“From Renewed Hope To Despair”: Prof. Mohammed Slams Tinubu Govt As Intolerant, Says Abuja, Kaduna Pressured ABU To Cancel His Book Launch At Arewa House

Professor Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, Director of the Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training (CEDDERT), Zaria, has accused both federal and state governments of growing intolerance to dissenting views, alleging that pressure from Abuja and Kaduna forced the Ahmadu Bello University to cancel the public presentation of his new book on President Bola Tinubu.

Prof. Mohammed made the allegation in an interview on Trust TV’s 30 Minutes programme with host Manir Dan Ali.

The book, titled ” Tinubu: From Renewed Hope To Despair: A Critical Examination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Government”, was scheduled for public presentation on Thursday, October 15 at Arewa House in Kaduna, a research centre under ABU. The venue is the former residence of late Premier Ahmadu Bello.

According to Prof. Mohammed, his team wrote to Arewa House for the venue and got approval, including the centre’s account details to pay the booking fee. However, on Saturday, they received a letter regretting cancellation of the booking on grounds of renovation.

“It’s not true. It’s an afterthought, there’s no doubt about that. We went to Arewa House to book, our representative was there, he discussed with them, they gave us a date, they even sent us their account number,” he said.

He alleged that before the official cancellation letter, he had already received information that Abuja and Kaduna were not happy with the plan to present the book in Kaduna.

“Before we received the letter from them, I had information that Abuja and Kaduna were not happy with our plan to present the book in Kaduna, and they put pressure on the Vice-Chancellor to cancel the booking,” he said.

Prof. Mohammed said the book had leaked because copies were sent to some people, and security operatives picked the invitations.

He said the government’s intolerance was not new and cuts across states. Citing examples, he said:

“Both the federal and state governments. They are very, very intolerant of dissenting views. In fact, you could see even the federal government, when important people actually go to them and then disagree with them, they are very violent in the way they respond to them. Look at how they responded to a Cardinal Onaiyekan for what he said.”

He also cited the arrest of a girl in Sokoto for saying insecurity had not subsided despite state government claims, adding that she was subjected to inhuman treatment and had to run to Abuja before Senator Aminu Tambuwal intervened.

“Look at what happened in Borno State: those who were opposed to Tinubu were arrested and locked up by the state. Yesterday in Kano, the same thing happened with the police. In Kaduna, you cannot get a place to organize, to actually say your views about what is happening in Nigeria,” he said.

Defending the title of his book, Prof. Mohammed said it was taken from President Tinubu’s own speeches. He said on May 29, 2023, Tinubu said “We are here to further mend and heal this nation” and his programme was Renewed Hope, but on October 1, 2025, the President said “the worst is over.”

He asked whether the pains of Nigerians were truly over, saying his research shows otherwise.

“We established everything. If you look at the title of the book, we said there is insecurity in Nigeria; security has not subsided, it’s on the increase, and we gave figures. There is corruption in Nigeria; all organizations that have research on corruption have confirmed that. There is hunger in the land,” he said.

“There’s nothing we said which people don’t know, which is not happening in Nigeria. How much is a liter of petrol in Nigeria today? 1,500 Naira in many places.”

He said the book is not political but grounded in statistics.

“The figures confirm what we have said. We didn’t just sit down to write all these things. We do our own research, we look at statistics… And we came up with our conclusion: that instead of hope, what people are having is despair. People are desperate; people are very, very desperate in this country. People cannot feed, people are unable to pay their school fees, people don’t go to work every day because they can’t afford the transport fare.”

Prof. Mohammed also disclosed that attempts to get alternative venues in Kaduna failed as hotel operators were allegedly warned against hosting the event, forcing organizers to consider moving the launch to Abuja.

He said when he started writing the book, people warned him he would be arrested.

“Those who saw it told us that we’ll be arrested. I said, ‘Why should we be arrested over a book, the content of which is in public domain?'”