Impediment to decisive victory over Boko Haram

…also published in Daily Trust

After nearly a decade since the eruption of the protracted war between the Nigerian state and Boko Haram insurgents, and in view of the failure of the Nigerian military to achieve a decisive victory over the terrorists, it’s high time the federal government identified and addressed the underlying impediment(s) to achieving it.

This is absolutely imperative as it appears that the already barely prepared and largely demoralized Nigerian military has practically exhausted its tactical capabilities, which explains the preventable yet recurrent massacre of its personnel at the hands of the terrorists who are growing more audacious and exhibiting more sophisticated attack and tactical maneuver, thanks to their apparently growing links with some transnational terror groups, e.g. the so-called ISIS from and/or through which they receive more terror training, more funding, more weapons and equipment. 

Gandujegate: Lest impunity prevail

…also published in Daily Trust

Though even before the issuance of the controversial court order barring the Kano State House of Assembly from carrying on with its purported investigation into the bribery-taking scandal involving Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, I never took the investigation seriously. After all, going by the way the House was handling the matter, it was already obvious that the Governor would almost certainly be “cleared” of any wrongdoing eventually.  

Meanwhile, the beneficiaries and aspiring beneficiaries of corruption, paid and even unsolicited governor’s apologists who albeit deep down never doubt the authenticity of the leaked bribery video clips carry on propagating empty and ridiculous arguments in their desperate attempts to absolve the governor.

Global politics in northern Nigerian sphere

…also published in Daily Trust

With the flood of constantly updated and in many cases conflicting news on current affairs at the fingertips of the average person nowadays, his apparent confusion on many topical issues is indeed a matter of course.

This is primarily due to the different underlying agendas that influence the narratives of media organizations; each according to the agenda of the government or interest group funding it, which explains why while even when their narratives on an incident appear basically similar, a critical comparison among the narratives would always reveal how each organization seeks to influence the emotions, conclusions and judgments of its audience according to its underlying agenda. For instance, as a British-funded media organization, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) may accurately report a confrontation incident between, say, a group of Palestinian freedom fighters and Israeli settlers on the occupied Palestinian territories, however, the organization’s underlying agenda and prejudice on the conflict would always subtly influence the narrative to keep the perception of its audience about the conflict too simplistic to see it in its wider and right context, and instead see it and indeed any incident of that nature as a mere confrontation between some belligerent Palestinian militants and peace-loving Israelis.