Opinion

Jagoran Kano First, Kindly Hear Me Out: A Concerned Citizen’s Counsel to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf as 2027 Approaches

Published

3 months ago

March 10, 2026

By Sufyan Lawal Kabo | Political Commentator and Civic Analyst
sefjamil3@gmail.com

The most valuable counsel a leader can receive is rarely the most comfortable. It does not arrive wrapped in flattery or delivered through the careful diplomacy of those whose proximity to power has made honesty a professional risk. It comes, instead, from those who have no personal stake in the leader’s approval, whose only investment is in the success of the larger cause, and who understand, from the clear-eyed distance of genuine civic concern, what the leader’s inner circle is too close, too cautious, or too compromised to say plainly. It is in that spirit, with deep and sincere respect for the leadership of Kano State and genuine appreciation for the efforts of His Excellency Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, the Jagoran Kano First, that these reflections are offered. Not as an open letter, but as a general meditation on the political moment Kano finds itself in, so that everyone with a stake in the state’s future, governors and governed, appointees and ordinary citizens alike, can benefit from an honest reckoning with where we are and where we are headed.
The political landscape of Kano State has shifted dramatically in recent months. Governor Yusuf’s alignment with the All Progressives Congress has reconfigured the state’s political geometry in ways that are still working themselves out, generating new alliances, reopening old wounds, and producing the kind of charged political atmosphere in which the temptations of reactive communication are at their most dangerous and the need for strategic wisdom is at its most acute. A significant number of politicians have moved with the governor, drawn by conviction, by calculation, or by the simple pragmatism that has always characterized Kano’s political culture. But the alignment has also generated intense opposition, particularly from within the Kwankwasiyya movement, whose supporters feel a sense of betrayal that is as emotionally powerful as it is politically consequential. As the 2027 elections approach, that opposition will not diminish. Every credible political analyst agrees that the coming contest between the Abba camp and the Kwankwasiyya will be among the most competitive and consequential Kano has seen in recent memory, quite possibly more intense than the earlier rivalry between the Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya camps.
The evidence of this intensifying contest is already visible in the digital public square. Social media comment sections beneath posts related to the governor’s activities have become battlegrounds of competing narratives, some constructive, many not. Critics deploy phrases like Falle Daya Ce, meaning one tenure only, with the rhythmic insistence of a political chant. The Kano First Agenda, championed with such intellectual seriousness by the Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, widely and respectfully known as the Limamin Kano First, has been met with the sarcastic counter-phrase Kwano First, a deliberate attempt to trivialize a governing philosophy whose substance deserves engagement rather than mockery. These are the realities of a competitive democratic environment, and they demand a response. The question, and it is the most important political question facing the administration right now, is what kind of response.
The answer that too many supporters, aides, and communication officers around the governor have been providing is, to put it plainly, the wrong one. There is a pattern of engagement with critics and opposition voices that relies on emotional intensity where intellectual authority is required, on personal attacks where factual correction would be far more effective, and on the language of political combat where the language of governance achievement would be infinitely more persuasive. The public exchange between Dr Yusuf Kofar Mata, a former Commissioner for Higher Education and Science and Technology who departed after the political realignment, and Comrade Saidu Dakata of the Kano State Signage and Advertisement Agency, is instructive in this regard. Dakata’s approach, grounded in facts and delivered with composure, represents the model that every government communicator and supporter should study and emulate. Dr Kofar Mata’s departure and subsequent criticism represent a pattern of political transition that is entirely normal in democratic politics, and the appropriate response to it is not personal hostility but the patient, evidence-based demonstration that the administration’s record speaks for itself.
This brings me to a point that I consider the most urgent communication lesson facing the Yusuf administration as it navigates the approach to 2027. The individuals who occupy communication roles around government do not speak only for themselves. They speak, whether they appreciate this or not, for the government they represent and for the governor whose vision they are entrusted to project. When their language is undignified, when their responses are emotional rather than evidential, when they mistake noise for effectiveness and aggression for strength, they do not merely embarrass themselves. They inflict reputational damage on the administration that no subsequent clarification can fully repair. A government spokesperson, a ministry official, a strategic appointee, these are not party supporters free to conduct themselves as partisans in a street argument. They are, in every public utterance, the voice of governance itself, and the standard to which that voice must be held is the standard of statesmanship, not political thuggery.
There is a deeper strategic error in the adversarial approach to opposition that I want to name directly, because it is one that has cost many Nigerian administrations dearly in the critical period before a contested election. Fighting the opposition, particularly a well-organized and emotionally motivated opposition like the Kwankwasiyya, does not weaken it. It energizes it. Every confrontation becomes a recruitment tool. Every insult directed at a critic generates sympathy among the undecided. Every demonstration of governmental arrogance reminds citizens who are watching carefully that power, when it forgets its purpose, becomes indistinguishable from the very thing it replaced. The comment sections and social media threads that carry intense opposition to the governor are not primarily problems to be suppressed. They are political intelligence to be read, understood, and responded to with the kind of persuasive, patient, dignity-preserving engagement that converts skeptics into supporters rather than driving them deeper into the opposing camp.
History offers an instructive parallel that transcends cultural boundaries. When Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, defeated the rival warlords who had contested the collapse of the Qin dynasty, he faced a choice that every leader in a contested political environment eventually faces: humiliate the defeated or absorb them. He chose absorption. He extended dignity and opportunity to former rivals, integrated their networks and constituencies into his growing coalition, and in doing so built a political foundation that sustained one of the most consequential dynasties in Chinese history. The lesson, ancient as it is, has lost none of its relevance. Strong leaders do not multiply enemies. They convert rivals into partners, or at the very minimum, they manage the relationship with former allies and current critics in ways that leave open the possibility of future reconciliation. The Quranic wisdom is equally direct and equally applicable: good and evil are not equal, and evil repelled with what is better produces a transformation that no amount of force or confrontation can achieve.
There is also a matter of democratic principle that deserves honest acknowledgement. From the moment a person is sworn in as governor, he ceases to be merely the leader of a political movement or the champion of a particular constituency. He becomes the governor of an entire state, responsible to every citizen within its boundaries regardless of how they voted, what party they support, or what they said about him during the campaign. The Kano First philosophy itself, in its most intellectually serious articulation, embodies this understanding. It insists that the interests of Kano must always take precedence over the interests of any party, any faction, or any individual. That principle cannot be selectively applied. It cannot mean Kano First when it is politically convenient and NNPP or APC first when political loyalties are under pressure. Its credibility depends entirely on its consistency, and its consistency depends on the willingness of the governor and everyone around him to hold themselves to the standard it sets, even when, especially when, it is politically costly to do so.
I want to address, with particular directness, the tendency among some government-aligned voices to disparage citizens and political figures who do not hold appointments, as though proximity to power were a measure of worth, wisdom, or loyalty. This is a dangerous and ultimately self-defeating attitude. Many of the individuals who supported this political movement through its most difficult years, who spent their own resources, sacrificed professional opportunities, and in some cases faced genuine personal risk because of their commitment to a cause, occupy no position today. The reasons for that are varied and are not, in most cases, a reflection of their competence or their loyalty. When those who have recently arrived at the table of power look down upon those who helped set it, they reveal not strength but insecurity, not confidence but the brittle arrogance of those who have confused the accident of appointment with the substance of achievement.
Kano politics has always been won through coalitions, through the patient assembly of diverse constituencies, interest groups, and political networks into a broad enough tent to command a democratic majority. The governor’s own political journey is a testament to this truth. His rise was built on the foundations of a movement that was itself a coalition, and the loyalty and hope of the people who believed in that movement were the currency with which his political capital was purchased. As 2027 approaches, the question is not whether opposition will intensify. It will. The question is whether the administration will respond to that intensification with the wisdom, dignity, and strategic intelligence that the moment demands, expanding its coalition where it can, managing its critics with composure, and allowing the genuine achievements of the Kano First Agenda to make the most powerful argument that any government can make: the argument of visible, verifiable, citizen-felt results.
Our elders captured this wisdom with characteristic economy: Mai hikima gada yake ginawa ba bango ba. A wise person builds bridges, not walls. The administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has the vision, the intellectual resources, the policy framework, and the genuine achievements necessary to make a compelling case to the people of Kano. What it must also cultivate, with urgency and deliberate discipline, is the political maturity to pursue that case through persuasion rather than confrontation, through the steady demonstration of competence and integrity rather than the noisy prosecution of political rivalries. History remembers those who unified more fondly than those who divided. Kano deserves a government determined to be remembered well.

Sufyan Lawal Kabo is a political commentator and civic analyst based in Kano State.
Contact: sefjamil3@gmail.com

Opinion

Senator Barau: 3 Years of Meritorious Service to Humanity as DSP

Published

3 hours ago

June 7, 2026

Nigerian Tracker

By Abba Anwar

As a build up to 2023 general election, Senator Barau I Jibrin, was campaigning to become a Senator for another round, in the 10th Assembly. From Kano North Senatorial District. All his campaign promises then were centered around his primary constituency.

Unknown to him, his victory would open door for him and create an opportunity, for him to become, Deputy Senate President. Alas, after the election of His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, as Senate President. Jibrin was elected his Deputy.

His election as DSP, stemmed from so many considerations, of the gentleman. His credentials and his past contributions and engagements in the National Assembly, starting from being a Member of House of Representatives, when he represented Tarauni federal constituency, from Kano Central, were considered. As such his pedigree gave him, not automatic chance, but edge over others to become the DSP.

During his days as a Member of House of Representatives, when late Right Honourable Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba was the Speaker of the House, Jibrin was the Chairman House Committee on Appropriation. The same position he held when he became Senator. Apart from being Chairman Senate Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

His choice or rather election as the Chairman House Committee on Appropriation, was hitherto considered and approved by the entire Honourable members, because of his credentials in the field. Not only that, he was one of the best students during his undergraduate days and postgraduate days, in his chosen area of studies. Which gave him so many inches ahead of others, then.

As Chairman Senate Committee on TETFund, the choice was made on the basis of his love for education, education and education. His genuine support for equipping people with education, at all levels, was considered at the same time. No wonder, his constituency, witnessed and are still witnessing his unmatched and unparalleled contributions to the education of his people, under Barau Jibrin Scholarship Scheme. Apart from other areas of intervention in the sector.

His service to humanity cuts across constituencies, party lines, geographical boundaries and ages, in the last three years of his leadership as Deputy Senate President. Even some parts of Nigeria, benefited from his legislative efforts. In his primary constituency, he sponsored hundreds of students for undergraduate studies in some carefully selected Nigerian universities. While dozens were selected, also after diligent screening, for their postgraduate studies outside the country.

Modern fields of study such as Software Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Chemical Engineering, in which he sponsored many students, are testament to his legacy and reflect his focus on human development. He believes that education builds capacity, capability, and compatibility in life.

In the education sector he initiated and presented a Bill for the establishment of Federal Polytechnic, Kabo, that was established with 17 approved programmes in Science, Engineering and Health Sciences. He further lobbied and followed-up legislative process; which also provided infrastructure for the Polytechnic to be transformed to University of Science and Technology, Kabo.

He initiated, lobbied and followed-up for the Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, to Federal University of Education Bichi. The same effort was applied to the transformation of the Federal College of Education, (FCE) Kano, to Yusuf Maitama Sule Federal University of Education, Kano. He initiated and lobbied for the renaming of the University, after the name of the former Permanent Representative of Nigeria, to the United Nations, Dan Masanin Kano Yusuf Maitama Sule.

He was able to facilitate the establishment of 13 National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Study Centres, across all 13 Local Government Areas, of his constituency, Kano North. Also facilitated for the establishment of Federal University Dutsin-Ma 6 Satellite Campuses and four (4) more Study Centres facilitated in Gwarzo, Danbatta, Dawakin Tofa, Gabasawa local governments.

His Excellency, Deputy Senate President, constructed blocks and made renovation of many primary and secondary school in Kano North. Apart from helping teachers and students with the means of transportation to schools for teaching and learning.

Under other, varying empowerment programmes, Senator Jibrin distributed 130 vehicles to transport associations, across 13 local governments under his constituency. A total number of 1,000 motorcycles were distributed to headmasters, teachers and other residents in the rural communities.

When students benefited from 1,300 tricycles, 1,300 sewing machines, 1,300 noodle-making machines and flour to women, 1,300 deep freezers and 1,300 bicycles

Under security sector, more specifically his direct support to Nigeria Police Force, the Distinguished Senator donated One thousand (1,000) operational motorcycles. The handing over of the motorcycles took place at Bompai Police Headquarters, Kano. Of which the distribution was at 700 for Kano North Senatorial Zone and the remaining 300 for State Command Headquarters. The donation was purposely made to enhance mobility, rapid response, and reach hard-to-access areas by our Police officers.

He donated other operational vehicles to the Police Command, Bompai, among other donations of vehicles to other police formations, particularly, in Kano North. As he renovated parts of Kano State Police Headquarters. As he further constructed many police stations in different parts of the state.

Our able DSP constructed a modern Police Secondary School in Kabo, his hometown. He is not only concerned with operational vehicles and infrastructure, he is mindful of aiding his people to get recruited into the available spaces under our security system.

Hence he facilitated the recruitment of 120 security personnel as Police Cadets, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials, and Federal Fire Service officers from Kano North. After the completion of their training, he hosted them at a dinner in their honor, at Bristol Palace Hotel, Kano. As he charged them on integrity, patriotism, service to the nation and loyalty to their respective formations.

To further enhance security in the streets across his constituency, he helped in the installation of one thousand (1,000) solar-powered streetlights across Kano North, to improve nighttime patrols. As he rushed to Kano Central donating for market security, where he donated Hilux, 5 motorcycles for patrol at Farm Centre phone market.

As our Distinguished Senator believes in re-positioning of our security system and architecture, he sees reason in security infrastructure development. This informs his patriotic decision in facilitating for the establishment of
NSCDC Training College, in Gwarzo, Nigeria Police Service Commission Training Institute, in Kabo and Nigeria Immigration Service Training School, in Bichi.

Under agriculture the biggest project is the long awaited programme on maize and rice cultivation to boost food security, under Barau Initiative for Agricultural Revolution in the Northwest (BIARN), that was launched in April 2025. With the intention of the distribution of about Three Billion Naira (N3b) interest-free loan scheme for 558 young farmers across the 7 states of the North West.

As beneficiaries would get access to, ranging from One Million Naira (N1m) to Two Million Naira (N2m) up to Five Million Naira (N5m) per individual beneficiary. What is delaying the implementation of the programme is the paucity of Funds from the partner organization, Bank of Agriculture (BOA).

Under nfrastructural development, road construction and rehabilitation
specifically, he lobbied for Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi federal road among others. Other infrastructure in Gwarzo, where roads, bridge, water projects and installation of solar lights, became the order of the day, under his interventions. So also hospital construction and upgrades, in the same Gwarzo local government.

Community projects like construction and rehabilitation of Mosques, Palaces and training institutes are all over.

Under Youth and Women Empowerment for economic development, he initiated the distribution of Twenty Thousand Naira (₦20,000) only. For 10,000 less-privileged across all the 44 LGAs in the state. With Kano North taking the largest share of 6,500 beneficiaries, at 500 per LGA.

Just recently DSP launched monthly One Hundred Thousand Naira (₦100,000) only, capital support, for 1,300 beneficiaries, from the Month of February 2026 to December 2026. A year round project. A total of 18,200 beneficiaries, will benefit from the sum of Two Hundred and Eighteen Million, Two Hundred Thousand (₦218.2m) only.

When students benefited from 1,300 tricycles, 1,300 sewing machines, 1,300 noodle-making machines and flour to women, 1,300 deep freezers and 1,300 bicycles

Sports & Community Development are not left behind. As 150 football teams per local government benefited with Jerseys and balls. Totaling 1,950 teams across Kano North.

It is on record, as many people, especially those from Kano North, know, DSP did more than what I listed here. One piece of material cannot encapsulate all this contributions and speak out at a time. But this gentleman did a lot and is committed to step further.

Anwar writes from Kano
Sunday, 7th June, 2026

Opinion

Silence Is Complicity: How Peter Obi and Kwankwaso’s Failure to Repudiate Their Supporters’ Insults Against the Sardauna Exposes the True Character of the NDC Ticket

Published

2 days ago

June 5, 2026

Nigerian Tracker

In the political culture of Northern Nigeria, there is a particular category of test that every leader seeking the region’s trust must pass, not in a debate hall, not in a policy document, and not in the carefully managed environment of a presidential campaign rally, but in the unscripted, uncontrolled, and therefore most revealing moments when something is said or done that directly offends the values, the history, and the sacred memory of the people whose confidence that leader is seeking. It is in those moments, and only in those moments, that the depth of a leader’s respect for the north is truly measurable. Not by what they say about the north in their own speeches but by what they are prepared to say in defence of the north when it is being attacked by their own supporters. By that measure, the one that counts most in the court of northern political opinion, Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso have failed a test of the most fundamental and the most consequential kind. And their failure is documented, verifiable, and sitting in the public record for every northern voter to read before casting their ballot in 2027.

The facts are these. In a publicly published article on Opinion Nigeria, a verified Obi supporter responding directly to a pro-northern commentary written by Sufyan Lawal Kabo, whose article on the NDC ticket’s northern viability has been widely circulated within political commentary circles, described Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, in the following terms. The Sardauna was characterised as a Fulani aristocrat who inherited power from the jihad.

His documented concerns about Igbo political dominance were dismissed as the testament of a conqueror who feared losing his conquered territory. And the legacy of one of the most consequential, most institution-building, most educationally transformative, and most internationally respected political figures in the entire history of northern Nigeria was reduced, in a single contemptuous paragraph, to the frightened posturing of an entitled hereditary ruler defending unearned privilege.
Let those words sit for a moment before we proceed. A Fulani aristocrat who inherited power from the jihad. The testament of a conqueror who feared losing his conquered territory. These are not the words of a political opponent engaging in legitimate historical debate.

They are the words of someone who holds the Sardauna of Sokoto in contempt. Someone who regards his life’s work, the building of Ahmadu Bello University, the establishment of the Bank of the North, the creation of the Northern Regional Development Corporation, the construction of the 16,000-seat Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, the cultivation of northern political consciousness that gave the region its voice in the first republic, as nothing more than the self-interested manoeuvring of an aristocratic class protecting inherited power. They are words that every northerner who has ever spoken the Sardauna’s name with pride, every student who has sat in the institution that bears his name, every community that has drawn on the legacy he built, and every family that traces its civic identity to the northern political tradition he helped define, has the right to hear, to evaluate, and to hold accountable.
And accountability, in a democracy, begins with leadership. When a political leader is seeking the votes of millions of people, they acquire, as an inseparable part of that solicitation, the responsibility to defend those people’s values, history, and sacred memory from disrespect, even when, and especially when, that disrespect comes from within their own political family. This is not an abstract principle invented for the purpose of this argument. It is the standard that has been applied consistently and correctly across Nigerian political history whenever leaders failed to speak up in the face of insults directed at communities they claimed to represent or to court.

It is the standard that northern voters have applied to every candidate who has ever sought their support. And it is the standard that Peter Obi and Kwankwaso have demonstrably and completely failed to meet in relation to the documented insult directed at the Sardauna of Sokoto by a verified member of their political community in a publicly accessible national publication.

Mohamed Hussaini writes from Bauchi.

Opinion

A Library in One Man: The Legacy of Dr. Ibraheem Ladi Amosa

Published

4 days ago

June 3, 2026

Nigerian Tracker

The Pen that Teaches, the Mind that Illuminates, and the Legacy that Endures

There are men who merely pass through time, and there are men who leave footprints upon the sands of history. Ibraheem Ladi Amosa Abubakr Al Mu’allim, widely known as Albani belongs to the latter category—a rare intellectual craftsman, an educational reformer, a prolific author, and a visionary whose works continue to illuminate minds across continents.

A son of Ilorin, Nigeria, he emerged not merely as a teacher but as a bridge between tradition and modernity, dedicating his life to making Islamic knowledge, Arabic language, and contemporary education accessible to all. His journey is a testimony that greatness is not measured by titles alone but by the number of minds enlightened and hearts guided.

A Scholar of Many Horizons

Ibraheem Ladi Amosa is a distinguished educator, researcher, writer, and author whose intellectual contributions span across: Islamic Studies, Tawheed and Aqeedah, Fiqh and Hadith, Arabic Language Education, Children’s Islamic Literature, Social Reform, Ethics and Morality, Comparative Thought, Science and Technology Education, Community Development etc. His scholarship is characterized by a rare ability to simplify complex subjects without compromising their depth, making knowledge accessible to beginners while remaining beneficial to advanced learners.

A Pen That Refused to Sleep: Ibraheem Albani Al-Mu’allim Surpasses 100 Publications

Few scholars of his generation can boast of such a vast and diverse intellectual portfolio. Through dozens of publications and educational works, he has demonstrated extraordinary versatility and academic excellence. He is a prolific author, researcher, and educator with over one hundred and ten (110) publications in Arabic and English, covering diverse fields including ʿAqeedah (Islamic Creed), Fiqh, Hadith, Qur’anic Studies, Arabic Language, Education, History, Social Issues, Public Policy, Contemporary Islamic Thought, Community Development, and Youth Empowerment.

His books such as “Simplified Islamic Quiz 300 Islamic Questions and answers for seekers of knowledge,” “100 Questions and Answers on Tawheed,” “600 Authentic Hadiths,” “Al-Eemaan,” “Fiqh Zakah with Evidence,” “Fiqhus Salaat with Evidence,” “The Sacred Legacy of Al-Aqsa,” “Daily Prophetic Adhkar,” and numerous Arabic educational manuals have become valuable resources for students, teachers, and seekers of knowledge worldwide.

An Architect of Accessible Knowledge

What distinguishes Ibraheem Ladi Amosa is not merely the quantity of his works but their transformative vision. He possesses the rare gift of turning difficult concepts into understandable lessons and transforming academic knowledge into practical guidance. His mission has never been to fill bookshelves; it has been to fill minds. His writings embody the timeless wisdom that: “Knowledge is not what is stored in books; knowledge is what transforms lives.”

A Legacy beyond the Classroom

While many teach within four walls, Ibraheem Ladi Amosa has chosen a larger classroom—the world itself. Through books, research, educational initiatives, and digital platforms, he has extended the reach of beneficial knowledge far beyond geographical boundaries.

His contributions continue to: strengthen Islamic literacy, promote authentic tawheed, encourage critical thinking, preserve Arabic language heritage, inspire future generations of learners, and build bridges between faith and contemporary realities.

The Rare Genius of Purpose

True genius is not the accumulation of information but the ability to transform information into guidance, wisdom, and societal benefit. Ibraheem Ladi Amosa exemplifies this principle. He writes not for applause but for impact. He teaches not for recognition but for transformation. He researches not for prestige but for posterity. His life reflects the profound truth that: “A candle loses nothing by lighting a thousand others.”

A Legacy in Motion

The story of Ibraheem Ladi Amosa is not merely the story of an author. It is the story of a builder of minds. A cultivator of intellects. A reviver of beneficial knowledge. A guardian of authentic Islamic teachings. A mentor whose pen continues to speak long after the ink has dried. As generations continue to benefit from his writings and educational contributions, his legacy stands as a reminder that the greatest wealth a person can leave behind is knowledge that benefits humanity.

“When history remembers the builders of minds, the name Ibraheem Ladi Amosa (Albani) will stand among those whose pens became lanterns and whose knowledge became a lasting charity for generations yet unborn. – Markaz

Markaz Ihyahis Sunnah Waikhmadil Bid’ah

markazihyaahisunnah@gmail.com, 48, Line Chairman, Maikalwa, Naibawa Yanlemu, Kano