... ... 09/02/20 | IYANDA'SBLOG

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09/02/20
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9:31 PM

The Upper Sharia Court in Kano State that sentenced a musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, will on Thursday handover copies of its judgment to the musician’s lawyers and Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, SaharaRepoters has learnt.

Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death on August 10, 2020, for alleged blasphemy against Prophet Mohammed, was given 30 days by the court to appeal the judgment, meaning that the time would lapse on Wednesday, September 9.

Yahaya Sharif Aminu

Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), had accused officials of the court of refusing to make available certified true copies of the judgment.

Falana said there was a need for things to move quickly since Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, had said last week that he would sign the convict’s death warrant once the time for the appeal lapsed.

“They have not released the judgment and time is running out. And if we cannot obtain copies of the judgment, we cannot appeal. They have just been saying the judgment is not ready and the days are counting,” Falana said. See Also Opinion Humanists Condemn Death Sentence On Singer Accused Of Blasphemy By Leo Igwe 0 Comments 3 Weeks Ago

Reacting on Wednesday, Baba Jibo Ibrahim, spokesperson for the court, denied the accusation.

Ibrahim said the judgment was handwritten and had to be typed. 

He said that three copies had been made; one for the court, one for the Kano State Attorney-General and the third copy for the lawyers that formally requested for it.

“The delay in making the judgment available to lawyers that volunteer to rescue the life of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu was a result of the fact that Arabic scripts had to be entered in the judgment,” he said. See Also Islam I Won’t Waste A Minute Signing Death Warrant Of Musician Accused Of Blasphemy --Kano Governor, Ganduje 0 Comments 6 Days Ago

The musician, who is a resident of Sharifai in Kano metropolis, was accused of committing blasphemy against Prophet Mohammed in a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March 2020. 

Irate youth burnt down his family home and led a protest to the Sharia Police, Hisbah, demanding Sharif-Aminu’s death.

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9:31 PM

A former Minister of Information in Nigeria, Frank Nweke Jnr, has emerged President of Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of Nigeria. 

Nweke served as Minister of Inter-governmental Affairs; Special Duties and Youth Development; and later Information and Communications under former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s government.

Nweke was elected alongside Aminu Mukhtar Dan’amu (Vice President). 

Dan’amu is a former Kano State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development and served as Economic Adviser to two governors in Kano State. 

In his acceptance speech, Nweke Jnr said, “As beneficiaries of a Harvard education and its accompanying networks and pedigree, the burden of responsibility is upon us to do all that we can to lead in navigating this new world by contributing our knowledge, skills, experience, network, and resources, towards transforming our country, society and communities for the better.”

HKSAAN leverages on resources at the Kennedy School and its alumni network in hosting informed policy discussions that can help contribute to greater growth and development in Nigeria.

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9:31 PM

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, as the two airports allowed to resume international flight operations as from September 5, 2020.

NCAA made this known in a letter with ref NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/255 to all aviation stakeholders and foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

The letter signed by Director-General of the NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, stated that other airports would be gradually reopened, stressing, however, that the two would have to adhere to existing COVID-19 protocols for approvals.

The letter reads, “Other international airports namely Mallam Aminu International Airport, Kano (DNKN), Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa (DNPO), and Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu (DNEN), will remain closed to international flights until a new date is determined and announced.”

Nigeria had on March 23, 2020 shut its airspace to international travel to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.

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9:31 PM

Farmers in Nigeria’s South-West region have expressed concern over the unusual frequency and length of rainfall and dry spells, saying it could portend a national food crisis if government's intervention does not occur.

The Nigeria Meteorological Organisation had predicted that in the year 2020, the severe effect of the little dry season is expected over the coast of Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Ibadan, Akure, Shaki, Iseyin, Ilorin, Ado Ekiti, Enugu, Benin and Lokoja lasting about 10-25 days. 

This predication, however, failed in most of the areas with rainfall ceasing in some parts since June 21.

Kolawole Olufemi, who grows Cassava and Maize in Ibadan-Ibarapa area of Oyo State, says his crops wilted, prompting him to take out a loan to buy water to irrigate his farmland.

He said, “The rains did not start early this year but we were able to plant, hoping that it will become more frequent around May-June. 

"When the rain stopped around last week of June, non of us in our association took it seriously but then it continued. My cassava started drying in the ground, some started rotting, and my maize started turning yellow, you know how it turns yellow when there is no fertiliser. I had to take a loan from our corporative to pay water tankers who come to water the farm now. How much is my profit from everything that I am buying water?

“Many others with smaller farms may not be able to afford that and that is why we are pleading with Makinde and everybody to help us to cope, they should provide package for farmers to cushion the effect of he loses.”

Another farmer in Ogun State, Lekan Balogun, who is also an extension worker, said the only reason his crops have made it so far is because of his knowledge of the irrigation techniques.

He said, “The South-West if you look at it comprises of a swampy vegetation. We always have rain at the right time so people here are used to it but times are changing. The family who owns the plot after my own, if you ask them what irrigation is, they don’t know. They farm as a means of subsistence and so when it fails to rain they cannot cope. The other day another farmer in the area saw my pumping machine and hoses and said he could never afford such unless he sells his farmland and we laughed over it.

“This is the reality, the government must invest in extenstion services to teach farmers in rural areas the best practices so that they can take care of them selves like when things like this happen. Many farmers have only heard of the word climate change radio or TV, they have never contributed to causing it ut will affect them more and so the government must step in with more education and facilities.”

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9:31 PM

Sixteen years ago, many assumed that building a road from Gashua to Yusufari in northern Yobe state was an impossibility. There are 31-kilometres in between the two towns. The idea of impossibility was born out experiences of traveling on that desert and dusty path, with vehicles and people, often moving, as if on a wild guess or a game of chance, trudging through sand dunes, acarcia trees and tonnes of thorn. It was short journey full of suspense. The wheels of the vehicles can be stuck in sand dunes that can terminate the journey or make it look like an adventure.

Isa Sanusi

The dust will keep rising and obscuring the view of both the driver and the commuter. The types of vehicles that undertake such journey were largely open four-by-four trucks and outdated USSR made military vehicles. Whenever such vehicles were auctioned they are moved to start a new life on the route from Gashua to Yusufari and Bulatura and beyond. These are places quite close to Nigeria’s border with Niger Republic.

In 2009 i and colleagues visited Bulatura on BBC Hausa’s outstanding ‘BBC Hausa A Karkara’ - village roadshow that took radio to the people; to neglected places. As we finished broadcast in Bulatura, a man took me aside and started narrating how desert encroachment was working hard to render him homeless. The sand dunes moved and he had to moved too. Years ago, he said, desertification claimed his farm and he was close to tears while narrating how it is moving towards putting him and his family in a cul-de-sac of desert.  

Days before my recent visit to this area a friend told me that now, you can travel to Yusufari in minutes and return back to Gashua. It sounded like a fantasy until i took a road that leads to Yusufari. Although i did not travel all the way to Yusufari but i took the road and went on and on, as if trying to trying to cast away doubts. Indeed there was a road to Yusufari and beyond. In fact there is now a road that easily connects people through; to Geidam and Baymari.

These are places in the vast arid part of Yobe state that were largely neglected to the extent that, years ago, many people never believe a road can be built to connect communities that need to be accessible to each other to survive. Until the former governor of Yobe state Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam built the roads that connected these places within minutes rather than the previous hours of toil. What these roads mean socially and economically can hardly be understood if one never experienced the daunting nature of travels in these areas. 

People in some parts of Nigeria need only roads and development follows. On the road to Yusufari there is a gigantic ongoing hospital project that is near completion. The sign board by the road shows that it is a project brought by the Senate President Ahmad Lawan. It is meant to be a women and children’s hospital but it is going to be more than that. With rapid increase of population the hospital standing tall in the desert will be of service to both the people both Gashua and Yusufari. 

The road to Yusufari began from a point where a new model primary school was built by Governor Mai Mala Buni. Such schools were built across all zones of the state. Getting education right from the basic point, or from the beginning was the reason why such schools were provided. The road to Yusufari, for me, on that day ended with a housing estate project current government of Yobe state is undertaking in major towns. 

In areas largely neglected by federal government, until almost a decade ago, a road is more than a road. It is more than mere concrete and asphalt. It is also a new lease of life that opens the doors of possibilities. Location close to the a border creates real and imagined distance; the type of distance that begets an isolation that, to a large extent a road can eliminate.

For me, the road to Yusufari is not another version of Robyn Davidson’s 1977 trek across Australian desert accompanied by four camels. It is not the journey of a stranger in the wilderness. But it is an experience that shows that the familiar can wear the look of the strange. It just depends our ways of seeing things.  


*Isa Sanusi, a journalist wrote from Abuja. 

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