The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Way out of Nigeria’s housing challenge

    Way out of Nigeria’s housing challenge

    Sir: Housing is the second most essential basic need of man, after food. The impact of housing on health, welfare and output of man is profound. But the challenge of housing in Nigeria has been endemic. Unavailability of serviced plots that are ready for housing development, lack of necessary basic infrastructures that will facilitate smooth development, or a good title that will enhance the marketability of the land, especially after one might have developed or build houses on it are some of the factors inhibiting housing development in Nigeria.

    Finance is the major impediment to housing provision. No matter the standard and scope of work you want to do, housing is capital intensive. You need quite a lot of money to accomplish it.

    To compound the challenge of finance is the absence of efficient, comprehensive and organized mortgage finance system that would have granted easy access to housing. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s initiative in collaboration with the World Bank in setting up the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (NRMC) is expected to boost mortgage financing and home ownership schemes in the country, but it is yet to yield appreciable outcomes.

    Someday, I hope that the generality of our people would be able to access mortgage facilities.

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    Going forward, housing sector must be properly regulated and its activities coordinated to address low quality of housing development and absence of mass and affordable housing. There should be regulations. We must checkmate infiltration of the sector by land speculators and non-professionals. There is need to identify professional real estate developers just as it is being done in other climes such as United Arab Emirates, America and United Kingdom.  There is also the need to address the challenge of ineffective housing finance, in as much as it would be impossible to segregate finance from housing. Failure to do these will continue to pose a challenge to housing in Nigeria.

    Government must strengthen its legal and regulatory framework for mortgages, including property rights, land registration, and foreclosure procedures to enable a virile and robust mortgage system. Clear and unambiguous property rights, fast land registration processes, and well-defined foreclosure procedures can give lenders and borrowers better security, perhaps leading to additional mortgage lending.

    The Land Use Act is another hindrance to housing development. In the interest of Nigeria and housing in Nigeria, we need to review the Land Use Act. That is why the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers have been calling for a review of the Act, or its removal from the constitution.

    •Oluronke Mary Ajayi,Lagos.

  • The violence we ignore

    The violence we ignore

    • By Joy Akunwa Nwajari

    Sir: Gender based violence affects everyone, and the numbers prove it. According to national surveys, one in three Nigerian women has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. Research also shows that one in ten Nigerian men has experienced emotional or physical abuse, though many never speak out due to shame and cultural expectations. And according to the National Human Rights Commission, more than 25,000 gender based violence cases have been officially recorded between 2020-2022,  yet these numbers represent only a fraction of the reality, as countless survivors remain silent. Statistics reveal the size of the problem, but lived experiences reveal its depth.

    Gender based violence appears in subtle, everyday ways: a partner checking a woman’s phone obsessively and calling it “love”; a man being mocked, insulted, or controlled but told to “be a man”; a girl touched inappropriately in public; a boy shouted into silence; a woman forced to hand over her earnings; a man physically harmed but too embarrassed to report it. These small wounds, repeated across thousands of homes, slowly weaken the emotional foundation of a nation.

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    The path forward requires honesty and courage. Nigeria needs support systems that protect everyone!  Women, men, boys, and girls with safe, trusted ways to seek help. Children must learn emotional intelligence early, so boys understand that expressing feelings is not weakness and girls understand that boundaries and dignity are their right. Men and women must be encouraged to seek counselling without shame. Harmful gender expectations must be challenged wherever they appear. Communities must stop looking away, because silence often fuels danger. And gender based violence laws must be enforced consistently and transparently, so protection is not just written on paper but lived in practice.  

    Nigeria is not without laws, but laws mean little when they are not enforced. The Child Rights Act (2003) guarantees the protection of every Nigerian child from all forms of violence, abuse, and neglect. The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (2015) outlaws physical, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse, yet many states have been slow to implement it fully. Some states, like Lagos, Ekiti, and Enugu, have domestic violence laws, but gaps remain in enforcement, funding, awareness, and accessibility. Laws on their own cannot save lives; only the courage to enforce them can.

    True peace begins at home. Until homes become places of safety, the nation will continue to struggle with hidden instability. Gender based violence harms women deeply, but it also harms men, boys, girls, families, and the country’s future. A generation cannot grow strong if children are raised in fear. A nation cannot be stable if its households are unsafe. Gender based violence is not a side issue; it is a national warning.

    •Joy Akunwa Nwajari (NYSC)

    Abuja.

  • Insecurity and northern elites

    Insecurity and northern elites

    • By Kola Amzat

    Sir: Quite a number of well-meaning Nigerians, respected diplomats, as well as religious leaders have passionately appealed to President Bola Tinubu to replicate across Nigeria, the same decisiveness and spirit of urgency he deployed to abort recent coup in Republic of Benin, to tackle the challenges of insurgence, banditry and general unending insecurity across the country.

    With no shadow of doubt, the ruthlessness and breath-taking fashion of Nigerian troops in routing out Benin Republic coup plotters underscores what Nigeria armed forces are capable of doing…internally and externally, if the circumstances are right.

    For emphasis, Nigeria troops significantly contributed to the final collapse of apartheid in South Africa.   Nigerian troops were the military backbone of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) from 2003-2018, assisting to ultimately restore security and orderliness into the country that had been ravaged by brutal civil war.

    Militarily, Nigeria troops were towering and indomitable in peacekeeping efforts in Congo, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Darfur, as well as providing military assistance to Gambia and Tanzania. 

    How come it’s taking the same armed forces decades to neutralize the internal banditry, insurgency and criminality?

    How come there are discordant tunes amongst the military in the North, West, South and East of Nigeria, a challenge alien to the armed forces of that glorious time?

    For the avoidance of doubt, the problem of militating against this government is an internal challenge, rooted in the entrenched interest of the Northern group of elites.  

    In the North-west, North-east and North-central where there are preponderance of bandits, insurgents and criminals, the political leaders and traditional rulers have over decades paid little or no attention to the very powerful and stupendously wealthy men, as well as financiers of terrorists, who together hold the country by the jugular.

    Until the men in authority and power that be, in the northern regions collaborate and resolve to work in conjunction with the Tinubu government in its efforts to deal and completely neutralize the key figures and the so-called untouchables in the north who now control the bands of criminals and militias in the region, the criminals would continue to hold the nation to ransom.

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    Instructively, the identities of these men, funding terrorism were disclosed in 2017 when UAE authority arrested, prosecuted and convicted six Nigerians alongside other foreign terrorism sponsors.

    For the president and federal government to make significant headway in combating criminality, banditry and insurgency, northern authority must collaborate with the government in order to draw curtains on the activity of these agents of darkness.   

    It’s also important to emphasize the high level of frustration in the densely populated north, challenge necessitated by wide-scale poverty, low-level of education amongst the generality of citizenry, very poor health schemes, and generally non-exposure of millions of northern youths.

    With the diverse challenges highlighted above, the continually hungry teeming youths, with little or no care, coupled with scourge of illiteracy, are easily attracted and recruited into criminality and banditry.

    It’s indeed unfortunate that quite a number of northern stakeholders have continually been making reckless pronouncements drawing comparison between insurgents in the North and militants in the Niger Delta region, a deliberate attempt aimed at subjecting the government to pressure to adopt the same treatment for the two separate groups.

    The two groups are never the same. They don’t fight for the same cause! They’re obviously not driven by the same agenda!

    For Nigeria therefore to triumph in the battle against banditry and insurgency, the northern elites must arise and work in concert with the government.

    The north must dutifully accept that the region contributed to the unrest and general climate of insecurity in their region, and by extension, all over Nigeria.

    They must accept that the wide-scale insecurity in the north is what has overflown to other regions, causing breaking down of law and order.

    •Kola Amzat (FCA, FCIB),

    Lagos.

  • Still on indigenous languages as mode of instruction in schools

    Still on indigenous languages as mode of instruction in schools

    • By Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Sir: A man, who cannot speak his native language, is a cultural alien; and as such, he cannot be socialized into his people’s culture. Language, we know, belongs to the non-material aspect of culture. So, idioms and proverbs, which are inherent in a language, help to mould the personalities of young people within the cultural setting where the language is spoken.

    So, a man who cannot speak his native language is not moored to his people’s culture. He is an outsider in his own cultural milieu.

    A young person’s mastery of his native tongue will enhance his cognitive ability and his understanding of his immediate natural environment. Studies carried out by scholars show the advantages of teaching school children in their mother tongues during their formative years.

    Those studies show that when school children are taught in their native languages, they will understand complex concepts and phenomena, easily. And the experiments carried out in Yorubaland by scholars in the area of education psychology have proved that kids taught in Yoruba language in the southwest performed exceedingly well. The results of those studies have fuelled the agitation for the adoption of the educational policy that stipulates that school children should be taught in their native tongues.

    But that policy- which is teaching school children in their native languages-has its disadvantages, too. Although it is being romanticized by advocates of the use of indigenous languages as mode of instruction in our schools, it has numerous downsides, which demand dispassionate evaluation and dissection.

    Are all Nigerian languages so developed that they have words for terms used in all specialized areas of learning? And do dialects in a language, such as Igbo, have a common orthography? The answers to these questions are categorical no.

    Therefore, imparting knowledge to school children, who speak different dialects of a language, will be a difficult task for a teacher, as the children will find the teacher’s teaching unintelligible. For example, some Igbo people cannot understand Igbo language dialects but their own dialect. So it can be seen that most of our native languages are inadequate as modes of transmission of knowledge to school children.

    Again, a public or private primary school located in a cosmopolitan city will have a population of pupils that is composed of pupils from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Such a school can be called a mini-Nigeria because most of our ethnic groups are represented there. Making a choice regarding the language that will be used to teach the school children in the school will pose an insurmountable problem to the school administrators.

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    More so, the school teachers require training in the indigenous languages to enhance their proficiency in the use of those languages for pedagogy. Giving them the fundamental training in native languages will cost our government a stupendous amount of money.

    So when the pros and cons of using indigenous languages as languages of instruction in our schools are juxtaposed side by side, it will be discovered that the disadvantages of that proposed educational policy far outweigh its advantages.

    Our clamour for the adoption of indigenous languages is predicated on the fear that the non-use of local languages in our schools will make them become extinct. But such fears are unfounded and baseless. Nigerians who live outside their ethnic groups speak their respective native languages. And surprisingly, some Nigerian youths who were born in foreign countries speak their native languages, fluently. Can a language that is used daily by its owners become extinct?

    Let us not sacrifice English language, our official language, on the altar of linguistic moonshine, which is canonized as the promotion of native tongues. From Australia to America, and from Ghana to London, English language is spoken by a great number of earth’s inhabitants. It is the language of diplomacy, the language of commerce, the language of law, the language of laity, and the language of science.

    To jettison English language as the language of instruction in our schools will impede the growth we are making in the area of education. We should not forget that education is the bedrock of national development. So it behoves us to board the vehicle that will take us to our destination in no time.

    •Chiedu Uche Okoye,

    Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State.

  • Nasir El-Rufai’s hypocrisy and manufactured northern victimhood

    Nasir El-Rufai’s hypocrisy and manufactured northern victimhood

    Sir: Former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai is at it again weaponising religion, inflaming northern emotions, and inventing conspiracies just because he is no longer the one sitting close to the corridors of power.

    He shared Bello Doka’s article alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “waging a quiet war against the Muslim North.” Coming from a man whose politics has been built on religious division, the propaganda is painfully predictable.

    But let us tell ourselves the truth: Politics of religion is dead. Competence has taken centre stage. The North will not be dragged backwards by one man’s bitterness. El-Rufai’s Problem Is Not the North His problem is that Tinubu is not using him.

    This sudden defence of “Muslim North” did not exist during Buhari’s government. Where was this righteous energy when Buhari filled every important office with northern Muslims?

    Chief of Army Staff – Muslim, North; Chief of Air Staff – Muslim, North; Defence Minister – Muslim, North.

    What happened?

    Banditry exploded. Kaduna burned. Zamfara collapsed. Katsina was bleeding. Farms became graveyards and schools were turned to kidnap markets.

    So let’s ask El-Rufai: If Muslim appointments automatically bring security, why did your own Kaduna become the epicentre of killings under a Muslim – Muslim government?

    The hypocrisy is loud. When Buhari filled Nigeria with northerners, El-Rufai said: “Appointments should be based on competence.”

    Today Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu balances appointments and suddenly competence no longer matters, only religion matters?

    Where did this sudden “love” for northern Muslims come from?

    El-Rufai, the same man who said Kaduna South complaints against Muslim – Muslim ticket were childish, is now crying religion?

    The hypocrisy is disgusting.

    The North must stop allowing political manipulators to play saviour

    The same El-Rufai who silenced clergy in Kaduna is now pretending to defend Islam? The same man who divided Kaduna by religion for eight years now wants to preach religious fairness?

    Nigeria knows him, Kaduna knows him, and history knows him.

    Whenever Nigeria begins to unite, El-Rufai appears with matches and kerosene.

    Religion is his political oxygen.

    Division is his comfort zone.

    Chaos is his political career.

    Tinubu owes you competence, not sectarian appointments. The entire idea that “Northern Muslims are being removed” collapses when placed beside reality: Middle Belt finally has representation; Northerners are still in key offices, and Christian Northerners are finally considered human beings.

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    Appointments are no longer a religious monopoly.

    Is that war? Or sanity?

    A northerner is not defined by religion

    El-Rufai’s logic is clear: If you are not a Muslim, even if you are from Northern Nigeria, you don’t belong.

    So Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and Taraba should become foreign countries?

    This is exactly why Middle Belt shunned northern politics under Buhari. Tinubu is correcting decades of marginalisation inside the North itself.

    Tinubu is doing what El-Rufai never had the courage to do: Balancing the system, uniting the country, reducing ethnic monopoly and restraining religious dominance.

    And that is what truly frightens him.

    Nigerians are tired of religious merchants. We want roads. We want electricity. We want better security. We want working economy. We want competent appointees

    Not loud emotional blackmail from political middlemen searching for relevance.

    If Northern Muslims like Buratai, Sadiq, Monguno, Badaru and others could not secure Nigeria when they controlled everything, then the problem is not religion.

    The problem is that incompetent people were recycled because they were Northerners and Muslims, not because they could deliver.

    Tinubu is ending that rubbish. El-Rufai, the game is over.

    The era of religious extortion is gone. The North is wiser. Nigeria is tired and the Muslim North you are trying to provoke has suffered enough under the same system you defended for eight years.

    If you have a presidential candidate for 2027, bring him. Tell Nigerians his achievements. Tell us what he did. Tell us where he succeeded.

    But don’t hide behind Islam. We are not buying that trick again.

    Nigeria is moving forward. With or without the tears of expired politicians.

    •Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan,Kaduna.

  • Will the system allow General Musa to work?

    Will the system allow General Musa to work?

    Sir: Across religion, tribe, region, and political persuasion, Nigerians have lifted General Christopher Gwabin Musa on a wave of goodwill as he assumes office as Minister of Defence. It is a moment heavy with hope, supported by the growing sense that the system can work if given the right leadership.

    Musa’s record as Chief of Defence Staff earned him a credibility that neither propaganda nor political choreography could manufacture. He was respected in the barracks and appreciated by citizens who watched a man who communicated to Nigerians clearly, acted decisively, and understood the gravity of Nigeria’s security crisis.

    But as CDS, Musa was at the centre of Nigeria’s security storms with limited room to operate. His influence was bounded by entrenched interests and the political machinery surrounding the armed forces. He pushed the military as far as the system allowed, yet the deeper engines of decision-making remained outside his reach. He could direct operations but not redesign the architecture that produced those operations. He neutralized criminals, but could not neutralize the competing interests of powerful figures who hold opposing philosophies on how terrorists should be engaged. He could respond to crises, but not restructure the institutions that continually generated them. His role demanded results in an environment where major security decisions were shaped by political calculations.

    Now, as Minister of Defence, Musa is at the nexus where policy, procurement, doctrine, inter-agency coordination. In this office, he can set tempo, direction, standards, and expectations. It is understandable why Nigerians; exhausted by years of insecurity; have placed their hopes on his shoulders.

    But Nigeria’s defence architecture is not a technical institution; it is a political battlefield populated by entrenched interests. There are politicians who profit from insecurity. There are officials who enable bandit networks. There are influential religious figures whose rhetoric softens the ground for criminality. There are state governors who prefer negotiations, ransom payments, and accommodation over decisive action. There are appointees who resist reforms because it threatens the channels through which billions are siphoned. There are intelligence officers who hoard information or divert it to criminals. These forces do not evaporate simply because a competent man has been appointed. They form the landscape Musa must confront as Minister of Defence.

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    In truth, Musa’s toughest challenges may not come from bandits, terrorists, or herdsmen, but from within the corridors of power. There will be tensions with officials who favour negotiation over strength strategy. There will be clashes in doctrine with those who treat hardened criminals as stakeholders rather than threats to the state. There will be frictions with established power centres, from clerics advocating dialogue with armed groups to political players invested in the status quo. The influence of figures like Sheikh Gumi will continue to hover over public discourse, pushing for concessions at moments when Musa insists on firmness. Some northern elites and state officials who view decisive force as politically inconvenient will find themselves at odds with a minister whose instinct is to enforce law, not bargain with those who break it.

    Musa enters this office as a man who understands the system intimately. He has seen the rot, noted the loopholes, witnessed the sabotage, and felt the institutional resistance. He is not naïve about the terrain. That experience, combined with the rare national goodwill he enjoys, gives him a fighting chance. But goodwill is not the same as political will. The real responsibility falls with the Commander-in-Chief: whether he will provide the backing required to suppress terrorism, fund the defence sector without hesitation, and allow him to clean the house without fear or favour.

    General Musa has the competence, understanding, and courage to steer Nigeria toward a new security order. But competence has never been enough in a system addicted to dysfunction. The question is no longer about his capacity; it is about the country’s sincerity. It is about whether the politicians are ready to stop playing truth-or-dare with the lives of ordinary Nigerians. It is about whether the government is prepared to confront terrorism sponsors, demolish vested interests, and prioritize national security over political comfort.

    •Bright Okuta, <brightokuta@gmail.com>

  • On Bauchi’s planned recruitment of 10,000 workers

    On Bauchi’s planned recruitment of 10,000 workers

    Sir: It is now exactly six months since the Bauchi State government, under the esteemed leadership Senator Bala Muhammad Abdulkadir, announced the recruitment of 10,000 workers across the state. This initiative was widely welcomed as a strategic effort to reduce unemployment and provide opportunities for the growing number of graduates in Bauchi. However, since the announcement, there has been no official update on the progress of the exercise, despite the high expectations of many candidates who are eagerly waiting to be absorbed into the state payroll.

    The prolonged silence has created tension and uncertainty in the minds of thousands of less privileged applicants, who now question whether the selection process will truly be based on merit. Many fear that the delay, now approaching seven months, may benefit only those with privileged backgrounds. This concern is further deepened by circulating rumours that the selection process is being conducted secretly through unofficial channels, with allegations that certain individuals are acquiring appointment letters at very high prices.

    Some unconfirmed reports suggest that some unscrupulous elements within the system may be selling positions for amounts ranging from N900,000, N800,000, and N600,000, depending on the candidate’s qualifications.

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    In view of these troubling allegations, we call on the state government, to launch a thorough investigation to verify the authenticity of these claims. Additionally, we urge the government to expedite the recruitment process and ensure that the entire exercise is transparent, merit-based, and fair to all applicants, especially those who are genuinely qualified and deserving of the opportunity.

    Going so will not only restore public confidence in the recruitment process but will also strengthen the integrity of governance and demonstrate the administration’s commitment to justice, fairness, and equal opportunity. The people of Bauchi State hold high expectations for this government and continue to believe in its dedication to positive change and inclusive development.

    In conclusion, the ongoing recruitment exercise represents a rare opportunity for the Bauchi State government to reaffirm its commitment to transparency and meritocracy. By ensuring that every appointment is earned through competence rather than privilege, the governor has the chance to inspire renewed trust among citizens and set a strong precedent for future governance.

    The hopes and aspirations of thousands of young people rest on the integrity of this process. We are confident that the, administration will rise to the challenge, with decisive action, clear communication, and a firm stance against job racketeering, so that Bauchi can stand as a model of fairness and equitable opportunity for all.

    •Ukasha Rabiu Magama, Magama Toro Bauchi state,

  • Where is Yobe’s Hon. Fatima Talba?

    Where is Yobe’s Hon. Fatima Talba?

    • By Kasim Isa Muhammad

    Sir: Since her inauguration into the House of Representatives, the people of Nangere and Potiskum have been left wondering what exactly has become of Hon. Fatima Talba, their representative. Almost three years into her tenure, there is very little to show, and the silence surrounding her supposed legislative efforts speaks volumes.

    The truth is that the people of Nangere and Potiskum feel abandoned. They elected Hon. Talba to be their voice in Abuja, but that voice has gone missing. Instead of championing the cause of her people, she has vanished into the comfort of political invisibility. Since taking office, there has been no serious engagement with constituents, no town hall meetings, and no efforts to connect with the communities she represents. Her physical absence has become symbolic of a much deeper problem: the complete disconnect between elected officials and the people who put them in power.

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    Worse still, it is being said that in two whole years at the National Assembly, Hon. Talba has not sponsored a single bill or motion. In a legislative chamber where performance is measured by impact, she has left behind no legislative footprint. Her record so far is an empty slate. For a representative who swore an oath to serve, this is nothing short of disgraceful. The House of Representatives is not a tourist attraction where members come to sightsee or take selfies. It is a place for hard work, ideas, debate, and action. Hon. Talba’s silence is not only embarrassing but also insulting to the people who believed in her potential to bring change.

    Representation is not about attending a few sessions and hiding in the crowd of legislators. It is about standing up, speaking out, and making the struggles of one’s people impossible to ignore. To neglect this duty is to betray the confidence of the electorate.

    Poverty and unemployment have become a way of life for many in the constituency. The absence of empowerment programs or constituency projects has left people hopeless. No skills training, no youth engagement, and no visible attempts to improve livelihoods. The roads are in terrible shape, electricity is unreliable, and clean water is still a luxury in many communities. These are not new problems, but what makes them worse now is that the representative who should be pushing for solutions is nowhere to be found.

    It is not too late for her to redeem herself, but time is running out fast. Two years remain in her tenure, and she must decide how she wants to be remembered.

    She owes her people more than silence. She owes them action, visibility, and results. History is already watching, and it will not be kind to those who squandered their mandate on inaction.

    •Kasim Isa Muhammad,

    Potiskum, Yobe State.

  • Final sunset for Biafra agitation?

    Final sunset for Biafra agitation?

    • By Ezinwanne Onwuka

    Sir: The Biafran struggle has suffered yet another devastating blow. And many sympathisers are struggling to come in terms with this latest roadblock since the secessionist struggle began in 1967.

    Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the military governor of the Eastern Region, declared the region as an independent sovereign state named the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967. On July 6, 1967, the federal government launched a ‘police action’ to repress the secession. This escalated into a civil war, which lasted 30 months, to preserve the sovereignty of Nigeria as one ‘indissoluble and indivisible state’ and to reintegrate Biafra as part of Nigeria. That period remains one of the darkest chapters of Nigeria’s history. Millions of lives were lost – many fell to bullets and others to starvation.

    Decades after Yakubu Gowon nipped the secessionist attempt in the bud, the struggle for Biafra still lingers. A radical rebirth of the struggle was championed by Nnamdi Kanu with the creation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in 2012. Before the establishment of IPOB, Kanu spread his separatist gospel through Radio Biafra, an iteration of the broadcast network established by the defunct Biafran government in 1967. Beyond advocating for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria, he used the radio station to push inflammatory and often incendiary rhetoric that emboldened his loyalists to resort to violence in the name of Biafran struggle.

    Kanu was arrested in 2015. After spending a year in detention, he was granted bail on health grounds, but later went into hiding following a military raid on his home in Umuahia. He was rearrested in 2021 in Kenya and was extradited to Nigeria to resume trial on multiple counts of terrorism related to his separatist campaign. The trial came to an end on November 20, with his conviction on all seven counts and sentencing to life imprisonment as against the death penalty prescribed by law. His IPOB had been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the government in 2017.

    Meanwhile, during Kanu’s incarceration, the agitation for secession did not cease. Simon Ekpa, a Finnish citizen of Nigerian descent, assumed de facto leadership of the movement and continued spreading the Biafran gospel. Just like Kanu, he portrayed violent resistance as a necessary tool for the liberation of the Igbos from the ‘zoo’. Ekpa, using social media, declared sit-at-home lockdowns in the southeast to protest the detention of Kanu and to press for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra. He was picked up by Finnish authorities in November 2024 on allegations of sponsoring terrorist activities in Nigeria. In September, the Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland sentenced him to six years in prison after convicting him of terrorism-related offences, including inciting the public to commit crime for terrorist purposes.

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    With these emotion-provoking developments that are only two months apart, Gowon’s words: “The ‘rising sun of Biafra’ is set forever” readily comes to mind. Once again, we witness the Biafran struggle brought to its knees. Though there is a difference between struggle of 1970 and that of today: in Ojukwu’s time, the Republic of Biafra was a reality though it was short-lived; in contrast, the twenty-first-century agitation never materialised into something tangible. For years, strife, anarchy, chaos, violence, and mayhem were deployed by the now-jailed separatist leaders all in the name of fighting for self-determination. Yet, nothing was achieved. The only visible results were the bloodshed and economic ruin that became the order of the day across the south-eastern states.

    It is important to state that self-determination is indeed a legally recognised right under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, domesticated in Nigeria. Article 20 describes the right as “unquestionable and inalienable.” But this right does not legitimise violence, coercion, or terror. The usual sit-at-home orders primarily affect his own people. The killings of people who disobey the order are his own people. Ordering of closure of churches, schools, as well as markets also affects his own people. They are unable to trade, go to school, farm, or even worship on such days. The threats of violence and death have prevented the people from going about their legitimate business. Are these acts…consistent with agitation for self-determination?

    As the dust from Kanu’s conviction has yet to settle and his supporters continue to cry foul, some questions hang heavily in the air: What is the future of the Biafran struggle? Has the ‘rising sun of Biafra’ finally set as Gowon triumphantly declared in 1970? Or will this be a case of silencing the messenger but not the message?

    •Ezinwanne Onwuka,

    ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com.

  • Russia’s shadow and West Africa’s democratic unravelling

    Russia’s shadow and West Africa’s democratic unravelling

    • By Oumarou Sanou

    Sir: The failed coup in Benin lasted barely a few hours, but it has exposed a dangerous trend across West Africa. What unfolded in Cotonou on December 7 was not just a clumsy mutiny by a handful of soldiers—it was a reminder of how fragile our democracies have become, and how eagerly foreign actors and their local proxies are exploiting public frustration to rewrite the political map of the region.

    By 7:30 a.m., shots were ringing around President Patrice Talon’s residence. Minutes later, a ragtag group of mutineers stormed the national broadcaster, declared the president “removed,” and presented an unknown artillery officer as leader of a so-called “Committee for Military Refoundation.” They looked startled, disorganised, and unconvincing. By midday, they had been flushed out, arrested, or had fled. Benin’s institutions held firm. The coup failed—and quickly.

    But the real story began online. Even before the first verified reports emerged, the usual chorus of self-styled “pan-African revolutionaries”—the same characters who cheerlead every military takeover from Niamey and Bamako to Ouagadougou—were already celebrating. The speed of their reaction raises serious questions. Kémi Seba, who has mastered the art of performative radicalism, hailed the mutiny as a “liberation day” before hastily deleting his post once the coup collapsed. Nathalie Yamb, Egountchi Behanzin, and other loud anti-Western voices recycled old protest videos, fabricated stories of “millions” marching, and claimed government statements were issued from “fake studios.” AES-linked accounts joined in, flooding the information space with lies. It was carefully coordinated and deliberate, intended to mislead.

    These people call themselves “pan-Africanists,” but their behaviour betrays something else entirely. Their activism is increasingly indistinguishable from geopolitical propaganda—loud when coups align with their sponsors, silent when repression occurs in their preferred authoritarian states. They do not defend Africa; they manipulate Africans.

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    Then came the most troubling detail: at the height of the coup attempt, two Russian vessels appeared near the port of Cotonou, only to withdraw once it became clear the mutineers had failed. Perhaps a coincidence—but the timing is too convenient, too familiar. Russia and its proxies have mastered the art of filling the cracks in fragile democracies, using information warfare, opportunistic “solidarity,” and covert support to reshape alliances. West Africa, battered by poor governance and eroding public trust, has become fertile ground for corruption.

    If there is comfort, it lies in the maturity shown by Benin’s institutions. The armed forces refused to splinter. The public rejected the mutiny unequivocally. Côte d’Ivoire and others signalled readiness to intervene. For once, democratic states in the region acted like they understood the stakes. And yet, the fact that such a small, ill-prepared group even attempted a coup underscores the depth of the political decay around us.

    Let’s be honest: West Africa is sitting on a democratic fault line. Elections are increasingly contentious. Institutions are underperforming. Citizens feel abandoned. Leaders behave with impunity. In such an environment, coups stop being unthinkable. They become tempting. And foreign actors—whether Moscow or any other power—are more than happy to exploit that vacuum. The danger is not just the coups themselves, but also the erosion of democratic norms that makes coups possible.

    ECOWAS and the African Union can no longer wait for crises to erupt before reacting. They need a standing peer-review mechanism for democratic governance—not the stale, symbolic reviews of the past, but real political diagnostics that confront uncomfortable truths. Countries must be assessed on press freedom, electoral integrity, judicial independence, civil-military relations, and public trust. Anything less is wishful thinking.

    The alarm bells are ringing. West Africa can still pull back from the brink—but only if its leaders choose courage over complacency.

    •Oumarou Sanou,

    sanououmarou386@gmail.com