Making sense of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China

ColumnsEssayOpinionMaking sense of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China

PilotnewsNovember 14, 2022

The 20thNational Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has come and gone. But what lingers about the meeting that took place from 16-22 October 2022 has been the dust threw up by the reactions to the decisions and milestones reached at the elite political gathering. Ordinarily, it was solely a Chinese affair, but what the outcomes means for the rest of the world seemed to have made some commentators to pry into what...

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OPINION: Theory From the South?

AfricaColumnsForeign PolicyOpinionOPINION: Theory From the South?

PilotnewsNovember 7, 2022

Much more than material support for the democratic process, Africa—and the developing world—needs the United States to reaffirm its commitment to democratic principles. It is far from surprising that the just concluded Brazilian presidential election attracted more than the usual attention from observers of the democratic process across Latin America. Over the course of his presidency, and particularly in the months leading to the election, President Jair Bolsonaro had made statements seemingly calculated to undermine trust in...

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OPINION: A State of Uncertainty

ColumnsNational SecurityNigeriaOpinionOPINION: A State of Uncertainty

PilotnewsNovember 1, 2022

Nigerians hold their breath as Western nations’ terror alerts deepen apprehension about the country’s immediate prospects. Since the beginning of October, Nigerians’ attention has been held by record flooding—the worst in a decade according to experts—which has left an estimated 1.3 million people displaced, more than six hundred dead, and over seventy thousand hectares of farmlands destroyed across twenty-five of the country’s thirty-six states. While a cross section of the commentariat used the occasion to highlight...

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OPINION: A Tertiary Debacle

ColumnsEducationNigeriaOpinionOPINION: A Tertiary Debacle

PilotnewsOctober 17, 2022

Nigerian universities urgently need a reboot; whether ASUU should be part of that process is an open question. When the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) suspended its industrial action last week, it found itself precisely where it was back in February when the National Executive Council (NEC) announced “a comprehensive and total strike”—exasperated, forlorn, and no closer to an agreement with the Federal Government. February’s strike was the union’s first since 2020 when a nine-month industrial action...

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Consolidating the South-East—Atiku’s ‘Dan Ulasi’ Move is a Smart Choice

Anthony Obi OgboColumnsNigeriaOpinionConsolidating the South-East—Atiku’s ‘Dan Ulasi’ Move is a Smart Choice

PilotnewsOctober 16, 2022

“Dan Ulasi understands Nigeria’s electoral maps and could read them with his eyes closed” ―Anthony Obi Ogbo ________________________ Campaigns for the 2023 general election officially commenced on September 28, in line with the timetable and schedule of activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This date signaled the beginning of a process of shaping the electioneering landscape ahead of the general election. In the succeeding weeks, all the major political parties unleashed their supporters...

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OPINION: Peace Talks for Tigray Delayed

AfricaColumnsOpinionPeaceOPINION: Peace Talks for Tigray Delayed

PilotnewsOctober 13, 2022

An absence of political will may prove a far harder problem than complicated logistics Nearly two years after war broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the fighting is intensifying, and the interstate dimension to the conflict is as undeniable as ever. Reports indicate that some one hundred thousand Eritrean troops are assaulting Tigray, apparently in coordination with the Ethiopian military. The region has been under siege since June of 2021, with only piecemeal exceptions during the lull...

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OPINION: Is Igbo Separatism Dead?

ColumnsOpinionPoliticsOPINION: Is Igbo Separatism Dead?

PilotnewsOctober 12, 2022

Peter Obi’s ascendance appears to have ripped up the Igbo self-determination playbook. Until recently, one overarching question dominated Nigerian political discourse: will the February 2023 general elections hold as scheduled? Underpinning this question was a legitimate concern over security—the insurgency in the northeast, sporadic banditry in the northwest, rampant abductions across the entire southern belt, and recurrent violence linked to the activities of the self-determination group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast. Of...

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OPINION: ‘Peter Obi Phenomenon’ is Not a Chanced Event

ColumnsNewsNigeria ElectionsOpinionOPINION: ‘Peter Obi Phenomenon’ is Not a Chanced Event

Ebuka Onyekwelu (Staff Writer)October 4, 2022

Within the last four months, Peter Obi has moved speedily from being just one of the many presidential aspirants, to becoming a frontline candidate. For the most part, many people see this audacious political feat as something that is both uncommon and miraculous. However, more careful consideration of events so far shows very convincingly, that the ongoing organic movement for installation of Peter Obi as the next President of Nigeria is something Obi himself saw...

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OPINION: A Country in Freefall

AfricaColumnsOpinionOPINION: A Country in Freefall

PilotnewsOctober 3, 2022

The latest military coup d’état would seem to be the least of Burkina Faso’s problems. Over the weekend, a small group of soldiers led by 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore overthrew the military junta of Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Damiba had occupied Burkina Faso’s Kosyam Palace for all of nine months, having assumed power in January following the deposition of democratically elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore. The Traore coup is the country’s ninth since...

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OPINION: Mali’s Junta Sees Enemies Everywhere

AfricaColumnsOpinionOPINION: Mali’s Junta Sees Enemies Everywhere

PilotnewsSeptember 30, 2022

Blaming external actors for the country’s woes accomplishes little for the Malian people. Among the more notably undiplomatic events at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, the remarks of Mali’s interim Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga, an appointee of the military junta that seized power over two years ago, stood out. Predictably, France was attacked for alleged “subversive actions,” and criticized for transferring its military forces from Mali to Niger. The same Malian junta had repeatedly criticized...

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