As we witnessed a massive political shockwave among American voters yesterday, one thing particularly caught my attention. Interestingly, about 98% of American politicians appear comfortable with public speaking, while a significant proportion, perhaps 70%, demonstrate exceptional oratory skills, like Barack Obama and Zohran Mamdani.

Unlike what we often experience here in Nigeria, where some political candidates shy away from media interviews, town hall meetings, debates and direct interactions with the very people they seek to represent. These platforms provide citizens with the opportunity to ask questions, demand clarification and obtain answers from those aspiring to occupy public offices. Leadership should not be about making promises during election campaigns; it should also involve the willingness to engage, communicate and be held accountable.

We need more educated, dedicated, intellectually grounded and visionary young people to participate actively in politics and governance. It is encouraging to see young Africans increasingly occupying important political positions. While some of our contemporaries are already serving as senators, members of the House of Representatives, mayors and political spokespersons, we must also recognise that age should never be a barrier to meaningful leadership and public service.

A remarkable example is Karoline Leavitt, the former White House Press Secretary, who assumed that responsibility at just 27 years old. Yes, 27! A young woman entrusted with one of the most prominent communication positions in a country as influential as the United States. Her experience demonstrates that young people can occupy significant positions of responsibility when given the opportunity and entrusted with the necessary responsibilities.

As my mentor, Dr. Nelson Aluya, MD, MBBS, has consistently advocated, youth participation should extend beyond politics. Young people must also be actively involved in technology, innovation, education, entrepreneurship and the fight against drug abuse. These are critical areas that will determine the future of our society and the direction of the next generation.

What we are witnessing is a welcome indication of democratic engagement and generational progress. Nigerian youths must move beyond political commentary, social media arguments and online activism to become active participants in the political process. We must develop the intellectual capacity, courage, competence and civic consciousness required to influence governance and contribute meaningfully to nation-building.

If Americans can create opportunities for young people to participate in leadership, Nigerians can equally embrace a political culture that recognises competence, accountability and youthful innovation.

Come 2027, Nigeria needs more than political enthusiasm; we need informed participation, credible leadership and a generation of young people ready to take responsibility for the country’s future.

Zubair A. Zubair
Journalist, Computer Programmer and Farmer
Writes from Kano, Nigeria.

By Abba Anwar

My write-up on His Excellency, Deputy President of the Senate, Barau I Jibrin, PhD, CFR, captioned “Reassessment of DSP Barau’s Projects in Kano North: One Building, Three Names” attracted attention from left, right and centre. Not less than 8 rejoinders came knocking the space and time.

Since then I joined issue with only one DSP’s apologists, one Abdulrazak Usman, PhD, and this is my second response to those rejoinders. I deliberately decided not to respond to the remaining ones. Simply because I regard them as trash and imbalanced. The worst part of it is most of the rejoinders were AI generated. So I can’t waste time replying someone who cannot afford to respond to brain work with brain work. But with AI-induced contribution.

This piece is a response to a rejoinder by a sound scholar and refined intellectual, Prof Bashir Fagge Muhammad (mni), who is the Special Adviser, Policy, and Monitoring to the Deputy President of the Senate.

I was raised in a family that values scholarship and discipline. Yes Prof Muhammad falls in this category. Hence my decision for this response. I sincerely value his approach and presentation. Unlike others, he didn’t present himself as an educated but ignorant fellow.

Prof Sir I do appreciate your first paragraph when you said, “The recent article by Abba Anwar raises legitimate public expectations – Kano North wants completed projects, not just allocations. That expectation is valid. However, the reassessment conflates legislative facilitation with executive implementation and ignores the fiscal reality under which all federal capital projects have operated in the last three years.”

But the reality is I did not ignore fiscal reality in relation to capital projects. Neither did I look at the contending issues with unimpressive memory. I believe and I know that there are process and procedures in budget formation and formulation. I know exactly the responsibility of a law maker and that of the executive.

His Excellency being a lawmaker I only interrogate his inaction for not lobbying enough to influence projects, timely appropriation, implementation, maximum review and completion.

It is absolutely true Sir that “To judge any of the Distinguished Senator Barau’s projects today without mentioning budget implementation architecture is to miss the story.”

Agreed that “… the lingering budget implementation crisis and austere measures…” are some of the factors that inform what is obtainable now, as DSP’s influenced projects are involved.

Sir I absolutely concur with your submission that, “Since 2024, Nigeria has operated an unprecedented system of overlapping budgets.”

More interesting and convincing part of your piece is this all-important paragraph where you said, “The 2024 capital budget was extended to December 2025.
The 2025 capital budget was initially to end Dec 31, 2025, then extended to March 31, 2026, then June 30, 2026, then September 30, 2026, and now for the fourth time to December 31, 2026 by both Senate and House of Representatives.
Experts have warned that overlapping budgets of 2024 and 2025 have made it difficult for the federal government to implement new capital projects.”

Above reasons are valid and sum up the argument with self-explanatory notes. I also want my respected Professor to kindly understand my argument. My reassessment of the DSP’s interventions is not for deconstruction purpose. Though nowhere in your argument you made mention of that.

I also commend Prof’s sense of humor and responsibility as he took his precious time and explained why the extension of some of the projects I made reference with. His reasons are hanged on the issues of cash backing, FG’s Policy to End Multiple Budgets, unfinished Projects Rolled Over, that will be moved into 2027 and Infrastructure Establishment Process and Realistic Timeframe.

While Prof’s argument of forwarding rhetoric question of who is accountable in the delay of Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road project is instructive, my worry about it is not holding DSP accountable, but his lackadaisical attitude in not making his lobbying and influence ability to be as pushy as possible. The push has faultlines.

On Immigration Training School, Bichi and NSCDC College, Gwarzo, where Prof mentioned 60-70% for Bichi and 50-60% for Gwarzo, Sir when was your last time you visited the locations? Talking of completion of a project carries along with it, standing of edifice(s), equipping the edifice, staffing the edifice, obtaining approvals and fulfilling requirements for security operation, in this context and even landscaping, are all part of what is seen and regarded as completion stage. Prof Sir I still commend your attempt in responding to this Bichi and Gwarzo spaces.

Under Federal University of Science and Technology, Kabo, project, what I pointed out in my first article is this, “Yes, it is now a University on paper. Admission for 2026/2027 has been announced on JAMB CAPS. But visit Kabo today and you will see a Polytechnic being hurriedly painted to become a University. Laboratories are still Polytechnic standard. Lecture halls are still Polytechnic size. There is no teaching hospital, no Senate building, no Professorial offices befitting a University of Science and Technology. So, while the law is complete, the University is not.”

Well Prof reminded me that, “The author admits legislative completion is 100%. The claim that labs are still Polytechnic standard misses the phased university establishment model approved by NUC.”

He further continued to furnish me with information he knows far better than me, that is stages of university establishment. Prof says, “Phase 1 (Year 1): Use existing infrastructure, appoint Vice-Chancellor, commence admission via JAMB CAPS (which has happened for 2026/2027).
Phase 2 (Year 2-3): TETFund high-impact intervention for Senate Building, Professorial offices, teaching hospital affiliation.
Phase 3: Full accreditation.”

Seen and acknowledged. But Sir good people of Dambatta local government, which is in Kano North Senatorial District, may not understand you clearly on this protocol. Why? Because before the issue of Federal Polytechnic Kabo came on board, as facilitated by the Senator, people of Dambatta requested the Senator to kindly push for the upgrade of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, to become Federal University of Agriculture.

According to the survey I conducted, in the entire North there was only one Federal University of Agriculture, located in Makurdi, since 1988, which is now Joseph Saruwan Tarka University, Makurdi. Until 2020 when North got another Federal University of Agriculture, in Zuru (FUAZ). Before the establishment of FUAZ, Dambatta people requested DSP to push for the upgrade of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta.

They alleged that he used his power of influence and pushed for Federal Polytechnic Kabo, later upgraded to Federal University of Science and Technology, Kabo. While rejecting request from Dambatta.

The most worrying part of this changeover, was and still is, as alleged and blamed by many, that DSP did that to overshadow the political dominance, popularity and influence of the Deputy Governor of Kano State, His Excellency Murtala Sule Garo, who is also from Kabo. Forgetting that TRUST AND LOYALTY ARE BUILT OVER TIME.

Where Prof explains and discusses the issue of One Building, Three Names, he counters that it was a Misreading of Shared Infrastructure Model. Sir it isn’t a misreading as you put it. What I know is this, under this model the philosophy of do more with less, without reducing quality is not the focus under DSP’s arrangement.

Under this model the central aim is one world-class shared facility. Is DSP’s effort world class? What of maintenance and sustainability? Are they in existence in One Building Three Names? What of separation of responsibilities, quality and performance? Who measures quality and what are the performance indexes since the establishment of the Three-in- One model?

Prof Sir your submission under “Major Implications of Senator Barau’s Social Interventions on Kano North and Kano State,” as you put it, is partly perfect and encouraging. I said partly because we are engaged in real and independent scrutiny of all the interventions you mentioned. Some of the referenced interventions in your submissions are real, beyond assumption or pretense and are verifiable. No doubt about it Sir. But after my research more information will be relayed.

Sir the issue of producing farmer-millionaires from our North West graduates is still hanging in the air. I will come to that in my subsequent write-ups In Sha Allah.

I concur with you where you said “While capital projects face federal bottlenecks, social interventions that are directly funded and controlled by the Senator have immediate impact.”

Agreed that “To assess him fairly, we must separate what is within a Senator’s power (facilitation and social intervention) from what is within the Executive’s power (release, supervision, completion). The former has been demonstrably delivered at scale; the latter is constrained by a national budget implementation crisis that has affected every state, not just Kano North.”

The constraint as you rightly observed is on “… national budget implementation crisis.” But I see this as a fundamental constraint. That can still be massaged by genuine lobbying, influence and sustained political will.

My Prof understand me very well. I’m not posing to discredit or deconstruct His Excellency, the Deputy Senate President, I’m doing what I’m doing to simply call his attention on his constitutional responsibility. What I’m doing isn’t any different from strengthening accountability and leadership responsibility.

Sir with the respect I have for you kindly call his attention on the following major projects from Dambatta. The issue of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta aside for now, Dambatta people still need his peculiar intervention on a Power Sub-station brought to the area when Dr Mansur Mukhtar was Minister for Finance during Muhammad Buhari administration.

I learned that the sub-station of 60NVA project, was at 75% completion stage. But almost all who is who from Dambatta called his (DSP) attention several time to kindly lobby for inclusion of the project in national budget and pursue with his lobby and influence for the completion of the project.

The project, if completed, will stimulate industrialization in Dambatta and neighboring communities. My investigation reveals that, so many people from Dambatta started insinuating and alleging that His Excellency isn’t interested in the project because it wasn’t him who originally brought it. Prof Sir kindly call his attention to understand how significant is the project in helping the economy of his constituents.

Secondly is the issue of Dambatta ring road that was rebuilt through lobbying and push from the DSP, as his constituency project. The people of Dambatta are complaining bitterly that the road is seriously in bad shape in less than a year after DSP’s intervention. So also street lights are not working. They believe that the work was done haphazardly and without quality.

On the issue of College of Agriculture, they lamented that, the process was kickstarted few years back, when powerful representation visited DSP at the National Assembly, public hearing was held, almost all legislative processes were followed, only not enough push from the DSP spoiled all the effort.

I want DSP to get reelected in 2027 election, that is why I’m calling his attention to sit up and correct political anomalies. I will keep on reminding him of his responsibility. While trust is gained over time honest consistency opens doors for victory.

Prof Sir if I may ask, what are the indices to use for measuring genuine political will, non-deceitful attitudes, honest commitment and genuine effort?

Prof I rest my case.

Anwar writes from Kano
Friday, 30th October, 2026

By Abba Anwar

I didn’t think of making a rebuttal to a piece authored by one Abdulrazak Usman PhD on my recent article on His Excellency Deputy Senate President, Barau I Jibrin, PhD, CFR, but seeing the prestigious PhD attached to the name I decided to put pen on paper thinking the writer could be one with a semblance of good faculty of reasoning.

One of the things I enjoy the most in my life is public debate of this type. I won’t challenge Mr Usman to tell me where was he when I wrote dozens, if not hundreds of write-ups supporting, amplifying, coordinating and strengthening Senator Barau’s programmes, projects and policies in his own right in the past?

Mr PhD understands the language very well, that time I was ASSESSING DSP’s programmes (genuine and near genuine) and projects (the good, the bad and the ugly). And this time around I’m REASSESSING same interventions but with different style and pattern. While assessing his interventions I relied solely and heavily on information coming out from his office and sometimes directly from him.

But now during REASSESSMENT period I decided to go there physically and see with my naked eyes (with koro-koro eyes) what has been said for years. As a PhD holder you should know the difference between primary source and secondary source. I guess you know that.

It sounds interesting when, in your first paragraph you said, “The temptation to assume that a piece written by Abba Anwar, titled “Reassessment of DSP Barau’s Projects in Kano North: One Building, Three Names,” was motivated by patriotic zeal and a genuine desire to speak for his community is understandable. However, the events of October 18, 2026, provide a compelling reason to question that assumption.”

Your submission that, “… the events of October 18, 2026, provide a compelling reason to question that assumption,” is clearly defeatist and a show of academic ineptitude. If you think I wrote ill about DSP you really missed the road. In my professional years I don’t write ill to people just like that. Even when I was the Chief Press Secretary to the former Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, nowhere in my six years in that position, where one could fault me of spitting bad things about Ganduje’s political opponents. Not in my record, at all. Yes as a human being there could be some faultlines, but not in spitting bad things to people.

All the praises you identified as coming out from my earlier articles about the DSP are correct. I said all those good and encouraging things about him. But that was when I was ASSESSING the interventions of the Distinguished Senator. And now I’m REASSESSING same interventions.

For your information Mr PhD knowing everything about the budget, approvals, releases and application of funds to all the projects credited to our dear Senator, as a lobbyist in his own right, are there as public properties with the relevant ministries, departments and agencies. Even you, can access them all. Apply Freedom of Information Act you will get them all.

Under what you call “The October 18 Turning Point” in your piece, you said, “On October 18, 2026, Anwar published a rejoinder to a Weekend Trust report concerning a deep-pocketed member of the House of Representatives from Kano.

In the process of defending the lawmaker, he took the opportunity to disparage serving legislators from Kano State through innuendos that now appear to provide context for his latest attack on the Deputy President of the Senate.”

Contextualizing the two different issues together shows how shallow you could always be. It explains what you are suffering from, poverty of ideas and sound argument. What has my rejoinder to Daily Trust got to do with REASSESSMENT of DSP’s interventions? Is Hon Abubakar Kabir Bichi a Senator or is he contesting for Senatorial seat?

If you are indirectly inviting me to also assess and reassess Hon Bichi’s interventions and compare with that of the Distinguished Senator, I can do that as well. I can do compare and contrast analysis, if you so wish. Just indicate your interest Mr PhD.

For your information Oga PhD Senator Barau is my elder brother. When he was member House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2003, my elder brother Dr Auwalu Anwar, was Special Adviser Political to the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, late Ghali Umar Na’Abba. Anwar and Barau worked closely. So my REASSESSMENT is only aimed at telling the Senator to please sit up in preparation for the Day of Judgement. I want him to meet His Lord SALIN ALIN (peacefully). No more no less.

Mr PhD’s comparison of Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road project and Kano-Zaria-Kaduna-Abuja road project shows how shallow is
Mr PhD’s argument.

While you fail to acknowledge the distance of the roads under scrutiny, you also fail to understand the politics involved in Kano-Zaria-Kaduna-Abuja road project. And even at that Kano-Zaria-Kaduna-Abuja road is faster than Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road project. While Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road is 90.65km Kano-Zaria-Kaduna-Abuja road.

To lament over your shallow analysis I present a sample of some road projects, including that of Kano-Zaria-Kaduna- Abuja road project, so as to wrestle down your uninformed analysis and comparison.

1. Abuja-Kaduna Section of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway – 81KM IN 13 MONTHS. Location is Tunga Maje (FCT) to Jere (Kaduna).
Started in September 2025. And completed in October 24, 2026. It was virtually commissioned by President Bola Tinubu at Ranchers Bees Stadium, Kaduna during APC campaign flag-off. It was described by Minister of Works Dave Umahi as fastest road completion in Nigeria’s history.

This now contrasts even more sharply with Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road, 81km in 13 months vs 90.65km in 5 years and still at 40%. So what are we saying?

2. Second Section of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway. The stretch from Jere to Zaria, Kaduna state. It is Lot 2 of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano corridor. The length completed is 144km.

The status of the work as at October 2026 was given by Minister Umahi who said on Saturday, October 24, 2026 during the commissioning of Lot 1, “Work was progressing on the second section of the highway, covering 164 kilometres and valued at N505 billion, with more than 144 kilometres completed. Assuring that, “… the remaining 20 kilometres would be completed by the end of November.”

The project was originally awarded in 2017/2018 under Buhari administration but was stalled. It was re-awarded/accelerated in September 2024 under Tinubu with concrete technology. So it has taken less than 2 years of active work under the current method to reach 144km. You think this could be possible without persistent and genuine lobbying?

Why not Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road where we have Number 5 Citizen, who should be our Chief Lobbyist?
If the Federal Government can do 144km out of 164km in less than 2 years on the same Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano corridor at N505bn, why can’t 90.65km Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi be done in 5 years despite N56bn extra? What are we lacking? Who tries all the time to tell people that he owns the project? Or at best, the project is part of his constituency project?

3. Section I of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway – 47.47KM IN 2 YEARS 7 MONTHS. Location is Victoria Island to Eleko, Lagos state. It was started March 2024. The first 30km commissioned May 31, 2025 as full 47.47km constructed and declared ready for commissioning October 2026. The project features are far more complex than Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road project. It has 6-lane concrete dual carriageway with flyovers, overpasses, CCTV, designed through 10-meter deep refuse and swamp with major redesign around Dangote Refinery.

The question still remains if 47km can be built through Atlantic Ocean swamp in under 3 years, why is 90.65km Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi flat savanna road abandoned at 40% after 5 years? What are we really lacking in this part of the planet? Mr PhD I’m asking.

So my argument still remains, while Federal Government completed 81km Abuja-Kaduna highway in 13 months, and 144km of second section in less than 2 years, and 47km of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway with ocean bridges in 2 years, Kano North’s 90.65km Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road, flagged off in 2021, is still crawling at 40% in 2026 despite receiving N19 Billion in 2025 and N37 Billion in 2026, who gets mouth to utter a word in this context?

I see gaps in all other arguments of Mr PhD concerning other projects. My advice is, let this PhD man go and see by himself all the projects he also cited. Let him go and do his Reassessment for all the cited and not cited projects.

Series of write-ups and radio programmes are on their way in a bit-by-bit style. This, no doubt about it. As I have all the budgetary provisions of all the projects under scrutiny, approvals and releases documents, I’m sure I will do justice to all and sundry. Mine is only to call attention and not to curse attention. To call the attention of those responsible to make adjustments and correct what can be corrected.

If it is true that I was sponsored this time around, then who was sponsoring me to write all the good things about the Distinguished Senator when I was ASSESSING his achievements? And where were the newly recruited noisemakers, when nobody could talk positive about him, in my style of writing articles, my elder brother DSP, for fear of being attacked? Who? Tell me only one person. Without being immodest, let my reader know this plain truth, since from Senator Barau’s elective positions, from 1999 to date, no one wrote as many articles as I did supporting his achievements, interventions and political direction. Where were the PhDs, lousy and lazy academics and half-baked writers?

Under what Mr PhD called “A WORD OF CAUTION TO ANWAR” he made reference to my recent encounter with the Media Team of the Kebbi State Governor, when I blamed them of not professionally showcasing the great feats achieved by His Excellency the Governor of Kebbi State, Dr Nasir Idris, Kauran Gwandu.

Mr PhD said, “At this juncture, one is compelled to advise Anwar to desist from the path popularly described in Nigeria as the “anywhere belle face” syndrome.

With each passing day, his writings increasingly expose what appear to be serious deficiencies in intellectual rigour, credibility, and an unrestrained appetite for financial inducement.

This explains why his articles are often characterised by contradictions, ad hominem attacks, and disjointed conjectures rather than coherent arguments grounded in verifiable facts.

An example beyond the present controversy is his article titled “Kebbi: The Performing State Nobody Sees,” which attracted a response from Ibrahim A. Jombali, Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment and Orientation to the Governor of Kebbi State. Jombali’s rejoinder, titled “Kebbi Is Not Invisible: A Rejoinder to Abba Anwar’s Media Visibility Theorem,” pointed out the contradictions in Anwar’s argument.”

If what he said is not diversionary and defeatist in its latent and manifest, he should have presented my rejoinder to them again. I won’t say a word here let me leave everything to my readers to go and read my encounter with Kebbi guys.

I first wrote this article, “The Kauran Gwandu Model: How a Teacher is Outperforming Other Governors Across Nigeria.”

My second article titled “Kebbi: The Performing State Nobody Sees,” attracted their rejoinder, that was what Mr PhD was referring to, titled “Kebbi Is Not Invisible: A Rejoinder To Abba Anwar’s Media Visibility Theorem.”

After their rejoinder I also wrote this, “RE: Kebbi Is Not Invisible: A Rejoinder To Abba Anwar’s Media Visibility Theorem.”(1). So I’m still waiting for them to write another rejoinder.

My reader should go and search for all the above articles and see what happened. I won’t utter a word here.

The same way I’m waiting for the Kebbi Jombali and co after my rejoinder to them, I’m also waiting for Mr PhD here in Kano.

And Mr PhD for your information, after finishing with the elite circle, I mean after all the encounters in English, I will translate everything into Hausa and recycle same for our grassroot audience.

Anwar writes from Kano
Thursday, 29th October, 2026