Nigeria News Bulletin

01/07/2025

Mikel started 🗣️🗣️”My football career started at the age of 12 when I was picked up as a talented footballer from over 3,000 young talents to play in Pepsi Football Academy in Nigeria 🇳🇬, a team that at the time was well known for travelling across Nigeria 🇳🇬 scouting young footballers with the potential to play professionally. That was how my destiny located me”

I pray you succeed as Mikel Obi 🇳🇬

01/07/2025

🕌 Who Was Usman dan Fodio—and Why Does He Still Matter in West African History?

In the dry northern plains of 18th-century Gobir, a quiet revolution was brewing—not with swords, but with sermons. At its center stood a Fulani scholar, teacher, and preacher named Usman dan Fodio.

Born in 1754, dan Fodio started as a traveling Islamic teacher, roaming Hausa lands, calling people back to what he believed was true Islam. But his message quickly outgrew mosques and lecture circles. His words began to sting the ruling class.

He accused them boldly of:

Corrupt leadership

Blending Islam with local traditional practices

Unjust taxation on the poor

Indifference to the people's suffering

And the people listened.

By 1804, dan Fodio had had enough. He declared a jihad—not merely a holy war, but a spiritual and social revolution against oppressive rulers. What began in Gobir soon spread like fire through the Hausa kingdoms. By 1808, the Sokoto Caliphate was born—an Islamic empire stretching across present-day northern Nigeria, Niger, and parts of Cameroon and Chad.

His support base?
Fulani herders, poor peasants, frustrated scholars, and Muslims tired of political decay.

Usman dan Fodio stepped back from power in 1815, two years before his death. But his vision lived on—through his writings (over 100 books!), his children, and a caliphate that stood strong until the British arrived in 1903.

📌 Why Does He Still Matter?

Usman dan Fodio wasn’t just a preacher—he was a state-builder, a reformer, and an intellectual. He transformed the politics, religion, and education of an entire region. His legacy still shapes:

Islamic education in West Africa

Northern Nigerian political structures

Debates around faith, identity, and justice

To some, he is a saintly reformer. To others, a conqueror with a sword in one hand and scripture in the other.

But to history, he is unforgettable.

01/07/2025

Legendary footballer Patrick Mboma with his beautiful wife and daughters looking awesome. 🤩

01/07/2025

01/07/2025

February 1977 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Speaks From Her Hospital Bed

In February 1977, Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, mother of music legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, spoke to journalists from her hospital bed at LUTH.

“I didn’t know how it started,” she said. “I was at home, resting, everything was calm. Then, I suddenly heard a loud explosion. I ran outside to see what was going on.”

As she adjusted her bandaged leg in pain, she continued, “Next, I saw soldiers breaking doors with sticks and other weapons. Fela’s girls were dragged out through the windows with no clothes on. Then, one of the soldiers grabbed me by the hair and threw me out of a window that’s how I hurt my leg.”

She added, “The house quickly turned into a big fire. Smoke and flames were everywhere, and it was hard to escape. I lost all my clothes, money, and many valuable things I had kept for years.”

This happened when ‘unknown soldiers’ attacked and burned down the Kalakuta Republic, the home and base of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

29/06/2025

66 out of 120 children who came forward claiming to be Abiola after the politician's death on July 7, 1998, failed the DNA tests that were conducted on them, according to Olalekan Abiola, one of the sons of the well-known 1993 presidential winner, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO Abiola).

During an interview with Vanguard, Olalekan said that his father was so giving that he helped many women, including those who were single, by paying their rent, giving them food, or even giving them a place to live.

He said that in an attempt to inherit some of his father's wealth, some of these women had surreptitiously changed their children's surnames from other men to Abiola after his father passed away. Olalekan stated that his father had stipulated in his will that all children who came forward to claim their ancestry would have to undergo DNA testing.

‘’I think the most important thing I learnt from him is to hold on to our religion, Islam. I say this because this was what my father did that made people love him. All he did were based on Islam, which teaches us as Muslims to be charitable. My father never drank alcohol. He never went partying. He was not a party freak neither was he a gambler. The only thing you could say about my father that was kind of negative was that he had a lot of women but a lot of these women were those that came to him to give themselves to him willingly. Some of them came with children and said their husbands had abandoned them.

They usually begged him for shelter, school fees and even with food. They used to come and line up in front of this house every month to collect their allowances. My father would get some of them apartments or a house. Then they began to call themselves Mrs. Abiola, even though many of them were not. They would change their children’s names to Abiola and that was why my father wrote in his will that DNA test had to be done for all those who claimed to be his children.

About 120 children came forward to say they were MKO’s children but only 54 of them passed the DNA test at the end of the day (meaning 66 failed). So it was these women who were the ones coming to him and not him going around looking for th

29/06/2025

A recently released list profiling the world’s richest Black people caught global attention and sitting firmly at number one is none other than Nigerian business mogul, Aliko Dangote.

From what I read; In 1977, at just 21 years old, Dangote borrowed ₦500,000 (about $3,000 then) from his uncle to start trading in rice, sugar, and cement. He reinvested his profits consistently and focused on import substitution, eventually building local manufacturing capabilities.

He started Dangote Cement in the early 2000s, now one of Africa’s largest producers, drastically reducing Nigeria’s reliance on cement imports.

🔁 The Resilience Factor

Local Challenges: Nigeria’s unstable economy, power issues, import bans, and inflation posed constant threats. Dangote navigated all of these by staying agile.

Global Expansion Hurdles: Competing with international brands meant constantly innovating and improving local standards.

Massive Risk: He bet over $20 billion on building Africa’s largest refinery (Dangote Refinery) - a massive infrastructure project that took almost a decade.

My friends, here are 5 Key Business Lessons from his story;

1. Start Small, Think Big:
He didn’t wait for massive capital. He started with trade and scaled smartly over time.
💡Lesson: Use what you have - start where you are, but dream beyond your environment.

2. Reinvest Your Profits:
Dangote was known for putting his profits back into the business instead of spending on luxury.
💡Lesson: Grow your business before you grow your lifestyle.

3. Solve Local Problems:
He observed that Nigeria was importing what it could produce - he filled that gap.
💡Lesson: Look for gaps in your local market and provide real solutions.

4. Be Consistent Through Crises:
From naira devaluations to economic crashes, Dangote stayed the course.
💡Lesson: Resilience isn’t about surviving the good times - it’s about standing firm through chaos.

5. Build With a Vision Beyond You:
His investments are in sectors that build national capacity - agriculture, energy, industry.
💡Lesson: Think legacy, not just profits.

✨️: "Don’t kill your dreams with small thinking. Start humbly, but never let your vision shrink.”

Dr James Makamba

28/06/2025

28/06/2025

Zenith Bank's CEO, Adaora Umeoji, spent about N3.3 billion to purchase 68.8 million units of Zenith Bank, according to the bank's disclosure today on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Before her recent investment, she owned about 90.2 million shares of Zenith Bank, with an additional 1.7 million indirect units, all worth N4.32 billion.

For Adaora, this move is more than an investment; it is a vote in the future of the bank that she leads as the CEO, a bank that she joined as a corper in 1998.

She was the highest-paid employee in the Nigerian banking industry for the year 2024.

She earned N874 million in 2024. So, she makes money from both ways in Zenith Bank, her income from the salary the bank pays her and her dividend earnings from her investment and the shares she has in the bank.

A reminder that you can be a billionaire and your life can change as a 9-to-5 in Nigeria.

Chukwudi Iwuchukwu

28/06/2025

28/06/2025

Tinubu's Daughter Said Only Those Who Are Experts In Criminalities Are In APC Or Are Joining APC.

According To Her "Tinubu's Government Is An Association Of Criminals".

27/06/2025

HIS FINAL BREATH
The sky was gray that morning.
They dragged Ikenna to the front of the street. His feet scraped against the dirt. His face was streaked with dust, blood, and tears. Around him, the voices blurred into a storm of rage.
"Thief."
"Liar."
"Shame to his family."
"What did he steal?", people asked
"He entered my shop and the 20 thousand naira i wanted to go to market with got missing"; answered the woman that owns the shop.
Ikenna's lips trembled. “I didn’t do it,” he whispered. “Please… I didn’t…”
No one heard him. Or maybe they chose not to (either way who'd believe a thief)
The first blow came from behind. A stick cracked across his shoulder. He staggered, eyes wide with terror. Another hit followed. Then another. Stones flew from unseen hands. Blood splattered on the ground. The taste of iron filled his mouth.
“Mama…” he whimpered, barely audible.
But his mother wasn’t there.
Only the crowd. Faces twisted with fury. Eyes glazed with bloodlust. Voices feeding each other’s hate.
Every strike made his world smaller. The pain blurred. The sounds faded. The sky turned darker.
Then came from nowhere tyre and gasoline. The smell made the mob scamper a little.
The last strike was the match light.
Ikenna was up in flames. His small hand reached out weakly to no one. His breath shallow. His heart slowing. He made a cry for help but none came. Even as he wanted to run, a 2by2 stick sat him back down to the burning tyre.
Minutes later, someone ran into the square, panting.
“It wasn’t him,” the man gasped. “It was the woman's daughter that took the money when she saw it on the counter with no one around.”
The words fell like heavy stones into the silenced mob.
They stood frozen, staring at the body they had destroyed. Mothers clutched their children. Men looked at their hands. No one spoke.
Above them, the gray sky wept.
They jus killed an innocent child.
False accusations destroyed this young man's life.
This is the society we live in. It could be me, or you!