Author: Hassan Gimba

This was first published by Daily Trust on Saturday, 17 November 2012. It encapsulates my mission and how I want to be remembered. I PICKED the title for this piece from the book written by Arthur Nwankwo when he felt former President Olusegun Obasanjo threatened him over a series of exchanges they had when the former president called for a one-party state in 1989. The book, published in 1989, which I found very refreshing, intellectually, started with Nwankwo claiming “Before I die, I will remain a critical visionary of the imperatives of Nigerian politics and a purveyor of the desiderata…

We have, over time, developed a culture of now and then giving our readers the opportunity to be heard. Today is one of those. Enjoy the views, please. Two tears for Dadiyata and the Sun, by Hassan Gimba (28/08/2023) It’s hard to believe that Dadiyata has disappeared for this long without any deliberate action by authorities concerned to rescue him, if he’s alive, or to provide an explanation of what actually transpired. Dr Ukasha Ismail This issue is worthy of serious consideration, let action take its cause, please let the security do something about his whereabouts. Yunusa Mohammed Babie So,…

“The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonourably, foolishly, viciously.” ― Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot TILL the rivers run dry and the world ceases to exist, problems shall never end. Problems became part of man the moment he took a bite of that apple and was banished to earth to come and find the solution that would take him back. And so, seeking solutions to problems must be our eternal habit. However, just as Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when…

IN the past three years, at least eight African countries have witnessed military coup d’états. This is coming when it was thought that Africa’s democracy had come of age when we were beginning to think that coups had gone for good, consigned to an era in the past when African governments were led by the military. Coincidentally, all but one of the eight countries were colonised by France. Some of the countries are Mali, Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and now Gabon. The first coup in Mali was in August 2020, when President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by a…

AT about 1 am, on the cold night of Friday, August 2, 2019, exactly two months after celebrating his 34th birthday, Malam Abubakar Idris, commonly known as Abu Hanifa Dadiyata, or just Dadiyata, was abducted in front of his house at Barnawa, a quiescent area of Kaduna. Armed men kidnapped the PhD student and History of English Language lecturer at the Federal University, Dutsinma, from his house after they breached his house’s security from where they took him away in his BMW car. For all these four years, no ransom was asked and nobody has contacted his family in any…

First published on September 23, 2019, and repeated on August 22, 2022. WE have looked at various forms of government in the first part of this treatise. We ended with the posers, “Can we continue this way? Is it the fault of the system or the operators of the system? Should we scout for a better system or better operators? Should we look inwards? Will a system in tandem with our inner being be the answer to our multifaceted and ever-growing problems as a nation?” We signed off with this thought: “Perhaps we have been imposing on ourselves systems that…

First published on September 23, 2019, and repeated on August 22, 2022. SINCE man became aware of himself and realised that whether by mutual arrangement or contrived by nature, there are always leaders and followers, communities fashioned out ways and means in which to live together under organised systems to regulate and conduct their affairs. From primitive father figure leadership to the animalistic instinct of the strongest leading the flock, man has experimented with many ways in which to live in harmony with one another and with the larger community. Since then, nations have tinkered with various forms, some of…

NIGERIA is mobilising countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to fight the coup plotters of the Niger Republic to restore democracy. The regional body, led by Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has expressed its resolve to use all necessary measures to restore constitutional order in the country, including the use of force, if they do not meet its demands in a week. Backed to the hilt by America and France, ECOWAS leaders’ demand to Niger’s junta leaders is simple: release and reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum within a week. That deadline expired yesterday. But if the leaders…

“ANY man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise.” – Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Before going to my topic, please allow me a little digression. I want to start by appealing to the federal government to please stop the charade and for the people to not take their eyes off the goalpost. Or where do you place the ongoing drama about the former Central Bank Governor’s arrest, arraignment, and re-arrest? In the first place, no one told the nation…

LAST week, the federal government, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), banned two loan app banks, permanently removing them from Google Play Store and initiating the process of deleting their respective apps. The culprits, Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited and Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited, along with their apps, Getloan and Camelloan, were permanently delisted due to their illicit practices and for their harassment of Nigerians. They were also accused of duplicity and illegal activities when they were discovered to be using APKs to attract borrowers, which is both illegal and unregulated. The truth is that loan…

WHO has not had an old car before? The type of car that makes you become a friend to the mechanic? This is because when one issue is resolved, another rears its head, necessitating you to visit again. Sometimes the problem may be those of “rings”. Repair them and the gearbox seeks your notice. Pacify it, the brake pad packs up. Change it, the shock absorber begins to get shocked. All these and more make you a regular, visiting the mechanics again. And again. And again. Sometimes you have to leave the car with the mechanics for a day or…

THIS was first published on October 29, 2018. Considering the resuscitation of the issue by the new Kano State Government, I see the need to republish it. While we knew and respected each other from a distance, I first met Ja’afar Ja’afar in 2015 when I was serving my second stint as the editor of Friday Leadership. Journalists have a way of knowing themselves through various networks even if they had never met. Journalism is a profession like any other that builds one’s reputation in the eyes of the world. Knowing the hassles one goes through to put a paper…

This was published July 13, 2020 but still relevant. DECREE 33 of 1977 saw to the birth of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on April 1 of that year through the merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation and the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel. The main purpose was for it to add value to the nation’s hydrocarbon resources “for the benefit of the nation’s economy…” NNPC’s Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt Refineries, among others, were built solely for the “benefit” of the Nigerian economy. Completed and commissioned in 1980, the Kaduna Refinery was meant to be a…

THIS was first published on July 26, 2021 after the Eid-el-Kabir of that year. I find it still relevant and important, with a little tinkering in dates to come now. Next week, Muslims the world over will celebrate the eid-ul-adha or the “big eid” or “big Sallah”. We are, however, more interested in its meaning, implications and bearing on us as a nation. We need to look at spiritual milestones, hoping to find the seemingly elusive panacea for our ills. Eid means feast, festival or celebration, while adha loosely means “sacrifice” (animal sacrifice), “offering” or “oblation”. It so got its…

“If we are true to ourselves, we cannot be false to anyone.” – William Shakespeare. RECENTLY, there have been people saying they regret not voting for President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. To them, he has performed beyond expectations. In just three weeks? This is quite unprecedented because what we used to have were people either jumping off from a rudderless boat or dropping down from a driverless bus. Many people who despaired yesterday are hopeful today. The nation’s confidence in the presidency is replacing the gloom that was there three weeks ago. There is a feeling of assurance that tomorrow…

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” – Thomas Sowell. THIS was published here on 14th November last year when the issues of salary increase and naira redesign were mooted. But it was first written on the 7th of May 2018 and republished on October 1st same year. The first time it was captioned “Salary Increase: Before the harm is done” and the second time, with a little tinkering, it was captioned “Salary Increase: The Implication and Labour’s Role.” Two unrelated pieces…

“So many people are hanging on by the thinnest of threads. Treat people with kindness, you could be that thread.” – John Pavlovitz THE above proverbial expression, which alludes to an occasion between Damocles and King Dionysius, may define the situation between Nigerians and their president. Without a doubt, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the oath of office amidst significant concerns expressed by many Nigerians. Apart from that, the courts are still hearing challenges to his emergence as president. He is also, so far, the only president with a minority of votes in an election in Nigeria. Every president since…

TODAY marks the end of the two-term tenure of a man who came with tremendous goodwill, the kind never before witnessed in Nigeria’s chequered political history. One can still remember some young Nigerians trekking from one end of Nigeria to another in high hopes of the new president. However, unlike Caesar, it is doubtful if he can thump his chest and declare “Veni, vidi, vici”—I came; I saw; I conquered. General Muhammadu Buhari was the first to beat an incumbent president in a free and fair election in 2015. Buhari had the backing of four major opposition parties that merged…

IN the system of governance we practise, there are three arms – the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. The Legislature is said to be the first among the three. The arms are characterised by the principle of separation of powers as each is supposed to be independent of the other. The doctrine of separation of powers was first formulated by one of the most important 18th Century political scientists, the French political philosopher, Baron de Montesquieu, in his work De l’esprit des lois, or ‘The Spirit of the Laws’ (1748), which states that “There can be no liberty where the legislative…

THIS writing was first published on 6 July 2020. With changes of leadership soon at the federal and state levels, I see it as relevant. The first part in particular. However, do we forget the lessons in the second part? The world is changed by your example not by your opinion – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian Lyricist and author of The Alchemist. Allah (SWT) said in the Qur’an that He does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts. It is a verse widely quoted out of context by people wanting to give their…