OPINION: Nigeria: Anxiety Over Deteriorating Security Morphing Into Panic

By John Campbell, Guest Columnist and Blogger   Some Nigerian movers and shakers appear to be panicking over the continued deterioration of security nationwide. Longtime political heavyweight Bukola Saraki—former governor of Kwara State, former president of the senate, and former chairman of the National Assembly—and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to seek outside assistance. Senior Advocate of Nigeria Robert Clarke at a Sunday, May 2 Channels Television news show questioned whether Nigeria would survive another six months...

OPINION: Anambra International Airport; A Study in Financial Prudence

AWKA — Anambra State governor Willie Obiano is receiving glowing praises from within and outside Anambra for the Anambra International Airport project, a bold capital-intensive but necessary undertaking, despite the economic pain the pandemic has and still exacting, to position Anambra for future social and economic growth. WAP will be featuring series of stories on the ongoing Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport.  Below is one in the series from the current Anambra State Commissioner...

OPINION: Measuring Boko Haram’s Impact on State Security Services

By John Campbell and Asch Harwood   The Nigerian state security apparatus has a long history of human rights violations. Most recently, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious Nigerian police unit, made international headlines for its brutality and a wave of massive protests calling for its disbandment—which were then quashed by security services in a horrifying massacre of peaceful protestors. In many instances, the military’s response to Boko Haram has been similarly heavy-handed and indiscriminate. Abuses have been...

As the World Commemorates World Press Freedom Day, How Free is the Nigerian Press

“In a functional democracy, the press must navigate the onerous duty of shaping the conscience, choices and will of the society” ―Ebuka Onyekwelu May 3, of every year, is celebrated as World Press Freedom Day. All over the world, Press Freedom continues to be a topical issue with, in some instances, the argument moving from needing more freedom, to questions about just the appropriate level of freedom that can be permissible, for the press. The...

OPINION: In a Reversal, Nigeria Wants U.S. Africa Command Headquarters in Africa

By John Campbell, Guest Columnist and Blogger   On April 27, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in a virtual meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requested that the United States move the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany to Africa. The request marks a reversal of official Nigerian opposition—first made public twelve years ago—to AFRICOM plans to move to the continent. The shift likely reflects the conclusion that the security situation in West Africa and Nigeria is...

Thoughts on the politics of the Anambra Airport and Governor Obiano

“With this achievement,  governor Obiano has earned an enviable spot in the chronicles of Anambra times.” ―Ebuka Onyekwelu As expected, the Anambra International Airport, Umueri which test flight successfully landed and took off a few days ago has drawn several commentaries. One must however admit that the argument, fanfare on the part of government supporters, and dismissal on the part of most opposition of this project, are not altogether unforeseen considering that the expectations of...

OPINION: In Anambra Int’l Airport Project Obiano Symbolises the Indomitable Anambra Spirit

By Joe C. Anatune, Guest Columnist and Blogger   One thing we and many others concede to Governor Willie Obiano is his consistent personality before and in government. He has a bounce and style that is essentially Willie Obiano. He has not morphed into something different since I came across him in the early days of The League of Anambra Professionals when we used to converge and meet at Dr. Ndi Onuekwusi’s Ikoyi residence. Today,...

Unanswered Questions Swirl Following Burkina Faso Murders

By John Campbell, Guest Columnist and Blogger   Confirmed by the Spanish prime minister, Western media reports that two Spanish filmmakers and the Irish president of a conservation non-governmental organization (NGO) were murdered in Burkina Faso near the border with Benin on April 26. Roberto Fraile and David Beriain were in Burkina Faso working on a documentary about poaching. They were accompanied by Rory Young, a Zambia-born Irish citizen who headed Chengeta Wildlife, an NGO devoted to...

A Revelation of the Big Fall―Predictions from an Armchair Prophet

“Racism is terrorism. Period.” ―Don Okolo The American system of government is still on the move, going into its two hundred and fifty-fifth year as a nation. It has, undoubtedly, endured. The bulk and size of her polity, the one singularity that had woven the ligaments of her fabric into a tight, waterproof structure…the sole rationale for her longevity, the reason it has persevered inside both rigors of good and bad politics are because of...

OPINION: Nigerian Government Minister’s Jihadi Statements Cause Uproar

By John Campbell, Guest Columnist & Blogger   Isa Pantami is minister of communications and digital economy in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. Some years ago, in sermons and other statements, he used rhetoric about Christians and the West that mimics that of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He also fulsomely praised Osama bin Laden. Some years later, he apologized. Recently, however, those statements surfaced on social media. One Nigerian newspaper claimed that Pantami was on a U.S. government watch list for terrorists—a...

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