Killings On The Plateau: The Shame Of A Nation

 By Etim Etim

The brutal killings of over 160 Nigerians in three local councils in Plateau State on Christmas eve and Christmas Day by terrorists have once again illustrated the failure of the Nigerian State to protect its citizens. Over 20 villages across Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu LGAs were attacked in what has become a pattern of a failed or a fast-failing state. 

I am sad, pained and aggrieved by the flagrant failure of the security agencies to thwart the terrorists’ plots or arrest them after their heinous crimes. Many Nigerians, including a retired general who had once served as the Commander of Operation Safe Heaven on the Plateau, Gen. Henry Ayoola, believe that there are elements in the security agencies that collude with the terrorists and are complicit in these killings.

The Mass Killings In Benue State

 By Etim Etim

It is so difficult to understand why Nigerian authorities are unconcerned about the mass killings of the people of Benue State by terrorists and militia groups in almost a weekly basis.

Children, women and even pregnant moms are slaughtered every now and then in many parts of the state by terrorists and ethnic militias in the plains and troughs of Benue.

CNN Interview: It’s Now Bola Tinubu’s Turn!

 By Etim Etim 

Peter Obi’s 12-minute interview on CNN last Friday has triggered quite an interesting debate on many social media platforms. His supporters think that Obi gave a good account of himself and has stamped his authority as the nation’s leading presidential candidate. Coming just two days after the NOI poll put him as the front runner in the race, the interview was part of a well-planned sequence of events and positive media exposure for him. 

His trips across major cities in the US and Europe the weeks before have also received positive reviews. A day or so after Obi’s CNN appearance, a picture of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu dozing off at the palace of the Emir of Gombe as the Senate President was speaking turned up. The contrast between the two men couldn’t have been starker and the underlying message was unmistaken. Nigerians have been unsparing in their comments. Somebody wrote: “If this man is elected, his wife and children will be running the government, while he spends time in a foreign hospital’’. 

Nigeria: Akwa Ibom States’s Debt Burden

By Etim Etim

There have been a great deal of controversy and secrecy around the quantum and composition of debts owed by Akwa Ibom State government to the banks and contractors, especially the portion incurred by the Akpabio administration. The problem is exacerbated by the apparent cold war between the incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel and his predecessor, Senator Godswill Akpabio, over governance and political issues in the state.

*Akpabio and Emmanuel 

Governor Emmanuel has persistently blamed his lacklustre performance in the last three years on the huge debt burden he inherited from his predecessor. He’s trenchantly criticized Akpabio for investing the state’s resources on worthless projects like the Tropicana Entertainment Complex which had remained uncompleted after over N150 billion had been sunk into it.

Late last year, the governor complained publicly that his administration was compelled to pay Julius Berger N6 billion in a lump sum, in addition to an undertaking to make a monthly payment of a billion naira to the construction company to offset government’s obligation.