Point One

Before our eyes, the 12-year-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria is unravelling. Boko Haram fighters and their dependents have burrowed out of hiding places and surrendered in droves to the Nigerian military; it was estimated that 2,000 handed themselves over to army units in southern Borno State towns of Konduga, Bama and Mafa in recent weeks. The bombings that mainly characterised the insurgency have largely ceased, and it seems quite apparent that the fighters have lost enthusiasm or, at least, have been considerably degraded. There’s a break in the insurgency and you could feel it. If the trend holds steady, it will be a major feat by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency comparable to the de-arming of Niger Delta militants by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration between 2009 and early 2010. The military have been in bragging mood and, yes, they earned it. The “massive surrendering” of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists is the result of...

 If he had his way, Nigerians should be eternally grateful to former dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, rtd (IBB). The ex-ruler, who ruled by the oxymoronic title of ‘military president’, saved this country an upheaval of monumental proportions when he arbitrarily annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential poll, and we’ve been flaying him all along because we didn’t know it was a saving act. How gross! Many years on, he angles to be seen as ‘Babangida, the saviour,’ not the fiend as history reckons; and he even savours dubious manoeuvres he adopted in forcing his way on the country. That’s the gist of postulations Babangida made in a recent personality interview on television to commemorate his 80th birthday anniversary that falls due tomorrow, 17th August. The former military leader had on 24th June, 1993 voided the 12th June election that is now officially reckoned as won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola. He became head of state on 27th August, 1985 a...

If the call by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has resonated, some areas of the Southeast region would this Monday be on lockdown, with people momentarily staying off their businesses and duty posts.  That would be in pursuit of a ‘ghost Monday’ campaign launched by the separatist group to protest ongoing detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is being prosecuted for offences including alleged terrorism and insurrection against the Nigerian state. Kanu had fled this country in September 2017 amidst prosecution by government for same offences, and he was intercepted somewhere abroad and dragged back into the dock at the Federal High Court, Abuja late in June, this year. Government did not disclose where he was rearrested, but it has been consistently speculated by Kanu’s camp to be in Kenya. Upon his re-arraignment, Justice Binta Nyako ordered that he be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS), with the next adjourned date in his trial fixed for 2...

 A two-day global education summit that held in the United Kingdom last week made that country’s capital a locus of activity attracting some world leaders. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari left Abuja on Monday to be a part of the summit which held on Wednesday and Thursday, 28th and 29th July. Official literature by organisers indicated that the ‘Global Education Summit: Financing Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2021-2025’ would be a key moment for the world community to pull together in support of quality education for all children, as leaders were expected to make five-year pledges to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta co-hosted the summit in a hybrid format, with participants attending live sessions of the summit on GPE’s virtual platform besides “a small in-person event” arranged in London.  Before he left on the London trip, a Presidency statement outlined P...