanafī–Māturīdī and Ḥanbalī–Atharī each remain alive, shaping ethics, finance, law and art. Their jurists now sit on international boards beside secular philosophers, arguing about AI morality and interplanetary law. The conversation is no longer between faith and reason, but between kinds of reason.

A Closing Reflection

As I write this letter from a café in Fez, the call to prayer blends with the hum of an electric tram. A group of students nearby, Muslim, Christian and atheist, argue over a verse from the Qur’an, not as a theological claim but as a piece of political philosophy. The verse speaks of balance: “We made you a middle community.”

Perhaps that is what we have become by 2075: a middle community for a weary planet. The Western world brought machinery; Islam preserved measure. Together they built a civilisation that still argues, still hopes and still prays. The paradigms the world once thought ancient turned out to be the most modern of all.

By Abdulrahman Abdulhameed

With the few years I have spent living in Lagos, a city with a visibly strong Muslim community, I have come to understand that Islam here requires continuous teaching and reawakening, especially among the youth. The struggle to uphold Islamic values in Lagos is not just about faith; it is about identity, discipline, and conviction in a society constantly influenced by competing social norms and religious diversity. Many young Muslims, unfortunately, have become lax in their practice due to peer pressure, exposure to alternative lifestyles, and the limited presence of scholars and institutions dedicated to nurturing sound Islamic knowledge.

Despite these challenges, one thing I used to console myself with was the thought that Muslims in Northern Nigeria, my home region, were doing much better in terms of religious consciousness and adherence to Islamic principles. I often believed that while Muslims in the South might be struggling to preserve their Islamic identity amidst pluralism, those in the North had a stronger foundation, firmer faith, and a more disciplined approach to Islamic life.

However, recent developments have shattered that assumption and left me deeply unsettled.

The emergence of one Masussuka on social media, a man preaching the dangerous ideology of the Qur’aniyun (those who reject the Hadith and rely solely on the Qur’an), has opened my eyes to an uncomfortable reality. His teachings, reminiscent of the destructive ideology of Maitatsine, blatantly deny the authority of the Hadith and the traditions of the Prophet (SAW). According to him and his followers, the sayings of the Prophet are fabricated, unnecessary, and irrelevant to the practice of Islam. For them, the Qur’an alone is sufficient, a claim that defies fourteen centuries of Islamic scholarship, understanding, and consensus.

What shocked me even more than his heretical claims is the growing number of Northern Muslims who not only listen to him but also defend and promote him as a reformer and a revolutionary voice of truth. The very society I had thought was deeply rooted in authentic Islamic knowledge is now producing followers who cannot discern truth from falsehood. How can a people so privileged with access to Islamic institutions, scholars, and history fall for such shallow and misguided teachings?

This is not merely a question of ignorance; it is a mirror reflecting a deeper decay, the decay of critical Islamic education, sincerity, and spiritual depth among many northern Muslims. For years, people have mistaken proximity to mosques, Arabic inscriptions, and outward religiosity as evidence of true faith. But now, the rise of Masussuka and the applause he receives expose the emptiness that has long existed beneath that illusion of piety.

Ironically, in the South, where Muslims are fewer and face constant societal pressures from adherents of other faiths, many have developed stronger conviction, deeper understanding, and firmer identity in Islam. Because they have to strive to remain Muslims, they often take the faith more seriously. While they may lack the resources and numbers that the North boasts of, their sincerity and eagerness to learn often surpass those who were born into environments steeped in Islamic culture.

It is a painful paradox: the North, blessed with scholars, Islamic heritage, and institutions, is now breeding confusion and gullibility. The South, struggling against odds, is producing Muslims who, when exposed to sound Islamic knowledge, may practice the faith more sincerely than many of their northern counterparts.

Masussuka’s ideology is therefore not just a threat from an individual but a symptom of a larger sickness, a failure of our educational systems, religious institutions, and community leadership to nurture Muslims who understand why they believe, not just what they believe. The north is becoming the example of what happens when faith becomes culture instead of conviction, when religion becomes identity instead of practice, when people stop questioning falsehood in the name of belonging to the majority.

As painful as it is, perhaps this is a wake-up call. It is time to go back to the basics, to teach Islam as it was revealed and practiced, to remind ourselves that being born into a Muslim family or a Muslim-majority region does not guarantee understanding or faith. The danger Masussuka represents is not just in his words but in the fact that he has found an audience among those who should know better.

And that, truly, is the greatest tragedy.

18th October, 2025.

By Anas Abbas

Troops of the Nigerian Army have neutralised 17 terrorists, arrested 85 criminal suspects, and rescued 10 kidnapped victims in a series of coordinated operations across the country within the past 48 hours.

A top military source at the Army Headquarters told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the operations were carried out across various theatres, yielding significant breakthroughs in the fight against terrorism, kidnapping, and other criminal activities.

According to the source, those arrested include Boko Haram informants, logistics suppliers, terrorist collaborators, drug traffickers, and kidnappers.

The rescued victims have been evacuated and are currently undergoing medical checks and profiling.

In the North-East, troops under Operation “Hadin Kai” sustained offensive operations under Desert Sanity IV and Diligent Search, engaging Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters in multiple encounters across Borno and Adamawa States.

The source said troops of the 202 and 222 Battalions successfully repelled an ambush around Goni Kurmi and Kashomri villages in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, killing several insurgents.

Similarly, operatives of the 195 Battalion, in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), apprehended a notorious Boko Haram informant and ransom collector at the Customs IDP Camp in Jere.

The suspect was tracked through monitored calls and bank transactions.Troops also recovered an AK-47 rifle stolen by terrorists, rescued two kidnapped escapees, and intercepted three logistics suppliers conveying food items to ISWAP cells in Alagarno.

In Adamawa, troops of 144 Battalion seized seven vehicles and nine motorcycles transporting 368 bags of cement suspected to be heading for terrorist enclaves in Madagali.

Elsewhere, troops recovered N4.77 million, six mobile phones, and two bicycles abandoned by fleeing insurgents along the Maiduguri–Damboa Road.

In the North-West, under Operation Fansan Yamma, troops conducted clearance operations in Sokoto and Zamfara States, arresting 69 suspected drug dealers and five terrorist collaborators.

One civilian injured during a terrorist attack along the Faru–Bagabbuzi Road in Zamfara was also rescued.

In the North-Central region, troops of Operation Enduring Peace rescued a kidnapped victim in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, and recovered several weapons, including two AK-47 rifles, a G3 rifle, a revolver pistol, and over 1,200 rounds of ammunition.

Similarly, Operation Whirl Stroke operatives apprehended two suspected kidnappers in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State and destroyed a terrorist camp in Benue.In the South-South, troops of Operation Delta Safe intensified efforts against oil theft.

A patrol team intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 840 litres of illegally refined kerosene in Rivers State and arrested one suspect. Another patrol in Delta State seized a vehicle transporting 2,500 litres of illegal condensate.

Across all operational theatres, troops recovered at least 15 assorted weapons, 21 magazines, and large quantities of ammunition, cash, and logistics materials.

The source reaffirmed the Army’s commitment to sustaining the momentum against terrorists and criminal elements nationwide, adding that troops remain motivated and professional in their conduct.

By Anas Abbas

A joint team of security operatives on Monday dispersed protesters participating in the Omoyele Sowore-led #FreeNnamdiKanuNow demonstration in the Maitama area of Abuja.

The protesters, including human rights activist Omoyele Sowore and Nnamdi Kanu’s lead counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, had gathered near the headquarters of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), chanting “Free Nnamdi Kanu Now.”

Eyewitnesses said the demonstrators were warning police officers against the use of tear gas when gunshots were suddenly fired, forcing the crowd to flee for safety.

The protest, which called for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), came despite a court order restricting demonstrations around sensitive government areas in the Federal Capital Territory.

Details later

By Sabiu Abdulahi

Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, has restated that he does not believe in the separatist agitation for Biafra, stressing that the Igbo people and Nigeria are interdependent.

Speaking during an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, Soludo made it clear that while he is proud of his Igbo identity, he does not support the idea of dividing the country.

“For me, I believe very strongly that, of course, the agitation and separatist view in Igboland – for me, as a full-blooded Igbo man, I don’t believe that. But I want us to have a discussion. I am of the view that the Igbo man needs Nigeria; Nigeria needs the Igbo man,” he said.

The governor, who is seeking reelection in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election, said he plans to meet with the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to discuss a new direction for the South-East after his release.

“When Nnamdi Kanu comes out, we are all going to sit down at a round table and interrogate our alternative vision for Igbo land,” Soludo stated.

He also refrained from condemning the nationwide protest scheduled for October 20, 2025, which is aimed at demanding Kanu’s freedom.

Meanwhile, activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has continued to lead the protests across several states, insisting on the immediate release of the IPOB leader.

Nnamdi Kanu was rearrested in Kenya and has remained in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his return to Nigeria.

Soludo’s latest comments come amid growing political discussions and demonstrations calling for Kanu’s release and a reevaluation of the federal government’s handling of separatist-related issues in the South-East.

By Muhammad Isyaku Malumfashi

What is happening in Katsina under the present APC administration is a shameful outcome from a government that once boasted of being widely read, widely travelled, and experienced. In fact, from the campaign period to its first year in office, the government bragged that it had all it took to make Katsina a “new Dubai.” That was why a high educational background was used as a symbol of the administration. Even in appointments, only so-called “learned” people were considered, irrespective of whether they were truly experienced or trustworthy.

The most pressing challenge of this government is denial. This denial is even more dangerous than the insecurity bedevilling the state. When you acknowledge the existence of a problem, you will be open to every advice on how to tackle it. But if you keep denying or boasting that you have eliminated it. At the same time, the menace still exists—and perhaps in a more deadly form than during the previous administration—then no matter the energy you invest, you will not succeed. The government and its loyalists continue to deny the bold existence of Fulani terror groups in the state.

Before the recent banditry attack on Muslim worshippers during dawn prayers at Mantau town in Karfi Ward, Malumfashi Local Government—which drew attention from outsiders to what we have long been saying about the APC government’s ill-conceived security surveillance approach—there had already been several incidents of bloodshed, property destruction, and abductions across about nine local governments daily. In places like Malumfashi, where I come from, the banditry menace has worsened since Governor  Dikko Radda assumed office.

The government’s approaches to fighting terror are either ill-planned or manipulated by vested interests, gambling with people’s lives and properties. If we are to judge by the capacity and fanfare displayed by the governor in the past two years—boasting about his readiness and zeal to wipe out criminals from their hideouts—then this government has no excuse for failing. By now, Dr Dikko Umaru Radda himself must have realised that governance, especially in a state with millions of residents, is hectic and demanding. It is unlike how he portrayed it during his campaign. Thus, Katsina is bigger than Charanchi, and the State Government House Office is not an ordinary SMEDAN office.

Notwithstanding, I read with dismay some comments by APC loyalists denying the existence of rampant banditry. According to them, the present government has curbed it. But I was gladdened by how people tackled them in the comment sections, pointing to multiple banditry incidents under this government—incidents worse than anything seen before.

Meanwhile, I do not waste my energy trying to rebut these “data boys” because I know they are either sponsored to promote the government and whitewash its failures, or they do it voluntarily to secure appointments. That is why I stopped engaging in the comment section of my friend Hamis Nababa whenever he appears on air defending the government, because I know he has a personal target. Let alone the unfortunate lawmakers or appointees like Surajo Abdu Kwaskwaro, representing Kaita, who went on air denying the recurrence of bandit attacks in Katsina.

When people are desperate for food, not everyone can remain true to their conscience. Hunger is a terrible thing; it pushes some people to compromise their integrity. But one should not put one’s reputation at stake simply for survival. This is where business security matters—because if those “data boys” were truly independent or well-established in their own ventures, they would not be engaging in such disgraceful acts of defending a failed government whose shortcomings are already too glaring.

One doesn’t even need to doubt whether Governor Dikko is a Grade II certificate holder or truly a PhD holder. Just look at how his government executes projects and the questionable funds allegedly spent on them. Even when figures appear clear on paper, the blunders make them impossible to explain convincingly. At the end of the day, there is nothing tangible to show.

As many have opined, the only candidate that will be extremely difficult to sell in 2027 is that of the APC. If you doubt this, let us wait for time to tell. Those bragging that APC will still win should remember: unless the ruling party uses force, manipulative tactics, vote-buying, intimidation, or pre-stuffed ballot papers, it will be unseated before noon on Election Day if the election is free and fair. Mark my words—because no sane person can campaign for APC in its present state without appearing utterly ridiculous.

Muhammad Isyaku Malumfashi wrote via muhammadisyakumalumfashi@gmail.com.