Fornication-God + Yari = CSM By Mahmud Jega

Sometime last year I had cause to comment on this page on Zamfara State Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari Abubakar’s controversial claim that his frequent travels out of the state, which assumed epidemic proportions, were not a problem because he can govern his state from the cabin of an airplane. His latest gaffe in Abuja last Monday dwarfed that one in controversial import. With his state as the Ground Zero of this country’s worst outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis [CSM] in twenty years, Yari told reporters that the outbreak is God’s way of punishing Nigerians for their immoral conduct.
Speaking soon after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Yari said, “What we used to

Like Mullaitivu, like Sambisa by Mahmud Jega

 The historic Nigerian military operation that culminated in last Thursday’s capture of Boko Haram’s main military camp in Sambisa Forest, called Camp Zero, historically replicates the end of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers terrorist group in May 2009. Extremely significant though the total recapture of Sambisa Forest is, it is perhaps too early to say that Boko Haram has been completely defeated. The missing Chibok girls were not found. Though soldiers killed hundreds of insurgents since the final push began last month, the body of Boko Haram’s mercurial leader Abubakar Shekau was not found among them. Then also, the Boko Haram faction led by Mamman Nur is believed to have camps on Lake Chad’s shores and

Exile, jail, death or concession by Mahmud Jega

 More than was the case with President Goodluck Jonathan last year, all Africa was surprised when President Yahya Jammeh conceded to his opponent Adama Barrow in last week’s Gambian presidential election. Some Nigerians were quick to say that it was “the Goodluck Effect,” a replay of Jonathan’s concession even before results were officially declared in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential elections. Jammeh’s concession was doubly surprising because it bucked an emerging world trend. Most pundits think that if Donald Trump had lost last month’s US presidential election, he would have upturned his