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Kashim Shettima And His Eloquent Disposition

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Vice President Kashim Shettima

 

By: AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo

The Vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima is one man with many explicit quotes. I sometimes referred to him as Barack Obama of Nigeria as I watched him on TV during campaigns and other engagements. He speaks with ease all the time.

The former Governor of Borno state is not an accidental leader as he has shown in all capacity that he is up to the task. As a Governor he did not make noise but silently achieving progress in Borno state. He was accused of sponsoring Boko Haram but that did not deter him, because he believed it was all politically motivated.

If His Excellency had not been picked as the Vice presidential candidate of All Progressive Congress by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu I might not have seen the monumental intelligence embedded in the Kanuri man. In fact, this realisation occurred not to only me but also majority of Nigerians who are members or supporters of All Progressive Congress, APC.

More importantly, the senator-elect for Kwara Central senatorial district and Turaki of Ilorin, Mallam Saliu Mustapha greeted Senator Kashim Shettima on the occasion of his birthday on 2nd September,2022 and described him as follows:”Senator Kashim Shettima requires no introduction nationally. Our quintessential incoming Vice President, regarded as the northern star-boy, has won admiration for his vibrant personality and force of credibility.
…He is a refined intellectual, a relentless achiever, and an eloquent speaker.

Given his understanding of economic and national issues, as well as his educational background as an agricultural economist, he is the ideal copilot for guiding, managing, and safeguarding our national heritage.”

Interestingly, long before his ascension to Vice Presidency I had been one of his consistent followers on Facebook, where he regularly shares supremacy jokes between Fulani and Kanuri. Such jokes have been in existence from the time immemorial but Kashim Shettima’s style made it to have more flavour and originality. In fact, I usually made comments on his post that the Fulanis are the masters of Kanuris.

In Ilorin such jokes exist too. Our Ilorin Kannikes are from Borno state and they are Ilorin Kanuris. We crack the jokes whenever we come across each other. Similarly, during my youth service at Yobe Broadcasting Corporation (YBC), Damaturu, Yobe State, the jokes always surfaced among the Kanuris and Fulanis who are staff of the corporation, most especially in the news room.

That is by the way. Having watched him closely on TV I realised that Kashim Shettima is one of the great men that usually show gratitude for whoever might have helped them in one way or the other in the past. Indeed, gratitude is one of the attributes of great men. In recent time he has always credibly referred to Jim Ovia as his mentor in banking industry. So to me, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made a right choice for picking him as Vice President.

Our President can go to bed without any suspicion with the kind of Vice President he has chosen. One should not be surprised why President Tinubu picked him, because Asiwaju is a political tactician and strategist. In fact, former President Muhammadu Buhari at some point referred to Tinubu as a political strategist.

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One does not need anyone to tutor him about Shettima’s eloquence, because he reads a lot, I surmise. In fact, recently, I saw a picture he took in his library, which is suggestive of the recipe for his intellectual acumen. When you read, you widen your horizon and hence will be equipped with the wherewithal to making inputs in every situation, be it verbal, technical, sociopolitical, cultural or economic.

According to a German Poet, Heinrich Heine “True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary,and nothing but what is necessary” Kashim Shettima knows when, where and how to talk,in view of this, let me share some of his quotes
that captivated me like a new
beautiful bride: “Osinbajo is a good and nice man, but nice men don’t make good leaders. Nice men should be selling ice cream”.
Although this did not go unchallenged by the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in his light response that Shettima was a shareholder in Yemi Osinbajo’s ice cream company, Shettima’s words and the timing were suggestive of his intellectual versatility; politically in this wise.

In August 2022 when Shettima represented APC flag bearer Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 62nd NBA conference at Eko hotel in Lagos, here is what he said to subdue the hostile crowd: “When I was told that it was a hostile crowd-I am a banker, trained by one of the best bankers in the world. I am Jim Ovia boy- I deliberately wore sneakers to snub at them”.
After this event some young Nigerians and public commentators from the opposition were mocking him, but like his usual way Shettima was unperturbed.

“Before 1999, Lagos State has only one Ambulance and Lagos was earning 700 million naira every month but Tinubu increased it to 5 billion naira”. Shettima was trying to describe Asiwaju there as a man of vision and with him as president, Nigeria will achieve steady progress.

“Dangote Refinery is a game-changer for the Nigerian economy and it will show that Africa is not only known for crisis”. He said this during the commissioning of Dangote refinery by former President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos.

“Politics is about perception. As we begin the formation of a new administration, I deliberately picked an Igbo man, a Catholic, to be my Chief Security Officer,” he stated. “For the purpose of inclusivity and togetherness, again I deliberately picked a Northern Christian to be my ADC. So the so-called founder of Boko Haram is going to be protected by a Christian. He asserted this during a lecture in Abuja that will culminate the swearing-in of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.In the same event he referred to himself as a child of necessity.

Shettima’s voice in support of subsidy removal is another aspect of his coherent disposition. He urged the Governors to support the decision of Mr President on subsidy removal because the oil cabals are dangerous. In his words “The oil scam cabal is a very very powerful cabal that are dangerously loaded and they will go out of their way to undermine this great initiative by Mr President. I will urge our colleagues, our Governors to rally round the president and see to it that will call off the plugs of all the machinations that would be unleashed on the polity in the coming weeks. Some will certainly resist this decision but even now oil is going for 740 per litre in Togo, Cameroon has to closed down their refineries because of the cheap oil coming in from Nigeria.There is a need for us to rally round this beautiful decision by Mr President because it is for the growth of our economy. Our economy is in a very very bad shape, we either get rid of oil subsidy or oil subsidy gets rid of the Nigerian Nation.That is how bad things are…”

Earlier on 30th May, 2023 at his office, he said: “The president has already made a pronouncement yesterday on the issue of fuel subsidy.The truth of the matter is, we either get rid of fuel subsidy or fuel subsidy gets rid of the Nigerian Nation. In 2022 we spent 10 billion dollars subsidizing the ostentatious life styles of upper cross of the society, because you and I benefit 90 percent from fuel subsidy, the poor 40 percent benefit little from fuel subsidy”

Senator Kashim Shettima, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria also described the fuel subsidy and multiple exchange rate as two big elephants.

Finally, the Kanuri man has exhibited the necessary prerequisites for identifying a conscious leader through his consistent disposition during campaigns . Indeed, he would be a great asset to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

May Nigeria succeed under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.

Opinion

Izala Sect: Crisis of Leadership, Accusations of Shiism Meddle in Polarising Its Members, History Repeats Itself

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By Yakubu Nasiru Khalid

Formally, the Izala sect was formed in 1978, created to eradicate innovation (bid’a) within the Islamic doctrine. It has a modern structure and leadership both at the state and national levels. Therefore, the leadership of the Izala has come with a well-structured and hierarchical bureau and the feeling that they are different from who they see as the “Conservative Islamic Group.”

The structure comprises three arms: the Council of Ulama, the Administrative Council, and The First Aid Group. Each of the councils has its own head and followers to achieve designed goals. Even with this structure, the sect experienced crises at both levels, which polarised its leadership.

The reasons attached to the polarisation of Izala at the national level later descended to many states where the organization has a large following. The reasons were multifaceted, from jurisprudence, political, financial, and external meddling to sundry issues.

Initially, there was a problem regarding the leadership of the organization, especially the question of who was the supreme leader of the organization between the Administrative Council and the chairman of the Ulama Council. At the time, the head of the Administrative Council was Alhaji Musa Muhammad Maigandu, from Kaduna, and Sheikh Ismail Idris was the chairman of the Ulama Council, Jos faction recognized Ismail Idris.

The Jos faction rejected Maigandu for not being a scholar but a businessman, arguing that an Islamic organization should be led by a scholar, not a businessman. This added more fire to the crisis.

Furthermore, the Kaduna faction was very critical of some views and fatwas of Ismail Idris, especially those that dealt with the issue of bid’a. According to Ismail Idris, the followers of Izala would not pray behind an Imam who’s not a member of Izala, they would also not marry from the family of a person who inclined to Sufism and would not eat the meat of an animal slaughtered by a follower of the Sufi group.

The Kaduna faction was outrightly against these views and opposed them. Another vital factor that played a role in the split of the Izala group was the accusations and counter-accusations of financial management. Ismail Idris was accused of organizing in the Arab countries, and he was further accused of personalizing vehicles donated to the Izala sect.

In addition, Ben Amara argued that the eruption of the Gulf War in the 1990s between the USA and Iraq was another important factor in the polarisation of the Izala. The Jos faction supported the American invasion of Iraq because of the Saudi Arabian interest, while Kaduna supported Iraq. The Jos faction called Kaduna “Saddamawa” meaning (supporters of Saddam) while Kaduna called Jos “Bushawa” meaning (supporters of American interest).

The leadership of the Jos faction blamed Shia for the internal crisis of Izala and accused some Ulama of being secret agents of Shiism who were working toward dismantling the group.

yakubunasirukhalid@gmail.com

 

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Opinion

Gov. Yusuf’s executive order extending retirement age for HoS, Kano Assembly Clerk, and others unconstitutional

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Sani Usman-DanAbdullo, a Director of Admin and General Services at the Kano State Agency for the Control of Aids, KSACA, has written to the state assembly, seeking its intervention in the
Executive Order issued by Governor Abba Yusuf.

Mr DanAbdullo, in a petition dated January 6 and addressed to Speaker of the Assembly, Jibrin Ismail Falgore, recalled that the governor had in January 2025 issued Executive Order No. 1 of 2025, extending the service period of some civil servants.

According to him, the governor extended the service year of the Head of Service, Assembly Clerk, some judicial officers, Permanent Secretaries and a host of other staff in the state health sector for 2 years after they were due for retirement as of December 2024.

The lawyer also recalled that the state assembly had enacted a law fixing the retirement of staff at 60 years of age or 35 years of service, depending on whichever comes first.

Mr DanAbdullo, therefore, asserted that the governor’s executive order was unconstitutional, “since the House has already made laws which the order seeks to alter”.

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He noted that that executive order is not meant to alter, amend, modify or expand the law made by the legislature.

“This act, is, therefore, a clear violation of the principles of rule of law and separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution being not only a clear attempt to usurp the legislative powers of this Honourable House, but to contradict the existing laws already enacted by it in exercise of its powers as such,” the petition added.

While dismissing a claim that the governor issued the order in the spirit of the Doctrine of Necessity, Mr DanAbdullo said there was no justification for extending the service years of the affected retired officers since there are many competent hands with adequate qualifications to be appointed.

“And as for the staff in the health sector, they can be retained on contract arrangement in line with the existing service law of Kano State,” the petition added.

Mr DanAbdullo, therefore, warned that the provisions of the Constitution must not be subordinated to any other law, and must not be subjected to the indignity of deletion of any section or part thereof.

“In view of the foregoing, I urge this esteemed House to employ all legal mechanism at its disposal to overrule the Governor’s decision in the act complained of, which is capable of setting a very dangerous precedent that will ruin the entire public service system of our dear State, if allowed.

“TAKE NOTICE Sir, this act of indiscriminate issuance of executive order, if allowed, will cause the entire Kano State the following catastrophic effects,”

The State Assembly failed to attend to the petition even if it means dismissing it for fear of the governor, if the petition is not attended to we will have no option but to go to court”. He added

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Opinion

The Movement (Tafiyar Matasa) and the Very Big Questions to Answer

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Comr. Habu Hassan Abdullahi

Comr. Habu Hassan Abdullahi

Yes, I am not some sort of social critic who would unfairly denigrate someone’s achievement for personal gain or political interest that I do not have. Thus, this is pre-eminently the right time to speak the truth to the members of my generation in Nigeria whether they care to accept it or not. But remember the truth is always truth and can stand alone.

No doubt that not everyone is happy with how leadership is running in this country, with the exception of those at the corridor of power. But this is not enough to be a raison d’etre to handle our dear nation to the hands of inexperienced youths. Forgive my pen for the use of “inexperienced”. Just because most of them have never been to real leadership. Of course, I am myself opposed to the exclusionary habit of the present politicians, they’ve relegated youths to the mantle of power but we have to cautiously control our faculty of thinking to avoid getting entangled in a lust for power.

I was very happy when I heard the idea of “The Movement” known as “Tafiyar Matasa” in the Hausa language. And of course, the genesis of the movement was attributed to the unavoidable “EndBadGovernance” protest of 1st August, 2024. The movement began immediately after the protest, in fact, it is one of the noticeable outcomes of the protest due to the unity it brought. The idea of the movement was preached and promoted by some prominent northern activists and social media influencers to serve as a last resort to the youths in their effort to bring good governance. No one can deny the fact this is a laudable effort. But the very big question supposed to be asked here is: youthfulness is the only parameter and yardstick to measure the caliber of a good leader? If yes, why Yahaya Bello (Former Governor of Kogi) and Abdurrasheeed Bawa (former EFCC Boss) were arraigned for looting the public treasury! The point I want to make here is, being young or old will not be a determining factor for an individual to be a good leader. We can have corrupt leaders within any range of age.

Another important issue to take into cognizance is the failure of some youths to comprehend the logic and existing distinction between being a good activist and being a good leader. Leadership is quite different from activism, therefore, a good activist may not necessarily be a good leader. It is common knowledge that the conveners of this important movement lack practical leadership acumen and organizational skills that are fundamental for successful leadership. Okay, should we handle our future to the trial and error leaders? We have to exercise extraordinary care when it comes to leadership.

Yet another problem faced by this movement is financial constraints. To be sincere and frank, the quantum resources required to run a great national political movement like this oversizes the pockets of the conveners. Another organic question to ask here is: where the movement conveners can solicit humongous financial resources? From the politicians they are castigating? If yes, this is performative contradiction!

Finally, I would like to remind my fellow youths that new breed, as the late Yusuf Maitama said, cannot solve the Nigerian problem. There must be mutual cooperation and understanding between the new breed and old breed. We must work together with them to acquire all necessary experience, knowledge, and practical leadership skills.

Written by
Comr. Habu Hassan Abdullahi
From Bayero University, Kano
Department of Education
Contact via 07065941454 or habu92hassan@gmail.com

 

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