By Suleiman Anyalewechi
A school teacher, Abduljalal Usman, suspended by the Kebbi State authorities over his viral criticism of the State Government’s Ramadan palliatives, has been dismissed as “a confirmed psychiatric case”.
This is as the State Government insisted that Usman’s outburst is part of a grand and orchestrated smear campaign being engineered by the opposition ahead of the 2027 polls.
The Source reports that teacher Usman was earlier in the week slammed with a three-month suspension without pay over his scathing criticism of the miserable nature of the Ramadan palliatives distributed to the people by the authorities.
In a viral video in circulation, Usman was shown clutching two nylon bags containing what he said was just one mudu (a local measurement plate) of rice and millet given to him as Ramadan palliative as a teacher.
While deriding the gesture as too small and of no value to the people, Usman also expressed regret that the so-called Ramadan palliative may have cost the state a fortune going by the authorities’ penchant to inflate costs.
Speaking in Hausa language, Usman mocked the Government for giving him only one bowl of rice and millet, in the name of Ramadan palliative.
“As a school teacher, this is what His Excellency has given me in the name of Ramadan palliative”,he stated.
However, barely 48 hours after the first video, teacher Usman posted a second video claiming that the state Government has decided to suspend him for a period of three months without pay over his action.
The suspension letter, he stated, was issued by the Education Authority of Dandi Local Government of Kebbi State, which accused him of “negligence and defaulting on duty”
His alleged suspension expectedly has been eliciting widespread indignation and condemnation from across the country, including the Amnesty international.
But in a statement on Sunday March 15, 2026, Abdullahi Idris Zuru, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, informed that Usman is not only a psychiatric patient, but also not in the employ of the local council as a teacher.
According to Zuru, the self-acclaimed teacher has been confirmed to be a long standing lunatic, who was only manipulated by desperate political actors to score cheap political points.
The Governor’s spokesperson emphasized that as at the time Usman made his claims, Dandi Local Government Area’s consignment of the Ramadan palliative had not been received by the Council.
Similarly, the Government noted that contrary to teacher Usman’s claim, the procured grains for distribution did not include maize, but only rice and millet.
Malam Zuru described Usman’s action as part of the emerging but disturbing pattern of opposition resort to campaigns of calumny against Governor Mohammed Nasir Idris.
“It all started with a stage-managed armed attack on some desperate politicians in Birnin Kebbi, a pre-emptive and senseless exaggeration of armed banditry attacks in Tadurga Village, and the consistent use of drug-addicted youths and prostitutes to foolishly discredit, through social media, the visibly and qualitatively executed socio-economic development projects in the state”, the Governor spokesperson emphasized.
He, however, vowed that no amount of orchestrated smear campaign and theatrics will distract the Governor from the task of delivering on the people’s mandate.
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