One of the biggest injustices done to Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s record in Kaduna is the attempt to reduce the Southern Kaduna crisis to a simplistic ethnic or religious narrative.
Here is Maj. Gen. Chukwuemeka C. Okonkwo, then Commander of Operation Safe Haven, describing the conflict in terms of attacks followed by reprisal attacks. That matters because it challenges the convenient political story that every episode of violence could simply be blamed on one community, one religion or one governor.
Okonkwo is neither Fulani nor a Northern Muslim, which makes it harder to dismiss his assessment as ethnic solidarity.
Southern Kaduna’s violence has deep historical roots stretching back decades. Communities have suffered killings, reprisals, displacement and cycles of vengeance long before El-Rufai became governor. Historical controversies surrounding figures such as Zamani Lekwot and the 1992 Zangon-Kataf crisis are part of that complicated history, though responsibility for today’s violence cannot fairly be reduced to one individual or one event.
That context matters when judging El-Rufai.
He inherited a security problem whose foundations were already deeply embedded. His administration can and should be scrutinised for its decisions, successes and failures, but rewriting decades of conflict as though everything suddenly began under El-Rufai is politics, not history.
The uncomfortable truth is that peace requires confronting the entire cycle:
Attack.
Reprisal.
Another attack.
Another burial.
Another generation inheriting anger.
El-Rufai’s strongest argument is therefore not that Kaduna had no security problems under him. It is that those problems were older, more complicated and more deeply rooted than his political opponents often admit.
History should be examined completely, not selectively.
And Southern Kaduna deserves truth more than convenient political mythology.
🚨 BREAKING INTERVIEW:
SIR ALEX FERGUSON ON ARSENAL
Interviewer: Sir Alex, Arsenal have been handed Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Napoli, Lille, Real Betis, Slavia Prague and Sabah. Your thoughts on the draw?
Sir Alex Ferguson: That is not a group you look at and think Arsenal have been lucky. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich alone tell you the level they are operating at now. Arsenal are no longer a club hoping to compete with Europe’s biggest teams they are one of them.
Interviewer: Do you think Arsenal have become one of Europe’s biggest clubs again?
Ferguson: Without question. Look at the last few years. They have built a team capable of competing at the highest level, and reaching the Champions League final last season was proof of that. There is a different mentality around the club now.
Interviewer: And could we see Arsenal back in the final?
Ferguson: I wouldn't be surprised at all. In fact, I can see them in Madrid again.
Interviewer: You mean another Champions League final at the Metropolitano?
Ferguson: Yes. Arsenal have unfinished business. Losing a final changes you. If they use that disappointment properly, it can make them even more dangerous.
Interviewer: So your prediction?
Ferguson: Arsenal will go deep into this competition. And if I had to choose one team I wouldn't want to meet in a final… Arsenal would certainly be on that list.
Arsenal are no longer chasing Europe’s giants. They are one of them.
#AFC
President Tinubu may have hoped to turn Kano into a one party state, not through meaningful development or uplifting the people, but through political scheming. That approach misunderstands Kano completely. From the days of NEPU to the era of Santsi da Tabo, Kano has never been, and will never be, a one-party state. Kano is not Lagos, Oga master strategist!
Kano is the home of radical, conscious politics. We do not oppose for the sake of opposition; we oppose to demand better governance, fairness, and accountability.
What exactly has been done for Kano by Tinubu's administration to justify expecting unanimous support? When concerns were raised about the concentration of projects in Lagos and appointments skewed along narrow lines, those concerns were ignored and all we got were insults.
Leadership is earned through fairness and impact, not imposed through strategy. If Kano is denied development, then Kano will respond at the ballot. It’s as simple as that.
As the saying goes, “Power is not given to those who demand loyalty, but to those who earn trust.”
Sama da kasa: Falle daya ce! 🤝
Dear @GuardianNigeria,
Walter Lippmann said, "The journalist's job is not to report what people say, but to verify what people say."
As a respected national newspaper, Guardian is expected to verify the authenticity of statements before reporting them. The work of a professional journalist is to investigate and verify, not just report lies and unverified information.
Regards to your team!
Hello @hanneymusawa,
Madam, I listened to you on a podcast confidently explaining how APC and Tinubu would win the 2027 election, and how Atiku and Obi would not.
But just two days, I passed through your village Musawa in Katsina State. What I saw was painful and undeniable hunger, poverty, illiteracy, out of school children, and people living in multidimensional poverty.
Not just your village, but across Katsina, the situation is the same. Yet you sit comfortably in a studio discussing elections and power, completely detached from the harsh reality your own people face daily.
Madam, this shows that the problem is not Nigeria. The problem is greed. Power, to people like you, is not about service or responsibility; it is about personal interest and protecting a failed system regardless of the suffering of the people.
Haba!!!
BREAKING: Yesterday evening, during a Maulud gathering in Yanshantuna community of Makera Ward, Dutsin-Ma LGA, Katsina State, armed bandits reportedly surrounded residents, seized their phones and cash, and looted a phone-charging shop. The incident directly contradicts official claims of “peace” following the recent peace agreement between local stakeholders and armed groups in the Local Government.
Residents are now asking: what concrete monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are in place to ensure that this peace deal actually protects civilians on the ground?
@dikko_radda@NGRSenate@___Bils@AbdulGidadoo@Waspapping_@Sarki_sultan@_hafsat_paki@FaridaAshu@woye1@ChuksEricE
My brother!
Two good questions, and before I dive in, let me first apologise to many who have been sending me questions via social media platforms (especially Facebook and X) and have not received a reply. The reason is simple: I have limited time to answer dozens of messages online, since I usually respond to most during my weekly lessons and Tafseer sessions, which I consider more formal and what I can properly manage. I sincerely apologise to all those I have been unable to reply to, in the past, and even in the future.
Now, to your first question: selling your blood: this is impermissible by the consensus of all leading Islamic scholars. The Prophet (PBUH) forbade taking payment for blood (see Sahihul Bukhari, Hadith no. 5962). The hadith refers to money earned by selling blood). For further detail, see the book of Lajnatut Da’imah ( Volume 13, Number 71).
However, donating blood for free, under medical advice and to save a life, is highly commendable, and encouraged for anyone, regardless of his tribe, race, religion or group (see Qur’an, Suratul An’am, Verse 160).
Second question: Selling organs is also prohibited, since your body is a trust from your Creator, Allah. For details, refer to the fatwa of Al-Muntaqa issued by His Eminence, Shaykh Saleh al-Fawzan.
That said, donating an organ to save a life is permissible, but with conditions. The conditions are: it must be an organ on which life does not completely depend on (e.g., a kidney or blood vessel). On the contrary, if it’s vital, like heart, liver or brain, then it is not allowed to donate it, except for someone who has been declared medically dead. (see the Resolution No. 2117 of the Islamic Fiqh Council).
In summary, selling blood or organs is prohibited; giving them away to save a human life is permissible, as long as the donor’s own life does not depend on that organ.
Indeed, Allah is the All-Knowing.
BREAKING: Governor Bala Mohammed blasts President Tinubu over the tax reform laws and the arraignment of his commissioner of finance by the EFCC over an alleged $9.7 million terrorism financing charge
Bala said: I woke up to an accusation that I'm being accused of terrorism. My commissioner of finance is being held by the EFCC, and my name is being mentioned in the suit even though I have immunity.
They have not done 1km of road in Bauchi State. They've not provided water. Even the security agencies, I'm the one paying them to work for us, and they have the guts to talk.
I have kept quiet for too long. I'm not a coward. The federal government should look at its tax system. In spite of all the impurities, they are still going ahead with it to improvish the common man and the sub nationals (states), and we are keeping quiet.
The APC-led federal government think they can use the court and the EFCC to persecute and prosecute Nigerians that are not in their party. If they don't stop, we are going to declare war. I won't allow anyone to criminalise me because I'm not in the APC, and I refuse to join the APC. I will not join the APC.
Aliko Dangote is clearly not the villain in this story. A lot has happened prior to this.
Farouk has been driving this conflict since last year through a series of questionable and diabolical actions:
1. Circulated false claims about the quality of Dangote-produced fuel.
2. Publicly and inaccurately stated that the refinery was less than 50% complete.
3. Released misleading reports on daily fuel output by citing only volumes purchased by local marketers, deliberately excluding exports and stored inventory.
4. Repeatedly refused on-site inspections of the refinery, despite multiple formal invitations to verify production figures.
5. Persisted in publishing Nigeria’s daily fuel consumption figures without any transparent, verifiable, or auditable scientific basis.
Fresh audio has surfaced from the person Matawalle reportedly sent to beg Musa Kamarawa and offer him whatever he demanded to prevent him from submitting evidence in court. Following this, Matawalle’s supporters began accusing him, prompting him to plead publicly, asking them to tell Matawalle not to leave him alive if they believe he has done wrong.
Matawalle the current State Minister of Defense called and asked you to deny that video and anything you want he will do it for you.
Matawalle allegedly instructed Dr. Suleiman Shinkafi to confront Musa Kamarawa and ask him to deny his recent allegations made in a video.
Musa Kamarawa reportedly refused.
There is also an alleged leaked audio call between Musa Kamarawa and Dr. Suleiman.
If they want to import fuel, let them continue to import. It's okay, we will meet in the market. If 4,000 CNG trucks are not enough, we will buy another 4,000 trucks. It's a logistics business.
- Dangote.
A few months ago, I would have joined many people in blindly supporting Dangote. Like most Nigerians, I saw him only as a patriotic investor trying to save the country. However, the issue between Dangote and his workers opened my eyes, because I had first hand information about what was really happening behind the scenes.
There is no doubt that Dangote is a highly respected figure in Nigeria. That respect is well deserved in many areas. However, it is also important to say the truth, the man lies a lot. He often makes claims that are not accurate and does so very casually. He then hides behind his $20bn dollar investment, fully aware of how emotionally attached Nigerians are to the refinery. Many Optimistic Nigerians genuinely believe that Nigeria’s economic recovery depends solely on that refinery, and Alhaji Dangote understands this very well. He consistently exploits that sentiment to gain public sympathy, while portraying anyone who stands in his way (for right or wrong reasons) as an enemy of Nigeria or a saboteur of the Nigerian economy.
This is not me trying to defend Umar Farouq of NMDPRA. Rather, it is me trying to help people understand the kind of game Aliko Dangote plays. During his saga with PENGASSAN, he announced a reduction in PMS price, a move that has had no real effect till today. That announcement was not about helping Nigerians, it was about public perception. It was designed to make him look good and generate enough sympathy to weaken and eventually crush the engineers who were simply standing up for themselves and asking for a better pay. Unfortunately, that strategy worked perfectly, and he branded the innocent guys as saboteurs, and now his new engineers will collect every pittance he pays them unchallenged.
As NUPENG rightly pointed out, Dangote is fond of giving what can best be described as Greek gifts. This is exactly what we are witnessing again. A few weeks ago, NMDPRA posted an infographics that shows that the Dangote Refinery could not meet the PMS supply needs of the Nigerian market. This led the Federal Government to reverse the 15% import duty on PMS, it was also exposed that the refinery is, in practice, not very different from the blending arrangements he accuses NNPC refineries of operating.
The moment I saw I know Aliko is coming to blackmail somebody, and he didn’t disappoint, because shortly after, Dangote announced a 100 billion naira education intervention, followed by another announcement of PMS price reduction. Suddenly, after successfully washing his image and securing public sympathy, he has now turned his attention to Farouq of NMDPRA, attempting to paint him as corrupt or incompetent. Again, this is not me defending Farouq or claiming he is not corrupt. My position is simple, I do not believe Dangote’s narrative, because history has shown that he lies frequently and relies heavily on the gullibility and emotional reactions of Nigerians.
Finally, I find it extremely difficult to believe that there is any secondary school anywhere that charges five million dollars as school fees. That claim alone should make people pause and question the sincerity of everything being said.
For those who regularly listen to Sheikh Asada’s allegations against the former Governor of Zamfara State and current Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Matawalle and who have also watched the videos by Musa Kamarawa as well as yesterday’s video released by the bandit leader, Bello Turji, I believe it is only fair also to watch this video from the Minister himself to hear his own part of the story.
The video is quite long, but in the interest of fairness and objectivity, it deserves to be watched in full before any conclusion is drawn. In the video, the Minister directly addresses and clarifies all the allegations made against him, while also shedding light on issues that have been widely misunderstood or misrepresented.
Fair judgment can only be made after hearing all sides.