A devastating mid-day inferno at the Kano State Animal Health School in Kabo Local Council of Kano state has left no fewer than 34 classrooms and several other properties worth several hundreds of Millions of Naira razed.
There were, however, miraculously, no fatalities from the incident which occurred at about 2:30 pm on Monday.
A statement on Wednesday January 21, 2026, from the Spokesperson for the Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Yusuf Abdullahi, informed that the swift Intervention from fighter fighters from the Rijiyar Zaki Fire Station assisted in preventing the fire outbreak from engulfing more parts of the School.
“The fire service control room received a distress call from one Jamilu Abubakar on the fire outbreak in the school premises. Fire fighters from the Rijiyar Zaki Fire Station were immediately mobilised to the scene.
“On arrival our men discovered a ground-floor building measuring about 500 by 500 feet, used as an Animal Health School, engulfed in flames” Abdullahi stated .
According to him, out of the 34 classrooms affected by the inferno, 16 were seriously burnt , while 18 were partially damaged.
The efforts of the fire fighters paid off, as the situation was prevented from further spreading to other classrooms and offices of the College.
The Fire Service spokesman attributed the relative success recorded during the rescue exercise to the equipment deployed and the resilience and the prompt response by fire fighters.
When a Minister Talks Like the Presidency Is a Background Detail The painful part Nigerians are now forced to confront is not only that Nyesom Wike speaks as if parties do not matter in Rivers State, but that he speaks as if the presidency itself can be treated like a background detail. This is what makes the moment feel insulting to the public mind.
Wike is a Minister under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yet his language, posture, and public performance often give the impression that he is not merely working for the president, but working above the normal boundaries of presidential authority. It is one thing for a minister to be influential.
It is another thing for a Minister to behave as if national power must adjust itself around his personal dominance.
The Psychology of Political Arrogance and Delegated Power:
This is where the psychology of political arrogance becomes clear. In a functioning democracy, a minister is meant to represent delegated authority, meaning the minister acts with the president’s trust, but still operates within limits, humility, and collective responsibility. But when a minister behaves as if he can speak like the final owner of political space, he begins to send a public message that authority is not institutional, it is personal. That is how people begin to feel that Tinubu is the official president, but Wike is the operational president in certain political spaces. This kind of dynamic does not just distort government, it weakens the symbolic meaning of the presidency itself.
A Political Style Built on Presence, Not Restraint
Professor John Egbeazien Oshodi
Wike’s political style has always been built around force of presence. He enters spaces loudly, speaks with certainty, and creates the impression that the room must revolve around him. That approach can win battles, but it damages national maturity. When he tells Rivers people that Abuja is not his place and that he will be coming home every week, he is not just talking about visiting his people. He is signaling that his political base remains the real center of his identity, and that the national assignment is simply a job location. In normal systems, that statement would raise serious concern about focus, boundaries, and divided loyalty. But in Nigeria, power is so personalized that such a statement becomes applause material.
What Citizens Learn When Dominance Goes Unchecked
The deeper wound is what the public learns from it. If a Minister can speak like this, and no clear institutional correction qfollows, citizens internalize a dangerous lesson: that government roles do not necessarily come with discipline, and that proximity to power can become a license to behave without restraint. When public officials model uncontrolled dominance, citizens begin to mirror it in daily life. They begin to believe that leadership is loudness, that authority is intimidation, and that respect is something you force out of people. This is how political culture becomes social culture, and the nation’s emotional health declines quietly.
Yilwatda’s Discipline Versus Wike’s Dominance
Now compare that posture with Professor Nentawe Yilwatda’s message as APC chairman. Yilwatda is speaking the language of party discipline, inclusion, and measurable membership structure. He is saying register everyone, no one should be excluded, and failure will have consequences. That is an attempt to build a party that functions like an institution. But Wike’s posture in Rivers is the opposite direction, where party identity is mocked, and personal structure is treated as the only true political reality. In psychological terms, one leader is trying to build order through systems, while another leader is building order through dominance. Nigerians are watching both approaches at once, and the fear is that dominance is still louder than systems.
The National Embarrassment of a Politically Unmoored Power Broker
The most troubling aspect is that Wike is not even APC by identity, and his relationship with the PDP has been deeply ruptured, yet he speaks as if political parties are irrelevant in his territory. That alone is a national embarrassment. But when he does it while serving under Tinubu, it becomes a deeper institutional humiliation. It suggests that Nigeria’s political system still allows power brokers to operate like independent governments inside the government, with their own crowd psychology, their own street level control, and their own definition of political reality. That is not federal democracy, that is a layered power arrangement where some actors behave as if they are larger than the structure they serve.
Tinubu’s Burden: The Presidency Must Draw Boundaries
This is where Tinubu’s role becomes psychologically important, even beyond policy and governance. A president must not only lead through appointments and decisions, he must lead through clear boundaries that protect the dignity of the office and the coherence of national authority. If ministers begin to act like personal emperors, citizens start to question whether the presidency is directing the government or simply managing competing power centers. That uncertainty weakens the nation, because a country cannot move forward when the public senses that the leadership structure is fragmented, and that political giants inside government can speak as if they answer to no one.
How Nigeria’s System Rewards Domination and Injures Trust
But Nigeria’s tragedy is that the system has rewarded this behavior for too long. Political domination has often produced short term results, and those results have been mistaken for leadership strength. Yet the long term effect is national emotional damage. People begin to normalize disrespect, normalize political bullying, and normalize institutional confusion. They stop believing that rules protect anyone. They start believing only personal loyalty protects survival. That is how corruption grows, and that is how national trust dies, not only through stealing money, but through stealing the people’s belief that leadership can be sane.
A Therapeutic National Lesson: Strength Must Come With Maturity
The therapeutic lesson for the nation is that Nigeria needs leadership that can combine political strength with emotional maturity. Strength without maturity becomes intimidation. Power without restraint becomes arrogance. Influence without accountability becomes national poison. If Tinubu wants a stronger Nigeria, the presidency must encourage competence and loyalty, but it must also insist on boundaries, humility, and respect for institutional order. Ministers must serve their assignments without turning national roles into personal theatre. Parties must rebuild themselves as institutions, not as platforms for strongmen. Citizens must learn to celebrate service more than drama, and results more than loudness.
The Better Way Forward: National Recovery Through Restraint and Institution Building
Nigeria can still heal, but it requires political self control as a national value. The country must move from dominance politics to competence politics, from personality worship to institutional trust, and from emotional manipulation to responsible leadership communication. Leaders like Yilwatda are correct to pursue inclusion, structure, and verifiable membership systems, because democracy cannot survive on guesses and intimidation. But that effort must be matched by a political culture where public officers, including powerful ministers, understand that their greatness is proven by discipline and service, not by how loudly they can dismiss parties, or how confidently they can speak as if the president is secondary. The nation will grow when power learns manners, when influence learns restraint, and when leadership learns that the highest authority is not intimidation, but responsibility.
Oshodi is a Professor of Clinical/Forensic Psychology
Stakeholders, mainly community leaders, have applauded the decision of the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani to create Hausa Royal Dynasty within Zazzau Emirate.
Described as a landmark decision with deep historical significance, Governor Sani, has approved plans to establish the Hausa Dynasty within the Zazzau Emirate.
A statement at #hausaactivist Senator Uba Sani, stated that “This move is widely seen as a bold step toward restoring historical balance, justice, and inclusiveness in the traditional leadership structure of Zaria.
“Since the Sokoto Jihad of the 19th century, the Zazzau Emirate has been dominated exclusively by Fulani ruling houses.
“At present, there are four recognized dynasties, all of Fulani origin: Fulata Borno – Gidan Barebari; Fulata Katsina – Gidan Katsinawa; Fulata Mali – Mallawa Dynasty and Fulata Silsibe – Gidan Sullubawa.
“For over two centuries, indigenous Hausa lineages—despite being the founders of the Zazzau Kingdom—have remained excluded from legitimate access to the throne.
“With governor Sani’s approval, a fifth royal house, to be known as the Hausa Dynasty (Gidan Hausawa), has been established.
“The primary objective is to ensure fairness, historical justice, and equal opportunity in the succession to the Zazzau throne.
“Crucially, this new dynasty will provide a legitimate pathway for descendants of Sultan Muhammadu Isiyaku Bawa Jatau, the original Hausa founder of the Zazzau Kingdom, to contest for the emirship of Zaria—an inheritance historically denied them.
“Many observers and hausas have praised the governor’s decision as courageous, reconciliatory, and long overdue. According to reliable insider sources, the process is already underway.
“Historical records confirm that Sarkin Zazzau Muhammadu Makau left no direct descendants. However, succession continued through the Jatau lineage:
“After the Fulani-led attack on Sarkin Zazzau Muhammadu Makau and his entourage during an Eid day assault in Zaria, Makau led a migration to the southern part of the Zazzau domain.
“Upon Makau’s death, he was succeeded by his brother Abu Jatau (Abuja).
“Abu Jatau was later succeeded by Abu Kwakwa, both sons of Sarkin Zazzau Malam Isiyaku Bawa Jatau (though from different mothers).
“These two rulers established the royal lineages that later became prominent in Zazzau–Abuja (Suleja).
“From this lineage descended Sarkin Abuja Mamman Gani, son of Abu Kwakwa. During colonial rule, Mamman Gani was deposed by the British and chose to return to Zaria, the ancestral homeland of his forefathers. At the time, Sarkin Zazzau Alu Dan Sidi Bamalli was on the throne.
“Historical accounts note that Mamman Gani and Alu Dan Sidi shared scholarly ties, having studied together in places such as Kontagora and other centers of learning. This relationship facilitated Mamman Gani’s resettlement in Zaria.
“He initially settled near Kofar Kuyambana, later moving closer to Albarkawa, then to Gidan Dutse, and finally back to Zage-Zage, the original ancestral home of the Jatau family.
“The recognition of a Hausa Dynasty in Zazzau represents a potential turning point in the emirate’s history one that acknowledges indigenous ownership, heals historical grievances, and promotes unity through justice.
“Many Hausas, historians, and community leaders have described Governor Sani’s decision as “an act worthy of praise”, emphasizing that true peace and legitimacy in traditional institutions can only be achieved through fairness and historical truth.
“This is not just a political decision it is a restoration of history.”
On Tuesday a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja gave the David Mark-led African Democratic Congress, ADC, a reason to celebrate. It affirmed that there is no faction in the party and that Mark is its only recognised Chairman.
The Court, therefore, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the names of candidates submitted by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) under Senator David Mark for the upcoming February 21 Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Honourable Justice Mohammed Umar, delivering judgment in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1907/25, ruled in favor of 17 ADC candidates who challenged INEC’s refusal to grant them electronic access to upload their names on the commission’s portal and thus preventing their participation in the local elections.
According to Justice Umar, the evidence presented by the plaintiffs was not only credible, but “proved their case beyond reasonable doubt.” Therefore, he ordered INEC to recognize and publish their names as ADC candidates for all the positions they desire to contest for in the party’s substitution primary election.
He, also, mandated that the names be uploaded onto INEC’s portal in compliance with Sections 29(1), 31, 33, and 84(1)(5)(6) of the 2022 Electoral Act and INEC’s Election Guidelines.
The candidates ordered by the Court to be listed are:
The plaintiffs headed to court when INEC denied ADC access to upload their particulars related to substitution primaries, citing issues with recognition of the current party leadership’s signatures—including those of Senator David Mark (National Chairman) and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (National Secretary)—by INEC’s officials.
Is it true that a Nigerian youngster said he is greater than Fela? I sincerely hope he was misquoted.
Even if he were to live ten lifetimes, his art and his life could not measure up to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Is it in art? Is it in music? Is it in activism, courage, or originality?
Fela was not just a musician; he was a movement, a conscience, a revolution in human form. His music gave birth to Afrobeat, a genre now studied in universities across the world, sampled by global superstars, and performed on the world’s greatest stages. From Lagos to London, New York to Berlin, Fela’s sound reshaped global music and African identity.
Fela stood alone—fearless in the face of military dictatorships, unapologetic in his resistance to oppression. He used his music as a weapon against injustice, corruption, colonial mentality, and state violence. For this, he was arrested over 200 times, brutalized, imprisoned, tortured, exiled, and silenced—yet never broken.
His mother was murdered by the state. His house, the Kalakuta Republic, was burned to the ground. His property was seized. He was flogged, beaten, and jailed from Alagbon to Panti, hounded by police and soldiers alike. Yet, after every assault, Fela returned with sharper lyrics, deeper rhythms, and more defiant truth.
For any young person—musician or not—to compare himself to Fela, he must first walk the corridors of Nigerian jailhouses: Lagos, Maiduguri, Benin. He must endure police cells and military tribunals. He must lose everything, go into exile, and still return with his creative spirit intact.
Fela was a multi-instrumentalist, a composer, bandleader, philosopher, and cultural theorist. He could play virtually every instrument in his band, wrote complex compositions lasting 15 to 30 minutes, and fused jazz, highlife, funk, Yoruba rhythms, and political poetry into something entirely original—something timeless.
Globally, Fela is honored as: • One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century • A cultural icon whose life inspired Broadway productions, documentaries, books, and academic studies • A symbol of African resistance and intellectual freedom • A voice for the oppressed, long after his death
Fela did not chase acceptance. The world came to him.
So, whoever this fellow is—if he indeed made such a claim—should simply be ignored. He may be one of those who would flee the country the moment the police knock once on his car window in Ojuelegba.
Fela did not run. Fela stood. Fela fought. And Fela remains immortal.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday January 21,2026, affirmed the sack of Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP.
The court presided over by Hon Justice Peter Lifu ,also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to immediately recognize the Senator Easter Nenadi Usman-led Interim National Working Committee, NWC, as the authentic national leadership of the beleaguered LP, pending the conduct of a national convention.
The court, while ruling on a motion on notice brought before it on the festering leadership squabble within the party, reaffirmed Supreme Court’s earlier verdict which had ruled that the Abure-led NWC, prior to the controversial 2024 Nnewi National Convention, had elapsed.
In the Judgment delivered on April 4,2025, the country’s apex court also held that the issue of leadership remains the internal affair of the political parties concerned.
Subsequently, Justice Lifu ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to henceforth seize the recognition of Abure as the National Chairman of the LP.
The court ruling was contained in a post on the official site of leading human rights advocate and lawyer Inibehe Effiong ,who noted that he was present during the delivery of the judgment on Wednesday .
” I am currently before the Federal High Court in Abuja for a case. I listened to the judgment in another case.
“Honourable Justice Lifu has just upheld Senator Nenadi Easter Usman-led National Caretaker Committee as the only valid and lawful leadership of the Labour Party
“The Judge reaffirmed the Supreme Court’s judgment- that the tenure of Julius Abure as National Chairman has since elapsed.
“The Judge ordered INEC to recognize Nenadi Usman forthwith”, Effiong wrote .
The Source further reports that the INEC, a couple of weeks ago, had, in refusing to grant the Abure-led NWC access code for the purpose of uploaded LP candidates for the Feb ,2026 Abuja Council polls ,also insisted that its tenure had long expired .
The Electoral umpire maintained that it will no longer recognize Abure as the LP National Chairman except otherwise directed by Courts of competent jurisdiction in the course of determining a plethora of court actions instituted by the factional Abure-led NWC against it.
Former vice President Atiku Abubakar is certain to get the presidential ticket of the ADC if the party decides to conduct a primary to pick its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
A former Political Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed made the assertion on Tuesday while speaking on channels Television Politics Today.
In the event that this happened, the new opposition party will face implosion, as many members will move away from the party, Baba- Ahmed said.
Baba-Ahmed who served the Tinubu government under the Office of Vice president Kassim Shettima, before he resigned last year, disclosed that other presidential hopeful in the ADC will be forced to leave the party as they will not be able to accept Abubakar’s victory as the party’s candidate.
According to him, Peter Obi, one of the presidential aspirants in the party has noted that his target is to get the sole ticket. If he loses to Abubakar in a Convention, Obi will leave the party, Baba-Ahmed said.
An Abubakar’s ADC candidature will also force other leaders and members of the party to leave, he stressed.
“If ADC goes to convention, and it certainly will, because that’s what former Vice-President Atiku wants, he will get the ticket,” Baba-Ahmed said.
“And then, a lot of people will walk out because a lot of people are in that party only for the same thing. They want the ticket.
“One of the reasons Peter Obi is saying, ‘Look at me, I’m not here for number two, I’m not here for convention, I’m here to fly the flag,’ is that he has people who were initially whispering politely to him,” he said.
“But now they are saying, ‘Join the queue. You’re not the only one with ambition here.”
He explained that Obi joined the ADC for the ticket, and will not accept anything short of that.
“Peter Obi doesn’t do convention. He just goes there to be anointed,” he said.
“So, the ADC will bleed after its convention because almost certainly former Vice-President Atiku will win the ticket, and when he does, some people will walk out, it will be severely damaged.”
In spite of the pressure being mounted on Abubakar to step down, he has insisted that he would not do so, a situation that’s currently causing confusion in the party ahead the next presidential election in less than two years.
If not for the timely medical attention she received after collapsing, the nation’s Movie Industry, popular as Nollywood, would have lost one of its finest actress.
Sarah Martins, popular Nollywood Actress reportedly collapsed in her home.
She was said to have been hurriedly rushed to the hospital, saving a looming disaster.
It was gathered that the Medical Officers at the Facility swung into action, reviving her and bringing her back to life.
She was stabilized afte which series of tests were done to ascertain what led to her sudden collapse.
Hours after the incident, the Actress took to her Instagram Page to appreciate God Almighty for preserving her and saving her life from the shackles of death.
She wrote on her page informing her fans of her health conditions.
She wrote: “Woke up today and couldn’t feel any part of my body. For a second, I felt lifeless. I still struggled and went to my stores to do inventory and a few interviews for incoming employees, and that was when I slumped.”
“All through December, I worked every single day, and even when my staff travelled for the season’s celebration, I still kept working. No days off, no stretches, no nothing… just a walking corps working tirelessly to cater for others, forgetting myself.
“I did over 32 tests today, and all came out negative, including cancer, fibroid, liver, kidney, malaria, typhoid, etc. I guess God took proper care of my organs while I neglected my body.
“I am typing this from a sick bed, but I will be fine because the God that protects the vulnerable kids I struggle for will never fail me.
“They said I’m extremely exhausted and need proper bed rest. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your constant protection over my life”, she wrote.
Three dead bodies have been pulled out from the debris of a two-storey building, which collapsed in Akure, Ondo state capital on Tuesday.
Many construction workers that were on site were trapped while others sustained varying degrees of injuries after the two-storey building under construction, collapsed along the busy Oyemekun Road in Akure.
As at the time of filing this report, rescue workers from various government agencies were on site to ensure rescue of more people .
It was gathered that the workers were on site carrying out construction work when the building suddenly caved in at about 3:30 p.m.
Following the collapse, sympathisers and passers-by reportedly trooped to the scene to assist in rescuing those trapped beneath the rubble, as emergency response efforts commenced.
Rescue operations were still ongoing, while relevant authorities were expected to provide further details.
The family of Mrs Opral Benson, the Iya Oge of Lagos, which a few days ago, raised an alarm over her whereabouts has now confirmed that the 90 year-old is safe.
The Family, in a statement on January 15, had declared her missing, emphasising that nobody had seen her in the past 48 hours. Part of the statement read: “The family reports that Mama Opral Benson has been missing since Tuesday, January 13, 2026. She has NOT RETURNED HOME and her current whereabouts are UNKNOWN.
“Anyone who has SEEN HER, or has ANY INFORMATION, no matter how small, is urged to CONTACT IMMEDIATELY: O803 703 9214.
“Alternatively, please, report to the nearest Police Station.
“THIS IS TIME SENSITIVE”
However, on Tuesday, January 20, the family, in a statement signed by her daughter, Bimbo, on its behalf said Mrs Benson has been tracked to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, her home country, and that she is safe, even though she does not know how she got to that country, a country she left in 1962 for Nigeria when she married the late former Federal Minister, TOS Benson. When Bimbo spoke to on the phone on Sunday, she was not aware of her whereabouts, and insisted that she was in her Ikoyi home.
In the angry, strongly-worded statement, the family said Mrs Benson has no living sibling, and had not visited Liberia in the past 10 years. It took exception that anybody could ferry the Iya Oge of Lagos from Nigeria to Liberia without the knowledge of any of her family members in Nigeria.
The statement reads:
“Dear Friends,
Re: My Mum
“I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to all of you who joined hands in tracking and tracing the whereabouts of Mama. She is reported to be in Liberia—a country she left in 1962 to become a Nigerian.
“I spoke with Mama today, Sunday, 18 January, at 11:18 a.m. She is well and hearty; however, she is unaware that she is in Monrovia, Liberia; she responded her location to be Ikoyi, Lagos.
“The transportation of Mama out of Nigeria without the knowledge of her Family is deeply troubling and should be frowned upon by all daughters who model respect and care for their mothers.
“This act of disregard, impunity, and irresponsibility is, therefore, frowned upon.
“Mama’s siblings are all deceased, and as such, she has not visited Liberia in over 10 years.
“In keeping with our Nigerian culture of deference to elders, a culture Mama has imbibed for the past 65 years “awon omo inu wan”, and all those desirous of meeting and greeting Mama are urged to visit her in Nigeria and not place her at unnecessary risk.
“Nigeria and Liberia share long-standing bilateral relations founded on mutual respect. Both Nations uphold Mama with pride and dignity. This is evident in her over 25 traditional Chieftaincy Titles and most recently, the conferment of the Grand Commander of the order of the Star of Africa a top tier honor conferred on her by the President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai during the occasion of her 90th birthday in Lagos last year.
“Opportunists parading and surrounding her are hereby urged to immediately withdraw and desist from their pursuits.
“As stated in Isaiah 46:4, God promises to carry His people even into their grey hairs—a time of continued divine support.
“We kindly ask that you keep Mama in your prayers for her safe and timely return to us.
