A short video clip purportedly showing the trio of DCP Abba Kyari, bare-footed, greeting current and former governors of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum and Sen. Kassim Shettima has gone viral on Nigerian cyberspace. Some people, including news media, allege that the two high-ranking politicians were at Kyari’s residence for a “solidarity visit” over his travails in recent days.

You may recall that super cop Abba Kyari was suspended by the Nigeria Police Commission over his alleged collaboration with Abass Ramon, aka Hushpuppi, and six others, in a $1.1m international fraud conspiracy.

An unsealed 69-page court document shows that DCP Kyari was under investigation by the FBI for his alleged link to Hushpuppi, who had pleaded guilty to fraud in a United States court in California. Subsequently, the FBI declares Kyari wanted and reportedly requested the Nigerian government for his extradition. However, he denies all charges in a Facebook post.

A Borno State government official confirmed to The Daily Reality that the video is neither new nor recorded at Kyari’s residence. Instead, it was taken at the house of the former governor, Kassim Shettima.

Looking more closely at the news on the television behind the trio, one can see the story about the release of the disgraced actor and comedian Bill Cosby. That happened on June 30, 2021, which means more than a month ago.

Moreover, the framed photo on the floor, beside a standing AC and behind Kyari, has Shettima and Zulum in it.

Conclusion: the video is FAKE as it loses its context. In other words, the video is, content-wise, genuine, but it is from an entirely different event, not the one flying on social media.

Before his death, senator Nuhu was in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), and elected to the Senate for the Niger North constituency of Niger State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003 and 2007 under the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

By Abdurrahman Nasir Salis

The emergence of Abduljabbar Kabara is a blessing and not entirely a curse to the Muslim Ummah from this part of the world. Abduljabbar is a common enemy to variegated clans of foes, to wit Izala, Tijjaniyya, Qadiriyya and Salafiyya, among other sects, who could neither share a shade to rest, mosque to preach and pray nor a home to shelter.

The aftereffect of fighting the common enemy has taught all the clans that the commonalities they share as Muslims far outweigh the differences. It taught all the sects that they have for long overtired themselves on trivialities that are neither a passport to paradise nor a ticket to hell.

Yesterday, I saw three or four different sects I mentioned hereinbefore, who, to an extent and often attribute infidelity or disbelief to each other gathered amicably in a mosque in Kano belonging to one sect (Tijjaniyya), preaching together and praying together. I saw their guards, “Yan Agaji“, working side by side in complete harmony and feeling of togetherness, considering themselves brother’s keeper.

From the onset, seeing Izala guards together with Qadiriyya’s and Tijjaniyya’s “Yan Agaji” at the doors of Tijjaniyya Mosque named SHEIKH IBRAHIM INYASS MOSQUE bewilderedly caught my eyes and attention. Despite the saying that curiosity kills the cat, I entered the mosque with no fear of being killed as the cat. I saw scholars of all the sects on a single table and a crowd of onlookers, the loud cheerers, from all the sects, listening to their Sheikhs filled with feelings of togetherness and inclusivity, and above all, seeing each other as Muslim with Islam at the top of the priority scale and pushing all other considerations to the bottom of the scale.

Life is indeed the best teacher. This happening is not just an ordinary incident that will pass by time. Muslims and their Sheikhs should take this as a lesson that should symbolise how we should behave like Muslims. Unity shall be our sigil. Let me conclude by the saying of the Almighty Allah in the Holy Qur’an Chapter 8 Verse 73: “The Unbelievers are protectors, one of another: Unless you do this, (protect each other), there would be tumult and oppression on earth, and great mischief”.

Abdurrahman Nasir Salis writes from Kano.

abdurrahman00800@gmail.com

+234 806 578 7324

By Salisu Uba Kofar Wambai

One of the basic tenets of democratic principles is building political parties on sound ideological ground. Ideology is an orientation that characterised the thinking of a group or nation. Thus, the people of the same thoughts on running public affairs come together to establish a party, preaching the gospel of a particular ideology to ascertain its primary objective in government or public sphere if they’re voted through an electoral process.

However, the missteps and embarrassing blunder committed by the Nigerian politicians in the party formation in 1998-1999 democratic process was enormous, and the country is paying the huge price now. The politicians then were overwhelmed with the military government’s commitment to hand over power to the civilians. Unfortunately, they hurriedly built the parties; thereby, the ideological consideration of the politicians was grossly undermined. The parties were just a kind of machine to let the military go.

The people democratic party (PDP) encompassed and encapsulated politicians of different ideologies by looking at their political background, which is the machine that shapes and moulds their thoughts and ideological thinking style. How can one explain forming a party with unrepentant progressives like Abubakar Rimi, Solomon Lar and topnotch conservatives like Lawal Kaita and Alex Ekueme in the same party! They had different ideological backgrounds by all calculations. They were purely strange bedfellows.

The other two most notable parties then were APP and AD. APP were just people who lost grips of power with the death of General Sani Abacha with revivalism agenda, and AD was nothing more than ethnic and regional irredentists. Therefore, the parties were all ideological-free. Their main aim was only to let the military go and let the civilians take over.

The PDP experienced intense intraparty wrangling and turmoil because the party’s bigwigs were not ideologically the same. And this led to much chaos and internal divides among them, which led to a new crop of politicians as governors hijacking the party and get rid of them politically with the backup of the presidency. It was the beginning of governor-turn-emperor as we see it today.

Retrospectively, in the First and Second Republics, the politicians had based-ideology. For example, it was NEPU that produced Malam Aminu Kano, who had been a minister and yet died with only 112 Naira in his bank account because the ideology of his party was to emancipate the masses from the subjugation of elites and traditional oligarchs who formed their NPC as a party with their aim of maintaining the status quo. And in the Second Republic still, the parties were ideological because PRP was an offshoot of NEPU, and NPN was NPC. That’s why the politics then was not much of the money-bags type. The political parties’ members were committed to bringing change according to their ideological bearings.

The politics of ideology produced the likes of former governor Balarabe Musa, who died with only his old tractor as a farmer. It produced people like Abubakar Rimi, who had to secure a bank loan as a governor before he built his house and left the government house with only 50 thousand Naira in his possession. It produced Aminu Kano, who had not even had a paltry freezer in his room, rather a traditional (randa) muddy-pot.

We had equally seen the lifestyle of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and the late Northern Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna. It was all politics of ideology that made them. They all left this world owning only a local house in their towns when they could accumulate a lot had wished so.

Today’s ideology of our politicians is nothing more than gripping onto power, begin to run the governments like their personal companies, enrich themselves at the expense of the masses, building mansions, accumulating senseless wealth through looting and embezzlement, creating laws that only serve their interest, flaunting their newfound wealth and leaving their subjects dying in poverty and diseases.

Nevertheless, you can hardly find a politician who represents his people in the National Assembly, not a billionaire or close to billionaire status today. You can only see the effects of all these borrowings with them, leaving the electorate with no security and with nothing called social amenities.

It is up to our youth to form or join the ideological political trains, form parties of explicit ideologies, and bring positive changes if they want their names to be written with gold and remembered as heroes like Aminu Kano.

Salisu Uba Kofar Wambai writes from Kano State and can be reached via salisunews@gmail.com.

By Muhsin Ibrahim

Religion is one single thing Nigerians of whatever dispensations take in high esteem. Religion is often viewed as the opium of the subjugation of the masses or as their Achilles’ heel. To Rahama, the story is different; religion means nothing to her. It is simply an identifier that she’s a Muslim lady. One might think having grown up in a multi-religious house would intuitively teach her to have respect of some sort for religion, wrong. Her Imams and pastors do not use Qur’an or Bible.

A 28-year-old, stout Rahama Tsoho belongs to a disreputable family of three. Her father, an ex-serviceman, divorced their mother when she was only two. She stays with the father, and her sister with the mother. She had longed to marry since her teenage, but she couldn’t. She always attributes this to her look and family. So, she vows to live a better life in the future by hook or crook and begins to use highly effective and expensive bleaching creams to brighten her skin. She also hunts for a suitor via dubious ways such as flaunting her bosoms and derrière at the workplace and visiting the so-called Malamai, fortune-tellers and sorcerers.

After long and tedious trials and retrials, she meets a fine young man in their office, a newly transferred staff from another state. Without a doubt, she knows he’s beyond her league, but she believes it’s worth a try. But, as feared, the fine-looking new staff turned down her offer right away.

“I swear I will marry that guy by all means”, she declares. Soon after that, she starts consulting her fixers for the aid of whatever nature. “All I want”, she confesses to one of them, a mighty sorcerer who lives atop a high mountain, “is to marry him”.

“That’s easy for us as drinking water”, he assured her. “There are, however, rules, as you well know”.

“I am more than ready to abide by them. All of them, provided my wish will be granted”.

For a start, she’s instructed to visit their family house, which is far away, which is uncommon in the culture of that locality. She unhesitatingly goes. She introduces herself as his colleague. Simple. She, throughout her stay, behaves the most innocent girl-type and spreads greetings to his stepmother and siblings and everyone who cares to respond.

“Oga Rabiu has been very helpful”, she warily announces. “I, therefore, felt duty-bound to visit his family as I am here for another reason, actually a relative’s wedding”.

In the evening of the same day, I saw Rabiu looking bothered and lonely. I was about to ask him what was up when he told me about Rahama. He said she was a magic-savvy lady who shamelessly told him their marriage would yield many blessings. When he asked her how she knew that, she said her Mallam told her.

I was bewildered. I quite well know that she’s neither fit for him nor his scholastic family. He halts my busy mind, which is trying hard to dissect the whole scenario: “Muhammad”, he calls my name, “marrying Rahama would be the greatest mistake in my life”. That relieved my besieged mind, for I was contemplating whether or not I should tell him not to accept her proposal. “So, rest assured; I will avoid it like the plague”.

A few days or weeks, I can’t recall exactly, passed by, and I heard nothing from my dear neighbour cum friend, Rabiu or about Rahama’s blunt, in fact, unheard-of proposal. I had just started thinking the issue was dead and buried for good when he came to me with a bombshell.

“I am getting married next week”.

Wow! I said. I know he and his younger brother have been searching for a fitting life partner for him in the neighbourhoods. I also know he’s rich enough to solemnise his marriage within a few days if both parties agree. Thus, I ask:

“Who’s the lucky girl?”

His look changed from thrilled to timidity in a split second. I wish I could retract my question. But, in this deportment, he managed to respond: “Rahama”.

After calculating the atmosphere, I feel convinced that there is no need for any further explanation on how it comes to that. Her magic, shameless pursuit and insincere insistence have ultimately worked out. Therefore, I pray for the Almighty to bless the union and call it a day.

A few years later, I began to think that we all, who earlier condemned her, were proven wrong. She seems a wife everyone would want to have: caring, loving, dutiful, and generous towards him and his family. Yet, her significant frailty remains in how she handles religion. That too, we reason that she’s from a different background. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect her to behave the way we do or as we want.

Unbeknown to us, she’s simply buying time to portray her authentic self. She’s a wolf in sheep’s cloth. She is now doing the unthinkable; Rabiu has literally been her “yes man”. He worships her; he does everything to please her and parts with everyone she doesn’t like, including his brothers and sisters. He’s, to sum it up, blanketed in her world.

Rabiu is known for much discretion, but not any longer. You dare to tell him your undisclosed secret; you would hear it spoken of in the neighbourhoods. If you ask who told them, they would say Rahama.

Uncharacteristically enough and against Islam, Rabiu has, on several instances, bequeathed his wealth to be given to her should he die, as they don’t have any children yet. He cannot even reflect or recall that his father, who should rightly get the lion’s share, is still alive.

There is a single path to get to Rabiu now, and that’s through Rahama. Rabiu is for Rahama, and Rahama is for her family and pocket. He sees, but he cannot decipher. So everyone believes that he’s conjured. And that doesn’t last forever.

Muhsin Ibrahim is a student and staff at the Institute of African Studies, University of Cologne. He can be reached via muhsin2008@gmail.com.

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa’i, has condemned the attack on Monday, which spanned Ungwan Magaji, Kigam, Kisicho and Kikoba villages in Kauru local government area.

In a statement signed by the commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, Mr Samuel Aruwan, El-Rufa’i “expressed his sadness over the attack and condemned it as an action of depraved entities stripped of every shred of humanity. He prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims and sent his condolences to their families. The Governor tasked security agencies working in the area to sustain thorough investigations into the incident.”

According to the Defence Headquarters Operation Safe Haven report, armed assailants attacked the mentioned villages early on Monday morning and swiftly left six residents dead. The deceased have been identified as:

• Joseph Maza
• Timvan Cibi Ciwo
• Monday Titus
• Asabe Magani
• Laraba Danladi
• Yosi Danladi

In addition to the casualties, it was reported that eight houses, six huts, one motorcycle and a generator were razed during the attack. Some maize crops were also destroyed.

By Nura Jibo

 James Hadley Chase, the master thriller and fictional writing maestro of all time, described so often Mark Girland as a good-for-nothing secret agent with a distinct weakness for money and women. But Girland, unlike Hushpuppi, “finds himself in Prague for his latest adventure. Events in the Communist country prove all too much for Girland as he comes face to face with a sinister world of deception, fraud and corruption”.

That was exactly what happened to Abba Kyari and Hushpuppi! The Nigerian supercop turned American “robocop”/ Hushpuppi turned American prison “puppy”. They squarely fell in the ‘safety nets’ of an American FBI. And the result is another gripping thriller from another James Hadley Chase new fairytales.

But dear Nigerians, wait a minute!

Why should you get disturbed by this saga? It’s not something new. It’s normal within the Nigerian political, military and police spaces.

1. How could you Nigerians too often forget about IG Tafa Balogun corruption saga with Nuhu Ribadu?

2. How dare you Nigerians forget so soon the Magu Magu EFCC corruption drama with the Attorney General of the Nigerian Federation?

3. Why should you Nigerians err if at all you can take a hue in Farida Waziri, Lamorde and Co?

4. Is supercop or superheroism anything to go by in the Nigerian system? How could Nigerians so narrowly forget about the late Ali Kwara and his chivalrous pursuit of armed robbers in Nigeria? What happened afterwards?

5. Is it not the same politicians without any political hygiene that turned Kwara into a political contractor willy-nilly the way they transformed Kyari into a global celebrity on bringing to book criminals in Nigeria?

6. Why should you Nigerians continue to raise your temper on Kyari versus Hushpuppi when you already know how Diezani and Farouk Lawan ended up? What’s new? What’s so special about this case of a new Rambo on the loose?

7. Does the FBI or Nigerian police matter? If so, then catch your breath and rest your case until “THIS IS FOR REAL”!

And if it is for real, then little wonder…

“When a woman turns up in Paris with information to sell to the CIA, is it for real? It will soon become clear that it is, and the FBI, Nigerian police or the CIA aren’t the only ones to realise it. As the tale sweeps from America to Paris and Africa, combining espionage with violence and intrigue, this another drama from “James Hadley Chase” gives a new background for the Hushpuppi thriller while maintaining the highest standards of readability and watchability.

Happy reading and ranting and viewing the two Rambos on the loose!

Nura Jibo writes from Dutse, Jigawa State. He can be reached via jibonura@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

DCP Tunji Disu has been appointed to replace DCP Abba Kyari as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, following the indictment and suspension of DCP Kyari over alleged involvement in fraud purportedly perpetrated by an infamous fraudster, Hushpuppi.

The appointment was on Monday disclosed in a statement by the Force spokesperson, Frank Mba.

Mr Mba was quoted as saying, “The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc (+), NPM, fdc has today, 2nd August, 2021 approved the posting of DCP Tunji Disu as the new Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

“The posting of the officer is on the heels of Management’s decision to fill the leadership gap within the IRT and refocus the Unit for better service delivery.

“The IGP has charged the new Head of the IRT to demonstrate his professional competence in his leadership of the Unit. He also assured citizens that the IRT will remain focused in the discharge of its duties in line with national statutes and international best practices.”

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

The former senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani and his supporters are considering defecting to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), The Daily Reality has learnt.

Following his recent resignation from the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Senator Sani and his supporters have been conducting a series of meetings on the issue and that they would soon come up with a stand. Recently, the former lawmaker hosted the 23 PDP local government party chairmen amid PDP defection rumours. Penultimate weeks ago, Senator Sani also visited some PDP bigwigs in the state, including former governors Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, and former gubernatorial aspirant, Isah Ashiru Kudan. 

No details were revealed about deliberations between Sani and the party chairmen and his visits to PDP stakeholders in the state. Still, sources have confirmed to The Daily Reality that the move was part of Sani’s swift consultation of power brokers in the PDP towards having a soft landing on a likely defection to the party. 
It will be recalled Senator Sani joined the PRP in October 2018 after he failed to win the primary elections of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 Kaduna central senatorial seat. He served on the platform of the APC but was critical of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor El-Rufai’s governments from 2015-2019.

The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission has on Monday rescheduled the state local government council elections from August 14 to September 2021.

More details later.