Daily Digest Online

Nigeria's war against terrorism and banditry is being waged on two fronts: one against insurgents in the forests, and a more insidious one within the corridors of power, where personal loyalty and political patronage too often supersede competence, accountability, and the national interest. The recent, very public defense of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, by former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, is not an isolated incident of political rhetoric. It is a symptom of a chronic national ailment—the prioritization of elite self-preservation over collective survival.  In a country where villages are sacked weekly, kidnappings are a thriving industry, and citizens live in perpetual anxiety, the spectacle of a powerful figure defending a controversial appointee on the sole grounds of a 15-year friendship is more than an insult; it is a diagnosis of a profound governance failure. The Architecture of Distrust At the heart of this ...