By Muhammad Sabiu

On Monday, February 7, 2022, the Kaduna State Government said that troops had rescued seven people in the state who had been kidnapped.

Security forces revealed to the government that the troops rescued seven persons from bandits who attacked Ungwan Garama in the Maraban Rido General Area of Chikun Local Government, Kaduna State, according to Samuel Aruwan, the state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs.

The troops, he claimed, got distress calls alerting them of a bandit raid and swiftly engaged the attackers.

The criminals were forced to flee due to the soldiers’ superior firepower, he continued.

Security authorities, according to him, were able to exploit the criminals’ escape path and recover seven abducted people, adding that all of the rescued victims have been reunited with their relatives.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

 Subject+ had been + verb in progressive

Past perfect continuous tense represents an ongoing action that started and continued for some time in the past.

Example:

1. Yar’adua had been seeing his doctor for two years before he died in 2009.

2. The students had been waiting for two hours when their lecturer arrived.

3. Muhammad had been teaching for four years when he resigned and joined politics

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

subject+ will/shall + verb (base form)

Functions of the simple future tense

The simple future refers to a time later than now and expresses facts or certainty. In this case, there is no ‘attitude’.

The simple future is used:

• To predict a future event:
  It will rain tomorrow.
• With I or We, to express a spontaneous decision:
  I will pay for the tickets by credit card.
• To express willingness:
  I will do the washing-up.
  He will carry your bag for you.
• In the negative form, to express unwillingness:
  The baby won’t eat his soup.
  I won’t leave until I’ve seen the manager!
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to make an offer:
  Shall I open the window?
• With We in the interrogative form using “shall”, to make a suggestion:
  Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to ask for advice or instructions:
  What shall I tell the boss about this money?
•  
• FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

subject+ will be + verb in -ing

The Future Continuous tense is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time.

Example

1. I will be travelling to Kano tomorrow this time 

2. We will be watching the football match 

3. The students will be sitting for their final exams in June.

FUTURE PERFECT

subject+ will have + verb in past participle

Example

1. I will have returned from Kano tomorrow by this time

2. I will have finished my project by next week.

3. I will have written the letter by breakfast time.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

subject+ will have been + verb in – ing 

– To show that something will continue up until a particular event or time in the future

Example:

1. I will have been teaching for six years by September 2022

2. The students will have been waiting for two hours by 10.00 am

3. We will have been playing for one hour by 10:30

In summary

1. simple present: I drive.

2. present cont: I’m driving.

3. present perfect: I have driven.

4. Present perfect continuous I have been driving.

5. simple past: I drove.

6. past cont: I was driving.

7. past perfect: I had driven.

8. past perfect cont: I had been driving.

9. simple future: I will drive.

10. future cont: I will be driving.

11. future perfect: I will have driven.

12. future perfect continuous: I will have been driving.

Concluded

Nuru Aliyu Bauchi wrote from Bauchi via nurubh2015@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Students and their parents are worried as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatens to embark on a fresh indefinite strike.

Recall that ASUU suspended its nine-month-long strike in 2020 after reaching an agreement with the Federal Government. Still, after a year, the government is yet to fulfil its promises to the union.

The ASUU’s strike has been described as one of the most lingering issues that has been paralysing Nigerian universities, leading to the delay in students’ graduation and the deterioration of the education system in the country.

Not only that, many people argue that the strike has destroyed the future of many promising youths.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chairperson of ASUU Kano State Branch, Comrade Haruna Musa, and the Union’s Secretary, Comrade Yusuf U. Madugu, declared Monday, February 7, 2022, as a lecture-free day.

Its essence is for ASUU to use the day to sensitise university students, parents and other stakeholders on the brewing crisis arising from the Federal Government’s failure to implement the existing agreements with the union judiciously.

Educational sector at the receiving end

A lecturer at the Department of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano, Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi, said that the strike was killing the country’s educational sector and the economy.

Dr Abdullahi cried: “It is a sad development. It looks childish and an endless menace, especially to the Nigerian educational system. Strike has become a thorn in the flesh of Nigeria’s general development. No nation can prosper morally in such a nasty situation. It is, indeed, unfortunate.”

He added that the situation “generally makes people, teachers, students and their parents to become very dull and uncertain of their future. You can take it to the banks that crime rate will somersault, and new bad things will manifest within the wider community”.

Students at risk

The president of the Mass Communication Students Association (MACOSA), Bayero University, Kano chapter, Comrade Sadisu Sada, decried that industrial action in Nigerian universities had been there for quite a long time.

He said, “It is worrying. The issue affects students directly. And for me, the government is to blame.

“ASUU is doing her best to give the educational system all that it requires. If not, education would have died.”

Umar Isah Dandago, an undergraduate of the Department of Mass Communication in the university, also voiced his grievance, saying this would delay his graduation.

Dandago said: “We would have graduated if not for the 2020 strike. This is a serious problem. A lot of people want to do something, like setting up a new business after university, but because of the strike, it’s becoming almost impossible.”

He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to give ASUU what it demanded, saying, “I believe it’s not even half of what’s being squandered in some things that are not important to us. So let’s get the education we deserve as Nigerians so that we’ll be proud of our leaders and our country.”

Also speaking, Comrade Ibrahim Mukhtar Sulaiman, a level 300 student, said: “Sadly, students taking a four-year course will graduate in five, six or seven years. And this affects not only their academic careers but also their personal life.”

Parents raise alarm

As the strike looks imminent, some parents lamented that the brewing crisis between the government and ASUU jeopardises their children’s future.

A parent, Malam Adamu Kolo, who looked disturbed by the imminent strike, said that his son would have graduated if not for ASUU incessant strike.

Malam Adamu Kolo said, “My son would have graduated this year if not because of ASUU incessant strike. You can see that I am poor. I am hopeless. Our hope is on this boy.”

By Usama Abdullahi

It’s highly frustrating that music is swiftly dominating Nigeria. So many people, especially teenagers, consider and consume music much more than anything. Despite their indecency and vulgarity in most videos, the youths see the musicians and actors as role models. 

One hardly watches a music video that’s free of impurity or indecency. Unfortunately, this is not seen only in the music industry, but it has become the norm in the entertainment industry. Take, for instance, Nollywood. Unsurprisingly, the movies they release every year are mostly not good for the sanity of Nigerian adults, let alone children.

Yet children sit comfortably to watch this with their parents – their so-called responsible parents. The comedy skits are much worse. Women who get featured in those comedy skits are usually inelegant vixens. They derive joy in flashing their nudities before the audience. And the audiences are often vulnerable kids. They are kids who barely think independently, so they learn whatsoever they see. 

What’s more disgusting is the vulgar languages in these skits and movies are not being filtered or edited by the supposed editors. This is proof of willful neglect of the future of young adults. But who do we blame for this? The blame lies with the supposed editors, reckless actors, irresponsible parents, vulnerable children, or the entertainment industry for its fatal disregard for prevailing indecency. I won’t fault anyone for this because society at large is undoubtedly blamable.

I’m writing this because I’m also a victim. I watch some comedy shows when I feel bored sometimes. But what I used to watch in the past few years is quite different from what I watch today. There’s an unfortunate compromise in our entertainment industry. Some contents are not merely nasty, but they are rather invective. The actors use swearwords and vulgar language excessively. For this reason, watching it diminishes the good morals that parents have infused in their children. 

We can see that moral decadence in children’s increasing disrespect and utter preferences for filthy films other than films with educative content. They imitate what they see in these movies, hence the overwhelming rate of juvenile crimes. And they are too quick to download newly released songs or films, but they fail to install PDFs for free books. Moreover, they can mime words from multiple songs, yet they barely memorise a single line from their books. This is why there’s a continuous decline in the education sector.

It didn’t surprise me when I heard a seven-year-old lad miming “Coming”, a song by Naira Marley featuring Busiswa. I can’t deny his talent for miming, but, given his age, the thing is, the song is grossly inappropriate for his hearing. That is it! Arguably, there are a lot of children who have mastered numerous songs. But, you know what, this mere mobile phone has flawed the reputation of many children and corrupted their behaviours.

Do you find it hard to believe me? Please, do create a time of your own and glimpse through TikTok. I bet you can’t believe what your eyes would see. The most important question is, how do we build a better future for the upcoming or unborn generations? With all these “unavoidable” indecencies, can we actualise this vision? 

Although the damages seem too much, still we can lessen it through the help of the National Film and Video Censor Board (NFVCB). Therefore, let’s appeal to the NFVCB to double their effort in seeing that songs with foul lyrics, X-rated movies, video clips and comedies are filtered or banned entirely from cinemas or social media.

Usama Abdullahi wrote from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached via usamagayyi@gmail.com

By Muhammad Sabiu

Ali-Modu Sheriff, the former governor of Borno State, has refuted charges that he has ties to Boko Haram terrorists, claiming that security services have been probing him since leaving office in 2011.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, Victor Lar, the Ali-Modu Sheriff Campaign Organisation director, refuted the charges.

Mr Sheriff, a frontline All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairmanship aspirant, a two-term former governor of Borno, and a former senator had no ties to Boko Haram, according to him.

“Sheriff’s name is not on the list of sponsors of Boko Haram released by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Security agencies have been investigating him since he left office in 2011 and had not found him guilty of the allegations.

“If he was involved, he would have been arrested, or his involvement made public. In any case, I challenge anyone with information proving his involvement to come forth with such,” he added.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmad Tinubu, arrived at Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos on Sunday, February 6, 2022, with a new look.

The 69-year-old presidential aspirant was unconventionally dressed in what many Nigerians called “youthful apparel.”

He was seen on a flat cap, black t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned blazer, scuba trousers and sneakers.

Tinubu was rumoured to be attending hospital for an undisclosed sickness in the United Kingdom. But his media aide, Tunde Rahman, has dismissed the rumour, stating that his principal was in the UK for consultations and meetings.

Tinubu’s ambition to lead Nigeria has stirred different reactions from people on social media considering his age and health status.

By Safiyanu Ladan

The Kaduna state government has directed teachers in public schools to transit to four days working in a week, which the state adopted last year.

In line with the new arrangement, the teachers will now work from Monday to Thursday instead of Monday to Friday regular routine.

This development has generated a lot of condemnation across the state, as many people fear that it will further cripple the already fragile education system.

According to these critics, Governor El-Rufai had come up with stringent education policies ranging from competency tests for primary school teachers, which saw the sacking of thousands of primary school teachers, to the closure of schools due to the covid-19 pandemic and insecurity.

These aforementioned measures have invariably affected the impartation of knowledge and created a considerable gap that requires concerted effort to fill.

Staying at home during this period created an overwhelming experience for children and parents. It has also affected the way they learn. Having learnt that the future of their children’s education is at stake, parents were left with no other option than to hire private tutors for their wards, as the resumption date was still sketchy.

Noted for being a hub of intellectual activities in Northern Nigeria, the state has recently grappled with reduced access to classroom education due to those challenges.

And now, with this government’s directives of transiting the teacher’s working days to four in a week in place of the regular working days is tantamount to reducing the access to classrooms that has a far reached negative impacts on students.

Given the foregoing, the decision of the government to make teachers in public schools resort to four days working is ill-fated.

Safiyanu Ibrahim wrote from Kaduna via uncledoctor24@gmail.com.

By Umar Sani Yakubu

My parents or father, to be specific, see someone in me. Who is that person? I was not privileged to meet someone because he was called to glory years before I was born. This is a story I traced for myself, and I will share it with you. But wait, you must not tell anyone because it is my little secret. A secret nobody tells me, and until I discovered it for myself, I doubted if someone was even ready to tell me.

Well, my father might have kept it so dear to himself. Unknown to my father, if there is anyone’s gesture I understand so quickly, it is his. Thus, I know this among other gestures of his, and I will tell you how.

When I was first registered for my elementary school in 2001/2002, my father smartly registered me as ‘Umar Yakubu’, omitting his name ‘Sani’ as my surname. A development I fought even with my then little age. It happened that anytime my class teacher called me Umar Yakubu in the attendance register, I would keep mute. To the best of my belief, I had reasons to do that because I have repeatedly warned that that wasn’t my name. And correct it as Umar Sani.

Consequently, my struggle for self-defence grew to the level that the class teacher and the headteacher couldn’t tolerate any longer. Finally, the school invited my father, and they settled the case. I was eventually renamed “Umar Sani”.

However, growing up around stage 4 (primary 5), I began to think and reason with my dad’s earlier decision. It was clear that his love for the name Yakubu knew no bounds. And unfortunately, till then, I was his only son among my sisters. For that, I decided to put a smile on his face by adding Yakubu to my name, which I did, thereby making it Umar Sani Yakubu. I wrote that on all my notebooks. Although not the way he wanted it, I knew he was happy this time.

Now the secret: that man wanted to name me Yakubu. He has never told anyone, not even my mother, his wife. I think this is a secret only he and I share because I snatched it from his looks and maybe action just like the story above. But why did he name me Umar? I will tell you that too.

The combination above of ‘Umar Yakubu’ is two in one. Combination of a father’s name and his son’s. Umar is the last child of Yakubu. A younger brother who was so dear to my dad. After his death on April 22, 1995, followed by my birth on July 17, 1996, my father felt the joy of his life. It was the day he held on his hands his first child, who seemed to come with the confusion of his life.

This is because he wholeheartedly wanted to bring his father and his brother back to life. But, unfortunately, I am a twin to none. I am just me and one. So he had to choose between the two who to immortalise first. A confusing choice to make, he decided on Umar to console his mother for the immediate loss. Do you now see the reason for his combination of Umar and Yakubu? He wanted me to be two in one.

Enough for that story.

Now the question is: Am I even brave enough to bear the name Yakubu?

According to stories I gathered, Yakubu Danladi, as the name implies, was indeed the return of many bearers of the name before him, the likes of Prophet Yakub (may God be pleased with him) and in our recent past Yakubun Bauchi, Late Emir of Bauchi. He was brave, hardworking and kind-hearted.

However, from a decent background, Yakubu was born a farmer who turned out to be the best in the history of our locality through conversing his local experience with the civilised way he later acquired. Until his death, his love for agriculture and farming spoke for itself on the size of his farmland.

Taking about his service as a civil servant, he had gone around the country even before Bauchi was made a state. He wandered from Kano to Maiguduri to Mubi (where he gave birth to his first child Sani (my father)). He later went for an agricultural-related course in India and then back to Nigeria to Azare in Bauchi State.

He was once transferred to his local government (Dass) as Sole Administrator in 1987, a development that later led to his political participation. He contested and was voted for the office of local government chairman in December 1987 and till August 1989.

Obviously, Mr Chairman is my grandfather I never met. Still, as G.K. Chesterton once mentioned, “People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that in the sort of history they make.” I doubt my father knows many people that have offered me seats and told me about Mr Chairman. They tell me how it was sitting around him, being in his caravan of leadership, and even pointing to me things that make them remember him, which are their children they named after him.

According to them, he was a reformer who came and provided their basic needs at the right time. Mr Chairman constructed the first town bypass road, built feeder roads for villages, built all the village head houses, built numerous village dispensaries,  awarded to the youth the first football trophy, “Barde Laya Memorial Cup”. To date, he remains the only local government chairman to have a sitting president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to commission his project in Dass.

Sadly, as I write this, it is thirty years since he left the family, the community and the world, which occurred on January 30, 1992, and headed to heaven, in sha Allah.

Tellingly, I never had the privilege to meet him, but I used to have that mist-eye that he would have been a caring grandfather. May his soul continue to rest in peace, Amin Ya Rabbil’alamin.

Finally, father, I am not named after you. In fact, I now have a nephew who is so lucky to be. But, I believe, like you, I am strong. I am my kind of Umar. And be as it is, we feel your company in us. Your spirit is strong, and it follows everywhere we go. Also, I want to tell you that your family, even with eventual here and there, is still strong, and together we will go beyond a reasonable doubt to make sure that your generation lives till the end of time. Thus, the family miss you. So, continue to sleep well, father.

Sani writes from Dass, Bauchi and can be reached via saniumaryakubu@gmail.com.

By Kabiru Danladi Lawanti

In a liberal democracy, political representation is a straightforward concept. In Nigeria, every four years, there are elections where citizens pause and turn back to see what their political representatives did to them during their four-year tenure. In a defined geographic area or constituencies, the citizens choose from a range of candidates—themselves citizens living in (or near) that same area—and elect a few to sit in the national assembly as representatives of the people of these constituencies. Yet both theoretically and in practice, it is far more complicated.

While representative democracy is often poetically described as government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people,’ it is not only the people who are represented: political parties, ideologies (in this sense religious and ethnic), business, urban and rural people — to name but a few—are also represented. Furthermore, even the very notion of ‘the people’ is amorphous as a representative cannot possibly represent the full diversity of ‘the people’ and all their divergent and conflicting interests.

Since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, many representatives have been sent to Abuja to represent their constituency at the national level. These constituencies comprise a group of local government areas in a particular state. In some states, the constituencies are formed of a single local government area. For example, in Gombe State, there are six federal constituencies: Akko, which covers the Akko LGA, Balanga/Billiri that covers Balanga and Billiri LGAs, Dukku/Nafada that comprises Dukku and Nafada LGAs. Others are Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye, which contains Gombe, Kwami and Funakaye LGAs; Kaltungo/Shongom, which covers Kaltungo and Shongom LGAs and lastly, the Yamaltu/Deba federal constituency that covers Yamaltu/Deba LGA. These constituencies have sent representatives since 1999. Of particular interest to me is the Akko Federal Constituency, where I came from.

Politics, they said, is a network of no permanent foes but only connected interests. In the last 22 years, the constituency has had six representatives. Of this six, two remained the longest-serving representatives – Bello Suleiman and Usman Bello Kumo. Bello Mohammed spent only one tenure in the National Assembly, from 199-2003. In contrast, Umaru Barambu and Samaila Mu’azu Kashere spent two years each in the hallowed chamber after a court sacked Umaru Barambu in 2017.

To be fair to the reps mentioned above, each tried to develop the area in his way. However, a careful analysis of what came to the constituency in the last three and a half years cannot be compared to any in the previous 22 years. The level of human and capital development witnessed is unprecedented in the entire northeast. The only representative that can match the level of human and capital development brought to the constituency by Usman Bello Kumo (UBK) is Mukhtar Betara. This is obvious, knowing that Betara is Chairman House Committee on Appropriation.

A consummate and highly experienced politician, Usman Bello Kumo has a deep commitment and unrivalled passion for grassroots development. For instance, in his second coming alone, 2019 to date in the National Assembly, he has attracted infrastructural development in many areas of human development like education, health, water, roads, electricity, youth and women empowerment all over the constituency for the betterment of their economy and improved standard of living.

As Chairman, House Committee on Police, Hon UBK was able to also send more than 100 youth into the Nigeria Police Force. One thing is clear, UBK has always stood out among other politicians of his calibre. He has never allowed the trappings and grandeur of office to stand between him and his avowed goals of lifting his people from the shackles of poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness and mass unemployment.

As 2023 approaches, we shall soon be inundated with a mix of the serious, the incredible and sprinkles of the comical as political parties jostle to promote candidates of varying capabilities. These include those who appear to have genuine intentions for service to the people and aspirants who seem pretty content with no more than having their faces splashed around on party banners. Already, we have seen some campaigns of calumny against his person when some rabble-rousers, fighting for recognition, working under the instruction of politicians are sponsoring political jobbers to say many things against the man. This, they do discredit him in the eyes of his teeming supporters. One thing is clear; it seems UBK is not even distracted with these political mudslingers.

Holding onto his mission – an intense zeal for total political, economic and social liberation of his people, Hon UBK has always seen his primary vocation in the political arena as being one of service, duty, benevolence and charity towards his constituents. In this regard, he has abided by his campaign promises of using elective office to improve a lot of his people. This is the direct opposite of what his detractors are doing. His opponent definition of representation is that of trying to use political office to feather their nest, irrespective of the economic fortunes of the electorate that voted for them in the first place.

Notwithstanding these outstanding credentials and track record of success, we must remind Hon UBK, as stakeholders and indigenes of this area, that rural areas need his attention. Most of us in the rural regions of Akko, especially villages like Lawanti, Malam Jamo, Gamadadi, Akko and surrounding towns, are currently facing an acute shortage of water never seen in more than thirty years. My last visit in December 2021 to my home town made me pity the dwellers of these areas. Most have to travel many kilometres to get drinking water. Others use water from streams, competing with their animals. It is a pitiful scenario.

There are also allegations that his empowerment programmes are not all-inclusive. Recently, some communities in Gona District have a cause to go to press to complain that his empowerment programmes were only targeted at Kumo, his hometown. 

As a political maestro, who can be taken literally for his words, Hon UBK needs to pause and turn his attention to these people and listen to their complaints, even if they come from a minority voice. We have no doubt, considering the excellent job he did to his constituency in his first coming 2011-2015 and now, his words, as the proverbial saying goes, can be taken to the bank.

As we approach 2023, politicians, including Hon UBK, understand the importance of an alliance. There is no better time to do this than now. And I am sure he needs the rural areas to launch his return to the National Assembly.

Kabiru Danladi Lawanti wrote from the Department of Mass Communication, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, via kblondon2003@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Isyaku Malumfashi 

People nowadays cease to understand that everything in this life is ‘do me, I do you’. Nonetheless, very few people have the discretion of paying good for the bad input. 

On several occasions, I have heard people complaining about why others don’t treat them as they had treated them or relate with them politely. But, unfortunately, even my humble self is not an escaped or sacred being to that temptation, to be honest. 

People want to be treated more kindly than they treat others. But we often forget that life is “reciprocal”. We don’t get in return more than what we do give. However, the clean-minded people would always do good even if otherwise was done to them and vice-versa. 

I recently witnessed fascinating neighbourly scenarios, which will be the foundation of this piece.

An elder brother from a distancing place narrated a heart-touching story between him and the community members in one of the states in the West. He lived there for a while as a civil servant. He left on transfer to another workplace.

That brother is a northerner who was lucky to have come from parents who nurtured good parental upbringing to their children so that they could live with others even when the parents are no more, and the children might still be young. 

His transfer announcement threw the entire mosque to sombre as if life was about to be lost. Now, come to think of it. This man was transferred from North to West for public service. Still, he understands that despite the seeming differences in culture and religion to some extent. We’re all humans and citizens of this beloved country, so we can still live in peace and harmony. And that was the secret behind his love by those people.

Similarly, a female Christian neighbour in our school’s postgraduate hostel was robbed on her way back home to  South-South from school for Christmas and New Year season. The news shocked us. We were all disturbed for not reaching out to her to sympathize because the phones were confiscated during the robbery, plus other valuables.

As a mature woman, she always takes precautions while interacting with us to maintain the opposite sex. You know North is very sensitive about religion. However, her friendly attitude made us so open to her. We once had a total blackout at the hostel for three weeks due to the theft of some expensive fuse from the transformer. This woman collected our laptops and phones down to the school’s clinic to charge. She still did that though their law didn’t allow anybody outside the clinic to charge there. Then, sometimes unknown to us, she would cook and take it to our rooms and plead with us to bless the food. 

Another case study was a female Christian corp member serving in our school. The corp member hails from West, but she’s that kind of person one could describe as snobbish. She stays in the PG hostel with us too, but you hardly see her talking or greeting people. Her case was not a familiarity issue as many females in the hostels socialize far better than many males.

Her fate came during Christmas and New Year seasons. I’m a living witness because I didn’t travel earlier for that break until I submitted my chapter three to my supervisor. One day, when coming from the town, I overheard her complaining to someone on the phone that she’s tired of this Katsina, adding that the people are not as hospitable and accommodating as being alleged. Nobody wished her Merry Christmas except those calling on the phone from distant places. She added that some people even frowned at her when they met as if they wanted to fight her. The submission came to me as a shock!

More so, a respected former corp member and brother from North Central who served in my local government area recently unfolded his ordeal on how some of our people maltreated him during his national service. Even though he deserved to be retained but nepotism didn’t allow it. 

Furthermore, I witness many such scenarios where in one way or the other, someone falls victim to “not being our tribe person or just for me been a Muslim and Hausa in the South”, but I never used that to stereotype the southerners. Because if some hurt me, I was accommodated and loved by others of the same tribe. Thus, every society has the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

May we be the reason why others will anticipate our race.

Muhammad Isyaku Malumfashi sent this via muhammadisyakumalumfashi@gmail.com.