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By   Simon Abah   Many military strategists x-ray strategies to tackle the scourge of terror which has damaged the image of Nigeria globally. It is highly commendable that President Muhammadu Buhari as stated in the past, “has absolute confidence in the ability of the Nigerian military to bring to an end the insurgency spearheaded by members of the Boko Haram sect.” But I have always believed that the military alone cannot end the war on insurgency without the support of the political benefactors of terror in the first place. In 2013, I asked a young army officer (now late) if the military can stamp out Boko Haram, he shook his head, “not with this commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” he said. Whatever that meant I didn’t bother to ask. But I know that fighting troops must respect their C-IN-C and must have the backing of same to succeed in wars prosecuted. Again, I know that a nation’s armed forces are as strong-willed as the commander-in-chief and, the mil...

By  Simon Abah Until we groom good people for elective office, people who are selfless, driven by a sense of mission, folks who understand the importance of urgency for change, belief in community, do not wear their opinion on their sleeve, avoid flagging religious views in favour of egalitarianism and to stop putting their snout in the trough of the gravy train and free-booting. *Gov El-Rufai  Even if a Martian comes from Mars on a white horse with Marian ideas to transform Nigeria , we would never go above being the self-proclaimed Giant of Africa. (Simon Abah, The Guardian , 30 May 2017, Between presidential and parliamentary system of government) .  When he became governor, I wondered if he had the right humanistic temperament to lead a fickle state like Kaduna , unpredictable because of the numerous numbers of religious crises that it had had in the past. I had to ask because from reports it was alleged that he wore his outlooks on his sleeves. Kaduna I reasoned did...

By Simon Abah The deaths of and whispered deaths of people in far-away places in Kaduna can lead to the deaths of hundreds of people in the state capital. These have gone on for too long with no end in sight other than preachment for tolerance and for people to learn to live in peace when the dust settles. Leaders go about begging people to live in peace. Beg? No-one is ever punished; the benefactors are always in the wind. Pastors, Bishops, Sheiks or Chief Imams, have failed the north by the way they have handled these repeated crises in northern Nigeria because they are habituated to being politically correct every time instead of calling a spade by its name, shrinking violets. Who doesn’t know that politicians in the north play on prejudices to divide and tear the people apart? What is amazing is how fast youths go about killing people. These killings would go on unabated until these youths have jobs to do but who will provide them with jobs. Many of today’s political persons in th...

By   Simon Abah There is an alarming rise in organised political defections in Nigeria . Although she is being hyped as the giant of Africa, the democracy in Nigeria is not practised like in countries such as Ghana , Sierra Leone , Botswana , Tanzania , Liberia , Senegal and Zambia with stable democracies.  Nigeria ’s version is a guided democracy and a democracy for the few. *Saraki What are the reasons for the surge in defections? Turncoats complain about the absence of internal democracy in their parties and of political witch-hunt by political gladiators. Do you agree with the beliefs of these defectors? Particularly since no mention is made about the developmental interests of Nigeria as reasons for changing sides. Isn’t it weird to see politicians castigate a political party at sunset only to defect to same party at sunrise? Winston Churchill was once a Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) but he died as a Conservative party man. He never returned to his former party Liberal ...