Connect with us

Columns

Re: El-Rufa’i vs ABU: How not to give back to Alma Mater, by Prof. MK Othman

Published

on

Re: The craze for easy money in Nigeria and the Hanifa story, by Prof M. K. Othman

Re: El-Rufa’i vs ABU: How not to give back to Alma Mater, by Prof. MK Othman

Since the year 2020 when this column debuted, none of my previous articles elicited a large number of reactions from readers than the piece of El-Rufa’i Vs ABU Zaria published two weeks. At the time, I am writing this rejoinder over the weekend, there were 151 shares of the online version of the article on the Facebook of Blueprint alone.

This is in addition to 100s if not 1000s others shared on different social media platforms. I am not surprised considering the gravity of the issue and the Institution involved; ABU Zaria, the largest and the most diverse university in Nigeria with over one million Alumni across the 774 LGAs in Nigeria and outside.

More than 95% of the reactions were against the decision of the Kaduna state government and thus, called on the man at the centre of the issue, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufa’i, the governor of Kaduna state, himself, an alumnus of ABU to deeply rethink his action and reverse it. It is really difficult to share all the views expressed in this column. However, few are selected for the reason of space limitation. Happy reading.

Only in Nigeria, the building of roads, stadia, and roundabouts are seen as something praiseworthy of a politician. We commit a lot of resources while neglecting the most important aspect of societal development, which is human capital development. A society with a decline in the quality of human capital should have done all it could to regain control of the nosedive. But in Nigeria, it is different. Schools are closing down because of banditry, kidnapping, etc, SMEs are being decimated because of violence, people cannot travel freely within and outside their states to attain education but we are busy with the building of structures, which indiscipline people would destroy in no time because we cannot manage them. I wonder what the use of all our certificates is, Africa. We ought to be able to reason from common sense unto more complex things.
Anonymous.

Honestly, El-Rufa’i is trying to burn the hand that fed him. He is therefore advised to desist from that act. To us Alumni of this great citadel of learning, ABU Zaria, we should therefore wake up to rescue ABU Zaria by emulating these Kano men (Dangote and Abdulsamad). Thank you, Prof. for the wake-up call
Sani Lawal, Kano

This is the problem of the governor; he doesn’t listen once he set out to carry out his development and underdevelopment activities. Since the coming of KADGIS with or without the governor’s knowledge and approval, KADGIS has selectively demolished markets, settlements, revoked C of Os, without taking into consideration the consequences of such actions on the people. As you rightly said the majority of small traders, weak owners of land and structures have suffered at the hands of someone they voted to improve their means of livelihood. Demolished market stalls are no longer within the reach of most traders as the money charged through the Bank and the developer is too exorbitant to afford.

There are so many examples of the high-handedness of the KADGIS personnel when executing the demolition and subsequent reallocation of the lands to the associates.
Those pushed out of the markets are also being chased from shops they found along the roads and within communities as illegal by KASUPDA with a big X and next visit punching as a warning painted on such buildings.

Now that most of the demolished lands have been grabbed, the remaining ones are in the security high-risk areas; the attention is now on lands belonging to institutions in the name of development. This has happened at NITR, this should not be allowed to happen at ABU Mando.

This is the same person who demolished the houses of people that encroached on the land of Alhudahuda college and tried to demolish those by the Zaria library. This same person is now encroaching on land belonging to another school. Haba Mallam Nasiru. The Bourgeois is being created at the expense of the proletariats and the future may be doomed!
Dr I. Sani, Zaria.

Honestly, El Rufa’i is not being fair to the Institution that trained him to be what he is today. Instead of him contributing to the development of A. B. U. Zaria, he is trying to take away what belongs to it. I think he should have a rethink and do the right thing with minimum delay. Thanks, Prof for making the public aware of this sensitive issue.
Dr Aminu Y. Umar, Katsina

Salam Prof. Thanks for sharing your article on El-Rufa’i vs ABU Zaria. You have correctly described the characters of El-Rufa’i. I hope he will listen to reasons and leave what does not rightly belong to his government alone. Similarly, I hope someone close to him will forward this article to him and by God’s grace, he may withdraw his decision of taking over what belongs to ABU Zaria.
Prof A. Y. Umar, Kano

El-Rufai’s self-adoration had made him aloof to issues of common sense. Else, how soon he forgot that ABU made him!!!
Alh Sani Ahmed, Kano

……” he is about to burn the hands that fed him” I love this quotation. This should have been the caption for the article, Prof. Excellently, well-articulated piece. I wish more oil to your head and more ink to your pen, Sir. You have said it all and hope that the man at the centre listens to your voice of reasons.
Prince U. Angara. Zaria

This is a well-thought-out write-up. Even though this outcry by ASUU, your write might not change much, but may remind the Governor of his pledge in 2015 upon assumption of office, he promised to reclaim all lands of public institutions excised and given out to the people. The demolitions at Alhudahuda College are still fresh in our memory. Continue to enlighten the people and a watchdog too. May Allah reward you most abundantly, amen.
Anonymous.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Columns

Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

Published

on

Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

By: Balami Lazarus

Osama. Does it ring a bell? Yes, it does on the Plateau. The Osama I am writing about is that individual who is known for his good works for humanity on the radio and outside the studio. Osama is a gentleman but is outspoken and has a mind of his own.

My Osama in this context is a personality, a brand, and a trademark. Osama is a broadcaster, radio presenter, and popular comedian on stage and in the entertainment industry in Jos-Plateau and beyond. Since the writing is sailing, I will later reveal the identity of who this young man is and why he is so passionate about good governance.

The fights for human rights, social justice, and good governance have been the cries and topic of discourse of so many Nigerians, especially good governance. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights activists are the leaders in these struggles, whereby their roles cannot be overemphasized. The quantum of spoken words, public lectures/enlightenment programs, workshops, seminars, etc., has not brought many changes in our systems because there was little or no action by you and me as Nigerians.

I remembered when I was very active in the struggle for human rights and social justice. As Deputy Secretary General (DSG) of Democratic Alternative (DA), we were much concerned with democratic alternative processes and social justice with a whiff of good governance, and this has been the case for some NGOs, as I know.

I came to understand from my experiences that, as a country, we have good public-oriented programs, but our major challenges are implementation and follow-up that come with too many talks but no individual action or collective responsibility because many Nigerians are fearful, and this has made me a one-man advocate/crusader for human rights and social justice. Like the subject of this work.

Now back to the subject. Osama is a brand package, fearless advocate, and mouthpiece for good governance on the Plateau through Town Hall, a popular radio program aired by JFM 101.9 FM. Jos is widely listened to. He was born as Ehis Akugnonu. But Osama has overtaken his certified name. Therefore, my continued use of Osama is justified in this work because I realized that many times your other name (also known as) tends to dominate and overshadow your real name.

Osama is redefining the fight for good governance by personal efforts through follow-up and speaking on them, putting the government on their feet to improve and do better. ‘I am for good governance, and I will continue to speak on this matter.’ He is purposefully driven by his passion for good quality and better systems to have an enabling environment where the systems are working for progress and development.

Balami, a publisher/columnist 08036779290

Osama, For Good Governance and Social Justice Through the Radio

Continue Reading

Columns

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

Published

on

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

By: Balami Lazarus

I saw it coming. As a writer, my works and I have been verbally attacked several times. I raised an eyebrow at how some readers react by using bad language on issues, opinions, and views. Well, that is their way of expression when they are displeased, but I feel it is grotty.

And here is the conclusion of the “controversial piece,” as one caller puts it. For me, there is nothing controversial about this discourse but the truth of the grotesque happenings in married homes. And the way out, as I earlier wrote, is divorce.

Recently there has been an inflation of brutal murders in marriages; those killed are mostly women and children, and fewer men. What justification does one have to continue in a marriage where there are threats, violence, and unhappiness generated by the presence of either the husband or the wife? And unknowingly one becomes prey hunted by an in-house predator.

Sharks areamong the most intelligent aquatic animals. Their sense of smell is very sharp; they can smell and detect blood or any red object in water from a far distance and come for it at near the speed of light. Therefore, women’s body chemistry is like that of sharks; they sense and notice things easily. But what is wrong with many of them in marriage that they are unable to detect landmines or red flags early in their marriages? Where there is a threat to life with the intention to hurt, harm, and/or cause grievous injury or death, that is when they realize they are living in gross bondage if they are lucky to come out of it alive.

As students at Pluto College Sharam in Kanke-Plateau State, we were told and made to understand as boys to treat our girl students with love and care and be there for them when the need arises. That was one of the lessons that came from the late Dr. Sumaila Ndayako (Rector), as he was known and called. As boys, we dared not humiliate, insult, or threaten them in any way; rather, we were to take them as our sisters by extension. This has taught me to respect and care for the opposite sex.

Moreover, my association, membership, and experience with some human rights organizations have enlightened me with rights, liberties, and freedom garnished by respect for individual differences, rights and privileges, consent, and action. With this knowledge put together, I consider marriage never a do-or-die affair but a privilege with consent to be a husband to a woman who also has rights/consent to be a wife and live in matrimony. Why then humiliation, abuses, and domestic violence?

I have observed in my experience as a married man that if you take away some women from their husbands, they will die, and vice versa. Despite the domestic violence and abuses inflicted on either party, he/she is willing and prefers to die in such gothic marriage situations because one among them has a deep spiritual attachment to the marriage. This is common in Christendom, where “till death do us part.” My question here is, what kind of death? Intentional, accidental, or natural? This created injunction clause does not hold water in life-threatening marriages.

Living in a shark-jaws marriage, I always blamed women who had seen the red flags but refused to leave such marriages and the house-husband (husband). I further came to understand that patience and the pretext that all is well have caused damage to both spouses in terms of emotional and traumatic agonies and some to their graves.

Therefore, spouses that are trapped in this valley of death with its quagmire should know that marriage is a thing of choice. Likewise, divorce is permissible as a panacea for both to be alive to breathe freely.

Balami, a publisher/columnist, 0803677929

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying Ignoring Red Flags and The Panacea (2)

Continue Reading

Columns

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

Published

on

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

By: Balami Lazarus

In the quite beautiful town of Zhimbutu, where men held sway, lording over their wives, some with brutality, few with love,

care and romance others in different ways. While some women are also lords over their husbands with impunity. Fear of getting married gripped young ladies seeing the ways their mothers were being treated and relegated to the background in the affairs of their homes as married women.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kwanchinkwalo Xhosa is full of regrets, anger, and bitterness, where Mrs. Xhosa has been treated as an object in the marriage partnership. The red spots were obviously fermented with bubbles ready for brewing.

Similarly, some good number of marriage homes are full of regrets where love, peace, and understanding

and harmony are strangers rejected and kept in a labyrinth of doom where one of the parties is placed in a perpetual tan of unhappiness surrounded by fear in the thickness of smoke, a forced resident.

Long before, now as a young man, a legitimate product of marriage. I took marriage as a mere secular social contract of partnership bounded in love and understanding where two have agreed to live together as husband and wife in matrimony.

However, I have never taken marriage to be a do-or-die affair, which has been the stock of some persons, even when and if the two—husband and wife—can no longer live together, having exhausted reasonable avenues to no avail. Here I am.

for outright divorce as a panacea for the final dissolution of the marriage.

To this day, I have been asking myself, why did I even get married in the first place? For sex, procreation, companionship, norms, tradition, or obligation? While marriage to a larger extent has deprived me and many others of some air of freedom and liberties to do or not to do at any space of time, I suppose. Moreover, the enterprise called marriage has taken away the ‘who’ in many men and

women and made them something else. It has further forcefully taken the lives of many spouses who ignored the red flags and fear of divorce. And besides, many have taken upon themselves to live or die in an unhappy/venomous venture of marriage that is infested with ‘dysentery’ and ‘cholera,’ where death is lurking because husbands or wives lack the guts, will , ability, and/or capacity to invoke the dead-end solution.

Let me now punctuate the work with some questions: Were you forced into it? Was it under duress? Was it at gunpoint? I believed the answers were all no. What will then prevent an individual from liquidating his unprofitable marital interest in such an intense business called marriage to be free from wahala that may likely result in crime?

In such a situation, I advocate for divorce as the only and final panacea, which has a comfortable place as a clause in my dictionary of marriage. Divorce is rarely used in some quarters, no matter what. While my wife and I have sincerely agreed in the course of our marriage journey that at any point in time, with or without any reason/cause, either party can quietly and peacefully walk out of the marriage to avoid who knows what?

In the history of failed marriages and crime findings, it has been shown that one of the parties is forcing his/herself on the other spouse because one of them has a profound and compounded emotional or spiritual attachment to the marriage. The case of the late Mrs. Osinachi Nwachukwu (2023), the gospel singer, was a classical example. Patience and excessive spiritual attachment led to her being killed by her husband, one Mr. Nwachukwu. The same is also applicable to men who fall victim in the hands of their wives. This situation has created two prime suspected killers living in a marriage cocoon.

Balami, a publisher/columnist. 08036779290

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights