₦airaland Forum

It took me some time, racking my brain, before settling on the above topic. Should it be called transport palliative, grant, aid, gift, subsidy, charity, or award? As I noted in previous columns, the vocabulary of the Nigerian government under President Tinubu is becoming too difficult for me to understand. I regret not paying much attention to English grammar in my decades of studying government and politics. Anyway, I settled for transport award.

When I first heard about the N70,000 Six-Month Transportation Award for federal workers, I laughed. Then I reflected. Then I pitied this country. For indeed, by the announcement, the government knows it has inflicted pain on the people. So it comes through the backdoor with a palliative that insults our collective intelligence. This N70,000 transport award is one of such.

Let us be clear. The government would not be talking about any transport award if all was well. The government would not be "dashing" or doling out N70,000 to workers to help them come to work if its policies had not made coming to work almost impossible. What we are seeing is an open acknowledgement that there is severe hardship in the land. And that hardship was not imported. It was brewed right here in Abuja, by thoughtless, impoverishing policies that were announced with chest-beating but without thinking through.

Fuel subsidy was removed without a shock absorber. The naira was floated without protecting the naira. Electricity tariff was increased without increasing electricity. People are thoroughly taxed, with the plan of more taxes in the offing, without any tangible social good to show for it. Then the government turns around to promise N70,000 to those it reluctantly considers deserving Nigerias — federal workers — to transport themselves for a whole month to the same work it impoverished them to do. Is that not irony? Is that not like cutting off a man's leg and then giving him a walking stick and asking him to clap for you?

The federal government says it is for federal workers. Good. At least, federal workers will get something. In a desert, even a drop of water is appreciated. For a federal civil servant who coughs out a large sum to get to the office, this N70,000 will assuage their pain, even if small. It will, to borrow the language of government itself, cushion the effect. Half bread, as our people say, is better than none.

But that is where the applause must end, and the questions must begin. First, what happens to those who are not federal workers? Are they not Nigerians? Are they not suffering the same hardship? What happens to teachers employed by the state government or those that earn N30,000 monthly, teaching in utterly exploitative private schools? What about the local government workers? What about workers in the private sector, the security guard in a private company who closes by 10 pm and has to pay double transport because of fuel price? What about the petty traders in our local markets who must move their goods from the farm to the market? What about the unemployed graduate who goes from one office to another looking for work?
Are they less Nigerian? Are they not affected by the same thoughtless policies? Or is hardship selective? If this hardship was caused by federal policies, and indeed it was, then its palliative should not be selective. If the government acknowledges that transport has become unbearable, then it has become unbearable for all Nigerians, not just those carrying federal ID cards.

This is the danger of our palliative economy. We run an economy of palliatives. Instead of fixing the problem, we are sharing sachets. Some time ago, it was N5,000 conditional cash transfer. Yesterday, it was N35,000 wage award. Today, the talk is about N70,000 transport award. Tomorrow will probably be agbado and akara palliatives. We have become a government that governs with handouts rather than with planning. All of this scratches the surface. It does not address the wound. It is like using plaster to treat a fracture.

The government says it knows our pain. But instead of treating the cause of the pain, it is massaging the pain. Transport became expensive because fuel became expensive. Fuel became expensive because you removed subsidy without alternatives. So why not bring fuel price down? Why not fix the refineries? Why not make CNG buses truly available and affordable? Why not...? Why not...? And why not...? Because to a government that is not ready to govern, massaging the pain is easier than curing the disease.

Now we come to the most ridiculous part: Six-month transportation palliative! What happens after the six months? Does hardship expire after six months? Will fuel price return to N200 after six months? Will the naira become strong after six months? What is the economic projection that tells us that after six months, workers will no longer need transport support?

Or is this another campaign strategy like the 90-day economic plan that expires after the presidential election? This is how this government governs: by shifting the goalpost. Isn't this a timeline that means nothing but political calculation dressed as economic intervention?

If your policy is good, it should not need a six-month painkiller. A good policy heals. A bad policy needs painkillers every day, with a resurgence of new pains. A six-month transport award is an admission by the government itself that T-pain is real.

And while we talk about this, where is the President? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is already in Makkah performing Umrah. The President is in Makkah, allegedly praying and supplicating. And we, the people, are here in Nigeria, groaning under policies that do not turn things around.
Since his economic policies have refused to turn things around, maybe his prayers and supplications in the Haram will. Maybe what the economic team could not do, the spiritual supplication facing the Ka'abah will do. For truly, when the economist fails, the prayer warrior must take over.

If truly Tinubu has gone to pray for Nigeria, may I use this column to draw his attention to the fact that leadership is not only about praying for the people, it is about working for the people. You cannot impoverish the people at home and then go and pray for them abroad. Prayers work best when followed by good policy. The Prophet (SAW) taught us to tie our camel and then trust in Allah. This government untied our camel, set it free, and is now praying that it does not get lost.

So, let us talk about the N70,000 Six-Month Transportation Award. It is an acknowledgement of failure. It is discriminatory in its reach. It is insufficient in itself. It is deceptive in its duration. And it is political in its motive.

Yet, federal workers will collect it. Because in this hardship, even N70,000 is something. But collecting it does not mean they are fools. We know what it is. It is not a solution. It is a sedative.

May the Almighty ease the affairs of the poor masses. May He guide our leaders to feel the pulse of the people and do the needful.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Let us start with a simple arithmetic that this government does not want us to do. On May 15, 2026, two sets of Nigerian children went to school with their bags and did not return home. One set was in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. The other set was in Mussa, in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State. Same day. Same circumstance. Same fate. Gunmen came and rustled them away like cattle.

Today is October 23. The Oyo children have been rescued, bathed, taken to hospital, discharged, and have reunited with their parents. The government announced their rescue with fanfare, with videos, and with claims that the kidnappers were arrested. After the Oriire abduction, in a frantic effort to secure their rescue, President Tinubu approved 1,000 forest guards. I am not aware if such effort was put in place to rescue the kidnapped students in Borno. But I am aware that those in Oyo were released while those in Borno are still in the bush, caged like animals in a zoo. This is painfully painful.

The Borno children are still in the bush. 160 days today. Five months and ten days. No video from the government. No presidential announcement. Only Amnesty International reminding us that they exist, that they are "Nigeria's Forgotten Children."

So I ask, what is the difference between an Oyo child and a Borno child? Is it the tribe? Is it the tongue? Is it because the President does not believe in one Nigeria, or because he believes some Nigerians are more Nigerian than others?

We were told a strategy worked in Oyo. A joint operation — Army, Police, DSS, NSCDC, Amotekun, vigilantes, hunters and even herbalists, if you add them. A beautiful cocktail of security that produced results. And most importantly, we were told, detaining beloved family members of kidnappers forced them to release the Oyo victims.

If that was the strategy that worked, why has the strategy gone on annual leave when it comes to Borno? Or is Borno too far? Is the road to Mussa longer than the road to Oriire?

The truth that we are too polite to say is this: The Nigerian government has a strategy for rescue, but it also has a strategy for selective rescue and forgetfulness. When it wants to rescue, it rescues. When it wants to forget, it forgets. The Borno children have been forgotten, perhaps because forgetting them carries no political cost.

We should thank God that the 20 prospective NYSC members who were kidnapped in Imo State were Yoruba from Oyo State, not Marghi, Chibok, or Kanuri from Borno State. Perhaps the story would have been different. The kidnapped victims were not only rescued, the ransom paid was said to have been returned. Who will rescue our children in Borno?

Let us ask the question again: could it be because those in Oyo are Yoruba and those in Borno are Marghi, Chibok, and other non-Yoruba northern tribes?

I did not ask the question. The people are asking it. In motor parks in Maiduguri, in suya joints in Kano, in waina joints in Bauchi, on the streets of Sokoto, they are asking: If these were Yoruba children from Iwo or Ogbomoso, would they have spent 160 days in the bush?

Would President Tinubu be comfortable seeking re-election while Yoruba children are cooling their feet in kidnappers' dens? Would the South-West press allow it? Would Afenifere allow it? The answer is in the wind.

When Oyo children were kidnapped, the whole South-West stood up. NUT went on strike. Protests erupted in Oyo. The President ordered immediate action. When Borno children were kidnapped on the same day, what we heard was "hmmm." The North has been silenced like an cursed region sedated into silence.

Is it wrong then for people to indict President Tinubu as Yoruba-centric, who only cares about the Yoruba? When you show Nigerians that you can rescue one set of children in 56 days and leave another set for 160 days, what do you expect them to call you? A nationalist?

To be frank, leadership is not about where you come from, it is about who you carry along. Today, Borno feels left behind — though the son of the soil is the Vice President.

Shettima is from Borno. He is from the same state as these children. He was governor of Borno. He knows Askira-Uba like the back of his hand. He is now the number two man in Nigeria. So I ask, what is the use of the Vice President?

In normal climes, if children from the Vice President's state had been in captivity for 160 days, the Vice President would have relocated to that bush. He would have been crying, shouting, knocking on the President's door every morning: "Sir, my children are still in captivity. I am ashamed of myself. I have failed my people."

I am afraid, as tongues have been wagging, that Shettima is just a spare tyre who is only allowed to commission mosques and attend weddings.

If the Vice President of Nigeria, who is from Borno, cannot get 42 Borno children released, who then will speak for Borno? Who will speak for the Marghi child whose only crime was going to school on May 15?

This is painful. We have a Borno man as Vice President, and Borno children are the ones forgotten. We have a former Borno governor in Aso Rock, and Borno schools are still closed. What an irony.

Finally, my last point. How can a responsible government be comfortable having its school-going citizens cooling their feet in kidnappers' dens and still boldly seek re-election?
Except the children in the kidnappers' den in Borno are rescued, Tinubu does not have the moral right to campaign in Borno. But is the Tinubu/Shettima ticket aware of that? I doubt. Then, I checked the list of the twelve states Tinubu will likely visit for the 2027 campaign. Borno shockingly appears. Then I concluded that the President does not even know he has lost the moral right to campaign in Borno State.

Or what would Tinubu and Shettima tell the parents of these children? That "we tried our best?" That "security is complex?"

Honestly, a government that cannot secure its children has lost the moral right to ask those children's parents for votes. You cannot keep children in captivity and keep campaigning for freedom. You cannot have children as hostages and have billboards saying "Renewed Hope." Hope for who? Hope for the kidnappers?

May God bring the Borno children home. And may God give this government a conscience, even if it is a borrowed one.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

You are very correct. And that is why the root causes of attempted suicide should be addressed. When that is done, the law becomes useless. No one would need to abuse the law for attention.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, by virtue of his office, is the number three citizen in Nigeria. That is no small position, whatever opinion anyone holds about him. One thing to his credit is that he has a sense of humour. But that is also his Achilles' heel: his sense of humour is not always in good taste. To be blunt, it is often in bad taste. That makes him more of a joker, in the literal sense, than a lawmaker. He jokes about legislative matters that require candour and sobriety.

While there are many instances to cite to justify this charge of immaturity in the serious business of lawmaking, I will focus on his recent, controversially un-senatorial remarks. On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, during the second reading of the Suicide Prevention Bill 2026 sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South), Senate President Godswill Akpabio opposed the move to decriminalise attempted suicide.

Ekpenyong's bill seeks to replace jail time with medical assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and crisis helplines. He argued that Nigeria's laws speak with two voices. One voice — the National Mental Health Act — recognises attempted suicide as a psychiatric emergency. Another voice — Section 327 of the Criminal Code and Section 231 of the Penal Code — makes it a crime punishable by a year or more in prison. The contradiction is apparent.

If Akpabio believes attempted suicide should remain criminalised, he should argue his point with candour. He is not alone. According to the WHO policy brief on the health aspects of decriminalisation of suicide and suicide attempts: "Suicide and suicide attempts remain illegal in civil and criminal law in at least 23 countries worldwide and suicide attempts are punishable in some of them."

No one conversant with Nigerian law on attempted suicide should find fault with Akpabio's literal interpretation of the statute. This is what he said: "As far as we are concerned, we are saying that suicide is a crime for now. Therefore, if you attempt it, you better succeed. If you don't succeed, we will send you to prison." That is the exact implication of the law.

If Akpabio had stopped there, he would only have been interpreting the law, even if many would still criticise him. But he made an expensive joke by adding that some young people contemplate suicide because "they have seven virgins waiting for them." Even though he did not mention Muslims directly, the promise of virgins in Paradise after committing suicide is alleged to be the motivation of some terrorists who commit suicide in the name of religion.

Those opposed to Akpabio immediately turned him into a punching bag, arguing that he mocked religion. Well, maybe. But as far as I am concerned, that is beside the point. The real point is that, while struggling to exonerate himself from the allegation of mocking religion, Akpabio made revelations that further vindicate those of us who hold that the political class, in the name of politics, has invested heavily in religious rites at the expense of good governance. In other words, religion in the hands of Nigerian politicians has been used to destroy rather than develop the country.

To show how much he loves Muslims, he said that during his tenure as governor, he sponsored thousands of Muslims to the holy land, alongside Christians who travelled to Rome and Jerusalem. According to him, he sponsored 5,800 Muslims to the holy land and more than 10,000 Christians to Rome and Jerusalem.

If Akpabio is not joking or lying with those figures, he has only, in attempting to defend his reckless joke, explained to us why Akwa Ibom failed to develop under him. And by extension, a country that is governed as if by ignorant mystics — habitually sending thousands of people to holy lands with taxpayers' money while its citizens battle to survive — is under a curse. That is why, with people like Akpabio at the helm of affairs, Nigeria can only become a zoo, if it is not already one, rather than a developed state.

I have written a number of columns on why sponsoring people to holy lands while abandoning governance is against the spirit of Islam or any religion that values human life and welfare. Akpabio explained why he sent people to the holy land. His explanation is no different from what other politicians have been saying to justify the practice. He said: "I send people to Mecca to pray for me and to pray for this country, and I do that even up to yesterday, and I have been doing that for the last 25 years."

If we agree that prayers offered in holy lands are undoubtedly accepted, then with thousands of pilgrims sponsored with taxpayers' money by Akpabio and his ilk, Nigeria should have become paradise by now. Yet, why is Nigeria still bleeding? Why are bandits lords? Why are Nigerians held hostage and treated worse than slaves? Why is the country going down? Why is the economy in shambles? Why is the majority of Nigerians a victim of multidimensional poverty? And why has suicide become so alarming that its criminalisation now has to be debated by lawmakers? It is because sponsoring pilgrims to the holy land with struggling taxpayers' money angers our Creator; it is a waste and sheer nonsense.

Let's turn again to the criminalization of attempted suicide. How many Nigerians would go to jail for failed suicide attempts? Prof. Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, Convener of the coalition and Continental Representative of LifeLine International, said the existing law criminalising attempted suicide discourages help-seeking among vulnerable persons. He explained: "When you criminalise attempted suicide, you stigmatise people who are already vulnerable." Citing the WHO, he said, "Nigeria records about 16,000 suicide deaths annually, and this is a conservative figure because many cases go unreported."

Instead of debating whether attempted suicide should be punished with jail or rehabilitation, why not address the root causes of suicide? According to the WHO policy brief referenced above, "Suicide is linked to multiple, complex and intersecting social, economic, cultural and psychological factors and challenges, including the denial of basic human rights and access to resources as well as stressful life events such as loss of livelihood, work or academic pressure, relationship breakdowns, discrimination and other life crises."

All of the above challenges are what most Nigerians are currently going through under the lacklustre leadership of the APC government, under whose cocoon Akpabio is comfortably ensconced as the Third Citizen. And because the government has not shown even a scintilla of interest in addressing these challenges that compel some Nigerians to resort to suicide, it logically follows that survivors need help, not jail. How can a government stifle the masses with stifling policies, thereby creating an atmosphere that makes life feel worthless, and still criminalise suicide?

It is true that religion frowns upon suicide. The Qur'an is very clear and categorical about it (see An-Nisa 4:29-30; Al-Baqarah 2:195; and Surah Yusuf 12:87). Bible scholars interpret some verses to show suicide is sinful (see Exodus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and Genesis 1:27). Thus, suicide is a grave sin. Why? You cannot terminate a soul you did not, and could not, create.

However, punishing anyone for attempting suicide is like aiding and abetting them to re-attempt it with the determination to perfect it, leaving no chance of survival. We can debate it, but even from a religious point of view, attempted suicide is a sin, not a crime.

This understanding probably explains why many countries that had hitherto criminalised suicide later decriminalised it. With the ongoing legislative process to which the Suicide Prevention Bill 2026 is being subjected and its successful passage for second reading, Nigeria might soon join the league of countries that have decriminalised suicide.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio should learn to be mature in discharging his duties. Suicide survivors need help, not jail. May we not be victims.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Anyone can argue with a keyboard that Nigeria is not a jungle. They can even argue that it is unpatriotic to speak ill of one's country. I have heard some people, invoking pseudo-patriotism, try to whitewash the ugly image of Nigeria.

I have stopped arguing with this set of people because I have realized that beneath their argument lies deep-rooted bigotry. This bigotry is sometimes clothed in religious garb and at other times in ethnic garb. Some are determined to call black white and white black because they have access to the government's dining table, where they can always find leftovers after the rulers have eaten to their satisfaction.

This is an I-don't-care mentality — as long as my bread is buttered — displayed by many Nigerians. I have heard some regime apologists who, having travelled from one part of the country to another without being kidnapped, claim that reports of kidnapping are all lies. It is possible that President Tinubu is always being told by these loyal sycophants that his regime is the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria.

For if the President had not been fed lies about the state of affairs in the country, I personally find it difficult to make sense of the "I enjoyed myself" statement he made on his return to Nigeria after spending 28 days "working" from Europe. I do not think any intelligent and responsible leader whose country is on fire, and who is aware of it, would make such an utterance before the cameras.

It apparently means: "Die of hunger if you must and cry over insecurity as you like, I don't care. All I care about is myself, and I enjoyed myself while in Europe." To say the least, this is unpresidential. But we can always find excuses for the President. Perhaps he does not know, and probably does not care to know, what Nigerians are going through.

The truth is that Nigeria is going through the most terrible phase of its existence. The economy is battered. Commerce is failing. Foreign investors are exiting. Electricity is epileptic. The health sector has collapsed. Education is in shambles. The minimum wage is slavish. Life is miserable. Transport fares are prohibitive. Feeding has become a luxury. Survival is expensive. Insecurity is calamitous. Bandits are lords. Spaces are ungoverned. Abducted Nigerians are in the jungle. Other Nigerians, who seem not to be in jungle, are in trouble.

It was on Independence Day that some Nigerians — 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members travelling from Oyo to Imo — were abducted on their way to serve their country as responsible citizens. Little did they know that it is a crime, in today's Nigeria, to be a citizen, to be educated, and to be responsible. Anyone can argue till eternity, but no one can convince these corps members that Nigeria is not a jungle.

The kidnappers demanded one billion naira from the families and friends of the victims — 50 million naira for each victim.

Following the incident, we were told that security agencies launched a coordinated search for the victims. We were told that the police, with the deployment of drone surveillance, were able to identify the kidnappers' camp but could not approach the area because improvised explosive devices had been planted. Determined to rescue the prospective NYSC members, additional hardware — bulldozers, armoured personnel carriers, and other operational assets — was deployed to facilitate access to the location. The search was reportedly intensified and the victims were finally rescued.

This is commendable. The police deserve a trophy for a job well done. But as usual, there is a counter-narrative. Were the prospective NYSC members actually rescued by the police? Can the police really take the credit? The parents of the victims said no. They reportedly paid ransom.
Who do we believe? Given that the Nigerian police have a serious reputational and trust deficit in the eyes of Nigerians, few would believe that the parents are lying. People will readily believe that the police authorities are not telling the truth.

Anyway, we are used to rescue claims by Nigerian security agencies when the meaning of "rescue" is understood only by them. Parents claimed they paid. According to one parent: "The terrorists first demanded N50 million. They gave the abductees phones to confirm that they were alive. We then asked if the money was for all of them, they said no. The money is for each of them."

This is sad. Kidnappers do not demand chicken feed; or as we say in Nigeria "chicken change." They make huge demands. Northerners know this better. But in this recent incident, kidnappers, according to the victims' parents, demanded to be paid in dollars, not in naira. This is an additional slap on this regime, but only if the regime cares to think.

However, the Imo State Police Command denied knowledge of any ransom payment. The Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Audu Bosso, clarified that the abductors released the victims after security agencies intensified operations to locate their hideout.

"How do I repay the N6 million I borrowed?" This is an appeal from one of the parents who is just a subsistence farmer. This farmer should thank God that his son was "rescued" or "released" alive, depending on which version one believes. In Katsina State, just a few days ago, a fifteen-year-old boy was kidnapped and killed after 70 million naira was allegedly paid. That is what Nigeria has become under Tinubu, who spent four weeks in Europe enjoying himself.

The Tinubu government is now being advised to make a provision of trillions of naira in its annual budget as a ransom subsidy to help relieve families whose loved ones are kidnapped. I do not know if this makes sense. But at least the government should find a way to support victims financially since it cannot stop banditry and kidnapping. In other words, the government should be subsidizing something if there will be no fuel subsidy anymore.

We cannot continue like this. Something must be done urgently. May Nigeria find peace.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Money-Sharing Stampede: Niger State's Unending Calamities

Niger State is one of the most unfortunate states in Nigeria, if not the most unfortunate. The state is like a melting pot where calamities converge in recent times. I plied through Niger State en route to Ilorin a few days ago. The roads are as bad as bad can be and as ugly as ugly can be. The potholes are veritable death traps.

A part of Niger State, Birnin Gwari, had been abandoned by travellers for some years. It is the shortest route that links Kaduna State to Kwara and many states in the South-West. Birnin Gwari was abandoned not only because the pothole-ridden road is a death trap but also because bandits have taken over the axis like a colonized territory forbidden to travellers.

In Niger State, if it is not an overwhelmingly annihilating flood, then it is mass abduction. People are not abducted in twos or threes in the state. They are abducted in dozens, scores, and hundreds. If the news is not about miners killed in scores inside a cell, then it is about a money-sharing stampede that claimed lives. I shall return to this soon.

The state is host to two living generals who were at different times military Heads of State. Though General Abdulsalami Abubakar spent less than one year in office, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) spent eight years as Head of State. While IBB took his time to build Abuja, the FCT, which was largely carved out of Niger State, he paid little or no infrastructural attention to his natal state. The only thing the people of Niger State can be "proud" of is the large landmass that is now a burden to the state but a cynosure to the eyes of terrorizing bandits.

Niger State alone is almost the size of all six states in the South-West (Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo) put together. It almost triples the size of all the states in the South-East (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo). But ironically, it is a big-for-nothing state and a receptacle for calamities due to years of bad governance and neglect.

"Dear Jagaba: Borgu Land is Bleeding" is the title of a column I wrote two weeks ago. By Borgu Land, I mean Niger State and some parts of Kebbi and Kwara States. In that column, I made an honest and passionate appeal to President Tinubu, being the title holder of the Chief Warrior of Borgu Land, to pay attention to Niger State. The state is in need of intervention, a serious one.

After my open letter to Jagaba on the state of affairs in the state, calamities have continued to pile upon one another as if the state is under a curse. Blood continues to flow like a flood. Scores of miners, many of whom were minors, were arrested and left to die. They were left to die, not by bullets, but by the wickedness and crass display of lawlessness by those employed and paid with taxpayers' money to protect us.

The killing of 37 miners in Niger State by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps is a national calamity. A defence corps whose motto is "Defending the Defenceless" sent the defenceless to their graves for mining "illegally" to escape hunger in a state that is being swept by the ill wind of multidimensional calamities.

Reacting to the incident, the Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, transferred the blame to the Federal Government, claiming that the 37 suspected illegal miners died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and any compensation due to their families should be paid by the Federal Government.

His logic? The NSCDC is a Federal Government agency. In an interview with Minna-based online television platform, Zarar Bunu, aired on Sunday, Bago reportedly said: “We are not bound to pay any compensation, except the Federal Government. Our own is to offer support.”

Bago might not be wrong, considering that he is willing to offer support to the victims' families as Governor. However, since Bago has absolved himself of responsibility for the death of the 37 miners, we hope he will hold himself responsible for the women who died as a result of his money-sharing stampede on Tuesday.

Three women reportedly lost their lives while six others became unconscious and were critically injured in a stampede at the Niger State Government House in Minna. Two of the deceased were already internally displaced, living in the Maitumbi area of Minna as IDPs. As if their conditions were not terrible enough, the governor's money-sharing put a final end to their lives and sent them to their graves.

We live in a regime where poverty has completely reduced citizens to worthless paupers to whom crumbs are thrown in the name of palliatives.

Daily Trust gathered that people trooped to the Government House after hearing that the governor would distribute N10,000 each to the youths. A stampede followed after the governor addressed the crowd and his aides brought out cash to share.

This was not the first time Bago would be sharing money to a crowd. He is a money-sharing governor. That seems to be his pet empowerment project. If this is his idea of good governance and distribution of dividends of democracy, Nigerians should pity the Nupe people and other ethnic groups in the state. The governor, by his style, seems to be bereft of any idea of governance, let alone good governance.

The recent stampede, to say the least, is evidence of government failure. Dividends of good governance should reflect in the qualitative improvement of people's lives. It is not by the "almajirization" of responsible citizens who queue up for a few government naira notes — a euphemism for crumbs.

Governor Bago can do better. He should treat his people as human beings. He should stop treating them like homeless and ownerless dogs. Nigerlites deserve some respect. They deserve motorable roads and protection. Bago should create sustainable jobs and make hopeless youths become hopeful. Distributing cash that can only feed "lucky" beneficiaries for one or two days is an exercise in futility and a waste of resources.

Governance is a serious business. Jokers should stay away from it. It is kidding to reduce the serious business of governance to the distribution of money. What Bago should be distributing are life-changing opportunities. I wish Governor Umaru Bago success, if he turns a new leaf by treating citizens as humans and giving governance the seriousness and attention it deserves.

The state and federal governments should come together to break the cycle of calamities in Niger State. We have already had too many disasters — this latest one should be the last, and something must be done to stop it. Hundreds in kidnappers' dens, bandits denying farmers their source of livelihood, hundreds in IDP camps, flood ever raging, 37 miners dying in custody, now three women dying in a stampede while waiting for cash — it is one calamity too many for Niger State.

May God console and ease the affairs of the victims' families and grant the deceased eternal bliss.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

I understand his followers call him Sheikh. I have stopped calling them Sheikhs — those clerics who combine their core duty of admonition and propagation of the religion with dirty politics. Note that I said dirty politics, not just politics. The politics some of these clerics play in the name of religion is too dirty. Many may not ask me for evidence if I say that politics by clerics is even dirtier than that played by full-time politicians.

This is not to say that the clerics — the ulama — should not be politicians. It is a choice. But when a cleric chooses to participate in politics, it is better for him not to be saddled with open propagation of religion. If he chooses to combine both, which is also not bad, he should exhibit good manners and avoid telling unnecessary and avoidable lies. Telling lies may not dent his image as a politician, but it will definitely dent his image as a cleric. This is where Mr. Jingir gets it wrong. I will pay more attention to Mr. Jingir later.

But before I do that, let me state clearly again: I am not saying the ulama should not play politics. If I were to sound Aristotelian, I would even say every man is a political animal. In that sense, the ulama and the rest of us must all play politics in one way or another.

Yet, I do not agree with Aristotle on this. There are people who, not necessarily out of dislike for politics, are inexplicably apolitical. They are apathetic to anything political, even at the level of workplace and family. If I were to align my thought with Aristotle at another level of analysis, I would say it is abnormal to be completely apolitical.

So, if anyone says the ulama should stay away from politics — and of course, some have said so — I am clearly not one of them. My name will always be found among the authors of the article titled "Roles of Nigerian Ulama in Politics and Nation Building: The Controversy, Achievements and Recommendations." This was a 2025 paper published by the Future Journal of Social Science — a publication of Future University in Egypt.

In that paper, it was clearly explained, contrary to what many think, that the ulama are those who, in addition to being conscious of Allah, are thoroughly grounded in Islamic scholarship and willing to give life to the Qur'an through the implementation of its injunctions. I do not know how telling mischievous lies as a cleric gives life to the Qur'an through the implementation of its injunctions.

At this juncture, it is time to return to Mr. Jingir. Recently, on one occasion, Mr. Jingir made a claim which many find difficult to believe. What readily comes to mind is to discard the claim and conclude that it was artificial intelligence at work by those committed to making Mr. Jingir look shameless.

As Nigeria continues to bleed, as insecurity continues to send Nigerians to their graves, as the number of Nigerians in kidnappers' dens continues to balloon, Mr. Jingir asserts that the claim that there is no security at all in Nigeria is propaganda. He wonders how anyone could claim there is no security in Nigeria when people travel from Illela, a border town in Sokoto, to Port Harcourt, day and night, without any cause for fear.

There was also a time he allegedly travelled by air from his base in Jos to Kebbi State and claimed he did not witness any case of kidnapping until he returned to his base. On these occasions, Mr. Jingir either denies the existence of insecurity completely or gives the impression that killings and kidnappings rarely occur.

In any case, Mr. Jingir, in an attempt to defend the regime as an establishment cleric at all costs, displays a total lack of emotional intelligence. To say there is security in Nigeria and that claims of insecurity are mere propaganda is, in other words, to mock Nigerians in pain — victims of insecurity — by a so-called cleric whose duty, among others, is to soothe those in pain and give solace.

Though Nigerians have reacted. They have called him names — too unprintable to mention in this column. Some wish him bad luck. They want him kidnapped like other jobless so-called clerics who were kidnapped on their way to Abdulaziz Yari's invitation to pray for Tinubu's second-term victory. They strongly pray that he should become a victim of the insecurity he claims is propaganda, so that he will have a firsthand experience of what people go through.

I do not wish him that. The Jingir I have carefully observed would probably be unrepentant even if he were a victim. He seems to have vowed under oath to defend this regime, no matter how devilish and destructive its acts of commission and omission are.

My honest wish for Mr. Jingir is that he should realize, before it is too late, that there is accountability before our Creator in the hereafter. He should also realize that stubbornness displayed by a cleric who denies reality like a pathological prevaricator does not change reality.

It should now be clear to those who defend Mr. Jingir's eccentricity on the Muslim-Muslim ticket that it has little to do with his experience with Christians in Plateau State, but more to do with defending a failed regime.

I have heard people say Jingir comes from a state where religion totally influences politics and where it is always a zero-sum game in favour of Christians. In other words, Muslims are completely manoeuvred out of the political game. They argue that Jingir's Muslim-Muslim bigotry is retaliatory. If, for the sake of argument, we accept this to be true, what about the lies of reducing insecurity to mere propaganda? Is this not defending nonsense?

Although I have always doubted Mr. Jingir's scholarship, I strongly believe there are many intelligent and knowledgeable people in the faction of the Izala group he heads as spiritual leader. They should advise him to defend Tinubu's Muslim-Muslim government, which he must defend, within the limits of decency. He has the constitutional right to be an APC cleric with a palm regularly or occasionally greased with millions of naira. But while exercising that right, he should not insult Nigerians who do not, and could not, think like him. The old man should always respect himself because Nigerians are angry and Muslims are particularly disappointed — onlookers would think he represents Islam and the Muslims.

Who knows, perhaps President Tinubu is not the bad ruler many think he is. Who knows, maybe he is only surrounded by people who tell him lies. Who knows, perhaps the lies he hears are that all reports of insecurity, killings, and kidnappings are propaganda. When a president is surrounded by sycophantic liars, it takes heavenly intervention for the ruler not to fail. I wish President Tinubu success, though not in the forthcoming 2027 presidential election. I must be frank about this.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Dear Jagaba: Borgu Land is Bleeding

Dear Jagaba, please permit me to explain to you what Jagaba means once again. I know it must have been explained to you when the title was conferred on you two decades ago. Knowing that it is human to forget, and I am prone to forgetfulness too. To refresh, the full title is Jagaba of Borgu Land. It is not a hereditary title but a traditional chieftaincy title from Borgu Emirate in New Bussa, Niger State. It means Chief Warrior of Borgu Land.

Dear Jagaba, recall that the title was given to you by the late Emir of Borgu, Alhaji Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III (Mai Borgu), who was a former Senator and Minister. He gave you this title in 2006. We learned you were both Senators in 1992 in the aborted Third Republic when you became friends.

Dear Jagaba, could it be that the late Mai Borgu saw the future and knew what tomorrow would bring? Could it be that he knew a time would come when his domain would turn into a slaughter slab where his people would be slaughtered by callous, bloodthirsty and trigger-happy outlaws? Could it also be that he knew you would one day become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? He made you, a Yoruba man from the Southwest, the Chief Warrior of Borgu Land.

Dear Jagaba, this is an appeal letter to you: prove that you are the warrior your friend thought you were. Niger State is bleeding. You cannot look the other way because the people of Niger State are more than just Nigerian citizens to you. In addition, they are people in whose affairs you should be emotionally invested, given that you are the Jagaba — a title you gladly accepted and flaunt. The title, aside from being President, directly ties you to Niger State's affairs.

Dear Jagaba, even if you don't believe in one Nigeria as you once said, Niger State and the entire Borgu Land, though located in the North, should be seen as your constituency by virtue of the hallowed title conferred on you.

Dear Jagaba, lest I sound to you like someone speaking in tongues, I know you may not understand what I mean by Niger State is bleeding. If you understand what I mean, you may not take it seriously; you may also not believe it because this is coming from your critic. It is possible you strongly believe Niger State is flowing with honey (not blood), considering that those with whom you surround yourself might have told you something diametrically different. One of those people recently told you, and the world, that some Nigerians are now begging him to slow down because their freezers are overfreezed due to uninterrupted power supply.

Dear Jagaba, for your information, Niger State is literally a human slaughter slab. I am neither speaking in metaphor nor in tongues. I am telling you the ugly reality that enemies of Nigeria among those close to you would not tell you. I do not intend to present to you a chronicle of killings in Niger State; that cannot be written in a column. Even a book would definitely not be sufficient. Chronicling the killings in Niger State would require volumes.

Dear Jagaba, what I intend to tell you, as the Jagaba, is that hundreds of victims recently kidnapped across four different mosques in the State are still in captivity. As if those criminals want you to prove you are truly the Jagaba, the Chief Warrior, they tried to provoke you by killing 30 of them to see how you would react.

Dear Jagaba, did you really hear what I said? Permit me to repeat it. In Borgu Land where you are the Jagaba, 30 people were reportedly killed. I thought you would declare a state of emergency. That did not happen. I also thought you would ask to be divested of the title because you have not proven to be a warrior competent enough to protect the people of Borgu. I did not see you do that either.

Dear Jagaba, if this is not touching enough, let me narrate another incident to you, again in Borgu Land. It is as recent as the killing of 30 captives. It happened last Friday. Bandits reportedly abducted more than 100 people during an overnight attack on Shadadi and neighbouring communities in Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State after imposing a N50 million levy on residents as payment for access to their farms for the ongoing farming season. One of the abductees was beheaded.

Dear Jagaba, sadly, the abductee's head was reportedly chopped off because his relatives fell short of paying the requested ransom in full. Out of the 10 jerry cans of 50 litres of petrol demanded as ransom, the victim's relatives could only provide six.

What is more, Jagaba, the bandits did not release the victim. Instead, they handed over his severed head to the relatives, wrapped in a polythene bag.

Sir Jagaba, that is not all. These bandits reportedly asked the relatives to take the severed head to the village head of Shadadi. They also provided a telephone number through which the traditional ruler could contact them.

Dear Jagaba, the people of Niger State, Borgu Land, do not deserve this neglect. Despite the fact that the lives of these people have become toys in the hands of bandits, they still love and respect you. Despite the fact that you seem not to care about them and do not fight on their behalf as Jagaba, they still placed a traditional crown on your wife's head, Iya Alakara.

Dear Jagaba, perhaps Iya Alakara did not inform you, the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, conferred another title on her just a few months ago. This is in addition to the title "Yon Bana Jagaban Borgu" conferred on her two decades ago when you became the Jagaba.

Dear Jagaba, the new title conferred on Iya Alakara is "Soniyanko Nupe." But because I was in a hurry to write you this appeal letter, I did not confirm from my Nupe friend what the title means. I know it has a good meaning. I quickly asked Artificial Intelligence what it means. It told me it means Great Queen of Nupe Land. In case that is not the actual meaning, please forgive me because I have learnt not to trust Artificial Intelligence. I should have asked my Nupe friend to confirm, but I was writing this letter in the middle of the night when he should be deep asleep; and I didn't want to disturb him.

Dear Jagaba, if Borgu Land has shown you this much love, I think you have not reciprocated it. Let me be blunt here, you have disappointed them. I tried to report you to your friend, the late Alhaji Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III (Mai Borgu), who made you the Jagaba. Then I realized the living cannot communicate with the dead. All reported communications are myths. If I had been able to reach him, he would have felt betrayed.

Dear Jagaba, I wonder why Borgu Land, which stretches to include some parts of Kwara and Kebbi States, has become a bandit colony. I also wonder why the wonderful strategy your military men deployed in rescuing the kidnapped Oyo schoolchildren has not been replicated elsewhere. Many top critics, including Farooq Kperogi, believe the strategy works and call for its replication. I did not, because I don't believe it. On how the Oyo schoolchildren were rescued, I believe something else, not the strategy that was claimed. If the strategy worked, why hasn't it worked in Borno and elsewhere?

Dear Jagaba, this takes me to what my northern friends have been telling me. They argue you value only Yoruba lives and that is all. As a Yoruba myself, I wanted to defend you and argue with them, but I don't want to look stupid. The way you have handled insecurity in Borgu Land despite the love they have shown to you and your wife makes all the arguments I have marshalled to defend you watery.

Dear Jagaba, the campaign now is Tinubu Must Go. I want to join the campaign train but feel some reluctance, thinking I am a Yoruba like you. I should not be campaigning against my brother and my father. But if you fail to do something about the killings in Borgu Land and Nigeria at large, it will be foolish of me not to be very active in the Tinubu Must Go campaign. I think there should be a limit to ethnic solidarity.

Dear Jagaba, this is my position. What do you think?

May God help you to make Nigeria peaceful.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Sell Akara, Not Babies and Human Parts

Food, after water, is the most essential basic commodity for human survival. When food becomes out of reach for ordinary people due to joblessness, crime becomes the norm.

In a society where joblessness is ubiquitous, people create illegal "jobs" for themselves because idleness is a vacuum that must be filled. Nature itself abhors idleness, as it leads to lawlessness.

The modern world is complex, and survival in it is not comparable to survival in the pre-modern world, where life was simple with minimal requirements. One could provide virtually all basic needs because the needs matched the simplicity of the society.

This is not to say modernity is undesirable. Rather, it is to emphasize that survival in it requires extra effort. People engage in multiple jobs to make ends meet. And this is not peculiar to Nigeria; it is the reality of the modern age, where life is superficially beautiful but prohibitively expensive.

The availability of jobs is the reason people survive in the modern world. While engaging in multiple jobs pays the bills, the jobs must be available to pay the bills. This is where Nigeria is unfortunately different. It has a labor force that the market does not demand. The labor force is now creating a market where it can force itself to work and earn something, regardless of the legitimacy or otherwise of the venture.

In place of moribund industries and other foreign direct investments exiting the country are "baby factories." They are now all over the country. In these factories, pregnant women are the machinery that produces babies as finished goods to be sold on demand. These human machines are powered by irresponsible men who serve as the fuel and lubricant that ensure the smooth running of the operation. In other words, these men continue to impregnate women and underage girls with no sense of liability.

The most recent case was reported on Monday in Oyo State, where a 50-year-old woman was arrested by the Oyo State Police Command. The woman, who claimed to be jobless, resorted to child-stealing and trafficking as a means of survival. She was not selfish. She did not steal and sell other people's children and spare her biological children. She admitted selling her newborn male twins for a paltry N300,000. She is devilishly selfless.

While joblessness may drive people to engage in all sorts of criminal and ignoble activities, how can joblessness make one so desperate as to despicably sell one's newborn twins for such a paltry sum? There is more to it. This is a complete collapse of morality and spirituality. This is a complete absence of humanity that reduces humans far below beasts. No beast is so beastly as to put a price on its own offspring.

If beasts understood human language and conversation, they would be alarmed by the ingratitude of this woman who, by her own admission, said: "God gifted me pregnancies. If a man has sex with me two times, I won't be able to abort it." So she became an incubator that hatched babies for baby factories.

Can we therefore conclude that the Tinubu government has so impoverished Nigerians that baby-stealing has become a means of survival? That conclusion would be too simplistic because baby factories preceded the Tinubu administration. They may, however, have grown stronger, considering that two-thirds of Nigeria's population currently live below the poverty line and are multidimensionally poor. Yet, this cannot justify this ugly enterprise.

Similarly, hunger in the country cannot justify the ugly practice of organ harvesting that people now resort to in order to make money. I am not referring to victims who were hoodwinked by predators or whose organs were harvested without their knowledge. I am referring to those who deliberately sell their organs in exchange for money. People sell their kidneys under the false notion that they can live with one kidney for the rest of their lives. Their stupidity is like that of a driver who travels every day but sells his spare tire with the false confidence that none of the four wheels will have a problem.

Just yesterday, we read a report of a young man in Kano State who cut off one of his own fingers after allegedly being offered N80 million to provide a finger from a living person — most probably for ritual purpose.
According to the police spokesperson, the young man went to a police station and lodged a complaint. He alleged that someone had offered him N80 million to provide a human finger. That is indeed tempting.

Unable to find the finger of a living person, and not wanting to lose the N80 million "contract," he decided to cut off his own finger with a knife which he handed over to the man who awarded the contract. The contractor, now "fingerless," complained to the police that the person had refused to pay him the promised N80 million. The police subsequently arrested the recipient of the body part and recovered the severed finger, while investigations continue.

But we need to hear the organ recipient's own side of the story. The "millionaire" who was willing to give N80 million for a human part did not dispute the amount or the bizarre transaction. What he reportedly disputed was the part of the body he asked the contractor to provide. He did not ask for a human finger, but rather for the bone from the forearm of a living person. If the "millionaire" is right, then that is where the contractor got it wrong. He paid attention to the money, not to the details.

I don't know why the police did not also detain the contractor with the self-amputated finger. He is also a criminal. It is a case of a criminal reporting a criminal. The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 has provisions for this. Section 20(2) of the Act reads: “Any person who procures, offers, assists, or is involved in the removal of human organs, or buys and sells human organs commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 7 years and a fine of not less than N5,000,000.”

For the woman in Oyo who is "gifted" with the gift of pregnancy, the Act also applies. Section 13(2) of the Act reads: “Any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbours or receives another person by means of (a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion; (b) abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or position of vulnerability; or (c) giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the exploitation of that person, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment of not less than 2 years and a fine of not less than N250,000.”

But to be honest, these legal provisions may not serve as a deterrent because they are inherently defective, even if the criminals are subjected to them. Imagine someone being fined N250,000 for abducting a child that is sold for millions of naira. Do the math. They will still make a profit after paying the fine. They will even be emboldened to commit more crimes because the fine is not seen as punishment but as a settlement. The punishment ought to be stiffer to truly serve as a deterrent.

In addition, punishment alone does not stop crime when the root causes are not addressed. While some people go into crime to live ostentatiously, joblessness and underemployment remain major root causes. The government has apparently failed to provide jobs. It has also failed to provide a conducive environment for job creation by skilled and entrepreneurial individuals.

Since the Tinubu government, through the First Lady, Iya Alakara, has promised jobless Nigerians grants to start selling akara, let us seize the opportunity. No matter how much people criticize the government for such empowerment, selling akara is a legitimate job. Criminals should stop stealing babies. They should stop selling human parts. They should sell akara, not babies. They should take up legitimate work, not crime.

May we and our children not be victims.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The syndicated Daily Trust/Punch columnist, Mr. Sonala Olumhense, titled his last Sunday column "The 2027 Election is a Survey on Stupidity." Every curious Nigerian would want to know who the stupid are and why there is a need to conduct a survey on stupidity. That is natural.

Why does Olumhense think the 2027 election will determine the population of stupid people in Nigeria? Before I address what he raised in his column, let me say one or two things about this columnist.
Olumhense seems to have no peer among the present crop of Nigerian columnists. While we can still find one or two who are older — like the octogenarian "Nigerian economy prophesier" Dr. Dele Sobowale and the enigmatic Professor Toyin Falola — he is senior to most in years of column writing.

He started decades ago. I will not mention the actual year; whoever is interested should do a little research. All I know is that I was born the same year he wrote the maiden edition of The Guardian on Sunday. And he had been writing columns a few years before then. Do the math.

Since then, Olumhense has neither retired nor tired of writing. Many of his peers have retired. One of them is Mallam Muhammad Haruna of Daily Trust; he retired exactly a decade ago with his last column, which I am still nostalgic about. It was titled "The Columnist as a Salesman." That column brought tears to our eyes. Only those familiar with Muhammad Haruna’s writing can relate.

But for Olumhense, I think he was born to write till death. I don’t know if that is his wish. I suspect it is. Edmund Burke described journalists as the Fourth Estate. That is understandable because journalists advocate for the people and for just causes. They are indispensable in a civilised society. They do not only stand by the truth; they speak it to power. If my students ask me what Burke’s Fourth Estate means, I will ask them to study people like Olumhense.

So, since he declared that the 2027 election will be a survey on stupidity, I am determined not to be among those surveyed. Stupidity ba wo?! Only the Yoruba people will understand this exclamatory question.

Lest I forget, there are other things I must mention about Olumhense. Though this piece is meant to focus on the "survey on stupidity," I cannot help saying more about Olumehense, the chief field researcher.

More than a decade ago, he answered a question this way: “In the tradition in which I was raised, government officials feared journalists; today, journalists fear government officials. Ask yourself, why?”

In Olumhense, we find a journalist that government officials — even presidents — fear. Ask former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He will tell you Olumhense is the quintessential columnist. Olumhense digs for his facts. He knows how to get them. Whether from the pit or the archive, his facts are factual and incontrovertible. He dishes out his facts with dogged confidence and, in most cases, provides links for doubting Thomases.

He is the only Nigerian journalist I know who defeated a former military head of state and civilian president in court. Obasanjo is still alive. He knows the details. He filed a defamation suit demanding N1 billion in damages against Olumhense over an article that questioned his account of Nigerian history. The article was titled "This is the best contribution Obasanjo can make." The suit was dismissed. Instead, on October 19, 2023, the court awarded N4 million in costs to Punch and Olumhense.

For fear of the facts in Olumhense’s arsenal, no government official dares challenge him. Obasanjo tried and was humbled. For years, Olumhense ended his Sunday column with this line: “This column welcomes rebuttals from interested party/government officials.” Since no official dared respond, he stopped appending it.

Last Sunday, Olumhense wrote:
“Four years in the presidency, Mr. Bola Tinubu has barely scratched the surface of the electricity problem or any other major issue. And he is on the ballot in 2027 as the incumbent president.

"Elsewhere, that would have been considered an insult to voters. And that is why the ballot will test who Nigerians really are: everyone who has been hurt by those problems or knows someone who has. Everyone who has a drop of dignity left. Every Nigerian who is not stupid.

"Because Nigeria, and every Nigerian voter, must in 2027 answer this question: Am I in denial or am I stupid? Voting with that in mind should be easy.”

Olumhense was one of the public intellectuals who, through their columns, gave wings to the APC. He now regrets it, like many others. Five days ago, he restated his verdict: “APC was a fraud. It is still a fraud. Twelve years after it took control by marketing the concept of CHANGE, it is concerned only with power, not the public interest.”

As much as I consider Olumhense a towering figure who cannot be faulted lightly, I respectfully disagree with him on two points.

He wrote: “In the forthcoming election, the Nigerian voter is in effect being asked to vindicate treachery; to vote against himself by voting for APC. But Nigerians are not stupid.”

Dear Olumhense, are you sure Nigerians are not stupid? Isn’t that a contradiction of “The 2027 Election is a Survey on Stupidity”? If you are sure Nigerians are not stupid, why the need for a survey on stupidity? And who exactly do you mean by “Nigerians”? Who do you include or exclude? While Olumhense may be right to say Nigerians are not stupid, we will wait to see what happens on election day when the survey is conducted.

Again, Olumhense wrote: “...the 2027 campaigns ought to be easy for even half-decent opposition. Because APC has no campaign.” I beg to disagree. APC has a campaign, and it has been campaigning. It has been campaigning with threats.

We saw violent campaigning in Osun State by the APC. Is “Vote for APC or be killed” not a campaign? What about “Vote for APC or vacate your residence in Kuje" by a local government chairman in Abuja? What of the Borno State commissioner who threatened to flog voters who refuse to vote APC and to break their fingers? In Yobe, an APC stalwart told married women to seek divorce if their husbands would not let them vote APC. We also heard that 500 clerics in Jigawa were allegedly given N3 million each to endorse Ọmọ Ologo. Are these not campaigns?

Let me concede that APC has no campaign based on governance. But it has a campaign of threats — violence, killings, finger amputation, marriage dissolution, and threats of hell by the Muslim-Muslim clerical warriors.

If APC had fielded another presidential candidate, not Tinubu, one might not consider it stupid to vote for it. But with Tinubu, whom Omoyele Sowore has accused of being a ...(plug in a befitting noun), and with the ongoing issue of criminal records in the United States yet to be released and are being lobbied to remain sealed, I would be stupid to vote for Tinubu. I don’t think God will forgive me. The issue now is not just whether a crime was committed. It is about the release of those criminal records.

If democracy in Nigeria under APC were not “crime-in-progress,” as Olumhense rightly puts it, someone like Tinubu should not even be on the ballot. While I am sure that anosmic Nigerians who are smell-blind will not perceive this stench, I urge all conscientious Nigerians to reject Tinubu at the polls.

Being asked by foreigners whether our president is a criminal is a question I do not want to answer. Besides, he said we should not vote for him if he did not fix electricity before 2027. Now that he has not, responsibility demands that we do not vote for him. To vote for Tinubu, in my understanding — and in Olumhense’s — is to be stupid.

Dear Olumhense, I am not stupid.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The Masses to the Ulama: Ittaqu Allah, Fear Allah

The Ulama are to guide and give direction. They are to put people on track when they are off track. They are to teach and impart knowledge. They are to be emblems of truth and speak truth to power. They are to admonish the masses to be morally upright and responsible.

However, things go awry when the masses begin to admonish the Ulama to fear Allah. Who then will admonish the masses? Who will admonish the laity, the illiterate, the ignorant, the uneducated, the semi-educated, and the educated but not in religious knowledge?

As Nigeria prepares for its periodic, once-in-four-year general elections, where failed and incompetent politicians are recycled as elected rulers, the ulama are bracing up to a new, self-contrived role which they did not inherit from the Prophet (SAW). They have started campaigning for failure and failed rulers, to the disappointment of the masses.

The masses are now uttering a two-letter word which they learnt from the ulama: ittaqu Allah, fear Allah. Whether it is said in Arabic or English, it remains a two-letter word.

But before I proceed, here is a caveat: not all ulama are data boys; not all of them are campaign tools in the hands of failed rulers; not all of them stampede, with cupped hands, for crumbs falling from the dining table of politicians. Not all of them employ divisive rhetoric. Not all of them label Muslims as infidels for not voting for a candidate they support.

There are ulama who have actually inherited knowledge, piety, and sacred prestige from the Prophet. Such are those who jealously guard their dignity and would not trade their clerics status for worldly things, no matter how tempting. There are ulama whose duty is to speak truth to power and would not falter in doing so under any circumstance. There are those who always hold the banner of justice aloft and will never waver. This column is not about this second category of ulama.

Having said that, let us focus on religious entrepreneurs—the first category of ulama—and the 2027 general elections. They are the ones the masses are sermonizing to fear Allah. But what is the masses' business with admonition? We can't blame the masses. Since the ulama are busy campaigning, nature abhors a vacuum. Someone must tell someone to fear Allah. We cannot chastise the masses for poking their nose into an affair that does not concern them, as we say in Hausa, "Sun shiga lamarin da bai shafesu ba." We should blame the ulama whose irritating conduct made it a duty upon the masses to tell them to fear Allah. We should rather commend the masses for filling the vacuum.

From where should I even start? I think I should start with the Jigawa Endorsement, among many cases of "zubar da mutunci"—losing one's dignity—among the ulama. It was reported that 500 ulama converged in Jigawa State. Why did they converge?

Not because 32 Muslims were killed in Sokoto around that time; not because Muslims were massively kidnapped in four mosques in Niger State, out of whom 30 have been reportedly killed; not because about 70 Muslims, including children, were killed in a village, Bia Buki, in Zamfara State; not because gunmen stormed the community of Woro in Kwara State, killing at least 170 people, the majority of whom were Muslims; not also because of the tens of thousands of Nigerians, the majority of whom are Muslims, who are forced to live a subhuman life in various IDP camps and kidnappers' dens across the country.

So why exactly did they converge in Jigawa State? They did not converge to address a world conference on Muslim genocide under the Muslim-Muslim government in Nigeria; nor to meet President Tinubu with teary eyes and swollen, melancholic faces and tell him the country is drenched in blood; but because they wanted to make a public declaration of their endorsement of Tinubu for a second term. Could there be a higher degree of heartlessness and wickedness than the one displayed by these so-called ulama?

This was at the time an estimated 500 kidnapped Muslims were paraded by bandits in a bush in Niger State. A gunman in a viral video was heard saying: "These are all your people. We are showing you this video so that you can identify your family members, your fathers, mothers, children and relatives."
As the Muslims were trying to identify their kidnapped relatives, so were they trying to identify those they know among their ulama, busy endorsing Tinubu. What a happenstance! I still want to believe some of these ulama were hoodwinked. They might not have known, against their will, that they were paraded to endorse Tinubu at that unfortunate Jigawa gathering.

If we can find an excuse for some of these ulama who might have fallen to the bait in the hands of dexterous politicians, what excuse can anyone find for the one who allegedly made this declaration: “We will guide Islamic scholars on the sermons to deliver, so they can educate their followers on why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be re-elected in 2027.” Isn't this shameful?

While it is the ulama's democratic right to vote for any candidate, even if the candidate is Satan, they should have learnt the hard lesson that the pulpit should not be used for that purpose. They should not ridicule Islam for that purpose. They should have listened to the Commander-General of the Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim-Daurawa, who, a few days before the Jigawa endorsement, advised Muslims to vote for any candidate of their choice, explaining that it is not about religion but competence and merit.

But because of crumbs, they will not learn. Isn't the over-reported 600 million naira promised to be given to the one in Jos for a project a crumb? Trillions of naira are unaccounted for by this administration. But a cleric becomes fanatical and employs divisive rhetoric because of crumbs handed over to him by politicians.
If the donation announcement had not been made in public, these clerics would enthusiastically and passionately swear by Allah, as they have always done, that they have never received a dime from any politician. What a character! The masses, as it is today, would be inclined to take a drunkard seriously when he swears by Allah than some of these ulama.

What about those falling over one another to praise the appointment of Abdul'Aziz Abubakar Yari as Tinubu's re-election campaign director general? Yari's name and personality are conjoined with corruption and embezzlement of public funds in Nigeria's political discourse. However, he is a darling to these clerics for reasons understood by them even after explanation. Or how would anyone appreciate this explanation?

According to them, Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State has been distributing rice and giving zakat. To these ulama, it does not matter where the money comes from. What matters is that zakat is paid. It does not matter how a governor fails to protect his people, fails to provide jobs and infrastructure, fails to invest in education, health and agriculture. What matters is the rice he distributes to thousands of IDPs in various camps. One of the ulama even took his time to compose lines of poetry, like Kahutu Rarara's Ọmọ Ologo, to pour encomiums on Yari.

As if these ulama have not descended low enough, one of them said it is in the interest of every Muslim who desires to meet Allah well to vote for Tinubu. If this is not madness from the ulama, I don't know what is. My advice to these religious entrepreneurs is that it is possible to be given crumbs to campaign for any candidate and still do the campaign responsibly. One can still maintain mental equilibrium after being given brown envelopes. These ulama should stop thinking they are well clad as they dance in public. What the masses are seeing, as they dance, is their unclothedness. Thus, the masses' admonition to the ulama: ittaqu Allah, fear Allah.

May I admonish the masses to limit their anger against the ulama to admonition. They should not go beyond that, like the youths in Sokoto State who assaulted the imam of a Juma’at mosque for posting a political campaign poster on the mosque.

Since the masses have dutifully told the ulama to fear Allah, my admonition to the ulama, in addition, is that they should be very careful. May we elect good leaders in the upcoming general elections. We are tired of rulers.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Daurawa Has Probably Ended the Muslim-Muslim Ticket Debate

The Muslim-Muslim ticket man in the North, Mr. Sani Yahaya Jingir, made headline news for some days. He made some disturbing and controversial comments which many Nigerians, both Christians and Muslims, found nauseating, as they could not believe such words were coming from a religious figure.

What is even more disappointing is that he is not a figure in a fringe religion or a religion that is almost going into oblivion. He is a figure in Islam, a religion of peace. Many have likened him to Shekau, saying what he has not done is carry arms.

I do not intend to address the divisive comments in this column. I addressed them briefly in my last week’s piece. What I intend to do now is to explain why I think the other prominent guests at the mass wedding ceremony where Mr. Jingir made those comments could be excused. Among those seated, whom many criticized for not cautioning Mr. Jingir, is the Kano State Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, along with other prominent politicians, traditional rulers, clerics and intellectuals.

Some of them obviously clapped when Mr. Jingir made those controversial comments, which many interpreted as a sign of approval. It is possible they were carried away by the way Mr. Jingir dramatized his divisive presentation like a trained sensationalist. I don’t think, and I cannot believe, that all the dignitaries at the occasion would descend to Mr. Jingir’s level of thinking.

One of the personalities at the occasion who was seen clapping when Mr. Jingir spewed those comments is the Commander-General of the Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim-Daurawa. He, along with others, has been criticized for not cautioning Mr. Jingir while he made the inflammatory remarks. Cautioning an old man who claims to be a cleric, by a younger man like Daurawa, at such a public event might be seen as a sign of disrespect.

But Daurawa did something better than cautioning the old man. A few days later, in an interview, he gave an explanation of the same-faith ticket. The Sheikh, who seems incapable of discussing an issue without a smiling face, said something diametrically opposed to what Mr. Jingir advocated at the ceremony where he was also seated and seen clapping. Daurawa subtly alluded to the fact that Jingir speaks for himself, not for the Muslims, without mentioning his name.

He humbly aired his opinion, presenting it as if he was speaking only for himself, not for the Muslims. But he actually spoke for the majority of Nigerian Muslims, from the perspective of knowledge, experience, and lived reality, not bigotry. Daurawa deconstructed the Muslim-Muslim concept and reduced it to nothing.

To Daurawa, and to all Nigerians with common sense, people should be free to vote for any candidate, whether the ticket is Muslim-Muslim, Christian-Christian, Christian-Muslim or Muslim-Christian. He categorically stated that all the religious combinations are the same. I have also been struggling to see any difference too as far as Nigerian democracy and constitution are concerned.

He urged Nigerians not to make elections a religious issue, because they are not. What Nigerians should focus on, the Sheikh explained, is good governance. I, Abdulkadir Salaudeen, strongly believe I will practice Islam much better in an atmosphere of good governance than under a ruthless Muslim-Muslim government that is not only oppressive and punitive, but also makes it difficult for servants of God to earn the pleasure of their Lord.

Under the so-called Muslim-Muslim government, many practicing Muslims who will argue that taking interest-based loans is worse than murder and committing adultery now survive on such loans. Muslims now survive by practicing, or indirectly encouraging, usury — taking one interested-based loan after the other, waging war against God (Qur’an 2:275-281) — in order to breathe under a Muslim-Muslim government.
Muslim wives are serially raped, for fun, in the presence of their Muslim husbands and Muslim children by “Muslim” bandits in Muslim-majority states, without the Muslim-Muslim government raising an eyebrow. Muslims are killed like game for fun, and no one with an audible voice among the Muslim-Muslim fanatical clerics complains about Muslim genocide. They did not complain to Donald Trump, which is understandable. But they do not also complain to Muhammad Bin Salman or any other Muslim leader across the globe.

(What I wrote above about how Muslims fare under the Muslim-Muslim government is just to sound alliterative. Christians, animists and the irreligious in Nigeria all suffer the same fate).

According to Daurawa, politics should be about competence and service rather than the religious identity of candidates. What we should be asking, Daurawa urges, is: Who is the candidate? What has he done and what is he capable of doing? Not just religious identity. He explained further that the system of government is democracy, not Sharia, and that Nigeria’s Constitution does not recognize, nor does INEC register, religious political parties.

Even Mr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who once strongly believed the PDP is the party of Nigerian infidels, has joined the party. He did not join it as a follower but as a leader and gubernatorial candidate. As far as I know, Pantami joined the party as a Muslim, not as an infidel. That is why this column always emphasizes that Nigerians should use their God-given senses when clerics make sensational, nonsensical, and divisive comments from the pulpit.

Clerics are not to be followed blindly. In fact, to follow a cleric in our time and age, one needs to keep both eyes wide open with a powerful searchlight to see clearly. Clerics are not to be trusted by default until they prove to be trustworthy. This is the stark reality of our time, unfortunate as it is.

Daurawa further advised that no one should insult or attack anyone because of a religio-political ticket. He called on young people to reject drug abuse, stay away from violence, and peacefully participate in the electoral process.

It should not come as a shock to anyone if Daurawa is declared an apostate for his reasonable and thoughtful explanation by those who prefer to eat grass under a Muslim-Muslim government than to live in comfort under an “infidel-infidel” government. I urge them to include me among the apostates. They should do so publicly so that we can know the “Who is Who” in the long list of Nigerian Muslims-turned-apostates.

For the mullah who prefers to eat grass under a Muslim-Muslim government rather than live comfortably under a non-Muslim government, I wish those in the belly of the earth could react to events on the surface of the earth. Karl Marx would have been giggling in his grave. He would have felt like a prophet and felt a deep sense of nostalgia and vindication by his famous words: “Religion is the opium of the masses.”

While I don’t have a problem with anyone with a strong desire to eat grass — it is a choice — I urge other sane Nigerians to vote for competence, merit, and patriotism.

In conclusion, I commend Sheikh Daurawa for speaking the truth that resonates with Nigerian Muslims while risking being a victim of “Jingiristic Apostatization.” May our sanity never depart us.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Tinubu's "All is Fair in Politics" — Osun State as a Test Run

The political news coming from Osun State ahead of the election scheduled for tomorrow is not good for democracy. Many voters have concluded that they will not cast votes for the sake of their safety. It is their civil right to cast votes; but they realize it would be foolhardy to jeopardize their lives because of an individual vote that only counts as one.

Already, there are killings here and there and threats and promises of more killings. Rival political parties are determined to defeat the ruling party, Accord Party (AP). The ruling party is also determined to retain power. This determination is democratic and is what makes democracy interesting, like a football game with highly spirited spectators. When determination to win an election is expressed within the ambit of the law, it is called healthy competition. When the determination turns awry, it is called unhealthy competition.

But what is currently being displayed in Osun State is far beyond unhealthy competition; it is deadly. "Deadly" is used here, not in its metaphorical sense but in its literal meaning. Because of political contest, people are being killed, allegedly by thugs loyal to the ruling party. In Ilesa alone, four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have allegedly been shot dead by Accord Party's thugs. This is not an isolated case. There are allegations of killings across the state. Of course, no party has a monopoly on violence. This led to an outburst by an APC federal lawmaker in the state who ordered that opposition party members should be killed in retaliation.

Since the utterance of the reckless marching order to kill Nigerians who would prefer to vote for Accord Party in Osun State, Senator Francis Fadahunsi has been in the eye of the storm. All attempts by him to do some damage control, claiming he was misunderstood, have fallen on deaf ears. My two ears too are deaf to Fadahunsi's explanation. The chorus from Nigerians everywhere is "you go explain tire." No one is willing to listen to him except his party loyalists, whose only source of buttered bread is defending every sense and nonsense from their benefactors.

Instead of denying what he said by giving it an interpretation that convinces no one, Fadahunsi should have availed himself of a simple-sentence defense. He should have told Nigerians that he is acting on President Tinubu's script. He should have informed Seun Okinbaloye, the Channels TV journalist, during the interview that "All is Fair in Politics." With these five words, he would have vindicated himself. No one would have raised an eyebrow.

Except if that was a slip of the tongue. Except if President Tinubu did not mean what he said or was not sober enough to realize the implications of what he said. But it is safe to assume he is serious about it. He did not say it in a beer parlour. He did not say it in a state of trance. He was not addressing agbero (park thugs). He said it in the presence of Catholic Bishops. Tinubu's "all is fair in politics" would lead Nigerians to the most dangerous phase of their political life. And if he was just theorizing, the praxis of the theory is what is being witnessed in Osun State.

Fadahunsi is not alone. Osun Defender posted a viral video of a suspected APC female thug known as "Arugba" walking majestically on Osun streets as if she owns the state. She appears to have understood Tinubu's "all is fair in politics" better than Tinubu himself. She allegedly threatened voters in Osun State, warning that those who fail to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during Saturday's governorship election risk having the finger used to cast their ballot severed. This is how Osun Defender translated what she said in Yoruba into English:
“‘We will cut that finger. You won’t go back home with that finger.
‘Tell them not to come out to vote. Let them know we are coming for them. Don’t dare us. We are not bluffing. We mean what we say.’”

Another APC thug, an elderly man who should be a grandpa or great-grandpa, was seen threatening those who would not be voting for the APC candidate. In his own way of saying "all is fair in politics," he said, speaking in Yoruba: "We should however tell those who are not willing to vote for Ambo the truth: they should not even try to cross the gutter on election day in Ikire" (as translated by Sahara Reporters).

While we await how "all is fair in politics" shall be displayed by APC, AP, and other parties tomorrow in Osun State, voters should take all necessary precautions as they set out to vote. Security agents should act professionally in securing voters without being partisan. Who wins or loses should not be their concern; their concern should be the protection of voters.

This is about Osun. At the national level, "all is fair in politics" could be at play when one Yahaya Jinjir, said to be an Izala cleric, declared that Muslims are the majority in Nigeria. He should have stopped at that. He went further to say his vote is still for the Muzlim-Muzlim ticket (despite the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of Muslims are currently in kidnappers' dens in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, etc., under the watchful eyes of the Muzlim-Muzlim government). At this point, he is still entitled to his opinion.

Then he crossed the red line by saying Christians who are not happy with the Muzlim-Muzlim ticket are free to leave the country. He did not address them as Christians; he called them infidels. Though he spoke in the name of God, Islam has taught us, ever before Jingirwas born, how to relate peacefully with Christians. We are to either call them Nasara (Christians, followers of the one [Jesus] from Nazareth in Arabic) or People of the Book.

Nigerian Christians are angry and still angry. While it is their right to be angry, they need not take Jingirseriously, since it is coming from him. A leopard does not change its spots. To Jinjir, all is fair in politics provided it is Muzlim-Muzlim. Just as he calls Christians infidels, he did not spare the Muslims either. Ahead of the 2023 election, he declared Muslims who were not inclined to the Muzlim-Muzlim ticket apostates. I wonder why Christians take him seriously (though it is still their right to express anger). Most Nigerian Muslims, except probably the Muzlim-Muzlim category who are infinitesimal minority, do not take him seriously.

To support my claim that Jingirdid not speak for the Muslims but for himself, two days ago, an interfaith peace accord to live together in peace was signed by leaders of Nigerian Christians and Muslims at a conference organized by the Muslim World League—an Islamic non-governmental organization based in Saudi Arabia. Representing the Muslims, the secretary-general of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Professor Khalid Abubakar, said: "It is not a call to leave your own religion, but a call for cooperation and working together in harmony." The generous and amiable Abubakar, whom I met and interacted with three years ago, is a professor of Islamic Studies and one of the Imams at Abuja National Mosque.

Similarly, John Praise Daniel, chairman of the Northern Christian Religious Leaders' Assembly, said he hoped it would curb divisive rhetoric by clerics. He must be referring to Jinjir. He continued: "No hate speech, and no disrespect for other religious groups, no calling of people infidels."

In conclusion, I urge people of good conscience to prevail on agents of "all is fair in politics" in Osun State and wherever they are across the country. Also, Jingirspeaks for the Muzlims, not the Muslims. Let's work together to change the rhetoric. All is not fair in politics until it is fair. Let's hope "all is fair in politics" is not being test-run in Osun State before the general elections early next year.

I pray the election will be peaceful tomorrow in Osun State. I am not from Osun, but they are my in-laws—very caring and loving. May we live in peace in Nigeria.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Securing the lives and property of citizens is a core idea in political thought. This is why the security of life and property is the primary responsibility of every government. A government might claim giant strides in growth and development, using some metrics to assess itself. It amounts to nothing once the lives and property of citizens are not secured.

Presidents, heads of government, or prime ministers, as the case may be, are basically chief security officers of their state. This is why in Nigeria, a president who never had military experience is officially designated Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. His or her first job, say political philosophers, is to play the security role which justifies why government exists in the first place.

I was relieved when I read that those who rival the Nigerian State in the monopoly of the use of force have released the kidnapped Woro victims of Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State. When I said "the Nigerian State," I did not mean an ideal state or a state in the definition of Max Weber. I called it a state because those elected to govern it officially call it a state.

To Weber, the state is the entity that has a monopoly of the legitimate use of force in a territory. That force, according to him, is meant to protect citizens. In Nigeria, that force has not only failed to protect ordinary citizens, it has also failed to protect public office holders, top elected officials, the elites, and the ruling class — except Tinubu and those dearer to him.

This is not to say the President himself is safe. Kidnappers have threatened to kidnap a former Nigerian President in the past. I am only saying that, at the moment, we have not heard news that the President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, or any of their close family members have been kidnapped. Nigerians might not even find it shocking if their President were kidnapped, considering the extent to which bandits wield weapons of destruction. It is a possibility we should not pray to see.

Nevertheless, we have heard, read about, and even seen senior military officers, local government chairpersons, and judges being kidnapped. A Sharia Court judge in Katsina escaped being kidnapped through a court window. He should thank God that the window was not heavily burglar-proofed to obstruct his passage. If it is possible to thank a window, he should thank it for being not only a source of ventilation but also an escape route.

Another judge in Kebbi suffered a bitter fate. Notwithstanding that he was a judge of the State High Court, he was kidnapped. The ransom allegedly paid was 50 million naira. To ridicule the Nigerian State even further, we learnt the kidnappers demanded five bottles of malt drink and five packs of fruit juice before releasing the judge, Hon. Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza.

What is ironic is that Nigerian military officers, who should be less vulnerable to attack because they have weapons to protect themselves, are becoming the most vulnerable. While the killing of lower-ranking officers has been normalized such that it no longer merits news coverage, the top brass are also becoming regular targets for elimination. It was Retired Major General Rabe Abubakar who died in a kidnappers' den in June. It was Colonel Abdussalam A. Ude who was shot dead by kidnappers in July. We don’t know who will be next in August as we continue to pray it does not happen.

Top military officers have become such soft targets that THISDAY crime and investigative journalist, Sunday Ehigiator, dutifully chronicles some of the unfortunate incidents of abduction and the killing of top military officers in his report titled "As Insecurity Continues to Hit Retired Generals."

From the foregoing, it is not appropriate to say government exists in Nigeria. We are in a state of anomie. What exists presently in Nigeria is a group of elected individuals in the corridors of power who wish to be addressed as government but are either unwilling to govern or incapable of governance.

When there is no security there can be no society or state. Life without government is what Thomas Hobbes described as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." That is exactly what life is in Nigeria today. John Locke listed three natural rights: the right to life, to liberty, and to property. He argued persuasively that the main reason people form government is to protect those three rights. If government fails, the people have a right to challenge it.

Thus, I call on all Nigerians to patriotically challenge the Tinubu government at the polls in 2027. This is a patriotic call. Since the government has failed to guarantee any of the rights listed above, citizens have the right to question its legitimacy. The fear is whether the right to question that legitimacy will not be trampled upon by the election umpire, INEC.

It is unfortunate that the government brags that it "rescued" 308 Nigerian citizens who were abducted in different attacks in Niger and Kwara states — 163 abductees from Woro Community in Kaiama LGA, Kwara State, and 145 from Niger State. As if that is an achievement and a campaign point, the government described it as the largest rescue operation ever carried out on the same day by the joint security team.

I don’t blame those praising the government. We have been reduced to rightless people who now think government protection or rescue is a privilege. From a political philosophy perspective, the "rescued" victims and their families need not thank President Tinubu. He should rather apologize to these victims for his failure to protect them against kidnappers and for wasting six months of their lives in kidnappers' dens.

These victims have lost, in six months, things they can never recover again for the rest of their lives, and things that may be recovered but not soon. We should recall that the Woro attack reportedly claimed about 200 souls. For those of us who believe in life after death, the government will definitely account before God for how it failed to protect those citizens. The government will explain itself (it will explain tire) while the victims watch and wait to get their rights — rights that were only lost in Nigeria but would definitely be found before the Just and the Majestic. I guess this is what the Catholic Bishops told President Tinubu that upset him and his government.

President Tinubu applied for, and even claimed to have fought for, the top security job in Nigeria, and the Nigerian Constitution is clear about his primary role. Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution states in very simple English: "The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government." This is why this column insists: "Security or Nothing." It is not just political theory. It is not Hobbes or Locke or Rousseau or Bentham. It’s constitutional.

Dear President Tinubu, security first. Not roads. Not schools. Not GDP. Not electricity. Not industry. Not jobs. Not even campaigns. After security, we will discuss the economy and infrastructure. Secure the country first from your rivals. Your rivals are not Atiku, Obi, and Sowore. Your rivals are the bloodthirsty, trigger-happy, and ruthless bandits.

May Nigeria be a safe haven for Nigerians.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

A few days ago, the northern Nigerian cyberspace was buzzing, and still buzzing, because of a fatwa issued by Professor Ibrahim Ahmad Maqari, one of the Imams of the National Mosque in Abuja.

For clarity, a fatwa is a non-binding legal opinion given by a jurist on a matter of Islamic jurisprudence. Before I discuss the issue itself, here is a question: Is Maqari qualified to issue a fatwa?

It is difficult to get an objective answer because of sectarianism and emotionalism. Some will argue that he is a professor of Arabic and should know his limits on religious rulings. Others will argue that he is an Islamic scholar whose scholarship is top-notch and even envied by his peers.

The sect you belong to — Sufism, Sunnism, or Salafism — will most likely determine how you answer the question, rather than any sense of objectivity.

Is Maqari a qualified jurist to give fatwa? I am not interested in that debate. I am more interested in the fatwa he gave and in how people reacted to it.

Maqari was asked whether "temporary marriage" is permissible. This should not be confused with Mut'ah, the temporary marriage practiced by Shiites as part of their religion, where both bride and groom are aware of the temporariness.

The "temporary marriage" in question is a marriage entered with the intention of divorce at a future, unstated time. The husband-to-be keeps this intention hidden during the solemnization. The bride is neither informed, nor her guardians.

To illustrate, scholars who permit this arrangement cite the case of a married man who travels abroad for six months, a year, or two years for study or business or for other legitimate reasons. For fear of committing adultery due to his inability to control his desires, he may marry another woman with the intention of divorcing her when his stay abroad ends.

This is the fatwa for which Maqari is being severely criticized. But the fatwa is not originally his. He was not exercising personal ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). So the question of whether he is a jurist is beside the point. He claimed that some Sunni scholars gave this legal opinion in the past. Maqari is right to attribute it to earlier scholars, even though he did not name them.

I have two major concerns. One is with the fatwa itself. The other is with those attacking Maqari as ignorant and incoherent, and describing him with unprintable adjectives.

As I noted earlier, this topic is not new. Scholars from the four major schools discussed temporary marriage. Some approved it, and many declared it unlawful and deceptive.

If Maqari is ignorant for what he said, according to those attacking him, then scholars who said it before him must be more ignorant. On that long list we find highly respected ulama such as Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Qudamah, and, recently, Ibn Baz. Critics of Maqari should be fair and bold enough to also criticize other prominent scholars who held the same view. Failure to do so is hypocritical. It is selective outrage, dishonest scholarship, and a disgrace to learning.

If the attack comes from scholars, they should be ashamed. If it comes from blind followers who think any scholar outside their sect must always be wrong, then they need education. Rigorous learning, wide reading, and research will show them that truth and wisdom can be found anywhere, even among those we disagree with. No individual, group, or sect has a monopoly on truth. Seekers of wisdom take it wherever they find it.

Therefore, Maqari is not the problem. He said nothing new. The problem is androcentrism that has crept into the thinking and tradition of our scholars from the classical era to the present.

There are many androcentric fatwas and interpretations in classical Islamic literature. But because many modern scholars blindly follow the salaf without questioning or critique, they accept everything they read from the predecessors hook, line, and sinker.

I hope my Salafi friends will now understand why I say I do not follow the salaf robotically, I follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Salafism is not a monolithic body of thought where all views are codified. What made sense in their age may not make sense in ours. The ultimate arbiter is the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and no group has a monopoly on their interpretation.

For readers unfamiliar with the term, androcentrism means male-centered. My dictionary defines it as "an ideological focus on males and men, and on issues affecting them, possibly to the detriment of non-males."

In simple terms, it is when male experiences and male perspectives are treated as the normal or default way to view the world. The experiences of women and others are treated as secondary.

An attempt to prevent immorality through an androcentric lens is what produced this fatwa and many similar ones. To be fair to those scholars, and to Maqari, it was an honest attempt to curb immorality. But because they focused on men, they gave little thought to the consequences for women.

Because the lens is male-centered, they even invoked the jurisprudential principle of choosing the lesser of two evils to justify temporary marriage for men, as an alternative to fornication or adultery.

To distinguish it from Shiite Mut'ah, they stipulated that a man must not inform the woman he proposes to marry that he intends to divorce her later, for example after four months.

If Shiite Mut'ah is condemned by Sunnis for encouraging promiscuity, is this hidden temporary marriage not worse? Like Mut'ah, it encourages men to be promiscuous. Worse than Mut'ah, it institutionalizes deception of women by men.

This is where I disagree with Maqari’s justification. According to him, it is an act of piety for a man to marry with the intention of divorce in order to avoid adultery in foreign land where he is alone without his family. While the entire practice of temporary marriage is baseless, nonsense, and without evidence, to call it piety under any circumstance is ridiculously selfish.

It is deception. The mother of all deceptions of women by men. It is far from piety and righteousness. It is the antithesis of religious sanity. Hidden intention to divorce a woman after marriage is the very definition of moral decadence of men — the very definition of cruelty and wickedness against women. Such a man should not be counted among the believers. This is what the Prophet ﷺ meant when he said: "Whoever cheats us is not among us."

Those who issued that fatwa are chronic androcentrists. The fatwa itself is utterly androcentric. There is no consideration of the harm it causes women.

By the logic of temporary marriage, women would become chattels. They would become items to be acquired and discarded at will, after being used. They would be expirable and have an expiry date in the hands of men. They would be subject to deception, and that deception would be called piety in the name of religion.

Women would become sexual objects to satisfy male desire and hedonism. If temporary marriage became common, it would make a mockery of the marriage institution and erode all the values at its core. Family life would suffer, come close to collapse, and eventually fail.

In such a system, sex workers would appear more dignified than noble women. While sex workers are paid for their service and suffer no deception, even though it is illegal, noble women would be used and dumped, and left with the trauma of being jilted by men they loved.

In that world, a woman’s love would be treated as naivety, if not a crime. Women would not only develop a phobia of men, they would develop hatred for men. In gender terms, they would become incurably misandrous.

These are few implications of Maqari’s temporary marriage, and of the scholars before him. There are many other implications this column does not mention.

Rather than crucify Maqari, let us crucify androcentrism. In interpreting religious texts, our scholars must abandon the androcentric lens. They must discard it. It is dangerous. It is against the spirit of Islam. They should embrace a humanistic lens. That is Islam. The true Islam, where women are seen as human beings like men.

Women are now asking Maqari and those who think like him: "Can women also marry with the intention of seeking divorce?" That question opens a can of worms.
Wallahul Musta'an.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

If you think you have seen it all, the Nigerian government has a way of telling you there is still more to come — you haven’t seen anything yet. Or in common street language: “una never see anything.”

The 2026 annual budget is riddled with unthinkable items. At first glance, some of them look ridiculous. At a second glance, they are laughably ridiculous. They are jokes taken too far — a direct assault on Nigerians’ intelligence. Does this current government even think Nigerians are intelligent at all?

When hundreds of Nigerians are in kidnappers’ dens, with the only offence of being Nigerian. When hundreds of families have emptied their life savings and sold hard-earned property to rescue loved ones from marauding bandits. When inflation has eaten so deep into salaries that take-home pay is now useless. When farmers are being killed like guinea pigs in a lab experiment. When graduates roam the streets aimlessly and hopelessly because the system creates no jobs — except for those lucky enough to get government grants to sell akara, agbado, and kulikuli.

When… when… when Nigerians who are too resilient to commit suicide are leaving the country in droves to seek green pastures — not greener pastures — elsewhere, because the country is not green at all, the Tinubu government plans to renovate our churches, mosques, and palaces.

Many have interpreted this differently, and it is difficult to find any positive reading. I interpret it to mean the government is saying:

“Don’t think we are here to solve your problems. Don’t think we are in power to serve you. Don’t think we owe you anything. Don’t think insecurity gives us sleepless nights. We sought power, and will continue to seek power, only for the sake of power — not to solve any of your problems.

“To solve your problems, we will renovate your houses of worship. We will renovate your churches and your mosques. We know you are religious people, so we will help you communicate with your God, the Alpha and the Omega. Since we believe only God can solve your problems, we have stopped thinking about your plight. You can cry to your Creator.

“We have the support of the clerics on this. They have told us emphatically that no matter how hard we try, our best will never be good enough because of your sins. Because you are sinners whose sins are affecting the machinery of government and the effectiveness of governance, we have concluded that the best we can do to help you is to renovate your churches and mosques. Once we are done, hurry up and seek your Lord’s forgiveness. He is, as our clerics told us, ever forgiving.”

Clerics who think like the government have reacted to the budgetary allocation for renovating churches and mosques. They are not disappointed that the Muslim-Muslim government made provision for the renovation of religious buildings for the first time in history. They are disappointed because the allocation to mosque renovation is far higher than that for churches.

The Northern Christian Association of Nigeria, NCAN, has spoken. It can tolerate the nonsense. What it cannot tolerate is the hypocrisy of the disparity in allocation. It asked the Federal Government to explain the wide gap in the allocation of about N8.05bn for church and mosque projects in the 2026 Appropriation Bill.

In a statement issued on Monday by its Chairman, Rev. Joseph Hayab, the NCAN demanded to know why N1.91bn was earmarked for seven church-related projects, while approximately N6.14bn was allocated to 52 mosque-related projects.

“How long will Nigerians continue to read stories that expose the hypocrisy of our leaders?” Hayab asked. I am tired too. I don’t know how long. He continued: “Partiality, lack of equity, and unequal treatment of citizens by government and political leaders are among the major factors responsible for division, distrust, segregation, and the absence of genuine unity and love among Nigerians.”

The bigoted Christians will reason like Hayab. They will clap for him for speaking the obvious, for speaking on behalf of the Church. The bigoted Muslims will call Hayab a hypocrite, not the Muslim-Muslim government. They will argue that Muslims are the majority in Nigeria and use that to justify the unequal allocation. They may even add, “This is a Muslim-Muslim government. Christians should wait for their turn when there will be a Christian-Christian government.”

“I pray that one day Nigeria will have a Christian-Christian ticket, and it will win. That’s what I pray to see.”

That prayer isn’t mine. I won’t waste my saliva on such nonsense. The entire notion of Muslim-Muslim/Christian-Christian government has never made an iota of sense to me. That prayer belongs to Abdullahi Sule, the Governor of Nasarawa State.

If the ridiculous allocation had favoured churches more than mosques, Muslims would have rejected it too. They would have lamented that the wife of the Muslim-Muslim President, Iya Alakara, is a pastor. That the budget was written in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. That the whole Muslim-Muslim ticket is a ruse and a camouflage. That it is actually a Christian-Christian government because Tinubu is not really a Muslim and Shettima is not Muslim enough.

This is how we are wired. This is how unfortunate we are. This is how our clerics think.

I don’t know why the “clerical class” among traditionalists is silent. I don’t know why they are not protesting being left out. I don’t know why they don’t think major shrines, like the Okija Shrine, also deserve renovation. I don’t know why Hayab, who insists our Constitution recognises every Nigerian as equal before the law, fails to see the hypocrisy in allocating zero to shrine renovation. Are idol worshippers not Nigerian enough? Are they not paying tax? Are they not citizens enough to benefit from the ridiculous allocation we are now bickering over as “unfair”?

If the Muslim-Muslim government genuinely wants to apply religion to governance to enhance development, this column is not against it. My co-authors and I discussed a religious approach to development in our 2025 paper titled “Unethical Factors Contributing to Nigeria’s Economic Underdevelopment: Analysis from an Islamic Perspective”, published in the UAE by Al Qasimia University Journal of Islamic Economics, 5(2), 43-72.

In that paper, we identified budget padding and frivolous allocations — with emphasis on the 2024 national budget — as major stumbling blocks to development. We cited many instances of inappropriate and ridiculous allocations, hoping government would avoid them in future budgets. We were naive.

Is the government even interested in research outputs from Nigerian universities? If you want to waste all your research trying to make Nigeria progress, become a lecturer in a Nigerian university. That is one of my biggest regrets as an academic.

In that same paper, we quoted “writerholic” columnist Olusegun Adeniyi of ThisDay, who has consistently written about Nigeria’s annual budget. Adeniyi calls it “the distribution of political spoils.” Lamenting the damage budget padding has done to development, Adeniyi writes: “I have also repeatedly referenced a Twitter thread by Laolu Samuel-Biyi who once concluded: ‘If you want to keep hope alive in Nigeria, don’t look at the budget.’” (See page 52).

For those of us who have chosen to always look at the 2026 budget, any hope that Nigeria will develop, with this kind of attitude towards budget, must be clinically dead in us. Anyone who understands the importance of an annual budget cannot sanely keep hope alive after reading the 2026 budget. It is the most ridiculous budget yet. I have only focused on the religious angle here to make religious bigots see clearly, but there are many other abnormalities in the budget.

Palaces are also slated for renovation. This is expected in a budget that falls in an election year. The roles of clerics and traditional rulers in electioneering cannot be overemphasized. With the renovation of churches, mosques, and palaces, our traditional rulers and clerics will start singing Ọmọ Ologo. Nigerians must reject irrationality from all quarters: churches, mosques, and palaces.

Many believe Nigerian lawmakers are behind some of these ridiculous insertions. It is also possible they were written at the Bourdillon School of Political Strategy.

Whoever is behind these nauseating items is less important. My plea to the Nigerian government, under the leadership of the Jagaban of Borgu Land, is simple: Fix Nigerians first, before renovating our churches, mosques, and palaces.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

A nation richly endowed with both human and natural resources but unable to transform these gifts into meaningful development is said to be cursed. In social science research, it is called the "resource curse". Undoubtedly, Nigeria is a leading nation, if not the leading nation, in the resource curse category.

It is not that Nigeria is not developing. The country is treading an apocalyptic path. Nigerians, though apparently religious, are deeply ritualistic and fetishistic. This cuts across the rulers and the ruled, the haves and the have-nots, the literate and the illiterate, the "religious" and the irreligious.

This does not mean that all Nigerians are into fetishistic practices, either as service providers or as patrons. There are those who neither practice juju nor pay attention to it. Acknowledging the existence of these reasonable people does not change the reality. They are the exception to the rule.

In addition, drug addiction among Nigerian youths, and even among the older generation, calls for concern. A people addicted to drugs is a people without a future. A nation that does nothing about the prevalence of drugs among its populace has embraced calamity.

How does this affect national and sub-national governments? Government will devote a substantial percentage of its annual budget to fighting crime and insecurity, but with devastating outcomes. Why? Because the real issues — the root causes — are not addressed.

This is not the first time this column has addressed fetishism and drug addiction. It probably will not be the last. The focus on fetishism/jujuism today was informed by the confession of the prime suspect in the gruesome killings in Kano early this year, precisely on January 17. It was a shedding of blood that shook Kano State, and indeed Nigeria, to the marrow because of the relationship between the seven victims — Fatima Abubakar and her six children — and the gruesome killer, Umar.

My January 23 column was titled: "Kano’s Tragic Killings: Echoes of Little Hanifa — A Call for Justice." In it, I wrote: "...this savagery must be thoroughly investigated. Who sent him? On whose behalf did he kill? And for what purpose? Did he join a secret cult? If he had joined a secret cult, why did he join? Who are the other members of the cult? Which blood-sucking secret cult would demand the blood of seven beautiful and innocent souls, all at once?"

For I have observed that crimes of this savage nature are hardly committed without the influence of fetishism or drugs. The human soul is too sacred to be taken by another human under normal circumstances. Dogs hardly kill themselves, nor do cattle and other animals. So why do humans kill humans so savagely? Even the pseudo-Islamic terrorists, Boko Haram, kill under the influence of drugs. There are multiple reports linking Boko Haram terrorists to drug use and fetishistic practices for fortification against bullets and other firearms.

I am not wrong in my observation. On Wednesday, the prime suspect in the Dorayi Chiranci killings, Umar, told the Kano State High Court that he killed his aunt and her six children in compliance with instructions from a herbalist. He made the confession while defending himself before Justice Nasiru Saminu at High Court No. 11. He said a herbalist named Thomas allegedly gave him incense and instructed him to continue committing similar crimes as he had done previously. What he intends to gain by committing these crimes is still not clear.

What is clear is the influence of juju.
In Nigeria, seekers of political office approach jujuists who sometimes camouflage as mallams or pastors, for political power — to win elections. When they eventually win and resume office as president, governor, lawmaker, etc., the first casualty is common sense. A reasonable, well-behaved, and well-educated person will suddenly become a brute, bereft of any transformative ideas. When they fail in the end, they attribute their failures to witches and wizards.

Failures of government at the federal level have, more than once, been attributed to evil spirits, witches, and wizards. If true, why does the government not go after these people in the underworld so that we can progress? I can't pretend to be naive about that. Government can't go after them. They play some role in entrenching these people in power.

The rate at which politicians and administrators — whether elected, nominated, or appointed — loot public resources is alarming. No one in their right senses would loot on the gargantuan scale seen in Nigeria without the backing of some spiritualists who assure them of cover-up. The confidence to loot is just too staggering.

If our judges and rulers were not under the influence of charms and juju, why would someone loot billions and get only a few years in prison, which would then be terminated by a presidential pardon? Yet a petty thief who steals a goat may rot in prison. Are we normal? The more we normalize juju and hard drugs, the more calamities we should expect.

While there are valid socio-economic explanations for the widespread insecurity in Nigeria, there are also fetishistic/jujuistic explanations. Bandits cannot kill with that level of ruthlessness if they are not high on drugs or fortified by ritualists.

Similarly, the rate at which rulers misbehave in Nigeria as if they are gods in their own right calls for investigation. Nigerians have reason to suspect those steering the affairs of the nation of ritualistic practices.

Reacting to the mysterious death of Mary Habila in David Umahi's house in Uburu, Ebonyi State, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, human rights lawyer and former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, wrote this via his official X account on Monday, July 13, 2026:

"The number of allegations involving women, unclothedness, towels, violence, and death around @realdaveumahi is both implausible and staggering. Is there a haunting smell of ritual morbidity around him?" Odinkalu is not alone. Many Nigerians think like him, and it is reasonable to think so. Enough of these unnecessary killings.

The government should urgently address the menace of drug abuse. It should clamp down on fetishistic clerics and traditionalists. In our religion (Islam) sorcerers are to be killed by the government. They do not have a right to exist. They are not stakeholders in a democratic system of government. Their practices and beliefs will not allow democracy or any system of government to work. They are dangerous to human and civilizational progress. They are even more dangerous when they camouflage as pastors and mallams — speaking in the name of God.

May we not be under their influence or tele-guided by them. Those who want to end well should avoid these agents of Satan. May the souls of Fatima and her six children rest in peace, and the souls of other victims of ritual killings.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

“A soul for a soul” is an age-long adage. It is axiomatic. It speaks to justice, revenge, and sacrifice — like “an eye for an eye” retributive justice. The core idea is that a life deliberately and wickedly taken must be paid for with another life. Not just any life, but with the very life of the one who wickedly took it.

This adage was treated as a self-evident truth about balance by people of old; it was thus unquestionable. However, in most modern states today, especially modern democracies, “a soul for a soul” is acknowledged only in the sense that humans intuitively understand the need for balance. It is argued that civilization exists because we decided not to enforce it literally. I will revisit this shortly.

We live in a country where elected rulers coddle terrorists by engaging them in “peace talks,” whatever that means. We also live in a country where, after killing thousands of victims, terrorists are granted “amnesty” by the government — or is it the government inviting them for amnesty? I do not understand what that means.

It is also in Nigeria that we find what is probably the most oxymoronic phrase in the English language: “repentant terrorists.” I do not know whether the Nigerian government or the terrorists coined it. It is an oxymoron.

What is even more appalling is seeing clerics who should be at war with terrorists sitting side by side with them in the name of “peace.” It is also traumatizing that terrorists who oppress and kill are being rehabilitated with taxpayers’ money and even allegedly employed to serve in the military, while victims of terror who truly need rehabilitation are left to live in misery. This has driven some to commit suicide. What kind of country is this, and why are we so unfortunate to have rulers with this kind of thinking?

Our religion teaches that repentance should be between a sinner and God and has three basic conditions. One: in the case of repentance from terrorism, one must regret being a terrorist. Two: one must vow and resolve — with strong determination — never to commit a terrorist act again for the rest of one's life. Three: one must restore people’s rights where such rights are involved.

A repentant terrorist, if such exists, would return ransom money collected to victims or to victims’ families. If what is involved goes beyond people’s rights to include people’s lives, “repentant terrorists” should be required to pay blood money to the families of the deceased. That is repentance.
If restoration is not possible, a repentant terrorist should quietly abandon terrorism and begin to live a normal life full of remorse. He need not announce to anyone that he was once a terrorist who repented.

All he needs to do is to increase acts of righteousness and consistently seek God’s forgiveness for the rest of his life.

In Islam, what I have explained above is basic. One need not be a scholar to know this; one only needs basic Islamic knowledge. It is this basic Islamic knowledge that eludes some Muslim clerics. That is why it is insulting and nauseating to see them holding “peace talks,” not even with so-called repentant terrorists, but with trigger-happy terrorists still clinging to their guns.

What has happened to these clerics and their Islamic knowledge? What makes them think that dining with agents of Satan will appease them and lead to peace? Where, in all their scholarship, did they find the notion that Satan and his agents understand peace or speak peace? Peace is not in their vocabulary. It does not exist in their dictionary.

So far, what has “peace talk” achieved? The more these criminals are engaged in peace talks, the more they strike, recently even making imams their targets. The ugly reports are there in our dailies.

However, all hope is not lost. We learned that on Wednesday the House of Representatives joined the Senate in calling on the Federal Government to end the rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Ademorin Kuye (APC, Lagos).

Though Kuye is from Lagos, he spoke with sense, applying reasoning, critical thinking, and logic to address a calamity that engulfs the North and is gradually spreading southward. One wonders if our northern lawmakers are merely benchwarmers.

Kuye’s motion seems to have awakened Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau). Gagdi supported the motion, arguing that continued payment of ransom has encouraged kidnappers and bandits to sustain their activities. He fiercely argued that anyone who takes an innocent life deserves the death penalty and called for an immediate end to the government’s Operation Safe Corridor rehabilitation program for arrested insurgents, kidnappers, and bandits.

On Tuesday, the Senate also called on the Federal Government to discontinue the rehabilitation programme for repentant Boko Haram members, which was launched in 2016 under Operation Safe Corridor. I have always considered it a useless program.
Kuye further lamented: “Those who invade communities, kidnap innocent Nigerians, and kill security personnel do not deserve rehabilitation.”

So what do they deserve? Gagdi put it bluntly, and his bluntness is commendable: “Kill them. Anybody that kills deserves to be killed, except in cases like a motor accident.”
Gagdi added: “I don’t see any rationale behind rehabilitating a criminal who is killing people. When arrested, you rehabilitate him, and then he becomes an informant within our own security system.

"Government should not rehabilitate killers. There is no reason whatsoever for kidnappers, bandits, or Boko Haram to be rewarded by being trained and reintegrated into our security system. The government should stop the rehabilitation of arrested criminals.”

Back to the argument that civilization exists because we decided not to enforce “a soul for a soul” literally. This explanation is too weak to be taken seriously. Yet unfortunately, that is what is practiced in most “advanced” countries across the globe today. The reality, however, is that the non-enforcement of death for killers is the reason killing has become an enterprise — a thriving enterprise.

In Nigeria, for instance, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimated that Nigerians paid about ₦2.23 trillion in ransom in just one year, between May 2023 and April 2024. Between July 2009 and March 19, 2026, no fewer than 190,150 Nigerians have reportedly been killed by bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, and suspected armed herdsmen. That figure is far more than the population of Seychelles, a country in Africa with a population of 108,263.

We find in our scriptures the “eye for an eye and a soul for a soul” provision (Qur’an 5:45; Matthew 5:38–42; Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:23). We also read in the Qur’an that terrorists like Boko Haram, bandits, and kidnappers should not only be killed but should be killed mercilessly and/or punished exemplarily (Qur’an 5:33).

Contrary to the widely held notion that literal application of “a soul for a soul” destroys civilization, we read in scripture that killing terrorists saves lives and preserves civilization. But this can only be understood by those endowed with wisdom — wisdom that the advocates of dialogue with bandits among the clerics lack.

This is how the Qur’an puts it: “And there is life for you in legal retribution, O people of understanding, that you may become righteous” (Qur’an 2:179). One cannot be righteous and have sympathy for bandits. This is an indisputable fact. Whoever disputes it only exposes themselves to ridicule. It is not only scriptural wisdom; it is also common sense.

The government should stop using taxpayers’ money to rehabilitate killers. Victims need rehabilitation, not criminals. Our ethnically biased clerics should stop showing sympathy to bandits. It is a disgrace to Islamic scholarship.

The Nigerian government should act decisively against terrorists. It should kill them. They deserve to be killed.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The realization that those born in the era generally referred to as Gen Z are now becoming parents is disturbing. The era comes with many challenges, one of which is parenting. It is a situation whereby people who need parenting have become, and are becoming, parents. This is not because these Gen Z parents have not grown up enough to be parents, age-wise. It is because they lack the basic manners and civility expected of a being worthy of being called human, let alone being parents.

They lack self-respect because they are worthless, and are thus incapable of giving respect to whom respect is due — those who naturally deserve it. Going by this column’s title, those who naturally deserve respect are teachers. This has never been in dispute until we started having Gen Z parents, making the fate of teachers not only in limbo but also in danger. I have the late Maryam in mind — the teacher who was beaten to the point of death in Kogi State last week.

Before I go further, let me narrate two anecdotes. We can then contrast what parenting used to be with what it is now.
More than a decade ago, I was head teacher of a Qur’anic school. We had no structure; students learnt under shades. Yet, for reasons I don’t have time to explain, the school attracted some of the most influential people in the city for their children.

There was a stubborn student we had to send away with his siblings. The mother pleaded more than once, and out of deference to her, I would have them back. On one occasion, I sent the eldest away and insisted the father must accompany him if I was to take him back. The mother and their uncle appealed, to no avail.

Those who loved me cautioned me: the father was too prominent for an ordinary teacher to summon. “I am aware,” I replied. The “big man” was the Commissioner for Education in Jigawa State. I was warned: "anger him and he would shut down the school." I was not moved. “Let him shut it down; the community will suffer, not me,” I said.

One weekend, while I was in a meeting with teachers, someone came. I cannot recall if she was the commissioner’s wife or her brother. A phone was handed to me. I was reluctant, but I collected it, expecting the usual narcissistic gibberish from influential parents, especially politicians. I was ready for fire-for-fire. To me, he was just a parent like other parents. That was why I never hesitated to send his children home when they misbehaved.

What happened next shocked me — pleasantly. At the top of his voice, the furious Commissioner ordered me to “beat the hell” out of his stubborn son and to make sure the strokes were visible on his skin. He pleaded that he could not come himself because of engagements outside the State.
With that, he earned my respect for life. I forgave the boy without using the rod. Some witnesses to that conversation may be reading this column.

The Commissioner is now late, but he is remembered for good. May God have mercy on him. He was Professor Haruna Wakili, a multiple award-winning, thoroughbred professor of History and a foreword looking historian at Bayero University Kano. I later read some of his works. One was cited in a paper titled “The Role of Nigerian Ulama in Politics and Nation Building: The Controversy, Achievements and Recommendations,” authored by Prof. Saidu Ahmad Dukawa and myself.

There was another school I taught — a secular, conventional school for the children of “big men.” Cane use was discouraged, but teachers could take limited disciplinary measures. Within that window, a teacher disciplined a student who was the Deputy Governor’s son. After school, the boy reported the teacher. Before one could say Jack Robinson, the father’s orderlies and family members stormed the school to “teach the teacher a lesson” he would never forget.

To the surprise of many staff, the school expelled all the Deputy Governor’s children involved. The proprietor would not tolerate such nonsense from the number-two family in the State. That was also over a decade ago. I wonder if we still have proprietors who will defend a teacher’s dignity, even at the cost of losing the children of politicians and moneybags.

Lest I forget: the proprietor is worth emulating. He is a Hausa Muslim. The school was dominated by Muslims in a Muslim-majority state. Yet the teacher whose integrity he protected — to the fury of the Deputy Governor’s family — was a Yoruba Christian. If justice always trumped ethnicity and religion as in that case, Nigeria would not be in this mess. This isn't just because he is a Muslim, there are good Christians like him. But people in whom justice overrides bigotry are few in this country.

Now, to the Gen Z parents who cannot train their children because they themselves are untrained, and who will not allow those whose training and profession is to train the untrained. The incident that killed a teacher began on June 17, when a teacher disciplined a pupil for misconduct. Maryam Usman of Brains Minds Nursery and Primary School, Olamaboro LGA, earned the wrath of an undisciplined father for disciplining his son.

Maryam was just 22. According to reports, the beastly father stormed the school with two women and attacked her. That was not enough. She was assaulted again at home by thugs who should never have been parents. Later that day, on her way to the mosque, she was attacked and stripped naked. The next day, more thugs continued the assault because they think it is a crime for a teacher to discipline a pupil. She was left severely injured and unconscious, and died days later despite medical care.

See the contrast. The professor-commissioner, with all his status and learning, asked that discipline be visible on his son’s skin. The unknown Gen Z father, with no visible achievement beyond fatherhood, pounced on a poor female teacher for doing her job. I do not know what action Brains Minds has taken, but its proprietors should learn from the earlier anecdote: protect your teachers from Gen Z assault.

I honestly do not know where the dangerous idea that teachers must not discipline students came from. It feels like it came from the pit of hell. In our days, the cane was corrective and reformative. Parents of my generation can testify. The fear of the cane and the teacher who wielded it was the beginning of wisdom. Then it was “spare the rod and spoil the child.” Now it is “use the cane and get beaten by Gen Z parents.”

My children often say, “I will beat the hell out of you,” when playing. They picked it from their father, who will not spare the rod and who appreciates neighbors who help with discipline. I am training them for Paradise, and no one enters Paradise without passing over or through Hell. This is not just idiom; it is scriptural. See Qur’an 19: 71-72.

Thus, my kids are caned when there is need, so that they will be well-behaved when manners are required. They must endure present pain for future gain. The Yoruba in me does not make me tolerant of nonsense when it comes to child upbringing. Ideally, no teacher should be tolerant of nonsense. But with Gen Z parents, teachers should tread with care.

To conclude: what is the fate of teachers in Nigeria? If teachers are not dignified, and we all quit teaching to sell akara and roasted agbado — now the most dignified, trending, profitable trade in Nigeria since last week — who will teach this generation and the next?
Teachers must be dignified. We are not punching bags. May God have mercy on the late Maryam. My condolences to her family.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The hunger in Nigeria is neither a new menace nor a new phenomenon. Hunger preceded the Tinubu administration. Whether hunger in Nigeria has become worse under him is debatable. However, the fact is: hunger is ubiquitous. Everyone knows there is hunger in Nigeria. Unborn and newly born babies in Nigeria, if they had the ability to express themselves, would attest to this reality.

Hunger is real in Nigeria. It is biting. It does not only bite; it bites hard, and harder still. It is ubiquitous. It is sickening. It is dehumanizing. In extreme cases, it is killing.

A few days ago, Bayo Onanuga downplayed the role of hunger in the destruction and dehumanization of ordinary Nigerians. I learnt Onanuga is the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
A special adviser like this will surely tell a president of a hungry country like Nigeria that a coastal road is more important than food production because, to him, the masses are not hungry. What they are in need of is concrete roads.

The quality of reasoning of those around a leader will most likely determine the quality of policy outcomes under such a regime. Onanuga is a textbook case of why the Tinubu administration is directionless and always misses the point.

A leader can surround themselves with people who feed them lies and still succeed. With people like Onanuga, President Tinubu may think all is well with Nigeria and Nigerians, since most leaders are sheltered in cocoons of comfort that shield them from the everyday reality of the common man on the street. That is why they have advisers and special advisers, who should be more in touch with everyday reality.

Onanuga is out of touch—he is not in touch with reality. The reality is the pervasively severe and emaciating hunger in the land. He should not be in that office. If he is in touch with reality, it means his specialty as a special adviser is the distortion of reality to hoodwink his paymaster into thinking all is well when all is bad. This is dangerously misleading.

In his defence of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu, Onanuga cited a road in Ijebu Ode in Ogun State and another in Aja, Lagos State, where he lives, as proof of improved infrastructure. Based on these two roads, on which he had a smooth ride, while one thousand and one other roads are in shambles—crying for repair—he concluded that hunger in Nigeria is exaggerated because he does not personally see the level of hunger often highlighted in public discourse. To quote him verbatim: "I don't see the level of hunger people are talking about."

Onanuga is either blind to reality or deliberately choosing to deceive himself, thinking he is defending a government whose economic policies have produced hellish outcomes.

After watching him speak on Arise Television on Tuesday, we read that the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Abuja launched the 2026 Food Aid Project for hungry Nigerians, especially those affected by displacement, insecurity, and other humanitarian challenges.

Though Onanuga, without being asked, claims to be a Nigerian. But the hunger in the land, which he could not see, was seen by foreigners who strongly believe Nigerians are hungry people who need food more than anything else to survive.

In case Onanuga is not aware, the project to feed Nigerians was launched in Damaturu, Yobe State, through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), in partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)—an agency of the federal government under which Onanuga is a special adviser. Is he not aware that the food scheme launched by the Saudi humanitarian aid is worth $1.5 million (over two billion naira)?

Saudi Arabia is not alone. It is common knowledge across the globe that there is a food crisis in Nigeria—Nigerians are hungry. Why a Special Adviser to Tinubu fails to have this basic information is disturbing. Two months ago, in April 2026, before Saudi Arabia, Türkiye (formerly Turkey) handed over 36 tons of food aid to people in need in Nigeria through its Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), in support of ongoing humanitarian efforts in the country.

"Nigeria, other African countries get €557 million as EU announces €1.9 billion humanitarian aid budget for 2026." Didn't Onanuga read this on the official website of the European Union? If Onanuga is too preoccupied with inanities and does not have time to read about, let alone understand, the level of hunger in the country, those close to him should inform him that a report by Reuters last year read: "Hunger grows in Nigeria as aid cuts reduce food supplies."

In that report, it was estimated that 3.5 million children across Nigeria required treatment for severe acute malnutrition. If this huge number of children suffer severe malnutrition, the figure would be more damning if the focus had been on adult Nigerians battling hunger.

Is Onanuga aware that even Ukraine—a country at war—finds the severe hunger in Nigeria disturbing? Two years ago, Ukraine provided 25,000 tons of wheat to help provide emergency food assistance to 1.3 million crisis-affected people in northeast Nigeria.

I suspect because Ukraine, at the same time, needed to focus on the war with Russia, it probably could not pay for the shipment of the food it provided for hungry Nigerians. Other countries reported came in to assist. Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom collaboratively helped cover the costs of transporting the wheat from Ukraine to Nigeria and its distribution to the families who so urgently need it.

Could it be that Onanuga is unaware of all this because these food aids were not distributed in Aja and Lagos, where he lives? But even in Lagos, Lagosians are shouting Ebin Pawa o — "hunger don kill us finish o."
They made this known to Tinubu when he passed by with his long entourage during one of his visits to Lagos not long ago. Wasn't Onanuga on that entourage? If he wasn't, at least he heard the cry of hunger from Lagosians, which he acknowledged in his Arise TV appearance on Tuesday, even though he twisted it to make his bogus and ridiculous claim.

If Onanuga still refuses to be enlightened about the level of hunger in Nigeria, Nigerians are willing to inform him that they are not only hungry, they are also angry. The Federal Workers Forum (FWF) has angrily announced plans to stage a nationwide protest on Monday. Before hunger sends them and their dependents to an early grave, they are demanding an urgent review of workers’ wages and improved welfare packages.

In a statement issued yesterday, Thursday, in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Andrew Emelieze, put it this way: “We call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to immediately declare a two-day nationwide strike and protest against insecurity and the hardship confronting Nigerians.” Isn't Onanuga aware that by hardship, Emelieze meant hunger?

Again, isn't Onanuga aware that Democracy Day was marked by Nigerians with hunger and insecurity protests? Is Onanuga really a Nigerian, as he claims? Is he even aware that hungry and angry Nigerians are determined to send him and Tinubu back to Lagos?

Dear Mr Bayo Onanuga, not only hunger—there's also anger in Nigeria. If President Tinubu really listens to you as a Special Adviser, please inform him earnestly that Nigerians are hungry and angry. I don't think he will sack you for stating the obvious.

Nigerians find it even disgraceful that countries that should look up to Nigeria are gathering food to feed the "Giant" of Africa.
May this hunger not kill us before 2027.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

The hunger in Nigeria is neither a new menace nor a new phenomenon. Hunger preceded the Tinubu administration. Whether hunger in Nigeria has become worse under him is debatable. However, the fact is: hunger is ubiquitous. Everyone knows there is hunger in Nigeria. Unborn and newly born babies in Nigeria, if they had the ability to express themselves, would attest to this reality.

Hunger is real in Nigeria. It is biting. It does not only bite; it bites hard, and harder still. It is ubiquitous. It is sickening. It is dehumanizing. In extreme cases, it is killing.

A few days ago, Bayo Onanuga downplayed the role of hunger in the destruction and dehumanization of ordinary Nigerians. I learnt Onanuga is the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
A special adviser like this will surely tell a president of a hungry country like Nigeria that a coastal road is more important than food production because, to him, the masses are not hungry. What they are in need of is concrete roads.

The quality of reasoning of those around a leader will most likely determine the quality of policy outcomes under such a regime. Onanuga is a textbook case of why the Tinubu administration is directionless and always misses the point.

A leader can surround themselves with people who feed them lies and still succeed. With people like Onanuga, President Tinubu may think all is well with Nigeria and Nigerians, since most leaders are sheltered in cocoons of comfort that shield them from the everyday reality of the common man on the street. That is why they have advisers and special advisers, who should be more in touch with everyday reality.

Onanuga is out of touch—he is not in touch with reality. The reality is the pervasively severe and emaciating hunger in the land. He should not be in that office. If he is in touch with reality, it means his specialty as a special adviser is the distortion of reality to hoodwink his paymaster into thinking all is well when all is bad. This is dangerously misleading.

In his defence of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu, Onanuga cited a road in Ijebu Ode in Ogun State and another in Aja, Lagos State, where he lives, as proof of improved infrastructure. Based on these two roads, on which he had a smooth ride, while one thousand and one other roads are in shambles—crying for repair—he concluded that hunger in Nigeria is exaggerated because he does not personally see the level of hunger often highlighted in public discourse. To quote him verbatim: "I don't see the level of hunger people are talking about."

Onanuga is either blind to reality or deliberately choosing to deceive himself, thinking he is defending a government whose economic policies have produced hellish outcomes.

After watching him speak on Arise Television on Tuesday, we read that the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Abuja launched the 2026 Food Aid Project for hungry Nigerians, especially those affected by displacement, insecurity, and other humanitarian challenges.

Though Onanuga, without being asked, claims to be a Nigerian. But the hunger in the land, which he could not see, was seen by foreigners who strongly believe Nigerians are hungry people who need food more than anything else to survive.

In case Onanuga is not aware, the project to feed Nigerians was launched in Damaturu, Yobe State, through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), in partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)—an agency of the federal government under which Onanuga is a special adviser. Is he not aware that the food scheme launched by the Saudi humanitarian aid is worth $1.5 million (over two billion naira)?

Saudi Arabia is not alone. It is common knowledge across the globe that there is a food crisis in Nigeria—Nigerians are hungry. Why a Special Adviser to Tinubu fails to have this basic information is disturbing. Two months ago, in April 2026, before Saudi Arabia, Türkiye (formerly Turkey) handed over 36 tons of food aid to people in need in Nigeria through its Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), in support of ongoing humanitarian efforts in the country.

"Nigeria, other African countries get €557 million as EU announces €1.9 billion humanitarian aid budget for 2026." Didn't Onanuga read this on the official website of the European Union? If Onanuga is too preoccupied with inanities and does not have time to read about, let alone understand, the level of hunger in the country, those close to him should inform him that a report by Reuters last year read: "Hunger grows in Nigeria as aid cuts reduce food supplies."

In that report, it was estimated that 3.5 million children across Nigeria required treatment for severe acute malnutrition. If this huge number of children suffer severe malnutrition, the figure would be more damning if the focus had been on adult Nigerians battling hunger.

Is Onanuga aware that even Ukraine—a country at war—finds the severe hunger in Nigeria disturbing? Two years ago, Ukraine provided 25,000 tons of wheat to help provide emergency food assistance to 1.3 million crisis-affected people in northeast Nigeria.

I suspect because Ukraine, at the same time, needed to focus on the war with Russia, it probably could not pay for the shipment of the food it provided for hungry Nigerians. Other countries reported came in to assist. Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom collaboratively helped cover the costs of transporting the wheat from Ukraine to Nigeria and its distribution to the families who so urgently need it.

Could it be that Onanuga is unaware of all this because these food aids were not distributed in Aja and Lagos, where he lives? But even in Lagos, Lagosians are shouting Ebin Pawa o — "hunger don kill us finish o."
They made this known to Tinubu when he passed by with his long entourage during one of his visits to Lagos not long ago. Wasn't Onanuga on that entourage? If he wasn't, at least he heard the cry of hunger from Lagosians, which he acknowledged in his Arise TV appearance on Tuesday, even though he twisted it to make his bogus and ridiculous claim.

If Onanuga still refuses to be enlightened about the level of hunger in Nigeria, Nigerians are willing to inform him that they are not only hungry, they are also angry. The Federal Workers Forum (FWF) has angrily announced plans to stage a nationwide protest on Monday. Before hunger sends them and their dependents to an early grave, they are demanding an urgent review of workers’ wages and improved welfare packages.

In a statement issued yesterday, Thursday, in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Andrew Emelieze, put it this way: “We call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to immediately declare a two-day nationwide strike and protest against insecurity and the hardship confronting Nigerians.” Isn't Onanuga aware that by hardship, Emelieze meant hunger?

Again, isn't Onanuga aware that Democracy Day was marked by Nigerians with hunger and insecurity protests? Is Onanuga really a Nigerian, as he claims? Is he even aware that hungry and angry Nigerians are determined to send him and Tinubu back to Lagos?

Dear Mr Bayo Onanuga, not only hunger—there's also anger in Nigeria. If President Tinubu really listens to you as a Special Adviser, please inform him earnestly that Nigerians are hungry and angry. I don't think he will sack you for stating the obvious.

Nigerians find it even disgraceful that countries that should look up to Nigeria are gathering food to feed the "Giant" of Africa.
May this hunger not kill us before 2027.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

If our condition on earth determines our fate in the next world, the Nigerian poor are very unfortunate. If living in misery in this world means a continuation of that misery in the hereafter, then the majority of Nigerians will go to Hell — and that will be a double tragedy. The good news is that one’s deeds and actions, not one’s condition, determine one’s afterlife — Hell or Paradise. But the truth is: Nigeria is hellish.

It is not the heat that makes it hellish. It is not lack of social amenities, not joblessness, not even hunger that makes the country hellish. What makes it hellish is the widespread insecurity promoted by agents of death who are determined to leave no one untouched — except, perhaps, those in the corridors of power.

People live in fear, not transient fear but fear with no end in sight. But because we are resilient and pretend to be religious, we can only pray that the fear is not permanent. A people who live in fear cannot be successful. Nigerians, under Tinubu, are not thinking of success — that is wishful thinking. They are thinking of safety. When we are safe, we can begin to talk about business, investment, farming.

Farmers are off their farms, not because God refuses to send the rain, not because the land has stopped being fertile, not because the seeds have stopped germinating. But because the government has ceded a large swath of Nigerian territory to bandits who must be paid tax beyond the value of what subsistence farmers, who only farm to feed, can harvest.

Many of those who lived in comfort in yesteryear initially thought they could struggle to maintain it. Some pretended to be comfortable but later realized the poverty in the land is so overwhelming that pretence is impossible. One must acknowledge: we are poor. We are in poverty with no escape route. Only the de jure government and the de facto government — the bandits — live in comfort and opulence. They live large, not because they are diligent and blessed but because they mercilessly milk the masses and are accursed.

Yes! Anyone who has a hand in this insecurity that is about to consume all of us is accursed. They catapult civilized city dwellers into jungles. They herd innocent Nigerians into forests, not the way cattle are herded but in a ruthless manner that would move cattle — whose very nature is to be herded — to tears. We see how cattle are herded, with dignity. Those of us destined to be Nigerians have no scintilla of dignity, whether in government controlled territory or in the custody of bandits. We have seen it, we have heard it, we have read it, it has been narrated to us: how bandits treat the innocent in a manner hunters would never treat their game.

Girls, ladies, women are serially raped. Old women do not escape these rapists. Wives are raped in the presence of their husbands. So are mothers raped in the presence of their sons and daughters. Men in some communities in the North must abandon their homes at night only to return after dawn so that bandits can rape their wives with their consent in exchange for protection — in a country where the government claims it exists. As if this is not enough, this atrocious act of rape in the bush is now posted online for the whole world to watch.

Yet the President, who should resign with an unreserved apology and live in eternal regret for failing to protect Nigerians, is seeking a second term in office. So are the governors.
How can anyone, not deprived of sanity, come out to campaign for these “Eaters of the Living”? That is the title of an award-winning book, a collection of poetry by Professor Musa Idris Okpanachi — winner of the 2008 ANA Cadbury Poetry Prize, and one of the books shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2009.

Where is our humanity? Where is our sanity? Where is our sense of shame? Nigerians in kidnappers’ dens all over the country are not there because they are sinners and we are not. We are not, in any way, better than them. It is only that they are more unfortunate than us.

Read the history of slavery and how enslaved Africans were maltreated in Europe and America while working on plantations. You will realize it is better to be a slave than to be a victim of these ruthless, stone-hearted kidnappers. The dehumanization is terrible and indescribable, except by courageous, freed victims. Not all freed or escaped victims, especially females, have the courage to narrate the horrifying, nasty experience.

One Aisha, reported in Daily Trust yesterday, Thursday, March 18, 2026, is one of the few escaped victims who managed to narrate her experience. She was abducted along with other people, three of whom were her children. She recounted her nightmarish experience that spanned six months in a kidnappers’ den. While in captivity, aside from deprivation, thirst, hunger, severe beating, and illness, her assigned duty was to bury the dead victims.

Day and night meant nothing to her. After burying dead victims, the number of which she had probably lost count, she started burying her own children, including her infant son. Let me sadly quote Aisha’s words: “My baby was sleeping beside my daughter when he died. Bandits wanted to feed his remains to their dogs, but I pleaded with them to allow me to bury him. They threw a spade at me and I buried my son myself.”

Someone like Aisha does not need any biblical or Qur’anic quote to know there is hell. She has already experienced it in Nigeria under the Emilokan regime. Don’t get me wrong. It is not because Aisha is Hausa from Zamfara. Yoruba people in the Southwest are also feeling the heat from the Emilokan regime.

The Oyo pupils, after a month, are still in captivity. Even though what is experienced in Yoruba land today is a tip of the iceberg compared to what the North is going through, the fact is: insecurity is insecurity, and every responsible government must not only be disturbed but must act to bring it to an end.

Aisha escaped, but only after burying her three children. Can Aisha ever be normal again? We pray God gives her the strength to be normal and overcome the trauma. But many, after freedom from kidnappers’ dens, are not normal. We read about a lady who narrated how victims were used as sex slaves, not playthings.

Girls, ladies, women, and old women are shared among bandits for forced sexual service. Some bandits have two, three, four… sex slaves in their custody. After millions of naira were paid to ransom this lady, she later committed suicide at home — not in the kidnappers’ den — because she could not cope with the trauma after being released. In her case, her family lost her, lost their money, and lost trust in a government that should never be trusted in the first place.

Given this hellish experience recounted by victims above, we still have among us those who think government should negotiate with these bandits. We still have those who, due to ethnic solidarity — whatever that means — think these eaters of the living deserve amnesty because Niger Delta militants were given amnesty. Where is our thinking cap? Where is our humanity?

We still have in our midst those who argue that these criminal bandits are on an abduction and killing spree in retaliation for years of being abandoned by government. For this reason, government should reach out to them, get on its knees and beg them. What kind of mental faculty produces this thinking? Who has the government not abandoned for many years? For many years, Nigerians who do not belong to the ruling class have been left to fend for themselves.
I must confess, I am tired of listening to this nonsense — the nonsense of trying to justify and rationalize the irrationality and atrocities committed by these bandits.

We cannot continue to live in hell on earth. It is high time the government did the needful before the masses are pushed to the wall to do the dreadful. May God help Nigeria, as they irresponsibly say only God can solve insecurity problems in Nigeria.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com


‎

When it comes to the topic of marriage, Kano State stands out for many reasons. I will cite just two. One, it is where the government sponsors mass weddings, from time to time, more than any other state in the North. Two, it is the divorce capital of Nigeria.

Is there a connection between government-sponsored mass weddings and mass divorce in the state? We can look at it in two ways. It is either the government's intervention in marital affairs fuels the rate of divorce or the government is intervening to reduce the number of divorcees and unmarried people of marriageable age.

Another important question: Is the mass wedding in Kano a state social policy to empower people who are ripe for marriage but do not have the means to marry, or is it part of Sharia implementation? Sharia factors into the discussion because the government agency responsible for the conduct of mass weddings in the state is Hisbah, which is known as the Sharia police. This gives it a religious coloration more than a government-sponsored socio-cultural practice.

Are there religious provisions for government-sponsored mass weddings? To put it differently, is it the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) and an Islamically endorsed practice? If it is not the Sunnah of the Prophet, is it haram? There is no binary yes or no answer to this question. If I say yes, the burden of proof will be on me. And what historical or direct scriptural proof can I present to establish that the Prophet SAW, as the political leader in Madina, empowered his companions through mass weddings?

If I say it is haram or against the Sunnah, the onus of proof will still be on me, and I cannot prove it. The mere fact that we cannot trace this practice to the Prophet does not make it haram or against the Sunnah. But Hisbah being in the picture is the problem. People find it difficult to separate religion from this organized mass wedding.

So, why does the government, through Hisbah, regularly organize mass weddings? We learned it is to check prostitution and other social vices, especially among divorcees, widows, and spinsters in the state. If this is the case, then it is a noble intention and Islamic.

If the intention is good, what about the act? The government believes it is empowering the masses who could not marry, but desire marriage, through state support. We were told by the Commander General of the Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, that some people sell their land, motorcycles, or even take loans just to marry. This is sad.

So, how is the state empowering its poor and jobless citizens who sell their land and motorcycle in order to marry?

According to Daurawa, each couple will receive ₦200,000. Half of it, ₦100,000, as dowry and the remaining ₦100,000 as business capital. That is not all. With the addition of rice, macaroni, cooking oil, furniture, wedding boxes, and clothing.
Two heads are said to be better than one. It is in order to think that when politicians and Hisbah put heads together to address an issue, the outcome should be outstanding. On curbing immorality, addressing poverty and joblessness in the state, what the two heads came up with is empowering the poverty-stricken citizens with macaroni, rice, furniture, and ₦100,000.

Trying to find a befitting word to describe this kind of empowerment, the journalist, Jaafar Jaafar of Daily Nigerian, came to my rescue. In his May 26, 2026 Facebook update, he called it "phallic empowerment." By “phallic empowerment” he probably meant empowering men through symbols of masculinity— marriage, furniture, dowry—while ignoring real economic capacity. If Jafar is right, this can never be Sharia. Islam should be distanced from this. Even though Hisbah is involved, it is still not Sharia; it is something else.

Sharia is not a dull system. Islam does not solve social problems on the surface. The Islamic approach to social issues is always deep and comprehensive; it is not kindergarten. How can a poor man and a poor lady who could barely feed themselves start married life with a well-decorated house that has furniture? It is not for them. These are couples who should be struggling together to build a home.

What the government provides for them is fake comfort. They will live in a fool’s paradise which is always very ephemeral. The rice, the macaroni, and the oil given to them without real empowerment will last for like two to three months, after which reality will dawn on them.

We phallically empower them, as if it is the Sharia that is being implemented, when they should be skillfully empowered if we really want to practice the Sharia. I learned the multi-billion Aliko Dangote Ultra-Modern Skills Acquisition Centre which was conceived to be a top-notch skill center, unrivalled in Nigeria, and even in Africa, is gathering dust in Kano. Staff are not paid and skills are not acquired.

These staff who are not paid and citizens who could not acquire skills any more would rather be given rice and macaroni and a wife who is an additional liability on top of liabilities.

No wonder these marriages do not last. To arrest the ever-growing rate of divorce, the Hisbah Board warns that intending couples in the state’s planned mass wedding cannot divorce without returning to Hisbah. Can anyone imagine that?

Though, we should not get Hisbah wrong. The intention is good. This is what Daurawa said: “We don’t allow divorce. Any person who wants for any reason to divorce has to come to Hisbah since this is where the marriage was contracted. We have a reconciliation committee that will sit down and resolve issues before any separation is considered.”

While this is a noble intention, it is obviously not Sharia and it is not Islam by any stretch. For, under the Sharia, nobody, not even the court, should claim that authority. One can approach the court or Hisbah to resolve marital issues but no one is under any obligation to seek approval from any authority to divorce one's wife. Except if marriages conducted by Hisbah have become court marriages, in that case, Islam and Sharia should be excused.

And as I pointed out above, a mass marriage where couples are phallically empowered to live briefly in a fool’s paradise cannot and should not be organized in the name of Islam. It is a state policy that could be criticized or commended by people. Many have commended it and some have criticized it.

I have personally commended the noble intention behind it; it is only that I find the approach too problematic for curbing immorality and empowering the masses.
Kano State can do better by empowering people through skills acquisition, job creation, massive investment in agriculture and industry, and also creating a more conducive environment for commercial activities.

And most importantly, our women and girls should be targets of empowerment. When they are empowered, the government does not need to marry them off as if they are orphans who, in addition to having lost their parents, do not also have relatives.

We can always find a better way to help those who need to be helped. Men should be able to manage their phalluses while the government stays off and pays attention to other fundamentals.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
‎

I do not always watch viral videos of Nigerians being tortured by bandits and kidnappers in the country’s vast ungoverned spaces. I do avoid them for my sanity. I prefer to read about their ordeals in newspapers or listen to rescued victims recount their experiences. Watching those viral clips is an assault on the senses that leaves me nauseous for days.

I watched one recently and I am still struggling to feel human again. It leaves the kind of helplessness you feel when you want to act but cannot, and want to help but cannot. I often wish I had the spiritual authority our pastors and sheikhs claim when they say they “hear the voice of God.” I wish I were that man of God who could command God to grant my wish in a blink. Instead, I realize I am as powerless as the tortured captives and millions of other Nigerians. It is painful.

Today, no one is safe. Everyone is vulnerable, except perhaps the president, state governors, and those they choose to protect. We became powerless because our parents and grandparents believed it was ethically and politically right to obey the state. They signed a social contract with the Nigerian state, surrendering their individual power so the state could have a monopoly of force to protect them and their children. In return, they became powerless while the state became absolutely powerful.

Over time, and for reasons we all know, the Nigerian state lost that monopoly of power. Corruption, financial mismanagement, nepotism, tribalism, injustice, double standards in the administration of justice, human rights abuses, do-or-die politics, and religious bigotry hollowed it out. Today, the Nigerian state is rivalled by bandits. It is now debatable which is more powerful: the government or the bandits.

The bandits’ power is different. It is not tied to any conditions or obligations because they seized it. They did not negotiate it. Nigerians did not hand it to them through a social contract, as our grandparents did with the state. Therefore, bandits are under no obligation to protect us. And because untamed, unlimited power intoxicates, especially when it carries no moral obligation, its wielders slide into nihilism.

Do Nigerian bandits fit the description of nihilists? That needs explaining. In Friedrich Nietzsche’s framework, there are three categories of nihilism: passive, active, and incomplete. Incomplete nihilism is the most dangerous of the three. For this article, I will focus on active and incomplete nihilism.

But first, what is nihilism and who are the nihilists? Simply put, nihilism is the rejection of religion, moral principles, legal rules, and other norms, often based on the belief that life has no meaning. A nihilist is one who embraces and promotes that rejection.

From my observation, there are three broad categories of bandits in Nigeria. There are criminal entrepreneurs. These are not nihilists. They are criminals. This group kidnaps for profit. They demand ransom. They appear to be the majority. Successive Nigerian governments indirectly empowered them by failing in their duty to protect citizens due to corruption and the ills mentioned above.

By “government” here, I do not mean only the current administration. I mean successive governments in Nigeria. Insecurity did not start today; it has only reached its lowest ebb under the present dispensation.

Then we have the second category of bandits. They are agents of senseless destruction. This group does not seek money or personal gain. They kill and destroy with no goal, no demands, no conditions. Their aim is destruction itself. When they enter a town or settlement, they burn houses and kill indiscriminately. One wonders why. They are nihilists—specifically, incomplete nihilists in Nietzsche’s categorization.

In the third category are the Boko Haram and Lakurawa. I refer to them as “bandits” for ease of analysis and narrative flow. These are closer to active nihilists. They kill and destroy for a purpose. Their objective is not money but ideology, or so they claim. This is what active nihilists do: they raze the old system to impose a new “value” order. They kill without regard for religion or ethnicity. They spare only those who accept their version of religion.

The Biafran and Yoruba Nation agitators would also be described as nihilists if they resort to killings and wanton destruction of property and state institutions. Their agitations remain legitimate if they pursue the constitutional route to advance their demands, which is a right they are entitled to.

The point is simple: Nigeria is under siege. Nigerians are in chains everywhere. Insecurity of all kinds has engulfed the country. Those privileged not to be in kidnappers’ dens are also mentally besieged. Today, not being kidnapped is not a right in Nigeria; it is a privilege for which one must thank God. Those in kidnappers’ dens deserve our prayers, day and night.

Earlier, I wrote that I wish I had the spiritual powers our pastors and sheikhs claim when they say they “hear the voice of God.” That was to mock the fake holy men who parade themselves as miracle workers. If any cleric can truly communicate with God directly—face to face—and command Him, let them use that power now to intervene for victims who have lost hope of living in kidnappers’ dens.

Let them use their “spiritual powers” to perform miracles and liberate these innocent schoolchildren from the agents of death. If they still claim miraculous powers but refuse to bring these children back, then they are worse than the bandits who have forced us to sleep with one eye open.

I fear we are witnessing the time foretold by the noble Prophet SAW: “By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, a time will come when the killer will not know why he killed, and the one who was killed will not know why he was killed.” Sahih Muslim.

What we are witnessing in Nigeria today is worse than war. “Persecution is worse than killing” Qur’an 2:191. That verse is the title of this column.

I use this medium to appeal to Nigerian rulers: rescue all those in kidnappers’ dens and protect the rest of us. Reports claim Sunday Igboho knows those behind the abduction of these innocent children. The government, through the DSS, should invite him and act on any information he provides. He must mention them and the government should act.

May God help the victims and the rest of us. Nigeria is not safe.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Dear Nigerian Pupils in captivity, Children’s Day was observed two days ago without you. It would have been one of the most meaningful occasions because the day coincided with Eid al-Adha, a festival celebrated by Muslims all over the world.

I could not bring myself to celebrate or watch the festivities, knowing you are in kidnappers’ dens. I hope you do not lose hope for a reunion with your parents. I know you are in pain, but always keep hope alive.

I am writing to tell you something that will remind you of your worth, lift your spirits, and bring a smile to your face even in pain.
Do you know that you are important not only to your parents but also to your country? Do you know that you are loved not only by your parents but also by your country?

You are loved because you are special gifts from God. Your presence in any human settlement — not in a kidnappers’ den — is a strong sign of continuity. In a broader sense, you children guarantee the survival of every civilization. You are proof that a civilization is not dying.

The quality of children in any state or country determines its future, progress, and development. That is likely why a day is set aside in your honor to be celebrated as Children’s Day.

When a country has a good number of children who are responsible, well-trained, properly educated, and morally upright, we can say that country has a very bright future. That is why every responsible government, anywhere in the world, prioritizes meeting your needs before meeting the needs of others.

I understand the government has disappointed you. I feel your pain. I know the very reason government exists is to protect you, but it failed to do just that. I affirm that you were right to choose going to school over roaming the streets aimlessly. I believe, as you do, that you are the leaders of tomorrow. But I am confused, pained, and I wonder why the leaders of tomorrow should be held captive by kidnappers and criminals in a country that has “leaders” of today.

I thought, as you must have thought, that you would not spend a night in a kidnappers’ den, knowing that without you, the country’s future is bleak. Now it is two weeks in captivity and counting, with no news — not even fake news — about your release.

I thought President Tinubu would give marching orders to the service chiefs: bring you back within 48 hours, and dismiss them all if they failed to reunite you with your parents. The President did not do that.

Though he did act. Not much, but he acted. What he did, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Jagaban of Borgu land, was to appeal to Nigerians — including your parents — to pray that bandits and terrorists repent. What kind of Commander-in-Chief is this?

And honestly, we may not blame President Tinubu alone. Even your teachers, who should have shut down schools and demanded your return, did the same thing. The Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) declared a three-day fasting and prayer program for your safe return. I mean those of you from Oyo.

I am not aware whether the Borno State chapter of the NUT also declared a three-day fast and prayer for those of you from Borno. Perhaps they are tired of praying and fasting, since mass abduction of schoolchildren is not new to them in that part of Nigeria.

No doubt, we are a nation of prayer warriors. I strongly believe you will return safely, for I know how effective prayer is. I must admit my fear: I know the consequence of prayer without action — especially when action is needed.

Dear Nigerian children in captivity, do you know why you are in captivity? It is because you chose schooling over criminality. Have you ever heard of hopeless, homeless vagabonds or criminals of the underworld being kidnapped? No. It is because they are not the future of any country. Those who kidnapped you did so because they know you are the country’s future. They did not just kidnap you; they kidnapped Nigeria’s future.

Another reason you are in captivity is that your parents elected the wrong people to steer the affairs of the state. Though the blame is not entirely your parents’, they too were deceived by religious clerics in turbans and those in cassocks. With the support of these clerics, politicians campaigned in the name of God but ruled like agents of Satan.

They impoverished your parents so that they could be bought with peanuts in the next election cycle, just to remain in power.
I strongly believe you will be back. The government really needs to bring you back, as that will be counted as an achievement — in a country where the government’s achievement is not preventing citizens from being kidnapped, but paying ransom to rescue them after it happens.

My prayer for you is that when you are released, you become better citizens despite all the horrors you must have endured. I told you before that you are the country’s future and tomorrow’s leaders. That is a dream you must be determined to realize. To realize it, make your education a priority. Do not forge results. Those who forge results never become responsible leaders.

When you are ultimately released, avoid drugs and drug addiction. You must have observed that your kidnappers use drugs. Cruelty is one of the traits that characterizes drug addicts. They are merciless and brutal to the core. That is why they developed a heart of stone, which led them to kidnap you and your teachers and even kill your teacher in the most gruesome way. In the same way, when drug addicts wield political power, citizens suffer untold hardship and are plunged into multidimensional poverty.

Avoid drugs, no matter the temptation.
Do not be ethnic jingoists. Jingoism, fueled by jingoists, kills a country. Jingoists in a multiethnic country like Nigeria do not believe in one Nigeria. No amount of exhortation can make them work to achieve unity in diversity. Their jingoism is incurable. They will always work to break the nation by any means.

Dear Nigerian children in captivity, there is something more dangerous than all I have mentioned above that you must avoid: religious bigotry. It is cancerous. I have never seen a religiously bigoted nation that has ever developed. When you become a religious bigot, the first sign is skewed thinking — you stop thinking clearly.

If you are a bigoted Muslim, you will blindly and doggedly support and defend everything your brother in Islam does, whether right or wrong. If you are a bigoted Christian, every act of criminality and corruption committed by your church members will be seen as a virtue. Whoever fails to see it as a virtue must be treated as an enemy to be fought.

Dear Nigerian children in captivity, I believe you will be released and become great. Your present bitter experience is meant only to make you emerge stronger and become unifiers. I warn you again and again: religious bigotry is dangerous. In fact, it is one of the reasons — the major reason — you are in kidnappers’ dens. I wish I had time to explain this fully to you one day when you regain your freedom. Understand this: bigots are incapable of uniting people to foster development..

I am impatient and eager to see you reunite with your parents and other Nigerian children. You will be back very soon, God willing. When you are back, I have other things to discuss with you to make Nigeria great, because I have great confidence in you.

Yours sincerely,
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com



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I have written several columns on JAMB’s cut-off marks for admission seekers into Nigeria’s higher institutions recently. In those columns, I lamented the lowering of the admission bar to a ridiculous minimum.

While Professor Ishaq Oloyode, who just stepped down as JAMB registrar, has many achievements to his credit—especially the purge and the massive reform—one disturbing policy that detracts from his record was the lowering of admission requirements.

Before assuming office, someone gave the new, young JAMB registrar, Professor Segun Aina, an assignment: bring back scholarship to the examination body by making 200 the minimum score.

I have argued countless times on this page that JAMB’s ridiculously low cut-off marks encourage laziness and kill diligence among students. JAMB will always argue that it does not fix cut-off marks. Is JAMB a robot that is teleguided?

Four years ago, in a piece titled: “JAMB Should Make ‘Zero’ The Minimum Cut-off Mark For Admission Into Nigerian University,” I wrote: “JAMB always tries to vindicate itself that it doesn’t fix cut-off marks for tertiary institutions. JAMB could be right but who fixes it? JAMB should have taken it upon itself to defend its decision if the low pegging makes any sense. Its explanation that it does not fix cut-off marks sounds, to me, like a deliberate acknowledgment of the fact that the minimum scores are indeed ridiculous."

The piece was a reaction to JAMB beating down the pass mark to 140. When I wrote it, I sarcastically asked JAMB to fix zero as the cut-off mark. I wrote: “JAMB may wish to make zero the minimum cut-off score for admission into our tertiary institutions. The elementary truth is that 140 out of 400 (35%) or 0 out of 400 (0%) falls within the bracket of failure. We call it F9.”

Four years later, zero is now the cut-off mark—not for all courses, but for the most important one. The mother, the foundation, and the fountain of all courses.

If you are still wondering which course that is, it is probably because we have made it a habit to undervalue our primary and secondary school teachers. The course is Education. For candidates who choose to study education in Colleges of Education, JAMB has been waived. Not because they will sit for a different, more rigorous test, but because their inability to pass JAMB has starved our schools of the teachers they need to teach our kids.

Yes, we were told, JAMB has become a barrier to studying Education. We were told: “The waiver is a major step towards reducing entry barriers and widening access to teacher education, particularly for students in underserved communities where Colleges of Education can serve as centres of opportunity and development.”

I am still struggling to make sense of the above quote. Some national dailies attribute it to Dr. Angela Ajala, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education.

This is not reducing entry barrier as she said. Nothing is reduced. "Reduction" is not the word; the word is "removal." In my article titled "Affirmative action or removing the bar? a critique of admission requirements," I asked if the government was not actually removing the bar in the name of affirmative action through its discriminatory admission cut-off marks. I was right in my suspicion. The bar has now been removed.

In the article, published in Turkey by the Journal of Social and Educational Research , 2024, 3(1), I wrote in its introduction: “The education sector remains a critical sector in any society. A society that neglects it does so at its peril. It is the force that drives nations to great heights. A state’s commitment to education is evidence of its commitment to development and progress. A nation retrogresses when it neglects education or shows little commitment to it.” Unfortunately, the Nigerian government thinks otherwise.

On the suspicion that those who decided to divorce scholarship from Nigeria’s education system might be alone, they try to convince themselves by saying: “The reform is not a lowering of standards. It is a widening of the door, with structure still standing at the gate.”

Removing a qualifying exam like JAMB without substituting it with a more rigorous one is considered a reform? Is that a reform or a deformity? Who hoards common sense in this country until nonsense starts making sense to us? Must every Nigerian be a graduate?

I don’t know if this happens elsewhere. As far as I know, it is only in Nigeria that the more people fail exams, the more schools are built. Could it be that there is a symbiotic relationship between failure and higher education, because we keep building more schools as people fail? Or could it be a symptom that the country itself is a failure? I expressed this irony two years ago in a Daily Trust article titled "UTME: The more Nigerians fail, the more universities are established."

The government should have addressed the root causes of failure in our basic and secondary schools — negligence, underfunding, and miserable salaries paid to teachers, among others. After all, the government cannot feign ignorance about why candidates fail UTME and why JAMB suddenly became a “barrier.” JAMB was never a barrier. Until it started lowering the bar to a ridiculous minimum. JAMB had always been the filter that separated the grain from the chaff. The body has now been wrested from that role.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been vindicated. This union has been engaging the government to point out the unreasonableness of proliferating higher institutions in the country. Now we are facing the reality. Not just colleges of education and polytechnics — we now have many universities with few students because only a few candidates pass UTME. Those universities did not need to be established in the first place. But because the government likes to quantify achievements that are not achievements in the real sense, it keeps proliferating universities while feeder schools are in shambles. (By feeder schools, I mean secondary schools). To keep these universities open, JAMB has to make entry requirements so low that candidates do not need to pass. They only need to sit for the examination.

As stated in the new policy, candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education would still need to register for JAMB, but only as a formality. I am still watching, waiting for an official pronouncement from the government that schooling is a scam. There are indications that this is how the government sees education in Nigeria. It would not be surprising, since many of our rulers "govern" us with either controversial or forged certificates.

We are toying with our future when people who could not pass any exam are trained to train our kids. When teachers become synonymous with failure, I don’t know how else to define a failed generation.

Let me conclude with a quote from an article written by Adam Muhammad and one Abdulkadir Salaudeen. It was published last year in the Zaria Journal of Educational Studies, titled “The ‘Education is a Scam’ Debate in Nigeria: A Critical Discourse Analysis”: “This paper concludes that education is not a scam. However, within the Nigerian context, one would be arguing against reality to say education is not a scam, due to the government’s disjointed education policies and the non-implementation of laudable ones. This makes education ridiculous and turns it into a ridiculed pathway to success.”

Let’s see if this policy does not turn schooling into a complete scam. Let's see if does not turn our schools to just getting in to get a certificate. May we be healed.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Religion is not merely good practice; it is an excellent one. To call it merely “good” and stop there is to diminish its merit. It has been the foundation of many civilizations in the past, and its allure continues to endure today despite the growing wave of anti-religious sentiment.

Those who reject religion, and by extension deny the existence of God, often fail to study it properly. More often, they study it hastily because they are eager to confirm a conclusion they had already reached. In other words, they approach it with a preconceived notion and then skim through it just to validate that bias.

Max Weber, the German sociologist, historian, and political economist, rightly argues that religion inculcates moral values through education, which in turn shape economic behaviors like discipline, diligence, and frugality—traits that can enhance economic development.

I am aware that some pastors and imams misuse religion to extort their followers. Cases of sexual abuse by religious leaders in churches and mosques are increasingly being reported. However, these abuses do not strip religion of its inherent virtues. Those who abuse religion only make fools of themselves.

I think I should quote Weber verbatim. In his book titled "The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism" Weber wrote: “Religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and this cannot but produce riches” (p. 118). Like Weber, Barro and McCleary in their 2003 working paper titled "Religion And Economic Growth" argue that religious beliefs accelerate economic growth because they reinforce behaviors that increase productivity.

However, these scholars are not Nigerians and do not live in Nigeria to witness how religion has been abused to undermine development and entrench poverty.

In the hands of charlatans and politicians in Nigeria, religion has failed to produce industry and frugality. It has also not sustained any aspect of human behavior that increases productivity. For instance, religion was used to justify a Muslim-Muslim government in Nigeria, which is now synonymous with widespread poverty, hardship, darkness, unprecedented insecurity, and the wanton destruction of lives and property.

What the ruling class practices in Nigeria is a politicized religion capable only of blowing an ill wind. This explains why the Katsina State Government prioritizes funding wealthy pilgrims over feeding the hungry and dying masses.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that no fewer than 300,000 children are currently out of school in Katsina State. According to UNICEF’s 2025 report, Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa states account for 16% of Nigeria’s 10.2 million out-of-school children—over 1.6 million in total—with Katsina accounting for 300,000.

A separate report by the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2024) shows that 64.6% of children in Katsina are stunted, higher than the rates in Kano at 51.9% and Jigawa at 55.7%.
The Katsina State Department of Girl Child and Child Development also disclosed that at least 61,495 adolescent girls were out of school across the state’s 34 local government areas three years ago. That number has likely increased, given the growing number of villages and communities under the control of bandits.

The government, however, does not seem to lose sleep over this. What keeps it awake is its inability to secure the state’s Hajj slot, prompting it to provide a ₦3.8 billion loan as if the heavens would fall if the slot were lost.
Rahama Farah, Chief of UNICEF’s Kano Field Office, made this observation during a media dialogue on child-sensitive budgeting and planning in Katsina last year. He regretted that the government’s approved social sector budget had continued to decline, from 38.57% in 2016 to 12.98% in 2020.

He said UNICEF was worried in light of unflattering statistics that work against Katsina’s 4.5 million children. This is the point where sanity should dictate behavior. Any sane person who knows the scale of the calamities befalling Katsina and other northern states should be worried. The government, however, is not. It is worried about the welfare of pilgrims who can take care of themselves and are religiously required to do so.

According to the UNICEF chief, one in six children in Katsina dies before their fifth birthday. Three in four children—75.5%—are multi-dimensionally poor, lacking access to essential services such as health, education, and adequate nutrition. Religion should have made them multi-dimensionally rich. But because religion is turned upside down in Katsina and other northern states, its practice seems geared toward making the already rich even happier and richer, while leaving the poor and helpless stunted children to wait for God to intervene.

Governor Dikko Radda, after approving a ₦3.8 billion loan, announced that the government would sponsor _Hadaya_ for all pilgrims and each pilgrim would receive a $500 allowance to cover basic needs in Saudi Arabia—that’s roughly ₦700,000. Because we have lost our sense of responsibility, courtesy of a skewed understanding of religion, many will applaud the governor for doing “the work of God” and "promoting" Islam.

Pay attention again to these grim statistics from UNICEF. Over 6 in 10 children—61.2%—live in monetary poverty, which severely limits households’ ability to meet basic needs. One-third of children—33.3%—are out of school at the primary level, undermining the state’s future human capital and economic growth.

Because we have lost our integrity, one wonders if a single pilgrim has the self-awareness to realize there is no dignity in accepting this gift from the government. Can’t our pilgrims find a polite way to say no to this humiliating gesture? Can’t they say, “We are grateful, sir. Channel these funds to health and education, which are critical to the future of the state”? Can they advise the government to address the most pressing needs of these out-of-school children?

Do our rulers understand that out-of-school children pose an irreversible calamity in this knowledge-driven age? Does the Katsina State Government realize that dishing out billions for Hajj in the face of these statistics is self-inflicted harm?

Furthermore, only 23.4% of children aged 6–23 months receive the minimum acceptable diet. This is a major barrier to healthy growth and brain development. As if that were not bad enough, more than half—51.3%—of children under five are stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition with long-term consequences for health, learning, and productivity.

With such a glaring barrier to brain development, how can these development-starved children not grow up to become bandits? Unless they are fortunate by Providence, many are likely to think and act like bandits, or even become more dangerous than them. Is this the future we are dreaming of?

UNICEF chief Rahama Farah concludes: “Children represent over half of Katsina’s population, and investing in children—in their health, nutrition, education, protection, and participation—is not charity; it is the most strategic investment Katsina State can make.” I couldn’t agree more.

But our rulers continue to invest in Hajj, which brings no direct benefit to the state. Hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime religious obligation meant only for those who have the means. Our rulers have turned this simple, unambiguous Qur’anic injunction upside down in an attempt to teach God how to practice His religion.

The path to spiritual good is clearly explained in the Qur’an by the Omniscient in Chapter 90, verses 11–16:
“But he has not made his way through the steep path. And what will make you know what the steep path is? It is the freeing of a captive; or feeding on a day of hunger an orphan of near relationship, or a poor person in misery—not funding pilgrims.”

Yet our rulers, after turning religion on its head, neglect the captives to rot in kidnappers’ dens or be killed. They fail to feed and educate our stunted children but provide excessively for pilgrims. This is not Islam. This is nonsense. But since there is a Day of Reckoning, we shall see how they will defend their actions before the Creator.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com










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If there is a minister who needs no introduction in this Ẹmilokan Government, it is Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], who is always in the news — embroiled in controversy. I won’t deny that he is hardworking as FCT Minister, but I will say he is unapologetically bold, confrontational, and controversial in discharging his duty.

To Wike, one has to be mad to be FCT Minister. By his own standard, Wike is a madman. And I must confess that I admire him for admitting it publicly. That admission means people in Abuja should be cautious when dealing with him. He is not an ordinary minister you can address anyhow.

He should also not be addressed with excessive politeness. If you must engage Wike, study his mood and choose your approach carefully. No approach works all the time. What succeeds with him today may be wrong tomorrow because he is moody and always charged. This does not mean he "takes something" . The only way to predict Wike is to predict that he is unpredictable.

This is where Pastor Sarah Omaku got it wrong. I learned that she is the Senior Pastor of Family Worship Centre, Abuja. She made an emotional plea to Wike over the planned redevelopment of Jabi Lake. In a viral video, she was seen kneeling and appealing to Wike to let the lake remain the recreational resort it has always been. 

I like her strategy — dramatizing her appeal like a caring mother. I suspect she genuinely cares. But she directed her plea to the wrong person. She was too polite for Wike’s style, brashness, and madness. 

I suspect Wike, "the man wey no send,” either saw the video or was briefed about it. He was clearly unmoved by the pastor’s emotional appeal and responded publicly. 
Reading his response in the papers alone, one might conclude he spoke from a beer parlour. But Wike was apparently not drunk when he replied Pastor Sarah. His remarks came during a media chat aired by NTA. He chose his words deliberately and knew exactly what he was saying. 

Yet because of his habitual, official “madness,” Wike came across as uncouth. And in my view, he was not only uncouth to Pastor Sarah, but also to the Christian God. I will explain why.

Wike said: “To the woman who was crying, if she likes, let her call God to come down. What is my business? How does Jabi become hers? Is it an individual or government property? We are trying to make sure investors develop this land for the interest of all of us.”

Wike’s decision on Jabi Lake might be right, and Pastor Sarah might not be wrong either. But the propriety and correctness of Wike’s decision over Jabi Lake are not my concern. My concern is his lack of respect for God.
Wike should know that regardless of whether the land in question—Jabi Lake—is sold or not, God will not come down. God is not idle, and He does not need to descend because of Wike. Even if Wike has disdain for those he was appointed to govern, he should not extend that disdain to their Creator.

He could have rudely disregarded Pastor Sarah’s plea and gone ahead with the Abuja land deal without being disrespectful to God. Instead, he lumped the pastor together with God in his profane remark.

This is the same man who declared Rivers State a Christian state when he was governor, without apology to anyone. It makes me wonder whether Wike is still a Christian who loves God, or just an Abuja errand minister trying to protect his job, even if it means turning his back on God.

A Christian body did not hold back. It replied Wike immediately for his uncouthness. The Northern Christian Association faulted Wike over those offensive remarks that desecrated the Almighty—the Alpha and Omega. The body warned that political authority must never be used to disrespect God or offend public sensibilities.

I salute the Christian body for its timely reaction. But I have two concerns: one with the Christian body and the other with Muslims. But these concerns become non-issues once it is established that God means different entities to us.

Why did the Northern Christian Association react without its southern counterpart? Is the God Wike disrespected different from the One worshipped in the South? I quickly checked where Pastor Sarah came from. I found out she is a native of Kaduna. Could that be why southern Christians’ voices were not heard in condemning Wike’s uncouth utterance since Sarah is from the North?

I understand there has been a recent “go your way, we’ll go our way” split between northern and southern Christians over leadership issues in the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN], which, to the best of my knowledge, remains unresolved. But has it reached the point of worshipping a different God? I urge CAN to condemn Wike for his utterance.

Now, let me address our Muslim sheikhs, imams, clerics, and organizations. Are we comfortable with Wike’s disrespectful remark about God? The Abuja minister said that if God were to come down, it would be none of his business. I understand that both Pastor Sarah and Wike are Christians. I strongly believe Wike is still a Christian, even though he says he would have no business with God if God were to come down.

Can we, as Muslims, just fold our arms, move on, and say, “After all, it’s Christian versus Christian”? No. It concerns us. Yes, it concerns Muslims. Let’s replace “God” with “Allah” in Wike’s remarks. What would our reaction be?

If Wike had said, “To the woman who was crying, if she likes, let her call Allah to come down. What is my business?”, I believe many of our Muslim clerics would have mounted the pulpit to teach Wike who Allah is. This is an opportunity for all of us to join hands and condemn Wike for his reckless reference to God.

An occasion like this should present us with an opportunity to speak with one voice, irrespective of religion and region. Let’s first ask Wike which God he expects to come down, and whose coming down would be none of his business.

Even the erratic Donald Trump, the U.S. President, understands this basic concept. He knows that God and Allah refer to the same deity in the Abrahamic faiths. In a social media post reported by major global media outlets, Trump ended his threat of “hell on earth” to Iran and declared victory in the ongoing conflict with the words, “Praise be to Allah.”

Or am I missing something? Is there a difference between God and Allah? I reference Trump because I see him as Wike’s American counterpart. If Wike had been Nigerian President, he would most likely be Nigeria’s version of Trump.

While I await those who might wish to educate me on the difference between God and Allah, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, should be careful and stop ridiculing God.
Dear Nyesom Wike, the self-styled “landlord of Abuja,” God no be your mate!

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

When jokes replace governance, and jokers are positioned to steer state affairs that demand dedication, sobriety, and seriousness, we cannot but expect ridiculous inputs into the decision-making process which will, by default, produce ridiculously outrageous outputs.

I am still struggling to understand the kind of mental illness that would afflict elected political officeholders in a state like Kano — and their political advisers — to think that underwear, diapers, and detergent are items to be used to empower the masses or score political points.

Let me begin with the underwear. It is not just any underwear; it is the red kind. They call them “red pants,” and we know what the color red symbolizes in Kano politics. It is the political badge of a powerful politician who commands a large following, probably the largest, in the state. These panties were displayed at political events during the First Lady’s visit to Kano. The fact that they are women’s underwear makes the act even more ridiculous. The act became even more alarming when the governor’s face was seen printed on the panties.

We first read that the panties, bearing the handsome-looking face of the Kano State governor, were distributed to empower women. To empower women?! Are the panties magical? Do they turn into money when worn? Or are they charms that attract rich men to women who wear them? I do not understand. How can you empower women with pieces of underwear?

But because Nigerian politicians are so notorious and known for their eccentricity, whenever the most outrageous claims are attributed to them, Nigerians will readily believe them to be true without a shred of doubt. Many immediately believed that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf indeed distributed panties to empower women.

This was later verified to be false. Although red panties were displayed — not distributed — by some loyalists of the governor, allegedly to spite and ridicule his former godfather and benefactor, Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, they were actually plain red panties. The governor’s picture was said to have been superimposed on the panties, afterwards, to appear authentic in order to score a political point.

It is good to know that the governor condemned the uncultured act. In his words: “You have heard what happened. We are here minding our business when someone reported to me that a group of young ladies had displayed something… The governor was unaware. I quit social media because of something like this.” If the governor is truthful, kudos to him. A dedicated governor of a state like Kano should truly not have time for social media, for his own sanity.
But we must condemn it because it is against our culture and also against the teachings of Islam. Our youths should be symbols of hope and development, not tools for mockery or moral decadence,” the governor added. He also urged the youths to apologize.

Even though the governor has distanced himself and his administration from the incident — after he was surprisingly seen introducing Teemahcool, the TikTok personality who led the underwear display, to the First Lady during the visit — one still wonders what informed the decision of Yusuf Imam Ogan Boye, Chairman of Nassarawa Local Government Area, Kano State, to appoint the TikToker as a government official.

Immediately after the morally questionable display, Fatima Naseer, popularly known as Teemahcool and Chairman of the Gida-Gida TikTokers, was appointed Officer in Charge of Women Affairs in Nassarawa LGA.

If there still exists a scintilla of morality in us, we should question the rationale for the appointment. But we may not need to question it, because we are plagued by a class of politicians who see no virtue in us until we swim in the sewer and then ‘repent’.

That is why ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members are rehabilitated and empowered while victims of the same Boko Haram attacks rot in IDP camps. Wouldn’t the weak-minded among us conclude that it pays to be criminal, to be a terrorist, and to be irresponsible?

While we hope she will not begin to advise women in Kano State to be shameless and see virtue in shamelessness, it is sad to note that a display of raw immoral behavior in the name of politics could get one elevated, officially, in Kano politics. Where are our cultural values in all this? Where is our sense of morality, and where is our cherished religion? It is regrettable that although we appear religious, religion is absent in us and hardly influences our conduct.

Is anyone wondering why people are so gullible as to believe those panties were shared as empowerment? It is because other ridiculous items are usually shared as empowerment. So, people have grown used to it. The most recent example is detergent. As one newspaper reported it: “Kano LG Chairman Proudly Distributes Detergents to Empower Women.”

He is Abdullahi Saidu, the Chairman of Kiru Local Government Area of Kano State. In a rare display of “integrity, responsibility, and commitment to serve his people,” Saidu distributed detergent to 500 women in his constituency as part of an empowerment initiative to support households.

If non-Nigerians from other parts of the world read this headline, they will think each woman was given a full truckload of detergent to start a business. They will not know it was just a sachet that can be used up in a day by a household to wash clothes and utensils.

Are we really normal as a people? What is disappointingly disturbing is that women in the local government, in their hundreds, happily trooped out to collect a sachet of detergent. One person commented: “I hope they use the detergent to wash and reset their brains.” I honestly hope so.

The chairman must be very “innovative.” He did not distribute just one brand; he distributed different brands. The brands included Omo, Klin, and Viva. He reportedly said the gesture was aimed at supporting women at the grassroots and easing some of their domestic burdens. Hmm!

The chairman is not alone. Perhaps he learned from Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin Kofa, from the same constituency, who also supported 500 pregnant women in Kiru/Bebeji with diapers, other baby kits, and a token to start a business. There must be something special about the figure ‘500’. Jibrin Kofa is the member representing Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency, Kano, in the House of Representatives.

If politicians in Kano, and elsewhere, will not stop ridiculing their people, I think the people should stop making themselves objects of ridicule. They should learn to say no to this nonsense. What would truly empower the people of Kano operated for only a short time before it was shut down and placed under lock and key. I am referring to the Aliko Dangote Ultra-Modern Skills Acquisition Centre in Dawakin Kudu LGA, Kano State.

This is a multi-billion-naira investment in what matters most — skill acquisition. I learnt that the centre has a tripartite funding structure whereby the Kano State Government and the 44 local governments in the state commit 35% and 30% respectively, while Aliko Dangote commits 35% to the funding and pays expatriate salaries for six years. The centre is now grounded just after about four years it was commissioned. In its place, Kanawa — the people of Kano — are getting detergent and diapers as “empowerment.”

I advise the Kano State Government to resolve the issues that grounded the centre and provide real, sustainable empowerment. This insult to Kanawa must stop, and those panties should not be seen in public again. They belong in the wardrobe, in the Other Room.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Nigerians do not merely struggle to survive; they struggle to live without light. Darkness has become a common denominator for most citizens. If a person is not trapped in the darkness of kidnappers’ dens, they are certain to face the darkness caused by the recurring collapse of the national grid.
The experience differs by location. In some parts of the country, people doubt the grid exists at all. For them, electricity is a term encountered only in the dictionary.

Does Nigeria still have a functional national grid? Why is the entire nation in darkness? During President Tinubu’s recent visit to Jos, the airport could not provide ten minutes of power to honour his ‘generous’ ten-minute meeting with survivors of the senseless killings — killings enabled by maladministration and misgovernance.

Let me share some sad news. I do not mean to be pessimistic. We may not have stable electricity again. If we are lucky to have stable power in the future, that would be perhaps after the Tinubu government in 2027 or 2031 — as the case may be — or when he is no more, should he become life president. The reason is simple: he, and the presidency, no longer need the national grid, because greed teaches selfishness.

Since it was announced that Aso Villa now runs on solar-powered electricity, I have a feeling Nigerians will hug darkness for a very long time. Many have realized this and become hopeless. Out of that hopelessness, those who have the means are installing solar panels to say no to darkness. They choose self-reliance in power generation because the government has proven, beyond doubt, to be unreliable.

However, the growing number of solar users has become a source of concern to the Lagos State Government. As if on behalf of God, or with God’s permission, Lagos now monetizes the sun — a free gift of nature. Solar users in government-owned housing estates must seek government approval before installing panels. The approval, of course, is not free. It comes with a fee. If you think you’re smart to be self-reliant, the government in Lagos is saying you will be punished with a fine for being smart.

Since a clip of some Lagos ministry officials harassing a resident at the Millennium Housing Estate over an unapproved solar panel went viral, Nigerians have not stopped asking: Where else on earth are citizens charged a ‘sun tax’?

The question is valid. But Lagos is not the first to impose fees on solar panels. It is only that the rationale differs. In the few cities where such fees exist globally, they apply because users remain connected to the national grid; they are not off-grid. In Lagos, the fees have nothing to do with the grid. They have everything to do with greed, going by official explanation. I will come back to this.

For now, the state insists a solar installation counts as an “alteration” requiring a government permit — at a cost. This begs the question: What exactly does a solar installation alter? The government says structural changes to buildings need approval under the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law.
In light of this, government officials claim solar installation “may” affect the integrity or design of residential structures. I wonder why a government that fails to protect the integrity of Nigeria and Nigerians is so obsessed with protecting the integrity of building design. Isn’t this a misplacement of priorities? Are we mentally stable? Isn’t this shameful?

A government that should bury its head in shame for its inability to provide something as basic as electricity is now on the prowl, taxing an already bleeding populace for finding an alternative to power supply. Isn’t it shameful that the ‘mega city’ single-handedly and painstakingly built by Tinubu cannot provide electricity? What exactly is metropolitan about Lagos if Lagosians, like remote villagers, have no power supply in the 21st century?

As I wrote earlier, Lagos isn’t the first city to introduce solar installation fees — or, preferably, a ‘sun tax’. We read that Spain tried imposing a tax on self-consumed solar in 2015 but repealed it after three years in 2018. Why? The European Union called it illegal. Spanish citizens called it stupid. This columnist joins other Lagosians to call fees on solar installation stupid and ridiculous. It is ridiculous because sunlight is a free gift of nature. The government plays no role in the sun’s appearance and does not determine when it sets.

India, at one point, also introduced solar fees but banned them in 2022 and directed the states to issue free permits. Why? It was reasoned, and rightly so, that sunlight is not a privilege. It is a utility the government does not provide, cannot provide, and will never provide. Citizens get it free from God. No number of solar panels installed could reduce the supply of sunlight or make the sun collapse like our national grid, which habitually collapses.

The government might try to justify such levies by claiming solar users are connected to the national grid. That argument will not stand, for several reasons. Here are three. First, to impose levies on solar users, there must be a functional grid that is relatively stable. Second, there should be net-metering that allows solar users to feed the starving grid.

In serious countries, the relationship between solar users and the grid is give-and-take. It is called net-metering. This is how it works: when the sun is high and your panels produce more power than your house needs, the excess flows into the grid and your meter runs backwards. At night, you draw from the grid and the meter runs forwards. At the end of the month you pay only for the “net” difference. If you gave the grid more than you took, the electricity company owes you credits. The grid becomes your battery. You help it by day; it helps you by night. Lagos and Nigeria should learn from Kenya, Germany and even South Africa. That is how those countries treat citizens who solve power problems with their own money. If the government cannot make solar panels and other solar gadgets cheaper, it should not punish us for finding a legitimate way out of darkness.

The third reason the “connected to the national grid” argument will not stand is simple: not all solar users are connected to the grid. Many are off-grid and get no backup from the grid. It would be crass greed for the government to impose levies on them. Lagos cannot tax Lagosians for sunlight. This must be vehemently rejected. If Lagos, or Nigeria, wants to charge solar users ‘grid availability fees’, then it should make the grid available.

Lastly, if residents in government-owned estates are taxed for sunlight today and the rest of us look away, we will be the next target. Again, if rulers in Lagos are allowed to have their way, rulers in other states will start imposing a ‘sun tax’ on citizens in copycat fashion. If they ultimately succeed, the masses will soon pay for the air they breathe. We may also be taxed for the wells we dig in our compounds, followed by a rainy-season tax for rain that falls on our streets.

May God heal this country. The country is sick.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Nigeria’s insecurity challenge shows no sign of abating. Though we hope and pray it ends, nothing on the ground suggests it will end soon. I am aware that Senate President Godswill Akpabio said it would end two weeks after the upcoming 2027 election. I don’t know if that was a prophecy or a joke. All I know is that no serious Nigerian takes him seriously.

Like Akpabio, our leaders in Nigeria seem fixated only on the 2027 election. The message appears to be: “Wait until after the 2027 election. For now, we are busy. We don’t have time to address insecurity. Once we win, insecurity will end in two weeks.”
Let’s assume Akpabio and President Tinubu will end insecurity two weeks after the election. With the unrelenting scale of killings and kidnappings witnessed and experienced daily by Nigerians, how many Nigerians will still be alive to witness the peace Akpabio promises?

The boldness bandits display nowadays raises many questions. Who are the pillars of support behind these criminals? I don’t think it is Satan. If it is Satan, it can’t be Satan alone. How can Satan, who is faceless, preoccupy himself with Nigeria alone when there are more than 200 countries across the globe? There are probably powerful satanic agents they look up to as pillars of support.

These criminals have become so audacious that they kidnap victims and record videos of themselves while giving the victims the beating of their lives — unmasked. If unknown gunmen operate in the south, the gunmen in the north are known and are proud to be known because they take pride in kidnapping and collecting ransom. They become even more brutal when they kidnap people, collect ransom, and still go ahead to behead victims after payment.

Nigerians are alarmed by the viral video of a University of Jos student being tortured by his kidnappers. Not because such torture of victims by bandits is unheard of — victims go through hell in the hands of these savages — but because these savages, who do not belong anywhere in the modern age, are literally kings, lords, and slavers in Nigeria.

Their temerity, boldness, and audacity to reveal their faces and mention their locations speak volumes. In a way, it shows that government does not exist. If government exists, these rogues either do not believe in it or believe they are more powerful and smarter than the government.

Truth be told, there is a government in Nigeria. Didn’t Nigerians elect a president, governors, and lawmakers in 2023? The “Emi Lo Kan” president is still presiding over Nigeria. The problem with Nigeria at the moment is that we have a government that does not govern and might never govern because it apparently has no plan to govern. It governs on promises. As we say in local parlance: “Governance no be for mouth.”

When the government should act, it promises. For instance, when bandits attack, we always get “consoling” promises: “It will not happen again,” “Our security agencies are on top of the issue,” “The government is on a rescue mission and the kidnapped victims will be rescued.” President Tinubu’s recent consolatory speech to the people of Plateau State was even more saddening: “There’s nothing I can give you but a promise that this experience will not repeat itself,” the President said.

But when the government taxes the masses, when it is about to bleed the masses dry, it acts with alacrity; it does not promise. After President Tinubu promised the people of Plateau that the experience would not repeat itself, only God knows how many Plateau residents have been kidnapped and/or killed since. Terrifying news is everywhere, and the experience remains sad and unfortunate.

Social media is now flooded with short videos of victims pleading with family, friends, and the public to help get them out of kidnappers’ dens — not with prayers, but with money. These criminals demand money not in thousands, but in millions. Not single-digit millions, but tens and hundreds of millions. They have even started demanding billions and trillions. Where on earth do they expect their victims’ poor families to source such huge sums?

Are these bandits aware that the average Nigerian is in debt to the tune of N724,000? According to a Daily Trust analysis citing data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025. That translates to an average debt burden of about N724,000 per citizen. My share of that burden as a citizen of this economically battered country is even higher. Yet bandits demand to be paid billions and trillions in ransom.

The University of Jos student in the viral video was told to pay N30 million. Bandits who abducted 16 residents of Gonin Gora, Kaduna metropolis, demanded N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans, and 150 motorcycles for their release. Bandits who raided a church in Eruku, in Ekiti LGA of Kwara State, demanded N100 million for each worshipper taken.

In Woro, Kaiama LGA of Kwara State, they demanded N20 million for each of the 176 abducted people. Do the math: that’s N3.52 billion. In the Kankara area of Katsina State, where more than 15 residents were abducted, the demand for their release was N150 million.

No one should think only families whose loved ones are in kidnappers’ dens are obligated to pay ransom. In Tinubu’s Nigeria, some people still have to pay bandits not because they have been kidnapped, but to avoid being kidnapped. For instance, bandits have threatened to attack three communities in Kankia LGA of Katsina State if their demands are not met. They demanded 700 cows and 1,000 sheep from residents.

We learnt that in some villages in Katsina State, heads of households — husbands — leave their homes at night so bandits can rape their wives, and return only after daybreak when the bandits are expected to have left. It is not that the villagers are immoral beasts. It is only because that is the only means available to protect themselves. These villagers are Muslims. This is what their lives have become under the “Muslim-Muslim” government.

As I write, gunmen reportedly abducted JAMB candidates and other passengers in Benue. Their only offense? Being Nigerian citizens who want to be educated.

What is painful is that these bandits are known, unlike the “unknown gunmen” in the South. According to Dr. Ahmad Gumi, the government knows each of them by name and address. They use Nigeria’s internet to upload videos of their atrocities. They use Nigerian phone lines to negotiate ransom with victims’ families. Do we really need Gumi to tell us the government knows them?

Dear President Tinubu and the 36 state governors, the 2027 campaign cannot be based on promises. It will be based on performance, measured largely by your ability to stop these senseless kidnappings and killings. We need to be secure to cast our votes. The promise of security “two weeks after the election” by Akpabio — or is it a prophecy? — is outright rejected. We are tired of sleeping with both eyes wide open, yet still unsafe. The country is bleeding, and it cannot continue to plead. Yet the Federal Government is about to reintegrate 744 former terrorists into society.

I have concluded: we are unlucky people. Let’s pray for peace, since we cannot work to achieve it.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

Plateau State used to be the cynosure of all eyes and a dreamland for those yet to visit it. It is not only the home of peace; it is also the home of tourism. Those who coined its motto as "Home of Peace and Tourism" were spot on (at least, back then).

When it was so named, it was indeed a home of peace and tourism. It was a tourist attraction, a top resort for foreigners who came to explore. It was cosmopolitan in both outlook and essence, with its gates open to all. People from different ethnicities coexisted, practicing different religions without being torn apart by the divisive threads of religiosity.

But when people became extremely intolerant on the basis of religion and let religion negatively impact them, rather than practicing the ideals that foster peaceful coexistence, things took a turn for the worse, and the state became chaotic — a center of violence.

Religious suspicion takes center stage, and erstwhile peaceful Muslims and tolerant Christians suddenly become arch enemies, battle-ready, and trigger-happy. The peaceful coexistence that characterized the state gives way to burning mutual animosity. The "Home of Peace and Tourism" becomes the "Home of Conflict and Desertion."

One may ask: "Who did this to us in Plateau State?" Any attempt to answer this question leads to pointing accusing fingers at one another. Christians claim the Muslims started it, while Muslims insist they are peace-loving people and violence isn't in their DNA – it is in the Christians'. Therefore, trying to answer the above question will not solve the problem. It will aggravate it.

So, what is the solution to religiously instigated fanatical killings in Plateau State and Nigeria at large? I searched for the answer – the solution. Fortunately, I found it. The solution isn't the government, which is more inclined to paying lip service to ending insecurity, and insulting victims rather than consoling them.

Let's take for instance, President Tinubu's recent chilling and unpresidential statement in Jos to those who lost loved ones: "You have no light at the airport. I have to fly back within the next 10 minutes. To the victims, there's nothing I can give you but a promise that this experience will not repeat itself." The statement adds insult to injury; it does not heal it at all. It's neither consoling nor assuaging.

The best the government can offer is a promise – and it has been promising, will continue to promise, if allowed, till eternity. Until we have responsible elected officials, we will keep receiving promissory notes, as if we are in a 'promiscratic' regime.
Are clerics the solution? Our ulama, imams, pastors, reverends, and other 'men of God' could be a solution. Unfortunately, however, many have chosen to fuel the fire of disunity and religious crisis.

So what is the answer? The answer is us, and the solution lies within us. We can change the narrative, insist on being positively different, and say no to injustice and senseless killings.

I will cite three to four cases in Jos that offer a glimmer of hope – if we can live by the ideal. A Christian saved a Muslim from rabid killers in Jos during the recent crisis! Can anyone imagine that? This is not to say Christians or Muslims aren't generally their brothers' keepers. It is to emphasize that antagonism, mutual enmity, and 'violence contest' define interfaith relationships in Plateau State, probably more than anywhere in Nigeria.

Sa'idu Murtala, a Muslim, was at Angwan Rukubu when the attack occurred. Weapon-wielding thugs were looking for Muslims/Hausa to slaughter in the Christian-dominated area. Murtala recalls, "I completely lost my senses, thinking I will be killed because the situation was terrifying – people around me were angry."

Looking for an escape route, a Christian man quickly got him into his house and hid him in his wife's room. He spent the night there, was offered food, and was shepherded to a safe area at dawn. Murtala couldn't believe it – it was like a dream. He narrates: "He (the Christian man) knows I am a Muslim because I used to do business there daily and leave for my area. He knows my faith. My phone, which I gave out for charging, was returned after things calmed down. They all know I'm a Muslim. I will never forget this man who saved my life."

According to Premium Times, youths in Angwan Rogo, another Muslim-dominated community, took two elderly Christian women and handed them over to the military for safety. "Don't worry. There is no problem," one of the Muslim men said in a viral video as they ushered the two Christian women into the military vehicle.

There are many other instances – this is just representative. This is what happens when Muslims and Christians choose to be humans, not trigger-happy religious bigots with empty skulls. May peace-loving people like these multiply in our community.

I am not done. Many must have seen this headline and read the story (I won't narrate it): "Plateau: Christian woman returns missing N1m to Muslim trader." Amidst the grief in Jos, with Christians and Muslims mourning loved ones, a Christian woman exhibited a rare trait – trustworthiness, a quality racing towards extinction in Nigeria.

Today, a Muslim doesn't trust a Muslim when it comes to money. Christians aren't different. A Nupe man doesn't trust his Nupe brother, likewise the Hausa. Mutual trust, even within intra-religious and ethnic groups, is lost.

This Christian woman is different. If she had been bigoted and possessed by a religious devil, like many other Christians and Muslims, the devil in her would have instructed her: "Keep the money. After all, it belongs to a Muslim – a useless Muslim. You do not need to make a Muslim happy. By returning the money, you will be empowering Muslims and Islam. It is better you spend it for Christ or on yourself and your family."

But because she is godly – truly religious, honest and trustworthy – she returned the money to the Muslim trader. In her words: "I am a petty businesswoman. I know what it means to suffer loss. If I put that kind of money into my business, I believe God would punish me."

This is when religion is reformative and transformative, not corruptive and corrosive. Her name is Sarah Luca. She must be celebrated. This is my little way of celebrating her.

With this rare religious tolerance and disposition, even in places like Jos and states like Plateau, there is a glimmer of hope that mutual hatred and senseless religious killings can be stopped.

It is also in Jos that the globally recognized Imam Abdullahi Abubakar (now late) sheltered about three hundred Christians during one of those crises in Jos. He hid them inside his mosque from marauding killers. May God have mercy on him and his likes as he rests in his grave.

Yes! We can live together. Yes! We can be our brothers' keepers irrespective of religion, ethnicity, and class. Yes! There is hope. Nigeria shall be peaceful again.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com