Every year, on February 13th, Nigerians pause to remember the death of General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, a man whose legacy continues to inspire and challenge us. It has been 48 years since his assassination, yet Mohammed remains the man to beat.
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Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases the world has ever encountered.While exerting tremendous physical, emotional and financial strain on individuals, families, communities and health systems, cancer can shrink resources as it strikes the rich, poor, young, old and now even children.
At a recent function in Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima expressed his disappointment that some Nigerians would rather be amused by the free fall of Naira value than pour ashes on their heads. According to him, “It is not only disheartening and disenchanting but also heartbreaking that yesterday when the Naira culminated to ₦1,500 to the dollar, instead of us to coagulate into a single force and salvage our nation economy, sadly, some clowns are celebrating on Twitter of an impending implosion of the Nigerian economy.” Look, if any clown here badly needs help recognising what he truly is, it is Shettima himself.
It was William Shakespeare, the iconoclastic poet, playwright, actor and perhaps, the greatest writer in English language, who in his 1602 writing in the play Twelfth Night, noted that “some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”. Four hundred and twenty two (422) years after Shakespeare uttered that phrase, every line of the literary quotation is as relevant today as it was then.
Since their appointments by the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, some ministers have been very popular as a result of their charisma, innovative ideas, aggressive pursuit of excellence, and programs that impact the lives of the people.
One of the most difficult job of parents and or guardian is raising children. By nature, children are born ‘innocent’. As they grow up, they continue to adapt to their environment, which begins to shape their characters. On their own, without proper guide, they choose to do as they wish, with no consideration for what is right or wrong. In fact, it takes the society to define what rights and wrongs are, for the child to know.
The journey of the Sokoto State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the square of success was not only tortuous but long-winded as there were traps and landmines all over the highway, however, God in His infinite wisdom and accuracy Has destined Ahmed Aliyu to be the Executive Governor of Sokoto state to the utmost chagrin and consternation of the opposition party and its people.
This is not a rejoinder to Prof Jibrin Ibrahim’s January 18th, 2024 opinion titled “The First Coup”. His opinion only serves this piece as the peg for a caution against overlooking the constitutive outside in the explanation of the phenomenon of coups in Africa, historically. Prof Jibrin Ibrahim’s piece on January 18th is striking in its restatement of the apprehension of both the cycle of coups and the wish for the syndrome to go away.
The destabilizization agenda of the North can be traced back to the failed coup attempts of the First Republic. Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka, a northerner from Plateau state, initiated the northern chapter of the plot by assassinating the then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed. Another northern military officer, Gideon Okar from Benue, further revealed the agenda by announcing the purported excision of Northern Nigeria from the rest of the country.
According to GPE Nigeria (2011-2020 report), among the major challenges to quality education in Sokoto state are “…fewer schools to accommodate all eligible children, inadequate teachers in quality and quantity, especially in the areas of science and technology, and dilapidated infrastructures.”