Opinion

Restoring the Glory That Was Always There: Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and the Historical Vision Behind Kano First

Published

3 months ago

March 11, 2026

By Saminu Umar Ph.D | Senior Lecturer, Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University, Kano

Kano does not need to be invented. That is a truth so fundamental, so historically self-evident, that it should not need to be stated at all, and yet the circumstances of recent decades have made its restatement not merely appropriate but urgent. There is a tendency, in the discourse of Nigerian development, to treat every governance initiative as a beginning, as though the society being governed had no prior history of achievement, no accumulated wisdom, no tested traditions of institutional excellence on which new efforts might be built. This tendency is not merely intellectually lazy, but it is, in the specific context of Kano, a form of historical injustice, a failure to reckon honestly with the civilizational inheritance that this state carries and that its people have never entirely abandoned, even through the long and painful decades in which their institutions were hollowed out, their values eroded, and their confidence systematically undermined by the combined weight of misgovernance, corruption, and the slow cultural dislocation that follows when a society loses trust in the institutions that are supposed to embody its highest aspirations.
Kano was, long before Nigeria existed as a political entity, one of the most sophisticated and enduring centers of civilization in West Africa. Its greatness was not the greatness of conquest or of externally imposed order. It was the greatness of organic development, of a society that built, over centuries, a coherent and self-sustaining civilization on foundations that were simultaneously material and moral. The trans-Saharan trade networks that made Kano a commercial hub of continental significance were sustained not merely by geography or by the availability of goods, but by a culture of commercial integrity, of trust between trading partners, of contractual reliability, and of the kind of reputational accountability that makes markets function across distances and between strangers. The Islamic scholarship that gave Kano its intellectual authority was not merely a religious tradition. It was a governance philosophy, one that placed knowledge, justice, accountability, and the subordination of personal interest to public duty at the center of what it meant to hold power. The traditional political institutions that maintained Kano’s social order were not instruments of oppression but, at their best, mechanisms of consultation, legitimacy, and the managed resolution of social conflict.
These were not accidental achievements. They were the products of deliberate cultivation, of generations of Kano’s people choosing, consciously and consistently, to organize their collective life around values that made both individual flourishing and communal solidarity possible. That is what a civilization is: not a collection of buildings or a record of territorial expansion, but a living tradition of values, practices, and institutions that enables a human community to achieve, across time, more than any individual generation could accomplish alone. Kano built such a civilization. And the question that every serious governor of Kano must eventually confront, whether they frame it in these terms or not, is whether they are adding to that civilization or subtracting from it.
It is against this civilizational backdrop that the Kano First Initiative under Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf must be understood, not as a new idea imported into Kano from outside, not as a political slogan invented to win elections and abandoned when the votes are counted, but as a deliberate act of historical retrieval, an attempt to reach back through the debris of recent decades and recover the foundations on which Kano’s genuine greatness was built. The initiative’s framework document states this explicitly and without embarrassment: Kano’s most persistent challenges are not solely infrastructural or economic in nature. They are fundamentally behavioral, normative, and narrative failures, accumulated over time and reinforced by weak value transmission, fragmented authority, and uncoordinated messaging. This is a diagnosis of remarkable historical honesty, and it is one that only a governor with a genuine understanding of what Kano has been and what it has lost could have authorized.
Governor Yusuf’s historical vision is not nostalgic in the sentimental sense of the word. He is not proposing a return to a romanticized past that never existed in the uncomplicated form that nostalgia requires. He is proposing something simultaneously more modest and more ambitious: the recovery of specific values, specific institutional principles, and specific civic traditions that demonstrably worked, that demonstrably sustained Kano’s coherence and productivity over centuries, and that demonstrably began to break down when they were displaced by the governing logic of extraction, patronage, and the systematic subordination of public interest to private accumulation. Islamic ethical governance, communal responsibility, the dignity of productive labor, respect for legitimate authority, the centrality of knowledge in public life, these are not abstract ideals. They are the operational principles of a civilization that actually functioned, and their recovery is not a romantic aspiration but a practical governance imperative.
The intellectual architecture through which this recovery is being pursued bears the clear fingerprints of the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, whose contribution to the Kano First Initiative has been, in every meaningful sense, the contribution of a man who understands both what Kano is and what it needs. The framework he has championed integrates three traditions that, taken together, give the initiative both its cultural legitimacy and its analytical credibility: the Islamic ethical governance tradition that historically underpinned Kano’s stability and justice, Kano’s own sociocultural heritage of communal solidarity and institutional accountability, and the modern behavioral change communication science that provides the methodological tools for translating values into measurable social outcomes. This integration is not accidental. It reflects a deep conviction, shared by both the governor and his commissioner, that genuine renewal cannot be achieved by importing foreign solutions but only by excavating and rebuilding on Kano’s own foundations.
The scale of what has been lost must be honestly acknowledged if the scale of what is being attempted is to be properly appreciated. Kano today carries wounds that decades of misgovernance have inflicted on its social fabric with a thoroughness that cannot be undone quickly or easily. Youth disaffection has reached levels that express themselves in drug abuse, street violence, and the nihilistic political thuggery that represents, at its core, the rage of young people who were promised a future and received instead a void. Institutional trust, once the bedrock of Kano’s civic life, has been so systematically eroded that the default posture of many citizens toward their government is not engagement but cynicism, not participation but withdrawal. The digital media ecosystem, which should be a tool of civic enlightenment, has in too many instances become a vehicle for the amplification of the very misinformation, polarization, and moral dislocation that the Kano First Initiative is designed to address. These are not small problems, and they will not yield to small solutions.
What gives the Kano First Initiative its historical seriousness is precisely that it does not pretend otherwise. The four-phase implementation framework, stretching from 2026 through 2030, is built on the recognition that the restoration of a civilization’s normative foundations is a generational project, not a political campaign. Phase One builds the empirical foundation, the baseline surveys, perception mapping, and narrative architecture that genuine social intervention requires. Phase Two deploys coordinated, multi-channel behavioral activation across youth networks, religious institutions, traditional authorities, and community organizations. Phase Three scales what works and deepens digital engagement. Phase Four embeds the initiative permanently into Kano’s governance architecture through a dedicated directorate and the annual Kano Values Index. This is not the timeline of an administration managing its image. It is the timeline of a government that has looked honestly at the depth of the challenge and committed itself to the depth of response that the challenge demands.
There is an emotional dimension to this story that deserves to be named directly, because it is one that the purely analytical framing of policy discourse tends to obscure. Kano’s people love their state with an intensity and a pride that is, even in a country of fierce regional loyalties, remarkable. They carry within them the memory of a greatness that their grandparents knew and that they themselves have glimpsed, in fragments and in moments, even through the long decades of disappointment. When Governor Yusuf speaks of restoring Kano’s glory, he is not merely making a political argument. He is speaking to something that lives in the hearts of ordinary Kano citizens, something that has survived misgovernance, political manipulation, and cultural erosion with a resilience that is itself a testament to the depth of Kano’s civilizational roots. That emotional resonance is not a weakness in the Kano First philosophy. It is one of its greatest strategic assets, because renewal that connects with people’s deepest sense of identity and pride generates the kind of civic energy that no top-down programme can manufacture.
The work of restoring that glory belongs, ultimately, not to government alone but to every institution, every community leader, every journalist, every religious scholar, every teacher, every trader, and every young person in Kano who chooses, in their daily conduct, to live by the values that made this civilization great. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has provided the vision, the institutional framework, and the personal example of a leader who is willing to pay the political costs that genuine commitment to the public good always exacts. Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya has provided the intellectual architecture and the communication infrastructure through which that vision can be translated into civic reality. The rest, as it must always be when a society is serious about its own renewal, belongs to the people.
Kano’s glory was never lost. It was covered over, layer by layer, by the accumulated debris of decades of bad governance, institutional betrayal, and the slow erosion of the values that once made it shine. The Kano First Initiative is not building something new on empty ground. It is clearing the ground of debris so that what was always there can breathe again, grow again, and reclaim the space in Nigeria’s national life and in West Africa’s historical memory that Kano has always, by right of civilization, deserved to occupy. That is the historical vision behind Kano First. And it is a vision worth every effort, every sacrifice, and every ounce of collective will that Kano’s people can bring to its realization.

Saminu Umar Ph.D is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University, Kano. surijyarzaki@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