• cover image     The Balfour Pivot: How 1917 Reconfigured Jewish Relations with Christendom and Islam - Umar Ardo, PhD Further to the discussion of my previous article, let me start this essay by stating that the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on the resettlement of Jews in Palestine as their primary Homeland did not create the Judeo-Christian interfaith dynamics out of nothing; rather, it accelerated and reconfigured trajectories that started earlier in ways that made new alliances and antagonisms politically useful. Specifically, in the 17th century, more concrete shift appeared in England under Oliver Cromwell. Aiming to rubbish the policies of the monarchy that he overthrew, Cromwell officially allowed Jews to return to England after centuries of expulsion. Likewise, the Jacobins who overthrew the monarchy in the French Revolution made an unprecedented move by granting Jews full citizenship of France. Also, after coming to p...

Image 1 caption: is the renewed hope really delivering positive impact? ___   APC NEEDS SUPERIOR STRATEGY TO RETURN TO POWER IN 2027 By  Umar Ardo, Ph.D That the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may face a serious threat of electoral defeat in 2027 is no longer a distant speculation; it is an emerging political reality! The fundamental error of the APC’s current strategy is that, instead of it to look at how low its popularity is and work towards beefing it up, it is concentrating on the weakness of the opposition and working fervently to weaken it even further. This is a poor political calculus! In other words, if President Tinubu concentrates in raising his popularity, then automatically he will be weakening the popularity base of the opposition. Conversely, if he focuses on weakening the opposition, as he seems to be doing now, then automatically he will only be weakening his popularity and raising their own. And once the incumbent is unpopular any focu...

I have on different occasions, pointed clearly to my brother Bichia Maisango, the Hausa-Zalla self appointed prophet and harbinger of doom, Islam has no room for ethnic bigotry. What he, and his ilk, failed to understand is the simple distinction, succinctly discussed and explained in Ibrahim A. Waziri's article of the "What" and "Who" of identity.  Maisango and his advocates would like to quickly submit "the time of religious manipulation is over, it is time to rise to Hausa consciousness" laughable I should say and the naked exposition of their ignorance of both what identity ought to be and what religions in general and Islam in particular came to abolish. Islam from the get-go, promotes the Kalima (shahada) as the first step of the negation of devilry which promotes division and bloodshed, while uphelding divine unity that cement and guide us towards brotherliness and equality of all human beings. At the local level, Salah serves the...

TARIHIN SARKIN MUSULMI NA FARKO – SULTAN MUHAMMADU BELLO (1781–1837) Muhammadu Bello, wanda aka fi sani da Sultan Bello, shi ne Sarkin Musulmi na farko a Daular Sokoto kuma ɗa ga Usman dan Fodio. Ya taka muhimmiyar rawa a lokacin Jihadin mahaifinsa, inda ya jagoranci yaƙe-yaƙe da dama, ciki har da nasarar da aka samu a kan Gobir a shekarar 1808. A shekarar 1809, bayan nasarorin Jihad, an raba yankunan da aka ci: Bello ya jagoranci yankin gabas, yayin da ɗan’uwansa Abdullahi dan Fodio ya jagoranci yankin yamma. Duk da haka, ikon ƙarshe yana hannun mahaifinsu a matsayin jagoran muminai. Bayan rasuwar Usman dan Fodio a shekarar 1817, an miƙa wa Bello jagorancin daular gaba ɗaya tare da lakabin Sarkin Musulmi. Daga nan ne ya fara amfani da lakabin Sultan, wanda ya zama sananne da shi har zuwa yau. Bello ya kafa cibiyar mulkinsa a Sokoto, sannan ya gina wani sansani a Wurno domin kare daular daga barazanar arewa. Saboda yawan zamansa a can, aka lakaba masa suna Mai Wurno. ...

Adamawa State is in the eye of a storm. It's a place where everybody wants to be governor or where everybody has his person that should be the governor. It's a rat race that only one person will be sworn into office in about 400 days. Most people say it's the most difficult job - no rest, no peace of mind, no thanks, no true friends. If so, then why is everybody so interested in carrying this heavy burden?  Beyond rhetorics, if given the opportunity I would like to be the governor of Adamawa State for the sake of the people. But that's not my turf. There's a process to reach that point. It's a journey where you have many rivers to cross. Many are pushed into the river and get drowned, even before reaching the first bridge. The question is 'Who can be governor of Adamawa State?' You can be if, according to the Nigerian Constitution, you are a Nigerian citizen by birth,  at least 35 years old, a member of a registered political party sponsor...

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 rep...

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 s...

“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 ...

 Copied BREAKING🚨 IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER F!RES BACK TO CRIT!CS ON WHY THEY ARE CHARGING $2MILLION D0LLARS FOR A PASS AT STRAIT OF HORMUZ. “Let me be absolutely clear,” the Iranian minister addressing the international community. Countries around the world routinely charge massive fees for critical maritime chokepoints. Egypt, for example, collects between $200,000 and $700,000 per transit through the Suez Canal—with large tankers and container ships often exceeding $1 million. Meanwhile, Panama imposes fees ranging from $100,000 to $450,000 for vessels crossing the Panama Canal, with larger Neopanamax ships paying up to $500,000. In Turkey, transit through the Bosphorus Strait comes with its own costs. Similarly, both Canada and the United States impose fees along the St. Lawrence Seaway. “And yet,” he continued, “Iran has, for decades, refused to charge transit fees through the Strait of Hormuz—keeping it open without cost, despite facing sancti0ns, isolation, and constant c...

Bahaushe ya ce sai an kula kashi ya ke doyi....ina kira da babbar murya ga matasan Arewa ku rabu da duk wadanda ke kokarin kunna wutar fitina tsakanin Hausawa da Fulani. Duk musulmi da ya ci sunan musulmi, wallahi ya girmi kabilanci. Babban abinda musulunci ya zo yayi yaki da shi a Doron kasa bayan shirka, bai wuce kabilanci ba. Sannan musulunci ya na yakar zalunci daga duk inda ya fito, ko a cikin gidanku ne. Duk al'ummar da ta gina tunanin yayanta kan kabilanci (kamar mu a nan Najeriya) wallahi har abada ba za ta kai gaci ba.  Ka gama zagin bahaushe ko bafilatani, ka na matsawa kadan sai dan Birom ko wata kabilar Middle Belt ya far maka. Shi kuma Dan Middle Belt da ya haura river Niger ko Benue sai Dan kudu ya far masa a matsayinsa na Dan Arewa. Shi kuma inyamurin kudu ya far wa duk yanuwansa na kudu. Yan Nigeria Delta su far wa Inyamuri yayin da Yarbawa su ke far wa kowa. Duk mai bibiyar tarihin Najeriya da idon basira zai gane cewa da gangan turawan mulk...

In the current Nigerian "climate," a teacher can no longer afford to wait for a reward in the afterlife. Since death has graciously ignored me for now and failed to give me a lift to that celestial station, I am putting in my claim for my reward right here on Earth. My provisions are exhausted, and I need more than just promises to survive the rest of the journey to the final stop. By the way, as a teacher, I always made it a point to introduce myself properly—writing my name and a brief biography for every new class—so that I would be remembered by my students long after the lessons ended. In my over four decades of teaching, my journey through the stations of Nigerian education has been vast and deeply fulfilling. My Journey Through the Stations (1965 – 2006) 1. 1965 - Gombi Primary School - 280 staff/students. Notable: Fatima Balla (Mrs. Fatima wife Prof. Sa'ad Abubakar).  2. 1968 - GSS Bauchi - Pupil Teacher. Miss Faith Peters (South African), Esai Dangabar 3....

The current state visit of *President Bola Ahmed Tinubu* to the United Kingdom was, by every ceremonial standard, a spectacle of prestige. From the stately reception to the banquet hosted by King Charles III at Windsor Castle, from the polished motorcade to the guard of honour, the pageantry was unmistakable. Accolades were generously dispensed; encomiums flowed with diplomatic grace. On the surface, it was an image of Nigeria elevated and respected. In diplomacy, such appearances carry the weight of symbolic honour.  2. Yet, beneath the glitter of these ceremonies lies a more troubling question: can honour be complete when it is divorced from context? The central flaw of the visit is not in the fact of diplomacy itself, but in its failure to reckon with moral timing - the invisible yet decisive measure of responsible leadership. A state visit may indeed constitute diplomatic honour in the abstract, but politics is never conducted in the abstract; it is judged in the...