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A 29 year-old man, Yusuf Ajisafe was on Wednesday docked in a Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan for allegedly beating up and inflicting injuries on his girlfriend who terminated their relationship.

Ajisafe pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge of malicious damage, assault and escape from lawful custody.

The prosecution counsel, Insp Ayodele Ayeni told the court that the defendant committed the crime on Oct. 15, at about 4.30 p.m., at Idiaro area in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Ayeni stated that Ajisafe allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, Titiloye Balogun after she informed him that she was no longer interested in the relationship.

The police alleged that the defendant also inflicted injuries on Balogun using a sharp object and also destroyed goods in her shop worth N300,000.

Ayeni explained that Ajisafe escaped from police custody where he was being held, but was rearrested after an intense search.

He noted that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 451 and 249 of the criminal code cap 38 vol. ii laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.

The court’s President, Mrs O.E. Owoseni, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two reliable sureties in like sum.

Owoseni said that one of the sureties must be a relative. She adjourned the matter until Dec. 10 for trial.

By the time Chief Olusola Adepoju began contemplating the possibility of walking away from the project he had spent more than a decade building, he had little left to give.

He had sold houses. He had sold cars. He had invested virtually everything he possessed into a dream many people had stopped believing in. Around him, early supporters were losing faith. Some investors had quietly withdrawn. Others had concluded that the ambitious sugar project in Iseyin would never be completed.

Yet, standing in Iseyin was a sprawling sugar-processing facility that represented years of struggle, sacrifice and hope. The machines were there. The structures were there. The vision was there. What was missing was the money needed to bring everything to life.

Today, the story is remarkably different.

The factory has successfully completed test-running. It has produced sugar and molasses. Plans are underway for full-scale commercial operations. What appeared destined to become another abandoned industrial project is now on the verge of becoming one of the most significant agro-industrial investments in Oyo State.

At the heart of this transformation is a story of persistence, public-private partnership and, according to the company’s chairman, a series of crucial interventions by Governor Seyi Makinde that ultimately helped save the project from collapse.

Ironically, the idea that would later become Oyo Sugar and Derivatives Industries Limited did not begin in a sugarcane field.

It started at a seminar organised by the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Nasarawa State, where the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), like many others, had a stand to display sugar and sugarcane. Chief Adepoju, who at that time was primarily involved in cotton farming, visited the stand. During discussions, he learnt about the enormous opportunities in sugarcane cultivation and sugar production. The information sparked his curiosity. What appeared to be a casual encounter would eventually change the course of his life.

Returning to Oyo State, he began exploring the possibilities of developing sugarcane farming in the Oke-Ogun axis, particularly around Iseyin, an area known for its vast agricultural potential.

‘I discovered that we had the land and the farmers,’ he recalled. ‘What we needed was organisation and a vision.’

His first step was to mobilise farmers around a cooperative model. The initial objective was modest: organise sugarcane cultivation and create a sustainable market for local farmers.

But as discussions progressed, the ambition grew.

Rather than merely growing sugarcane, why not process it locally?

Why should communities produce the raw materials while other regions reap the benefits of industrial processing?

Those questions gradually transformed a farming initiative into something much bigger: the vision of a fully integrated sugar industry capable of producing sugar and other derivatives while creating thousands of direct and indirect economic opportunities.

As the project gathered momentum, it aligned naturally with the Federal Government’s Nigeria Sugar Master Plan, a programme designed to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported sugar through local cultivation and industrial processing.

The alignment brought institutional recognition and support.

What had started as a cooperative effort among local farmers evolved into a structured agro-industrial venture. The National Sugar Development Council became interested in the project and eventually provided support in the form of loans.

With the financial backing, equipment was sourced from India. Modern sugar-processing machinery began arriving. Engineers and technical experts became involved. The dream was becoming tangible.

But building a sugar factory turned out to be far more complicated than anyone had anticipated.

The project faced challenge after challenge.

There were infrastructure issues. There were equipment procurement delays. There were financing gaps. There was the enormous task of establishing the sugarcane ecosystem needed to supply a future factory.

The journey that many expected to take a few years stretched into more than a decade.

By 2016, more than 140 farmers had become involved in the initiative.

Collectively, they contributed millions of naira toward the dream. However, as progress slowed and timelines extended, enthusiasm began to wane.

People became impatient. Some contributors stopped participating. Others resigned themselves to disappointment. But Chief Adepoju refused to give up. As financial pressures mounted, he increasingly relied on personal resources to keep the project alive. He sold properties. He sold vehicles. He reinvested proceeds into the business.

‘I believed too much in the project to abandon it,’ he said. ‘We had already installed some equipment. Shutting down would have been disastrous.’

Keeping the factory running became an enormous burden. Suppliers demanded outstanding payments. Salaries had to be paid. Additional equipment still needed to be imported from India. Workers looked to management for reassurance, but the future remained uncertain.

Yet every morning the gates remained open.

The situation became even more difficult after 2022. According to Chief Adepoju, funding support from the National Sugar Development Council became increasingly difficult to access. He said repeated efforts to secure additional support yielded little progress, despite the fact that significant work had already been done and only a relatively small funding gap remained compared to the overall investment in the project.

The chairman described 2023 as one of the darkest periods in the history of the factory.

‘We had bills to pay. The suppliers were waiting for their balance. We needed additional equipment. Everything seemed stuck,’ he recalled.

Then something unexpected happened.

One afternoon in 2023, while sitting in his office worrying about the future of the project, security officers rushed in with surprising news.

The Governor of Oyo State was at the factory.

‘I asked them, ‘Which governor?’ They said, ‘Governor Seyi Makinde,” he recalled.

The visit was unannounced.

According to the chairman, the governor inspected the facility, toured the factory and sought detailed explanations about the obstacles delaying completion.

What impressed Adepoju most was the governor’s focus on employment.

‘He asked me one question: ‘How many people are you going to employ here?” the chairman recalled.

The answer was significant.

At full capacity, the company projects employment for 518 permanent workers. In addition, it expects to support about 200 transporters and service providers, as well as approximately 1,000 farmers who will supply sugarcane to the factory. The facility also has the capacity to produce about 30 tonnes of brown sugar daily.

For a predominantly agrarian region like Oke-Ogun, those figures represent substantial economic opportunities. The governor listened carefully as the chairman narrated the challenges confronting the project. According to Adepoju, Makinde immediately showed interest in helping to find a solution.

The visit was only the beginning. Over the following months, the governor maintained an interest in the progress of the project. He facilitated discussions with NSDC aimed at resolving funding issues and continued asking for updates whenever their paths crossed.

One such encounter occurred at a programme organised by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 2024. When he met the chairman again, Governor Makinde asked a familiar question.

‘Have you started employing our people?’

The answer disappointed both men. The factory remained incomplete. And by then, circumstances had become even more challenging. The depreciation of the naira had dramatically increased project costs. What previously required about ?300 million to complete now required close to ?1 billion. The finish line appeared to be moving farther away.

Faced with what he considered an existential threat to the project, Chief Adepoju wrote what he described as a passionate appeal to Governor Makinde. The message was simple. Save the factory.

The response would ultimately change the trajectory of the project.

Through Pacesetter Holdings, the Oyo State Government provided ?850 million to support the completion of the facility. The intervention arrived at perhaps the most critical moment in the company’s history.

Suddenly, stalled construction resumed. Outstanding obligations were addressed. Equipment installation accelerated. The possibility of commercial production no longer seemed out of reach. For Adepoju, the intervention represented far more than financial support. It was confirmation that the years of sacrifice, perseverance and personal investment had not been wasted.

‘It saved the factory,’ he said simply.

The government’s intervention had another important effect.

Around the same period, discussions had emerged regarding plans to bring in investors to acquire the project. After years of frustration, Adepoju himself had reached a point where he was prepared to consider options that would ensure the factory’s completion.

However, the state government’s financial intervention changed the dynamics completely.

With the funding secured, the promoters regained control of the future of the project, and attention shifted once again from ownership questions to completing the factory. The factory survived. More importantly, it remained in the hands of those who had worked for years to build it.

Even after construction had been completed, another challenge emerged. Factories do not become operational simply because construction is finished. Test-running requires substantial resources.

Workers must be trained. Systems must be calibrated. Machinery must be tested under real production conditions. All of these activities require money. According to the company, additional assistance was needed to bridge the gap between completion and operation.

Once again, support came from the Oyo State Government.

Part of a subsequent N2.3bn loan package was channelled into financing the test-running phase. The intervention enabled the company to carry out production trials successfully.

The outcome was historic. For the first time, sugar rolled out of the factory. Molasses was also produced successfully.

After years of planning, borrowing, building and waiting, the dream had finally become reality.

Today, Oyo Sugar and Derivatives Industries Limited stands on the threshold of commercial operations. Yet, its significance goes far beyond sugar production. The company is expected to create jobs for hundreds of workers, provide opportunities for about 1,000 sugarcane farmers, stimulate economic activities across the Oke-Ogun zone and deepen Oyo State’s drive towards agro-industrial development. Future possibilities include ethanol production, electricity generation and the production of other sugar-based derivatives.

For Chief Olusola Adepoju, the factory represents the fulfilment of a dream that consumed more than a decade of his life and much of his personal fortune. For many observers, however, it is also a compelling example of what can happen when private enterprise is matched with strategic government support.

In Iseyin today, the giant machines are no longer symbols of an unfinished ambition. They are evidence that perseverance can triumph over adversity. Every bag of sugar that rolls off the production line will tell the story of a governor who refused to let a major industrial investment die. Without the critical interventions of Governor Seyi Makinde, from championing the project at its most difficult moments to providing the financial lifelines that enabled its completion and test-running, the dream of building a sugar industry in Oke-Ogun might never have become reality. Instead, that dream is now alive, producing sugar and creating opportunities for the people of Oyo State.

The General Manager of Barau FC, Dominic Iorfa, has attributed his recent presence on the technical bench to logistical hurdles rather than an encroachment on coaching duties.

In a candid interview session, the former Nigerian international addressed the talking points surrounding his matchday positioning, and his relationship with the technical crew.

According to Iorfa, the decision to sit on the bench was born out of sheer necessity after being locked out of dressing rooms during crucial away fixtures.

‘When I initially took charge of Barau FC, I usually watched matches from the stands before proceeding to the dressing room at half-time to interact with the players,’ Iorfa explained.

‘However, I was denied access to the dressing room on several occasions, particularly during away matches in Jos, Maiduguri, Aba and Owerri.’

He emphasised the tactical importance of half-time communication, noting that observations made from the stands often require immediate relay to the squad.

‘Sometimes, while watching a game, you observe certain things that you believe should be communicated to the coach at half-time. You may want to encourage the players, share observations or motivate them to ensure they approach the second half in high spirits. Unfortunately, I was prevented from doing so on several occasions,’ he said.

To bypass these restrictions, Iorfa said he took a pragmatic administrative step: ‘Since then, I have decided to be among the seven registered officials on matchdays. That way, nobody can deny me access to the dressing room when I need to speak with the players.’

Addressing whispers of friction between him and the technical crew, he said he only took charge of the team’s training while the head coach was attending a coaching course in Abuja.

‘There is no reason to suggest that there is a rift between us. The speculation may have arisen following reports that I took charge of the team’s training session after our encounter against Rangers International,’ Iorfa clarified.

‘The truth is that Coach Eugene Agagbe was away attending his CAF A Licence course, and I had to oversee the team’s fitness training in his absence. As General Manager, I believe in doing whatever is necessary to ensure that the team remains in good shape and continues to make progress,’ Iorfa noted.

The former Chairman of Lobi Stars of Makurdi said that the extra effort paid off with an encouraging performance against Rivers United where the ‘Maliya Boys’ forced their hosts to a goalless draw.

The 2027 Nasarawa North Senatorial election which is featuring Governor Abdullahi Sule, former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku and 10 other candidates is attracting more attention than the two other senatorial districts of South and West in the state, due to the involvement of the state governor in the race.

Governor Sule, having secured the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket is set to slug it out with eleven other candidates in the 583 polling units of the three local government areas that constitute the Nasarawa North Senatorial District: Akwanga, Nasarawa Eggon and Wamba.

The contest has become a political barometer for the APC in Nasarawa State, given that the governor is personally on the ballot, and for the opposition, which sees the zone as its traditional stronghold to prove its resurgence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In the array of candidates as finally listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, apart from Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress, are former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku of the Labour Party, Madaki Banbella Anthony of the Peoples Democratic Party, Innocent Daniel Lagi of the Allied Peoples Movement, Duba Ishaya Dodo of the Social Democratic Party, Mohammed Steve Alaku of the African Democratic Congress and Yusuf Awuya of the Action Democratic Party.

Others are Victor Affiku Tsaku of the Action Alliance, Amos Jugbo Yusuf of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Johnson Bulus of the National Rescue Movement, Danladi Njehntegazoka James of the National Democratic Congress and Paul Isaac Audu of the Young Progressives Party.

A political analyst, Lazarus Salaki of the Nasarawa State Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance Group, said the 2027 Nasarawa North Senatorial election will be very competitive and won by a slim margin.

Describing the zone as dicey and complicated, Salaki said elections there are highly localized, with a history of sharing positions between Akwanga and Nasarawa Eggon.

He said the power of incumbency will play out for Governor Sule, followed by Maku and Barrister Lagi, with votes shared among the 12 contenders.

Salaki noted that resources will be decisive, adding that Maku will leverage his regional acceptability. He attributed APC’s victory in the 2026 bye-election, a departure from history where ruling parties lost in the zone, to massive deployment of resources to replace late Senator Akwashiki.

He said Maku came distant second due to lack of resources to match government influence, but stressed that politics is dynamic.

On religion and ethnicity, Salaki said they will not play major roles, as families in the zone have both Christians and Muslims and vote across faith lines. He added that Nasarawa Eggon results usually come first, while rural votes from Farin Ruwa and Mada Station often determine the winner.

A zone known for upsets

Our correspondent recalls thar since 1999, both the ruling and opposition parties have won the seat at different times depending on the political alignment of the people of the senatorial district, where they have a gentleman agreement to rotate the Senate seat among the three local government areas.

Late Patrick Aga won on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform in 1999 and John Danboyi won in 2003 on the same platform. Patricia Akwashiki won in 2007 under the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, banner as opposition. Yusuf Musa Nagogo won under the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, banner in 2011 as opposition but his victory was upturned by the Court and the late Solomon Ewuga was declared the winner of that election.

Philip Aruwa Gyunka won with the PDP ticket in 2015 as opposition. The Godiya Akwashiki won with the APC ticket in 2019 as ruling party and in 2023 as opposition under the SDP but passed on before he could complete the term. Few months ago, Halilu Danladi Envulu-Anza won the bye-election of 2026 for the ruling APC and replaced the late Akwashiki who died in December last year.

A look at the political history of the zone shows that it does not vote on party leanings alone, but on personality, ethnic balancing, religious sensitivity and the political mood of the time.

The 2027 calculations

Some of the 2027 senatorial candidates like Maku of Labour Party, Alaku of ADC and Dodo of SDP participated in the 2026 senatorial bye-election and were defeated by Envulu-Anza who is now not in the race with them, but they are contesting against the incumbent Governor Sule who is from the same APC with Envulu-Anza. Even though they have rejected the outcome of that bye-election alleging irregularities in the process, the bye-election has given them grassroots exposure that they intend to leverage upon.

Analysts say as the zone is constituted of different ethnic and religious groups with candidates from both faiths banking on different influences in the area to give them an edge, it is not easy to conclude who will carry the day.

Nasarawa North is predominantly Eggon, Mada, Rindre and other smaller groups.

If the influence of the candidates is to be reckoned with, Sule is expected to showcase his project distribution across the senatorial district, political appointments in his government and those he influenced at the federal level, civil servants recruited from the area, as well as his relationship with traditional institutions and stakeholders in the area.

Also, the nomination of the APC governorship running mate Emmanuel Ombugadu from the largest ethnic group of the zone, the Eggon, may also influence the chances of Governor Sule, as it is expected to deliver large votes from Eggon land if properly managed.

Governor Sule’s biggest asset is incumbency. As sitting governor, he controls the state machinery and also facilitated federal appointments for sons and daughters of the zone. His supporters argue that electing him as Senator will give the zone a ranking voice in the National Assembly, given his experience as governor.

However, his biggest liability is also incumbency. In a zone known for anti-establishment voting, there is a sentiment that the governor should have allowed power to rotate freely, especially after the death of Senator Godiya Akwashiki. Some stakeholders in Wamba and Akwanga feel the senatorial ticket should remain in their axis for equity.

Labaran Maku of the Labour Party remains Governor Sule’s most formidable opponent. Maku was a Commissioner, Deputy Governor of the state and later Minister of Information. Holding these positions attracted people to him which also gives him popularity in the state particularly from the senatorial district where he hails from.

Like Governor Sule, Maku facilitated employment of hundreds of youths from the state many of whom are from the Senatorial district. This made him a household name and many people believe it has also given him popularity which can help to boost his chances in the election. Maku contested in 2015 and 2019 for governorship and in 2026 for senatorial seat bye election, building a resilient political structure. His strength does not only lie in Nasarawa Eggon where he is seen as a son of the soil but across the senatorial district and his national visibility as former Information Minister gives him leverage.

Another candidate is Duba Ishaya Dodo of the SDP, an architect, philanthropist, and politician. He is a prominent grassroots mobilizer and his influence in the upcoming election is relying on scholarship programmes that provided educational funding and support to hundreds of underprivileged students across Akwanga, Nasarawa Eggon, and Wamba local government areas. He has also provided financial grants to support orphans in local schools.

Dodo has funded several community infrastructure repairs. Notably, he personally sponsored the restoration of a solar-powered grid in the Ningo Sambe community after a devastating two-year blackout. As a young politician, his challenge is how acceptable he is to the old stakeholders even if he has the support of youths and women that he is assisting. His youth appeal could split the votes that would have gone to Sule and Maku.

Another candidate, Barrister Innocent Daniel Lagi of the APM, is a prominent Nigerian lawyer, human rights activist, and politician. He is best known for serving as the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Nasarawa State under the administration of Governor Umaru Al-Makura. He represented Wamba Constituency as a member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly between 2008 and 2011.

As a rights crusader, Barrister Lagi is said to have provided pro-bono legal representation for over 300 unjustly dismissed workers and union members from various federal and state parastatals. He has collaborated extensively with legal and electoral reform civil societies, including Access to Justice and the Network of University Legal Aid Institutions.

But his performance in the upcoming election, analysts believe, can be determined by the level at which he reaches out to the electorate. Lagi is respected among the educated elite and in Wamba, his home base, which is considered a swing local government.

The ADC candidate, Mohammed Steve Alaku, is a seasoned Nigerian technocrat, community leader, and politician. Alaku was in the Public Service and served for over 34 years at the Department of Petroleum Resources where he rose to the position of Deputy Director and Head of Downstream Monitoring and Regulations.

Outside of formal governance, Alaku is widely recognized in his local community as a philanthropist. His notable community interventions include funding local water projects, boosting youth education, upgrading rural healthcare access, and personally facilitating the installation of electricity poles and wiring in parts of Mada Station.

What will decide the contest

Analysts point at different factors. The zone for instance has difficult terrains and riverine settlements that were recently affected by flooding. Ability to mobilize voters on election day will be key.

Many believe that if Eggon votes split between Sule’s APC, Maku’s Labour Party, and Dodo’s SDP, Wamba and Akwanga could decide the winner. In other words, ‘whoever gets the buy-in of traditional rulers in Akwanga and Nasarawa Eggon will have an upper hand,’ said an analyst. With 12 candidates in the race, vote splitting is inevitable.

Today, I am writing on a weighty subject. I am not even certain that this column, due to its spatial limitations, is the right place to discuss religion and radicalisation in the North. However, considering recent events in the country, it seemed uncharacteristic to ignore the issue. So consider this an opening of a conversation, one I would be pleased to discuss further with readers.

Two things happened this week. One was the brutal assassination of the Islamic preacher, Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim Masussuka, and the other, the trending video of Umar Gandi, a member of the First Aid Group of the Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’ah Wa Ikamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS).

I had heard of Masussuka before now through the controversy surrounding his preaching. The one video of him I had seen prior to his death, however, was one in which he was preaching peaceful coexistence between different faiths. I thought that sort of preaching was refreshing because for far too long, faith leaders across the lines have advanced hatred, sowing and nurturing the seed of violence that has been engulfing the country for years.

My cursory look into his theology showed some radical departures from mainstream Islam-and this had nothing to do with interfaith coexistence. Upon investigating, I immediately understood the friction between him and other Muslim clerics. I did not think this was anything different because such frictions, of course, have always been normal in theology. It existed between Sunni, Salafist, Sufi and Shi’a scholars, and even between different factions of the Izala group, for instance, who are all Sunni. It is also true of Anglican, Pentecostal, and Catholic clergy and sometimes even intradenominational.

As we are unsure who is responsible for his death-as even claims that the Boko Haram offshoot, Ansaru, has claimed responsibility have themselves become controversial- it would be hasty to conclude about the motives. Which is why we must hope that the authorities hurry up and conclude their investigations by arresting the culprits so we can have some definitive answers. Yet, to hope would be to wilt in waiting. The assassinations of Sheikh Jafar Adam (2027), and Sheikh Muhammad Auwal Albanin Zaria (2014), killed in similar fashion, have remained unsolved. Both crimes have been claimed by Boko Haram, against whom both scholars have been very critical and have preached against.

The controversy surrounding Masussuka’s death somehow got entwined with the controversial video of an individual who has now been identified as Umar Ibrahim Gandi, from Zamfara, who was leading children in a training exercise and singing a radicalising motivational song that encourages killings of Christians. Of course, coming from a man dressed in the uniform of a group affiliated with a popular Muslim group, it genuinely raised concerns about the radicalisation or normalisation of radicalisation in the North.

The question here is that the First Aid Group of JIBWIS, to which the man and the children belonged, is supposed to be a first aid group, not a militia kitted in a knock-off version of the Saudi Police uniform.

In addition to their roles in organising religious gatherings, instead of training these young volunteers in First Aid and other emergency medical services that could actually benefit society through interventions in cases of natural disasters or other tragedies, it is sad to see their training emphasis being on pseudo-paramilitary exercises, sometimes with wooden guns as props. It seems like a waste of potential for the group. But worse is to see children being indoctrinated through songs like that to consider interfaith violence as normal or something to aspire to.

The uproar against the video has been overwhelming. While one commends JIBWIS for quickly distancing itself from the act, identifying the culprit and handing him over to the authorities for investigation, its hastiness to dissociate itself from Gandi, by claiming that he did not even have a group ID, misses the point. The fact that he himself felt vindicated in singing that song, having it recorded and posting it on his social media, is indicative of a deeper malaise that the group needs to address-and this is the fact that the group has created an ambience that allows for the nurturing of such sentiments.

That hastiness papers over a cultivated groupthink. There is a recording of one of the group’s leading clerics praising the militarisation of the First Aid Group, boasting that they are more populous than the police and should be on standby to change the country. Of course, the cleric in question can explain exactly what he means by that, but any Hausa speaker who hears it won’t miss the insidious undertones in his word choices and tone.

Which brings me to the more concerning issue of the reactions to both the videos and the assassination of Masussuka. I have seen members of JIBWIS, including one claiming to be a member of the First Aid Group, denouncing the actions of Gandi; however, some have gone out of their way to claim that the videos, which the man himself posted on his socials, were AI-generated or doctored. The desperation to make that claim is again in keeping with the notion of avoiding a reality that needs confronting. The North has a radicalism problem that it desperately needs to address.

This manifests further in the reactions to Masussuka’s assassination, where some comments have been celebratory even, including ones that addressed very unkind remarks to the man’s grieving widows. This followed a rather baffling interview some journalists conducted with one of them hours after the man died.

I understand that some of those reactions, especially the ones denying that Masussuka had been killed, derived from the preacher’s own denial of the killing of the Prophet’s grandson, Hussein (RA), because, according to him, it was not mentioned in the Qur’an. It intends to apply the same parameters he applied to other historically factual events-vis-à-vis-since his death is not mentioned in the Qur’an, it did not happen. My understanding has always been-and this too is fundamentally derived from Islam-that a disagreement over theology should not warrant threats of death or celebrations of it, as that should be seen as a missed opportunity to engage the said party with superior intellectual arguments.

We must recognise that Nigeria’s North is fertile ground for religious radicalism. Incidentally, this is across the board and results from decades of resource competition and gaps in the political system. As far back as the 1920s, the colonial administration was concerned about the rise of the Tijaniya sect as a radical ideology to challenge colonial rule. What allowed the rise of that ideology was the gap in the power structure created by the colonial takeover that divested the emirs of power. The colonial administration’s desire to respect the ‘natural characteristics’ of the people by not interfering in religious matters, and the emirs’ lack of political power to address those issues, allowed room for those ideas and sects to emerge and take shape. While the Tijaniya group has since moved away from that initial radical ideology, succeeding governments have maintained the structure that continues to allow the gaps for radicalisation to sneak in and subsist.

On the other hand, one must understand that the version of Christianity introduced into Northern Nigeria as championed by the German missionary and strategist Karl Kumm (1874-1930) positioned Christianity as a buffer and antithesis to Islam. It specifically targeted what were then the pagan tribes who were not particularly fond of the caliphate and their slave raids into their territories. Thus, Islam and Christianity in Northern Nigeria met on the tip of a sword, at a point of conflict that fosters mutual enmity, mutual distrust, and hatred.

With a population of 230 million people, with 50 million between the ages of 18 and 30, and the appalling social conditions in the country, Nigeria provides an amenable population that can easily be radicalised on either side and attracts the interests of fanatics from elsewhere. The preaching of both faith leaders has continued to foster this atmosphere. I could go into detailed examples of how radicalised groups have emerged among both faiths but there is not enough space for it here.

However, not to digress from the point, it is a good thing that Mr Gandi has been handed over to the security operatives for investigations into his hate messaging and indoctrination of minors. I hope this will be a first step in checking religious radicalisation and hateful preaching across the country. A standard must be set. What we have failed to do as a nation is to be very deliberate about national unity beyond slogans and banners. We have failed to install guardrails to curtail hate rhetoric, preaching, and indoctrination. It is about time that changes. His controversial Islamic theology aside, the loss of Masussuka on the front of building interfaith harmony is a significant one.