In quick contrast to their respective jurisdictions, they are maverick and young with enormous political powers to determine the fate of their nations and their neighbours. Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North -Korea and Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the Defence Minister and Crown Prince of Saudia Arabia are below the age of 40 with hereditary powers from their fathers who influenced their current positions as world most powerful young leaders.

While Jong-Un took over the reign of the leadership of North-Korea after the death of his father, Mohammed Bin Salman, popularly known as MBS was appointed Defence Minister and Crown Prince by his Father King Salman Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.

The two young leaders are not pursuing known political ideology or religious beliefs in their campaigns to preserve their powers. They nevertheless have various things in common.

Since he took over leadership of North-Korea after the demise of his father, Jong-Un has not only threatened to attack his immediate neighbours, especially South-Korea, his regime test-fired Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching western parts of the US and also fired missiles over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The provocative actions led to a surge in tensions with the Donald Trump-led administration and an intensified UN sanctions regime.

On the other hand, Crown Prince Salman has escalated the age-long sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shi’ite by showing disdain for Iran and its influence in the region. Salman is alleged to have masterminded Saudi Arabia’s escalation of Yemeni War against the Houthi rebel group, viewed in Riyadh as a proxy for Iran. The war has claimed more than 13,500 lives. He also led a coalition of Gulf monarchies in cutting off economic and diplomatic relations with Qatar, another Arab country on an allegation that Doha was supporting “extremism” in the region. Qatar has vehemently denied the allegations.

While Jong-Un is a hardened critic of American leaders and their foreign policies, Prince MBS is not only a darling of Americans but coordinated the hosting of American leaders in the Islamic holy country.

In one of the harshest criticisms of American leaders, Jong Un described Donald Trump as a ‘dotard’ which in the Korean word translates for “old lunatic or fool,” when he said, “The reckless remarks by a dotard like Trump can never frighten us or put a stop to our advance.”

In an immediate response to the verbal attack on his person, President Trump in a sarcastic putdown through his twitter described the North-Korean leader as “short and fat.” He said: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’”

Meanwhile, apart from being hosted by Saudi Kingdom after his inauguration as American President, Donald Trump was the first and probably the only world leader to have publicly hailed the Bin Salman’s arrest and detention of top Saudi royal princes, cabinet ministers, some of the kingdom’s most powerful and wealthiest businessmen including Al-Waleed bin Talal

who are currently inmates of Riyadh Ritz Carltonluxurious Hotel. In praising the crackdown, President Trump tweeted thus: “I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing. Some of those they are harshly treating have been ‘milking’ their country for years.”

While Jong-Un’s regime has China as its main supporters and backers, strangely enough, the current Saudi Leadership are looking beyond the United States of America as its main allies by looking towards the Jewish State of Israel for security and intelligence sharing.

China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner and arguably has the most leverage on Kim Jong-un’s regime. Apart from supporting Jong-un, China has consistently opposed harsh international sanctions on North Korea to avoid regime collapse that could trigger a massive influx of refugee from Pyongyang.

Recent reports indicate that Saudi Arabia and Israel are de facto allies in the struggle against Iran’s rising influence in the region. There was a report by the Israel Broadcasting Corporation claiming that a member of the Saudi royal family visited Israel during a secret trip, despite his country’s refusal to recognize the Jewish state. Also in an interview with UK-based Saudi newspaper Elaph, the Israel’s Chief of Staff, General Gadi Eisenkot, said that Israel was ready to exchange intelligence with the Saudis in order to confront Iran. He said: “There are shared interests and as far as the Iranian axis is concerned we are in full accord with the Saudis.”

The two young leaders deploy exceptionally aggressive approaches in dealing with perceived oppositions within and outside their respective territories.  Kim Jong Un is more brutal in his high handedness. In December 2013, he ordered the execution of his uncle Jang Song-Thaek over an allegation of treachery. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia in February 2017.

Though Bin Salman has never been associated with ordering an execution or assassination of opposition elements. Meanwhile, a day after the purge in Saudia Arabia, a helicopter crashed mysteriously in the Kingdom killing a high-ranking prince Mansour bin Murquin, the deputy governor of Asir province and seven other people. Prince Mansour is the son of Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, a former director-general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency and a one-time crown prince of the kingdom who was replaced by Bin Salman.

While there are common grounds in making comparisons between Jong-Un of Korea and Bin Salman of Arabia from their styles of governance, their audacity in taking unpopular, fearless and radical decisions have created palpable tensions and anxiety in their respective sub-regions.

While there have been existing fears in the Korean Axis for over a decade due to the occasional eccentric demeanours of North-Korean Leaders, the Arabian axis seems to be in a more perplexing anxiety with recent actions of Saudi leadership.

With the two young leaders display their excessive power by suppressing internal dissents and provocatively confronting external pressures, the international community must watch out and caution them from plunging their volatile regions and by extension the world into needless conflicts.

 Yushau A. Shuaib wrote in from Abuja and can be reached on www.YAShuaib.com, yashuaib@Yahoo.com [myad]

Let me confess that I was really pained missing an opportunity of sending a birthday wish to the Bishop of Kafanchan Catholic Diocese, Rev. Joseph Danlami Bagobiri, when he turned three scores on November 8, 2017. I got to know of His Grace’s birthday when a relation called my attention to it. Since meeting him for the first time in 2006 in Abuja, I have always applauded his candid interventions on issues affecting Nigeria and Nigerians.
The child that was later to become the pioneer Bishop of Kafanchan was born on 8th November, 1957, in Fadan Kagoma, now in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Being born into a family that knew the importance of education, he had his primary education at the RCM Primary School from 1961-1971. He was later to attend the Government Secondary Technical School from 1972 – 1977 for his post-primary education.
Against the backdrop of his passion to become a priest, he proceeded to the St. Augustine’s Major Seminary, Jos from 1977-1983. He was ordained a priest on June 11, 1983. After a brief pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Kaduna, then Rev. Fr. Joseph headed to Franciscan University, Steubenville in Ohio, USA from 1986-1987; and thereafter the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, (Angelicum) Rome between 1988 and 1989.
Six years after his graduation from the Pontifical University, he was consecrated the pioneer Bishop of the Kafanchan Diocese on October 21, 1995. Bishop Bagobiri has held many offices including; Vicar Delegate MISSIO SUI IURIS – Kano (1991-1995); Education Secretary within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN); pioneer chairman for Mission and Dialogue Department of Catholic Secretariat, including being two-term Chairman, Governing Council, Catholic Institute of West Africa. He also appointed Chairman of the Inter Religious Dialogue for Association of Episcopal Conferences Anglophone West Africa (AECAWA), just as he led a six-man delegation of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to the 2014 National Conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Considering his enviable strides in both spiritual and physical lives of his sheep, life to the good-natured Bishop is hinged on the need to lighten the burden of daily existence for the less-privileged. For him, no sacrifice is too great in defence of his people who have become helpless victims of political manipulations. He is disturbed that corruption has placed a heavy burden on the nation’s destiny. He slept with a disturbed mind when his area of religious supervision was constantly under constant attacks by suspected herdsmen.
As a priest whose duty is to ensure the safety of the faithful in securing a place in Heaven, he has led the way in creating an atmosphere conducive for peace among all adherents of diverse faith. Unlike some religious leaders whose passion include turning this hellish earth into an earthly heaven, the Head of the Catholic Church in Southern Kaduna is concerned with neither earthly fame nor riches.
Endowed with traits of an amazing intellectual prowess and fearlessness, the Chief Shepherd of the Kafanchan Diocese is never afraid to speak his mind and truth to those in the corridors of power, knowing full well that “those who think of Heaven do most for the earth.”
Worried over incessant killings and other forms of tension that enveloped his area of religious supervision; this religious leader has become an irreplaceable voice in searching for peace and development among diverse cultural groups. Bagobiri understands the essence of peace and does everything to promote it across religious and cultural divide. When in 2011, I visited Kafanchan to report on the post-election crisis that had left the city in chaos and dreadful terror; I had gone to his residence to seek an interview with him. I was informed at the gate by security officials that the Bishop had left for a peace meeting in Kaduna.
When I saw a herd of cows and sheep grazing around the residence, I enquired to know who owned the animals. One of the security men said: “These animals belonged to residents of Matsirga (pointing in the direction of the village not far from the Bishop’s residence). They had taken refuge at the Bishop residence before our arrival.”
As an indigene of Southern Kaduna, Bishop Bagobiri is no stranger to the perils faced by his people and how past administrations have relegated the area to the backwaters of development. Unlike other clerics that may refrain from engaging the political class on issues affecting the area, the priest from Fadan Kagoma never shies away from reminding the politicians of their responsibilities to the people. In recognising the relevance of truth that has become a scarce commodity, Bagobiri’s new strategy to engage the political class on the need to ensure justice and fair play seems to align with that of South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who once said that “politics is too important to be left in the hands of politicians alone.”
His Lordship’s apprehension for the people stretches beyond religious and regional boundaries. He had on several occasions called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rein in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the fight against corruption so that the anti-graft war is not seen as targeted at perceived political enemies. More than any cleric, he has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) government to give every section of the country a sense of belonging through equitable distribution of federal appointments.
If the first Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese has been unrestrained in calling for justice as a basis for national unity, he has refused to keep quiet in the face of constant killings in the southern axis of Kaduna State. Unlike some religious leaders, who prefer to embrace the cover darkness to reach out to Governor Nasir el-Rufai, the religious leader has been uncompromising in condemning the State Government’s inability to tackle the reign of terror that once pervaded the southern axis. Under his watch as the Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Church in Southern Kaduna since 1995, the church released a report that reveals that no fewer than 800 lives were lost, with properties worth N5 billion destroyed in Southern Kaduna since the APC assumed power from May 2015 to December 2016. In one of such attacks in Sanga Local Government Area, the Catholic Church buried no fewer than 10 parishioners, including one of its priests.
The demand for justice by the scholarly Bishop started long before el-Rufai came to the corridors of power. During the administration of Governor Patrick Yakowa, he was quoted to have reminded the governor, who was his kinsman, not to forget the southern zone in allocation of projects. Nearly four years after the demise of Yakowa, the then Private Principal Secretary (PPS), Mr. Timothy Gandu, to Yakowa, who then was irked by the Bishop’s request, has now joined the wailing crowd as manifested in his recent submission at a Town Hall meeting  summoned by the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU).
Blessed with tremendous intellect, the Fadan Kagoma priest’s rise to the top was destined. His commitment to ecclesiastical duties also assured him of an enviable position. Bagobiri may have surmounted many hurdles to date, but the years ahead could prove more tasking for the priest who has refused to stay silent in the face of blackmail and outright falsehood.  With a determination never unseen, Bishop Bagobiri is poised to continue playing the role of an advocate for good governance across inter-faith divide.
With a divided political class that is only preoccupied with pursuing pecuniary interest and enjoying on our behalf, the relevance of Bagobiri has become imperative. Considering the sheepish nature of the Nigerian people, our democracy can only be made stronger through courageous personalities like Bagobiri in taming ravenous wolves in government.
As our Bishop turned 60, there is no better birthday gift than for Southern Kaduna to address the failure of elected representatives through mobilising and informing the electorate to eschew commercialization of the political process. For social media activists, who are justifiably angry over the continued relegation of the area, resorting to invectives and verbal abuses of the present order will do little to address our problems. Let a thousand ideas flourish, but let the best rule the day. We must never lose sight of the bigger picture as we travel on this bumpy road to a new dawn, fraught with so many perplexing diversions.
Here is wishing our own Bishop long life, good health and prosperity in the service of God. May your dream for a just Nigeria and a peaceful Southern Kaduna be realised in your life time. As cacophonous of voices continue to trail efforts in addressing our nation’s injustices, may the Almighty God make Your Lordship an instrument through which the betrayals of our past will find permanent resolution.

Reef is Editor-in-Chief of Forefront, and can be reached via: simonreef927@gmail.com[myad]