₦airaland Forum

Even more interestingly, when I do some digging into Mr. Haruna, I discover something potentially even more alarming. It will be recalled that in September 2021, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele claimed that a significant portion of dollars bought by Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in Nigeria goes into illegal importation of arms. Speaking at the end of the monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting, he said:

“Whether it’s Boko Haram, kidnapping and all sorts of nefarious activities, BDCs take our country’s dollar and sell to people to go and buy arms and ammunition to come and hurt us. That’s what people want us to continue to do. We cannot do that any longer. We can’t. If you have any legal, legitimate business you want to conduct, please take your business to a bank, they will sell you forex.”

A search of Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission database for the name “Shahru Haruna” turns up a plethora of companies registered under the “Dan Diyma” name.

A Scholar From Zamfara
The year is 1955, and a 33 year-old Islamic scholar from Gummi in modern day Zamfara State has made his way to Mecca for his first Hajj pilgrimage. Alongside him is a certain Ahmadu Bello, who is the Premier of Northern Nigeria. During this trip, the scholar impresses both Ahmadu Bello and the Saudi King Sa’ud with his Arabic translation skills. He rapidly makes a big impression on many locals and clerics in Mecca.

These relationships will later become his most valuable asset following the events that take place after his subsequent return to Nigeria. Upon returning to Nigeria, he takes up positions teaching Arabic Studies at Islamic schools in Kano and Kaduna. His style of teaching focuses on educating his students about the differences between Islamic religious doctrine and local customs. Based on his strict Sunni understanding of the Qur’an, he teaches his students to adopt a ‘pure’ Islamic identity at the expense of practises that he considered bid’ah (roughly translated as ‘innovation’ or ‘corruption’).

What is a bidah? | Hadith quotes, Islamic teachings, Islamic messages
He also becomes the first Islamic scholar to translate the Qur’an from Arabic into Hausa, which puts him in a uniquely influential position comparable to that of Ajayi Crowther in 19th century southwestern Nigeria. Using this leverage, he becomes an increasingly powerful figure in Northern Nigeria, with his essentialist views on Islamic doctrine gaining popularity. To him, the existing Sufi orders of Northern Nigeria are polluted with bid’ah and unfit for purpose. He becomes well known for attacking the Tijaniya and Qadriyya brotherhoods during his appearances on Radio Kaduna, while advocating for a ‘return’ to ‘Islamic purity.’

Following the death of his friend and benefactor Ahmadu Bello, the scholar finds himself in a precarious situation. The new Nigerian federal government led by soldiers has a motive to crack down on anyone who is outspoken and influential. He may be a giant in Northern Nigeria, but he is a giant with feet of clay. His solution is to seek financial, doctrinal and political help from his friends in Mecca. The Saudis, as always, are ready to help.

His Saudi backers are keen to use him to espouse the Saudi Arabian state’s official interpretation of Islam, which is based on the work of 18th century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. This fundamentalist doctrine, often known as Wahabbism fits very closely with the teachings of our hero in Northern Nigeria, and he enthusiastically sets about gathering support for this new Saudi-funded project. In the 2009 book ‘The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia,’ historian David Commins says:

“The [Saudi-funded Muslim World] League also sent missionaries to West Africa, where it funded schools, distributed religious literature and gave scholarships to attend Saudi religious universities. These efforts bore fruit in Nigeria's Muslim northern region with the creation of a movement (the Izala Society) dedicated to wiping out ritual innovations. Essential texts for members of the Izala Society are Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's treatise of God's unity and commentaries by his grandsons.

Prepared By LBM September 11, ppt download
Reaching out to his erstwhile students across Kaduna and Kano over the course of the 1970s, the scholar-turned-politician slowly builds a coalition of strategically-aligned individuals who will someday become very powerful people in Northern Nigeria. In 1978, one of his prominent students, Sheikh Ismaila Idris takes charge of this increasingly powerful but somewhat unofficial movement, and calls it Jama'atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (Society of Removal of Innovation and Re-establishment of the Sunnah), also known as JIBWIS.

Based in Jos and known colloquially as the Izala Movement, this organisation will go on to become the most influential Islamic body in Nigeria over the next few decades. Its members will become some of Nigeria’s most revered Imams and clerics. They will achieve high ranks in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Banditry: Taliban victory warning for those considering military onslaught -Gumi - Punch Newspapers
They will sit on the Federal Executive Council.

Pantami threatens legal action over allegation of Boko Haram link
JIBWIS will come to exert a level of influence over Nigeria’s national politics and governance that is unprecedented for a religious body in Nigeria. Soon, it will become almost impossible to achieve power in many parts of Northern Nigeria without identifying with the Izala Movement.

Among other things, the scholar states that Muslims should never accept a non-Muslim as ruler, which can be interpreted as a call for insurrection against a Christian Nigerian president. He is never held to account for this statement. In any case, he no longer believes that writing books or teaching people about Islam will on their own, lead to an Islamic renaissance in Northern Nigeria. Now he is all about partnership and politicking. He maintains his membership in Northern Nigeria’s legacy Islamic group, Jama'atu Nasril Islam (“Group for the Victory of Islam”), but he is unmistakably the beating heart of the new Izala Movement. To all intents and purposes, this is the birth of modern Salafist Islam in Nigeria.

Without firing a shot or winning an election, this Islamic scholar has become one of the most powerful men in Northern Nigeria

His name?

Abubakar Gumi - Wikipedia
Abubakar Mahmud Gumi
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi is the son of Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.

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The Clerics, The Saudis and What Happened in Algeria
Fast forward 33 years. It is Christmas Day in 2011 and Abubakar Gumi has been dead for over 19 years. A bomb suddenly goes off at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 35 people and wounding a further 52. Almost simultaneously, a series of coordinated bomb attacks and shootings take place at churches in Jos, Gadaka and Damaturu. An obscure Islamist group calling itself Boko Haram claims responsibility for the attacks.

During the trial of the main suspect Kabiru Umar A.K.A Kabiru Sokoto 2 years later, a masked witness claims that an Algerian Islamist group provided funding and support worth N40,000,000 ($250,000 at the time) to carry out the attacks. To the general public, it is unclear what the link is between Islamists in Northern Nigeria and well-funded terror groups in North Africa.

Shame On Those Shepherds Who Lead My Sheep To The Slaughter.
To those in the know however, the incidents of December 25, 2011 are not only expected, but are likely to intensify and become more regular. This is because while the Nigerian public up to this point has been fed with what amounts to a tiny percentage of the actual story behind the Boko Haram group, this group has in fact been incubating and nurtured at the highest levels of the theological, economic and political spaces in Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram in reality, is so much bigger than Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau that reducing it to those 2 men serves to miss the actual story spectacularly.

To start to get some of the picture of what Boko Haram is and where it came from, let us retreat from 2011 to 2006 to read an excerpt from a letter written by the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Aminu B. Wali, addressed to the Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. This letter is available in full here from the official repository for UN documents. Written by the Nigerian government to the UN, it lays out the measures it has taken to fight terrorism in Nigeria. Take special note of the names mentioned in bold.


A Wikileaks cable from 2002 confirms that this arrest actually did take place, only for the suspect to be released inexplicably after 27 days in detention.


For those who are not aware, Yakubu Musa Kafanchan, also known as Sheikh Yakubu Musa Katsina and Yakubu Musa Hassan is a founding member of the Izala Movement (JIBWIS), and is in fact, the current Chairman of its board of trustees and the Chairman of the Katsina State JIBWIS chapter. He is a widely respected Islamic cleric and a very close personal friend and public associate of - no prizes for guessing - Isa Ali Pantami. Yes, that Isa Pantami.

Twitter avatar for @FMoCDENigeria
Fed Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy
@FMoCDENigeria
Official Visit to Elder Statesman, Sheikh Yakubu Musa Hassan Katsina, shortly before proceeding for the formal launch of the National Emergency Toll-Free Number (112) and the Commissioning of the Katsina State Emergency Communications Center.

@DrIsaPantami
#FMoCtoday
#FMoC19
Mr. Kafanchan was even recently named as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, a Jordanian government-affiliated NGO. More on that later.

Apparently Mr. Kafanchan has been known to the Nigerian security forces as the leader of a terror network trying to set up terror cells in Katsina and Kano as far back as 2002. Keep that date in mind because it will become even more important as we unravel this further. According to official Nigerian government communication to the UN, this real-life Islamic terror organiser is known to have affiliations with a certain ‘GSPC’ group trying to carry out terror attacks in Nigeria, and he was even arrested for it in 2005 - 4 whole years before the world ever heard of a “Boko Haram.”


Yet in 2021 he is not only a free man, but a powerful free man, with access to federal ministers, state governors and President Muhammadu Buhari himself.


And then there is the GSPC angle. ‘GSPC’ stands for “Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat” (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat). A full primer on the origin of the group and what it stands for is available here. Cliff notes summary: It is an illegal Salafi terrorist organisation based in Algeria which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It specialises in providing training, funding and support to Islamists and jihadi fighters around the world using a vast global network of smugglers, money launderers and rat lines.

Which brings us to the second name in the above letter excerpt. Alhaji Shahru Haruna, in the Nigerian government’s own words, is a GSPC agent who funds the activities of people like Kabiru Sokoto by laundering proceeds from smuggled goods. He too, was arrested and held on terror financing charges. Somehow he too, is not only a free man today, but a powerful one in his own right too.

It will not surprise the reader to find out that Alhaji Haruna is also a ranking member of the Izala Movement. According to these posts I dug up from Facebook accounts linked to the Kano State Izala Movement chapter, Alhaji Haruna is the Deputy President of the Kano State chapter of JIBWIS. Like Yakubu Kafanchan, this indicted terror funder not only retains his position in Nigeria’s most influential Muslim body, but is also a respected Islamic preacher with access to the Who’s Who of Nigerian politics and governance.

A Wikileaks cable from 2002 confirms that this arrest actually did take place, only for the suspect to be released inexplicably after 27 days in detention.
For those who are not aware, Yakubu Musa Kafanchan, also known as Sheikh Yakubu Musa Katsina and Yakubu Musa Hassan is a founding member of the Izala Movement (JIBWIS), and is in fact, the current Chairman of its board of trustees and the Chairman of the Katsina State JIBWIS chapter. He is a widely respected Islamic cleric and a very close personal friend and public associate of - no prizes for guessing - Isa Ali Pantami. Yes, that Isa Pantami.
Mr. Kafanchan was even recently named as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, a Jordanian government-affiliated NGO. More on that later.

Apparently Mr. Kafanchan has been known to the Nigerian security forces as the leader of a terror network trying to set up terror cells in Katsina and Kano as far back as 2002. Keep that date in mind because it will become even more important as we unravel this further. According to official Nigerian government communication to the UN, this real-life Islamic terror organiser is known to have affiliations with a certain ‘GSPC’ group trying to carry out terror attacks in Nigeria, and he was even arrested for it in 2005 - 4 whole years before the world ever heard of a “Boko Haram.”

To those in the know however, the incidents of December 25, 2011 are not only expected, but are likely to intensify and become more regular. This is because while the Nigerian public up to this point has been fed with what amounts to a tiny percentage of the actual story behind the Boko Haram group, this group has in fact been incubating and nurtured at the highest levels of the theological, economic and political spaces in Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram in reality, is so much bigger than Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau that reducing it to those 2 men serves to miss the actual story spectacularly.

To start to get some of the picture of what Boko Haram is and where it came from, let us retreat from 2011 to 2006 to read an excerpt from a letter written by the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Aminu B. Wali, addressed to the Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. This letter is available in full here from the official repository for UN documents. Written by the Nigerian government to the UN, it lays out the measures it has taken to fight terrorism in Nigeria. Take special note of the names mentioned in bold.

The Clerics, The Saudis and What Happened in Algeria
Fast forward 33 years. It is Christmas Day in 2011 and Abubakar Gumi has been dead for over 19 years. A bomb suddenly goes off at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 35 people and wounding a further 52. Almost simultaneously, a series of coordinated bomb attacks and shootings take place at churches in Jos, Gadaka and Damaturu. An obscure Islamist group calling itself Boko Haram claims responsibility for the attacks.

During the trial of the main suspect Kabiru Umar A.K.A Kabiru Sokoto 2 years later, a masked witness claims that an Algerian Islamist group provided funding and support worth N40,000,000 ($250,000 at the time) to carry out the attacks. To the general public, it is unclear what the link is between Islamists in Northern Nigeria and well-funded terror groups in North Africa.

Shame On Those Shepherds Who Lead My Sheep To The Slaughter.
To those in the know however, the incidents of December 25, 2011 are not only expected, but are likely to intensify and become more regular. This is because while the Nigerian public up to this point has been fed with what amounts to a tiny percentage of the actual story behind the Boko Haram group, this group has in fact been incubating and nurtured at the highest levels of the theological, economic and political spaces in Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram in reality, is so much bigger than Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau that reducing it to those 2 men serves to miss the actual story spectacularly.

To start to get some of the picture of what Boko Haram is and where it came from, let us retreat from 2011 to 2006 to read an excerpt from a letter written by the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Aminu B. Wali, addressed to the Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. This letter is available in full here from the official repository for UN documents. Written by the Nigerian government to the UN, it lays out the measures it has taken to fight terrorism in Nigeria. Take special note of the names mentioned in bold.

Nasreddin was an Eritrean who moved to Jos in Nigeria’s Plateau State, and grew his father’s small manufacturing business into a $460 million conglomerate involved in everything from breakfast cereal and confectionery to pharmaceuticals, real estate and energy. After many years of growth and success, he eventually handed his sprawling business empire over to his son Attia Nasreddin, and retired at an old, satisfied age.


In an official statement released after Nasreddin’s death in March, Plateau State governor Simon Lalong said:

“NASCO has over the years remained a major employer of labour in Plateau and continues to contribute to the economic prosperity of the State and Nigeria at large through tax revenue and corporate social responsibility.”

Well that was the cover story, anyway.

In reality, as is so often the case in Nigeria, the gap between the facts and the information released to the public is so wide as to be scarcely believable. What on earth could this shrewd, respectable businessman who looked like he could not hurt a fly have done, to put him in the same article as a story about the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation? Why would the brand he built, which to many Nigerians evokes memories of a beloved childhood breakfast staple, appear in the same sentence as Boko Haram?

To answer these questions, our story begins on another continent in 1955, some 8 years before his father would move to Nigeria and establish NASCO Group.

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A Scholar From Zamfara
The year is 1955, and a 33 year-old Islamic scholar from Gummi in modern day Zamfara State has made his way to Mecca for his first Hajj pilgrimage. Alongside him is a certain Ahmadu Bello, who is the Premier of Northern Nigeria. During this trip, the scholar impresses both Ahmadu Bello and the Saudi King Sa’ud with his Arabic translation skills. He rapidly makes a big impression on many locals and clerics in Mecca.

These relationships will later become his most valuable asset following the events that take place after his subsequent return to Nigeria. Upon returning to Nigeria, he takes up positions teaching Arabic Studies at Islamic schools in Kano and Kaduna. His style of teaching focuses on educating his students about the differences between Islamic religious doctrine and local customs. Based on his strict Sunni understanding of the Qur’an, he teaches his students to adopt a ‘pure’ Islamic identity at the expense of practises that he considered bid’ah (roughly translated as ‘innovation’ or ‘corruption’).

What is a bidah? | Hadith quotes, Islamic teachings, Islamic messages
He also becomes the first Islamic scholar to translate the Qur’an from Arabic into Hausa, which puts him in a uniquely influential position comparable to that of Ajayi Crowther in 19th century southwestern Nigeria. Using this leverage, he becomes an increasingly powerful figure in Northern Nigeria, with his essentialist views on Islamic doctrine gaining popularity. To him, the existing Sufi orders of Northern Nigeria are polluted with bid’ah and unfit for purpose. He becomes well known for attacking the Tijaniya and Qadriyya brotherhoods during his appearances on Radio Kaduna, while advocating for a ‘return’ to ‘Islamic purity.’

Following the death of his friend and benefactor Ahmadu Bello, the scholar finds himself in a precarious situation. The new Nigerian federal government led by soldiers has a motive to crack down on anyone who is outspoken and influential. He may be a giant in Northern Nigeria, but he is a giant with feet of clay. His solution is to seek financial, doctrinal and political help from his friends in Mecca. The Saudis, as always, are ready to help.

His Saudi backers are keen to use him to espouse the Saudi Arabian state’s official interpretation of Islam, which is based on the work of 18th century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. This fundamentalist doctrine, often known as Wahabbism fits very closely with the teachings of our hero in Northern Nigeria, and he enthusiastically sets about gathering support for this new Saudi-funded project. In the 2009 book ‘The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia,’ historian David Commins says:

“The [Saudi-funded Muslim World] League also sent missionaries to West Africa, where it funded schools, distributed religious literature and gave scholarships to attend Saudi religious universities. These efforts bore fruit in Nigeria's Muslim northern region with the creation of a movement (the Izala Society) dedicated to wiping out ritual innovations. Essential texts for members of the Izala Society are Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's treatise of God's unity and commentaries by his grandsons.

Prepared By LBM September 11, ppt download
Reaching out to his erstwhile students across Kaduna and Kano over the course of the 1970s, the scholar-turned-politician slowly builds a coalition of strategically-aligned individuals who will someday become very powerful people in Northern Nigeria. In 1978, one of his prominent students, Sheikh Ismaila Idris takes charge of this increasingly powerful but somewhat unofficial movement, and calls it Jama'atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (Society of Removal of Innovation and Re-establishment of the Sunnah), also known as JIBWIS.

Based in Jos and known colloquially as the Izala Movement, this organisation will go on to become the most influential Islamic body in Nigeria over the next few decades. Its members will become some of Nigeria’s most revered Imams and clerics. They will achieve high ranks in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Banditry: Taliban victory warning for those considering military onslaught -Gumi - Punch Newspapers
They will sit on the Federal Executive Council.

Pantami threatens legal action over allegation of Boko Haram link
JIBWIS will come to exert a level of influence over Nigeria’s national politics and governance that is unprecedented for a religious body in Nigeria. Soon, it will become almost impossible to achieve power in many parts of Northern Nigeria without identifying with the Izala Movement.

Among other things, the scholar states that Muslims should never accept a non-Muslim as ruler, which can be interpreted as a call for insurrection against a Christian Nigerian president. He is never held to account for this statement. In any case, he no longer believes that writing books or teaching people about Islam will on their own, lead to an Islamic renaissance in Northern Nigeria. Now he is all about partnership and politicking. He maintains his membership in Northern Nigeria’s legacy Islamic group, Jama'atu Nasril Islam (“Group for the Victory of Islam”), but he is unmistakably the beating heart of the new Izala Movement. To all intents and purposes, this is the birth of modern Salafist Islam in Nigeria.

Without firing a shot or winning an election, this Islamic scholar has become one of the most powerful men in Northern Nigeria

His name?Abubakar Mahmud Gumi

Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi is the son of Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.

Reaching out to his erstwhile students across Kaduna and Kano over the course of the 1970s, the scholar-turned-politician slowly builds a coalition of strategically-aligned individuals who will someday become very powerful people in Northern Nigeria. In 1978, one of his prominent students, Sheikh Ismaila Idris takes charge of this increasingly powerful but somewhat unofficial movement, and calls it Jama'atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (Society of Removal of Innovation and Re-establishment of the Sunnah), also known as JIBWIS.

Based in Jos and known colloquially as the Izala Movement, this organisation will go on to become the most influential Islamic body in Nigeria over the next few decades. Its members will become some of Nigeria’s most revered Imams and clerics. They will achieve high ranks in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

They will sit on the Federal Executive Council.

He also becomes the first Islamic scholar to translate the Qur’an from Arabic into Hausa, which puts him in a uniquely influential position comparable to that of Ajayi Crowther in 19th century southwestern Nigeria. Using this leverage, he becomes an increasingly powerful figure in Northern Nigeria, with his essentialist views on Islamic doctrine gaining popularity. To him, the existing Sufi orders of Northern Nigeria are polluted with bid’ah and unfit for purpose. He becomes well known for attacking the Tijaniya and Qadriyya brotherhoods during his appearances on Radio Kaduna, while advocating for a ‘return’ to ‘Islamic purity.’

Following the death of his friend and benefactor Ahmadu Bello, the scholar finds himself in a precarious situation. The new Nigerian federal government led by soldiers has a motive to crack down on anyone who is outspoken and influential. He may be a giant in Northern Nigeria, but he is a giant with feet of clay. His solution is to seek financial, doctrinal and political help from his friends in Mecca. The Saudis, as always, are ready to help.

His Saudi backers are keen to use him to espouse the Saudi Arabian state’s official interpretation of Islam, which is based on the work of 18th century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. This fundamentalist doctrine, often known as Wahabbism fits very closely with the teachings of our hero in Northern Nigeria, and he enthusiastically sets about gathering support for this new Saudi-funded project. In the 2009 book ‘The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia,’ historian David Commins says:

“The [Saudi-funded Muslim World] League also sent missionaries to West Africa, where it funded schools, distributed religious literature and gave scholarships to attend Saudi religious universities. These efforts bore fruit in Nigeria's Muslim northern region with the creation of a movement (the Izala Society) dedicated to wiping out ritual innovations. Essential texts for members of the Izala Society are Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's treatise of God's unity and commentaries by his grandsons.

A Scholar From Zamfara
The year is 1955, and a 33 year-old Islamic scholar from Gummi in modern day Zamfara State has made his way to Mecca for his first Hajj pilgrimage. Alongside him is a certain Ahmadu Bello, who is the Premier of Northern Nigeria. During this trip, the scholar impresses both Ahmadu Bello and the Saudi King Sa’ud with his Arabic translation skills. He rapidly makes a big impression on many locals and clerics in Mecca.

These relationships will later become his most valuable asset following the events that take place after his subsequent return to Nigeria. Upon returning to Nigeria, he takes up positions teaching Arabic Studies at Islamic schools in Kano and Kaduna. His style of teaching focuses on educating his students about the differences between Islamic religious doctrine and local customs. Based on his strict Sunni understanding of the Qur’an, he teaches his students to adopt a ‘pure’ Islamic identity at the expense of practises that he considered bid’ah (roughly translated as ‘innovation’ or ‘corruption’).

What is a bidah? | Hadith quotes, Islamic teachings, Islamic messages

Cornflakes for Jihad: The Boko Haram Origin Story
Nigeria's organised Islamic terrorism problem did not start in 2009. It's a lot more insidious than you think.

In May 2021, a 96 year-old businessman died in Rome, Italy. In his lifetime, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin might have amassed a personal fortune of close to half a billion dollars, but the death of NASCO Group’s multimillionaire founder barely made the news. At first glance, the only extraordinary thing about his life story was that it embodied the African entrepreneurship dream.

Nasreddin was an Eritrean who moved to Jos in Nigeria’s Plateau State, and grew his father’s small manufacturing business into a $460 million conglomerate involved in everything from breakfast cereal and confectionery to pharmaceuticals, real estate and energy. After many years of growth and success, he eventually handed his sprawling business empire over to his son Attia Nasreddin, and retired at an old, satisfied age.


In an official statement released after Nasreddin’s death in March, Plateau State governor Simon Lalong said:

“NASCO has over the years remained a major employer of labour in Plateau and continues to contribute to the economic prosperity of the State and Nigeria at large through tax revenue and corporate social responsibility.”

Well that was the cover story, anyway.

In reality, as is so often the case in Nigeria, the gap between the facts and the information released to the public is so wide as to be scarcely believable. What on earth could this shrewd, respectable businessman who looked like he could not hurt a fly have done, to put him in the same article as a story about the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation? Why would the brand he built, which to many Nigerians evokes memories of a beloved childhood breakfast staple, appear in the same sentence as Boko Haram?

To answer these questions, our story begins on another continent in 1955, some 8 years before his father would move to Nigeria and establish NASCO Group.

Source: https://westafricaweekly.substack.com/p/cornflakes-for-jihad-the-boko-haram

Often across board in the country are complains of how bad things are, the extent of the decadence seems to be endless. Several Nigerians have one thing or the other to say in the negative about the situation of things, one get to hear complains about issues like Political and Economic Instabilities, Bad Governance, Poor Infrastructures, High rate of crimes, unemployment, terrorism, banditry, and lots of other issues.

All of this banes shows that more than ever before we are in desperate need of high impact minded visionaries, individuals who have the mindsets of being game changers, those who are exasperated enough to push for quantum revolution not for the sake of creating chaos but leveraging on time tested life principles for driving the positive changes we need.

The definition of who a visionary is often cheaply considered, such that even those who have one time or the other contributed to the fueling of some of the menaces and problems we face in the country call themselves visionaries and are greatly celebrated. It is for this reason why we must go beyond the limits we have considered being visionary to be, it is high time we focus on high impact vision.

In my perspective, a visionary is not just a person who is charismatic and bold enough to hold a position, but an individual who has the ability to see the road ahead. Such a person is often ready to go the road less traveled, and if the road is not existing he or she is ready to create it.

A true visionary apart from seeing the road ahead is legacy driven, more than living his or her mark on the sand of time there is the passion to teach, train, lead and create quantum leaps of revolution, changing the narratives of how things are to how they ought to be.

A high impact visionary is not just a leader, but a person who has discovered his voice and essence for living and is ever ready to help others in discovering theirs.

Many of the problems we are facing are created by us, when many of us complain about how bad things are, high impact visionaries are always ready to see how the problems can be solved.

Not one out of our enormous problems is without solution, all are solvable but who is ready to be the game changer.

It isn't that all we need are high impact visionaries, but the reality that original solutions begins with seeing visions and it is he who sees it and is ready to go for it that commences the process of changing the narratives of things.

When a visionary has found his greatness through the discovery of his or her voice and is always ready to help others in discovering theirs, the solutions to many of the issues are no more far away.

Wherever there is a high impact visionary it is impossible not to find missionaries too.
Since for every vision there must be people ready to go in pursuit of it as a mission. It is therefore the duty of the visionary to gain clarity of purpose so that he can well teach and train his missionaries on what to do and how to do what they ought to do.

A true visionary is like a power house, who generates great amount of electricity, distributes it to other stations, substations, transformers and then into the houses.
Therefore, a high impact visionary is a leader who is always ready to raise high impact leaders.

Our problems are not actually so difficult, the challenge is that it is either that the visionaries are still in a state of slumbering or that they have not come to realize their essence and discover their voice.

The solutions to our many problems are not far away, they are in the heart of visionaries.
Now the question is are you one?
Do you hav th interests of others at heart?
Are you legacy driven?
Do you think of how your decisions can be of great positive impacts on others, even in hundreds of years from now?

If you are it is time you find your place.
We need visionaries now than every before to create various mechanism for solving our enormous problems , you can be one if you chose to be. You can be the game changer.

Abekodum:
Do you Think These Are The Messiahs Nigeria Needs?

Nigeria needs no messiah, we need our brain to be rewashed instead

7victor:
My experience is this:

One Igbo woman saw me and asked to know whether I was married or not.

I answered in the negative.

She said as a lecturer, what is keeping me from marrying since federal government is paying us well?

I told her I am praying to God about it.


She said she is a pastor and she believed God was prompting her to find me a wife.


She said she would introduce me to a very good lady whom I would really enjoy as wife.

It was not quite 3 hours later when she sent someone to call me to see the lady.




To my utter astonishment, she introduced me to one elderly woman who is from Kaduna.



It was as much as I could do not to show my astonishment.



After the old woman left, I told her that I would prefer someone younger who is Igbo.


She said age doesn't matter in marriage. I told her I am in my early thirties and how can I even marry someone who is 40, let alone someone who is above 50?

It is my idea that the woman she introduced to me is her long time friend and age mate. She herself(ie the woman who introduced someone) has big children who are all in the University and polytechnic.

She insisted that love, and not age, is what matters in matter.


As for marrying an Igbo woman, she said no Igbo woman will ever condescend so low as to marry a Calabar man.


I made her understand that my cousin is Calabar and is married to an Igbo beauty queen.

I mentioned up to 6 Calabar men I personally know who are married to Igbo.


She said an Igbo lady can only marry a Calabar man if maybe she has a problem(like mental problem) which makes people to reject her,


to the extent that it is only a Calabar man that she would finally condescend to marry.


She was just insulting my tribe.


I told her that the former governor of Akwa Ibom, and the present minister of Niger Delta is a Calabar man married to Igbo woman.



My idea now is that I can never accept any woman brought by this woman,


because she will never give me something good. Any woman she brings must be low because she believes that low women fit Calabar men.


She said if I don't like that other Kaduna woman, she would introduce me to another woman.


But I know she will not bring someone good to me because of the way she looks down on my tribe.


She doesn't believe my tribe can marry someone better.


Please share your experience.

You are in for manipulation, bro run for your life.
In marriage there is nothing like referral, it is a matter of choice. By the time the heat begins she won't he there.
Avoid that woman by every means.
What you should be doing now is going on single dates and group dating, with that you will have opportunities to interact with younger ladies and will be able to make your choice.

Seb4luv1:
Please am desiring to learn a new skills and I'm very confuse in making my choices. I will need those in the field to kindly choose the best for me and will be nice if they can also give reasons they selected it. Below are the listed ones available to choose from. Thank you

Product Management

Content Creation

Graphics Design

Mobile App Development

Customer Service

Video Animation

Web Design & Development

Microsoft Office

Digital Marketing

UI/UX.

Start with graphics design, then go for UI UX they are much easier than the others
As for Microsoft Office that one is not more of a money making skill, even kids know how to use them except you are talking about Excel for Data Analysis.

intruder15:
Alpha kor. Omega ni

yes there are omega males

grandstar:
Thanks for your response.

Can I link a Wema Bank dollar card with Nigerian PayPal?

you have to have a registered company, to drop your money from Paypal to flutterwave

xamodans:
are you married?

No, but I have been studying many of them since I was 7, now I am 32

jaelz:
What is SCUML?

Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML)

MaryJane24:
Transmitting funds to Nigeria has been very difficult for me and my US-based employer. I wonder if I can just open a Skrill wallet and tell my employer to send the money there. Problem is, I won't be able to cash or remit the funds from the wallet into a Nigeria bank account. So, I wonder if there are legit traders that can safely buy the funds in the Skrill wallet. Please let me pick your brain.

I can talk to a white American friend in the US to help out or one of my guys in the US Navy.
Chat me up on 08089456258
Let us give it a trial and see if it works out

jaelz:
Good afternoon team and happy independence, please guys kindly assist me in deciding which bank that I am to go with in terms of opening a bank account for my newly registered business, I am looking at access to loans, ease of opening and speed of transactions amidst others goodies and incentives.

cc: Lalasticlala, onila, farano, mynd44, pretthythicksme

Have you got your SCUML, if yes I can connect you to my account manager at Zenith Bank or UBA and it will be ready as long as you do all the KYC documentation

Toks2008:
Not a good decision to make by my reckoning.

It's not worth the stress.

It seems you don't know how the way some of the minds of these ladies works. The man must create a space for himself and speak out, I can't continue this

DavidNative:
Good Day, everyone, am having a serious challenge in my marriage , been married for a year and was no Premartial sex , since I need to promise her am a faithful guy and based on religion ground….
But honestly even in the marriage, it has been one sided, she said my private part is to big and I stay too long, I do every for her, love her, care for her, help her in kitchen, setup a home business/career for her to save her the stress of going out. I give her head, sometimes I suck and engage in pre-intimacy for long , but many times, since we had gotten married, I am the only active person, sometimes for a month no sex, am getting frustrated , I need advice.
Everytime i try to discuss it, she say i should try to understand that she is nott the sex type. Am tearing apart on my inside. What can i do pls

Play a simple game...

Write this word on paper and say,

I CANNOT TAKE THIS ANY MORE, BYE BYE WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST IN LIFE

Drop it and travel to a friend's place

Notice her reaction, if disturbed, don't come back until she begs and after that prepare a written agreement. Also be an alpha man

winterlover:
Can do that for you in Java using Android Studio.

Chat me on the number below. Let's talk business

Chat me up on 08089456258
I will run it for you

Unruly7:
Good evening all Nlander

Please I've laptop and an Android phone
I stay in East

Which online work can you suggest I learn please

Learn UI UX and earn hundreds to thousands of dollars monthly.

hilltop007:
Here is my first android app. A "Population Projector". I haven't published it yet though.

In the screenshot below, I projected the population of Nigeria in 2021, using 2006 population figure and Nigeria's annual growth rate of 2.5.

this is cool

simultaneousboi:
Alright

For any other advice you feel may be needed you can chat me up on Whatsapp via 08089456258

McSaviour:
My girl friend don’t want pregnancy and she want to go and abort ,this is making one week I don’t see her ,in my own I told her to keep the pregnancy,but she don’t want ,,please friends what would I do in this situation?

Tell her you want to see her, tell your parents about it. If possible get to know her parents and tell them about it

simultaneousboi:
How can I get the license without having the certificate? I am a mere Microbiologist and looking for a Pharmacist to partner with will be another expenses to me.

If that is the case then you can start with a drug patent store but also include groceries. The most important is that she get's the training and the license. Theirs is not as expensive as that of getting a pharmacist

alabiexperto2:
To learn you have to pay me #1000...
Interested person should drop and email.

Yahoo wey they charge 1000 Naira on Nairaland. Go for a legitimate work bro and stop the attitude of defrauding others

simultaneousboi:
Hi everyone, good evening. I am planning to start up a business with 1m capital and 200k for shop rent, in Abuja. I am a Naval personnel and wish to open a business for my babe(wife to be) so as to have another source of income. The problem am having is the type of business that can be handled by a woman, business that can easily be established with #1m capital and the preferred location.

As for my babe(my wife to be), she is a WAEC holder, she has 4 to 5yrs Nursing experience(she can do delivery) and 3yrs Pharmacy experience but no educational certificates.

Open a drug/pharmaceutical store for her but ensure you get a license. Let her add grocery to it too

grandstar:
Does anyone know anything about Barter card?

With the Naira debit card having a monthly limit of $100 and impossible to link with PayPal, I am considering Barter Card.

If you've used Barter Card, can it be linked with my Nigerian PayPal account?

Can it be used to purchase goods and services online without problems?

Is there a spend limit?

Lastly, how is it gotten and funded?

Thanks in anticipation of your answers

You should use wema alat and open domiciliary account on it