Northern-Nigeria Perspective

Kongo Campus  ---------------------------------------- Let me begin from the beginning. What is the origin of the name "Kongo Campus"? One initial theory was, it came from the Congo Republic, where Nigerian soldiers helped stabilise that nation's independence from 1960 to 1964 under the UN supervision, just like Dodan Barracks is named after the territory in the Arakan Peninsula of Burma (now Myanmar), Bukavu Barracks (named after a town in the Congo), Mogadishu Barracks (named after the capital of Somalia), etc. Historians however stated that Kongo (distinct from the nation Congo) was a tribe indigenous to the area covered by Tudun Wada, Zaria that had lived there for centuries, where the campus is located. This version has been officially accepted for the records. On 3rd May 1946, the Resident of Zaria represented the Lieutenant-Governor of the Northern Region to declare open the Clerical Training Centre, Zaria. It was built by the colonial authorities to he...

Isn't it a bit nostalgic when you see how the ruling party intimidates the efforts of ADC for it's convention? Impunity knew no bounds by PDP during the dying days of Jonathan administration. Ameachi was harassed as his security were withdrawn, so was Kwankwaso. Rivers state government was sieged as Kwankwaso summon the Kwankwasiyya youth to protect government house after the withdrawal of his security too. Adams Oshiomole was prevented to fly and attend a political rally as NCAA grounded Rivers state owned aircraft to restrict Ameachi's movement. Despite state power and it's coercive ability, Jonathan was booted out of office by popular opposition that is beyond politicians alone. Collective consciousness channelled by a rallying figure was the miracle that, for the first time in our history, a ruling party was defeated by the opposition. That was no small feat considering our political antecedent and elections trajectories. We can easily see the similariti...

The present conflict in the Middle East, particularly the Israeli wars of terror against the Muslims, is often narrated as an ancient, inevitable clash between Jews and Muslims, with Israel and its Western allies cast as the natural guardians of Jewish survival against a hostile Islamic world. They even coined a new phrase to describe it - Judeo-Christian Civilization! History, however, offers a far more uncomfortable mirror - one that belies this narrative and complicates today’s moral alignments. For much of recorded history, Jewish insecurity was not rooted in the Muslim world - it was a Christian condition! 2. From the early medieval period, Jewish life in Christian Europe was shaped by Christian theological anti-Judaism, rooted in the charge of *deicide*, the belief that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. This doctrine translated into social exclusion and state-backed persecution that produced a culture in which violence against Jews was repeate...

EXPOSURE PRO MAX I was surprised when Tinubu announced someone like him to head INEC. That man has no integrity. He is deceitful and unscrupulous. I have known him since 1991 at the University of Jos, first as a student in his department, and later as a colleague in the same Faculty of Law. We both served as lecturers in the faculty. During the 2009/2010 academic session, when he was Dean, the results of 16 students who earned second-class upper division were tampered with and reassigned to so-called “special students.” These “special students” were wealthy and sometimes influential individuals who were not even regular in school, but used their money and influence to acquire results that did not belong to them. I stood up and fought for those poor but brilliant students until their results were restored. Prof Amupitan did everything possible to silence me, but I refused. I know Amupitan very very well. He is someone I have worked closely with. He does not have integrity an...

•The infinity sign  Fellow Nigerians, This symbol ∞ is not a decoration. It is not fashion. It is not culture. It is a message! In mathematics, ∞ means infinity - no limit, no end, no exit. It represents permanence. It is something designed to last on forever.  2. Symbols, however, do not belong to mathematics alone. They travel far and wide into culture, into philosophy and, most powerfully, into politics. Specifically in political communications, symbols are rarely accidental. They are messages. They are almost always encoded intents. Therefore, when symbols speak from mathematics to power, we must do well to listen and understand. The adoption or consistent display of a symbol by a political leader invites interpretation. This becomes imperative as history teaches us that leaders, in all generations, have used visual cues, flags, colors, attire and gestures not just for identity, but for projection of power, legitimacy and ambition. 3. ⁠And today, this very symb...

“Scholars are the inheritors of the prophets” is a Hadith reported by majority of compilers including Bukhari, Ibn Maja, Tirmidhi, Nisa’a, Ahmad, Ibn Hibban and others. The Hadith is most likely informed by the Quranic Verse  35:32 “Then we have given the book as inheritance to such of our servants as we have chosen”.  Islam is a religion that set out to make a scholar of all believers, though to a degree, as God commanded us in  Q17:37 “And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge; for every act of hearing or seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the day of reckoning)”  Thus a Muslim is required to have basic knowledge that would guide his life to a point, so that he could responsibly defend his actions, not only here in the world but in the hereafter. Therefore basic knowledge is a religious necessity. Scholars earned the position of inheritors of prophvet simply because they are a special class of Muslims distinguished by ...