Opinion
Our democracy and insecurity

Muhammad Yakubu
We usually shower oceans of praises on heroes of democracy of our country during special times.
Today, designated as Democracy Day by the Federal Government, is likely to witness torrents of such encomiums for our heroes past and present.
Unfortunately, this year’s democracy day is being celebrated amidst unprecedented degeneration of security situation in the country.
Yesterday, a brother who is well known on Facebook, Barr Shettima Dan’azumi forwarded a suggestion that we should use the day to call the attention of our leaders towards the seemingly endless insecurity and unfortunate massacre of people in our country.

Buhari goofed on June 12 – Junaidu Muhammad
The northern part of Nigeria where I come from and coincidently, the constituency of President Muhammad Buhari GCFR, is the worst hit.
I instantly agreed, without even having a second thought, as the issue has been disturbing me for a while and I have been looking for the perfect time to express my immense grief.
Worse than COVID-19
Nigeria was, at a time, the giant of Africa when it comes to the issue of tackling insecurity.
The exploits of our troops in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other parts of the continent are well known.
Nonetheless, it is now a national consensus that, that commanding image of the past has almost faded completely.
Yet, I am still optimistic about a positive turnaround during difficult times.
I strongly believe that we are more than capable of overcoming this epidemic.
Yes, epidemic.
The high rate of insecurity in our country has done more damage and cost more Nigerian lives than the recent outbreaks of diseases, including Lassa fever and COVID-19.
Living in fear
It is alarming to see that the situation has kept escalating and more terrorist and notorious groups are emerging by the day.
From armed robbery to Boko haram, kidnapping, cattle rustling and banditry, these terror groups have caused enough destructions through their barbaric activities.
It is time the governments at different levels doubled efforts with a view to curbing the crises before the impacts and strength of these groups become insurmountable.
Our people in the north are living in fear.
Nobody knows the next the target of the terrorists.
They are insidiously taking over the north before our very eyes.
Time to act
I therefore call on the government to look into this issue seriously. Many people are now homeless, while many have been orphaned all because of insecurity.
We are gradually becoming another Somalia or Afghanistan.
The government, therefore, has to tackle this matter from its roots. Restructuring of the country’s security architecture can certainly help bring us out of this mess.
More youths have to be recruited into the system.
Our internal security agencies like the Police and Civil Defence should be more engaged in tackling the internal problems as the military is clearly over stretched.
These agencies must be properly trained and equipped with the modern weapons to do their job.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Muhammad, a young, passionate and patriotic Nigerian writes from Abuja

Opinion
Abdussamad Rabi’u pays tribute to his father Khalifa Isyaku Rabi’u

My Dear Khalifa
It has been seven years, yet it feels like yesterday since you departed. Our memories of you remain vivid, priceless, and are deeply rooted in our hearts. The moments we shared, your teachings and your selfless example continue to shape us daily, to the admiration of many.
Your legacy, especially your deep devotion to Islam and its propagation, still echoes across generations and geographies. Through your life of service, you inspired countless others to embrace kindness, humility, and compassion. You lived not just for yourself but in service to others, and this principle continues to guide our path.
In honour of your memory, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to selfless service. We will continue to support noble causes and charitable undertakings that reflect the values you lived by, regardless of race, gender, or background.

May the Almighty Allah, in His infinite mercy, keep granting you Al Jannah Firdaus. May your soul continue to rest in the eternal peace and light of His divine presence.
Abdul Samad Rabiu, CFR, CON
For the Family
08.05.2025.

Opinion
The need to restore the prestige of Kano Pillars FC

Isyaku Ibrahim
There is no doubt whenever you talk about Enyimba of Aba in Nigeria’s top flight who won the competition nine time, the next team that will come to your mind is Kano Pillars that lifted the trophy on four good occasions. But nowadays,it seems the Kano darling is losing its prestige, recognition and above all popularity in the local league.
This was as a result of lack of total commitment, determination, tenacity, patriotism,diligence and seriousness which the side was known for in the past.

To say the fact, the pyramid City lad was previously rated among the traditional teams in the top flight as they have established and tested players that would not disappoint their teeming fans no matter where they are playing.
It was based on this late Rashidi Yekini while watching the team at Adamasingba Stadium now Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan said if he was to play for a local team he would prefer to lace his boot for Kano Pillars ahead of others.
The reason he Said was simply due to excellent free flow football of the team but now it seems that has gone for bad.
When the club was established as early as 1990 among the objectives behind was to boost the name of the state through football and beside that win trophies with a view to competing favourably with others.
While those behind the idea should be commended to a large extent for their foresight in that respect in view of how the team is now a household name in the round leather game countrywide but there is the need for a collaborative effort with a view to normalising things in the ancient city side as the club has now stepped down from its aforementioned aims and objectives.
It is painful that the team’s main priority nowadays was not to lift the league as the case was previously but to survive relegation which was baseless,laughable and nothing to write home about considering their past experience particularly when they were based at Sabongari Stadium.
Definitely,this season is almost over as Remo Stars are as good as being crowned the winners of the event
The best option for Sai Masu Gida is to start early preparation for the upcoming season through putting their house in order aimed at restoring their winning culture as the teeming fans are tired of flimsy excuses on the reason behind their lack lustre performance year in year out.
Honestly, what they are basically hoping for is to see the club matches theory with practice through grabbing the trophy or at least earning one of the three continental tickets in the country.
optimistically this is achievable with the full support of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf coupled with that of his laborious and submissive Deputy Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, good management, superb technical crew and the support of ardent fans who are always with the side in either thick or thin.
Ibrahim is a Director Public Enlightenment at Kano State Ministry of Special Duties.

Opinion
In defence of Prof Abdalla Uba Adamu’s beautiful quip on Kano – IBK

Prof. Ibrahim Bello-Kano (IBK)
Double Professor Uba Abdallah Adamu has angered many non-Kano people resident in Kano by his famous, widely circulated quip, an aphoristic description of Kano in which says the anyone tired of (living in) Kano is tired of life. Prof Adamu’s appraisal of Kano is based on a sound premise and a powerful emotional logic. Prof. Adamu’s comment has a powerful pedigree. On the arguments of the highly acclaimed French sociologist and space theorist, Henri Lefebre in “The Production of Space” (1974), it can be shown that Kano, especially the city and the metropolitan area, has three characteristics, typical of the greatest cities in the world since Antiquity:
1. It is a conceived space (an urban area, complete with a series of interlacing and interloping and interlocking urban designs since the 9th century). Kano was already a city and an urban space well before 1903. It’s one of the oldest urban areas in the Sudan.

2. It is a lived space, complete with the everyday experiences of its inhabitants and their emotional identification with it. Hence the many “quarters of the city”— from Alkantara, Alfindiki, Ayagi, to Mubi and Gwangwazo and beyond those.
3. Kano is also a practiced/practised space, with its inhabitants, visitors, and emigré population working to “practice up” the city in their daily lived experiences and within its urban and emotional spaces. That’s the truth of Prof. Abdallah Uba Adamu’s hyperbolic reference to Kano as a barometer of happiness or depression.
Prof Adamu is also correct in that most immigrants to the city never leave it, even if their last name may indicate other towns or cities. Already, Kano is one of the most truly cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria, surpassed only by New York, London, and Abidjan. In 1958, almost a decade before Lefebre’s book, the philosopher of science and urban studies, Gaston Bachelard published “The Poetics of Space” in which he argues that to live, or to choose to live, in a place, say the Kano metropolis, is already to enact an emotional act, and an existential event, in and for which Kano is already a resonant space of intimacy, or an intimate place of lived subjectivity. This is the case because one cannot live in Kano, even for a brief period, without (seeking to) creating a home, a nest, and an intimate space of “Kano beingness” or a Kano-based “being- in-the world”. That’s why Kano evokes and resonates with a strong emotional identification with it. When I was about 8 years old, I was told, on visiting the Dala Hill, that God had planned to create a holy city in Kano, but a dog urinated on the hallowed ground, and that’s how the divine plan was moved elsewhere. Of course, that story is clearly apocryphal, yet it shows how the Kano people are intensely proud of their places and spaces. So, Prof. Abdullah Uba Adamu’s hyperbolic and surreal description of Kano is essentially correct and pleasingly poignant. Many emigré groups are unhappy with his remarks, but if you live in a place, earn a living in it, or draw opportunities of all kinds from it, then you have got to love Kano, the most romantic of cities, a city full of dreams, aspirations, emotional highs and lows, and learn to identify with its fortunes. Kano, the city of gold and piety, recalcitrance and hope, modern politics and ideological contestations; the city of majestic royalty; the city of women and cars, as Shata once described it. Kano… the great Entreport. Kano, your name will endure through the ages. Cheers.
Ibrahim Bello-Kano (IBK) is a Professor of English at Bayero University, Kano.
