By Johnson Akintunde

The reality of today’s Nigeria demands that institutions created as pillars of national survival must be shielded from every form of threats. It isn’t farfetched to conclude that factors like insurgency, transactional kidnappings, separatist agitations, cyber threats, communal conflicts, environmental disasters, and humanitarian emergencies have collectively redefined the meaning of national security. It Is precisely within this strategic framework that I believe the NYSC continues to occupy a unique and indispensable position that must be defended at all cost.

The proposed National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) reform that was approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC) has become the genesis of an existential miscalculation in one of Nigeria’s most enduring nation-building institutions. While it is important to periodically evaluate every institution established by law in order remain relevant to present realities, proposed reforms must never become synonymous with destruction of foundational ideals that have sustained national unity for over five decades.

However, as a legislator that’s privileged serve in House of Representatives Committees on Youth Development and Defence, I have examined these proposed reforms from a unique institutional vantage point. I have viewed it through a broader prism of Nigeria’s national Defence policy, internal security architecture, emergency response, and sustaining national-legacy objectives. It is on this note that I discovered that the proposed NYSC reforms are structurally, fundamentally, and unacceptably not in tandem with the philosophy of Nigeria’s National Defence Policy. Therefore, it must be subjected to further review before any executive or legislative action be taken.

Moreover, I further discovered that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) failed to fully understand that the NYSC was never intended to merely function as an employment programme, but was deliberately created as a national reconciliation mechanism designed to support national integration, heal divisions, encourage intercultural understanding, and build discipline among graduates drawn from every corner of the federation. This misconception became the founding error of an executive hubris. While they thought they have created a solution, they didn’t know they have unknowingly weaponized the administrative machinery of state to strip the NYSC of its foundational ethos.

Consequently, every service year brings together thousands of graduates from different ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds who would otherwise never have interacted meaningfully. They live together during orientation camps, work together in host communities, build lasting friendships, establish businesses, marry across ethnic lines, and develop a broader understanding of Nigeria’s diversity. To even contemplate transforming a 53-year old bastion of national legacy into a glorified, hyper-fragmented vocational training center is a strategic blunder of seismic proportions.

The centerstroke of the proposed executive policy is the fragmentation of the service year into eleven specialized career streams that ranges from the so-called “Agric Corps” to the “Tech and Digital Corps”, coupled with a heavy focus on business planning, basic accounting, and financial literacy.

Furthermore, this vocational obsession creates a dangerous redundancy. Nigeria possesses numerous agencies mandated to handle youth empowerment and vocational training. Why must we cannibalize a national defense asset to replicate the functions of civilian economic agencies?
The NYSC should complement these initiatives, and not duplicate them. What it requires is strategic strengthening, and not ceremonial abandonment.

Perhaps the greatest weakness of the proposed reforms lies in the apparent disregard for Nigeria’s National Defence Policy. To sacrifice the paramilitary and integrative core of the NYSC on the altar of temporary economic metrics is an act of policy desperation that yields no tangible economic return while severely depleting our national strategic reserve.

Apparently, I have observe how enlightened democratic nations across the world recognize that national Defence extends beyond standing armed forces and military hardware. Countries such as Switzerland, Israel, Finland, and South Korea have consistently invested in different forms of national service and citizen preparedness. Military orientation, emergency response training, disaster management, first aid, civil defence awareness, leadership development, and civic responsibility are now recognised internationally as essential components of national resilience.

Moreover, the orientation camps already expose corps members to elementary drills, discipline, teamwork, endurance, emergency response, and basic security consciousness. These experiences cultivate resilience, patriotism, respect for constituted authority, and collective responsibility. Such values cannot be replicated through classroom lectures on entrepreneurship alone. While other countries are moving in a promising direction, Nigeria should not be moving in the opposite direction.

To fully comprehend the danger of civilianizing the NYSC, it is important I remind everyone of the historical contribution of the corps during the global COVID-19 pandemic era. When the pandemic breached our borders, overwhelmed health systems across the world, it was not corporate consultants or civilian entrepreneurs who stood on the frontlines of the emergency. It was our corps members; most notably the young doctors, nurses, and pharmacists of the NYSC who stepped into the breach to support and complement the shortages of healthcare workers working under extraordinary conditions.

Now, imagine a Nigeria without that coordinated national pool of trained professionals during the pandemic. The consequences could have been far more devastating. Their contributions were not ceremonial. They were operationally significant.

I would like us to turn our precious attention to a specific operational modification, extending the orientation camp from a 3-week to 6-week period and dividing this 6weeks into three 2-week phases. At a first glance, it might be perceived as enriching the program. However, a close observation revealed it to be a logistical camping-nightmare in its entirety. The traditional three-week orientation camp is intensive, immersive, and filled with uninterrupted crucible of regimentation. The days are carefully structured into early morning drills, physical training, lectures on national security, and military parades. It is enthusiastic, leaving no room for sluggishness or laziness.

Unfortunately, this proposed six-week model completely fractures this psychological conditioning. By breaking the camp into distinct, disparate phases where the first two weeks focus on civic responsibility, the next two on financial literacy and business planning, and the final two on stream-specific training.

You cannot build discipline by subjecting an individual to military drills for two weeks, then allowing them to lounge in lecture halls discussing business plans for the next two weeks, before concluding with a superficial introduction to a specialized stream. The intensity is lost; the regimentation is compromised; and the physical conditioning is neutralized. What you are left with is an extended, financially draining exercise that satisfies neither the demands of rigorous military training nor the requirements of deep professional development.

Perhaps the most alarming and hazardous component of the approved reforms is the transition to a civilian operational leadership structure from the accustomed traditional military Director-General. The architects of this policy have attempted to soothe security concerns by claiming that the “safety aspect” will remain anchored by the military while the “operational leadership” shifts to a civilian. This explanation displays a complete ignorance of command structure dynamics.

The NYSC is an organization that deploys hundreds of thousands of young Nigerians across the length and breadth of a vast, complex nation, and operates within a security environment that requires rapid, decisive, and authoritative decision-making. The traditional appointment of a serving Brigadier-General of the Nigerian Army as the Director-General is not an accident of history; it is a structural necessity. A military Director-General brings with him the full weight, intelligence network, logistical capability, and command authority of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

When an NYSC camp faces an imminent security threat, or when corps members are caught in regional volatility, a military DG does not write memos or engage in inter-ministerial consultations. He utilizes direct military radio frequencies, activates local military formations, commands immediate tactical support, and coordinates with state governors from a position of institutional power.

Moreover, this battle-tested command structure with a civilian DG is an invitation to institutional paralysis. A civilian leader, no matter how accomplished in public administration, lacks the tactical training, the immediate access to the defense hierarchy, and the command authority necessary to navigate a national crisis. This will create a dangerous gap and bad signals to criminal elements that the NYSC camps are now porous for attacks.

Another important change to look into is the replacement of the NYSC rugged khaki uniform with the cultural iconic “Adire” attire under the guise of promoting local textile manufacturing. The NYSC khaki uniform has stood for over five decades as a powerful symbol of our unity. This khaki project the youths to Nigerians as soldiers of peace and development, serving a common nation. It is important to note that “Adire” is culturally indigenous the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria. This ethnic ownership presents the decision of an Adire uniform as a glaring short-sighted move that threatens our fragile national peace, and defence policy.

Additionally, to mandate that a national, pan-Nigerian paramilitary organization discard its neutral, unifying uniform in favor of a fabric tied to a specific ethnic group is to invite immediate geopolitical friction that can turn a small misunderstanding into community violence. If “Adire” becomes the compulsory national uniform, what prevents stakeholders from the North from demanding “Fula” or “Babanriga” motifs, or representatives from the South-East or South-South from insisting on “Akwete” or “Isiagu” patterns?

In a country as ethnically sensitive as ours, such a move will inevitably be interpreted through the distorted lens of ethnic triumphalism and cultural hegemony. This proposal evidently lacks both strategic wisdom and cultural sensitivity.

This is an urgent appeal to the president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to immediately stop the execution of these reforms. The flaws in this proposed reform are too systemic to be corrected by minor adjustments. This entire policy must be discarded before it causes irreparable damages to our national pride.

However, if any change must occur, the President must set up an expanded stakeholder review committee that will thoroughly evaluate the future of the NYSC. This committee must move beyond the narrow perspectives of economic planners and include a broad coalition of national security experts, seasoned legislators, and community leaders.

I strongly believe that there are better ways to integrate modern digital skills and agricultural trainings without dismantling the military command structure, discarding the symbols that unify the corps, or fracturing the orientation timeline.

As a representative of the people and guardian of our national security, i will not allow this vital institution to be reduced to a fragmented, civilianized training school. Our defence policy demands a prepared citizenry. Our democracy demands patriotic citizens. We all must fight these ill-advised reforms with every constitutional and legislative tool at our disposal, and ensure that the National Youth Service Corps continues to serve as a strategic instrument of national unity, emergency preparedness, civic responsibility, and national defence for generations yet unborn.

Akintunde ex-corp member wrote this piece from Badagry.

June 26, 2026, marked the third anniversary of the appointment of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as National Security Adviser (NSA) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In the three years since that pivotal decision, Nigeria has witnessed a profound shift in its approach to combating terrorism, insurgency, and banditry, one defined by intelligence-driven precision, inter-agency harmony, financial disruption of criminal networks, and a pragmatic restoration of international partnerships.

The results speak for themselves: thousands of terrorists and bandit elements neutralised, high-value leaders eliminated or captured across multiple states, the near-decimation of crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, and a reinvigorated Nigeria–United States security partnership that has already delivered historic blows against global terror networks.

President Tinubu broke the longstanding convention when he appointed Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a distinguished former police intelligence officer and pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to head the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). For decades, the position had been reserved almost exclusively for retired senior military officers.

This was not mere symbolism. It reflected a deliberate strategic vision: to inject fresh thinking, intelligence expertise, and economic-crime-fighting acumen into the apex of Nigeria’s security architecture. Ribadu’s background in policing, intelligence gathering, and dismantling sophisticated financial crime syndicates positioned him uniquely to tackle the evolving threat landscape, one where terrorists and bandits relied increasingly on illicit funding, logistics networks, and cross-border alliances.

Under Ribadu’s leadership, operations have become markedly more intelligence-led and surgically precise. The results have been felt across the Northeast, Northwest, and other theatres. Security forces have recorded numerous high-impact successes, eliminating or capturing notorious figures who once instilled fear in communities.

Among the most significant was the neutralisation of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki (also known as Abu-Mainok), described as the global second-in-command and director of operations for ISIS, in a precision joint operation in Northeastern Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin in May 2026. This strike, conducted in coordination with the United States Africa Command, represented a watershed moment.

In the Northwest, bandit kingpins who terrorised Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kaduna States have been systematically degraded. Notable among those neutralised are:
• Kachalla Halilu Sububu (also referred to as Halilu Buzu), a prominent Zamfara-based bandit warlord eliminated in a targeted operation in September 2024.
• Alti, the infamous “TikTok bandit commander” whose activities fuelled kidnappings and violence along key routes in the Northwest, killed in early 2026 operations.
• Dan Karami, another dreaded bandit leader taken out in a joint military operation in April 2025.
• Multiple other Kachalla warlords and lieutenants in Shinkafi, Isa, and surrounding areas of Zamfara whose camps were dismantled in coordinated raids.
In the Northeast, beyond the ISIS leadership strike, security forces under the renewed coordination have continued to degrade ISWAP and residual Boko Haram networks, with senior commanders and hundreds of fighters neutralised in Borno and Yobe States. Overall, public reports indicate that well over 13,000 terrorists, insurgents, and associated criminal elements have been neutralised since the new security strategy took firm root.

Perhaps Ribadu’s most transformative contribution has been the deliberate fostering of synergy across Nigeria’s security and intelligence agencies. For years, inter-agency rivalry and siloed operations had led to duplicated efforts, intelligence hoarding, and, in some tragic cases, botched missions that allowed high-value targets to escape.

Today, that dynamic has been fundamentally altered. Under ONSA’s coordination, the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, and other stakeholders now operate with a level of seamlessness previously unseen. Joint planning cells, shared intelligence platforms, and unified command structures have replaced fragmentation. The result: operations that are faster, better informed, and far more decisive.

Ribadu’s tenure at the EFCC and his deep experience as a police intelligence officer have proven invaluable. Terrorist and bandit groups sustain themselves through extortion, kidnapping-for-ransom, illegal mining, arms trafficking, and other illicit economies. By applying forensic financial investigation techniques and strengthening collaboration with financial regulators and international partners, the security apparatus has significantly disrupted these funding streams and logistical supply chains.

Camps have been denied resupply. Weapons procurement has been complicated. The economic incentive structures that once sustained prolonged insurgencies are being systematically eroded.

One of Ribadu’s quiet but most consequential achievements has been in the diplomatic domain. Early in the administration, there were concerns about potential strains in Nigeria–United States relations. Through strategic, low-key, and professional engagement with American officials, Ribadu helped forestall deterioration and instead rebuilt trust.

This renewed partnership has already yielded concrete operational dividends. The May 2026 elimination of ISIS’s global second-in-command in the Lake Chad region stands as a powerful testament to what coordinated Nigeria–U.S. action can achieve. What began as careful diplomatic repair has matured into a results-oriented partnership focused on shared threats.

Beyond the traditional theatres of insurgency and banditry, Ribadu’s coordination role extended decisively to the Niger Delta. Working with the military, specialised security contractors (including Tantita Security Services), and relevant government agencies, his leadership helped drive an aggressive campaign against crude oil theft and illegal refining.

The results have been remarkable. Crude oil theft, which once exceeded 100,000 barrels per day and crippled national revenue, has been drastically reduced, in some periods to as low as 5,000–9,600 barrels per day. This near-obliteration of large-scale oil theft has contributed directly to the significant rebound in Nigeria’s crude oil production, which climbed above 1.7 million barrels per day in recent periods, the highest levels recorded in years.

The Niger Delta, long synonymous with militancy and economic sabotage, has experienced a sustained period of relative peace, enabling communities, legitimate businesses, and the nation at large to benefit from increased hydrocarbon output and fresh investment interest.

President Tinubu deserves commendation for having the courage and foresight to entrust Nigeria’s security coordination to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. It was a decision rooted in results-oriented thinking rather than tradition and it is delivering.

Ribadu himself merits equal recognition for his unflinching commitment, professional humility, and tireless work ethic. He has not sought the spotlight; he has delivered outcomes. His leadership style, combining intelligence expertise, financial acumen, diplomatic skill, and an insistence on inter-agency unity, has redefined what is possible in Nigeria’s fight against asymmetric threats.

The gains of the past three years are substantial and worthy of celebration. Yet the admonition must be clear: these victories must not breed complacency. The remnants of terrorist networks, surviving bandit groups, and emerging threats require sustained pressure. Every geopolitical zone, from the Northeast to the Northwest, the North-Central, South-west to the South-South and Southeast must ultimately enjoy the same measure of security and normalcy that hard-won progress has begun to restore in key areas.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu must continue to build on these foundations, deepening intelligence capabilities, further strengthening inter-agency fusion, expanding regional and international cooperation, and ensuring that no part of Nigeria remains a sanctuary for terror or criminality.

Three years on, the trajectory is positive. With continued focus, unity of purpose, and the support of all Nigerians, the vision of a Nigeria where every citizen can live, work, and travel in safety is increasingly within reach. The war is far from over but under this leadership, it is being fought with renewed clarity, coordination, and conviction.

Dr. Ukuemene Sylvester Obos is a Houston based security Analyst and Researcher

Politics in my beloved Niger State has never lacked passion. It has never lacked rumours. It has never lacked the tendency to take a statement, strip it of context, stretch it beyond recognition and then present the distorted version as established truth.

That tendency is once again on display in the conversations surrounding Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, widely known across the state as 313.

In some political circles, particularly among those already looking beyond the horizon to the governorship contest that may emerge after the tenure of Governor Umaru Bago, a narrative has begun to gain currency. It is the claim that Senator 313 is somehow hostile to Nupe interests. It is a narrative built largely around a statement he made during discussions about road infrastructure and development priorities in Niger State, even though it was during Buhari.

Like many political myths, it survives not because of its strength but because of its repetition. The truth is far more nuanced.

At the centre of the controversy was the long-standing expectation that the Agaie–Baro Road would unlock enormous economic opportunities for Nupe communities and for Niger State as a whole. Few people dispute the strategic importance of the road. For decades, it has been regarded as a potential catalyst for commerce, transportation and regional development, largely because it provides access to the Baro Port. Yet the port itself remains a source of uncertainty. To this day, its future is unclear, and there is little indication that it will be fully harnessed and put into operation in the foreseeable future.

What Senator 313 argued was not that the road lacked value. His point, as many who followed the discussion understood, was that infrastructure cannot be viewed in isolation. A major road cannot deliver its full economic promise when the arteries connecting it to other critical destinations are themselves in a state of collapse.

The argument was essentially one of connectivity.

A road that leads nowhere useful is merely asphalt. A road that cannot be efficiently accessed because adjoining routes have deteriorated cannot produce the transformational economic impact that people expect from it.

It was in that context that attention was drawn to roads such as the Lapai-Agaie-Bida corridor and to other strategic routes whose condition had become a serious impediment to movement, trade and development.

One may agree or disagree with that assessment. Reasonable people often disagree on matters of public policy. What is difficult to sustain, however, is the claim that such an argument amounts to hostility toward an entire ethnic group.

That interpretation collapses under the weight of evidence.

If Senator 313 were motivated by ethnic considerations, logic would suggest that his advocacy would be narrowly confined to projects located within his own immediate political environment. Yet that was not the case. Instead, he championed the Mokwa-Birnin Gwari road, which is not in his Senatorial District.

the Mokwa-Birnin Gwari road, is not a minor route. Before its current deterioration, it was one of the most important transportation corridors in the country. It served as a major gateway linking southern commercial activity to northern markets. Countless articulated vehicles depended on it. Its economic significance extended far beyond any single local government area or senatorial district. Therefore, advocating for the rehabilitation of such a road is to think beyond ethnic boundaries and local calculations. It is to think in terms of economic ecosystems.

That distinction matters.

States are not developed through tribal arithmetic. They are developed through interconnected infrastructure, integrated markets and policies that recognise that prosperity in one area ultimately benefits another.

The tragedy of much contemporary political discourse is that development questions are increasingly being filtered through ethnic lenses. A proposal is no longer evaluated on its merit. It is first examined for clues about which group might benefit. This approach impoverishes public debate. It also risks punishing leaders who attempt to think broadly rather than parochially.

Recently, I lunched with some respected Nupe elders, and our conversation drifted toward the future of Niger State politics. Among the concerns some of them expressed was the belief that Senator 313 may eventually seek the governorship and that some Nupe political actors were already mobilising against him on the basis of the old controversy surrounding his remarks on infrastructure priorities.

The concern was genuine.

Yet listening to the discussion, one could not escape the feeling that the debate had become detached from the larger record of the man himself.

Political figures should be judged by patterns rather than isolated fragments.
They should be judged by what they have done, not merely by what opponents say they meant. When viewed through that lens, the image of Senator 313 as an ethnic exclusionist becomes increasingly difficult to defend. Perhaps the most compelling evidence lies in education.

Among the most ambitious interventions associated with him is the scholarship programme that has touched lives across different parts of Niger State. What makes the initiative remarkable is not merely its scale but its reach. The beneficiaries are not restricted to a single ethnic constituency. They are not confined to a single senatorial district. They include young people whose communities fall outside his immediate political jurisdiction. Such a programme is neither cheap nor politically convenient.

Scholarship schemes of such substantial size are usually associated with only state or federal governments because only them have the resources required to sustain them. For an individual political office holder to shoulder such commitments is no small undertaking.

The easier path would have been to focus exclusively on areas that guarantee immediate political returns. The more difficult path is to invest across boundaries. That is the path he has squarely chosen.

The same pattern was visible during the tragic flooding that devastated parts of Mokwa last year. It is axiomatic that in moments of disaster, rhetoric loses its value; what matters is response. Communities remember who arrived, who offered assistance, and who stood with them when grief was fresh and uncertainty was overwhelming. Reports from that period indicate that Senator 313 was among the earliest persons who provided support through financial contributions and relief materials. Again, this was not a matter of political geography. Disaster does not ask for ethnic identity before it strikes, and compassion should not be required to do so before it responds. Those who insist on portraying him as indifferent to Nupe interests must therefore answer a simple question: why would a man allegedly hostile to a people repeatedly invest political capital, financial resources, and personal effort in causes that directly affect those same people? The contradiction is glaring.

Perhaps the strongest symbolic rebuttal to the allegation came only days ago with the conferment of the title Madakin Rayyan Kasar Nupe.

Traditional institutions do not operate in a vacuum. Traditional titles of significance are not ordinarily distributed without reflection. They are often reserved for individuals whose contributions have earned recognition from the custodians of community heritage. Although no institution is infallible. and no traditional ruler is beyond criticism, yet it is difficult to imagine that a revered monarch would honour a man perceived as fundamentally opposed to the interests of his people. The Etsu Nupe has long enjoyed a reputation for wisdom, caution and discernment. The conferment of such a title inevitably sends a message. Whether one agrees with every decision of Senator 313 or not, the honour suggests that influential voices within Nupe society see in him something different from the caricature being circulated by critics. It suggests recognition rather than rejection. It suggest respect rather than suspicion and partnership rather than hostility.

There is also a broader lesson here. The politics of 2031 remains largely speculative. Nigeria has not yet completed the electoral cycles that lie between now and then. Political alignments will change. Alliances will emerge and disappear. Circumstances will evolve in ways nobody can fully predict. To begin prosecuting future governorship contests today through ethnic mobilisation is premature at best and reckless at worst. Democracy functions best when voters evaluate candidates on competence, vision, character and performance. It functions malignantly when electoral choices are reduced to ancestry. Niger State deserves better.

The state is too rich in human talent and too blessed with strategic potential to be trapped in perpetual arguments about origin and identity. Its future will depend on leaders capable of seeing the whole map. Leaders who understand that roads do not carry only one ethnicity. Schools do not educate only one ethnicity. Hospitals do not treat only one ethnicity. Development itself is blind to tribe. That is why the most consequential question is not whether a politician belongs to one group or another. The question is whether he possesses the capacity to advance the collective interest.

As a journalist, I have had the privilege of speaking with numerous analysts, public affairs commentators and policy observers over the years. Their views naturally differ on many issues. Yet one recurring observation is that Senator Mohammed Sani Musa has established himself as one of the more active and nationally visible legislators of his generation.

Reasonable people may debate rankings. They may disagree on specific policies. They may even oppose his political ambitions. Such disagreements are healthy in a democracy. What is less healthy is the deliberate construction of narratives that ignore evidence and substitute suspicion for facts.

Thank God, however, that beyond the noise of political whispering and the calculations of vested interests, there is another constituency whose voice deserves attention. It is the constituency of informed young people. A quick glance at Facebook and X reveals a recurring pattern. Many well-educated and articulate young Nigerlites regularly speak of Senator 313 in terms that go beyond partisan loyalty. They see in him a politician who has managed to combine visibility, accessibility and tangible interventions in a way that is increasingly rare in contemporary politics.

Their sentiments became particularly evident during the recent “Osa La Si” turbulence that threatened his chances of securing the APC ticket. “Osa La Si”, the popular Gbagyi expression meaning “it is time”, generated considerable political excitement and uncertainty. Yet among many young people, the dominant reaction was not celebration at the prospect of his political setback. It was anxiety. They worried openly about what Niger State and indeed the country might lose if Senator 313 were absent from the Senate after 2027.

Of course, no individual is indispensable. No public office should revolve around one person. Nations and institutions are larger than any single politician. Yet it would be dishonest to ignore the reality of the Nigerian condition. In a country where genuine commitment to public service is often scarce, where many public officials struggle to translate promises into measurable impact, abruptly sidelining a figure with an active record of intervention could place a needless obstacle before initiatives that are already yielding results. One may disagree with him politically, but it is difficult to deny that he has built momentum around projects and programmes that many citizens have come to value.

Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that no politician from Niger State currently enjoys the level of name recognition and public visibility that Senator 313 commands. His reputation has travelled beyond the elite circles of Abuja and Minna into the villages, markets and ordinary homes where political conversations often take their most authentic form. I was reminded of this during trip to my village recently. In the course of a casual conversation, my elderly aunt, a woman with no education and no active engagement with political debates on television or social media, suddenly mentioned Senator 313 as the type of senator ‘her zone’ deserves. I was genuinely surprised. How, I wondered, had she come to know so much about him? The answer was simple. When a politician’s activities consistently touch communities and become subjects of everyday discussion, his name acquires a life of its own. It travels from city to village, from newspaper columns to market stalls, from policy circles to family compounds.

Ultimately, that is why attempts to reduce Senator Mohammed Sani Musa to a narrow ethnic caricature are unlikely to endure. Public perception is shaped not only by political propaganda but also by lived experience. And for a growing number of Nigerlites, especially the younger generation, the story of 313 is not the story of division. It is the story of a politician whose reach, influence and aspirations have long outgrown the boundaries that some critics seek to impose upon him.

Senator 313 may or may not seek higher office in the future. That decision belongs to him and ultimately to the electorate.

But if the day comes when Niger State must evaluate his suitability for greater responsibility, the assessment should be based on the totality of his record.

Not on a misreading.

Not on a distortion.

And certainly not on a myth.

Awaal Gata is an Abuja-based journalist and public commentator