Opinion
The CJN on wheelchair
“If you are unlucky not to have a representative in the judicial council, even if you are innocent, you can be found guilty – B’eyan o l’eni ni’gbimo, bo ro’jo are, ebi lo mi a je.” This very profound saying of the Yoruba, translated into a pithy musical line in one of the tracks of Alhaji Ayinla Omowura, late Yoruba Apala musician, point unmistakably to the fact that corruption and favouritism predate colonialism in Africa. When you jointly read this line and D. O. Olagoke’s 1962-written play entitled The Incorruptible Judge, you will understand why it is almost an impossibility for Nigeria to operate an impartial and corrupt-free system.
Nigeria’s latest narration on corruption is the allegation that the 2023 election, especially the presidential election, was corruption-ridden. Three major Nigerian politicians, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu jostled for the presidency in the February 25 election. At the end of the exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner. Since then, his two opponents have inundated the system with complaints of vote-rigging. The most recent narrative in the back-and-forth allegations was a riveting story which claims that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola, had sneaked out of the country to hold a meeting with Tinubu. He was pictured on wheelchair. The purpose of the meeting, it was alleged, was to get Ariwoola to quash the gossamer of electoral corruption allegations against Tinubu.
Olagoke’s The Incorruptible Judge is a tip of the ice-berg in the cancer that corruption has become since the author penned the book. It is a story of a young school-leaver who, upon submitting his application to fill an advertised vacancy, was asked to pay a bribe of Five pounds. Rather than gratifying the request, he filed a report with the police and his corrupt employer was arrested. As usual in Nigeria, influences were thereafter spun to ensure that the corrupt employer did not go to jail. The applicant’s father-in-law, who was a notable chief, was used to attempt to pervert the course of justice. However, the trial Judge stuck his ground as an incorruptible judge. At the end of the day, the corrupt officer was got convicted, sentenced to a term in the prison.
If you go into historical exposes on corruption in Nigeria like Karl Maier’s This House Has Fallen or Stephen Ellis’ This Present Darkness, it may be difficult not to agree that the problem of corruption in Africa or Nigeria is genetic. In Maier’s is an audacious, brazen and disturbing report of how corruption and favouritism have destroyed the fabric of Nigeria, bellwether of Africa. Told with baffling statistics, you could smell putrid odour emitting from the lines of the book. It is a distressing story narrated with a depressing consistency. Ellis, on the other hand, traced the roots of Nigeria’s fraud-prone system to the immediate colonial era, plotting the graph to the present and why Nigeria is globally perceived as global headquarters of fraud.
With the definition of corruption as “an abuse of entrusted power for personal gains,” you will realize that Nigeria is roiling right inside a puddle of stench. It is glaring that it may even be difficult to acquit any Nigerian of corruption. This is because there is hardly any distinction between the public and private and their purses, as well as public and personal gains.
Since the exit of the colonialists in 1960, the structures of governance they left behind have proved incapable of withstanding the greater pre-colonial structure of corruption that they inherited. Hard as the British tried to battle the cankerworm with institutions of the police and the judiciary, not long after they left, corruption swam ashore with a baffling notoriety. The political class that took power from them was utterly reckless, showing open disdain for accountability and process.
It was the same story with the military who took over power from 1966. Major Kaduna Nzeogwu put the problem of corruption in perspective when he, remarked: “the country’s enemies are the political profiteers, swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 per cent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least; the tribalists, nepotists, those that make the country look for nothing before international setting, those that corrupted our society and put the national political calendar back to their words and deeds.”
The Yakubu Gowon military government decorated the Dodan Barracks seat of power with maggots. Though generally perceived as incorrupt due to his austere lifestyle, Gowon was swamped all over by perceptibly corrupt people. His governors owned properties and assets that were far higher than their incomes. Indeed, it was estimated that, on the average, the governors owned commercial properties and farming estates of at least eight houses each, an amount that averaged between N49,000 to N120,000 by 1975 when Murtala Mohammed took over. Same 1975, a corruption scandal surrounding importation of cement called the Cement Armada erupted which engulfed many officials of the Ministry of Defence and the Central Bank of Nigeria. They were accused of falsifying ship manifestos and that many of them inflated figures of cements purchased.
To stave off this public perception, Gowon promulgated the Investigation of Assets Decree No. 37 of 1968, while frenetically engaging in the process of arresting the inexplicable post-war wealth of Nigerian soldiers, mostly accumulated during the three-year civil war. To achieve this, in 1973, Gowon appointed Alhaji Kam Salem to head the “X-Squad,” a fraud investigation arm of the Police, which unearthed many scandals within the Force.
In the July of this same 1974, buffeted on all fronts by the press, Gowon had to harangue his fellow Middle-Belter, Federal Communications Commissioner, Joseph Tarka, to resign from his position, after Godwin Daboh, allegedly in concert with Paul Unongo, accused Tarka of mind-blowing corruption. Tarka’s resignation was child’s play when placed side-by-side his snide comments, which indicated far more humongous corruption in the Gowon government. Tarka had said in a Daily Times newspaper interview, which revealed that he resigned under pressure, that “If I resign, it will set off a chain of reactions of various events, the end of which nobody could foretell.” This was followed by an affidavit sworn to on August 31, 1974 at the Jos High Court by Mr. Aper Aku, who was a known protégé of Tarka. The affidavit contained accusations against the Benue-Plateau Governor, Police Commissioner Joseph Gomwalk, of corruption. Gowon, in a state visit to China, publicly exonerated Gomwalk but public uproar against this police big gun seemed to have just begun afresh. He was eventually later executed by firing squad for his involvement in the 1976 Lt. Col Buka Suka Dimka coup against Murtala Mohammed.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has been held to be a bastion of corruption under both military and civilian governments and this is so due to the fact that oil and gas exports account for over 90% of Nigerian revenues. Apart from using their positions to filch huge sums of money from this corporation and many others, Nigerian politicians’ corruptive tendencies are most adept in the area of vote rigging and falsification of results by political parties, with corruption waltzing through virtually every facet of the Nigerian government. This is perpetrated and perpetuated through sizeable chunks of fraudulent contracts, petty bribery, money laundering schemes, embezzlement and seizing salaries of a people called ghost workers, a roulette that costs Nigeria billions of dollars yearly. In 2012, it was estimated that Nigeria lost over $400 billion since independence.
In spite of this avalanche of corruption cases that involve the high and mighty and the lowly in Nigeria, if the Nigerian judicial system was above board, Nigeria would not be in the mess it found herself today. The judiciary has not fared better herself. The havoc that judicial corruption has wreaked havoc on its victims is remarkable and mind-boggling. For instance, in cases where litigants return from the court in utter repulsiveness and mental agony simply because the courts collected bribe and ensured a miscarriage of justice, one can imagine the distress such litigants go through. It is such that the chronicity of judicial corruption in Nigeria is taken for granted. Lawyers themselves know corrupt judges and can distinguish them from the sparse incorruptible ones. It is so rampant that finding a judicial officer who is above board is akin to seeking a virgin in a brothel.
Litigants pay bribes to agents of judges and magistrates, or even directly to registrars of courts if they wanted their cases to receive positive judicial attention. In Bori, Khanna local government area of Rivers State some years ago, a chief magistrate was arrested by the criminal investigation department (CID) upon tipoff. He had demanded bribe as condition to sign an accused bail bond. Marked money provided by the CID was then given to him and the magistrate was caught in the act. Land grabbers are also alleged to have specific judges who they give kickbacks and who give them favourable judgments in court. These are just a minuscule of judicial corruption cases that Nigeria is grappling with.
Election petition tribunals are where judicial corruption tied to politicians is most notorious. Under the guise of nocturne, judges collect kickbacks that run into billions of naira and millions of dollars to subvert the will of the people. In 2016, State Security Service (SSS) conducted multiple raids on residences of some senior Nigerian judges in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto. SSS said it did this consequent upon months of investigations where its secret police credibly got evidence that the affected judges were involved in questionable financial dealings. Documents linking some judges to estates that were worth over N1.5 billion were said to have been recovered, while in the residence of another, the sum of $400, 000 and N39 million in cash, in addition to documents of landed properties belonging to a federal judge, were retrieved. Ditto the residence of a federal judge in Port Harcourt who was believed to be in possession of $2 million.
So when allegation that the current CJN, Ariwoola, was in dalliance with the president-elect to pervert justice in the matter against the APC candidate was spun, it seemed to synchronize with the now-becoming-familiar trend of corruption scandals of previous two CJNs. Though he eventually resigned his appointment, Justice Tanko Muhammed was subsumed in corruption allegations of mismanagement of funds leveled against him by 14 justices of the Supreme Court. Before him, CJN Walter Onnghen, who assumed that office in March 2017, got slammed with corruption charges too, specifically asset declaration offences. The Code of Conduct Tribunal claimed that it was only in 2016, after the controversial crackdown on judges, that the CJN declared his assets and it was partially done. He was also accused of failing to declare his assets in series of bank accounts which were denominated in local and foreign currencies at the Standard Chartered Bank branch in Abuja.
Then, Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, in a release issued yesterday, went off the handle. He claimed in the release that “some persons and groups who are desirous of truncating our democracy” because they were embittered that APC “was declared winner of the 2023 General Elections” and the “misguided individuals” were calling for “either the cancellation of the results or that the President-elect should not be inaugurated on the 29th of May, 2023.” Keyamo said he found it perplexing “that those contesting the results want to be in the courts and on the streets at the same time.” He denounced these people who he referred to as “stoking the embers of hate, division and falsehoods” and like General Sani Abacha once warned NADECO, he bellowed “enough is enough” threatening that “we are not lacking in capabilities and capacities. Our silence should not be taken for cowardice.”
Pray, how can approaching the court and protesting peacefully amount to “truncating democracy”? It is on record that both methods were how Keyamo got his legal notoriety. If some people were convinced that their votes were stolen through one of the crudest electoral heists ever, don’t they have the right to approach the court for its resolution? What is wrong if they back it up with a peaceful protest? Who are the “we” that Keyamo is threatening to unleash – his ministry of labour, the yet-to-be-installed government or the police? Do these approximate the “we” of Keyamo?
If you add all antecedents and precedents of the CJN office, it is very tempting to pronounce Ariwoola as guilty as charged. The allegations are so salacious and riveting that it will be difficult not to agree with those leveling them. However, inconsistencies and inchoate ordering of the allegations are proving very damaging to the substance of the allegations. If you have ever been a victim of mob-lynching and the irreparable damage it has done to the names of personalities in the past who were later found to be innocent of allegations by Nigeria’s Roman mob, one would tarry awhile before queuing behind salacious allegations. This is more so when these pieces of “evidence” were ones that obviously lack substance, except their trolling contents.
In the thick of his despotic rule, I remember an allegation of monumental heist against the administration of military president, Ibrahim Babangida that shook it to its foundation. It was later found out to have been concocted. It was allegedly published in the May 1989 issue of American Ebony magazine. This revved students’ riots that month. Renowned educationist, columnist and critic, Tai Solarin, was the most available scapegoat and veritable object for deconstruction by the allegation. Pronto, Babangida’s security goons alleged that Solarin circulated the allegation. The SSS did two things. First, it got the publisher of Ebony to denounce such publication and to claim that Ebony had not published anything on Nigeria since 1977. Second, the SSS got an asthmatic Solarin to climb a multiple-storey building and immediately upon arrival, set him up for an NTA-covered interrogation. Panting and looking miserable, the interrogator was heard asking, “Dr. Solarin, if I was your student and I did what you just did, will you award me an A, B, C or F?” It spoke to getting concrete evidence before leveling allegations.
I will implore those leveling allegation of judicial corruption against Ariwoola for being in cahoots with those who wanted to judicially to subvert the people’s will to provide irrefutable evidence of this. Mindful that we may be throwing an innocent man under a bus, hefty allegations as this have to go beyond beer parlour gossips. They have to be concrete evidence. To provide, as the only credible evidence linking Ariwoola with bribe, that he, a man who those who know him claim limps, arrived or was about to board an aircraft, and was found to be on wheelchair, is very tepid and cannot stand rigour of scrutiny.
Nigeria must never allow electoral corruption to go into unholy mis-matrimony with judicial corruption. They also must never allow this marriage to influence the final decision of who is their president from May, 2023. It must however never be done by the martyrdom of an innocent man. Since those who gave the wheelchair evidence claim to have details of the meeting, why not provide them? For instance, CCTV evidence of Ariwoola’s arrival at the venue of the meeting; immigration arrival and departure evidence and more substantial tissues of evidence that we can use to crucify him?
Dr. Festus Adedayo, a journalist, lawyer and columnist, writes from Ibadan, Oyo state
As the road to 2027 gradually unfolds across Oyo State, political conversations are shifting from routine permutations to deeper questions about competence, generational leadership, and measurable impact. In Ibarapa East, that conversation has found a new voice in Yusuf Abiodun Ramon — a Lanlate-born technocrat whose entry into the race for the State House of Assembly is redefining what representation could mean for the constituency.
In a political environment often dominated by familiar faces and conventional calculations, Ramon presents a profile shaped by technical discipline, structured thinking, and solution-driven engagement. His professional background, anchored in analytical precision and systems management, forms the foundation of his public service aspiration.
For him, representation must move beyond ceremonial presence to practical responsiveness — laws that reflect local realities, oversight that protects public resources, and advocacy that translates into visible development.
Ramon argues that the future of Ibarapa East lies in leadership that listens deliberately, plans strategically, and delivers measurably. He speaks of strengthening rural infrastructure, expanding youth-driven economic opportunities, and institutionalising transparency as core pillars of his agenda. In his view, governance must not merely be symbolic; it must be structured, accountable, and people-centred.
Rooted in Ile Odede, Isale Alubata Compound, Ward Seven of Ibarapa East Local Government, and maternally linked to Ile Sobaloju, Isale Ajidun Compound, Eruwa, Ramon’s story is not one of distant ambition but of lived experience. He is, in every sense, a son of the soil — shaped by the same roads, schools, and economic realities that define daily life in Ibarapa East.
“I was born here. I grew up here. I understand our struggles, our strengths, and our untapped potential,” he says. “Representation must go beyond occupying a seat; it must translate into preparation, competence, and genuine commitment to development.”
His academic journey mirrors that philosophy of steady growth. He began at Islamic Primary School, Lanlate (1995–2001), proceeded to Baptist Grammar School, Orita Eruwa (2001–2007), and later earned a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, between 2009 and 2011. Refusing to plateau, he advanced his intellectual horizon and is now completing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the University of Lagos. “Education,” he reflects, “is continuous capacity building. Leadership today requires both technical knowledge and administrative insight.”
That blend of engineering precision and managerial training has defined a professional career spanning more than a decade. Shortly after his diploma, Yusuf joined Mikano International Limited as a generator installer, gaining hands-on experience in industrial power systems — a sector central to Nigeria’s infrastructural backbone. He later transitioned into telecommunications at Safari Telecoms Nigeria Limited, where he received specialized training in Industrial, Scientific, and Medical radio bands, strengthening his expertise in network operations.
In 2013, he became a Field Support Engineer at Netrux Global Concepts Ltd., then a leading ISM service provider in Nigeria. Over four formative years, he immersed himself in telecom infrastructure deployment and maintenance, mastering field coordination, logistics management, and real-time technical problem-solving.
Since July 2017, he has served as a Field Support Engineer with Specific Tools and Techniques Ltd., a power solutions firm providing services to major operators including MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria. In that capacity, he operates at the frontline of ensuring energy reliability and network uptime — responsibilities that demand discipline, accountability, and systems thinking.
For political observers in Ibarapa East, this trajectory matters. It reflects more than résumé credentials; it speaks to a mindset anchored in efficiency, coordination, and measurable outcomes — qualities increasingly demanded in legislative representation.
Beyond the private sector, Ramon’s political exposure is neither sudden nor superficial. A loyal member of the progressive political family in Lagos, he once served as a personal assistant to a former lawmaker, gaining practical insight into legislative procedure and constituency engagement. Within his community, he has quietly extended financial support to small-scale entrepreneurs and students — modest but consistent interventions rooted in personal responsibility.
“My interest is my people,” he states firmly. “Ibarapa East deserves strategic, responsive, and capable leadership at the State Assembly. We must move from rhetoric to results.”
Across the constituency — from Lanlate to Eruwa — development priorities remain clear: youth employment, vocational empowerment, rural road rehabilitation, stable power supply, agricultural value-chain expansion, improved educational standards, and stronger lawmaking that directly reflects community needs.
Political analysts argue that Ramon’s technocratic background positions him uniquely at the intersection of policy formulation and practical implementation. At a time when national discourse increasingly favours competence over grandstanding, his profile resonates with a broader generational shift toward performance-driven governance. His engineering discipline reinforces problem-solving; his business training strengthens administrative understanding; his grassroots roots anchor his empathy.
For Ibarapa East, the 2027 election cycle may represent more than a routine democratic exercise. It may mark a recalibration of expectations — a demand for representation that understands both the soil beneath its feet and the systems that drive modern development. As political alignments gradually crystallize in Oyo State, Yusuf Abiodun Ramon’s declaration signals the arrival of a candidate seeking to translate private-sector structure into public-sector impact.
One thing is clear: the conversation about the future of Ibarapa East has begun — and it is now framed around competence, credibility, and capacity.
Oluwasegun Idowu sent in this piece from Eruwa, Ibarapa East LG, Oyo State
“In a sky where delays are normal, one airline flies with precision and trust. Ibom Air shows that reliability can be a strategy”.
In Nigeria’s skies, where flight delays and cancellations are often taken as routine, Ibom Air has quietly rewritten the rules. From the moment it launched in June 2019, the Akwa Ibom State–owned carrier has treated reliability not as a bonus, but as a core strategy—turning punctuality, discipline, and operational excellence into a competitive edge that passengers can count on.
While most airlines chase rapid expansion or flashy promotions, Ibom Air has chosen consistency. Flights depart on schedule, disruptions are minimal, and communication with passengers is clear and timely. This predictability has quickly earned the airline a loyal following among business travellers, professionals, government officials, and families for whom time is invaluable.
The airline’s approach is methodical. Every flight is treated as a commitment, and operational decisions are guided by structured planning, not improvisation. This discipline underpins everything from scheduling to fleet management, ensuring passengers experience flying without surprises.
Central to this model is Ibom Air’s modern fleet. Its Airbus A220-300 and Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft are fuel-efficient, comfortable, and rigorously maintained to meet both manufacturers’ specifications and the regulatory standards of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and international aviation bodies. Safety here is a culture, not a compliance exercise.
Cabin cleanliness and aircraft health are equally prioritized. Passengers consistently step into neat, hygienic, and professionally maintained cabins, reinforcing confidence and comfort even before take-off. In a sector where small details signal operational quality, Ibom Air’s standards speak volumes.
Technology quietly drives reliability across operations. From booking and check-in to flight coordination and customer service, modern systems enhance efficiency, reduce disruptions, and ensure smooth communication. These tools allow the airline to anticipate challenges rather than merely react.
R–L: Dr. Solomon Oroge, a consultant, and Mr. Idowu Ayodele, journalist and media practitioner, aboard an Ibom Air flight.
Service delivery follows the same disciplined pattern. Pilots, cabin crew, engineers, and ground staff operate under strict professional standards. Courtesy is paired with efficiency, and calm, structured service ensures passengers feel confident throughout their journey.
The Ibom Flyer loyalty programme reflects this structured approach, rewarding consistent passengers and fostering long-term engagement. It turns reliability into a tangible benefit for frequent flyers.
From its hub at Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo, Ibom Air serves major Nigerian cities including Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Enugu, while extending its reach to West Africa with flights to Accra, Ghana. Expansion is deliberate, prioritizing sustainability over rapid growth that could compromise service quality.
Measured growth allows the airline to maintain operational excellence and service consistency even as demand increases—a strategy that contrasts sharply with competitors whose rapid expansion often strains resources.
Mr. Idowu Ayodele, journalist and media practitioner, pictured inside an Ibom Air aircraft.
Beyond commercial success, Ibom Air has become a national example. It has created employment, stimulated tourism, and strengthened regional connectivity, projecting a positive image of Nigerian aviation at a time when confidence in the sector is often fragile.
The airline has also challenged assumptions about government-owned enterprises. By combining professional management with operational autonomy, it demonstrates that public investment can achieve efficiency, accountability, and competitiveness.
Reliability, in the case of Ibom Air, is than a promise—it is a deliberate business philosophy. It shapes operations, informs decisions, and builds passenger trust consistently.
Technology, discipline, and attention to detail converge to produce an airline that works. Every element, from fleet maintenance to cabin service, supports the promise that Ibom Air delivers what it advertises—without surprises.
In a market where uncertainty has been the norm, Ibom Air has shown that consistency can be a strategic advantage. Passengers no longer fly with anxiety; they fly with confidence, knowing their schedules will hold and service will meet expectations.
Ultimately, Ibom Air is not just an airline—it is a model of operational excellence in Nigerian aviation. By prioritizing reliability over spectacle, discipline over improvisation, and planning over shortcuts, it sets a benchmark for the industry and a standard for passengers: in the skies, predictability is priceless
Idowu Ayodele – Journalist, Ibadan, Oyo State
0805 889 3736 | megaiconpress@gmail.com
In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, the concept of the “Greek gift” was invented. The Trojan Horse became the undoing of Troy, ending a decade-long war in which many Greeks had perished, including the mighty Achilles. The Trojans accepted the Greeks’ gift, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In the past few days, both social and conventional media have been agog with reactions to President Donald J. Trump’s threat to the Nigerian government regarding terrorism. In his words, Nigeria must “address the genocide against Christians in the North and Middle Belt, or else the U.S. will cut aid to the country and, in addition, come into the country guns blazing in an attempt to flush out the terrorists.”
Sincerely speaking, the tweet made by the U.S. President sounded a bit comical to me, as did many other commentaries that followed. Comical not in a ridiculous sense, but in a comedic sense.
This piece is not written to support or oppose any particular view, but to lay down facts in the most succinct and objective manner, thereby allowing for the independence of a balanced position.
In 2009, a terror group named Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da’wa wa al-Jihad (popularly referred to as Boko Haram) emerged with the aim of establishing Islamic rule across Nigeria. According to the group, Sharia was the only path to true progress, and any faith other than Islam was haram (forbidden).
Soon after, this group began launching vicious attacks against Christians and Christian places of worship. From singularly attacking Christians, their targets shifted to government institutions and facilities, and on 28 November 2014, one of the greatest attacks against fellow Muslims occurred with the bombing and mass shooting of Juma’at worshippers at the Kano Central Mosque. Over 120 worshippers were killed and another 260 critically injured.
The point here is to underscore the fact that Boko Haram—and indeed all other extremist groups in Nigeria—are not targeting Christians alone, as earlier claimed, but are pursuing a more sinister agenda of land grabbing with the colouration of economic, psychological and socio-political domination of conquered territories, with intentions of spreading across the country.
From the Northeast, the activities of wanton killing and destruction perpetrated by terrorists spread to the North Central region, particularly Plateau and Benue States. What originally began as farmer–herder clashes metamorphosed into full-blown village and community sackings, where Fulani invaders razed entire communities, leaving hundreds dead or wounded while survivors were displaced and left with harrowing experiences in IDP camps.
This wave of destruction continued, with one of the bloodiest in recent times occurring in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, on the night of 13–14 June 2025. According to Amnesty/CE/UN/NGO, over 200 people were gruesomely massacred, several houses burnt to ashes, and about 3,000 people displaced and rendered homeless. In 2025 alone, Amnesty reported more than 10,000 additional people displaced in Benue across several local governments, ranging from Gwer West to Agatu, Ukum/Gbagir, Logo, Kwande and Guma.
From the North Central, terrorism—or better still, banditry—also found its way to the North West. The activities of bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements were consistently reported in Zamfara, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, and even Katsina, which was once regarded as the true home of hospitality, as its state slogan depicts, and as I can also attest considering how much I enjoyed the peace and serenity of the state during my days therein as a Youth Corps member. Reuters.ng reports that as of 2025, approximately 2,456 people had been killed in the North West region across multiple states. In addition to this, about 7,260 people, including schoolchildren and commuters on highways, had been abducted, with several millions of naira collected by kidnappers as ransom payments. Some parts of the South West, South East and South South have not been spared the atrocities of terrorists and bandits.
Therefore, it is safe to say that the entire country has, at one time or the other, experienced the activities of bandits, terrorists and kidnappers. The intensity of attack, however, differs from region to region.
Late General Sani Abacha once said that “if any insurgency lasts for more than 24 hours, a government official has a hand in it.” This saying more or less amplifies the complexity of the terrorism–banditry–kidnapping problem in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country abundantly blessed with all manners of rich mineral resources. Apart from the vast arable land required for productive agriculture, there is virtually no region of the country that does not possess one valuable solid mineral or another.
From iron ore in Zamfara, Kogi and Enugu; gold in Kaduna, Kebbi and Osun; lithium in Nasarawa, Kwara, Oyo and the FCT; bitumen in Ondo, Edo and Ogun; plus other industrial minerals like gypsum, kaolin and limestone, with deposits of over one billion tonnes across many states—Nigeria is sitting on an incredibly underutilised treasure worth billions of dollars. The government’s inability to adequately manage these vast potentials provides fertile grounds for opportunistic scrambling, illegal mining, chaos and its attendant conflicts.
One can therefore boldly say that the chaos and violence camouflaged as terrorism and banditry is indeed a calculated campaign driven not just by Islamic extremism but by land grabbing and occupation for the purpose of blood mineral extraction and illicit mining.
Thus, a sophisticatedly armed radical Islamic Fulani ethnic militia, often operating under political protection, carries out multiple killings, displacements and kidnappings across the Northeast, North Central and North West, after which reports reveal that foreign miners appear following the death and displacement of indigenes to exploit the lands.
Amnesty International has also reported that Nigeria loses over $9 billion annually to illicit mining of gold, tin and lithium, with a significant portion—estimated at 10%—funding violence and corruption. The report further revealed that the involvement of some government elements in this corruption is not in doubt, as eyewitness reports of survivors and satellite surveillance footage revealed the connivance of certain government personnel. Some survivors have also repeatedly claimed that they witnessed helicopters in the middle of the night dropping weapons and ammunition for the bandits—a disclosure corroborated by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi in an interview on African Stream earlier this year.
So, it is right to say that the violence and carnage are just a smokescreen and a catalyst to a far-reaching economic, psychological and socio-political agenda of certain influential elements in the country. This is part of the reason why the billions of naira spent on security to equip the military to better fight insurgency have not yielded much result to date.
In addressing the threat of President Donald Trump, I would like to start by recounting a little history about the 47th President of the United States and his previous antecedents. In January 2018, at a news conference in the White House, President Trump referred to Haiti and some African countries—including Nigeria—as “shithole countries” that should not be accorded immigrant status in the U.S.
Furthermore, his government’s stern immigration policies and visa restrictions clearly reflect a hostile stance towards Africa and some other Global South countries. In light of this, it is hard to understand where the sudden genuine concern for Nigerian Christians is coming from—more so when a U.S. congressman earlier this year revealed that USAID played a significant role in the funding of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups. This concern was never mentioned when Late President Muhammadu Buhari visited the White House a few months after the “shithole” saga and was praised by the same Trump for his valiant efforts in fighting Boko Haram and ISWAP, despite staggering reports of attacks and killings in the Northeast and North Central during that period.
Under the erudite scholarship of Professor Kunle Ajayi, I learnt several years ago, in one of our Politics of Global Economic Relations lectures, that in world politics and global socio-economic relations, the overriding determinant of states’ decisions and actions is strategic interest. Altruism is hardly ever a factor.
Present realities of Nigeria’s economic relations are fast approaching self-sufficiency—particularly in the oil sector, where Nigeria was once a major importer of finished petroleum products from the U.S. The Dangote refinery, having begun domestic refining and production of petroleum products, is fast taking over a market once dominated by imports from the U.S. This shift, no doubt, is taking jobs away from American oil workers—no cheering news for the country’s oil conglomerates. Secondly, China has since replaced the United States as Nigeria’s foremost trading partner.
According to Nairametrics (2025), the value of trade between Nigeria and China between 2023–2025 totals approximately $50 billion compared to an estimated $30 billion with the U.S. This paradigm shift would certainly not be palatable to the U.S. or her president, who happens to be a dogged businessman that hates the word “no”. From this perspective, it is not difficult to see where President Trump is coming from.
Be that as it may, I think Nigeria needs to employ shrewd diplomacy in dealing with the U.S. under a president like Donald Trump. Regardless of international law and conventions, the U.S. has repeatedly proven itself willing to take unilateral military action against countries, defying the rule of law and popular global opinion. So those hinging on Nigeria’s sovereignty as a deterrent to the U.S. are not good students of history.
What is, however, more important in all of this is that global attention is once again drawn to the horrible atrocities of these criminal elements in Nigeria. The country cannot continue to behave as though it is normal headline news when people are slaughtered daily, and families and homes are torn apart.
I believe this is an opportunity for the government to rejig the entire security architecture of the country, with the needed political will, to once and for all end these killings. Strategic partnership with the United States in this regard is not a bad idea. With its extensive experience in counter-terrorism operations and access to sophisticated military technology and intelligence, the U.S. can assist in identifying and eradicating the major financiers and enablers of terrorism and banditry. It is not rocket science that when the financing of terrorists ends, terrorism ceases to exist.
However, this should be done only on the basis of shared interest, mutual respect, trust, and understanding reflective of a healthy and balanced foreign policy relationship. By prioritising constructive diplomacy, dialogue and partnership, Nigeria can work with the United States in a strategic alliance to restore peace, security and confidence across the nation. That is the way to go.
Olusegun Hassan, Ph.D
Public Policy Analyst and Social Commentator
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News3 days agoNERC orders DisCos to refund ₦20.33bn meter costs to customers