Northern Nigeria

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

Introduction

In today’s Nigeria, we experience a rapidly growing population at an average rate of 3% per annum. We currently have about 220 million citizens and still counting. Our population is projected to reach nearly 400 million in the next 28 years. It is factual also that the population growth is much higher in the Muslim communities of Northern Nigeria than in other communities in both the North and the South.

Due to many reasons, foremost among which is the widespread practice of Islamically permissible polygyny, our population grows exponentially. At the same time, little is done to plan the expansion of infrastructure and provide alternative ways of coping with the needs of the expanding population. An average Northern Nigerian man likes and practices polygyny (i.e. marries more than one wife). In addition, family planning and birth control are generally considered taboos. Families are, therefore, mostly large.

While the population is supposed to be a blessing, it can also be a curse if not well managed. It is clear also that most of the Muslim masses and a large chunk of the Muslim leaders, intellectuals and even religious scholars are oblivious of the long term consequences of an ever-growing population that is not matched with a corresponding sharī’ah-compliant solid plan for taking care of the education, health, food and other socioeconomic and religio-spiritual needs of the expanding population.

While few are partly aware of some of the projections related to population growth vis-à-vis the socioeconomic and other realities, we are largely oblivious of the need to develop Islamic oriented ways of building the society and coping with the socioeconomic challenges associated with our growing population and exponentially changing societal dynamics. Therefore, the issue can quickly become controversial during any discussion.

But a society that accepts, based on an interpretation of religious teachings and cultural beliefs, that polygamy – rather polygyny – should be widely practised and even encouraged should also be a society that always goes back to the scripture for proper guidance on how to manage polygamous families. Since, as a religious Ummah, we have accepted what Islam has provided for us of the permissibility of having many children, is it not also Islamically incumbent upon us to go back to the Qur’an and Sunnah to learn how to organise the social, educational, economic and other needs of our families? Within this context, I intend to introduce family waqf, an almost entirely unknown Islamic institution for organising and planning the prosperity of families in Nigeria.  

Unpleasant Consequences of Life without Planning

How often have you heard stories that end with statements like: “Allahu Akbar! Late Alhaji Adamu was a wealthy person, a kind, gentle, and successful businessman. But look at how his children are suffering…”; or “Can you remember Alhaji Mai-Turare: the owner of XYZ Business at Tudun Muntsira quarters? Do you know that this hopeless drug addict is his son! He dropped out of school and joined a team of hooligans…Allah ya sa mu gama da duniya lafiya (May we have a good end in this world)”. And similar stories?!

Those are recurrent stories in Northern Nigeria. You have several successful entrepreneurs or accomplished aristocrats and professionals who reached the zenith of fortune in their chosen businesses and professions and lived lives of accomplishment and contribution. However, shortly after their demise, their estates would be shared among their 30 heirs; four wives, over 20 children, etc. After a few years, those inheritors of enormous wealth would fall from the world of prosperity to that of harsh poverty.

Many people would be rich, with an ever-expanding flow of income in the booming years of their careers. Still, they would never think of making a sustainable investment for the future prosperity of their children, not even for their life after retirement. After the family has grown large, inflation has multiplied manifold, and life has become unbearably expensive against their sources of income which have rather contracted due to age and other factors; they turn from affluence to poverty, battling to settle even the most basic of their bills. They neither invested for their retirement nor made an ever-flowing investment for their second life, the eternal life after death.

They have no passive investments that generate income for them at old age, nor a waqf (endowment) that would continue to fetch them rewards even while in their graves. They have no plan for what would sustainably finance their family’s education, health, and other essential needs. And so the worst happens. And the whistle is blown for their final, inevitable transition to the next world, leaving their family in economic and financial confusion, which often spirals into other messes in the spiritual, social and mental spheres. Soon after dearth, history forgets them as they have left nothing that continues to fetch them rewards and people’s prayers, not even for their immediate family.

The Importance of Making a Financial Plan

But why is it essential to make a financial plan for your children’s and family’s future prosperity? Does that have any place in Islam? Sa’d b. Abu Waqqas was an uncle to the Prophet (peace be upon him). He was among the ten topmost companions that received glad tiding of a direct entry ticket to Paradise in one sitting. He was rich. Actually, very rich.

One day, during the farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet visited Sa’d on his sickbed. After exchanging greetings, Sa’d told the Prophet that I am seriously ill, as you can see. He apparently was doubtful of surviving that illness. He said, “And I am a very rich person, but there is no one to inherit my wealth except a single daughter.” He then asked if he could give two-thirds of his wealth to charity, leaving one-thirds for the daughter. The Prophet instantly replied with a quick “No”. “What of half?” The Prophet again said, “NO”! What of one-thirds?” Now, here is where the Prophet reluctantly approved by saying, “One-third! Even one-third is huge and too much”. Anyway, the Prophet followed this with a statement that deserves the attention of parents at all times; “It is better to die leaving your heirs in affluence than to leave them in poverty, so they continue begging people for alms”. 

Many lessons abound in the above conversation of great personalities. One, piety and affluence are never mutually exclusive; you can be profoundly pious and superlatively prosperous. Two, connected to this, enjoying worldly opulence does not preclude enjoying everlasting other earthly felicity. In fact, worldly riches are effective instruments for attaining success in the next world. This is clear in the stories of great companions like Abubakar Siddiq, Uthman Bin Affan, Abdurrahman and, of course, Sa’ad.

Significantly also, you can plan all of these for your loved ones beginning with your children and wives. Not only you can; you have to! This is Prophetic advice, if not an order. The Prophet (may peace be upon him) made it impermissible for a person, especially while bidding farewell to the world, having no chance on sight to go to the market and earn more resources from gifting out his fortunes lest he throws them into poverty after him.

In simple terms, what the Prophet wanted from us is to plan for making our children self-reliant, self-sufficient and socio-economically empowered. With this, instead of being dependent, they will be independent. We should try making them givers, not receivers, assets rather than liabilities. Ask yourself, if not for empowering the deceased person’s posterity, why would the Sharī’ah even prescribe the inheritance laws in the first place? And in the Hadith of Sa’d above, the Prophet wants us to understand that the philosophy behind inheritance itself is to plan for the sustainable prosperity and economic independence of the deceased’s heirs; leaving them with sufficient inheritable resources to make them rich (agniya’) as against poor (alah).  

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido, Chairman, Zakah and Waqf Foundation, Gombe . He can be reached via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Faruk Abdulkadir Waziri 

All trouble starts from the most trivial things. Hence the pertinence for instant reaction to even the tiniest disruption to an existing order. When a problem is tagged small and therefore left at the charge of its own amend, without making a move to tug or curtail it solely because it has insignificant effect and consequence, it rides the back of that indulgence and backfires. The minor issue of yesterday, when left unattended or given the least of consideration, becomes the biggest trouble of today and the looming disaster of tomorrow.

A case study in Nigeria’s incessant security ordeal. From the preventable event that led to the birth of Boko Haram in the North East to incompetence that saw the renaissance of kidnapping in the North West and the impassive nonchalance that underpins the thrive of murderous IPOB/ESN in the South East. All these menaces besetting this country today started as problems that could be averted. But the authority charged with this onus chose to go with the approach of levity and lackadaisical confrontation in eradicating them.

Despite the warnings of the impending doom and peril signalled by the early threats of these instabilities, the government was acting with careless flippancy. And this allowed the yield and spread of these acts of terrorism and abetted their growth in a fashion that the thrive of one led to the birth of the other. The lasting of Boko Haram against the effort to wipe them off added fillip to the resurgence of kidnappings, with the added incentive of unaccustomed plight— Banditry. The outlawed IPOB found the stimulus that motivated their cause to unleash terror in the South East from the inability of the government to find a lasting solution to the insurgency of Boko Haram. 

Harira, her unborn child, and four children were unfortunate victims of the country’s crass governance with no regard for human life. The perpetrators of their deaths were barbaric and bloodthirsty IPOB, but the government that allowed the monstrous operations of these savage beasts to prevail is of the bigger fault. Just days ago, a state legislature was decapitated within the same region Harira, and her kids were murdered. Before that, the ruthless mutilation of the military couple was perpetrated within the same area by the same group of demons.

Now,  imagine if swift action was taken after those two extrajudicial killings and the savages IPOB had met their waterloo. Poor Harira and her kids would have been alive today. This is just one to show you how the callous insouciance of the government has been the bedrock of the long-lasting terror in this country.

While we mourn the cruel murder of Harira and her family, bandits on the other end shot and killed 12 farmers in Katsina yesterday. An example that proves not only the northerners in the South are in the face of apparent danger and risk losing their lives, but also the many northerners in the comfort of their respective abode (North). There is no way to limit the killings and other strikes of the instability to tribal tensions alone. Of course, some were informed by groundless hatred and bigotry towards particular ethnicity. But look at the cause that sustains the frequent happening of these calamities. It is the disregard and unreadiness of the government to lay down proactive measures that will prevent the recurrence of these ordeals.

Crimes capitalize on the bloom of lawlessness, lawlessness prevails where there is rife injustice, and it remains the hallmark of bad governance.

May the killers of Harira and her kids never now peace in this life and the one hereafter, ameen.

Faruk Abdulkadir Waziri wrote via farukakwaziri019@gmail.com.

By Khairat Suleiman Jaruma

For most Nigerians, there is no hope left for this complicated country of ours. As many often say, “Naija is finished”. I disagree that Nigeria is finished. We might think we are having our worst days as a country, but the worst is yet to come, and it will only come when we give up on fixing this dear country of ours.

The younger generation keeps me motivated and convinces me that there is still hope for Nigeria. I see how the Western world shoves the whole LGBTQ ideology down young children’s necks from a very tender age, and these children grow with this ideology strongly built in them. Let us borrow this method of theirs and use it to instil civic education into our next generation so it will be strongly built in them, or use the priming effect method, which effectively works in selling an idea or instilling a belief in people.

The importance of civic education in fixing Nigeria’s mess cannot be overemphasized. The idea behind civic education is to promote the demand for good governance by informing and engaging the public and as a necessary complement to efforts to improve the practice of good governance.

Civic education is perhaps the only tool we can use to address political and governance issues and critical social issues. However, we need to do more than just giving children notes on civic education to copy in schools, and we need to be more intentional about it. I believe that one of the most important things we need to do to change the narrative and set our country on a path of progress is to create a civically well-educated generation. Nigeria needs a patriotic generation prepared for the future and ready to challenge the existing execrable system.

Also, civic education, like we often assume, is not just a subject to be taught in schools only. We need to do more than that. We need to put in more efforts to educate and create more awareness of the role and importance of civic education to a prosperous Nigeria. We all need to be involved as individuals, governmental organizations, civil society organizations, or non-governmental organizations. 

The effort is not limited to young children or the next generation alone. It is essential that everyone learns more about civic education and practice it as, more often than not, young children do more of what they see than what they are told.

The change we seek might take time, and most of us might not live long enough to see the results of our efforts. Still, we need to set a good and solid foundation of positive change for the generation after us, or what we are facing right now might just be the tip of the iceberg compared to what they will face.

According to Bruce Lee, “Real living is living for others”. So let’s live simultaneously for the next generation and a better Nigeria. 

Khairat Sulaiman Jaruma wrote from Kaduna. She can be reached via khairatsuleh@gmail.com.

By Hussaini Hussaini

There were gruesome murders of one pregnant Muslim woman, Harira and her four innocent kids, and six other innocent Northerners killed in Anambra State. There was also arson on goods and livestock worth millions of naira belonging to Northerners in the southeast. As per Daily Trust Newspaper reports of May 24, 2022, and other sources, all the crimes were carried out by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). However, there was a habitual dead silence of other media houses. One of the victims, a Northern Christian, was said to have been killed and disfigured by the terrorist for his “offence” of being a northerner and securing a job in the southeast.

We are in a country where God in His infinite Mercies sandwiched diverse tribes and religions to live with each other. This, some may call a colonial act of 1914 in which the regions of the geographical location that was to become Nigerian were amalgamated. I see it ordinarily as a divine opportunity for success.

This amalgamation would have served a positive purpose for Nigeria post-independence if the citizens had united themselves for genuine national (not regional or personal) interest, just as the Europeans united themselves in sharing Africa as a spoil of war on the table in the Berlin Conference.

Unfortunately, Nigeria has been so divided by strives with ethnic, religious, and political colouration since its independence. We witnessed the happenings that led us to January 15 and the counter-coup of the 1960s down to the civil war. Those sad events should have served as lessons for us to think about how to live with one another in peace since divisions and strives had severally proven to be futile in solving our respective problems.

However, turns of events have shown that the gap between us has kept widening. Even the people at the helm of affairs and presumed outstanding intellectuals such as the leadership of the legal profession are taking sides and showing extreme bias in addressing issues that can touch the roots of our unity as a country. A typical example is a press release of  May 17, 2022, by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, Mr Olumide Akpata. He took time to condemn the happenings in Sokoto over the killing of Debora Samuel. She blasphemed and uttered abusive, vulgar words against the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

In the same statement, Mr Akpata passively mentioned some killings of innocent Nigerians, including a military couple killed in the south by the terrorist organization, IPOB. Mr President held the brief of IPOB terrorists by referring to them as “Unknown Gun Men” as the southern media hypocritically cloned them. However, the NBA President made it clear through his press release that the statement and the cancellation of the scheduled NBA-Spidel in Sokoto were in honour of Debora, not the late military couple who was in a sane environment supposed to be national heroes.

To Muslims, who form the majority inhabitants of northern Nigeria, their lives and that of their families and everything they own should go astray if that loss will prevent any slur on the honour of Prophets Muhammad and Jesus, Mary, or any other prophet of God almighty (may peace be upon them all). In order words, Debora would not have been attacked by any mob if she’s only accused of killing a Muslim in their private affairs in Sokoto, just as some Igbo kidnappers who killed a Muslim Colonel a few years ago in Kaduna; and the Christians who killed Gen. Alkali in Du village in Jos.

Blasphemy committed by Debora is one of the highest abuses and attacks on the Muslims, which was capable of putting the entire region in flames. Still, our Bar President found it very worthy to state that his statement and postponement of NBA-Spidel was in her honour without showing any concern about the root of the evil. Idolizing Deborah without equally condemning blasphemy in all its ramifications is abuse and over trivialization of the sensibilities of the Muslim community, most significantly, the members of our noble profession.

All the Muslim leaders who spoke on the Debora issue, such as the Sultan, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, and Prof. Mansur Sokoto, have condemned mob action as they equally condemned the intolerant and provocative act of blasphemy. This would have been a fairer pattern of address to be employed by our President as a leader. Four years ago, I wrote two published articles to condemn blasphemy and mob action.

Ebikebuna Augustine Aluzu Esq responded to Mr Akpata’s statement thus: “in honour” is she an NBA Member?”. He concluded: “…People get gruesomely murdered in Nigeria daily. If NBA wants to stand against jungle justice, it should not be selective”. The NBA President would have done better if he stayed within his mandate fairly. However, since Mr President has chosen to throw his hat in the ring, what goes around comes around, they say. Hence, we will patiently await the personal reaction of the NBA President on the recent killings of northerners in the southeast.

Hussaini Hussaini wrote from Abuja via hussaini4good@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

No fewer than 15 farmers were reportedly killed when bandits roamed Gakurdi village in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State Tuesday, March 24, 2022.

The incident took place amidst mourning after over 40 farmers were slaughtered by Boko Haram fighters in Borno State.

The Daily Reality reported how the farmers were being killed and some of the bodies were dismembered while some were tied up and their throats slit by the terrorists in Kala Balge local government area of the state.

Our reporters gathered that the victims of the Katsina attack were massacred as they were preparing their farms ahead of the rainy season.

According to the resident the bandits “came around 8:30 am today (Tuesday), using four motorcycles and started killing the people. Three were killed on the same farm and eventually it was discovered that up to 15 were killed on different farms.”

By Aisha Musa Auyo

‘If you don’t want to be criticized, do nothing, say nothing and be nothing. – Unknown

This article is inspired by a Facebook post asking why women were yet to send opinion articles to an online news medium despite sending them numerous invitations. 

Northern Nigerian (‘Hausa-Muslim’) women have peculiar characteristics that distinguish them from others. First, their personality is governed by religion and culture, with irksome societal expectations that women belong to the home, kitchen and the other room.

Thus, women are expected to keep their views to themselves. They can only talk when the matter is homemaking affairs regardless of their level of education, experience and expertise.  When a northern woman comes out to write or make her views known to the public, she should be ready to face the consequences of that action for the rest of her life.

Suppose you are active in this social media village. In that case, you will notice how women are ridiculed, dragged to the mud, abused, misunderstood, misquoted, and sometimes lies and falsehoods spread about them. These issues do not start and stop on social media. Even friends and families tend to misquote or misinterpret write-ups and then spread them to others who may have missed them. Others may take the write-up personally and assume it’s for them or about them. That has caused a lot of family conflicts and tension. 

On the other hand, one needs to have time to engage with those who made comments or reactions. One needs to spare time to reiterate and reexplain specific points, which is draining and time-consuming. Not to talk of the harsh and ridiculing responses that will make one lose their cool.

As a writer, I know one can’t force an understanding in a single direction. People understand only from their level of perception, experience, exposure and open-mindedness. A northern woman should know that her writing will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misquoted.

I have several stories to tell. My friend was crucified to the extent that she didn’t want to write even a single word again. The writer in her has been killed. She has logged out of Facebook altogether. And do you know what caused the rain of abuses? Because she refuses to engage in a private chat with men.

There was a time I made a public post that I don’t chat with men due to the endless ‘hi, salam’ messages I receive daily. I wrote that whatever a person wants to talk about should write under my public post or forget about it. Among the annoying comments is that I should leave the platform since I’m not willing to chat privately. As if the app is all about private chatting with the opposite gender. A coursemate sent me an abusive message that I’m now arrogant even before getting my doctorate since I have not been answering his ‘hi’ and ‘salams’.

There’s also this young fiction writer I met via Wattpad. She writes so well and has many followers. She makes readers cry, and her characters become so real in our hearts that we feel like family. But then, all of a sudden, she stops writing. So, when I asked her why she told me how her aunt reported her to her parents that she was busy influencing northern women to leave their marital homes.

The book that got her publicity is about a woman who has stayed and endured abusive marriage, then left after 20 years, started life afresh, and her new man and new home became paradise on earth.  Her point is there’s life out there for abusive victims.  Her point is it’s never too late to leave. But her parents were brainwashed, and she was prohibited from writing. She was a great writer, and I miss her.

I remember an instance when someone just tagged my name in a story with the caption “sak labarinki” [Just like your story]. And that story has no similarity whatsoever to my life. Come and see comments, people asking me how my story goes that they want to hear from me. That really scared me, and I felt like I would never write again!

Another incident that got me thinking was when a renowned world feminist got married, and a female Arewa writer or activist was tagged and grilled. That activist once wrote, ‘marriage is not an achievement’. She wrote that based on the Arewa context, marriage is the only achievement for a woman, which lead many girls and parents to marry their daughters to the wrong persons. This culture has led many women to endure hardships and other abuses just to stay married.

The activist’s point was there’s more to being a woman than just getting married, and honestly, some marriages are not an achievement. I know this will come up whenever that girl is getting married, that is, if she is lucky to get a mature suitor and brave enough to endure ridicule and insults from family and friends. This thing will also come up whenever her future daughter is getting married. The future son-in-law will be reminded that his mother-in-law doesn’t recognize marriage as an achievement. Simply put, this statement will hunt her for generations. The internet doesn’t forget.

Similarly, there are monitoring spirits waiting for you to make a mistake in the grammar, so they drag you down or ridicule you.  You never know some exist in your friend list, but they are there, waiting for one wrong move.

To be brutally honest, one has to be tough to endure all these and more. A woman is an emotional being, and one single word can crucify her to the extent that it also affects those around her.

I recall a post by a blogger that goes, ‘This is her husband writing. I want you to know your comments and reactions have affected my wife so badly that even we, her family members, are affected. I wish you people were more understanding and emphatic. This blogging is her passion, and you have killed her spirit. She has been crying for days, and we are all mourning the dead spirit. If anything, I hope this makes you feel better about yourself and what you wrote’.

So before a northern woman writes, she needs to ask herself: If she is emotionally strong and ready to tackle so many obstacles that will come her way and that may hunt her for a lifetime. Is she prepared for that commitment? Is it even worth it? 

Frankly, those who keep to themselves are more at peace than those who write. A person’s essays or write-ups will surely outlive him, and if the writer has written good, worthy articles that benefit him, here and hereafter… but at a cost!

On a final note, we need to do better in writing comments and reactions to people’s write-ups. The hadith ‘Falyaqul khaeran auliyasmut’ also applies to writing. If your comment is not constructive and will not inspire, encourage or motivate, then kindly leave it to yourself. We should also remember that we will be held accountable for what we say, write, or make others feel!

Aisha Musa Auyo is a Doctorate researcher in Educational Psychology. A mother of three, Home Maker, caterer, parenting and relationship coach.

By Lawan Bukar Maigana 

To achieve the relative peace we crave, we must respect each other’s religion and be wary of using nasty words on our “sacred belongings.” However, I wholeheartedly condemn jungle justice, burning people, and people taking laws into their hands. That is un-Islamic. Islam is organized religion. We should follow due process when it comes to issues that require capital punishment. 

For a fact, I know that any negative thing in words or drawing against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will not be tolerated or pardoned by any truly practising Muslims across the globe. However, Muslims should be wary of taking laws into our hands. Some people say that the justice system in Nigeria does not do the right thing at the right time. They mainly delay judgment. 

Some people gave the example of Mubarak Bala – an atheist from Kano – who was sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to blasphemous charges against him. They said that his punishment was the death penalty, but he was sentenced to 24 years in jail, which was unjust. I told them that that should not be an excuse for them to take laws into their hands because Islam does not encourage doing that, no matter how bad our systems are. 

In the wake of Deborah’s killing by a mob, a lady named Naomi Goni was reported to the police and the Borno State Government over a blasphemous she made on Facebook. The Borno State Government aptly did the needful to avoid jungle justice on her, as in Sokoto. Jungle justice and people taking laws into their hands are un-Islamic. Everyone should respect each other’s religion for the sake of peace. We shouldn’t be influenced by press freedom or any similar freedoms to do anything that can lead to the loss of lives and properties across the country.

On May 16th, I read news published by the Punch newspaper that a Lagos engineer was killed and burnt on the road by motorcycle operators because of N100. This is condemnable and should not be accepted by any reasonable government. It is high time the Nigerian government came up with strict laws on burning people no matter what they did. 

These guys gruesomely burnt the engineer because of N100. You can’t count how many people were killed and burnt because of minor things like stealing food, goat, little money, and shoes, among others, in the South. And they happily do it. No northerner will kill anyone because of any of the things mentioned above. Yet, the northerners are called murderers. Really! Are they?

Although I am not an Islamic scholar, I know that Allah has warned and forbidden believers from punishing people with fire. Only Him does that. Insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is unacceptable and unpardonable even in a Muslim minority state or country, let alone a place like Sokoto, which is primarily the root of Islam in the North. Desisting from insulting the prophet will not cost you anything. Why can’t we live in peace? 

As Muslims, we should act with knowledge in whatever we do. Allah has asked us to know Him before we worship Him. We can’t worship Him if we don’t know Him. We should respect each other’s religion no matter what happens because none of us will take it lightly when any of us transgresses. I fear that this issue should not be metamorphosed into religious conflicts because people’s comments on the incident are scary and dangerous. 

One’s faith in Islam will not be complete until he believes and loves Jesus – Isa (AS). That is why you won’t see Muslims insulting him. Honestly, some of the comments made by some moderate Muslims and Christians are unjustifiable because such things have been happening in the South/East in the open, and no Muslim has ever attributed them to Christianity because we know what Christianity is. 

Why can’t they do the same justice as Muslims do for Christianity when things go wrong in the South? Until we start telling ourselves the truth and live by it, respect each other’s religion and censor our utterances, we will continue to get things wrong. Then, we can live together without crossing each other’s red lines. 

It is hypocritical to condemn and label the Muslims as murderers because of what happened in Sokoto while you keep mute on the killings thriving in the South and other places. All lives are sacred, and no religion has asked its followers to kill people for no reason, and no religion has asked its followers to insult or mock someone’s faith. This has to be understood by all of us. 

The only way to end this kind of incident is through the establishment of laws on blasphemy with strict punishment for whoever is found wanting. In addition, the state governors should enact laws that will protect each other’s religion in the country to avoid jungle justice, burning people, and preventing people from taking laws into their hands.

The law should clearly state that whoever insults or uses nasty words on prophets or religion publicly will be decisively dealt with. The person should blame themselves for whatever punishment is meted at them. I think this will put an end to blasphemy, which will save lives and properties in the country. 

Lawan Bukar Maigana is a writer. He can be reached at lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com. 

By Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua

After an initial denial of rumours that he would join the ruling party, the former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, has finally ditched his party. However, after long speculations, his defection to APC has continued to elicit mixed reactions in the country.

Before his defection, many signals emerged that the former president had stopped attending activities organised by his former party. The Bayelsa state’s gubernatorial election conducted in 2020, whose former party lost to APC before a court ruled in its favour, suggested Jonathan’s indifference to PDP affairs. Does Jonathan’s defection have to do with how the party treats him during and after the 2015 general elections?

While the former president might have lost the 2015 election due to the zoning arrangements of PDP, which he disregarded and refused to abide by, the betrayal and backstabbing that ensued among trusted party loyalists led to his resounding defeat remains fresh in his mind.

The emergence of a new PDP split group led by Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and other heavy party juggernauts who abandoned him at the tail end of the party’s convention had wreaked great havoc on his re-election bid. With these politicians who deserted him returning to PDP, Jonathan would not feel comfortable staying with them.

As a former president, Jonathan should be the party’s leader. However, Nelson Wike, Rivers State governor, has hijacked the party and has since been calling the shot. Wike and his surrogates have firmly controlled the party and failed to consult or engage the former president on the party’s decisions.

The inability of PDP to respect or recognise Jonathan as their leader must have dampened his morale and forced him to change his mind. One imagined how the former president, who was a governor, a vice president and president under PDP, could suddenly ditch his benefactor.

The former APC national chairman, extraordinary convention committee, Mai-Mala Buni, must take credit for Jonathan’s defection. The Yobe state governor, during his stint as chairman, visited and subsequently wooed him to APC. Do Malam Buni and his co-travellers sign a pact that they would throw their weight behind his presidential ambition if he joins the party? Jonathan did not only join the ruling party but also bought nomination form through the northern youth group.

Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential ambition has raised some critical questions. First, is the ruling party toeing the dangerous path of PDP by jettisoning its zoning arrangement? With Buhari completing his tenure, one will advise for equity and justice. There is a need for power to be shifted to the South.

Also, during its recent convention, APC opted for Abdullahi Adamu, a northerner, as the National chairman. This development has further buttressed that the South will produce the next president. Moreover, with Jonathan joining the presidential race, what will be the future of southwest politicians, especially Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who sees his contest as a lifetime ambition. It is no understatement to say that President Muhammadu Buhari’s victories in 2015 and 2019 are to the credit of Tinubu and other southwest politicians.

If APC fields Jonathan, the southwest politicians will unite and reject the party. To them, having played second fiddle in the previous elections, the 2023 ticket should be exclusively reserved for them. But, on the other hand, if the ticket is not given to them, there is every tendency of anti-party, as these politicians will ally with either PDP or Kwankwaso’s NNPP to ensure APC loses the election in the region.

Second, who and who are dragging or promoting Jonathan’s presidency and their motives? It was reported that Jonathan’s presidency had two northern governors’ tacit support. One from the northwest and the other one from the northeast. If their plan works as scheduled, Jonathan promised to pick one of them as running mate.

The legal technicalities that may await the former president will unarguably discourage APC from giving him its ticket. Jonathan took an oath of office twice.  If he is allowed to contest and luckily wins the poll, Jonathan will take his third oath of office, which is unconstitutional. This will open up serious court litigations.

What will happen if the opposition PDP finally settles for Atiku Abubakar as their candidate? Will APC stick to Jonathan’s presidency? The former president had received accolades globally for conducting a free and fair election in 2015. Jonathan was the first African president who conceded defeat and called and congratulated the winner even before the result was announced.

Since he left office, his diplomacy performances have endeared him to many Nigerians. However, the former president should have kept a low profile, continued his diplomacy engagement, and advised the country where necessary. With the former president throwing his hat in the ring, what will be his fate during and after the 2023 general elections?

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua wrote from Kaduna state via imustapha650@gmail.com.

By Shehu Mubarak Sulaiman

“I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is to look at the works of others” – Wole Soyinka

About a month ago, I woke up to a message on my Facebook Messenger. I was perplexed as to why a message would come in that early. It was dawn, and the skies had not brightened significantly enough for the layman’s morning to be declared.

The sender was someone who had once informed me of his interest in poetry. He had slid into my inbox a couple of months ago, and had registered his love for my writings, after which he requested that I mentored him.

Without wasting much time, I had introduced him to Poetic Wednesdays Initiative and urged him to follow-up on their activities. I had also introduced him to similar platforms, like the Poets in Nigeria Initiative Facebook Group.

 A week later, I sent him a flyer for a forthcoming workshop and asked him to register. The workshop was organized by Poetic Wednesdays Initiative, and was to be facilitated by top-notch poets: Umar Abubakar Sidi and Dr. Ismail Bala. To cut the long story short and hit the nail on the head, Abdul-Rahman Jafaru Wali, a medical student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria was the person in my inbox.

He had messaged me that early to inform me of his emergence as one of the ten winners of the recently-concluded “The Nigeria I See” poetry competition organized by MOP (Movement of the People). His feat had come just about a month after he had registered for a workshop organized by Poetic Wednesdays Initiative.

That is a practical portrayal of how much of a platform Poetic Wednesdays Initiative is, one does not come and leave empty-handed.

For three years now, I have been approached consistently by people slightly younger or even older than I am. Their solicitation has over the years lost every element of surprise. Whenever I receive a message from a stranger on Facebook, half of the time, it’s about poetry writing or writing pertaining to other genres of literature.

The question had always been the same from all of these people. They keep asking: “How can I learn poetry?” This is such a difficult question to answer, as there is a never-ending debate about whether poetry writing is an innate or a learnt skill.

Regardless, I refer back to Wole Soyinka’s quote about learning the craft of writing; how it relies heavily on imitation, and Poetic Wednesdays Initiative had always been my first recommendation for them.

First, if the advances are offline, I will ask them if they have a Facebook account. And if they answer in the affirmative, I’d urge them to like the page, and submit poems of any quality every Wednesday of the week. Over the years, I have lost count of people I had introduced to this platform.  Some of them have now grown to become a significant fraction of the finest writers that we have around.

The journey of these wonderful poets and wannabe poets reminds me of my own journey. I had started just like them, a newbie, and a sprouting seed.  In the concluding months of the year 2016, I had grown tired of talking about my dream of becoming a writer. The more I talked about it, the more I felt like a fraud, my impostor syndrome was becoming more and more intense that I had contemplated giving up writing altogether.

I was at the crossroads, one road led to an Eldorado of a life I had always made up in my head; the fantasies of what a celebrated writer’s life seems, and the other led to a path of giving up, a one-way route to despair.

Being a science student was more than enough deterrent already. I talked to a friend who had graduated from the university a year before me and who I believe had more life experience than I. He spoke of his friend called Salim Yunusa, who has founded this small literary platform that aims at nurturing young talents in literary-inclined endeavors.

I talked to Salim Yunusa and he introduced me to a platform called Poetic Wednesdays, that was before it became Poetic Wednesdays Initiative. It was the newly-founded platform of his. I had written a couple of poems before then, but I had posted none, they were all in my phone’s notepad, longing to be seen.

So, all I did was waited for that fateful Wednesday before making my entry. My poem was handpicked and afterwards posted on the page. I followed the poem up, and relished some of the praise-coated comments. That was my first official encounter with poem writing.

As time went by, submissions from me became more and more regular. I enjoyed every bit of it; the praise, the feeling of having written something someone else enjoyed reading. Amidst all that nursing school monotony, consistent memorization, and voracious reading to stay afloat, I found an escape.

I had started to look forward to every Wednesday, it felt refreshing reading through poems on the page, and sometimes using them as a blueprint to craft mine. I started to make friends online, Facebook transfigured from a place where I come to catch up on viral gossip, or post pictures, to a place where I have direct contact with intellectuals and like minds. My time online started to become more of an educative endeavor rather than a fun-seeking one.

Weeks passed by and I had started to play with different themes, I had become a favorite on the platform. People looked forward to every Wednesday, so they could catch a glimpse of my poem and savor all its flavors. I had copied styles of poets like Maryam Gatawa, Salim Yunusa, Sani Ammani, Nasiba Babale, and a host of others, before I had come to find my feet.

In 2018, there was a literary hangout somewhere in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria organized by this selfless platform. We dined, and recited poems for the relish of fellow poets and literature lovers present. We had a swell time. In 2019, I rendered my masterpiece titled “I AM NORTH” at one of Poetic Wednesday Initiative’s get-together at Kongo Campus, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

It is the reception it received that had led me to promoting it on different platforms. The video of the poem was played at the 2020 edition of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize event that held in Lagos. The written form of the poem was published on Daily Trust Newspapers, Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation official website, and other notable platforms in Nigeria.

The creatively titled essay of Sa’id Sa’ad “Poetifying the North” is not a coincidence. I particularly love the witty coinage of the word ‘Poetifying’. Indeed, the North has been ‘Poetified’.   Today, in northern Nigeria, as opposed to the nearest past, there is a resurgence of literary activities and discussions like never before. There has been a fast-rising awareness of what literature stands for, and many have continued to embrace it.

Virtually all the states in northern Nigeria have one festival or the other, celebrating literature and further educating young minds on the importance of both literature in English as well as in other indigenous languages. This is not to say that the region had always been dormant in the realms of literature and arts, that won’t be fair to a region that has produced notable writers like Helon Habila, Abubakar Imam Kagara, Abuabakar Adam Ibrahim, Ahmed Maiwada, Ismail Bala, Aliyu Kamal, Victor Dugga, Maria Ajima, Zainab Alkali, Abubakar Gimba, and many others.

It is to say that the awareness about writing, reading, and other literary-inclined endeavors has been quite unprecedented in the last decade. Many young people have come to find it as interesting as any other thing young people enjoy. There are now more festivals, literary contests, literary magazines, literary organizations, school-based literary clubs and so on.

The younger generation had come to transform reading and writing from a tortuous exercise to something exceptionally pleasurable.

The perception towards literature has taken an entirely different dimension. If I am asked to pinpoint literary organizations in the north that have contributed immensely to this growth and literary resurgence, I will place Poetic Wednesdays Initiative amongst the first five on my list.

For the fact that it deals basically with young people and neophytes who may have or have not written anything before, it lays a solid foundation for those who develop cold feet when literary matters are being brought to the table.

This is quite hypothetical, but if one is to assemble ten young writers in northern Nigeria today, I am rest assured that two to three of them would attribute their literary indoctrination and growth from having to read, follow, or interact with poets and literature lovers like the likes of Salim Yunusa, Nasiba Babale, Aliyu Jalal, Mujahid Ameen Lilo, Abdulbasit Abubakar Adamu, Abdul-Rahman Abu-Yaman, Hajaar Muhammad Bashar,Usman Karofi, Maryam Gatawa, Sani Ammani, Abduljalal Musa Aliyu, Sa’id Sa’ad Ababakar and many more.

These writers that I have all had or still have something to do with Poetic Wednesdays Initiative. Nothing makes one more proudhearted.

Poetic Wednesdays Initiative’s six years anniversary is a celebration of poetry, literature, passion, creativity, community development, man-power development, and social change. As it stands, the initiative has organized offline creative writing workshops for more than three hundred secondary school students in Kano, Katsina, Yobe, and Kaduna. It has organized several literary hangouts for free, while also partnering with literary organizations like PIN (Poets in Nigeria), Ahmadu Bello University Arts Festival (ABUFEST), The Arts-Muse Fair, Open Arts, Creative Writer’s club, ABU, Minna Book and Arts Festival (MinnaBAF), Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF) and many others, all to promote literary activities, especially in northern Nigeria.  

If this literary organization is assisted in its selfless strides, the future of literature in northern Nigeria will be as rosy as it could ever get.

By Aisha Musa Auyo

When I was in primary school, my grandmother visited us, and she was mesmerized by our nature-friendly environment. She said we were wasting resources by not utilizing the space with livestock. So she suggested animal rearing, that she would send a sheep first, and if all goes well, that sheep will give birth to many others, and in a few years, we will have a flock. She kept her words and sent a pregnant sheep. It was assigned to me since I’m the eldest.

The Fulani in me took over, and the bonding was natural for my sheep and me. I fed her morning and night. I brought her out and tied it with a rope in the afternoon for grazing. I then returned her to the barn in the evening. On a fateful Friday afternoon, I brought her out and tied her to a guava tree in our compound so that it would graze as usual.

I can’t recall what happened, but she cleverly freed herself. (That euphoria when a captive gains independence ). She walked, played, jumped and danced! Then, when she became aware of her absolute freedom, she began to run, somewhere far away from our house, and I followed her. The race continued, but I managed to hold the rope.

My sister went in to let my parents know of the happening. I was still holding the rope, but I fell while that ‘wicked’ sheep was still running. I was somersaulting and screaming but still managed to see my parents laughing like crazy outside. My world was spinning, and I had bruises all over my face.

Finally, when I couldn’t bear it anymore, I let go of the rope, thus the sheep, and as I managed to open my eyes, my parents were at the spot to pick me up, but still laughing at my stupidity. ‘Yar fari’ (first daughter), they all chorused! Firstborns are believed to be idiots!

They calmed me down, soothed my wounds and finally, they said, “This could be avoided. You should have simply let go of the rope and the sheep. She will come back”.

This is a life lesson I learned the hard way. I’m glad it happened in my early days of life, as within two days, the wounds healed, and all the bruises disappeared in a week. All thanks to the fruits and medication that I’ve been taking. But from that day, I learned to let go of anything I perceive as a threat to my life or my happiness with immediate effect.

My instincts always alert me of immediate danger, and I respond unhesitatingly. Sometimes even too early that people around me think I do not give people or situations the benefit of the doubt or that I make early conclusions. Still, better early than late. Letting go comes easy because I’ve learned before that holding on to what doesn’t want to stay leads to bruises, wounds and pain.

The recent trends in domestic abuse have made me think, how can we reduce this menace in the upcoming generations? How can we raise mentally sound and selfless generations that will not abuse and tolerate abuse? What are we doing in our power to sensitize our wards of this growing menace?

People, especially women, tend to hold on to their mental and physical abusers be they friends, husbands, relatives, house helps or any other person. They endure all kinds of pain and suffering while trying to hold on to what they think is theirs until they are finally bruised, injured, suicidal, or killed. That’s when they let go. No, this has to stop!

I’m not in the position to punish abusers, but the little I can do now is to enlighten you, the reader, to learn to let go of that which harms you or threaten your happiness and or well-being. Learn to follow your instincts, they are there for a reason, and most often than not, they don’t fail us.

May Allah protect us from abusers, amin. May we never abuse anything under our care, amin. May Allah give us the strength to leave that which will harm us. May we never get attached to what isn’t ours, amin. May the love and respect we give be appreciated and reciprocated, amin. May we see the light even in darkness, amin.

Aisha Musa Auyo is a Doctorate researcher in Educational Psychology. A mother of three, Home Maker, caterer, parenting and relationship coach. She can be reached via aishamuauyo@gmail.com.