The Coalition of Shiroro Associations (COSA) has raised concerns over what it describes as a deliberate campaign of intimidation against its members by certain politicians in Niger State. In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday by its Publicity Secretary, Abdulrahaman Babafada, COSA alleged that some political figures are exploiting state resources to harass and silence members of the coalition, especially following its recent media engagements. COSA had held a series of press conferences to voice the discontent of Shiroro residents over the imposition of a chairmanship candidate by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local government, citing constitutional…
Author: TheStories
Following the mounting pressure from education stakeholders, parents, and civil society groups, who were loud in condemning the depressing performance of candidates in this year’s examination, the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, did something unprecedented yesterday. Yes, unprecedented in the sense that, for the first time, a public officer in charge of a powerful arm of Government has come publicly to admit error, under which he took responsibility and had emotionally apologized. At a well-attended press conference, Professor Ishaq Oloyede went sobbing because he felt JAMB, under his watch, had failed some students…
For anyone conversant with the conversations coming out of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, the narratives are mostly negative. Stories about the activities of the commission, popularly referred to as NAHCON, are regularly undistinguished. Yes, the reports in the last couple of years have been undesirable and unpleasant to the ear of the patriot. Going back to the time when Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad was the Chairman, the commission has been regular in the news for bad news. It took the court to settle the issue of terrible allegations of impropriety put against Abdullahi by an activist called I.…
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” ― Wayne W. Dyer. Also, Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher said, “The only constant in life is change, and no man ever steps in the same river twice”. On the motivation of the above quotes, and inspired by the saying of something similar, by the former Governor of the former Kaduna state, late Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, that: “We are living today in times of great changes. The old order is crumbling fast and new systems of life are emerging. Our task is to understand these…
The parallel Zamfara House of Assembly has called on Governor Dauda Lawal to establish three Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the state. The appeal was made on Tuesday following a motion moved by Hon. Ibrahim Tudu-Tukur (APC, Bakura Constituency) during the parallel assembly’s plenary session in Gusau. The 10 suspended lawmakers held a separate sitting on Wednesday, resulting in the factionalisation of the assembly. One faction, consisting of 13 members and led by Speaker Bilyaminu Moriki (PDP, Zurmi South), is opposed by another faction of 10 members headed by Bashar Aliyu (PDP, Gummi I). Tudu-Tukur said the motion became…
There is no way anyone can chronicle Nigeria’s political history without mentioning the name Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. Kwankwaso served as the Governor of Kano State twice—first from 1999 to 2003, and again from 2011 to 2015. He also held the position of Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo, from 2003 to 2007. The same Kwankwaso was elected to the Senate in 2015, under the All Progressives Congress (APC). For those conversant with Nigeria’s political history, they must have come across the name Mohammed Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on the list of members of the House of Representatives in 1992.…
A Fulani herder named Musa was asleep at his home in northeast Nigeria in early April when he and his family heard gunfire and fled into the bush. When it was safe to return, Musa found that terrorists had stolen the source of his livelihood: 36 cattle and 40 sheep. Musa’s plight, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP), is not unique among herders in the Lake Chad Basin, across West Africa and in the Sahel, where livestock is coveted and thieves sell stolen animals at local markets. “Cattle rustling is a major source of funding for armed groups,” an expert…
This week, an ardent reader of my column, ‘Deep Thought’, who is also a friend and colleague, Prof. A. A. Ammani, requested permission to use my column as a guest writer. I considered the subject of his discussion and believe the issue is essential, especially for the young Nigerians who annually write JAMB’s UTME in hundreds of thousands, if not millions. I hope the officials of JAMB and other relevant stakeholders will find the suggestions helpful in improving the efficiency of the entrance examination. Prof. Ammani was the reviewer of my book, SAA: Three Decades of Fight Against Hunger and…
Since Nigeria’s 2015 general elections, the country’s political scene has steadily shifted. What was once a competitive—albeit flawed—multiparty democracy now increasingly resembles a one-party system dominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC). With prominent defections from rival parties and weakened opposition voices, critics argue that Nigeria is inching toward a dangerous concentration of political power. By Usman Mohammed Binji But what does this trend mean for Africa’s most populous democracy? Are there benefits to having one dominant political force, or are Nigerians trading away accountability for the illusion of stability? While Nigeria remains constitutionally a multiparty democracy, the growing number…
In today’s Nigeria, you don’t need to look far to find a lie—just turn on the news, attend a political rally, scroll through Instagram, or listen to your neighbour’s “breakthrough testimony.” Lies have become a tool of survival, a badge of smartness, and sadly, a mark of leadership in every sector. But while Nigeria claps for cunning, heaven groans for truth. And the Bible? It doesn’t stutter. Let’s take a divine mirror and compare our national character to God’s eternal truth. Political Promises & Propaganda During elections, politicians promise pipe-borne water and 24-hour electricity, six-lane roads in six months, and…