₦airaland Forum

‎The Mental Health Cost of Halfhearted Love
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‎Why ambiguity hurts more than clarity
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‎Halfhearted love isn’t just disappointing. It’s a specific relational dynamic where one person’s investment is inconsistent, ambiguous, or withdrawn. Psychologists call this “perceived partner ambivalence” or “relational uncertainty,” and research shows it has measurable effects on mental health.
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‎1. It creates chronic uncertainty, which drives anxiety

‎Your brain treats unclear social signals as a threat. When you can’t predict if your partner is “in” or “out,” you stay in a state of vigilance. Studies on relational uncertainty find it’s directly linked to higher anxiety and stress.
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‎As psychologist Kate Sweeny explains, worry becomes harmful when it’s “overwhelming, long-lasting, or out-of-sync with our ability to prevent bad things from happening”. Halfhearted love keeps you there indefinitely. You ruminate, replay conversations, and scan for signs of rejection. That rumination impairs your ability to regulate emotions and maintain positive feelings.
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‎2. It weakens self-worth through intermittent reinforcement

‎Psychologists call this pattern “intermittent reinforcement” - rewards given unpredictably. It’s the same mechanism that makes slot machines (or gambling in general) addictive.
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‎In relationships, occasional affection after periods of withdrawal creates a cycle of hope and despair. Researcher Kerry Cohen describes it as “the most binding of all reinforcements” for love addicts. You start blaming yourself for the inconsistency and over-accommodating to earn approval. Over time, you tie your value to their unpredictable attention.
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‎3. It’s linked to higher depression, anxiety, and stress

‎A latent profile analysis comparing relationship types found that people in “ambivalent relationships” reported significantly higher levels of depressive and stress symptoms than those in affectionate relationships.
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‎More broadly, relationship discord is one of the strongest social-environmental triggers for psychopathology. Susan South, author of “A romantic partner model of mental health,” argues that dissatisfaction in romantic relationships is “hiding in plain sight” as a risk factor for psychological disorders.
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‎4. It disrupts attachment and emotion regulation

‎Attachment theory helps explain why this hurts. People with anxious attachment already fear abandonment and become hypervigilant to shifts in a partner’s behavior. Halfhearted love activates that system constantly.
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‎Jeffry Simpson and W. Steven Rholes notes that insecure attachment orientations create distinct patterns of emotion regulation under stress. When the relationship itself is the source of stress, you lose the buffer that secure relationships usually provide. Instead, you experience emotional suppression and somatic symptoms like sleep disruption and fatigue.
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‎5. It keeps you stuck

‎Esther Perel points out that people often tolerate “deadness” in relationships because they’re trying to beat back a feeling of aliveness they can’t access alone. Halfhearted love gives just enough aliveness to stay, but not enough to feel secure.
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‎The result is what researchers call “ambivalence” - simultaneously experiencing both positive and negative feelings, which increases rumination and fluctuating behaviors. You spend time thinking about the relationship’s problems and how to fix them, but also engage in destructive behavior, such as withdrawing or criticizing.
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‎The bottom line
‎High-quality relationships are associated with lower depressive symptoms. Halfhearted love gives you the stress of a relationship without the protective benefits. As Perel puts it, the unknown can be met with either curiosity or anxiety. When the unknown comes from your partner’s inconsistency, anxiety usually wins.
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‎GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND THE ALMAJIRI EDUCATION REVOLUTION NIGERIA STILL REMEMBERS

"In my early days in school, I had no shoes, no school bags... I walked miles and crossed rivers to school every day, but I never despaired."
-Goodluck Jonathan
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‎There was a time in Nigeria when leadership looked beyond politics and focused on the future of forgotten children. Under the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Almajiri education initiative became one of the boldest educational interventions ever introduced in Northern Nigeria.
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‎For decades, millions of Almajiri children roamed the streets without access to proper education, shelter, healthcare, or opportunities. While many leaders only talked about the problem, the Jonathan administration took practical steps by establishing modern Almajiri schools across different states in the North.
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‎These schools were not ordinary structures. They were designed to combine Islamic education with Western education, giving children the opportunity to learn Qur’anic teachings alongside science, mathematics, English, vocational skills, and civic education. It was a vision aimed at empowering a generation instead of abandoning them to poverty and street life.
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‎The initiative was not just about classrooms. It was about restoring dignity, hope, and humanity to children who had been neglected for years. Hostels, feeding systems, learning facilities, and trained teachers were introduced to ensure that the children could learn in a safe and conducive environment.
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‎Goodluck Jonathan understood that insecurity, poverty, and unemployment cannot be solved without education. He believed that every Nigerian child, regardless of background or region, deserves the right to quality education and a better future.
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‎Sadly, many of these noble initiatives were abandoned after his administration left office. Today, Nigerians can clearly see the difference between leadership driven by national development and politics driven by empty promises.
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‎The Almajiri education programme remains one of the strongest symbols of inclusive leadership in Nigeria’s history. It proved that when the government genuinely cares, lives can be transformed and communities can be rebuilt through education.
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‎As Nigeria searches for direction again, many citizens continue to remember the Jonathan years as a period when government policies focused on unity, inclusion, infrastructure, education, and human development.
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‎History will always remember Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a leader who tried to give hope to the forgotten children of Northern Nigeria and invested in education as a tool for national peace, stability, and progress.

‎Hadiza Bala Usman in the Service of History
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‎In the architecture of power, not every consequential figure commands the spotlight or dominates public discourse.

Some shape governments not through noise or populist visibility, but through systems, discipline, metrics, and an uncompromising commitment to institutional performance. Within the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, few individuals embody this model more profoundly than Hadiza Bala Usman. To understand Hadiza Bala Usman is to understand a rare breed of Nigerian public servant, one forged not merely in politics, but in activism, bureaucracy, reform, and the often brutal realities of power. Her current role as Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination and Head of the Central Results Delivery Coordination Unit places her at the nerve centre of one of the most ambitious governance experiments in modern Nigerian history: translating campaign promises into measurable governance outcomes. Her appointment to the Tinubu administration in June 2023 was the strategic placement of an operator at the heart of the Renewed Hope governance architecture.
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‎Born in Zaria, Kaduna State, Hadiza Bala Usman emerged from a family deeply rooted in intellectual tradition, ideological discipline, and national consciousness. She is the daughter of Professor Yusuf Bala Usman, one of Nigeria’s most respected historians, scholars, and political thinkers. Growing up in such an environment meant that governance, justice, statecraft, accountability, and national development were not abstract concepts but part of everyday intellectual engagement. This background would profoundly shape her worldview and her approach to public service. She studied Business Administration at Ahmadu Bello University before pursuing postgraduate studies in Development Studies at the University of Leeds. This academic combination of management and development policy would later become evident in her governance style, practical, evidence-driven, and unapologetically reform-oriented.
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‎Unlike many who enter public office through traditional political structures, Hadiza’s early rise was facilitated by advocacy, civic engagement, and accountability movements. She became nationally recognised as one of the prominent voices in the Bring Back Our Girls movement, a campaign that emerged after the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014. Her activism during that period projected her as a fearless voice willing to challenge authority and demand accountability from the Nigerian state. That phase of her life was not merely about public advocacy; it was her apprenticeship in confronting systems of power and understanding how institutions function or fail to do so.
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‎Her transition from activism into executive governance began in 2015 when Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai appointed her as Chief of Staff in Kaduna State. This appointment marked a significant turning point in her career, introducing her to the complexities of subnational governance. In Kaduna, she became immersed in the realities of budget implementation, policy execution, managing political coalitions, navigating bureaucratic resistance, and implementing administrative reform. Those who worked closely with her during this period often described her as intensely focused, direct in communication, and deeply committed to execution rather than political theatrics. It was during these years that she developed her signature philosophy of governance: if performance cannot be measured, it cannot be defended.
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‎In 2016, her career took a dramatic national turn when the late President Muhammadu Buhari appointed her Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority. This appointment was historic, controversial, and politically significant. The Nigerian ports are not merely logistics centres; they are among the country’s most critical economic arteries, deeply intertwined with customs operations, trade revenue, political influence, and entrenched patronage systems. Her arrival at the NPA immediately signalled a new era of institutional assertiveness. During her tenure, she pursued internal restructuring, contract reviews, financial accountability measures, revenue optimisation, and administrative reforms that challenged longstanding interests. To her supporters, she was a reformer determined to modernise one of Nigeria’s most strategic institutions. To her critics, she was disruptive and uncompromising. Yet even her critics rarely questioned her courage or capacity for institutional intervention. Her suspension in 2021 amid administrative and political disputes only deepened her public image as someone willing to confront powerful interests, even at personal or political cost. This image would later find expression in her memoir, Stepping on Toes, a title that perfectly captured both her style and her public reputation.
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‎When President Tinubu brought Hadiza Bala Usman into his administration in 2023, many political observers immediately recognised that this was more than a reward for campaign loyalty. It was a strategic governance decision. Tinubu had inherited one of the most economically and politically challenging periods in Nigeria’s modern history, marked by subsidy removal, exchange rate liberalisation, inflationary pressures, public debt burdens, institutional inefficiencies, and rising public expectations. For such an administration, political rhetoric alone would not deliver results. Tinubu needed individuals capable of transforming policy declarations into measurable institutional outcomes. Hadiza had already demonstrated organisational competence during the 2023 elections through her role as Deputy Director-General, Administration, on the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council. Her transition into the presidency was therefore a natural progression for someone who had already proven her ability to manage complex structures under pressure.
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‎As Head of the Central Results Delivery Coordination Unit, Hadiza Bala Usman now oversees what may be one of the most strategically important governance institutions within the Tinubu administration. Her office is the delivery engine of the presidency, monitoring ministerial performance, tracking presidential mandates, coordinating inter-agency implementation, and ensuring that ministries, departments, and agencies align with the Renewed Hope agenda. This is not a ceremonial office. It is the operational war room of the presidency. Her responsibilities mirror those of the delivery units pioneered in advanced governance systems, such as in the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and in Malaysia’s public-sector reform programs. At its core, her role asks one simple but politically explosive question: can government institutions actually deliver what the President promised the people?
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‎Her value to President Tinubu extends far beyond policy coordination. She represents institutional discipline in a political environment where accountability has often been inconsistent. Through her office, ministries are compelled to align with measurable benchmarks, timelines, and strategic priorities. She ensures continuity in policy implementation, reducing the risk of fragmentation across government institutions. She provides the President with execution-level intelligence that goes beyond political briefings, enabling him to assess not just policy announcements but actual delivery performance. Her presence also introduces a culture of bureaucratic urgency, compelling public institutions to perform under scrutiny. Perhaps most importantly, she provides technocratic legitimacy to politically difficult reforms, ensuring that policy decisions are backed by measurable governance outcomes.
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‎Those who have worked with Hadiza often describe her leadership style as direct, disciplined, emotionally detached in execution, resistant to patronage politics, and comfortable with institutional confrontation. Such a style naturally creates both admirers and adversaries. Yet in systems where bureaucratic inertia is often the norm, personalities like hers often become indispensable. She does not appear to be driven by applause or public-relations optics. Her focus remains on systems, numbers, targets, and institutional results.
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‎Reflecting on her trajectory and growing influence in public service, Prince Ade Omole, a prominent Diaspora Nigerian, political strategist, and international affairs advocate, described her as “one of the most intellectually grounded and execution-driven public servants of her generation. In an era where many seek office for relevance, Hadiza seeks responsibility for results. She represents the kind of disciplined leadership Nigeria must not only celebrate, but strategically preserve.”
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‎At this stage of her life and career, Hadiza Bala Usman appears to be entering what may be the most strategically influential phase of her public service journey. Presently, she has built a profile spanning activism, state governance, federal administration, institutional reform, and presidential policy coordination. Her future possibilities are expansive. She possesses the stature, strategic depth, and institutional experience to serve at the highest levels of national leadership as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the President, or as a cabinet minister overseeing critical portfolios such as economic planning or infrastructure. Given her evolving trajectory, political acumen, and growing national influence, it is equally conceivable that, in the near future, she could emerge as a formidable electoral force, capable of contesting the office of Vice President or even President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Her combination of policy experience, political visibility, reform credentials, and operational discipline makes her one of the most formidable governance actors of her generation.
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‎Ultimately, Hadiza Bala Usman represents something increasingly rare in Nigerian public life, a fusion of activist conviction, political strategy, administrative courage, and technocratic execution. To President Tinubu, she is far more than an adviser. She is a governance authority par excellence. As the success of the Renewed Hope agenda continues to be debated in the years ahead, public attention may remain focused on ministers, governors, and headline politicians. But inside the machinery of government, where performance dashboards shape policy decisions and delivery metrics determine political credibility, history may well record that one of the most decisive actors in the Tinubu presidency was not always the loudest voice in the room, but often the one holding the scorecard.
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‎Hon. Tosin Olayinka, LL.B (Hons), B.L, LLM (London)
‎Programme Director,
‎Renewed Hope Global
‎WhatsApp: +44 7480 805585.
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‎©️ Renewed Hope Global
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‎#RenewedHope
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‎#RenewedHopeIsHere
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The Prognosis of a Problem Child

"Dumb niggas like me never prosper
Prognosis of a problem child......"

-Kendrick Lamar


A child labeled “problem child” in the ghettos of Lagos, Port Harcourt, or Kaduna rarely starts out that way. The label is usually applied after years of coping mechanisms that look like defiance but function as survival. Understanding what’s under that label matters, because the prognosis changes dramatically when you treat the cause instead of just the behavior.

1. The weight of trauma in the ghetto environment

Children growing up in densely populated, low-income neighborhoods in Nigeria face a concentration of stressors that compound over time:

- Chronic insecurity: Exposure to armed robbery and police raids becomes normalized. A child who hears gunshots at night and sees neighbors displaced is operating in a constant state of hypervigilance.

- Economic instability: Irregular income, food insecurity, and overcrowded housing mean basic needs aren’t guaranteed. For a 10-year-old, that translates to missed meals, missed school, and early entry into street hawking or petty trade to help the family.

- Broken institutional trust: When schools are under-resourced, teachers absent, and police seen as part of the problem, children learn that formal systems don’t protect them. The street becomes the only structure that responds quickly.

- Intergenerational trauma: Many parents in these communities carry their own unprocessed trauma from past crises, ethnic conflicts, or displacement. That shapes parenting under stress, often toward harsh discipline or emotional withdrawal.

The result isn’t “bad character.” It’s a nervous system and worldview shaped by unpredictability. Behaviors like aggression, truancy, and distrust are adaptive responses to an environment where softness can get you hurt.

2. How this trajectory leads to gang violence

Gangs don’t recruit in a vacuum. They fill a gap that trauma leaves behind:

1. Belonging and identity: A gang offers immediate status, a name, and people who “have your back.” For a child who feels invisible at home and in school, that’s powerful.
2. Protection and power: When the state feels absent, a group that can retaliate becomes attractive. Carrying a weapon or having backing reduces the feeling of vulnerability.
3. Economic pathway: Gang activity often provides cash faster than legal routes available to someone with no connections and limited education. In areas with 30-40% youth unemployment, that differential matters.
4. Normalization: When older brothers, neighbors, and peers are in gangs, the threshold for joining drops. It stops being deviant and becomes the local rite of passage.

The “problem child” becomes the “problem youth” not because they chose violence first, but because violence became the most reliable tool they were shown for getting safety, respect, and income.

3. Government and community solutions that address the root

Punitive crackdowns alone haven’t shifted the curve in Nigeria. Where progress happens, it’s when interventions target the trauma and the gaps it creates. Key approaches working in parts of Nigeria and similar contexts:

A. Trauma-informed schools and community centers
- Training teachers in low-cost areas to recognize trauma responses instead of labeling them as insubordination.
- School feeding programs and safe spaces that make school a place of stability, not another source of stress. Lagos State’s EkoExcel and similar NGO-run centers show this model reduces dropout rates.
- After-school programs in sports, music, and tech that give structure and adult mentorship between 3pm-7pm, the highest risk window.

B. Early economic off-ramps
- Skills acquisition tied directly to local demand: carpentry, welding, solar installation, tailoring, digital gigs. The N-Power and NYIF programs have had mixed results, but the ones with local apprenticeship components keep more youth engaged.
- Micro-grant systems for 18-25 year-olds with a mentorship requirement, not just cash handouts.

C. Community policing and restorative justice
- Police units trained to separate cult leaders from recruited youth, focusing prosecution on organizers and diversion for first-time minors.
- Community mediation panels involving traditional rulers, religious leaders, and youth reps to handle low-level conflicts before they escalate to gang retaliation. This is active in parts of Rivers and Ogun states.

D. Mental health and family support
- Embedding basic psychosocial support in primary health centers, using trained community health workers to run group sessions for parents and teens.
- Reducing stigma around counseling by framing it as “stress management” and delivering it in churches, mosques, and youth centers, not only hospitals.

4. The prognosis when you intervene early

The term “problem child” implies a fixed outcome. Data from Nigeria and elsewhere says it isn’t. When a child with high trauma exposure gets 2-3 stable adults, consistent meals, and a skill pathway before age 16, the likelihood of gang involvement drops sharply.

The shift happens when the child stops seeing violence as the only currency that buys safety and respect. That doesn’t require massive national programs. It requires local structures that are present, predictable, and willing to see the child before they see the behavior.

The prognosis is not set by the ghetto. It’s set by whether the system meets the child with a response that’s faster and more consistent than the street.

From Quill and Rule to AI and Models: How Quantity Surveying’s Victorian Roots Are Being Rewired for the 21st Century


In 1868, a quantity surveyor in London would sit at a wooden desk with architectural drawings spread out, a steel scale rule, a log table, and a stack of paper. With a pencil and magnifying glass, he’d “take off” quantities line by line, multiplying, adding, and checking for days. That process, the traditional method of measurement, was formalized in the Victorian era and became the backbone of fair tendering for 150 years.

Today, that same desk is a 32-inch monitor running a BIM model, AI takeoff tools, and real-time cost databases. The tools changed, but the purpose hasn’t: measure accurately, price fairly, and control cost. What _has_ changed is the partnership between the human brain and technology. And comparing the Victorian brain at work to the modern QS brain reveals something deeper about how humans evolve with their tools.

1. The Victorian Method: Craftsmanship Through Repetition

The traditional method of measurement relied on three things:

Manual takeoff: Scaling drawings by hand, measuring every brick, meter of pipe, and hour of labor.
Standard methods: SMM and later SMM7 gave rules so everyone measured the same way.
Mental calculation: Log tables, slide rules, and mental arithmetic were daily practice.

This demanded immense focus, memory for rules, and accuracy under pressure. A mistake on page 47 could cascade into a £10,000 error on a contract. The Victorian QS was a human calculator and a human database.

It worked. It created trust. But it was slow, linear, and exhausting. The brain’s job was to be a processor.

2. The Revolution: What Emerging Tech Has Changed

Four technologies are rewriting the process:

Building Information Modeling (BIM): The building exists as a 3D digital model. Quantities are extracted directly from the model, not measured from 2D drawings. What took 3 weeks now takes 3 hours.

AI-powered takeoff: Machine learning models recognize elements in PDFs and scans. Upload a drawing, and the AI identifies doors, windows, and concrete volumes automatically. The QS reviews and validates, not counts.

Cloud cost databases: Live material and labor rates update in real time. No more dusty price books from 6 months ago.

Automation and scripting: Python, Dynamo, and APIs link design changes directly to cost impact. Change a wall thickness in the model, and the cost report updates instantly.

The process shifted from generating data to interrogating data. The brain is no longer the calculator. It’s the decision-maker.

3. Victorian Brain vs. Modern QS Brain: Not Smarter, Just Wired Differently

This isn’t about IQ. A Victorian QS in 1880 had the same cognitive capacity as you do today. The difference is in cognitive offloading and skill emphasis.

The Victorian brain was trained to be a precision instrument for repetition. The modern brain is trained to be a system thinker and a translator between data, design, and money.

4. Why This Is Constructive, Not Destructive

People worry that automation replaces the QS. It doesn’t. It replaces the drudgery so the QS can do higher-value work.

1. Better decisions, faster:

Real-time cost feedback during design means we stop discovering budget overruns 2 weeks before tender. Clients save money and trust increases.

2. Fewer disputes:

Transparent, auditable digital takeoffs reduce arguments over quantities. The focus shifts to risk and constructability.

3. New roles:

QSs now lead cost data analytics, digital twins, and carbon cost modeling. The profession is expanding, not shrinking.

4. Human judgment still wins:

AI can measure a beam. It can’t tell you that the contractor who priced it last time will add 15% risk premium because of site access issues. That’s still human.

5. The Constructive Path Forward

The Victorian era gave us standardization and professionalism. The 2020s are giving us speed and insight. To make it work:

- Learn the tech, but don’t forget the fundamentals: If you don’t understand how a wall is built, you won’t spot when the AI miscounted it.

- Be the auditor, not the avoider:

Use AI, but always ask “does this make sense on site?”

- Sell advice, not pages:

Clients pay for risk insight and cost strategy, not for 200 pages of measured quantities.

Conclusion
The Victorian QS and the modern QS are doing the same job: turning design into money and money into built reality. The Victorian brain was a calculator. The modern brain is a strategist, with AI as its co-pilot.

The method changed. The ethics of fairness, accuracy, and stewardship of client money didn’t. That’s why this revolution is constructive. We’re not replacing the human brain. We’re finally letting it do what it does best: think.

Our Politics of Self-Sabotage

By Gimba Kakanda

The three-way de-marketing campaigns and cyber warfare among supporters of the three major opposition figures suggest that whatever allegations are levelled against the governing party for undermining the emergence of a robust opposition pale beside the opposition’s own apparent commitment to destroying itself.

Even with my allegiance to the party in power, I would be less than honest if I claimed not to desire a strong opposition capable of holding our democracy to account. Democracy itself requires a system of checks and balances, and it is not always practical to rely solely on the three arms of government to provide this restraint. They may, at times, be aligned in interest, especially the executive and legislative branches. This is why the vigilance of citizens and the strength of opposition parties remain among the clearest measures of a democracy. Citizens possess the moral authority to question power, while opposition parties possess the constitutional path to replace a government.

For those of us in advisory roles within government, a strong opposition also makes it easier to offer sober counsel to those in key administrative positions, because one can point to clear political evidence that X, Y, and Z constitute credible threats. But where X, Y, and Z are not only estranged and fighting among themselves, and where their supporters are more invested in tearing one another apart than presenting a coherent alternative, that persuasive leverage is lost. The opposition ceases to function as a warning signal and becomes, instead, a performance of avoidable self-sabotage.

As it stands today, even if we choose to flatter ourselves with denial, the opposition and its loudest online supporters appear to lack the logistical coherence and political foresight required to mount a disciplined challenge to the government. This is often what unrestrained ambition produces. Greed is not a strategy.

The same lesson applies, in a different but equally sobering way, to the northern political class within government today. Too many have pursued narrow self-interest at the expense of building a principled bloc capable of standing together when it matters. This is not an indictment of anyone, but a painful observation about the cost of political atomisation. It is truly sad to see how much collective influence can be diminished when personal calculations are allowed to outrun shared purpose.

Power, like opportunity, may take you as far as the river, but it cannot force wisdom upon you. Once there, it is your choice either to drink with gratitude and preserve the water for others, or to muddy it with greed, poison it with short-sightedness, and render it undrinkable for everyone, including your own thirsty self.

I see your point, but kwankwaso is a force to be reckoned with without teaming up

Amotolongbo:
Kwakwanso wouldn’t win Kano State in the last election if Shekarau didn’t team up with him in NNPP.

Buhari Factor helped Kwakwanso to win one in the numerous contests between the duo

I see your point

Amotolongbo:
Kwakwanso wouldn’t win Kano State in the last election if Shekarau didn’t team up with him in NNPP.

Buhari Factor helped Kwakwanso to win one in the numerous contests between the duo

Governor Yusuf Resolves Kano Central Senatorial Dispute As Shekarau Emerges Consensus Candidate

Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has successfully resolved the lingering dispute surrounding the Kano Central Senatorial ticket paving the way for Ibrahim Shekarau to emerge as the consensus candidate.

This was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, on Sunday.

The breakthrough it explains followed a high-level reconciliation meeting convened by Governor Yusuf in Abuja, where all aspirants and major stakeholders agreed to close ranks in the interest of unity, progress, and the political future of Kano State.

Following the Governor’s intervention, eight aspirants voluntarily withdrew their ambitions and threw their weight behind Senator Shekarau as the consensus flagbearer for Kano Central under the platform of the APC.

Kano Central, regarded as Nigeria’s largest senatorial district, comprises 15 local government areas with a population estimated at over 10 million people, making the consensus arrangement a major political milestone with far-reaching implications for the state and the nation’s democratic process.

Governor Yusuf commended the aspirants for placing the collective interest of the people above personal ambition.

He described their decision as a bold demonstration of maturity, sacrifice, and commitment to strengthening democratic values.

The Governor reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to continue promoting dialogue, inclusion, and consensus-building as vital tools for political stability and sustainable development.

Usman Bala noted that all eight aspirants unanimously agreed to the Governor’s peace initiative, describing it as a wise and timely intervention that helped unite all contending interests toward a common goal.

In his response, Senator Shekarau lauded the effort of the Governor for facilitating lasting peace among the aspirants.

He also expressed profound appreciation to the contenders for agreeing to throw their support behind him and all other APC candidates in the best interest of the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

MALAMI SNEEZES AND KEBBI STATE GOVERNMENT CATCHES A COLD

Birnin Kebbi – May 10, 2026

Yesterday, the Kebbi State Government issued a 1,500-word statement in response to my formal declaration of intent to contest the 2027 governorship election under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The statement contained ad hominem attacks, unsubstantiated allegations, and a list of unverified achievements. Notably, it failed to refute any of the figures I cited.

The government’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity did not contest the following facts:

- 67.6% of children aged 6–15 out of school, according to national and international reports.
- Net school attendance rate of just 38%, among the lowest in Nigeria.
- Over 88% of children living in multidimensional poverty, lacking access to education, clean water, nutrition, and healthcare, according to UNICEF data.
- 608 severely malnourished child deaths between January and September 2025, according to the Kebbi State Nutrition Office.
- 81.5% malaria prevalence among children under five and 71% of pregnant women in rural areas without antenatal care.
- Persistent insecurity, including bandit attacks and kidnappings between 2021 and 2025 that claimed numerous lives, including the abduction of the Deputy Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly.

In its response, the government accused me and the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of mismanagement. However, the Buhari administration maintained fuel subsidies, electricity subsidies, a managed Naira exchange rate, and kept inflation in check—policy choices that protected citizens from severe economic shocks.

Over One Trillion Naira, Zero Excuses

The Kebbi State Government has received substantial resources over the past three years. Federal allocations increased significantly following subsidy removal, with monthly FAAC disbursements rising from N760 billion in 2023 to over N3 trillion subsequently. Kebbi State, including statutory allocations, local government funds, internally generated revenue (IGR), loans, and grants, has received in excess of One Trillion Naira during this period. The 2025 budget alone projects N235.2 billion from statutory allocations and N25.9 billion from IGR.

A 2025 SaharaReporters review indicated that between January and September 2025, the state generated only fourteen billion naira in IGR. Despite these resources, there is no visible transformation in school enrolment, healthcare for malnutrition cases, or security of farmlands.

I remain focused on the real issues. My declaration on May 9, 2026, centres on restoring security, rebuilding public education, strengthening healthcare delivery, reviving agriculture, creating opportunities for young people, and restoring dignity to governance. I have no personal agenda beyond service, accountability, and sustainable development.

The people of Kebbi State — farmers who have abandoned their lands, mothers who have lost children to malnutrition, and youth without jobs — will ultimately judge the government’s performance. A performing administration would highlight results rather than issue lengthy attacks on an aspirant.

The era of empty propaganda and ineffective leadership must end. We will rebuild Kebbi into a safer, stronger, and more prosperous state for all. There will be no retreat and no surrender in the collective struggle to rescue our state.

Signed:
Mohammed Bello Doka
Special Assistant on Media to
Abubakar Malami, SAN
ADC Governorship Aspirant, Kebbi State
May 10, 2026

MALAMI SECURES ADC GOVERNORSHIP NOMINATION FORM, DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY ON MISGOVERNANCE IN KEBBI

Birnin Kebbi – May 9, 2026

I have formally secured the African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship nomination form for the 2027 Kebbi State governorship election because I can no longer remain silent while our state sinks deeper into insecurity, poverty, educational collapse, and economic hardship.

Today, Kebbi State faces one of the worst humanitarian and governance crises in Nigeria.

The facts are alarming and undeniable:

Over 67 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 15 are out of school, while the school attendance rate in our state remains among the lowest in the country.

More than 88 percent of children in Kebbi live in multidimensional poverty, while hundreds of severely malnourished children reportedly died within the space of nine months in 2025 alone.

Our healthcare system is in a terrible condition. Maternal mortality remains among the highest in Nigeria, malaria continues to devastate children under five, and thousands of pregnant women in rural communities have no access to proper antenatal care.

Insecurity has overwhelmed many parts of the state. Communities are under constant attacks from bandits, innocent citizens are being kidnapped for ransom, farmers are abandoning their lands, and businesses are collapsing under fear and uncertainty.

At a time when our people are struggling to survive, priorities have been tragically misplaced while critical sectors continue to deteriorate.

This is not the Kebbi we deserve.

This is not the future our children deserve.

I am therefore declaring a State of Emergency on Misgovernance in Kebbi State.

My mission is clear: to restore security, rebuild public education, strengthen healthcare delivery, revive agriculture, create opportunities for young people, and return dignity to governance.

I am entering this race with a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to the people of Kebbi State. I have no personal agenda other than service, accountability, and sustainable development.

The era of empty propaganda and ineffective leadership must come to an end.

Together, we will rebuild Kebbi into a safer, stronger, and more prosperous state for all.

There will be no retreat and no surrender in the collective struggle to rescue our state.

Signed:
Abubakar Malami SAN
ADC Governorship Aspirant, Kebbi State

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5d4EoN8rWg&t=122s&pp=ygUddGhlIGdyZWF0IGZpcmUgb2YgbG9uZG9uIDE2NjbSBwkJ3goBhyohjO8%3D

Leadership, Perception, and Public Trust

By Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE
bgabdullahi@gmail.com
3 May 2026

Public perception is the lifeblood of political legitimacy. In every society, leaders are constantly judged by the people they serve. Over time, that judgment is shaped by the social, cultural, and religious values of the communities from which they emerge. Citizens do not assess public officials by speeches and promises alone. They look at conduct, priorities, and the visible impact of leadership on everyday life. It is through that lens that the rumoured defection of Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso should be viewed.

Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has been one of the most politically fortunate figures in Nigeria’s democratic journey. From his early days in the House of Representatives, where he rose to become Deputy Speaker, his career has followed a remarkable path: two-term governor, Minister of Defence, and member of the Constituent Assembly. Yet his movement across political parties—SDP, DPN, PDP, APC, back to PDP, NNPP, ADC, and now reportedly the NDC—raises legitimate questions.

At some point, frequent political migration begins to look less like strategy and more like restlessness. This latest reported move feels to many Nigerians like a bridge too far. The concern is not simply about changing parties; politics allows for realignment. The deeper concern is the impression that such shifts may be driven more by personal ambition than by a clear commitment to the wishes and aspirations of the electorate. When political movement becomes habitual, it can weaken the very trust on which leadership depends.

Public trust is built when leadership reflects the expectations and hopes of the people. Closing the gap between leaders and citizens requires more than occupying office. It demands purposeful stewardship. Public perception cannot be repaired by optics alone. It improves when political action speaks directly to the values and urgent needs of society.

Every community is guided by moral and cultural expectations. A leader who neither understands nor respects those expectations risks becoming disconnected from the people. Politicians must not become strangers to their constituencies. They should remain rooted in the traditions, languages, and customs of the communities that gave them their mandate. Respect for cultural institutions and religious sensitivities often provides the moral authority to lead.

Political office should never be reduced to a ladder for status or personal advancement. At its best, it is a platform for sacrifice and measurable improvement in the lives of citizens. When public office is treated as a sacred trust rather than a private entitlement, confidence naturally deepens. The electorate should never be taken for granted.

In the end, perception reflects lived reality. If people live without security, healthcare, education, or decent housing, no amount of messaging can cover the gap. These are not acts of political charity; they are basic obligations of governance. A leader who protects the dignity of the people builds a reputation that survives long after leaving office.

Economic hardship quickly erodes confidence. Practical measures that improve livelihoods strengthen stability. Sustainable prosperity must matter more than token gestures or temporary handouts. Leadership should not be measured by the number of dependents it creates, but by the number of citizens it empowers to stand on their own. When leaders invest in young people, support artisans, and create space for productive enterprise, they move beyond politics into statesmanship.

Legitimacy also rests on fairness. Inclusiveness, justice, and respect for dissenting voices are essential. When people see fairness in leadership, they are more willing to believe in shared progress.

In our society, religion and private conduct still weigh heavily in public judgment. Leaders are expected to embody justice, honesty, humility, and compassion. When politicians are seen as people of integrity, trust becomes deeper and more lasting.

Political wellbeing is sustained only when citizens believe their voices count. Engagement must be constant, not seasonal. Public perception is shaped less by speeches than by consistency, humility, and results. People judge leadership by performance, not publicity.

The enduring rule of public service remains simple: the perception of a leader is the shadow cast by his actions. If the shadow is to change, the substance must change first.

Now I know Tinubu's Policies Aren't the Problem

By Farooq Kperogi

As I pointed out in my Saturday Tribune column, a common refrain among online devotees of Nigerian opposition figures is that they would rather endure Tinubu until 2031 than support any opposition politician other than their preferred candidate, even as they denounce Tinubu’s policies day and night.

That is both mystifying and clarifying. It suggests that, for many of them, the quarrel is not really with Tinubu’s governance, ideology or policies. It is with the fact that their favorite politician is not the one presiding over them.

They would tolerate, rationalize, perhaps even loudly defend the very policies they now condemn if those policies came wrapped in the colors of their own candidate.

If you are prepared to live through four more years of what you claim to find intolerable simply because you cannot bear the thought of another opposition figure succeeding Tinubu, then Tinubu’s policies are not your problem. Tinubu himself is.

More precisely, your problem is Tinubu's occupancy of a seat you believe belongs to someone you admire, worship or share the same identity with.

And that is fine. I only appreciate the clarity. Opposition infighting has stripped many people’s politics of its costume and shown that what often disguises as principle is merely identitarian investment.

Since many, perhaps most, people don't really have a problem with Tinubu's policies and can tolerate them for four more years as a price to deny the ascendancy of people they don't like, I think it's more psychically liberating to make peace with his second term.

Yanzu na fahimci cewa manufofin Tinubu ba su ne matsalar ba

Na Farooq Kperogi

Kamar yadda na bayyana a cikin rubutuna na Saturday Tribune, ana yawan jin wasu magoya bayan ‘yan adawa a intanet suna cewa sun fi son su jure wa Bola Ahmed Tinubu har zuwa 2031 maimakon su goyi bayan wani ɗan adawa daban wanda ba shi ne wanda suka fi so ba, duk da cewa suna sukar manufofinsa dare da rana.

Wannan abu yana da ban mamaki, amma kuma yana bayyana gaskiya. Yana nuna cewa ga yawancin su, matsalar ba wai shugabancin Tinubu ba ne ko manufofinsa ko akidarsa. Matsalar ita ce ba wanda suke so ne ke mulki ba.

Za su iya jurewa, su kare, ko ma su bayyana goyon baya ga manufofin da suke suka yanzu, idan dai waɗannan manufofin sun fito ne daga hannun wanda suke so.

Idan ka shirya ka jure wasu shekaru huɗu na abin da kake cewa ba za ka iya jurewa ba, kawai don ba ka son wani ɗan adawa ya gaji Tinubu, to matsalarka ba manufofin Tinubu ba ne. Tinubu kansa ne matsalar.

A takaice, matsalarka ita ce Tinubu yana kan kujerar da kake ganin ya kamata wani da kake so ko ka yi imani da shi ya zauna a kai.

Kuma hakan ba laifi ba ne. Amma hakan yana nuna mana gaskiya. Rikicin cikin gida na ‘yan adawa ya cire rigar siyasa ya nuna cewa abin da ake kira ka’ida a wasu lokuta kawai sha’awa ce ta kabilanci ko son zuciya.

Tun da yawancin mutane—ko ma mafi yawa—ba su da matsala da manufofin Tinubu sosai, kuma suna iya jure su na wasu shekaru huɗu domin hana wasu da ba sa so hawa mulki, to yana da kyau mutum ya samu kwanciyar hankali ta hanyar amincewa da yiwuwar wa’adin mulki na biyu na Tinubu.

Abdulazeez Abubakar Kaka is a Kaduna-based entrepreneur, youth advocate, and politician known for grassroots empowerment work in Kaduna North.

Who he is:
- Full name: Hon. Abdulazeez Abubakar Kaka
- Political roles: Chairman of the APC Youth Stakeholders Forum and Chairman of the APC Stakeholders Forum in Kaduna State
- Background: An entrepreneur and businessman who chose self-reliance over white-collar jobs after his education, then built a model around training people in practical skills

What he’s known for:

1. Kowa Namu Ne Foundation– “Everyone Is Ours”
He founded this organization to drive empowerment across Kaduna State. The foundation focuses on: skills + start-up capital = dignity. Projects include:
- Training over 3,000 people in tailoring, bead-making, cosmetology, makeup artistry, frames production, and beddings manufacturing
- Empowering over 5,000 beneficiaries with grants and equipment
- ICT and digital marketing training for youth
- Financial support to 1,500+ women in Kaduna North to boost small businesses
- N50m cash grant + food aid to 1,000 indigents in Kaduna North
- Free medical outreach for 300+ residents covering malaria, hypertension, diabetes, mass deworming for kids
- Solar streetlights, school bags/books to 2,000+ students, JAMB/SSCE sponsorships

2. Political activities
He’s currently vying for the House of Representatives seat for Kaduna North Federal Constituency under APC for the 2027 election. He started consultations in March 2026 and was formally presented by ward executives as their preferred candidate. He says his agenda is inclusive leadership, grassroots engagement, youth empowerment, and sustainable development.

3. Public positions
He’s been vocal in support of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and Governor Uba Sani’s SUSTAIN blueprint. He also publicly defended Seyi Tinubu against allegations about disrupting a NANS inauguration, calling the claims “unfounded and dangerous”.

People in Kaduna North often describe him as a “grassroots politician” whose name resonates for empowerment work, not just politics.

2027: Don’t Pull Down the Roof

By Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON

The political season is upon us again, and with it comes the familiar fever of democracy. Across our wards and local governments, across party offices and private homes, consultations have begun. Aspirants are making calls, elders are receiving visits, supporters are counting delegates, and the marketplace of ambition is alive once more.

This is proof that our democracy still breathes. It is evidence that power in our republic is still something to be negotiated, contested, persuaded, and earned. But every season of politics also comes with its temptations. It comes with the temptation to mistake disagreement for betrayal, competition for enmity, preference for exclusion, and media interpretation for truth.

This is why, at this delicate hour, we must speak to ourselves with candour, but also with restraint. We must remind ourselves that a political party is not a battlefield. It is a family. And even in the most spirited family, the roof must never be pulled down because one room appears warmer than another.

We are members of one political household. We may have different aspirations, different loyalists, different zones of influence, different calculations, and different preferred outcomes. That is normal. Democracy was never designed to abolish ambition. It was designed to civilise it. It was designed to teach us that we can compete without destroying one another, disagree without demonising one another, and lose without setting fire to the very platform that gave us a voice.

We must therefore refuse the temptation to be manipulated by the media, by mischief-makers, by vested interests, or by those who profit from division. There will always be those who whisper that one leader has been slighted, that one bloc has been excluded, or that one interest has been buried. These are familiar tricks in the theatre of politics. They are meant to provoke suspicion, inflame supporters, and turn comrades into adversaries before the real contest even begins.

But leadership demands that we rise above provocation. Leadership demands that we ask: who benefits when brothers fight? Who gains when a party weakens itself before facing the opposition? Who profits when those who should be building bridges begin to dig trenches?

The truth is simple. The real challenge before us does not end with the primaries. In fact, it begins after the primaries. The primaries will produce candidates, but the general election will test the strength of our unity. A fractured party may produce a candidate, but only a united party can produce victory. A ticket may be won in a hall, but an election is won in the streets, in the villages, in the markets, in the polling units, and in the hearts of the people.

This is why every party chieftain, every aspirant, every stakeholder, every delegate, and every supporter matters. Each of us is a raindrop, and each raindrop matters in the making of a flood. No raindrop is too small to be ignored. No stakeholder is too insignificant to be respected. No supporter is too ordinary to be heard. The strength of a party is not only in its most visible leaders; it is in the quiet loyalty of the people who stand by it when the applause has faded.

For this reason, moderation must be our watchword. Moderation is not weakness. It is wisdom in public conduct. It is the discipline to speak without poisoning the well. It is the maturity to pursue an interest without injuring the family. It is the grace to understand that today’s disappointment may become tomorrow’s opportunity, and that the bridge we burn in anger may be the road we need in another season.

We cannot all win at the same time. This is the first hard lesson of politics. For every ticket, only one candidate will emerge. Many will consult. Many will spend. Many will hope. Many will be encouraged by supporters, friends, and elders. But at the end of the process, only one name will be submitted. That outcome, however painful to others, is not always an injustice. It is often the unavoidable arithmetic of democracy.

The true test of a politician is not how loudly he campaigns when the wind is behind him. The true test is how he behaves when the wind turns against him. Anyone can celebrate victory. It takes character to manage disappointment. It takes statesmanship to congratulate a rival. It takes patriotism to remain loyal to the house even when the room assigned to you is not the one you desired.

We must also be honest with ourselves. Endorsements are not strange to politics. Preferences are not crimes. Leaders, elders, and stakeholders will naturally have opinions about those they believe can consolidate achievements, protect party interests, and advance the public good. But preference must never become provocation. Influence must never become intimidation. Persuasion must never become exclusion. The credibility of our process is the foundation of our legitimacy.

Party leaders must therefore act with fairness. Aspirants must be treated with dignity. Delegates must be allowed to act without fear. Processes must be transparent enough to command respect, even from those who lose. Where there are grievances, they must be addressed with patience and justice. Where there are rumours, they must be answered with clarity. Where there are wounds, they must be healed before they become infections.

But aspirants and their supporters also owe the party a duty of restraint. No ambition is worth the destruction of the platform that nurtured it. No grievance is worth the collapse of the house we all helped to build. No ticket is worth turning comrades into enemies. No loss is final enough to justify permanent bitterness.

Politics is a long road. Those who understand this do not burn their vehicles because of one rough turn. They do not abandon the journey because one gate did not open. Our history is filled with men and women who lost today and won tomorrow, who were overlooked in one season and became indispensable in another, who endured the pain of temporary defeat and later found the door of destiny opened wider than they imagined.

That is the beauty of patience. That is the wisdom of loyalty. That is the reward of staying useful.

We must also remember that the people are watching us. Nigerians are not merely listening to our speeches; they are studying our temperament. They are watching how we manage disagreement. They are watching whether we place service above ego. They are watching whether we can subordinate personal ambition to collective survival. A leader who cannot manage disappointment cannot be trusted to manage power. A politician who destroys his party because he lost a ticket may destroy a state because he lost an argument.

Our great party must not become a victim of its own strength. We are a large family, and large families must learn the art of accommodation. We are a party of many tendencies, many histories, many interests, and many sacrifices. That diversity is not a curse. It is our capital. But it must be managed with humility, fairness, and discipline.

We must not allow outsiders to narrate us into conflict. We must not allow headlines to dictate our emotions. We must not allow commentators, who will not stand with us in the rain, to push us into quarrels that will weaken us in the sun. The media has its place, and public scrutiny is part of democracy. But we must have the wisdom to separate honest analysis from engineered mischief.

At this moment, what our party needs is not noise but steadiness. Not suspicion but conversation. Not bitterness but maturity. Not factional triumphalism but collective responsibility. Every leader must lower the temperature. Every aspirant must discipline his camp. Every supporter must remember that today’s opponent in a primary may be tomorrow’s ally in a general election.

We have a larger duty to our nation. Politics is not an end in itself. It is a vehicle for service. It is the means through which we deliver security, education, jobs, infrastructure, prosperity, justice, and dignity to our people. If we reduce politics to personal entitlement, we betray the people whose mandate we seek. If we turn primaries into wars of ego, we abandon the very citizens who expect governance from us.

His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has shown, through a long political journey, that democracy thrives on accommodation, persuasion, resilience, and coalition-building. That example must guide us. The strength of a party is not in the absence of disagreements, but in its capacity to resolve them without losing its soul.

So, I appeal to our leaders: let us be fair. I appeal to our aspirants: let us be patient. I appeal to our supporters: let us be disciplined. I appeal to our party faithful: let us be united. The roof over this house shelters all of us. If we pull it down in anger, nobody will be spared by the storm.

Contest, but do not destroy. Disagree, but do not defame. Aspire, but do not divide. Lose, if it happens, with dignity. Win, if it happens, with humility. And after the primaries, let us close ranks, because the real battle will not be among ourselves. The real task will be to go before Nigerians with one voice, one purpose, and one renewed covenant of service.

Each of us is a raindrop. Alone, we may appear small. Together, we can become the flood that carries our party to victory and our country towards greater hope.

Let us therefore protect the house. Let us preserve the family. Let us choose moderation over mischief, unity over suspicion, and service over ego.

We will all have our season, but only if the house still stands.

By Senator Kashim Shettima, GCON.
Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Downturns of Colonization and the Weight of the “White Man’s Burden”

For generations, the phrase “White Man’s Burden” was used to frame colonization as a noble duty — the idea that Western nations had to civilize the rest of the world. But behind that language was a pattern of exploitation, loss, and lasting harm that reshaped entire continents.

The first downturn was the human cost. Colonization meant conquest, and conquest meant violence. From the Congo Free State to the Indian subcontinent, millions died from war, forced labor, and famine created by cash-crop policies. Indigenous governance structures were dismantled and replaced with foreign rule that served distant capitals, not local communities. Languages were suppressed, cultural practices outlawed, and histories rewritten through colonial schools.

Economic extraction defined the system. Railroads and ports were built, but primarily to move rubber, diamonds, tea, and cotton out. Local industries were undermined by imported goods. Land was seized and redistributed to settlers or plantations, turning self-sufficient farmers into wage laborers. The wealth flowed outward, leaving infrastructure that served export, not broad domestic development.

The political legacy was equally heavy. Arbitrary borders drawn in Berlin or London grouped rivals together and split ethnic groups apart, sowing conflict that would last long after independence. Systems of indirect rule elevated some groups over others, hardening divisions that later erupted into civil wars. The promise of “preparing nations for self-government” often meant decades of paternal control, with constitutions and elections designed to preserve colonial interests.

Socially, the missionary and civilizing impulse dismissed existing knowledge systems. Medical traditions, legal codes, and agricultural practices that had sustained societies for centuries were labeled primitive. Boarding schools and mission stations severed children from families in the name of progress. The psychological toll — the message that one’s culture was inferior — echoed for generations.

Even where roads, hospitals, and legal codes remained, they came tied to a system that denied political agency. Independence movements across Africa, Asia, and the Americas were not rejections of modernity, but demands to define it on their own terms.

The “burden” was never borne equally. The colonizers wrote it as sacrifice; the colonized experienced it as subjugation. Today, the downturns are visible in economic inequality between nations, in political instability rooted in colonial borders, and in the long work of cultural reclamation.

Understanding colonization means looking at both the railroads and the graves, the schools and the silenced languages, the laws imposed and the ones erased. The true weight of the “White Man’s Burden” was not carried by those who claimed it, but by those who had no choice in the matter.

Haha that's correct.........haha

yarimo:
Attack on USA president and yet America is not finish, if this should happen in Nigeria one peter obi could have Rush to arise tv and claim Nigeria is finish

US President Donald Trump and other attendees were evacuated Saturday night after gunshots were fired at a glitzy media gala in Washington.

Read more: https://dailytrust.com/how-trump-wife-others-were-evacuated-when-gunman-disrupted-white-house-event/

On The Origin Of Blacks' Underdevelopment
By Baba El-Yakubu
byjibril@gmail.com

By any reasonable standard, the black race is at the bottom of the human development pyramid. In any field of human endeavor - material possessions, literature, culture, truth, or the ability to organize into a purposeful society - today, the race is at the lowest level of any scale. It is part of human nature to crave more and better. All sensible humans aspire for prosperity and economic development. They go to any extent to avoid anything that may jeopardize their well-being. The fact that blacks languish in avoidable deprivations and misery; leads to a necessary question. Are Blacks sensible humans? This question is indeed problematic. It is based on some assumptions. But it is not unreasonable. There is nothing more important and nothing deserves our attention more than these types of questions about the present state of the black race. This attempt may unravel the difficulties associated with improving the blacks' conditions.

To answer the question, we need to address another difficult one. Why are blacks backward and underdeveloped? The two questions are linked because development is about learning and improving. A person may observe that another is better than him. Because he is sensible and intelligent; he imagines what he wants and finds ways to take him from where he is to where he wants to go. If regression is accepted as a fact of life without attempt to learn and grow; then the first question arises. I have been grappling with the second question for more than two decades. I read books. I closely observe blacks and discuss my concerns with others. Still, I could not answer why they are retrogressive, unorganized, of low self-esteem, and have insignificant achievements. L. Sprague De Camp's "Ancient Engineers" and many other sources discuss important engineering feats of different races in different civilizations, but there is nothing significant recorded from black Africa. Last July a list of the new 'Seven Wonders of the World' was unveiled based on about 100 million votes on the internet. There was no significant architectural or civil engineering feat by the blacks. If you look at economic indices such as purchasing power parity and gross domestic product per capita, blacks' countries are among the poorest of the poor. About 50 years ago, the GDP per capita of Ghana was higher than that of Malaysia and that of Taiwan was lower than that of Sudan. Today, the African countries are seeking economic aid from the Asians. Over the 1960-1973 period, the African countries' growth rate was 2.0% compared with the world average of 3.0% the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD countries of 4.2%. In 1981 – 1988; Africans exhibited a negative growth rate (-0.1%) while OECDs had 2.9% growth. The blacks' countries are highly corrupt and unstable. Recent report of failed states shows a large percentage of them to be Blacks majority countries.

Many blame geography and colonialism. My observation is that the location is not an important factor. Blacks have the same characteristics irrespective of their past or current circumstances. Take a group of blacks to anywhere – the Caribbean islands, South America, or Papua New Guinea. It is the same story of political instability, abject poverty, and regressions. They fail to organize themselves into a developed and vibrant nation. Compare them with non-black neighbors to see the irrelevance of geographical conditions. Even in countries where they live along with other races (such as the Dominican Republic, Mauritania, and the USA), blacks are at the bottom of socioeconomic, political,l and intellectual ladders. The authors of the controversial "Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life" used census and other data sources to show that blacks in the US were at the bottom of the intelligence pyramid, irrespective of the environmental factors. Instead of chasing the shadow by focusing on symptoms such as corruption and poverty, the blacks' brains and how they function individually and in groups, may give the most important insight towards alleviating their despair.

Colonialism and slavery indeed disrupted African development or lack thereof. Other races had similar experiences, but were able to heal and move forward faster. For example, the development gap between Japan and its former colonies – Korea and Taiwan - is relatively small. But there are no significant differences in the development scale among the blacks' countries of Haiti, Namibia, and Ethiopia; despite their diverse experience with colonialism. Haiti was the first blacks' country to gain political independence while Namibia was the last. Ethiopia was not even directly colonized. These countries are not better than others. In fact, why are Blacks the victims rather than the culprits of colonialism? Why could they not develop effective tools to conquer other races? The blacks indeed invented many tools necessary for their primitive survival. Why nothing else? It appears that they could not advance beyond a certain limit of development. Therefore, they could not compete with others. Fernand Braudel's "A History of Civilizations" demonstrated that there was no apparent record of blacks' inferiority in the past. The relative underdevelopment we observe today is perhaps a recent phenomenon. Or put another way, it seems other races were able to learn and progress at a faster rate than the blacks.

This made colonialism and slavery inevitable. In the 1441 to 1860s, Africa witnessed the first wave of Western European conquests initiated by the Portuguese in West, South, and East Africa. The Dutch joined the scrambles for Africa with the invasion and encroachment in South Africa in the 1650's. There was also the Belgian conquest of the Congo by Leopold II in the 1860's. Why were the Europeans able to reach and conquer Africa? Why couldn't the Blacks retaliate? The answer is a simple fact that they had better tools. That is the availability of superior means of travel and subduing others based on better and more organized brainpower. This gave them strength. It is an immutable law that the stronger always defeats the weaker. If we observe otherwise, we call it a miracle. As Prince Hector cautioned his religious father, King Priam; who was about to face enemies in the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Troy’, “Even Gods help the strongest”.

The period above, coincides with the many discoveries in Europe that led to the modern chemical industry and therefore more leverage against others. In the 1600s and 1700s, Germany, France, and England were already manufacturing chemicals to preserve food, make gunpowder, dye fabric, and produce soap. I wonder what blacks were doing at that time! The more intelligent race develops the necessary tools to dominate or colonize others. Gunpowder and its derivatives remain one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of mankind. In my beloved Kano city, we have a legend about how the Whiteman used gunpowder to destroy the city gate that was hitherto considered sacred and impenetrable by enemies. The residents were so 'shocked and awed' that some still refer to Whiteman as a lion. This is not a mere metaphoric syntax, but a psychological surrender to a superior brain. If a Muslim Hausaman wants to explain how mighty and magnificent Allah is; he simply tells you that 'Allah is the one who could create a Whiteman in a single night'. He will say it with such assurance and finality that you wouldn't miss the point. Allah is great because He could create somebody so intelligent and powerful. As a group, the Hausa tribe seems to accept the reality of its inferior position.

There are many current examples to buttress the fact that as a group, blacks are backward and unorganized. Europeans set up the first crude oil refineries in the Austrian Empire in the year 1856. Today, 150 years later, blacks in Nigeria cannot even maintain and run one refinery properly. About half of local gasoline demand is imported! Of all the major ingredients required for oil refining – solvents, catalysts etc – none is produced locally.

Take another example. I am traveling to the city of Kano for a summer break, but the perennial water shortage is going to be my most important headache. Piped drinking water that is taken for granted in other places; is a rare luxury there. This is the only problem of the black community. Kano was founded more than 1,000 years ago, but still in some places residences defecate and urinate on the street sides. Its open gutters (if put end-to-end) are many times longer than its paved streets. Mountains of refuse dumped compete for space with people in the city and the surrounding areas. People carry on with daily life as if there is nothing wrong. It is common to see a big signboard cautioning that "Do not defecate, urinate, or dump refuse here". Kano is just one example. Go to Lagos, Brixton, Harlem, or that bastion of drug-induced blacks' self-destruction - the inner cities of aborigines in Australia to see blacks in squalor. Visit Faisalia - that island of poverty in the midst of abundance – in the outskirts of Riyadh, to see former black slaves wallowing in deprivation. These places are like a stable where blacks carry their lives akin to a mentally retarded herd that could not organize themselves into purposeful groups.

I am not saying Blackman is unintelligent. The point is that blacks are less intelligent compared with other races. Individually, Blackman can be a hero, but as a group, he is a failure. He is on a level zero on the scale of human development. I had opportunities to study with or teach students of different racial backgrounds. My observation is that as an individual, black is generally of similar 'quality' compared with others. Go to any place, where blacks are allowed to see their individual performances. Compared to his opportunities, his general performances are similar to those of any other person. As a group, however; they are a different story. This leads to an obvious question. Does the Blackman's brain work differently in such a way that it cannot produce the necessary synergy when it interacts with others? Per Bak's "How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality" gives insights into the necessity of a certain minimum number of individuals for any group to evolve into a desired structure and behavior. There are many progressive and intelligent blacks. But it seems they are not able to create a critical mass necessary to achieve anything tangible and irreversible in their society. This deficiency appears to be the bane of the black race.

This mysterious Black Gap (between individual and group achievements) may be decreased by improving the quality of more and more Africans. Generally, human quality increases by imparting appropriate education. Perhaps blacks need a higher ratio of educated population to be able to gravitate towards an irreversible state of development. Therefore, Africa should take education (special education, I mean) as a means of turning Blackman's fortunes. Special because based on their disposition and characteristics, they need a special curriculum design, delivery tools, testing methods, and indicators of outcomes. Perhaps all along, African educationists (burdened by the colonial legacy) have been using the wrong approaches. Education may be part of the answer. As H.G. Wells suggested, education is the greatest social equalizing tool. In fact, we have seen this in our time. Within one to two generations, India has been transformed from what Mao described as a "country of Taj Mahal and poverty" to one that a BBC ad touted as an "incredible India" – a destination for outsourcing, IT, and tourism. All over the world, Indians are known (not as criminals and butlers), but as service providers, university professors, and businessmen. Today, non-resident Indians (NRI) are the richest race in Diaspora. China used to be associated with hunger and starvation. Today it is the engine of the world economy. Before this, the Asian tigers – witnessed exponential growth from rural and underdeveloped economy to developing ones. Scholars have associated these rapid developments with the earlier improvement in quality. Robert Solow of MIT received the 1987 Nobel Prize for his work on determining the sources of economic growth. He concluded that the bulk of such growths is the result of technological advances. In turn, the technology is related to investment in human capital – through education, training, and effective healthcare.

However, human capital development cannot be achieved overnight. It takes time. In the interim, blacks need to take action. We have to face reality as it is, not as we want it to be. It remains a fact today that Blackman is a disgrace to himself and a liability to the world. As blacks, this is a fact of our lives. Racists and bigots may use it as an excuse to disrespect, dehumanize, and enslave us. They may write and say unsavory things about us. This should serve as a clear reminder to us that all is not well. Instead of burying our heads or taking arms, we should look at these facts and ponder. Instead of asking who is right, we should be more interested in what is right. Therefore, the earlier we start addressing this issue the better. Accepting this fact may lead to a new paradigm in blacks' relations with other races. If we assume that all races are equal (which tragically is the case in today's world), a game based on the "survival of the fittest" will always end with the weakest as the loser With the world's 'dog eats dog' mentality, is there any wonder why scramble for Africa led to colonialism, slavery, etc? How about because not all dogs are equal? (Apology to George Orwell). If we accept that blacks are not equal to other races in certain critical 'qualities', it will lead to a change in the 'rule of engagement' and the game will be fairer. UN, IMF, WTO, US, EU, etc will have a different moral challenge while dealing with Africa south of the Sahara. It will also give the Geldofs, B, Onos, and Gates stronger ground to fight African Poverty.

Geldof's beautiful BBC documentary and book, Geldof in Africa demonstrate African poverty and development challenges. Everybody knows that blacks have peculiar problems. But many blacks are afraid of reality. Instead of looking for help, they prefer self-delusions and excuses. Whether Europe underdeveloped Africa or Africans underdeveloped Africa, as some authors suggest, or that blacks were left plundered, disoriented, and confused by their triple heritage, is not our concern here. As blacks, we need to be realistic and dispassionate. Look around the world. Is what you see what blacks deserve? Our attempt here is to suggest why (in a group) blacks are regressive and unorganized. I believe Blackman is sensible and intelligent like other humans, but he ceases to display sensible human behaviors (that lead to prosperity and progress) when he forms a group. There is a gap between the individual's and the group's learning and growth. Therefore, Africans appear to need a higher ratio of improved/educated part of the population than other races to be able to gravitate towards a critical mass of individuals necessary to form useful and irreversible characteristics. Otherwise, there may be ‘spur of the moment’ progress that may soon dissipate. This means we should imbibe the culture of learning and education. At the same time, we should surrender to the fact that as a group, we have a problem. We need help. "Accurate diagnosis", as they say, "is half the cure". I believe it is part of our moral obligation as blacks to discuss and diagnose the so-called blacks' curse and attempt to solve it or invite others to fix us.

Friday Reflection: WHEN BAIL BECOMES POLITICAL, JUSTICE IS ALREADY IN DANGER

✍️ Ibrahim Shehu Giwa.

If 175 people could be listed for Presidential pardon and clemency under President Tinubu, including convicts and former convicts, then Nigeria must pause and ask a painful question: what exactly does justice mean in this country?

If repentant Boko Haram fighters and former insurgents can be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society under Operation Safe Corridor, with reports showing that ₦604,825,797.09 was spent on rehabilitation infrastructure and reintegration support, then why does bail suddenly become a threat to national security when the accused person is perceived to be standing on the wrong side of power?

If Yahaya Bello, despite the corruption charges against him, could play hide and seek with the system for months without being crushed by the full weight of the law because he's in the ruling party, and if Godswill Akpabio can sit comfortably as Senate President, the third citizen of the country, despite longstanding corruption allegations and EFCC invitation, then why is Nasir El-Rufai kept in custody for 66 days, only for the case to be adjourned for another 40 days, without bail?

They say he may tamper with investigation. But what investigation remains so weak, so fragile, and so unfinished after 66 days of detention?

This is no longer ordinary prosecution. This looks dangerously like punishment before conviction. It looks like the law being stretched, bent and deployed, not as an instrument of justice, but as a weapon of political humiliation.

Bail is not a favour from government. Bail is not an act of mercy from those in power. Bail is not a political gift reserved for friends of the system. Bail is a constitutional safeguard against abuse of power, and it must never be weaponised to punish perceived political opponents before conviction.

The most dangerous country is not the one where criminals exist. Every country has criminals. The most dangerous country is the one where the law has two faces, one soft face for friends of power, and one brutal face for those who fall out with power.

Our judiciary must not allow itself to be dragged into political witch-hunt. Once the courts become instruments of selective justice, the common man has lost his last hope. Once bail becomes politics, detention becomes revenge. Once detention becomes revenge, justice becomes a threat.

Nigeria cannot rehabilitate terrorists, pardon convicts, tolerate politically connected corruption suspects, and then suddenly discover “strict justice” only when the accused person is no longer in the good books of power.

Justice must be justice, not politics wearing a wig.

✍️ Ibrahim Shehu Giwa,
Giwaibrahim68@gmail.com
Friday, 24th April, 2026.

‎POLITICS OF INFRASTRUCTURE DISTRIBUTION: EXAMINING BIAS AND INEFFICIENCY IN MINISTRY FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFTAINCY AFFAIRS, KADUNA STATE
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‎The allocation of public infrastructure is not merely a technical exercise; it is an explicit reflection of political priorities, governance ethics, and distributive justice. Where such allocation deviates from objective indicators, such as population size, infrastructural deficit, and electoral contribution becomes analytically valid to interrogate the presence of nepotism, elite capture, and deliberate political exclusion.
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‎Recent patterns of road construction and rehabilitation under the Kaduna State Ministry for Local Government reveal a troubling concentration of projects within Marafa Estate and Kabala, localities that are the residence and political base of the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Kaduna State, Sadeeq Mamman Lagos. This pattern raises serious governance concerns when examined against basic empirical indicators.
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‎Available community-level estimates suggest that Marafa Estate hosts a population of fewer than 30,000 residents and contributes less than 5,000 votes during electoral cycles. In contrast, communities such as the Kwaru community in Badarawa-Malali ward, and other parts of Kaduna North Local Government possess significantly larger populations and far greater electoral weight, contributing thousands of votes that were instrumental in the emergence of the current administration. Under any rational, needs-based, or politically strategic allocation model, such communities should rank higher in infrastructural prioritization.
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‎However, observable evidence contradicts this expectation. Field-level assessments indicate that Marafa and Kabala have witnessed a disproportionately high concentration of road tarring and rehabilitation projects, resulting in a relatively dense and functional road network. Conversely, the Kwaru community, despite its demographic and political significance has been systematically excluded from these interventions. The absence of even a single major project in the Kwaru community under the current allocation cycle strongly suggests not an oversight, but a pattern of deliberate marginalization.
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‎From a quantitative governance perspective, this distribution reflects a clear distortion in resource allocation efficiency. If public expenditure is disproportionately directed toward low-impact, low-population, and low-vote areas, the marginal social return on investment is significantly reduced. In contrast, neglecting high-density and politically active communities represents not only a governance failure but also a strategic miscalculation with long-term political consequences.
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‎Moreover, a spatial comparison across Kaduna North reveals stark infrastructural asymmetry. The visible disparity between Marafa/Kabala and other communities creates a de facto hierarchy of citizenship where access to public goods appears contingent upon proximity to political power rather than objective need. This violates fundamental principles of equity, accountability, and inclusive governance.
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‎The argument that such a distribution may be coincidental or based on technical considerations becomes increasingly untenable when the pattern aligns so closely with the personal residence and political ward of the supervising authority. Within political science literature, this phenomenon is well-documented as localized elite capture, where public office is leveraged to channel state resources toward personal or politically strategic enclaves.
‎Particularly concerning is the complete exclusion of the Kwaru community. Given its electoral contribution and population size, a zero-allocation outcome is statistically and politically anomalous. Such an outcome strongly indicates intentional neglect rather than administrative oversight. It reinforces perceptions of bias, deepens political alienation, and undermines the legitimacy of governance institutions.
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‎If left unaddressed, this pattern risks generating broader socio-political consequences, including voter apathy, erosion of trust in democratic processes, and heightened community grievances. Development that is perceived as selective or exclusionary inevitably weakens the social contract between government and citizens.
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‎In conclusion, the current allocation of infrastructural projects in Kaduna North Local Government exhibits clear indicators of nepotism, inefficiency, and inequity. Immediate corrective measures are necessary, including:
‎The publication of transparent allocation criteria, an independent audit of project distribution, and the adoption of data-driven, needs-based planning frameworks. Without such reforms, the Ministry risks entrenching a governance model defined not by fairness and public interest, but by proximity, patronage, and political favoritism.

‎~ Salis Muhammad Moriki
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‎Kaduna North and APC’s Choice of Candidate: Why Grassroots Impact Matters
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‎By Tahir Abubakar Muhammad
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‎As political activities gather momentum ahead of the next general elections, attention is turning to the Kaduna North Federal Constituency, where two aspirants have shown interest in contesting for the House of Representatives seat under the All Progressives Congress (APC). Among the early contenders is Hon. Abdulazeez Abubakar Kaka, who began wide consultations on 26 March 2026, drawing a large crowd of supporters and well-wishers.
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‎What stood out during the consultation visit was not just the turnout, but the composition of the people present—many of them individuals who have directly benefited from his interventions over the years, including youths, women, artisans, traders, and families whose lives have been positively impacted through his initiatives.
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‎From Grassroots Engagement to Measurable Impact
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‎Hon. Abdulazeez Abubakar Kaka is widely regarded as a grassroots politician who built his reputation through community development and social support. Through the Kowa Namu Foundation, he has implemented wide-ranging programs focused on empowerment, education, healthcare support, and economic development.
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‎His interventions include:
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Donation of sewing machines, makeup kits, and welding machines to beneficiaries
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Donation of cars and motorcycles (bikes) to party faithfuls and supporters
‎ Free medical outreach programs are conducted across different wards
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‎Sponsorship of students for JAMB and SSCE examinations across Kaduna North
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Graduation of over 3,000 students under his skill acquisition programme
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‎Empowerment of over 5,000 beneficiaries with grants and equipment
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Installation of solar streetlights across various wards in Kaduna
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Distribution of school bags and books to over 2,000 students
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Out-of-school enrollment support for over 1,000 less privileged children
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‎ Securing over 30 federal and state appointments and fellowships for Kaduna residents
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Enrollment of residents under the KADCHMA health insurance scheme
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‎Promoting the Renewed Hope Agenda
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‎Supporters also highlight his alignment with the Renewed Hope agenda championed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the developmental policies of Governor Uba Sani, CON, of Kaduna State. His continued engagement in community development programs is viewed as part of broader efforts aimed at economic empowerment, social inclusion, and improved welfare delivery.
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‎The Question of Electability
‎As the APC moves toward selecting its candidate, the party faces the task of presenting a contender who is both electable and deeply connected to the grassroots. Supporters of Hon. Abdulazeez Abubakar Kaka believe his extensive record of empowerment, community trust, and development-focused interventions positions him as a strong and competitive candidate for Kaduna North.
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‎#KakaMediaCentre
‎#KowaNamuNe
‎#kaka2027
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‎2027: APC revises timetable, moves presidential primary to a new date
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‎APC said the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for all elective positions remain open to all aspiring party members nationwide.
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‎The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has revised the party's 2027 election timetable, shifting its presidential primary to May 23.
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‎The adjustment was confirmed to journalists in Abuja on Thursday by Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Duro Meseko, after the party’s 186th NWC meeting.
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‎He said the presidential primary earlier fixed for 15 May has now been rescheduled to Saturday, 23 May, alongside other revised election dates.
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‎Mr Meseko confirmed that Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for all elective positions remain open to all aspiring party members across the country.
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‎He explained that the changes were necessary to ensure full compliance with the amended Constitution, the 2026 Electoral Act, and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines.
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‎“This is the newest timetable reflecting updated legal and procedural requirements,” Mr Meseko said.
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‎He added that the revised schedule had been formally communicated to INEC in accordance with established electoral regulations.
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‎According to the timetable, sales of nomination forms will begin on Saturday, 25 April, and end on Saturday, 2 May
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‎Mr Meseko stated that the deadline for submission of completed nomination forms has been fixed for Monday, 4 May.
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‎He said screening of all aspirants, from the House of Assembly to the presidential level, will hold between 5 May and 9 May.
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‎Presidential screening is scheduled for Saturday, 9 May, while results for all categories will be published on Monday, 11 May.
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‎According to him, primaries will follow a staggered sequence covering legislative, senatorial, governorship, and presidential elections across different scheduled dates.
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‎Mr Meseko dismissed reports suggesting restriction of nomination forms, insisting the process remains fully open to all qualified APC aspirants nationwide.
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‎“I am here to inform all party faithful that nomination forms are open to all aspirants seeking elective offices,” he said.
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‎On primaries, he said the NWC adopted both direct and consensus options as permitted under the Electoral Act, depending on circumstances.
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‎He stressed that consensus arrangements must reflect agreement among aspirants and key stakeholders before any adoption by party structures.
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‎“Where consensus fails or is rejected by any aspirant, the party automatically reverts to direct primary elections,” he explained.
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‎He added that state chapters were empowered to decide the appropriate mode of primary elections for their respective states.
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‎In Zamfara, he said internal party congresses had been scheduled, beginning with ward, local government, and state-level exercises from 28 April.
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‎“Ward congresses will hold on April 30, while state congresses and appeal processes are expected to conclude by May 3,” he said.
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‎Mr Meseko assured party members that the updated national membership register, including new entrants, had been duly transmitted to INEC.
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‎According to him, APC is fully prepared for its 2027 primary elections following completion of all administrative and regulatory steps.
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‎(NAN)
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‎The Truth About the Historic Trials of Salem
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‎The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear
‎-Herbert Agar
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‎The 1692 Salem witch trials occurred due to intense political, social, and economic tensions, exacerbated by severe paranoia over land rights, native conflict, and strict Puritan orthodoxy. The crisis arose from property disputes between expanding residents, fear of spectral attacks, and accusations made by children amidst a vacuum of charter authority in Massachusetts
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‎Key Reasons for the Salem Witch Trials:
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‎Land Disputes and Boundary Tension:
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‎Intense rivalries over land ownership, particularly in Salem Village (poorer) versus Salem Town (wealthier), fueled accusations. The competition for dwindling farmland caused divisions, with many accusations occurring between residents of the wealthier eastern side and the poorer western side of the village.
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‎Property Seizure:
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‎Once the accusations began, the local government could seize land and assets from those convicted of witchcraft, creating an incentive for neighbors with property grudges to accuse others.
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‎Political and Social Insecurity:
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‎Massachusetts was without a permanent charter, causing a power vacuum and intense fear of change. Additionally, fear caused by recent conflicts with Native Americans along the northern boundary caused people to view the devil as acting directly against them.
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‎Puritan Beliefs and Stress:
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‎Puritans believed in the active presence of the devil and witchcraft, and a series of illnesses affecting young girls (potentially stress-induced or caused by natural phenomena) was quickly interpreted as evil
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‎Economic Factors:
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‎A "profound" insecurity and danger, spiritual and physical" existed due to cold weather, crop failures, and political instability
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