The North has no moral justification to hold Buhari to account a few months to the expiration of his 8-year reign. His management of the country now is as dreadful as it was ahead of the 2019 elections, and, despite that, he was given a second chance across the region. A thread. If Buhari were to run for President in 2023—which, thankfully, he’s not qualified to— he’s going to win. There’s no politician capable of stopping him in his strongholds, and that’s frightening. He won his last election in a country as angry as this, and booed at various places.

I get the outrage of those against Muslim - Muslim tickets, and I also respect every party’s right to appeal to the sentiments of their strongholds. Your response to a ticket that refuses to appeal to your religious sentiment is to settle for one that offers what you seek. 1/ If APC had opted for a Christian - Christian ticket, the Muslim North won’t implode as feared. They would wait to show their disappointment on Election Day, and donate their block vote to Atiku or any candidate that seems to represent their overriding religious identity. 2/

Having serially blackmailed a girl under 18 and got her to send him money, Mohammed Zangina threatened to release her nudes in his possession unless she’s able to come to Keffi to have sex with him. @Omojuwa and I compared notes on a sting operation that got him caught today. When we got Mohammed Zangina’s number this morning, we found out his name was registered on Truecaller as “Namiji Mai Sharri.” It’s Hausa for “the blackmailer.” This alone alarmed us to note that Zangina is an expert in this business and must’ve preyed on many defenseless women.

The most disturbing view held by some southerners online is that northerners cheer the very bandits and terrorists destroying their lives and livelihoods. The agenda is a ploy to present those groups as beneficiaries of the region’s emotional backing, which is stupid and untrue. Some have even gone to the extent of promoting the much-maligned Dr. Ahmad Gumi as a mouthpiece of the North. But Gumi’s fiercest critics even before the media began to give him the attention he doesn’t deserve, are the same northerners.

There’s no difference between the PDP and the APC. They are children of the same parents. If your wish is to disrupt this political culture, seek an alternative. But we are not wired for such hard work, so these much-maligned siblings are here to stay with us for a long while. The major things that count as the differences between the APC and the PDP are their acronyms and hold on the seat of power. The pillars of the two parties have all intermarried and so are their children. Their declared differences are always a ruse to mislead gullible partisans.

MKO Abiola is the symbol of the nation’s quest for a soul. He sacrificed everything to fight governments that took everything but his Hope away from him. In losing his life, he gave Nigeria a soul to know the capability of a desperate government and the hope to fight injustice. Unfortunately, most of the characters who fought alongside Abiola then, with some fleeing the country and others ending up in jail, have become the dictators they once fought.

On Father Mbaka, Garba Shehu needs to get that nobody takes part or takes sides in politics to earn their reward in Heaven, and the rewards aren’t necessarily material favors. The most anticipated reward is good governance, and so is respecting the grievance of former supporters. Once we begin to antagonize our former supporters in the very fashion we pounce on the opposition, we admit that political support is a thankless job. Our politicians don’t know how to manage the expectations of their supporters, even the ones who stood with them when nobody did.

My @LSEnews dissertation is an attempt to understand the sincerity and bargaining skills of Nigerian political elites in Beijing, which I referred to as China Shop. This trending claim that Nigeria forfeited its sovereignty in certain loan agreements with China, is a case study. Although the sovereignty claim is simplistic, Nigerians are right to pay attention to the documents their representatives are signing at such negotiating tables. Every state prioritizes its interests in relating with other states, and cares less about any morality in doing so.

Saudi Arabia isn’t the model for practising Islam, but if there’s a country that should defy #COVID19 and resume religious activities, it’s the kingdom. And this isn’t just because the Saudis are the custodians of Islam’s two holiest sites. The lockdown has cost them billions. Religious activities have been a buffer of Saudi economy. They were generating about $12 billion annually from Hajj and Umrah, accounting for 20% of their non-Oil GDP, and aspiring to increase it to $150 in the next two years, as a part of their bids to ease dependence on Oil.

Niger state has lost its prestigious status in Nigeria. Successive governments have treated it as mere vote-generating factory, which they abandoned after every election. The inter-state roads in Niger state seem as though the people are being punished for some wrongs. A THREAD. Someone asked why I don’t draw attention to the state of the roads in Niger state and I asked whether I participated in bringing to power the man charged with fixing the problem. It gets tiring. Elections are intended to be a good transaction but such exchange does not favour us.

Nigeria is a severely threatened place. We are surrounded by Francophone countries whose allegiances to France neutralizes this ECOWAS sentimentality (Cameroon isn’t a member). At continental level, South Africa is Africa’s more favored and preferred ally of developed countries. In the sub-regional balance of power, the francophone alliances are a powerful force. This was demonstrated during the Biafran War when France supported the separatist group and the Francophone countries meant our borders were porous. Ivory Coast also supported the pro-Biafra.

A Life Lesson

Yesterday I met a man, and the encounter has been absorbed as a lesson on how to treat a stranger. It’s a story that would’ve been told differently if I had not let humanity and humility take charge of the situation. A THREAD: I sighted a middle-aged black man in the library, and noticed that he looked out of place. He was looking round and round the hall, as if searching for a known face. Judging from his age, and the fact that he wasn’t fashionably dressed, I concluded he’s probably a campus janitor.

This fits into my research area, and I’ll share a few tweets, based on my readings so far. First, we can’t reduce China - Africa relations to a stereotype. It’s a complex relationship that varies across countries of Africa, for each place has its own unique experience. A THREAD.

https://twitter.com/eadewunmi/status/1105497586830577666

We can study why African states respond to China using Chris Alden’s categorization of African regimes: Pariah States (Zimbabwe, Sudan). Illiberal regimes and weak democracies (from post-conflict regime like S/Leone to Nigeria; and democracy with diversified economy (S/Africa).

The binary being drawn by these “populist” politicians who hide under the “pro-masses” banner to perpetuate their selfish interest isn’t only dangerous, but sets the poor up to accept an unfair deal as their reality in this mismanaged country. Painting the Nigerians who have worked hard to earn a decent lifestyle as beneficiaries of corruption is a silly stunt to glorify the poverty of those they have refused to redeem. There’s nothing noble about being poor, and it’s sad that we’re subtly promoting such thinking.

I was invited to a political-risk assessment firm here in London and we studied diverse data around tomorrow’s presidential elections in Nigeria, and these are my takeaways from that attempt to predict Nigeria’s next President, between @MBuhari and @atiku:

#NigeriaDecides2019 Predicting Nigeria’s next President is tricky. It would’ve been easier if individual sentiments are indeed scientifically assessable. So it’s a frustrating and amusing attempt to ease the firm’s predictions of the outcomes, but I built my forecast on existing data and trends.

Dear @jumiatravelNG,

I’m reaching you here because I dont want you get away with doing this again, and again, with neither an apology nor damages for being a pathetic flight booking agency. I suspect you’re running a scam, and I’ll tell my side of the story in this thread. I patronize you for being a local enterprise that requires our collective patronage, @jumiatravelNG, and even though I had not been exactly pleased I kept the faith. But what you did to me today has shattered any benefit of the doubt that had I harboured since our last encounter.

I believe the clerics who met Obasanjo and Atiku were there as peacemakers, to repair a broken relationship. It's in line with Sheikh Ahmad Gumi's Islam advocates and what Bishop David Oyedepo's Christianity upholds.

It's confusing that you insult them for practising religion. Religion does not strip you of your civic rights, and neither is your rank in leadership of a religious group a reason to boycott politics. Politics is a way of life, a reality that affects not just your economic well-being but mental health. Sheikh Gumi's politics is in order.

I know a lot of you don’t know the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, beyond the media. He seems like a normal person, but if you’ve watched him closely, you would’ve noticed that he closes one eye too often. Why? Saraki is an Illuminati agent. It’s a thread! Those of us who knew Saraki’s Illuminati background are hardly shocked by how he outsmarted every politician from his father to President Buhari. Of course it’s not ordinary. You don’t need any proof. Use your Number 6. Think!

In 1989, Mahathir Mohamad, as PM of Malaysia, had a heart attack. His doctor recommended surgery in the US. He objected.

“I had to have faith in our Malaysia doctors,” he said. “If I didn’t make an example of my myself, no one else would have confidence in our medical service.” Reflecting on why he refused to leave Malaysia for his surgery, the Malaysian Prime Minister wrote:

“As a doctor myself, I knew the risks. I knew there was a possibility that I might not survive the operation as it was not, at that time, a common procedure.”

That’s a leader.

What our politicians mean by mentorship is engaging you to clown as their attack dogs, to insult their opponents and your peers in proving your loyalty to them. It’s hardly about acquiring any life lesson, about learning leadership tips. There’s a generation of brilliant young Nigerians trapped in this scam called mentorship, a lot of them distracted from their career and tasked with existing as inconsequential and underpaid aides. They can’t even advise their principal. They don’t want to hurt their feelings.