Former head the publications section of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at Kuru in Jos, Plateau State, Abubakar Sokoto Mohammed, has passed away.

Sokoto died Thursday, December 11, 2025.

He was the chair of the Nigerian anti-Apartheid platform – Youth Solidarity on South Africa (YUSSAN).

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Sokoto was of the Department of Sociology at Ahmadu Bello University where he graduated and was retained as an academic.

Author Dr Yusuf Bangura, a former Research Coordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva, confirmed his death in a tribute.

Bangura wrote, “I can’t believe that we’ve lost Comrade Abubakar Sokoto. We’ve been in touch almost every week this year via WhatsApp. He even sent me his paper on Frantz Fanon for the Fanon Conference at the University of Jos, which was held on 27-28 November, 2025. We also talked about the conference when it ended. This is really shocking.

“Sokoto’s last message to me was his reaction to my Substack blog on China’s defeat of the US in their trade war. This is what he wrote to me on Wednesday, 10 December—just two days ago.”

Bagura described Sokoto as one of his closest friends when he taught at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria in the 1980s.

He said the deceased was a source of great insights on Nigeria.

He added, “We didn’t just share a similar global outlook as members of the Zaria Group that espoused a political economy for social transformation in Nigeria and Africa. Our two families bonded very well. His first wife, Amina, and my wife, Kadie, were very close. We shared many memorable moments together.”