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How Tinubu’s planned absence from 81st UNGA may hurt Nigeria’s push for global partnerships

For Nigeria, the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is more than another item on the presidential calendar. It is one of the few occasions each year when the country’s president has a direct platform before world leaders, investors, diplomats and international institutions to sell Nigeria’s story, defend its interests and seek partnerships.

That is why the prospect of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu missing the 81st UNGA in New York has raised questions about what message Nigeria would send at a time when it is seeking stronger international support for security, investment and economic reforms.

In July, Jimoh Ibrahim, Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told State House correspondents that Tinubu had confirmed he would attend the September gathering and address the world on his administration’s reform programme.

‘The President has generously agreed to attend the UNGA meeting of the United Nations,’ Ibrahim said. He added that the president had ‘a speech to give to the whole world about the reform success in Nigeria.’

Two months later, the picture has changed. Reports emerging in early September indicate that Tinubu may have shelved the trip, with Vice-President Kashim Shettima expected to lead Nigeria’s delegation. A source said intelligence about a planned anti-Tinubu protest in New York influenced the reported decision. The presidency, however, had not formally confirmed the cancellation at the time of reporting.

The development is significant because Shettima has represented Tinubu at the previous two editions. A third consecutive absence would therefore, be more than a scheduling matter. It could become a diplomatic and political signal.

The shadow of Chicago

Behind the reported protest is another, older story that has refused to disappear.

Tinubu’s opponents have revived the US legal case involving him from the early 1990s, with a lobbying firm working for Atiku Abubakar submitting historical Department of Justice records to members of the Trump administration and Congress.

The case involved the forfeiture of about $460,000 in assets connected to accounts linked to Tinubu. It was a civil asset-forfeiture matter, not a criminal prosecution, and Tinubu was not convicted of a crime in the United States.

But politically, the issue has acquired a new life. For opponents, the records provide material for challenging Tinubu’s credibility in Washington. For the Presidency, the matter is a settled, decades-old civil case being recycled for political purposes.

That battle is now spilling into the president’s international engagements.

If reports that the threat of protest contributed to Tinubu’s decision to stay away from New York are correct, it would mean a domestic political dispute has acquired an international dimension.

Nigeria needs the world

The timing could hardly be more delicate. Nigeria needs stronger international cooperation against terrorism and violent extremism. It needs foreign capital to support growth. It needs diplomatic backing for its economic reforms and greater confidence among international investors.

Washington is particularly important. Relations between Nigeria and the United States have warmed considerably after a difficult period last year.

In October 2025, US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ over alleged persecution of Christians and warned that Washington could take action. Nigeria rejected the characterisation, maintaining that insecurity affects Nigerians across religious lines.

Since then, both countries have moved towards greater security cooperation. A joint working group has been established, while intelligence sharing, military training and counterterrorism cooperation have expanded.

The United States has also conducted joint operations with Nigerian forces against terrorist targets in the Lake Chad region.

In July, Trump described Tinubu’s leadership as ‘decisive’ and said he was proud to have deployed US Special Operations Forces to equip Nigerian troops with skills, tools and intelligence.

That represented a striking shift from the rhetoric of the previous year. It is precisely why Nigeria’s physical presence in Washington and New York matters.

A president’s presence sends a message

UNGA is not simply about delivering a speech. For presidents, the week provides an opportunity for dozens of bilateral meetings with heads of government, development institutions, investors and international organisations.

For Nigeria, those meetings can translate into security partnerships, investment commitments, diplomatic support and opportunities to influence international policy.

An absent president can still achieve many of these objectives through a delegation led by the vice-president.

But there is a difference between representation and presidential presence.

At a time when Nigeria is trying to rebuild confidence in its economy and improve its global image, the absence of the country’s president from the world’s biggest annual diplomatic gathering could invite questions about priorities.

It could also hand opponents an easy narrative: that the president is avoiding an uncomfortable environment rather than confronting it. That perception may matter almost as much as the protest itself.

Soft power and the Trump factor

The administration has invested heavily in cultivating its relationship with the United States.

First Lady Remi Tinubu’s appearance at the 74th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in February was one visible example.

Trump publicly recognised her during the event, while the Nigerian government used the broader engagement to reinforce its message about religious freedom, Nigeria’s Christian population and the country’s fight against terrorism.

The government’s reported $9 million engagement with Washington-based DCI Group has similarly been aimed at communicating Nigeria’s position to American policymakers and countering narratives about religious persecution.

The strategy appears to have produced some diplomatic dividends.

Trump’s July letter to Tinubu praised the president’s handling of security challenges and reaffirmed US support for Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts.

Yet, the fact that evangelical leaders and some US lawmakers continue to pressure the Trump administration over Nigeria suggests that the battle for perception is far from over.

That makes UNGA potentially important. It would give Tinubu an opportunity to speak directly to the international community about Nigeria’s security challenges, economic reforms and the government’s position on religious violence.

Instead, if he stays away, the Nigerian delegation will have to carry that message without him.

The cost of absence

There is no evidence that missing UNGA would automatically damage Nigeria’s diplomatic standing.

Vice-presidents have represented presidents at international gatherings before, and Shettima is capable of leading a high-level delegation.

Nor should a president be expected to attend every international event regardless of security considerations.

But the circumstances make this particular absence different.

Nigeria is seeking foreign investment while trying to convince investors that its reforms are producing stability.

It is seeking international assistance against terrorism while its security challenges remain severe. It is fighting to improve its image after years of negative international coverage.

The danger, therefore, is not simply that Tinubu would miss a speech. It is that Nigeria could surrender a valuable platform at the precise moment when it needs to tell its own story.

For Tinubu, the decision is personal. For Nigeria, the consequences are diplomatic.

And as the country prepares for another fiercely contested election, the world will be watching not only what Nigeria says at the UN, but whether its president is there to say it.

Even people dying is another opportunity for jobs-Prof Openjuru

Gulu University Vice Chancellor, Professor George Openjuru Ladaah, has described unemployment in Uganda as unjustified, noting that the country still has numerous opportunities, including in waste management and undertaking.

”The unemployment in Uganda is unjustified, but maybe it is justified because, as Universities, we are training useless people who cannot think for themselves, which is very unfortunate, and we are trying to change the curriculum to ensure that we create critical thinking in the graduates that we are going to produce.” He noted.

Prof Openjuru pointed out that there is still so much to do in Uganda’s economy, saying that the country is not at maturity, and that there should be no unemployment.

”Even people who are dying are another opportunity for jobs: the funeral service, the person who started the Uganda Funeral Services; they laughed, they despised, but now undertaking is a very good business.”

Adding that; ”Grave digging, the people used to despise it ten years ago; now nobody can bury without those people. Actually, if you bury with ropes, then you know you are poor.”

Prof Openjuru cited that the country is lacking critical thinkers, with students looking at being employed rather than focusing on tapping opportunities.

”This is not the era of jobs; this is the era of extending the economy. At some point, when we were still in Makerere (University), I said, ‘The garbage piling up, that is a job, people laughed. But I’m telling you, the student who took up that is now a tycoon, a major tycoon in Kampala in terms of garbage collection, and that market is flooded.”

Explaining that, ”There is so much to do in the Ugandan economy; we are not yet at maturity, that there should actually be nobody who is unemployed.”

According to Prof Openjuru, Uganda’s employment opportunities also dwell in agriculture, which he says has numerous chains.

”And as a farming nation, and we are a farming university, none of our students should be unemployed because agriculture trains the farmers directly; the business people are supposed to train the people who should sell the produce; the scientists should ensure that the products are managed properly, ensuring that there is no production contamination in the market.” He noted.

”The lawyers should ensure that the land; we do not spend a lot of time quarrelling over land, but we still spend a lot of time quarrelling over. Institute of peace should ensure that there is peace; medicine should ensure health.” Prof Openjuru added.

Prof Openjuru instead advised graduates, who he described as people who have got the wrong degree, to come back (to the University) for another so that they can engage with the Ugandan economy differently.

”So those of you who have got the wrong degree and have not opened your heads, come back for another degree. From next year, we are going to start training you differently to open your head so that you can engage with the Ugandan economy differently.”

Shift in training

Prof Openjuru admitted that institutions of higher learning have been training people differently and called for a shift, saying;

”We have been training people differently with the expectation that there are a lot of jobs; now we have learned from secondary schools that there are actually no jobs.”

So the kind of people we want are not people who should fill up the jobs that started during the colonial time; we now want people who will invest in the economy and create productivity. He added.

Competency-based learning

He explained that competency-based teaching will address some of the country`s unemployment problem, with students trained to identify gaps smartly and enhance production.

”The reason we are going competency is that we do not want our graduates, and this is another point. Our students should be able to see gaps in the industry and fill up that gap smartly in order to enhance production. In other words, they should not go out to look for who can employ me; they should look for where can I add value, and where you add value is just endless. The pineapple waste in Luweero is where value can be added.”

Professor Openjuru disclosed that he is overwhelmed by the requests for employment from graduands.

”Every day I get irritated, inundated, flooded by requests for jobs; every meter I walk, somebody is stopping me for jobs, like I am a recruitment firm. It really annoys me; I can tell you as I walked here, somebody was sitting in my car pleading for jobs, and then I get irritated because I say jobs are everywhere if you can only open your eyes a little and put your heart a little more.”

Using an anecdote, Professor Openjuru explained that everyone who consumes must be able to produce, noting that those who do not know where to produce are very useless and must ask God to take them away.

”If everybody eats, everybody should produce value.” He stated.

Alluding to an anecdote: ”I like this Ekanya. Ekanya went to the bar and said, ‘Everybody, have a beer, and then everybody had a beer. Then Ekanya paid for one bottle, and they said, but you ordered so many bottles. They were dreaming.

No, if you consume, you must produce; whose products do you want to eat when yours are not there?

So when I say everybody has a beer, it means everybody buys a beer; and then the world is even. So if you want to eat, what do you do? You produce.”

”If you don’t know where to produce, please ask God to take you away, because you are a very useless product. And it is even more painful when Collins (Dean of Agriculture) has trained you at Gulu University. We expect your productivity and your ingenuity to be larger, then you come back to the VC to ask for a job?”

He described people without jobs as those unable to think outside the box. ”Some of those people irritate me. I have known, I have been in the Gulu University, people who stayed without jobs; that means people who are not able to see.”

The professor explained the value chain in Uganda.

…………So as agriculturalists, the land, which is a factor of production, is really available; look for it, even if it means hiring, hire them.

Entrepreneurship has a higher labour requirement is already there. You have been trained; you have the knowledge.

Why don’t you put those things together in order to engage yourself meaningfully and eat meaningfully, because when you eat meaninglessly, it means you eat when you don’t produce? Let that be for children; babies are the ones who are supposed to eat and play. We are supposed to eat and work.

Now, capital: you can get capital; even one hoe is capital; banks are chasing after people to give money; if you are serious, banks queue up to give money; you can get the money.

Professor Openjuru also blamed the abuse of students on placement, saying that they are reduced to mere office messengers and receptionists instead of being trained on practical skills.

Internships

”My experience of internship (other students’ placement) arrangements is that they make our students office messengers; we don’t teach them to be office messengers in an agriculture farm (firm), we don’t teach them to be waiters, we don’t teach them to be receptionists, we teach them to do executive work in the agricultural production process.”

So you will help us to let those firms know how to deploy our students, and how to also let those students learn and take the records of the students and give it to us, as part of the assessment of the students. He added.

Professor Openjuru made the remarks from Gulu City on Wednesday while signing a Memorandum of Understanding between Gulu University and Epiflex Agrovet Solutions Limited for students’ training, internship, industrial attachment, community outreach, and extension services, development validation and commercialisation, and capacity building and knowledge exchange.

The collaboration includes promoting applied research in Agriculture, veterinary services, and implementing students’ internships.

Osimhen’s return date uncertain – Galatasaray

Galatasaray have provided an update on the injury suffered by Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen during their Trendyol Super Lig Matchday 4 clash against Basaksehir FK.

Osimhen experienced pain and discomfort in his right adductor (groin) muscle during the encounter, prompting concerns over his fitness.

The Turkish champions confirmed that treatment has already begun, with the Super Eagles forward scheduled to undergo further medical examinations, including an MRI scan, to determine the extent of the injury.

‘Further examinations, including MRI scans, for our players Victor Osimhen and Mario Lemina-who experienced strain and pain in their right adductor (groin) muscle groups during yesterday’s Trendyol Super Lig Matchday 4 fixture against Basaksehir FK and whose treatments have already begun-will be completed tomorrow,’ the club said.

The results of the examinations are expected to provide a clearer picture of the severity of Osimhen’s injury and potentially establish a timeframe for his return to action.

A return date for Victor Osimhen has not been confirmed yet, but the statement released by the club suggests that the Super Eagles of Nigeria forward is under close observation by the club with an update expected to be provided later after the completion of the medical examination mentioned by the club.

Suspicious transaction reports: Is Nigeria doing enough?

A member of my marketing team recently told me that we had a problem with approximately 400 contact records.

My immediate question was: 400 out of how many?

If 400 records were affected out of a database of 500, we had a crisis. If it was 400 out of 50,000, we had a data-cleaning exercise. The number had not changed, but its meaning changed completely once it had a denominator for context.

I was reminded of that conversation while reading the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit’s (NFIU) 2025 Annual Report.

The NFIU disclosed that it received 42,082 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and 10,513 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) during the year: a combined total of 52,595 suspicious reports.

Several publications reported the figure. What most did not answer was the more important question: is 52,595 actually a lot or not enough?

Understanding Suspicious Reports

Financial institutions in Nigeria are mandated under the Money Laundering (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2022 to file STRs when activity gives rise to a reasonable suspicion of money laundering, fraud, terrorism financing, corruption, tax crime or another predicate offence.

Each report provides the NFIU with a piece of intelligence. One institution may see an unusual payment. Another may see funds moving through a related account. A third may identify a beneficial owner, cross-border transfer or rapid withdrawal. Individually, each event may be inconclusive. When combined with other financial information and law-enforcement intelligence, however, the pattern may become much clearer.

Suspicious reports can help authorities connect people, companies, accounts and transactions; identify criminal networks operating across several institutions; trace proceeds of crime; support investigations and prosecutions; and identify assets that may be restrained or recovered.

The overarching goal of STRs is to generate useful intelligence that helps disrupt financial crime and protect the integrity of the financial system.

Context is key

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2025 Annual Report, Nigeria had 47.8 billion electronic-payment transactions in 2025 across ATM, point-of-sale, internet or web, NEFT, USSD, mobile-app, direct-debit and RTGS channels.

When you place this beside the NFIU’s 52,595 suspicious reports, this produces approximately 1.1 suspicious reports for every one million electronic-payment transactions.

That makes 52,595 look rather different.

A quick caveat here is that a suspicious report may relate to one transaction, several transactions, an attempted transaction or a broader pattern of activity. Also, the electronic-payment figure does not capture every form of financial activity. It is simply a sense check against the scale of the financial system.

Nigeria has a large banking sector, one of Africa’s most developed digital-payments ecosystems, a rapidly growing fintech industry, expanding virtual-asset activity and a substantial cash and informal economy. It is also exposed to fraud, corruption, cybercrime, kidnapping, tax crime, terrorism financing and illicit financial flows.

Against that background, 52,595 should not automatically be described as a large number simply because it sounds large in isolation.

Similar financial systems

It is sometimes useful to compare with countries at a broadly similar stage of financial system and AML/CFT development. For that, we look to Ghana and Kenya.

According to Ghana’s Financial Intelligence Centre, as cited in the National AML/CFT/CPF Risk Assessment of Ghana, the country received 2,152 suspicious transaction reports in 2023. According to the Bank of Ghana’s Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report 2023, Ghana recorded 6.81 billion mobile-money transactions that same year – the only payment-channel figure I could independently verify, since the Bank of Ghana does not publish a single all-channel e-payments total. That works out to about 0.32 suspicious reports per million transactions.

Kenya provides another useful comparison. Kenya’s Financial Reporting Centre received 5,454 STRs and 2,482 SARs in 2024, producing 7,936 core suspicious reports. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics recorded approximately 2.7 billion mobile-money transactions in 2024. Mobile money is technically a narrower denominator than Nigeria’s multi-channel total; however, available payment rail-level data from the Central Bank of Kenya and PesaLink indicate that mobile money accounted for approximately 94-95 per cent of Kenya’s documented payment transactions by number.

Adding the published volumes for cards, EFTs, cheques, RTGS and PesaLink produces an estimated Kenyan total of approximately 2.86 billion transactions in 2024. That equates to approximately 2.8 suspicious reports per million transactions;

So what do the numbers from Ghana and Kenya tell us in comparison? Nigeria appears to report more intensively than Ghana, but only about 40 per cent as intensively as Kenya on the available transaction-adjusted figures. Put differently, Kenya generated approximately two and a half times as many suspicious reports per million transactions as Nigeria. With that context, we can see that Nigeria’s 52,595 reports are not obviously excessive. Relative to recorded transaction activity, they sit within the regional range but below at least one comparable African financial system.

More mature systems show?

The gap, however, becomes more striking when Nigeria is placed beside three established financial-intelligence systems.

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency received 866,616 Suspicious Activity Reports in the year from April 2024 to March 2025. UK Finance recorded 48.8 billion payments in calendar 2024, the closest full-year payment denominator to that reporting window. That produces approximately 17.8 SARs per million payments. It is worth flagging that the UK figure carries its own distortion: a meaningful share of those SARs are defence-against-money-laundering filings driven by the consent regime, and the number is widely regarded within UK AML circles as inflated by defensive reporting rather than a clean measure of detection quality. It is cited here for the shape of the gap, not as a target to replicate.

In the United States, FinCEN received approximately 4.8 million SARs in the federal fiscal year from October 2024 to September 2025. The Federal Reserve’s latest triennial payments study estimates 236.6 billion non-cash payments in calendar 2024. Placing the two figures beside each other produces approximately 20.3 SARs per million payments.

In Canada, FINTRAC’s 2024/25 Annual Report confirms 633,882 Suspicious Transaction Reports, and Payments Canada recorded 22.5 billion retail payments in calendar year 2024. That equates to approximately 28.2 STRs per million payments.

It’s important to note that these figures do not prove that the US, UK or Canada detects financial crime seventeen or twenty or twenty-eight times better than Nigeria. Their legal obligations, reporting populations, financial sectors and payment datasets differ.

The lesson from mature systems is therefore not simply ‘file more’; the goal should be to build a reporting ecosystem capable of detecting more relevant activity across more sectors, while maintaining report quality and giving reporting institutions useful feedback.

The Dominance of Banks

Deposit money banks filed 47,028 of Nigeria’s 52,595 suspicious reports in 2025: approximately 89.4 per cent. Banks are central to the financial system and should be major reporters. But when almost nine out of every ten reports originate from one segment, it raises questions about detection maturity elsewhere.

Are payment businesses, capital-market operators, insurers, virtual-asset service providers and designated non-financial businesses seeing genuinely little suspicious activity? Or are their systems identifying and escalating too little of what they see?

The answer should not be a reporting quota. Quotas create defensive filings and low-quality narratives. The solution is more sophisticated monitoring: better customer-risk models, reliable beneficial-ownership information, transaction monitoring designed around each institution’s products, cross-channel and linked-account analysis, well-tuned typologies, effective alert investigation and continuous testing for the suspicious activity that existing rules may be missing.

This is also why the CBN’s Baseline Standards for Automated AML/CFT/CPF Solutions matter. The standards establish minimum expectations for automated systems capable of detecting, analysing and reporting suspicious activity. They reflect a basic reality: at the scale at which Nigerian finance now operates, manual reviews and isolated rules cannot provide adequate coverage.

I should disclose an obvious conflict of interest here: I run a company that builds this kind of technology. But even after applying a healthy discount to my enthusiasm for automation, the arithmetic remains difficult to argue with. A system processing tens of billions of electronic payments cannot depend principally on spreadsheets, fragmented data and analysts manually searching for suspicious patterns after the event.

So, is 52,595 a lot?

It is a substantial number in isolation. It is higher than Ghana’s reporting intensity on the available transaction-based measure. But it is materially lower than Kenya’s estimated 2.8 reports per million transactions and far below the roughly 17.8 to 28.2 reports per million recorded across the UK, US and Canada on their closest available payment denominators. Above all, it remains modest beside the 47.8 billion electronic-payment transactions recorded in Nigeria during the year.

The fairest conclusion is that Nigeria is not producing too many suspicious reports. The more credible concern is whether it is producing enough high-quality reports, from a sufficiently broad range of institutions, for the size, complexity and risk of its financial system.

That question cannot be answered by the headline number alone. It requires information about active and nil filers, filing concentration, report quality, regulatory feedback and measurable law-enforcement outcomes.

Concretely, the NFIU’s next annual report would tell us far more if it disclosed five things: the number of active versus nil-filing reporting entities by sector; report volumes broken down by institution type rather than dominated by a single deposit-money-bank figure; a quality or actionability metric, meaning the share of reports that meaningfully advanced an investigation rather than simply the number filed; turnaround and feedback rates to reporting institutions; and downstream outcomes, such as prosecutions, convictions or assets restrained, that trace back to STR and SAR intelligence.

Context does not diminish the importance of 52,595 reports. It tells us what the number is really saying.

And what it appears to be saying is this: Nigeria’s financial-intelligence system has progressed, but its detection capability still has considerable room to mature.

Kashim Shettima’s story young Nigerians can learn from @60

Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President, former two-term Governor of Borno, banker, politician, and businessman, has a story young people can actually learn from as he clocks 60 on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.

Shettima is not perfect. No one is. Perfection belongs to the Almighty, our Creator. But there are real lessons to draw from how he has navigated life, built his career and risen through different stages of leadership. I will try, as much as possible, to break some of these lessons down for easy understanding and assimilation.

First, as a young Nigerian, understand that education and skills are your first source of power. Vice President Kashim Shettima understood this and acted upon it. He studied Agricultural Economics at the University of Maiduguri before obtaining a Master’s degree from the University of Ibadan. He subsequently built a career in the banking sector, working with institutions including Commercial Bank of Africa, African International Bank and Zenith Bank, where he eventually became the General Manager of Zenith Bank, Maiduguri, at a relatively young age.

There is a lesson here for every young Nigerian: no matter where you start, invest in education and acquire useful skills. Your first job may not be your dream job. Your first salary may not be impressive. Your first opportunity may not come with the recognition you desire. But every experience can become a building block for something bigger. Shettima’s years in banking undoubtedly exposed him to financial management, corporate discipline, leadership, networking and the workings of the private sector. Those experiences later became useful assets when he moved into politics and public leadership.

The next lesson is the importance of staying and serving your people, especially in times of crisis.

As Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019, Kashim Shettima led the state through one of the darkest periods in its history, as the Boko Haram insurgency reached its peak. Schools were shut down, communities were displaced, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps became a defining feature of life in the state. Rather than abandoning the people at a time when they needed leadership the most, he remained in Borno, worked to rebuild schools and consistently championed education as one of the most effective tools for countering extremism.

For me, the lesson is simple: leadership shows up when things get difficult.

Furthermore, as a young Nigerian, the need to reinvent oneself and be adaptable is key. Look at Shettima’s journey: from banker to governor, from governor to senator and now Vice President. That is a remarkable transition across different fields of public and professional life. At every stage, he had to learn new things, understand new environments and engage with different categories of people. He had to speak the language of business and finance, understand the realities of rural communities and farmers, engage with displaced persons and communities affected by conflict, and eventually operate on the national and international stage.

The lesson here is clear: do not box yourself in. Build skills that can travel with you. Develop transferable skills. Keep learning. Be willing to enter unfamiliar spaces and learn how they work.

The world is changing too rapidly for anyone to remain permanently confined to one identity, profession or area of expertise.

Also, young Nigerians must learn to speak up, even when their opinions are unpopular. Shettima is known for being outspoken, blunt and, at times, witty. As governor, he was not afraid to express strong views on the Federal Government’s approach to security and the insurgency. As Vice President, he has continued to speak publicly on issues ranging from the economy and agriculture to national development and restructuring.

There is a lesson here too: young people need to have a voice. You cannot shape decisions if you are always silent. And you cannot complain about being excluded from important spaces when you consistently refuse to speak up in the spaces available to you.

Additionally, as young Nigerians, you must deliberately build your networks across divides. Shettima’s ADC is Christian from Bauchi State. When he lost his Police Orderly in 2018, he not only picked the new one, who is today his ADC, from the same state, Bauchi, where the late one hailed from; he went for a Christian against the wishes of members of his kitchen cabinet at the time. The former Orderly was a Muslim. Truth is, Nigeria will not move forward if we only stay in our tribe, religion, or class. We must learn to build bridges. That’s how you get national relevance. I recall after elections were over in 2015, and some APC members were accusing the Igbos of not contributing anything to the late Buhari’s victory, Shettima again came in defence of the Igbos, declaring that the mere fact that the PDP could not post the figures it posted in 2011, in 2015, from the South- East, was enough contribution to APC’s victory by the people of the region.

Shettima led the struggle to ensure that the ‘Quit Notice’ issued in 2017 to the Igbos residing in the North by some northern youths over secession agitation was withdrawn.

Finally, as young Nigerians, we must always remain committed to whatever principle we believe in, and be modest in whatever we do. I recall again that as governor, the rug in his office, as at the time of my last visit in April 2018, a year to his exit from office in 2019, was the same rug he inherited in 2011 from his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, with Sheriff’s name boldly inscribed on it. How many of us can do that?

Again, as governor, whenever his predecessor, Senator Sheriff, was in town, Shettima would abandon his official vehicle for him, a symbolic gesture of respect. When they were in a room, even before the eyes of everyone, Shettima would sit on the floor while his former boss sat on a chair. His aides were usually enraged by this profound display of humility and loyalty to his former boss. When the boss eventually came for his head, deploying every available tool to fight him and undermine his authority, some of Shettima’s aides urged him to retaliate. They even offered to release damning documents that could have silenced Sheriff permanently. But Shettima refused. He would not toe that line, choosing instead to uphold his principles and loyalty, even in the face of betrayal.

Realising they were unable to convince Shettima, I was contacted to get him to see reason and do as requested. He was in Kaduna that weekend; I travelled down to meet him. I engaged him for about an hour. In the end, he simply said, ‘Mallam Samaila, Ali Sheriff made me governor. For that singular reason, I will remain eternally grateful to him. I will, therefore, not be party to anything that will send him to prison with regard to how he ran Borno. Don Allah, mu ci gaba da aiki mu. Allah zai kare mu ( let’s continue with our work; God will see us through).’

I am aware that during those travails, some of the top politicians in the state chose to stand on the path of truth and justice. I can say with all sense of modesty that Shettima never fought Sheriff. It was Sheriff who waged war against Shettima. He made himself a tin god, but in the end God demystified him by putting him where he rightly belongs.

Also, in the election of the president of the Senate in 2023, a contest between the now-incumbent Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Abdulaziz Yari, a longtime friend and political associate of Shettima. For those familiar with Nigeria’s political history, they would know that the rift between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, actually began with the election of the Senate President in 1999. While Obasanjo settled for the late Evans Enwerem, his deputy canvassed and mobilised for the late Chuba Okadigbo.

But in Shettima’s case, despite his personal relationship with Yari, he stood firmly with his principal’s choice. He deployed his political brinkmanship to ensure the emergence of Akpabio, President Tinubu’s preferred candidate. I say this without sounding immodest: had Shettima chosen to go the way of Atiku, Akpabio would have lost that election scandalously. What more could you ask of Shettima? How else does one define loyalty?

Therefore, for a young person in Lagos, Osun, Kano, Benue, Kaduna, Borno, Abuja or anywhere, get skilled, serve somewhere hard, and learn to talk to people different from you.

To His Excellency, Vice President Kashim Shettima, my dear friend and brother, as you celebrate your 60th birthday anniversary, I ask Allah, who is The First and The Last, The Beginning and The End, The Most Powerful and Most Merciful, to bless you in all that you do, protect you wherever you go, and illuminate every path you take with His Mercy, Guidance, and Divine Favour.

May Allah grant you success in this world and the Hereafter, forgive your shortcomings, and keep you steadfast upon the straight path.

Bi Rahmatika Yaa Arhamar-Rahimeen.

Aamiin, Yaa Rabbal ‘Alameen.

Happy birthday, Your Excellency, sir!

CRICKET-CPL-RESULT Barbados Tridents 139-2 (17.5 overs) defeat St Lucia Kings (138-6) by eight wickets – 29th match

The Barbados Tridents defeated the St Lucia Kings by eight wickets in the 29th match of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League at Kensington Oval here on Sunday.

ST LUCIA KINGS 138-6 in 20 overs (Kamil Pooran 37, Roston Chase 34, John Campbell 24, Charith Asalanka 12; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-22, Daniel Sams 2-20).

BARBADOS TRIDENTS 139-2 in 17.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 47 not out, Rivaldo Clarke 36 not out, Zachary Carter 32, Brandon King 22).

How the Church uses its authority to discipline errant Christians

‘If your brother sins against you, … tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ – Matthew 18:15-20.

Taken out of context, the text, ‘… where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am,’ can be used to discredit the significance of personal or private prayer, organised religion and religious activities such as Mass.

Given its original context and audience, Jesus was addressing a gathering of decision-making disciples and apostles. He intended to instruct them on how to deal with a Christian who sinned against another Christian, assuring them that He would be invisibly present to guide them. Jesus had the Jewish law in mind, which required two or three witnesses to establish the truth or ensure a fair judgment (Deuteronomy 17:6). Ultimately, He assured them that they were the final authority on matters such as these.

This reflection invites us to explore the significance of the authority and power Jesus gave to Peter and his fellow apostles, symbolised by the keys:

‘And I tell you, you are Peter (meaning rock), and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.’ – Matthew 16:18-19.

After giving the disciples this authority, Jesus told them: ‘If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven.’

This simply meant that the disciples, in union with God the Father, could loose and bind disciplines on Christians who sinned. An ordained minister does not forgive sins by his own power but acts as an instrument of God’s mercy, in the person of Christ. During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated His divine authority and mercy by offering forgiveness (John 8:11).

In John 20:22-23, Jesus links this authority directly to receiving the Holy Spirit, showing that it is a spiritual authority rather than a human skill. The same passage is understood as the direct institution of the Sacrament of Penance, or Reconciliation (Confession). It gives priests delegated authority from God to forgive or withhold forgiveness of sins and provides the basis for the practice of confessing sins to priests.

The text under reflection differs in significance from James 5:16, which encourages believers to confess their sins to one another and pray for one another so that they may be healed. James, nevertheless, instructs sick individuals to call for the ‘presbyters’ of the Church to pray over them and anoint them with oil. These symbols and rites act as visible channels of God’s invisible grace.

Jesus neither restricted His apostles’ authority to matters of sin alone nor prevented them from passing His authority to their successors. Rather, He also meant that the Twelve, and those whom they ordained as their successors, could arbitrate on other important matters, such as disciplinary and doctrinal issues.

Through the centuries, the Church has developed binding rules, known as canon law, as well as a court system or tribunal. Through canon law and the tribunal, a diocesan bishop exercises judicial power in the diocese. The system also protects the legal and spiritual rights of Church members while providing formal corrective measures to help errant Christians amend their behaviour and repair damage to the community.

Meet 39-year-old Yale Professor Cajetan Iheka with Nigerian roots

The United States Mission has welcomed Dr. Cajetan Iheka, a professor of English at Yale University, to Nigeria.

In a post on X on Saturday, the mission said that effective August 20, Iheka, who has Nigerian roots, began a 10-month Fulbright appointment at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

‘At UNILAG, he will lead seminars and training for early-career faculty and postgraduate students. He will also lead course development, contribute to graduate curriculum redesign, and mentor faculty through teaching and publishing workshops,’ the post read.

Dr Iheka serves as director of Yale’s Whitney Humanities Centre, Chair of the Council on African Studies, Head of the Yale Africa Initiative, and Editor-in-Chief of African Studies Review.

The mission revealed that since 1960, over 1,200 Fulbright scholars have been in Nigeria, many of whom now hold leadership positions in government and in public, private, and international institutions.

The Fulbright program is the US government’s flagship international academic exchange programme.

Here are things to know about Dr. Cajetan Iheka

1. He is a professor at Yale University

Dr. Cajetan Iheka is a Professor of English at Yale University, where he teaches African literature, postcolonial studies, ecocriticism, ecomedia and world literatures.

2. He has Nigerian roots

Iheka is of Nigerian heritage. He completed his early education and attended university in Nigeria before moving to the United States for postgraduate studies.

3. He earned his PhD in the United States

He obtained his doctorate from Michigan State University after relocating to the United States to further his academic career.

4. He previously taught at the University of Alabama

Before joining Yale, Iheka joined the Department of English at the University of Alabama in 2015, where he taught African and Caribbean literatures, film, postcolonial studies and ecocriticism.

5. He holds several leadership positions at Yale

Beyond teaching, Iheka serves as Director of the Whitney Humanities Centre, Chair of the Council on African Studies, Head of the Yale Africa Initiative and Editor-in-Chief of the African Studies Review.

6. He is serving at UNILAG under the Fulbright Programme

On August 20, Iheka began a 10-month Fulbright appointment at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), where he will contribute to teaching, research and postgraduate education.

7. He will mentor lecturers and postgraduate students

During his time at UNILAG, he will lead seminars and workshops for early-career faculty and postgraduate students, help redesign graduate curricula, and mentor academics in teaching and scholarly publishing.

8. He is an internationally recognised scholar of African literature

His academic research focuses on African and Caribbean literatures, ecocriticism, ecomedia, postcolonial studies and Black world literature.

9. He has written award-winning books

His first book, Naturalising Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance in African Literature (2018), won the 2019 Ecocritical Book Award and the 2020 African Literature Association First Book Prize.

10. His second book received multiple international honours

His second monograph, African Ecomedia: Network Forms, Planetary Politics (2021), won six major awards, including the 2022 African Studies Association Best Book Prize and the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) Ecocritical Book Award.

11. He is the only scholar to achieve a unique feat

Iheka is the only scholar to have won the ASLE Ecocritical Book Award more than once, highlighting his significant contributions to environmental humanities.

12. He has edited several influential academic publications

In addition to writing books, Iheka has edited and co-edited several scholarly works, including Teaching Postcolonial Environmental Literature and Media, African Migration Narratives: Politics, Race, and Space, Environmental Transformations, and Intellectual Traditions of African Literature, 1960-2015.

13. Another major book is on the way

His forthcoming monograph, Horizontal Comparison: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Making of Black World Literature, is scheduled for publication by the University of Chicago Press in Fall 2026.

14. He has received prestigious academic recognition

His article, ‘Colonial Trauma in Oyono’s Houseboy and Condé’s Crossing the Mangrove,’ won the African Literature Association’s Best Article Award for outstanding scholarship published in a major peer-reviewed journal.

15. His work focuses on environmental justice in Africa

Much of Iheka’s research examines how African literature addresses environmental degradation, climate change and the effects of oil exploration. His scholarship compares responses to environmental disasters in Africa and elsewhere, advocating greater attention to ecological justice across the continent.

MFM takes deliverance crusade to North Carolina, Florida

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) USA Mega Region 2 is set to take its evangelical outreach to a new level with major church property dedications and deliverance crusades scheduled for North Carolina and Florida in September.

The programmes, which will feature the General Overseer of MFM, Dr D.K. Olukoya, are expected to attract worshippers, Nigerians in the diaspora and other Christian faithful from across the United States.

Principal Regional Overseer of MFM USA Mega Region 2, Pastor Olumide Oni, said the programmes were designed to impact positively on the spiritual lives of Christians in the United States and, in the language of the ministry, ‘depopulate the kingdom of darkness.’

Oni said the crusades would provide an opportunity for people burdened by what he described as satanic yokes to seek deliverance, while many others would encounter what he called ‘the God of uncommon power.’

He said the programmes were open to people of all nationalities, including Nigerians both at home and abroad, particularly those residing in or travelling to the United States during the period.

According to him, the events would also provide an opportunity to rally prayers and support for the continued expansion of the ministry’s evangelistic work in the United States.

The North Carolina Church Property Dedication and the Great North Carolina Deliverance Crusade will hold on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at The Alliance Convention Center, 1214 Turrentine Street, Burlington, North Carolina.

The Florida Church Property Dedication and the Great Florida Deliverance Crusade will follow on Sunday, September 20, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. at the Yuengling Center, Entrance Gates A and C, University of South Florida (USF), 12499 USF Bull Run Drive, Tampa, Florida.

Oni described the two events as significant milestones in the expansion of MFM’s ministry and its evangelistic mission in the United States, urging members and Christian faithful to support the programmes with prayers.

He said the crusades would feature worship, prayers and deliverance ministrations, with participants expected from different parts of the United States and beyond.

The events, he added, underscore the ministry’s continuing commitment to advancing the Gospel and providing spiritual support to people seeking freedom, restoration and a deeper relationship with God.

Missing Nigerian woman: NCAA, Qatari agencies widen search

Security agencies in Qatar and the Nigerian government are leaving nothing to chance as they widen search for a Nigerian passenger who remains missing since she landed in Doha a few days ago.

The disappearance of the Nigerian woman has stirred global outrage following concerns raised by family members and officials of government.

Speaking in a telephone interview on Saturday, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Michael Achimugu, said the apex regulator is collaborating with Qatari agencies to ensure the missing Nigerian woman is found.

Achimugu said specific mandate was issued to Discover Qatar, the body responsible for facilitating visa into the country, to identify the hotel connected to the issuance of flight booking attached to her trip.

He said Discover Qatar will be useful in getting relevant information the missing passenger’s travel itinerary.

Achimugu said: ‘The search for the missing Nigerian woman is ongoing. We are working closely with the security and other border management agencies in Qatar. Since the weekend appears like a public holiday, not much has been achieved.

‘But investigation is ongoing. We have mandated Discover Qatar to locate the hotel attached to the passenger’s visa application in order to get a lead on how to go about the matter.’

Recall that a 37-year-old Nigerian woman has been unreachable since arriving in Doha, Qatar.

The woman, who travelled from Lagos to Doha aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1408 on Tuesday, reportedly lost contact with her family after communicating with her brother via WhatsApp shortly before the aircraft landed.

Achimugu said on Saturday that the airline had confirmed through CCTV footage that the woman arrived safely in Doha, collected her luggage and exited the airport terminal.

He said: ‘I have confirmed, via the airline, that CCTV shows your sister arrived safely, picked her bags, and exited the terminal.

According to him, further checks would be conducted to determine whether the woman subsequently arrived at the hotel she had booked before travelling.

Achimugu said the checks had been slowed by the public holidays but were expected to establish whether she reached the hotel and whether she got there through the hotel’s pick-up vehicle.

He said every Qatar visa booking must be tied to a specific hotel reservation, adding that Discover Qatar would check the name of the hotel and confirm whether the woman checked in.

‘In some cases, passengers arrive at the hotel booked, and then leave quietly. DISCOVER QATAR will check to confirm the name of her hotel, and whether your sister did, indeed, get to the hotel,’ Achimugu said.

The NCAA official also said he had informed the airline of concerns about possible human trafficking and forced labour, adding that confirmation from the hotel would help determine the next course of action.

He said, ‘If she did not arrive at the hotel, a manhunt would ensue. It is easy to track people once they have arrived in Doha.’

Achimugu, however, clarified that the matter was not within his official purview, saying he was assisting the family.

The woman’s brother, Jonathan Jibo (#DigitalworldB), had on Friday raised the alarm in a post on X, saying it had been more than 48 hours since he last had contact with his sister.

Jibo said the woman had travelled to Doha for the first time and had no friends there, adding that her accommodation had been arranged and paid for months before the trip.

He said the person assigned to pick her up at the airport had waited for her but could not locate her, despite being informed by the airline that she had collected her luggage.

Jibo said his sister had worked at Lagos airport for almost 12 years and was expected to resume work in Doha weeks after her arrival.

He wrote: ‘Till now, I can’t reach her phone, online, I don’t even know what went wrong.’

He also appealed to the Nigerian Embassy in Doha and other authorities to assist in tracing her.

In a further update on Saturday, Jibo said his sister’s details had been forwarded to the Nigerian President in Doha and subsequently to the Nigerian Embassy in Qatar.

He said the family was hoping to receive an update from the embassy on Monday, noting that the embassy does not operate during weekends.

The family is awaiting the outcome of the checks to establish whether the woman reached her booked hotel and what happened after she left the airport terminal.