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Opinion: From the River to the Sea!

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By Femi Fani-kayode

“There is no peace for the wicked”- Isaiah 48:22

There is no greater truism than that which Prophet Isaiah, one of the greatest & most reverred Prophets in the Holy Bible, has enunciated in the scripture above.

What he is saying is that callous, merciless & bloodthirsty men & oppressors, subjugators, persecutors, slavers & the occupiers of the land of others, whether they be the biblical Egyptians, the Ancient Romans or anyone else, coupled with those that trample on the rights & liberties of others with impunity & that repay good with evil can NEVER escape the wrath of God & neither will they ever know or experience lasting peace.

This is a lesson that evidently the Jews themselves & particularly the Zionists amongst them have failed to appreciate or learn.

That you were oppressed, subjugated, murdered, robbed, humiliated, enslaved, subjected to genocide & mass murder, ethnically cleansed & treated with scorn & contempt yesterday does not give you the right to do the same to others today.

That you were once occupied, enslaved, thrown into captivity, scattered all over the earth, butchered, gassed to death, subjected to the holocaust & deprived of your beloved homeland yesterday does not permit you to do the same to others today.

That you have experienced God’s love, mercy, blessings, grace & restoration does not mean that you are the chosen race or master race, it simply means that God has shown you His tender kindness & opted to restore you despite the fact that you also killed & oppressed others in the past & that you crucified His only Begotten Son, our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ & sought to destroy Christianity even at the advent of its coming.

Those that have suffered so much in the past surely have a greater duty to ensure that that they desist from inflicting such suffering on others today lest they lose everything.

It is in this context that I view the State of Israel & the Zionists.

No matter what they have suffered in the last two thousand years in the hands of their numerous haters, oppressors & persecutors they have no right to inflict the wickedness that they are inflicting on the Palestinian people today & as long as they continue to do so they shall know no peace.

They shall also continue to stir up hatred & opprobium for themselves & their cause from all right thinking people, including millions that once had sympathy for them, from all over the world.

This is what we see unfolding today.

Now to the title & essence of this piece.

First coined by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinan Liberation Organisation & other Arab nationalist movements in the 1960’s, the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is the popular refrain & battle cry for the Palestinians & those that support their cause & struggle for self-determination & emancipation from Israeli occupation & oppression.

And given what is happening in Gaza & the West Bank today who can deny them the right to achieve this noble quest for freedom & the right & aspiration to exist as an independent sovereign state?

I have always loved the State of Israel & believed in the two-state solution but I hate what her leaders are doing to the Palestinians today.

I equate the actions of the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza today with the heinous & horrendous atrocities that Hamas inflicted on their civilian population on October 7th.

I have always made the point that the Jewish State must be accorded the right to exist & reserves the right of self-defence.

I concede that she is also entitled to a measure of vengeance against those that visited the deplorable violence on her civilian population that we witnessed on October 7th but the targetting of innocent civilians in their thousands, the infanticide, the ethnic cleansing, the mass murder, the genocide, the crimes against humanity, the war crimes, the unprecedented & massive amount of bloodshed, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the destruction & utter annihilation of Palestinian homes & infra-structures & all the other beastly & inexplicable horrors that are being unleashed & foisted on the women, children & elderly of Gaza today, including journalists, aid workers, hospital workers, doctors, nurses & other defenceless non-combatants & innocent civilians is unacceptable & indefensible.

20,000 civilians (mainly women & children) slaughtered in Gaza & 85% of her 2.5 million people displaced in two months!

Worse still 50% of the population of Gaza is facing starvation.

Such suffering, butchery & slaughter beggars belief & as painful, traumatising & tear-jerking as it is, the world can witness it in real time thanks to Al Jazeera.

And frankly what we are seeing is unspeakable.

Israel may consider this to be her finest hour & a glorious manifestation of her military strength & prowess but in actual fact it is nothing but evidence of her irretrievable & inescapable descent into notoriety, savagery & barbarity & her relentless, degenerate, bestial & reprobate disposition.

This is not her finest hour or her best moment but rather her greatest mistake.

I say this because the Israel that millions of people from all over the world, including yours truly, once loved, cherished, defended & empathised with no longer exists.

What we have in its place is an unforgiving, unthinking, cruel, brash, barbaric, brutal, racist, evil, power- drunk and thoroughly repugnant fascist/apartheid state that is being led by a political class that comprises of deluded monsters, narcisstic savages, obsessive psychopaths and bloodlusting child-killers who have lost their minds, who are devoid of any pretence to even a semblance of humanity, who are hell bent on wiping out the Palestinian people and who do not believe that they are bound by the rules, regulations, canons & strictures of civilisation & international humanitarian law.

Given this, Israel should no longer be welcomed into the comity of civilised nations & neither is she worthy of the western world’s consistent & unconditional support.

She has not only lost her right to be regarded as a responsible & law- abiding member of the international community but, as long as she denies the Palestinians the right to exist in peace & freedom and refuses to lift the occupation, she stands the risk of forfeiting her own right to exist.

What was once the inspiration, promise, pride & joy of millions from all over the world & the darling of civilised nations is now nothing but a vacuous, vicious, vengeful, lawless, petty, pitiful, tyrannical & bloodthirsty pariah state which celebrates & prides itself on its own barbarity, hatred, madness, war-mongering & rage, which openly espouses a racist & repugnant ‘Zionist’ philosophy, which considers itself racially & religiously superior to all others, which thrives on the suffering & pain of its Arab vassals & which is hell-bent on provoking the entire world into WWIII in an attempt to satisfy its senseless & dangerous delusions about re-establishing a biblical Zionist state & wiping out the Palestinian people.

Zionism is the greatest evil that has been foisted on earth since the advent of the Nazis.

It is an irony of fate & history that the Jews that are now calling themselves Zionists are the very same race whose forefathers suffered more persecution & cruelty at the hands of the Nazis than any other.

I have no doubt that if Israeli PM Netanyahu had the power, wherewithal & horrendous gas chambers that Hitler once did he would, without any hesitation, gas to death every Arab on earth & kill every Muslim & Christian in the Middle East.

That is how evil he & those that share his insane delusions are.

They are the greatest threat to world peace & stability & the only way to free us from their insidious & sinister power & pervasive influence is by establishing a free & sovereign Palestinian state “from the river to the sea”.

Just as Nazi Germany was brought to her knees by the civilised world after WW11 because of her heinous atrocities, Zionist Israel needs to be brought to her knees today.

Does a murderous, racist rogue state that considers itself above the law & delights in slaughtering children have the right to exist?

I doubt it.

To those that say “but Israel is a democracy and indeed the ONLY democracy in the Middle East”, I say the following:

Nazi Germany was a democracy too & Hitler was a democratically-elected leader yet look where they took the world!

In the light of all this it is indeed a great shame that Israel’s greatest friend & ally, the United States of America, not only firstly vetoed a motion for a second ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council last friday but that secondly the American Congress passed a resolution that any criticism of or opposition to Zionism would be regarded as a manifestation of anti-semitism.

The first is nothing but yet another inglorious & graphic display of American immorality, hypocrisy, double standards, insensitivity & depravity & the second of the wilfull blindness & glaring ignorance of the majority of members of the American Congress.

To equate political Zionism, a concept which only came into existence as an organized nationalist movement after it was enunciated and founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897, with Judaism which has existed for thousands of years is not only antedelluvian idiocy and intellectual bankruptcy in its most raw, primitive, vulgar, crude & glaring form but also ignores the fact that millions of both right-wing, conservative religious Jews such as the Torah Jews & secular ones residing in Israel, America & Europe vehemently oppose the concept of Zionism themselves & deplore its malevolent & sinister delusions & political aspirations.

I love the Jews & the State of Israel but I despise & deplore the Zionists & what they have turned the latter into.

I despise them not because of their religious faith or semitic racial identity but because of the evil political philosophy of subjugation, occupation, enslavement & destruction of others that they choose to espouse.

It is for this very reason that for millions all over the world & not just the Arabs of the Middle East, the battle cry & war song of ‘from the river to the sea’ resonates so loudly.

Permit me to conclude this contribution with the following observation which is particularly relevant to those of us that are from Africa.

At the end of WW11 In 1945 when the great debate began amongst the leaders of the victorious Allied powers, including America, France, Russia & the UK, about where to send the Jews after the holocaust, there was a very strong lobby to send them to Uganda where they would have established their long-awaited new Jewish homeland.

Uganda, like Palestine, was a British colony & the colonial power believed that, unlike the Palestinians, the local African population would not present much of a threat or even raise an objection to the appropriation & occupation of their land by millions of western-backed European Jews who had suffered the most horrendous form of persecution in Europe for thousands of years.

Yet this interesting proposal was initially made forty two years earlier in 1903.

Known as the ‘Uganda Scheme’, it was a proposal by British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain to create a Jewish homeland in a portion of British East Africa.

It was presented at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1903 by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement.

In a short piece titled ‘Expolring The Middle East Uganda Scheme For A Jewish Homeland’, the Middle East Monitor wrote the following:

“Did you know about the intriguing chapter in history where Israel was almost established in Africa? This “almost” moment was known as the Uganda Scheme & was proposed by Theodor Herzl the father of political Zionism, in 1903. Herzl presented the plan to the World Zionist Congress envisioning a Jewish homeland in East Africa, then under British colonial rule. The proposal came at a time when Jews in Eastern Europe were facing severe persecution & massacres, making the idea of a safe haven, even in distant Africa, appealing. Despite initial approval by the Congress the plan faced opposition from the White settlers in East Africa who did not want to be displaced by other settlers. They formed an anti-Zionist commitee & their disapproval led to Britain withdrawing the offer, altering the course of history”.

Isnt that amazing?

Now to the point.

Given the disposition of the Zionists I am of the view that had the Uganda Scheme been successfully resurrected, accepted & implemented by the Allied powers in 1945 & the State of lsrael established in Uganda as opposed to Palestine in 1948, the history of the Middle East & indeed the world over the last 82 years would not only have been very different but the local African indigenous population in Uganda may well have either been totally enslaved or, worse still, extinct or exterminated by today.

I say this because Zionism is a deeply racist & supremacist philosophy that takes no prisoners, that seeks to disposses, subjugate, humiliate, emasculate & enslave others & that does not believe in sharing.

If the local indegenous African population had sought to resist Zionist hegemony & occupation in the same way that the Palestinians have been doing for the last 82 years they would have been subjected to something even worse than the genocide we are witnessing in Gaza & by now there may well have been no black Africans left alive in Uganda or indeed the whole of East Africa!

Such is the danger that political Zionism presents to humanity wherever it is entrenched & wherever it goes.

And if anyone considers the elimination or extermination of entire races to be a far-fetched proposition in this day & age they should find out what happened to the black population in Argentina, the Native Indians of North America & the local indigenous tribes like the Incas & Aztecs of South America in the hands of foreign & non indegenous settlers & occupiers.

The world really is a very cruel place & the Ugandans & East Africans should count themselves lucky that Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, did a deal with the immensely wealthy Jewish Rothchild family & presented what was then known as British Palestine as a gift & offering on a silver platter to them in the form of a Jewish homeland in 1948 rather than Uganda.

Meanwhile we shall continue to speak out against the evil in Gaza, agitate for a ceasefire & call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

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Opinion

How Dr. Fatima Ibrahim Hamza (PT, mNSP) Became Kano’s Healthcare Star and a Model for African Women in Leadership

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By Dr. Sani Sa’idu Baba

My dear country men and women, over the years, I have been opportune to watch numerous speeches delivered by outstanding women shaping the global health sector especially those within Africa. Back home, I have also listened to towering figures like Dr. Hadiza Galadanci, the renowned O&G consultant whose passion for healthcare reform continues to inspire many. Even more closer home, there is Dr. Fatima Ibrahim Hamza, my classmate and colleague. Anyone who knew her from the beginning would remember a hardworking young woman who left no stone unturned in her pursuit of excellence. Today, she stands tall as one of the most powerful illustrations of what African women in leadership can achieve when brilliance, discipline, and integrity are brought together.

Before I dwell into the main business for this week, let me make this serious confession. If you are a regular traveler within Nigeria like myself, especially in the last two years, you will agree that no state currently matches Kano in healthcare delivery and institutional sophistication. This transformation is not accidental. It is the result of a coordinated, disciplined, and visionary ecosystem of leadership enabled by Kano State Governor, Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf. From the strategic drive of the Hospitals Management Board under the meticulous leadership of Dr. Mansur Nagoda, to the policy direction and oversight provided by the Ministry of Health led by the ever committed Dr. Abubakar Labaran, and the groundbreaking reforms championed by the Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board under the highly cerebral Professor Salisu Ahmed Ibrahim, the former Private Health Institution Management Agency (PHIMA) boss, a man who embodies competence, hard work, honesty, and principle, the progress of Kano’s health sector becomes easy to understand. With such a strong leadership backbone, it is no surprise that individuals like Dr. Fatima Ibrahim Hamza is thriving and redefining what effective healthcare leadership looks like in Nigeria.

Across the world, from top medical institutions to global leadership arenas, one truth echoes unmistakably: when women lead with vision, systems transform. Their leadership is rarely about theatrics or force; it is about empathy, innovation, discipline, and a capacity to drive change from the inside out. Kano State has, in recent years, witnessed this truth firsthand through the extraordinary work of Dr. Fatima at Sheikh Muhammad Jidda General Hospital.

In less than 2 years, Dr. Fatima has emerged as a phenomenon within Kano’s healthcare landscape. As the youngest hospital director in the state, she has demonstrated a style of leadership that mirrors the excellence seen in celebrated female leaders worldwide, women who inspire not by occupying space, but by redefining it. Her performance has earned her two high level commendations. First, a recognition by the Head of Service following a rigorous independent assessment of her achievements, and more recently, a formal commendation letter from the Hospitals Management Board acknowledging her professionalism, discipline, and transformative impact.

These acknowledgements are far more than administrative gestures, they place her in the company of women leaders whose influence reshaped nations: New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern with her empathy driven governance, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with her courageous reforms, and Germany’s Angela Merkel with her disciplined, steady leadership. Dr. Fatima belongs to this esteemed lineage of women who do not wait for change, they create it.

What sets her apart is her ability to merge vision with structure, compassion with competence, and humility with bold ambition. Staff members describe her as firm yet accessible, warm yet uncompromising on standards, traits that embody the modern leadership model the world is steadily embracing. Under her stewardship, Sheikh Jidda General Hospital has transformed from a routine public facility into an institution of possibility, demonstrating what happens when a capable woman is given the opportunity to lead without constraint.

The recent commendation letter from the Hospitals Management Board captures this evolution clearly: “Dr. Fatima has strengthened administrative coordination, improved patient care, elevated professional standards, and fostered a hospital environment where excellence has become the norm rather than the exception”. These outcomes are remarkable in a system that often battles bureaucratic bottlenecks and infrastructural limitations. Her work is proof that effective leadership especially in health must be visionary, intentional, and rooted in integrity.

In a period when global discourse places increasing emphasis on the importance of women in leadership particularly in healthcare, Dr. Fatima stands as a living testament to what is possible. She has demonstrated that leadership is never about gender, but capacity, clarity of purpose, and the willingness to serve with unwavering commitment.

Her rise sends a powerful message to young girls across Nigeria and Africa: that excellence has no gender boundaries. It is a call to institutions to trust and empower competent women. And it is a reminder to society that progress accelerates when leadership is guided by competence rather than stereotypes.

As Kano continues its journey toward comprehensive healthcare reform, Dr. Fatima represents a new chapter, one where leadership is defined not by age or gender, but by impact, innovation, and measurable progress. She is, without question, one of the most compelling examples of modern African women in leadership today.

May her story continue to enlighten, inspire, and redefine what African women can, and will achieve when given the opportunity to lead.

Dr. Baba writes from Kano, and can be reached via drssbaba@yahoo.com

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Opinion

Book Review: Against the Odds by Dozy Mmobuosi

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By Sola Ojewusi

Against the Odds is an ambitious, deeply personal, and unflinchingly honest memoir that traces the remarkable rise of Dozy Mmobuosi, one of Nigeria’s most dynamic and controversial entrepreneurs. In this sweeping narrative, Mmobuosi reveals not just the public milestones of his career, but the intimate struggles, internal battles, and defining moments that shaped his identity and worldview.

The book is both a personal testimony and a broader commentary on leadership, innovation, and Africa’s future—and it succeeds in balancing these worlds with surprising emotional clarity.

A Candid Portrait of Beginnings

Mmobuosi’s story begins in the bustling, unpredictable ecosystem of Lagos, where early challenges served as the furnace that forged his ambitions. The memoir details the circumstances of his upbringing, the value systems passed down from family, and the early encounters that sparked his desire to build solutions at scale.

These foundational chapters do important work: they humanize the protagonist. Readers meet a young Dozy not as a business figurehead, but as a Nigerian navigating complex social, financial, and personal realities—realities that millions of Africans will find familiar.

The Making of an Entrepreneur

As the narrative progresses, the memoir transitions into the defining phase of Mmobuosi’s business evolution. Here, he walks readers through the origins of his earliest ventures and the relentless curiosity that led him to operate across multiple industries—fintech, agri-tech, telecoms, AI, healthcare, consumer goods, and beyond.

What is striking is the pattern of calculated risk-taking. Mmobuosi positions himself as someone unafraid to venture into uncharted territory, even when the cost of failure is steep. His explanations offer readers valuable insights into:
• market intuition
• the psychology of entrepreneurship
• the sacrifices required to build at scale
• the emotional and operational toll of high-growth ventures

These passages make the book not only readable but instructive—especially for emerging

African entrepreneurs.

Triumphs, Crises, and Public Scrutiny
One of the book’s most compelling strengths is its willingness to confront controversy head-on.

Mmobuosi addresses periods of intense scrutiny, institutional pressure, and personal trials.

Instead of glossing over these chapters, he uses them to illustrate the complexities of building businesses in emerging markets and navigating public perception.

The tone is reflective rather than defensive, inviting readers to consider the thin line between innovation and misunderstanding in environments where the rules are still being written.

This vulnerability is where the memoir finds its emotional resonance.

A Vision for Africa

Beyond personal history, Against the Odds expands into a passionate manifesto for African transformation. Mmobuosi articulates a vision of a continent whose young population, natural resources, and intellectual capital position it not as a follower, but a potential leader in global innovation.

He challenges outdated narratives about Africa’s dependency, instead advocating for
homegrown technology, supply chain sovereignty, inclusive economic systems, and investment in human capital.

For development strategists, policymakers, and visionaries, these sections elevate the work from memoir to thought leadership.

The Writing: Accessible, Engaging, and Purposeful

Stylistically, the memoir is direct and approachable. Mmobuosi writes with clarity and intention, blending storytelling with reflection in a way that keeps the momentum steady. The pacing is effective: the book moves seamlessly from personal anecdotes to business lessons, from introspection to bold declarations.

Despite its business-heavy subject matter, the prose remains accessible to everyday readers.

The emotional honesty, in particular, will appeal to those who appreciate memoirs that feel lived rather than curated.

Why This Book Matters

Against the Odds arrives at a critical moment for Africa’s socioeconomic trajectory. As global attention shifts toward African innovation, the need for authentic narratives from those building within the system becomes essential.

Mmobuosi’s memoir offers:
• a case study in resilience
• an insider’s perspective on entrepreneurship in frontier markets
• a meditation on reputation, legacy, and leadership
• a rallying cry for African ambition

For readers like Sola Ojewusi, whose work intersects with media, policy, leadership, and social development, this book offers profound insight into the human stories driving Africa’s new generation of builders.

Final Verdict

Against the Odds is more than a success story—it is a layered, introspective, and timely work that captures the pressures and possibilities of modern African enterprise. It challenges stereotypes, raises important questions about leadership and impact, and ultimately delivers a narrative of persistence that audiences across the world will find relatable.

It is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of African innovation, the personal realities behind public leadership, and the enduring power of vision and resilience

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Opinion

Redefining Self-leadership: Henry Ukazu As a Model

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By Abdulakeem Sodeeq SULYMAN
In a world filled with talents and unique gifts, nurturing oneself for an impact-filled living becomes one of the potent metrics for assuming how one’s life would unfold – either in the nearest or far future. I am sure the question you may be curious to ask is ‘what is the important quality that has shaped the life of every individual who has unleashed their ingenuity?’ Apparently, our society is filled with numerous people, who missed the track of their life. Their iniquity is boiled down to one thing – failure to lead oneself.
Realising how important it is to be your own leader has been the springboard for every transformative life. Notably, this also becomes the premise for appreciating and celebrating Henry Ukazu for setting the pace and modeling self-leadership in this era, where self-leadership is under-appreciated by our people. Self-leadership itself engineers purposeful and impactful living, turning individuals to sources of hope to others.
This is exactly what Henry Ukazu symbolises. The name Henry Ukazu is akin to many great things such as ‘Unleashing One’s Destiny,’ ‘Finding One’s Purpose’ and ‘Triumphant Living.’ Regardless of the impression one have formed about Henry Ukazu, one thing you cannot deny is his ability to be pure to nature and committed to his cause. Henry Ukazu is one of the rare people who still believed in the values of the human worth and has committed every penny of his to ensure that every human deserves to live the best life.
The trajectory of Henry Ukazu’s life is convincing enough to be choosing as an icon by anyone who chooses to climb the ladder of self-leadership. Oftentimes, Henry Ukazu always narrate how he faced the storms of life when birthing his purpose. He takes honour in his struggles, knowing full well that every stumbling blocks life throws at him helped in building himself. If not for self-leadership, he will not found honours in his struggles, let alone challenging himself to be an example of purposeful living to others.
Without mincing words, Henry Ukazu’s life has been blessed with the presence of many people, with some filling his life with disappointments, while some blessing him with immeasurable transformations. Surprisingly, Henry Ukazu has never chosen to be treating people negatively; rather he would only choose the path of honour by avoiding drama and let common sense prevail. That’s one of the height of simplicity!
Dear readers, do you know why today is important for celebrating Henry Ukazu? Today, 3rd December, is his birthday and with all sincerity, Henry Ukazu deserves to be celebrated because he has chosen the noble path, one filled with honours and recognitions for being an icon of inspiration and transformation to the mankind. As Henry Ukazu marks another year today, may the good Lord continue shielding him from all evils and guiding him in right directions, where posterity will feel his role and impacts!
Many happy returns, Sir!

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