The controversy surrounding the devolution of Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School to Azmah Heritage Academy has taken a fresh turn, following claims by a senior administrative staff member of Azmah Medical Schools that the institution has no connection with either Azmah Heritage Academy or Azmah Group of Schools.
The development raises further questions about the identity of the organisation that received the school, the verification process undertaken by the former administration of Gwagwalada Area Council Chairman, Hon. Abubakar Jibrin Giri, and the circumstances surrounding the current council’s efforts to verify public assets.
Further information obtained by Chronicles Reporters indicates that the Council Secretary, Muhammad Saba, reportedly invited the school’s management to appear before an Asset Verification Technical Committee, but sources familiar with the matter alleged that the invitation was declined.
The newspaper also learnt that Giri and Saba allegedly contacted the current Executive Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Hon. Kasim Mohammed, claiming that the school was being managed by Azmah Medical Schools, located opposite the Chairman’s Lodge in Gwagwalada.
However, an administrative staff member of the institution, who spoke to Chronicles Reporters on condition of anonymity, disputed the claimed connection, raising questions about whether the council had correctly identified the institution supposedly responsible for the school.
A letter dated 8 September 2025, bearing the letterhead of Gwagwalada Area Council’s Office of the Executive Chairman, provides further documentary evidence of the decision to devolve the former Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School.
Addressed to the board members of Azmah Heritage Academy, Gwagwalada, the letter carries the subject: “Devolution of Ownership and Management of Former Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School to Azmah Heritage Academy-Gwagwalada.”
The document states that a recent Executive Council meeting approved the devolution of the school’s ownership and management to Azmah Heritage Academy, described in the letter as a subsidiary of Azmah Group of Schools.
It further states that the approval was granted in response to the organisation’s expression of interest in the ownership and management of the school.
This correspondence adds an important layer to the documentary trail previously examined by Chronicles Reporters. The foundation’s letter of 23 April 2025 documented the intended handover to Gwagwalada Area Council, while the council’s Executive Council minutes of 27 August 2025 recorded the ratification of the devolution to Azmah Heritage Academy.
The September letter shows that the former chairman’s office subsequently communicated the decision directly to the academy’s board members.
The unresolved issue is whether the entity named in the council’s correspondence is legally and operationally connected to the institution now being identified by sources as Azmah Medical Schools.
During a visit to Azmah Medical Schools, located opposite the Chairman’s Lodge in Gwagwalada, Chronicles Reporters conducted inquiries into the institution’s alleged relationship with Azmah Heritage Academy and Azmah Group of Schools.
A senior administrative staff member, who requested anonymity, reportedly told the newspaper that the institution had no connection with either organisation.
The staff member further stated that, to their knowledge, no arrangement concerning Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School had been made between their institution and Gwagwalada Area Council.
The staff member reportedly added that if any such arrangement had been entered into, it would have involved Muhammad Abdulrazaq Ramat, whom the source associated with Azmah College of Health Science and Technology Ltd.
The source maintained that the institution they represented should not be confused with Azmah Heritage Academy or Azmah Group of Schools.
“If Azmah Group of Schools exists, it is not from us,” the staff member was reported to have said.
The statement, if corroborated by the relevant corporate and institutional records, could be significant to the investigation. However, the staff member’s account does not, by itself, establish the legal relationship—or absence of a relationship—between the organisations.
Chronicles Reporters is seeking official documentation from the relevant institutions to determine whether the names refer to separate entities, related organisations, or institutions operating under different legal structures.
Further information obtained by the newspaper raises questions about Muhammad Abdulrazaq Ramat and his reported relationship with Azmah College of Health Science and Technology Ltd.
According to information presented to the investigative desk, corporate records dating from 2024 allegedly identify Ramat as holding a 91 per cent shareholding and significant control in the registered company.
These details require examination alongside the school’s devolution documents because the administrative source reportedly associated Ramat with any possible arrangement involving the institution.
However, Azmah College of Health Science and Technology Ltd, Azmah Medical Schools, Azmah Heritage Academy and Azmah Group of Schools must not be treated as the same legal entity without documentary evidence establishing their relationship.
The reported 91 per cent shareholding in the health science and technology company does not, by itself, establish ownership of Azmah Heritage Academy, Azmah Group of Schools or Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School.
The investigation must establish whether Ramat or the company with which he is associated had any formal role in the devolution, whether either party signed an agreement with the council, and whether the recipient named in the official documents was the same legal entity identified during the newspaper’s inquiries.
If Ramat is a serving civil servant, his reported corporate interests may also warrant examination under the applicable public-service rules. However, determining whether any rule was breached would require evidence of his employment status, the nature of his interests, his role in the transaction and the relevant legal provisions.
Another significant development concerns the ongoing asset verification exercise reportedly initiated by Gwagwalada Area Council.
Sources close to the matter told Chronicles Reporters that Council Secretary Muhammad Saba wrote to the school’s management, inviting its representatives to appear before the Asset Verification Technical Committee.
The sources alleged that the invitation was declined.
The newspaper has not yet independently examined the invitation letter, the recipient’s response or any official record explaining the circumstances of the alleged refusal. Consequently, the reason for the reported non-appearance remains unverified.
Nevertheless, the issue warrants clarification. Where a council is seeking to establish the ownership, management and status of property previously accepted as a public asset, cooperation from the relevant parties may be necessary to reconcile records and determine responsibility.
The council should disclose the invitation, any response received and the committee’s findings, subject to applicable legal requirements.
The management of the institution should also clarify whether it received the invitation, whether it attended or responded, and whether it possesses any agreement or document relating to the former Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School.
If the reported refusal occurred, the public deserves to know the reasons. If the account is inaccurate, the relevant parties should correct it with documentary evidence.
Sources familiar with the matter further alleged that former Chairman Abubakar Jibrin Giri and Council Secretary Muhammad Saba reached out to the current chairman, Hon. Kasim Mohammed, and identified Azmah Medical Schools as the institution managing the former Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School.
That account raises a critical question: was the current administration given the correct legal identity of the organisation that received the school under the August 2025 resolution?
The September 2025 letter specifically identifies Azmah Heritage Academy-Gwagwalada and describes it as a subsidiary of Azmah Group of Schools. The reported statement from the administrative staff member, however, disputes any connection between those names and Azmah Medical Schools.
The discrepancy requires an explanation from the former officials and the current council administration.
Did Giri and Saba identify the recipient using its full registered name? Was a management agreement executed, and which entity signed it? Did the current chairman receive the relevant documents, or was the information communicated verbally?
These questions are particularly important because the council’s asset verification exercise should establish the identity of the legal owner or operator through documentary evidence rather than relying solely on verbal assurances.
Chronicles Reporters has not independently established the content of the alleged conversation between the former officials and the current chairman. The newspaper therefore invites all parties to confirm or dispute the account.
WHO ACTUALLY RECEIVED THE SCHOOL?
The documentary record establishes that Al-Maktoum Foundation-Nigeria communicated instructions to hand over Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School to Gwagwalada Area Council in April 2025.
The council subsequently accepted the handover and, in August 2025, approved the devolution of the former school to Azmah Heritage Academy. The chairman’s office then communicated the decision in writing to the academy’s board members in September 2025.
The latest inquiries, however, raise questions about the relationship between the recipient named in those documents and Azmah Medical Schools, as well as the identity of the individuals and companies behind the different institutions.
The decisive evidence will be the original donation instrument, the executed devolution agreement, the recipient’s corporate registration records, relevant school approvals and any correspondence concerning the transfer.
Until those documents are reconciled, the public cannot confidently determine which legal entity assumed responsibility for the school, the precise rights it received or the individuals accountable for its management.
The Gwagwalada people are calling on Gwagwalada Area Council to publish the relevant asset verification findings and clarify the legal identity of the school’s recipient.
Azmah Heritage Academy and Azmah Group of Schools are invited to provide their registration details, identify their proprietors or directors as applicable, and explain their relationship with Azmah Medical Schools and Azmah College of Health Science and Technology Ltd.
Muhammad Abdulrazaq Ramat is invited to clarify his reported corporate interest and whether he or any company associated with him participated in the school’s devolution.
Former Chairman Abubakar Jibrin Giri and Council Secretary Muhammad Saba are also invited to respond to the questions concerning the recipient’s identity, the alleged communication with the current chairman and the asset verification committee’s reported invitation.
Chronicles Reporters will incorporate relevant responses and documentary evidence into subsequent reports.
PART FOUR: THE OWNERSHIP TRAIL
The investigation is continuing, with the next phase focusing on corporate registration records, the identities of the individuals behind the organisations named in the transaction, the legal agreement governing the school and the outcome of the council’s asset verification exercise.
The central question remains: if the council approved the devolution of Sheikh Hamdan Model Senior Secondary School to Azmah Heritage Academy, why has the identity and relationship of the organisation reportedly managing the institution become a matter of dispute?
For Chronicles Reporters, the issue is not merely who operates the school, but whether the public can establish, through verifiable records, who received the donated property, under what authority, and who is accountable for protecting its educational purpose and assets.