The move to ban the Bearue De Change was announced by the CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emifele. He added that the action was necessary and was taken due to the violation of the country’s monetary policies by the Bureau De Change operators in Nigeria.

Some experts commend the decision, saying it would bring sanity to the system, while others see it as another way to give others a chance and stop others.

But shortly after the ban was announced, the price of Dollar has already gone up, and many marketers are shocked at what may happen in the forex markets, which are primarily known as “Black Markets”.

By Sanusi Lafiagi

The blasphemous and sacrilegious statement credited to Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, (and published by Sahara Reporters) comparing the plight of Sunday Igboho to that suffered by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is a great insult to Islām and Muslims all over the world. It behoves every Muslim, especially of Yoruba extraction to publicly condemn this blatant disrespect to our religion and demand an unreserved apology from them. The ignorance exhibited by the group about the Prophet ﷺ shows how lowly the so-called Yoruba nation agitators think of Muslims. Why did the group deem it fit to travel far into the 7th century to find a comparison for a thug when I could have simply compared him to Afonja?

Sunday Igboho is NOTHING compared to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for the following reasons:

1. Muhammad ﷺ was a Prophet and Messenger of Allāh. He was divinely anointed and heavenly guided. Sunday Igboho, by his own admission, is a political thug and hire-for-pay warlord whose conscience is sold to the highest bidder.

2. Muhammad ﷺ spent 13 years in the hostile plains of Makkah preaching Unity of Allāh and devotion to His worship. In spite of the persecution (including summary execution) that he and his followers faced, it is NOT on record that he instigated them against the system or called for secession. Sunday Igboho on the other hand resorted to self-help and terrorised innocent northerners (remember that only a court of competent jurisdiction can declare anyone guilty of crimes brought against them), leading to deaths and destruction of invaluable properties. He instigated a violent insurrection against the system.

3. Muhammad ﷺ advanced the cause of humanity and was vehemently opposed to tribal bigotry and jingoism. He abolished the class system and preached the equality of mankind before Allāh. Sunday Igboho on the other hand is a tribal bigot who advanced ethnic cause and preached the superiority of Yoruba to the Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups. He described the latter as parasites and cancer, who are feeding fat on the fortunes of the Yorubas.

4. Muhammad ﷺ belonged to all who professed faith in Allāh and submitted to His worship. Despite that, he treated even his worst enemies with fairness and justice. He never at any time supported the corrupt system that operated in Makkah.

Sunday Igboho on the other hand (by his own admission) is a bonafide member of PDP who participated actively in election malpractices that foisted insecurity and corruption in society. His last political outing with the current governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, was in Kogi state, during the election that earned governor Yahya Bello for the second term in office. This, it is not far-fetched to say that Igboho’s agitation, just like his counterpart’s, Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB is LARGELY (to put it mildly) political!

5. Muhammad ﷺ migrated to Madīnah to establish an Islamic state where members will be able to live freely and practise Islām without fear of torture and persecution. As a precursor to this flight, he had earlier sent his followers in groups first to Abyssinia, and later to Madīnah to take refuge while he stayed back. Neither did he leave his followers behind, nor fly to hide from the powers that be. Muhammad ﷺ wasn’t a coward. Sunday Igboho, like Ojukwu and his mentee, Nnamdi Kanu, fled the scene after causing trouble (leading to the death and arrest of some of his followers) to enjoy the warmth of his wife and kids. He’s a coward and rabble-rouser who has no balls!

6. Muhammad ﷺ fought the Makkans ONLY after he had settled in Madīnah and established an Islamic state with all its political and administrative apparatuses. The first battle, Badr, came about a year after his settlement in Madīnah. At the time, the majority of his followers had fled Makkah. Thus, he was able to provide maximum protection and support for them in the friendly and serene terrains of Madīnah. Sunday Igboho on the other hand wants to cause an uprising that will not only destroy the lives of millions of Yorubas living across the country but will also ground the nation’s fragile economy and heap more difficulty on innocent people.

7. Muhammad ﷺ was severally persecuted and harassed on the street of Makkah, yet he remained undeterred in his mission. He didn’t run away or stockpile arms to force liberation. There were days that he was attached even while observing Salāt. Sunday Igboho on the other hand is an oppressor and lout who publicly harassed first class Obas of Yorubaland and threatened violence. He’s on tape to have threatened to kill the Ooni of Ife and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, attack the palaces of some prominent Obas, mocked pastor Adeboye over the death of his son, and traded insults with Gani Adams.

8. Muhammad ﷺ was NOT a magician. He didn’t practice magic or boast of diabolical powers. Sunday Igboho, as it turns out is a jester, a lousy idiot, a comic actor and an empty shell of nothingness. One would expect that by now, given his incessant JuJu braggadocio, the security forces that invaded his house would have turned into fowls or that he wouldn’t need to go through an airport to disappear into thin air. Alas! The acclaimed warrior of Ife-Modakeke communal clash disappointed his cheerleaders and fans by not living up to expectations!!!

Therefore, comparing the noble Prophet of Islām to a nuisance like Igboho is a great disservice to humanity and an insult to the sensibilities of Muslims all over the world. It should be retracted immediately and an apology tendered.

Sanusi Lafiagi is a lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Jaya settlements in Boko District, Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State was raided by suspected bandits yesterday.

Reports have indicated that several people have been killed and many injured in yesterday’s attack.

A resident of the settlements, who goes by the name Aminu, told Daily Trust newspaper that animals, including cows and others, have been rustled by the attackers.“I saw three injured persons being ferried to a hospital in Boko community. They were shot on arms, legs and thighs,” he said.

“[A] few days ago, the armed men had attempted to attack one community there but were ambushed by vigilantes otherwise known as Yan Sakai, who had got the wind of attack by the armed criminals. The armed bandits retreated after several of them were killed.

“This apparently angered the bandits. They, therefore, reinforced and invaded the communities. Reports say they came on more than 100 motorcycles, and when they laid siege, it was drizzling, and people were taking shelter inside their houses.

“Several women and children had fled the communities, and some of them arrived at Boko community this evening, despite the incessant rainfall,” Mr Aminu told Daily Trust newspaper.

The state’s police command has not made any comment on the incident.

Zamfara State, alongside other northwestern states, is known to have been badly hit by killings and kidnappings virtually daily despite the efforts being made by security agents.

The traditional ruler of Jaba, the Kpop Ham of Jaba Chiefdom in Kaduna State, Jonathan Danladi Gyet Maude, has been abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

The brother of the kidnapped monarch, Anthony Maude, has confirmed the development. He said the victim was kidnapped on his farm located at Gitata community in Nasarawa State.

Kpop Ham Jonathan Danladi Gyet Maude is among the first-class monarchs in Kaduna State.

The Kano State House of Assembly has recommended the dismissal, arrest and prosecution of the suspended chairman of the state’s public complaints and anti-corruption commission, Muhuyi Magaji. In addition, the Assembly has set up a 6-member committee to investigate his conduct as the anti-corruption czar from 2015 to 2021.

Details will follow.

The Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoleye Sowore, has been arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in Abuja.

The incident happened at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the venue of the trial of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Sowore confirmed the incident on his Twitter handle that he was “Just arrested by @PoliceNG at the Federal High Court in Abuja!”

By India Biró

How far would you go in order to be forgiven? Would you send a text message? A letter? Flowers, or a gift? Would you track down the person you hurt and beg them to forgive you, even if it required a two-month journey?

For Zakariyya, the hero of Abubakar Shehu’s Hausa-language film Risala, his desire to be forgiven for eating fruit from a stranger’s farm sends him on a week-long journey on foot to the village of Baihan to ask the farm’s owner to absolve him of his sin. Throughout this journey, he encounters unsavoury characters, is repeatedly beaten up, almost dies of thirst, finds a fortune and loses it, and ultimately meets the love of his life.

Zakariyya is the perfect hero: modest, handsome, determined, faithful, never straying from his morals. Even when he is accused of being a robber, beaten, and insulted by the village’s men, he remains calm and only defends himself by explaining the misunderstanding. When they realize their mistake, he simply forgives them and moves on without holding a grudge. His character seems so genuinely good; it makes you wonder if you would admire him or be annoyed by his constant perfection if you knew him in real life. Surely there must be something that makes him angry or tempts him to sin? However, his strength of character throughout the movie is reminiscent of noble mythical or legendary characters known to Western audiences, such as Robin Hood. This is further reinforced by the pre-colonial setting when modern amenities were not yet present in Nigeria.

When Zakariyya finally encounters the farm’s owner, he appears unwilling to forgive him at first. Yet, because Zakariyya is such a noble person, he senses the opportunity to marry off his daughter to a worthy man. So he proposes to Zakariyya that he marry his ugly, deformed daughter Ummulkhair (sometimes also referred to as Ummu Salma). Zakariya, being the modest man he is, immediately accepts Ummulkhair and promises to treat her well. However, when we see her, she turns out to be exceptionally beautiful.

We learn that the farm’s owner in Baihan has been looking for a suitable husband for his lovely daughter for quite some time, yet every man he has encountered was too enamoured with her beauty, which he considers superficial. Thus, to test Zakariyya’s good faith, he tells him his potential wife is horrendously ugly. The fact that Zakariyya still vows to marry her proves he is not a superficial man and that he is truly worthy of marrying her. In the end, he is rewarded for all his troubles with a beautiful wife. Zakariyya questioning his wife’s integrity by asking her about her relationship with her parents proves he is still not superficial and really is interested in marrying a righteous woman, not just an attractive one.

The fact that Ummulkhair’s beauty is treated as a detriment to her father, resulting in her spending most of her life indoors, as well as her treatment as a prize or commodity for a man (especially her virginity), is unsettling to feminist viewers, yet reminiscent of Western fairy-tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White, etc., as well as being very fitting for a story set several centuries ago. While Zakariyya’s “test” of his wife before accepting her reeks of sexism, it is probably a very realistic portrayal of the treatment women faced (and continue to face) in many societies.

Another theory about Ummulkhair with regards to the many fairy-tale and magic-like elements in Risala is that she is, in fact, not conventionally attractive and that it is Zakariyya’s reward for being a good man that she appears beautiful to him. This theory can be discounted because, after revealing herself to him, Ummulkhair tells Zakariyya she was barred from leaving the house because of her beauty, so apparently, she really is beautiful and not ugly. However, disregarding this, one could come up with a hypothesis:

Before unveiling her to see her for the first time, Zakariyya says, “everything created by God is beautiful. Only people make distinctions between the good and the ugly.” Perhaps, Ummulkhair is somehow cursed with an ugly outer appearance, and Zakariyya’s words acted as a spell that lifted the curse and made her appear beautiful to only him. So, because his heart is pure and he has good intentions, he sees a beautiful face instead of an “odd-looking” one and instead of a hunchback, he sees a striking woman. Because he is deserving, he sees the beauty in her while others do not. Had he approached the situation differently, perhaps thinking, “poor me, to be stuck with an unattractive bride”, she would have appeared ugly to him.

Ultimately, regardless of the specifics of Zakariyya’s marriage, the message is clear: Those who are good-hearted and seek forgiveness for their sins will be rewarded for it. As such, Risala is a very wholesome film worth watching for its retro charm reminiscent of fairy tale films or Bible stories and its interesting storyline. In addition, the acting and editing manage to steadily capture the viewer’s attention, something unfortunately not always a given in Kannywood cinema as it is still a developing industry and production quality is often low.

While I consider Risala to be one of the better Hausa films I have seen, do not expect a lot of character development since Zakariyya is a perfect hero right from the start and other, more sinister characters like the robber Gambo die before they get a proper chance at reform. There is also some slightly unnecessary bloodshed coupled with overly dramatic and unrealistic special effects reminiscent of low-budget Japanese anime. On the other hand, the music may not be to everyone’s taste (especially Western audiences), but I found it rather pleasant and meshed well with the action rather than distracting the viewer. Subtitles for the final song would have been helpful for non-Hausa speakers, but the song was still fascinating and enjoyable, especially the dancing and colourful Hausa clothing. Overall, while the film could have easily been condensed into one part instead of two, the storyline is gripping, and the acting is done well. I would recommend this film to anyone new to Kannywood cinema.

India Biró is a student at the Institute of African Studies and Egyptology, University of Cologne. She can be reached via ibiro@smail.uni-koeln.de.

By Junaidu Danladi

I am writing this piece with too much pain, tears and sadness. The year 2020 will forever be remembered for the multiple calamities which have befallen humanity and the entire world. Ranging from the global Covid-19 pandemic to the economic meltdown and the mass deaths or the mysterious death as it was popularly called here in Kano. To people like me, though it affected many as well, the last was the most miserable. Mine was an unquantifiable and immeasurable sadness.

In 2020, I lost my beloved parents, relatives, friends, and teachers, including Baffa Malam Lawan, Malam Mamuda S/Fulani, Malam Ayuba, Maryama and Professor Haruna Wakili. My father, Abdulmutallib or Abdulmuɗallabi, as a native Hausa, prefers to pronounce it. Since birth, most people called him Danladi because he was born on Sunday, and this is traditionally known among the Hausa people.

As we called him, Baffa died on 9th August 2020 (19th Dhul Hijjah 1442 A.H.). His death did not come as a surprise to us due to his lingering health condition, which he dutifully managed for about a decade. I can still vividly remember how he died before me! It was around 7:00 pm when Dr Sa’adah of the emergency unit of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, confirmed to us that he was dead. We could only recite Innalillahi wa inna ilaihiraji’un – to Allah we belong, and to Him we shall all return – amidst a pool of tears. I managed to drive the car but in a very horrible condition. We refused to inform other members of the family of the sad news of what had happened. But by the time we arrived home, it was only crying and prayers all over. They have already heard it somewhere.

It was indeed a tough moment, not only for the immediate family but for many people around us. Baffa was not just a father to us but also a father to many people in our community. To me, he was not only a father, but he was my best “friend”! we spent most of our time together. Although I am not the last born, I am the last to survive; thus, I occupied the exalted position of “last born” (Dan Auta) by default. This development made me very close and endeared to him, especially in the last two decades. Whenever at home, we mostly live together. 

As a child, he used to share with me his experiences as a lucky orphan. His father – my grandfather – Yusuf, died when he was a child. He inculcated in me a passion for history. Perhaps that could have been part of why I developed the interest to study History instead of my earlier favourite course, Mass Communication. My passion for knowing the past made me live and stay, in many cases, with elderly persons. I can still remember that during my National Youth Service (NYSC) at Potiskum in Yobe state, I mostly stayed with people above my age. Baffa also shared with me his experiences in farming and later as a junior staff of Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA). He was later transferred to Dawakin Tofa Local Government. He told me how they contributed to water supply, especially in the rural communities that were in dire need of it then. Interestingly, I later developed an interest in the history of water and electricity supply, which became my PhD research topic at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Despite my age and little experience, I became his chief adviser and treasurer. After he retired from civil service, he authorized me to be the signatory to his bank account.

As I was struggling to cope with the devastating situation of his demise, the sudden death of our mother occurred. She died on the 18th December 2020 (3rd Jumadal-Ula 1442 A.H.). It was around 1:25 am when my older brother Adamu (Danjuma) knocked at my door, informing me that she was in a critical condition that required prompt medical attention. We quickly rushed her to a hospital. However, she died a few minutes before reaching the hospital around 2:15 am. As usual, we could only recite Innalillahi wa inna ilaihiraji’un. You can imagine the situation. Returning home, it was just crying all over from family members and other people around that woke up at that time. Her death came with great surprise as she did not show any symptoms of illness.

After her death, it became clear that I have lost the dearest people in my life. However, I quickly consoled myself by remembering that even my father was an orphan. Above all, the greatest man in the history of this world, Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be with him), was an orphan.

Certainly, life will never be the same without them. But as a believer, I am very much sure that there is wisdom behind God’s decisions. And every soul must taste the pain of death.

I will not say much about their sterling qualities; it is a topic for another day. However, it is evident from the people’s testimony that they lived fulfilled lives worthy of emulation. My major worry is that I have lost their guidance, advice, support and constant prayers. The greatest responsibility before me now is how to uphold their good legacies.

May their souls rest in perfect peace, and may Aljannat al-Firdausi be their final home. May the Almighty Allah give us the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses, amen. And I wish to thank all for the condolences. May the Almighty God reward you richly.

Junaidu Danladi writes from the Department of History, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria and can be reached at: jdanladi.his@buk.edu.ng.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Some 28 out of the 121 kidnapped Bethel Baptist Secondary School students have on Sunday regained their freedom after being held for weeks in captivity.

Recall that the students were on July 8 abducted at their school premises in Chikum Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A report by Tribune newspaper has indicated that this development was confirmed by the Chairman of the Kaduna chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Joseph Hayab. He added that the students would be reunited with their families.

Although the abductors of the students demanded the sum of M60 million as ransom, it remains unknown whether or not the money was paid before the release of some of the students. Kidnapping and killings have become a quotidian threat in northwest Nigeria despite the efforts made by security agents to curb the problems.

By Tajudden Ahmad Tijjani

The Bauchi State government has indeed taken the bull by the horns by suspending the license of all private NCE awarding colleges. It’s a fact that any society that does not prioritise education will retrogress.

The state government’s decision is a welcome development. All private National Certificate of Education ( NCE) granting institutions have had their license revoked in the pearl of tourism because of their negative contribution to the state’s educational development. The standard of education in the state is persistently getting lower. 

For the operators of such mushroom NCEs, losing their license will be a tough pill to swallow. Notwithstanding, it’s the right call from the government’s side because allowing them to continue operating results in the graduation of incompetent, quack teachers who are the benchmark of our state’s underdevelopment.
Indeed, anywhere In the world, the importance of education can never be overemphasised; quality education is essential for long-term development.

Last September, the United Nations (UN) ratified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to serve as benchmarks for every nation to ensure global prosperity, protection of the planet, and poverty eradication.

All countries and stakeholders acting in collaborative partnerships will implement the plan Goal 4—Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning.

The call for a Quality Education, not merely access to any education, by the UN is a great step in ensuring that all children and adults, not just those born with a silver spoon, have access to quality education.

Education is more than just a content delivery system; it is a system designed to help all children and adults reach their full potential and see themselves as contributing partners of society. The former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set the SDG process in motion in 2012 by declaring that every child must be in school. The quality of those schools must improve so that students are prepared to be productive citizens ready to lead the future. 

Indeed, supporters of our beloved state should applaud the Bauchi state government’s decision to not only renew the licenses of these schools but also to sanction any defaulting so-called institutions per existing laws.

 However, let the government ensure that standards are strictly followed, that rich content is provided, and graduates are produced who are assets and productive in the twenty-first century, rather than liabilities.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmud street, Kasuwar-kaji Azare, Bauchi State.