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Opinion

Heinous ‘Political’ Kidnappings And Killings In Ebiraland: At Whose Behest?

Published

2 years ago

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Governor Yahaya Bello

 

By Ozumi Abdul

The prayers and pride of all parents in most African societies, my beloved Ebiraland inclusive are always to have them buried by their children.

In fact, it is considered an abominable disaster when parents shed tears over the deaths of their children, or bury them with their own hands while they are still alive.

They would go out of their ways to do everything within their power to avert such fate from befalling them because it’s ill-luck and ill-fate on their part.

However, this age-long potent belief since the coming on board of this outgoing administration of Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello close to eight years now has been consistently reduced to mere fictious and mythical one, as old parents, especially mothers, now cry over the deaths of their sons.

In some cases though, these old parents still die before their children, but it’s usually abrupt deaths because of the psychological inability to cope with the depression of having their children who mostly fend for them in incarceration without traces. Some even lose their sigts after years of umpteenth and consistent sobs.

My intents for writing this piece are not to indict Governor Yahaya Bello, and his administration that have been able to fight and suppress the issues of insecurities to a standstill in the state, rather to subtly call his attention to how some people who are allegedly close to him and his government are hellbent on tarnishing his award-winning record of the best governor in terms of security.

I sincerely want the governor to swing into action within these few weeks he has left in office, and quickly prevail on his subjects to have people who they allegedly condemned to Illegal incarcerations released, or account for them in case they are no more.

These alleged individuals are proverbial bats who are neither birds nor rats, they are without identities, they neither have the love of Ebiraland at heart, nor that of the governor, who on the lips service they profess to pay loyalty and allegiance to.

What they are mostly concerned about are their political and personal interest, they don’t mind whose horses are gored, they can sacrifice anything and anybody who are threats to their status quo.

Amid all wrongs, they would never tell truth to power they are very close to, because they don’t mind if the governor fails or not, in as much as their interests are protected.

They would equally do everything humanly possible to shield and frustrate whoever that has the ingenuity to tell the governor the realities of the state from assessing him, because they thrive in falsehood, lies, distortion, deception and fabrication.

These individuals would take people who dare to voice out publicly their displeasures towards some of the government’s anti people policies to the cleaner. They do this by hiding under the veiled guise of the governor’s directives, because they consider such constructive criticisms as threats to their avaricious self-aggrandizements if they get to the governor. Go and consult Mr Garido in Okengwe, who happened to be the only survivors of their nefarious onslaughts to tell you the tale.

They have been simply giving the governor bad names all along, they not honourable, but horrible.

I watched in pains, with broken and shattered heart an emotionally-disturbing viral video last week, wherein an old woman, who should probably be an octogenarian (in her late 80s most likely) was crying out her heart and almost had her voice hoaxed.

She cried and her eyes became swollen and misty, while also intermittently muttering words of pleas to Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello to come to her aid.

It wasn’t as if the grey-haired old, poor, wrecked, hapless and helpless woman from Ihima, in Okehi Local Government Area of the state was actually sick, and thus seeking the governor’s assistance to foot her medical bill. A big NO! It’s far off it.

Her pleads to the governor was simply for him to prevail on his appointees to release her only child who was reportedly whisked away in the sedate of a nightfall to an unknown location for alleged political reason.

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Her ‘politically’ motivated kidnapped son, Kashim, she said was the sole sustainer of the entire family; a father of five, and husband.The old woman narrated how life has been hellish and nightmarish for the entire family Kashim left behind over eight months ago that he has been in incarceration of the alleged ‘unknown government men’.

As we speak, whether Kashim is still alive, or exterminated while in immurement remains unknown to virtually all of us, but clearly known to those who have their hands all soiled in his heinous ‘political’ kidnapping and durance.

Another sad, notable and attrocious political kidnapping similar to that of Kashim, that was reported via viral WhatsApp voice note barely a month ago was that of one Dahiru, also known as Decorous.

I also listened with heavy heart, as his aged mother narrated her sad ordeals.

The old woman had already lost her sights as a result of umpteenth sobs, because Decorous is her only surviving son that fends for her.

He fathers children numbering up to minimum of seven from two wives, and he is the sole fender for his immediate family and old mother.

According to the accounts of his two wives in the viral WhatsApp voice note, three months before Decorous unlawful “arrest”, arguments were said to ensued via phone call conversations between him and his old childhood friend, who is now a “powerful” member of the Governor Yahaya Bello’s cabinet.

Amidst the conversation via phone call, threats of him going to prison was said to be made by the said supposed childhood turned ‘powerful’ appointee friend, then Decorous retorted, challenging him to go ahead to execute his threat of him going to prison, else he is a bastard. Then three months after, masked men on military uniform were said to stormed Decorous’ yougourt factory and forcibly whisked him away with three of his workers who protested against their boss’ unlawful “arrest”.

I’m not alleging anybody as the orchestrator of his abduction here, but pardon me for using a Yoruba adage as a logical analogy thus: “Aje ke lale ana, omo kuloni, ta ni o pa omo? Meaning, a witch blubbed yesterday night, then suddenly a child died this morning, who then killed the child?

Again, a proverb in our native Ebira dialect would ask that, when a limping man enters a house, and moments later, a limping masquerade exited that same house, then who is in the masquerade?

Thus, threat of imprisonment was made during phone call conversations, then months later, Decorous a devout Muslim, who had no issues with anyone before then was allegedly kidnapped, and till date nothing has been heard of him, who then was behind his kidnapping?

If he (Decorous) and Kashim that was equally ‘kidnapped’ eight months ago in Ihima District were in any way found wanting to have broken the law, why were they not arrested in accordance to the dictates that are within the ambit of law, and get prosecuted in the the courts of competent jurisdictions?

Why were they ‘kidnapped’, leaving their families and loved ones in the dark over their whereabouts?

Now, after years and months respectively that these Ebira sons were ‘politically’ abducted, whether they are still alive today or extra-judicially killed, is a question no one can boldly answer including their family members.

No one can rightly attest to any of these two fates that must have befell Decorous and Kashim now, no one knows their whereabouts, and the kinds of treatments they are subjected to, but only their political abductors and orchestrators.

Sadly enough, there are tens or twenties of Kashims and Decorouses across Ebiraland whose fates have been decided in these similar heartless, monstrous and inhuman manners that are unheard of.

Their family members would only mourn in what German Noelle Neumann described as spiral of silence, accept their fates, move on, while the tales of their kidnapped brethren are interred eternally into the abyss of history.

They are gone forever and never to return again, their family members would hardly see them again. Their children especially those who are very young during the abductions of their fathers would hardly know the facial identities of their fathers again.

Who then takes up the responsibilities of these emergency-orphaned children, as they journey down the routes of futures laden with uncertainties? What are their fates of not becoming liabilities to themselves, their families and societies in future?

What about their emergency-widowed wives, what are their fates?

As I drop my pen here, I ask again, at whose behest are all the heinous political kidnappings and killings in Ebiraland? Who are the orchestrators?

In as much as answers can’t be readily be provided to these questions for now, one thing the culprits of these crimes to humanity should discern is that Anebiras don’t forget, they hardly forgive people who had committed attrocities against them.

Stale pounded yam can still be freshly hot even after hundred years. These individuals should better know this now that posterity shall take its due course

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Beyond the Godfather’s Shadow: Why Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf Chose Kano Over a Provincial Presidential Quest

Published

2 days ago

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January 5, 2026

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​By Kabiru Sani Dogo Maiwanki

​The recent pronouncements by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso regarding Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s strategic political recalibration have finally stripped away the façade, exposing the profound ideological fissures within the NNPP hierarchy. In a caustic address delivered Saturday evening, the Senator characterized the Governor’s newfound autonomy as a “betrayal” of a far more egregious nature than that of his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje. However, in this vitriolic attempt to cast himself as the victim of political infidelity, Kwankwaso inadvertently betrayed a disconcerting truth: he viewed the incumbent administration not as a sovereign executive entity, but as a subordinate instrument of his personal political estate.

​Senator Kwankwaso remarked that, as a presidential hopeful, his fundamental expectation was that the administration he purportedly “installed” would function as a geopolitical centrifuge—a financial and logistical catalyst designed to project the Kwankwasiyya hegemony into neighboring Northwestern territories. He expressed profound chagrin that, over two years into this mandate, the machinery of the Kano State government has not been weaponized to “conquer” even Jigawa State for his political brand. This revelation is remarkably candid; it implies that the Senator’s patronage of the current administration was never rooted in the socio-economic advancement of the Kano populace, but was instead a cynical stratagem to treat the state’s commonwealth as a private war chest for a singular, ego-driven presidential odyssey.

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​By resisting this role, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has committed what Kwankwaso perceives as an unpardonable “sin,” but what objective observers must recognize as a courageous act of institutional integrity. The Governor’s refusal to allow the Kano State treasury to be cannibalized for regional political expansion is a resounding victory for fiscal prudence and administrative transparency. It represents a principled rejection of the archaic practice where public commonwealth is weaponized to bolster the narrow political interests of a singular godfather at the expense of the citizenry.

​The depth of the Senator’s desperation is now laid bare for all to see. In a striking reversal from his usual posture of absolute authority, Kwankwaso has been reduced to making public appeals for reconciliation. His recent plea—openly asking anyone with access to the Governor to “beg him to come back”—reveals a leader who has finally grasped the magnitude of his loss. It is the sound of a man who realizes that the “innocent aide” he once underrated has not only secured his independence but has taken the soul of the movement with him.

​It is therefore essential for Kwankwaso and other political leaders who pride themselves on their political stature to realize that there is a limit to how long they can continue to deceive and exploit their followers. Respect must be reciprocal; whether between a leader and the led, there is a definitive limit to the amount of insult, manipulation, and contempt any person can endure.

Whenever you push a supporter to the brink and their patience finally runs out, the consequences of their anger will certainly be unpleasant for those in power.
​For the well-meaning people of Kano, this is a moment to offer unalloyed commendation. Governor Abba deserves praise for his steadfastness in protecting the state’s allocations and for prioritizing the welfare of the masses over the expansionist agenda of a political empire. Abba Kabir Yusuf has chosen to be the custodian of the people’s trust rather than a puppet for personal ambition, and in doing so, he has redefined the essence of leadership in Kano.

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Opinion

From Zamfara roots to national vision: Aliyu Muhammad Adamu, seasoned media leader, returns home to serve his people.”

Published

3 days ago

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January 4, 2026

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Aliyu Muhammad Adamu was born on 29th December 1982 in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, into the respected Adamu Joji family.

He hails from a lineage that includes notable family members such as Alhaji Sanda Adamu Tsafe (Sarkin Yakin Tsafe), Alhaji Aliyu Adamu (Danmadami), Alhaji Sani Adamu, Hajiya Khadija Adamu (Gwoggo Dala), and Hajiya Amina, among others.

His father, Muhammad Adamu (popularly known as Nata’ala), later relocated to Kano State in pursuit of business expansion. As a result, Aliyu and his siblings were raised in Kano, where he began his early education at Da’awa Primary School, Kano.

Driven by a strong connection to his roots, Aliyu returned to Zamfara State for his secondary education, attending Unity Secondary School, Gummi. He subsequently gained admission into Bayero University, Kano (BUK), where he obtained both his Diploma and Bachelor’s Degree, graduating in 2010.

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After completing his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Aliyu faced the realities of life with resilience and determination, navigating through challenges that shaped his character and leadership capacity. In 2014, he returned to Zamfara State and began his professional career in the media industry with Gamji Television and Radio.

Through dedication, hard work, and professional excellence, he served the organization for nearly ten years, rising through the ranks to become the General Manager of the station, an achievement that underscored his leadership, administrative competence, and commitment to public communication.

In 2023, Aliyu voluntarily resigned from the media organization and relocated to Kano State in pursuit of broader opportunities and personal development. Today, driven by a renewed sense of purpose and a lifelong commitment to his people, Aliyu Muhammad Adamu is preparing to return to his hometown to seek the support and mandate of his people. His aspiration is to represent our parents, brothers, and sisters at the federal level, with a clear vision of contributing meaningfully to the development, unity, and overall progress of Zamfara State.

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Opinion

Opinion:The Anatomy Of A Hoax- Setting The Record Straight On Governor Abba Yusuf

Published

3 days ago

on

January 4, 2026

By

 

 

​By Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure

​The recent wave of political “scoops” regarding the purported defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has moved beyond mere speculation into a coordinated campaign of character assassination. Most notably, reports by Daily Nigerian claiming the Governor’s move was “postponed” are masterpieces of fiction, designed to paint a sitting Governor as indecisive and subordinate. As a witness to the political realities in Kano, I find it necessary to dismantle these fallacies with the facts that the purveyors of this rumor have conveniently ignored. In Nigerian politics, defection is a statutory process requiring a formal resignation from one’s current party. To date, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has not submitted any resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). To claim that a “finalized arrangement” for a Monday registration existed is a procedural hallucination; one cannot join a new house without first stepping out of the old one.
​Furthermore, the narrative suggests the Governor’s plans were shelved because he failed to seek the “blessings” of local APC bigwigs. This is a laughable distortion of executive power. History is replete with Governors who defected based on executive conviction without the interference of local APC “big wigs.” We have seen this with the Governor of Delta vs. Senator Omo-Agege, the Governor of Bayelsa vs. David Lyon and Minister Heineken Lokpobiri, the Governor of Rivers vs. Nyesom Wike, and the Governor of Plateau vs. the current National Chairman of the APC. More recently, the defections of Governors like Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River), and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) proved that when a Governor moves, he does so as the new leader of the party in his state. It is also historically hypocritical to label such a move as “betrayal.” When Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso defected from the PDP to the APC in 2013, he did not seek permission from any person or leadership—he led a rebellion based on his own conviction. If it was “principled politics” for the godfather then, it cannot be “betrayal” for the Governor now.

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​What, then, remains for a Governor who already holds the overwhelming mandate of his people? It is a known fact that Governor Abba Yusuf moves with the ironclad support of almost 95% of the Kano State House of Assembly, 50% of the National Assembly members from the state, all 44 Local Government chairmen, and the entire grassroots party structure. The desperate attempt by the NNPP National Working Committee to dissolve the Kano executive committees is a futile, “too-late” maneuver that only confirms their loss of control. When a Governor commands such total loyalty, he does not ask for permission; he leads. The defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is inevitable if he so wishes, as he carries the entire political soul of Kano with him.
​The theory that the APC postponed this move because Senator Kwankwaso is not coming along simply does not hold water. Kwankwaso’s refusal to join the APC is a settled matter; it is alleged the President offered him a ministerial position or the Chairmanship of the soon-to-be resuscitated Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), both of which he rejected after his demand to join the Presidential ticket was denied. Using this stalemate as a pretext for the Governor’s “indecision” is a transparent lie aimed at making the Governor look like a political appendage. It is disheartening to see Daily Nigerian abandon objective journalism to frame the Governor as a “betrayer.” If Governor Abba Yusuf chooses to move, he does so as a leader of a massive political movement. The media must stop concocting stories to mislead the public. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf remains focused on his mandate. These rumors are merely the desperate gasps of those who wish to see Kano in perpetual turmoil.

​Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure writes from Shanono Local Government, Kano State. He can be reached at ahmedtsaure28@gmail.com.

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