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And Wike Will Speak at Great Ife, By Y.Z. Ya’u

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8 months ago

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And this is the news: Wike is to deliver a lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. According to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Adebayo Simon Bamire, Nyesom Wike, CON, is to deliver the 2025 Matriculation Lecture on the topic “Partisan Politics, Party Loyalty and the Challenges of Party Supremacy in Nigeria,” which will be held in June. The first thing that came to my mind on reading that Wike, the loquacious Minister of FCT, the very architect of the political crisis in the opposition PDP as well as a chief combatant of the political derby in Rivers State, will deliver a lecture at OAU, Ile-Ife was to recall my student days. Ife of the 70s to early 90s was simply an incredible place to be for an activist, and that experience and exposure have remained an everlasting moment in my growth.

This was the university where the icon of left ideas and struggle in Nigeria, Dr. Segun Osoba, lectured for decades. He, along with Dr. Bala Usman of ABU Zaria, did the minority report to the Constitutional Conference in 1977 which till date is a reference point. Like Bala, his compatriot in the minority report, Osoba did not want to be called a Professor in a context in which a number of those claiming the title could not in all honesty be said to be representative of true professors.

Although like any other university, Ife (I use Ife rather than OAU to underline the fact that I am writing of both the pre-OAU and the OAU years) was deeply divided between the Left and Right (and its internal ideological battles were very bitter), however for outsiders, Ife was readily associated with anything about the left. It was here that Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, the first ASUU president, cut his teeth in radical unionism, and Ife played a key role in the eventual transformation of ASUU from a petty bourgeois staff Association of University Teachers which was only interested in arranging flight tickets to London for summer holidays to a union that became rooted in the imperative of the social transformation of the country.

In its contribution to ASUU, Ife has produced a legend of leaders who stood firm for the working class and the poor in the country. They include Prof. Omotoye Olorode, Idowu Awepetu and Dipo Fashina (Jingo) among many others. These three became a reference point of radical engagement in Ife. Indeed, in Dipo, the presidency of ASUU could once again return to Ife after Jeyifo. And their contributions in ASUU and indeed in social struggle in the country speak volumes.

Let it be remembered that Ife gave us such legal advocates for the poor as Femi Falana, the late Bamidele Aturu and Big Sam, just to name three of the most visible faces of this clan of lawyers for justice for the common man. It has also given us fine and formidable journalists in Owei Lakemfa, who would rise to the position of Secretary General of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Lanre Arogundade, a former NANS President. The campus gave us such cultural and literary giants as GG Darah, Yemi Ogumbiyi and many others, and the Ife Literary Tradition has in spite of all remained rooted in a left-wing commitment to this day.

Within the student population, Ife was as controversial as it had been on other fronts. Its student activists tended to belong to the Trotskyite Tendency, a matter that put it on a collision path with the Patriotic Youth Movement of Nigeria (PYMN), the key organization that was behind the strength of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). The Ife Trotskyites considered the PYMN as Stalinists who should be fought, just like the ruling class, ensuring that there was hardly unity in the left-wing movement.

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When an official of the World Bank decided to tour Nigerian Universities to sell the World Bank/IMF agenda of transforming Nigerian Universities, he was chased away from Ife. Months later, the leaders of the banned ASUU on the campus could organize a National Conference on the IMF and the University System in Nigeria to discuss the World Bank Agenda. While this was the outline for the conference, in actual fact, the conference provided the opportunity for ASUU activists from different universities to meet and strategize on how to continue with the struggle even as their union remained legally banned by the Military Government.

A day after the conference, when delegates were just leaving Ife for their respective bases, the Orkar Coup attempt occurred (Jega and I got the coup story while we were still at the Ife Central motor park, waiting for our vehicle to Kano to fill) and in the panicky response of the Government, it arrested the two arrowheads of the conference (Profs Olorode and Awepetu) along with Prof. Obaro, summarily dismissed them from their jobs and also charged them with treason (coup making) and they could remain detained for many months and only the legal tenacity of their lawyer got them out and reinstated into their jobs at Ife.

Ife was also one of the key nodes of both the Campaign for Democracy (CD) and the Democratic Alternative (DA) as well as fronts of these organizations that were set up to fight the military. And they fought tenaciously for people like PBAT to benefit. Ife was key to the founding of the Socialist Congress of Nigeria (SCON), the closest to what could be a contemporary Communist Party of Nigeria.

On the cultural front, Ife was a non-conformist environment. To be sure, on late afternoons, one was sure to find large numbers of students around the sports arena, members of the Christian Fellowship deep in prayer sessions and on Fridays you would see many men and women dressed for the Jumaat service, but by and large, it was no fertile ground for those warriors on behalf of God. Instead, the ever-watchful eyes of the Ogun and Orisa were there to keep a vigil on the lively campus. Ife was non-religiously religious.

In the past, no government official would like to have an Ife encounter, by taking the risk to address any public gathering on the campus. Even Vice Chancellors who have legitimate mandate to be there had trouble dealing with both their students and their colleagues in the academic union. Ife brooks no halfway measure nor tolerates hypocrisy: you are either for the masses or you are shouted out and escorted out of the campus.

This is the same university that a hawkish Minister will be going to address and tell the audience of the many good things that Uncle Bola Tinubu is doing in transforming the country. Of course, NANS has long been crushed and in its place a cash and carry non-students have assumed the leadership of students, the radical student movement which had been the backbone of NANS has been emptied out of the campuses, the PYMN has long collapsed and in its place mercenaries and rabid fundamentalists of all hues have taken over, while the radical tradition of ASUU is under stress. Who else is there to chase such an unwelcome guest? No one but his own political party in whose name he would be grandstanding.

This explains why a Wike would be at liberty to go there. But what will he say about party loyalty having spent years now serving in a government for which his party is the key opposition party? What party loyalty will he demonstrate when he decided to work against the presidential candidate of his party and worked to ensure that his party lost the election? How can someone who is doing everything possible to prevent the stabilization of his party be a credible person to talk about party loyalty?

Will he explain why the government is only happy to keep academics on poverty wages? Will there be an explanation why the libraries in the universities have no money to buy current journals and books for their shelves? Will there be an explanation on the lack of equipment and chemicals in the laboratories? Or now, come to think about it, will he explain why poverty is on the rampage in the country? These are not party loyalty matters: they tell the test of loyalty to the President.

But these questions were relevant before we lost our road long ago. Those who decided to afford him the podium on this topic have done a dishonor to not only the topic but to the nurturing and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria because they have chosen to promote the worst of party behavior in Nigeria as a possible example worthy of emulation. We wish him and his hosts good luck.

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Opinion

How DSP Barau Rescues North West Development Summit

Published

10 hours ago

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January 31, 2026

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By Abba Anwar

The patriotic posture and genuine love for regional development from the side of the Deputy Senate President, Distinguished Senator Barau I Jibrin, CFR, saved face for the just concluded and One-Day North West Stakeholders’ Development Summit, that took place at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Conference Centre, Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna.

With the theme “Advancing A Coordinated Regional Development Agenda For North-West Nigeria.” To see the visible hands of the DSP in a more glaring way, the Summit was organized by the Senate and House Committees’ on North-West Development Commission, in good collaboration with North-West Governors’ Forum and North-West Development Commission.

The shabby representation of political leaders, especially at the state levels, was too defeating and undermining of the original objective of the Summit. But when the Deputy Senate President, arrived, the Summit was injected with life and survival strategy.

To understand how important, is the region in the sight of the DSP, he had an occasion to attend, as a representative of the Senate President, His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, almost the same time with that of the Summit’s.

He was billed to represent Akpabio at a grand event to receive the Governor of Taraba state, Agbu Kefas, in Jalingo, the state capital. But DSP ATTENDED THE SUMMIT IN KADUNA, BEFORE PROCEEDING TO JALINGO. That was a show of concern and love for the region. Bravo DSP! Bravo!!

The Kaduna Summit, was meant to create corridor for a high level platform for working hand in hand among federal, states actors, development partners and other meaningful stakeholders. To also strengthen regional coordination between the National Assembly, state governments, North West Development Commission and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies across the region, for meaningful regional development.

One can see how Distinguished Senator is running helter-skelter to create synergy between the National Assembly and the regional Commission. Out of the zeal to see to the growth and development of the region.

At the Summit, DSP was the highest elected official from the zone, who attended and injected enthusiasm to all who were at the hall. Including an elder statesman, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, who complained bitterly about the absence of all the seven governors from the zone, North West.

Without fear of mincing words, I can add that, part of the reasons why the Deputy Senate President found it specifically important to bless the occasion, was his clear understanding of the Summit’s object that, there is a need to promote integrated and cross sectoral approaches to address key challenges facing the region.

While at the same time, believing that, the idea of encouraging private sector participation and supporting development partners engagement in financing and delivering sustainable development projects, is key in today’s Nigeria, he squeezed his schedules to be in Kaduna, no matter what. This is an excellent exhibition of statesmanship and responsible leadership.

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Distinguished Senator’s zeal and commitment is partly acknowledged in his remarks at the event, when he said, “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞— 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 North West Development Commission (𝐍𝐖𝐃𝐂), 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚.”

One can understand how keen is the DSP concerning the Summit, hence his show of interest and commitment. He said, “I approach this gathering not merely as a political leader or a critical stakeholder, but as a constitutional trustee of the Nigerian project. I stand here with a profound sense of responsibility to ensure that our region does not merely participate in national development, but takes its rightful place in shaping the direction of things.”

Many people at the event believed that, there could be some forces outside the composition of the Commission, that become bottlenecks for the proper and immediate take-off of the Commission, more than a year after the consent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. Whether true or false, I can’t say. Hence, the none participation of big hands and faces in the Commission’s activities. Including today’s Summit.

That thinking, could be the reason why he further explained that, “It was from this understanding (of regional integration and development) that the idea of the North West Development Commission was conceived. The Commission was not created as another bureaucratic layer, but as a strategic institution—designed to aggregate our regional priorities, harmonize development efforts, and provide a long-term framework for addressing the structural challenges that have historically constrained our progress.”

The Kaduna state Governor was ably represented by his Deputy, Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe. Kano State Governor was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Umar Faruk and Katsina State Governor was also represented by a senior government official.

Observations indicate that, His Excellency Jibrin, has genuine commitment for the Commission. He mentioned part of the reasons why he is so much attached to the Commission. When he said, in his remarks, “As we are aware, the North West is home to tens of millions of Nigerians. It is Nigeria’s largest agricultural belt, a major contributor to food security, commerce, and human capital. Yet we are also confronted by complex challenges—ranging from insecurity and infrastructure deficits to climate stress, youth unemployment, and uneven access to social services. These challenges do not respect state boundaries; therefore, our solutions must transcend them.”

To the chagrin of many, the Summit folded up without any official closure. No Communique no questions and answers sessions. Certificates were not presented to participants and all the highly placed officials were seen in total and absolute shock. While observing a near turn-of-events.

But the appearance of the National Assembly, Senate and House Chairmen Committees on North West Development Commission, Senator Babangida Hussaini and Dr Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi respectively, as well as all the three Senators from Kano state, DSP inclusive, injected some courage to the organisers.

Honourable Minister of State, FCT, Dr Mariya Bunkure’s participation was also another source of courage to the organizers. Not to talk of all the lead paper presenters, who were all around. Not to talk of the very large turn out of participants from all walks of life from the region.

I do not include the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Commission and the Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer, Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi and Prof Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, because their presence is basic and necessary. So they were there live and direct. The presence of the Director General of North West Governors’ Forum, Maryam Musa Yahaya, was another source of hope to the organisers and innocent participants.

Anwar writes from Kano
Saturday, 31st January, 2026

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Opinion

Northern Nigeria at the Crossroads: Leadership, Succession, and the Question of Survival -Zainab Buba

Zaynab Buba Galadima

Published

18 hours ago

on

January 31, 2026

By

Zai

 

 

Northern Nigeria’s leadership crisis is not the absence of leaders, but the absence of structured continuity. From independence in 1960, the North understood leadership as stewardship. Under Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto), and other Northern leaders such as Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Hassan Usman Katsina, Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Joseph Tarka and Aminu Kano, governance was anchored on moral authority, regional cohesion, education, and economic productivity. Institutions like the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC), Ahmadu Bello University (1962), and regional marketing boards were deliberate tools for sustainability, not personal gain.

The NNDC, funded largely by proceeds from cotton, groundnuts, hides and skins exports, financed industrial estates, textile mills (Kaduna Textiles, Arewa Textiles), and scholarship schemes. Graduates were absorbed into public service, and employment guarantees, official cars, and housing schemes were not populist gestures but outcomes of a planned regional economy. These systems began to weaken after the 1966 coup, and by the collapse of the First Republic, the North lost its ideological anchor.

Military rule (1966–1979) centralized power, dismantled regional economic autonomy, and replaced mentorship with command loyalty. The abolition of marketing boards in the late 1980s under Structural Adjustment further destroyed Northern productive capacity. What followed was survival politics leaders focused on federal allocations rather than regional development.

The North miscalculated profoundly with Muhammadu Buhari. From 2003 to 2015, Northern elites rallied behind him as a symbol of integrity and discipline. He was projected as the solution, but not as the builder of systems. When he finally won in 2015, no clear succession plan or leadership school emerged. Buhari’s personal moral standing did not translate into institutional reform, mentorship pipelines, or a future-facing Northern agenda. The North lived in the moment, not the future.

Yet, Northern Nigeria still possesses experienced leaders who, if united around vision rather than ambition, could arrest the decline; To mention a few:
1. Atiku Abubakar – unmatched private-sector exposure, national networks, and understanding of fiscal federalism and economic restructuring.
2. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso – proven record in education, human capital investment, and institutional continuity.

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3. . Sen. Jonah David Jang (rtd.) – he symbolizes minority participation in both military and democratic leadership, particularly in navigating identity, faith, and regional diversity.
4. Kashim Shettima – crisis governance experience from Borno, exposure to insurgency management and national economic coordination.
5. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) – A former Chief of Army Staff and Defence Minister, Danjuma represents moral courage and principled leadership, later channeling his influence into philanthropy, national stability, and institutional support through the TY Danjuma Foundation.
6. Nasir El-Rufai – infrastructure reform, urban governance, and policy articulation.
7. Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara – His leadership symbolized inclusion, constitutionalism, and the political relevance of Northern minorities in national decision-making. As Speaker, he emphasized legislative independence, rule of law, and national unity across faith and ethnic lines.
8. Aminu Tambuwal – legislative depth, constitutional knowledge, and executive experience.
9. Ahmad Lawan – legislative continuity and federal budgeting experience.
10. Bukola Saraki – institutional reform, health sector interventions, and bridge-building across regions.
11. Aliyu Wamakko – grassroots mobilization and state-level governance.
12. Babagana Zulum – security-informed leadership and humanitarian governance.

The tragedy is that these leaders operate in silos, not as a collective Northern brain trust. Most times leadership without ideology, even competence fragments.

Today, Northern Nigeria bears the brunt of capital project neglect, decaying rail and road networks, underfunded schools, overstretched security architecture, and disproportionate poverty indices despite producing the bulk of Nigeria’s political leadership. Federal allocations meant for education, security, and infrastructure have been mismanaged by Northern elites who themselves benefited from free education, scholarships, and social justice structures of the old North.

What went wrong? The destruction of production-based economics. The North abandoned agriculture value chains, textile manufacturing, and vocational education for rent-seeking politics. Mentorship collapsed. Elders stopped acting as moral guardians. Young people were mobilized as political foot soldiers, not future leaders.

More dangerously, the North has failed to interrogate the worst case scenarios. If Nigeria fractures under economic pressure, insecurity, or ethnic fragmentation, what becomes of a region plagued by poverty, porous borders, arms proliferation, and food insecurity? Survival thinking demands preparation for the worst, not blind faith in the status quo.

To rebuild, a credible Northern agenda must incorporate:
• Human capital development (education, skills, research)
• Security sector reform and local intelligence structures
• Regional economic revival (agro-processing, solid minerals)
• Leadership mentorship and succession institutions
• Moral reorientation and civic responsibility
• Intergenerational leadership pipelines

Unity is not optional it is existential. 2027 is not about ambition; it is about survival. For elites, it is the final chance to correct history. For the poor, it is a fight for dignity. For the youth, it is a moment of becoming. Titles must fall. Ego must retreat. The North must sit at the table as equals, not as lords.

History shows what the North built. The present shows what neglect destroyed. The future will judge whether this generation had the courage to rebuild or allowed the house to collapse completely.

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Opinion

Kano Gov’s Defection : As Gov Radda Concretizes Synergy With Kano

Published

3 days ago

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January 28, 2026

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By Abba Anwar

Immediately after his official decamping to All Progressives Congress (APC), the Kano state Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, the Governor of Katsina state Dr Umar Dikko Radda, described the move as “… strategic for regional unity, stability and development.”

In a press statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, the Chairman of the North West Governors’ Forum, Radda, after congratulating Kano governor for the move, he signaled his intention of working in good synergy with his Kano counterpart for finding lasting solutions to insecurity, political instability and other vices.

He was instructive when he said, according to the statement, “The decision of His Excellency, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, to join the APC is a demonstration of responsible leadership and a strategic step towards deepening cooperation with the Federal Government and advancing the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the benefit of Kano State and the entire North West.”

The statement clearly indicates maturity in governor Radda’s statesmanship position across the zone, his readiness to work tirelessly with governor Yusuf in repositioning and revitalizing the zone for better tomorrow. In areas like sustainable development, enhanced security, fight against youth restiveness and drug abuse.

In his commendation of the Kano state governor, he acknowledged that, “Leadership demands the courage to take decisions in the long-term interest of the people. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has demonstrated this by placing peace, stability and progress above all other considerations.”

In my estimation and understanding, the way Kano APC received the hitherto New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) governor into its fold, with all sense of dignity, humility and magnanimity, was what moved other APC North West Governors to collectively congratulate him through the able leadership of the governor of Katsina state.

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The statement disclosed that, “On behalf of the North West Governors’ Forum, Governor Radda congratulated Governor Yusuf and assured him of the full support and cooperation of his colleagues across the region and the country, while wishing him wisdom, strength and success in his leadership.”

All who is who in Kano APC was very much around and received the governor with all open hearts. To the extent that, he was assured by the APC leader in Kano, then, former governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, CON, that, all paths were set for the new entrant, governor Yusuf, to seek for re-election come 2027.

The same assurance was given by the Deputy Senate President, Distinguished Senator Barau I Jibrin, CFR, that, he jettisoned his ambition and gave way for the incumbent to contest for a second tenure, 2027. Many good wishes and encouragements were transparently stared at the good face of the governor.

Observing how comfortable the Kano state governor was, during the grand event for his decamping, that took place at Government House, Kano, governor Radda believes further that, another good partner for meaningful development is now on board. Hence the unwavering support from other North West governors to governor Yusuf.

Radda’s glaring happiness and show of commitment towards the development of Kano, was what prompted him to acknowledge and accept new political alignment and realignment with Kanawan Dabo at the peak of political cohesion, as governor Yusuf cross-carpeted.

In the referenced press statement, the Katsina state governor hinted that with Yusuf’s exit from NNPP to APC, the synergy between Kano and federal government, which he termed as political realignment would enhance the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda in critical areas such as security cooperation, agricultural transformation, industrialisation and youth empowerment.

With this, we have nothing to add, as encomium to the people’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, who has energetic state governors under the platform of his party, the APC. Such as Governor Radda, who leads North West Governors’ Forum.

In another way round, Katsina state governor, is very instructive to some basic advances that, Kano state under APC, would receive critical attention from the federal government. This, I observed severally.

This could also mean, Radda’s attention and unwavering commitment for development, are focused on Kano, with the entrance of Yusuf into APC’s fold. This means a lot as build – up to APC’s victory come 2027. It also means his un-arguable commitment to regional cohesion and cooperation.

To fully appreciate and strengthen the courage of other elected officials from Kano, who also decamped to the ruling APC, in the press release, the leader of North West Governors’ Forum, “… welcomes the decision of members of the Kano State Executive Council, the State House of Assembly, National Assembly members and local government Chairmen to also join the APC, describing it as a strong signal of political stability, unity of purpose and shared commitment to development in the state.”

Anwar writes from Kano
Wednesday, 28th January, 2026

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