Mali’s Amadou Touré and the Conundrum of African Leadership

Amadou Touré, coup maker, coup victim, military ruler, and eventually civilian chief of state in Mali, died last week in Istanbul at the age of seventy-two. Touré dominated Mali’s governance for some twenty years and, in death, is being praised as a “soldier of democracy.” Following his successful 1991 coup against Moussa Traoré, military ruler for thirteen years, Touré orchestrated a transition to elections and civilian government. In 2002 he was elected president and, in 2007, reelected....

Undergraduates Drag ASUU to Court Over Strike, Demand N10bn Compensation

By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz, Regional Correspondent The Law Students Association of Nigeria has dragged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), before the Federal High Court Abuja, challenging what it described as the incessant strikes of the union. In the suit which was filed at the court on Friday, the association is seeking an order to compel ASUU to return to the classroom as well as an order of perpetual injunction to restrain  ASUU  from embarking on...

Financing Boko Haram

There has long been speculation about how Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations are funded. Some funding clearly comes [PDF] from criminal activity, with kidnapping particularly lucrative, and from bank robberies. Presumably, protection rackets also play a role. At some times and in some places, Boko Haram has been able to impose “taxes” on the local population. Boko Haram has also been involved in trading, especially in the Lake Chad Basin. Weapons—a major expense—appear often to come from government armories, sometimes because...

Nigerian Security Forces and the Dangers of a Violence-First Approach

On October 20, 2020, Nigerians watched in horror on social media as men suspected to be members of the military opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters—a movement responding to a litany of abuses by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a special police unit—in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. For more than a decade, Nigerian civil society groups have trained members of public security forces regarding the inviolability of human rights. Despite such training, Nigerian security agencies still...

Between Legislators and Executive Officials, Who Should Nigerians Hold More Accountable?

Not to excuse the legislature but the major problem of governance in Nigeria at all levels, come from the executive. ―Ebuka Onyekwelu Very often, Nigerian lawmakers at federal and state levels are under severe criticisms more than their counterpart in the executive arm. There is a complete shift that places legislators on constant spotlight and public assessment. In consequence, Nigerian lawmakers are constantly labeled ‘jobless’, with coinages like ‘legislooters’ invented to paint a clear picture...

Comedy of Nigerian Trumpsters ― a reflection on Donald Trump’s reelection mayhem

“In a modern democracy, evangelicals are satanic weapons of mass destruction.” ― Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo In my previous article, I had classified Black people stomping for Donald Trump as “Idiots”. This was not because there is anything wrong with supporting a politician or a party, but, thoughtless political support confutes the very core purpose of what politics should be. Thus, political affiliation without substantial attachments of interests and benefits might end up as a...

There is Another Side of Trump’s Assault of Our Democracy

“The fragility of our democracy has been exposed by Trump” ―Frances Ngozi Okafor I promised my friends and family that I would shut up and just watch this election, but at this time, thing have taken a major turn. Thus, silence is no longer an option, so you must excuse me but  Trump’s refusal to accept the results of this election is actually a good thing. Hold on, and I would explain. I know as...

Weirdness of Donald Trump, His Nigerian Supporters, and Preachers from Hell

Strange political bedfellas from the cold, temperate Potomac to the mean, hot, tropical river Naija If you are going to lose in a chess game, you give up the king. If you were in a poker game, your choices would ride on your freaking abilities to bluff, and with that wild paste of ugliness that defines a gorilla’s mug…as in countenance…as in, you guessed it, a poker face. The oddities abundant in these wildly different...

100 Years Ago, the First Commercial Radio Broadcast Announced the Results of the 1920 Election – Politics Would Never Be the Same

Only 100 people were listening, but the first broadcast from a licensed radio station occurred at 8 p.m. on Nov. 2, 1920. It was Pittsburgh’s KDKA, and the station was broadcasting the results of that year’s presidential election. When the man responsible, Frank Conrad, flipped the switch for the first time, he couldn’t have envisioned just how profoundly broadcast media would transform political life. For centuries, people had read politicians’ words. But radio made it possible...

Simmering Tensions Come to a Boil in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

Over the past week, as many have been distracted by the U.S. elections, an extraordinarily dangerous unraveling has picked up speed in Ethiopia.  Months of simmering tensions between the leadership of the Tigray region and the central government in Addis Ababa boiled over into open military conflict, threatening to tip the country into outright civil war. Ethiopia’s crisis jeopardizes not just the security of 110 million people, but the stability of the region and the promise of...

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