Nasir El Rufai, may his talent not be wasted, recently wrote an article just as he had just finished burying his mother who died while Nasir was in Tinubu’s gulag, that was widely circulated on social media. He argued with figures that the problem of underdevelopment in Nigeria is not the absence of talent but about the inappropriate reward structure. Talents go where the good money is, but in Nigeria the money is in what a friend called “man know man” or connection. That big money is not going to talents is not the major reason for Nigeria’s poverty and underdevelopment. Lack of appropriate orientation, especially among the youths, is also a major reason.
Nigerians have the opportunity to watch a young man, just 27, from the United States of America, Alex Barbir who has gained national and international attention as he brought succour and justice to the displaced people of Benue and Plateau states.
Alex Barbir has made a lie of the propaganda of President Bola Tinubu in his use of lobbyists to cover up the real cause and motive of insecurity in Nigeria. Alex Barbir is an American citizen and humanitarian who left the comfort of his great country to come to rural Benue and Plateau states to help poor Nigerians rebuild their homes which were destroyed by Fulani terrorists who aim to take over their lands and Islamize them. Barbir has been using his phones constructively and fearlessly to bring to the attention of the international community the real issues behind the insecurity in Nigeria.
The latest killing in Angwa Rukuba in Jos happened on Sunday March 29, 2025, during Easter worship. Barbir got to the scene immediately as he heard gunshots from his house. He provided footage to inform the whole world of what was happening. The governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, drove there in an Armoured tank. President Bola Tinubu did not get to Jos until April 2, about five clear days later, and that attracted opprobrium from Nigerians. The President’s attitude was seen as another example of his disregard for Nigerian lives. For Alex Barbir, the killing illustrates once again that while Nigeria has enough security men on ground, there was a police station at a junction about five yards from the scene of the killing, yet no security showed up until the assailants had gone. Alex Barbir’s NGO, Building Zion, has been reconstructing houses that were burnt by Fulani terrorists in Benue and Plateau states so that those people displaced and relocated to ADP camps can return to their homes to show to the terrorists that their aim is in vain and unattainable. Alex has also been speaking truth to the government and other authorities in Nigeria. He is one voice that has made a lie of various efforts to play down the fact that the attacks are not a Christian genocide.
Alex Barbir has consistently maintained that Nigerians should not allow the terrorists to silence them as they have now. Alex has been targeted by Sheik Ahmad Gumi, an Islamist who asked the DSS to arrest him for his audacity. Gumi has become untouchable for the government of President Bola Tinubu as he was to the government of late President Muhammadu Buhari. Sheik Ahmad Gumi represents the untouchable Fulani oligarchy who have ruled Nigeria since independence and have held it down. But Alex maintains that God wants justice here on earth now and that the people must be a voice for justice. He told his audience that he was not afraid to die for his advocacy.
Alex Barbir teaches Nigerian youths many lessons in how a nation becomes great. Nigerian youths adore the US and would give anything to be there. They call America God’s own country but they don’t think about how America became great. America became great because there were many Alex Barbirs among the youths who were prepared to use their lives to serve their nation and humanity at large.
Alex Barbir is an outstanding footballer (Americans call it soccer) who won laurels. After his high school at Forsyth, he moved to Pennsylvania State University where he shone in soccer. He transferred to Liberty University in Florida, where he earned a degree in interdisciplinary studies. He could have remained in sports making money, he could have remained in corporate America making money but he decided to provide leadership in far away Benue and Plateau states when he saw how the people were being killed to take their land and Islamize them. He abandoned his cozy lifestyle and opportunities in America and came to Nigeria where he saw government failure in providing security not because government does not have the means but because government was not ready being that the President is a man pleaser who fears the Fulani oligarchy and is only interested in winning elections and retaining power to help himself and his cronies.
Alex Barbir is not like youths who see university certificates as meal tickets. He is not like Nigerian youths who don’t think they have a role in the greatness of their own country. He is not like Nigerian youths who only think of their tribe shouting very hard on social media that their country be divided not knowing that a well built nation is an instrument that backs them up anywhere in the world.
Gumi wants Alex Barbir silenced but Alex is aware of the tremendous power that backs him up. He knows the greatness of America is enough power that Gumi Islamism cannot withstand. He keeps saying, “Trump knows I’m here.” And that is true. Gumi, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'aad Abubakar 111, Professor Usman Yusuf and other Islamists know the easiest way to get the North invaded by America is to touch Alex Barbir.
Be aware youths, that you are as big as your country is. If you want to remain a slave in your country and a slave in others that you may visit, continue to play ethnic and religious politics. If the early leaders of Nigeria were shortsighted and therefore played religious and ethnic politics which have caused great division in the country, should you let that continue? Now is the time to say no to this old thinking and to say no to the current leadership, all of them should emulate Alex Barbir who can speak anywhere in the world, who can get anywhere and build justice.
Alex is using crowdfunding to get his “Building Zion” going, and he is using his skills in social media to bring attention to the problem of the oppressed and to provide succour to them. A new Nigeria is not just a talk in your mouth, it is action that you take just as Alex Barbir told his youth audience in Angwa Rukuba, Jos. It is not your violent killings based on ethnic or religious emotions, it is the unity, fairness, meritocracy and equity you demand. That is why America is great and Nigeria crawling.
First Published in METRO
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Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.
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