The harmattan haze hung over Kano as the 2023 general elections approached, casting a pale veil across the ancient city’s minarets and crowded streets. Political tensions were rising, public anxiety was growing, and security agencies faced the difficult task of maintaining peace in one of Nigeria’s largest and most politically active states. Beyond the electoral atmosphere, Kano was also confronting persistent street crime. Phone snatching, armed robbery and clashes involving groups of restless youths—popularly known as Yan Daba—had created fear in several communities. It was into this complex environment that Mohammed Usaini Gumel assumed office as Commissioner of Police, Kano…
Author: Editor
Electoral metrics and their limits Politics, including Niger Zone B, is often measured by electoral victories. However, history has repeatedly shown that elections are rarely won by numbers alone. They are won through unity, organization, strategic planning, and a shared sense of purpose. In Niger Zone B, stable parties succeed through unity. Parties that manage internal differences effectively gain public confidence more than split groups do. Moreover, in Niger Zone B, this reality lies at the heart of the recent meeting convened by Niger State’s Deputy Governor, Comrade Yakubu Garba. APC stakeholders, elected and appointed officials, political aspirants, and party…
In every democratic society, political competition is inevitable. Aspirants will contest, supporters will express differing opinions, and party primaries will naturally produce both winners and disappointed contestants. What ultimately defines the strength of a political party, however, is not the absence of disagreements but its willingness and ability to reconcile differences in pursuit of a common goal. This principle was evident in the recent reconciliatory meeting convened by the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Comrade Yakubu Garba, with aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), party leaders, stakeholders, and aspirants from Shiroro Local Government Area. According to an official statement issued…
As conversations ahead of the 2027 general elections continue to gather momentum across Shiroro Constituency, public attention is gradually shifting from campaign promises to questions about previous service. Increasingly, many voters are asking a simple but important question: What has an aspirant done before seeking elective office? Among the names attracting public attention is Hon. Babangida Wassa Kudodo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the Niger State House of Assembly representing Shiroro Constituency. While political opinions about his aspiration naturally differ—as is expected in every democracy—many of his supporters point to years of community engagement, youth development, and humanitarian…
History is often kinder to the dead than to the living. It sands away rough edges, softens harsh judgments and, over time, transforms flawed leaders into national icons. Yet there are rare public figures whose lives stubbornly resist simplification. They remain objects of admiration and controversy in equal measure long after they have left office. Nigeria’s former President, General Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, belongs unmistakably to that exclusive class. For more than six decades, Obasanjo has stood at the crossroads of Nigeria’s political evolution. Soldier. Civil War commander. Military Head of State. Prisoner. Democratically elected President. International statesman. Farmer. Author. Relentless…
One of the greatest disservices we can do to history is to allow it to become the exclusive property of those who once wielded power. History belongs not to presidents alone, but also to governors, legislators, judges, traditional rulers, party leaders, journalists and ordinary citizens who witnessed the events of their time. When competing narratives emerge, our duty is neither to applaud nor condemn. It is to interrogate. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent attempt to revisit the political events surrounding the 2003 elections deserves precisely that kind of interrogation. Not because he was not a central actor—he undoubtedly was—but because…
The Weight of a Life Well Lived. Some birthdays merely add another year to a man’s life. Others compel society to pause, not to count the years, but to measure the influence those years have deposited upon humanity. Such occasions are less about age than about legacy; less about longevity than about significance. The eighty-seventh birthday of Aremo Olusegun Osoba belongs unmistakably to that latter category. Some lives are biographies. Others become reference books. Osoba’s life has become one of those enduring texts from which successive generations continue to draw lessons on journalism, leadership, public service and, above all, character.…
Three years ago, Kaduna State’s health sector faced challenges familiar across many parts of Nigeria: overstretched health facilities, shortages of skilled personnel, rising maternal and child mortality, recurring disease outbreaks, and unequal access to quality healthcare between urban and rural communities. While progress had been made over the years, the demands of a rapidly growing population required a new level of investment, innovation, and political commitment. When Governor Uba Sani assumed office in May 2023, his administration adopted a simple yet ambitious vision: to build a health system that delivers quality, affordable, accessible, and people-centred healthcare to every resident of…
There are folk songs that entertain. There are others that educate. Then there are those rare compositions that outlive generations because they quietly preserve the philosophy of a people. One such timeless Yoruba folklore is the familiar refrain: “Ta ló ń pe Ìyá Alákàrà sẹ́rè?”Ìyá Alákàrà!”Ó ń ta sánsán, símí nímú.”Ìyá Alákàrà!”Ó ń ta dòdò, símí ló fún.”Ìyá Alákàrà!”Èmi ò ní pe Ìyá Alákàrà sẹ́rè.” For decades, children sang those lines without pausing to interrogate their profound meaning. Yet, hidden beneath their playful rhythm is one of the finest statements on the dignity of labour ever composed in Yoruba oral…
The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Sokoto State, Manir Muhammad Dan’iya, has expressed deep sorrow over the death of Usama Murtala, an indigene of Sokoto State who died in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, shortly after regaining his freedom from detention. In a statement issued by his media aide, Aminu Abdullahi, Dan’iya described the incident as a heartbreaking tragedy that has plunged the deceased’s family, the people of Sokoto State, and Nigerians into mourning. He extended his heartfelt condolences to the parents, siblings, relatives, friends, and associates of the late Usama Murtala, praying to Almighty Allah to grant…