FCT MInister, Muhammed Musa Bello and some officials
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Olusade Adesola, has intervened in the threat by workers of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, (AEPB) to embark on industrial action over non-payment of Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS).
Adesola, at an emergency meeting with the workers, led by the Chairman of the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), Oluwakorede Matilukuro, today, August 11, appealed to them to stop the planned strike in the interest of peace and industrial harmony in Abuja.
The permanent secretary said that his office is not opposed to paying the workers their entitlements and only waiting for the process to be completed by the National Wages and Salary Commission.
He, therefore, asked the angry workers to be patient and show understanding with the administration for the procedure to be diligently followed and completed.
Adesola explained that the present leadership of the FCT Administration is workers’ friendly and places high priority on the welfare and the well-being of workers.
He said that the implementation of a salary structure code named: ‘Research and Allied Institutions’ could have long-term implications for the careers of the officers.
”Embarking on industrial action will not serve anyone’s best interest at this time considering the efforts the current FCT administration is reputed for paying FCT worker’s salary as and when due.”
Veteran Nigerian Nollywood actress, Stella Damasus, has been appointed the talent acquisition consultant at NW Tech Capital, a diversified holding company in the United States.
The firm announced Damasus appointment today, August 11, in a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Cedric Yengo. The company said the actress is expected to expand its network by acquiring the best talents in Africa.
NW Tech added that the movie star has been deployed to the beauty and wellness division in its African expedition.
The statement read: “Stella Damasus is a highly celebrated Nigerian celebrity (actor/singer) with a refined skill and several years of experience and expertise, traveling and empowering celebrities across Africa.
“She is tasked with the responsibility to expand the company’s tentacles by acquiring the best talents to fulfill our vision of establishing a flurry of high-end celebrity cosmetic brands across Africa.
“Stella brings with her a wealth of experience and refined skill in talent acquisition that is almost unparalleled in today’s market.
“With her extensive connections in the industry and her acumen for strategic alliances, we believe that Stella will help us to position ourselves as the premier Beauty and Wellness Company, in the nearest future.”
Founded in 1996, NW Tech Capital is involved in the acquisition and investment of small, mid-size, and development-stage private businesses in varied industries.
Police have been invited to investigate the missing of N31 Million from the account section of the Katsina State House, believed to have been stolen by “unknown persons.”
The Director-General in the governor on New Media, Alhaji Al-Amin Isah, who confirmed the incident in an interview with news men today, August 11, said that some of the suspects have already been arrested and are in the police custody undergoing investigation.
“Yes, it’s true that some money was alleged to have been stolen as you have asked. We have already reported the matter to the police for investigation. I can not tell you the exact figure now, but those in the best position will give you more updates, please,”
Sources familiar with what happened told Channels Television that the money stolen was in the sum of N31 million. This is the second time such an incident is happening at the Katsina Government House.
In January 2020, unknown persons allegedly broke into the office of the former Secretary to the Government of Katsina State (SSG), Mustapha Inuwa, and made away with N16 million.
The office which is located at the State Secretariat was said to have been broken into in the night and some suspects were arrested a day after in connection with the incident.
Those arrested included a security guard, and two government officials working in the SSG’s office.
Also in July 2022, the police in Katsina State said it was investigating the alleged stealing of N61 million from a cashier in the office of the Secretary to the State Government, Aminu Darma.
He was allegedly attacked by gunmen while travelling with three bags filled with N61 million cash and shot in the arm before the money was stolen
The gunmen were said to have followed Darma from the bank but he didn’t stop when they tried to stop his car around the Katsina Steel Rolling Company roundabout. Instead, he returned to the metropolitan city and the gunmen continued to chase his car.
He eventually lost control of the car and hit an object which forced him to stop.
In reaction, the police said that the cashier should not have in the first place withdrawn such a huge amount of money without a police escort.
Members of Ebira Community in Owo, Ondo State have condemned some Ebira people who came from outside the community to commit crimes, leaving them in discomfortable position with their hosts.
In an emergency meeting held today, August 11 in the palace of Odeiyani (traditional head of) Anebira in Ondo state, HRH Zubair Dan Musa, the Odeiyani spoke bitterly over the insecurity situation across the state, particularly in Ondo North.
He particular expressed worry that names of Ebira boys featured prominently and were published all over the Media, on the recent attack on a Catholic Church in Owo.
He said that the perpetrators or criminals who were arrested by security agents in connection to the attack and happened to be Ebira, infiltrated the community.
“We will no longer allow any stranger to penetrate us in Ondo state from anywhere, to tarnish the good relationship we have established with the indigenes of Ondo state.
” For a fact which is known to all, including our hosts, Ebira people are known for good character, hardworking and loving minded.”
The community called on the Ebira people in Ondo state to re-strategize and watch properly, strangers that are coming into the community and other settlements within the State.
The embattled suspended Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris is seeking for a plea bargain to avoid trial over allegation of frittering the sum of N109.4 billion belonging to the Federal Government.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which broke the news yesterday, August 10 before Justice Adeyemi Ajayi of High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said that the suspended AGF’s his co-defendants were also part of the move for a plea bargain with the commission.
The defendants are a Technical Assistant to Idris, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele; a director in the office of the AGF, Mohammed Kudu Usman, and a firm linked with Idris, Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.
The defendants were arraigned on July 22, on a 14-count charge bordering on money laundering, stealing and criminal breach of trust.
At a resumed trial, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), counsel to the EFCC, told the court that the suspended Accountant General had reached out to the agency through a third party for a meeting to work on ways to achieve a plea bargain arrangement.
Since section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, provides for plea bargain, the prosecution counsel said he agreed to meet with the defendants, but on the condition that their lawyers and EFCC investigators (who handled the case) must be in attendance.
According to Jacobs, the meeting planned for last Tuesday failed to hold because the defendants came without their lawyers.
Jacobs stated that a lawyer from Idris’s legal team, who he identified as Kanayo, later came to the venue of the meeting to complain that the defendants were not carried along.
POLL
“The first defendant sent a third party to me that he wanted a plea bargaining meeting and he wanted to meet me.
“That was on Tuesday morning, and I replied that I cannot meet the defendants in the absence of their counsel.
“I added that by the nature of our calling, we must be open and transparent. Section 270 of ACJA allows plea bargain.
I told them to come with their lawyer and let us meet at the EFCC office and that I will also invite the investigators to be at the meeting.
“Kanayo, one of the counsel in the legal team of the first defendant, came to meet me at the EFCC office in Wuse 2, and protested that they were not carried along and that his clients would not come for the meeting.
“I spoke with Chief Chris Uche (SAN), head of the first defendant’s legal team, for about 30 minutes to let him know that we did not invite them and that the planned meeting was at their instance.
“None of the defendants entered EFCC’s office. So, they did not attend any meeting at the EFCC office,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs was responding to complaints by lawyers to the defendants, that the EFCC did not invite their clients the previous day and prevented them from meeting with the defendants, who they further claimed were at the office of the EFCC for the better part of the day.
Meanwhile, counsel representing Idris and Gezawa (1st and 4th defendants), Gordy Uche (SAN), at the commencement of proceedings, objected to an application by Jacobs to tender some statements made by the first defendant.
Uche argued that Jacobs should not be allowed to tender the statements because he (Uche) was yet to interview his client in relation to the documents.
“I was to interview the first defendant on Tuesday, but I learnt he was in the office of the EFCC. We were, as counsel, not carried along”, Uche said.
Uche argued that it was disrespectful of the court for the EFCC to invite the defendants without their lawyers’ knowledge when the case had already been charged to court.
He contended that the EFCC was expected to have concluded its investigation before charging the defendants to court.
However, Uche denied that his clients proposed plea bargain to the prosecution as claimed by Jacobs.
He said the standard practice was for the lawyer to a defendant to initiate such arrangement, not for such move to be made behind the lawyer to the defendant.
Uche prayed the court for adjournment to enable him confer with the first defendant.
Lawyers to Akindele and Usman( 2nd and 3rd defendants)- Peter Abalaka and Ibrahim Isiyaku (SAN), who said they shared Uche’s position, also prayed for an adjournment to enable them confer with their clients.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has bagged a Love FM 104.5 Ace Leadership Award as part of its Merit Awards 2022. The award was presented to him today, August 10 by the management of radio station.
Presenting the award, the representative of Love FM, Ewuzie Anele Lilian, expressed the organization’s pride in the work of Adesina as a journalist, having got to the peak of his career through dint of hard work.
“We are happy to identify with you because we know how you started. You rose through the ladder and here you are, still doing the media work. We know it is not everybody that will accept what you are doing.”
She assured the Presidential spokesman of the support of Love FM despite some reports that suggest otherwise.
“Sometimes we criticize you, we learnt that from you anyway. Before you got here, you were criticizing others. We have come to say congratulations despite all that has happened. “We are proud at the level you have reached and pray that God will sustain you and give you more wisdom to deal with the challenges associated with the job.”
This was even as Femi Adesina expressed appreciation to the organization for considering him worthy of the award.
He asked media practitioners to partner with the government to move the country forward instead of being adversaries, saying: “what you find in the media at times is that they are so adversarial to government, which does not have to be. This is our country and we don’t have any other one.
“If they send the country into a tailspin through too much criticism, even the media won’t be able to do its work. So, we should always bear in mind that it is our country and whatever we make of it is what we get.”
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the release of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Mop-Up Examination result conducted on Saturday, 6th August.
The Board, in a statement today, August 10 in Abuja, advised candidates to check their results by simply sending RESULT to 55019, using the same phone number that he/she had used for registration and the result would be returned as a text message.
The statement said that candidates could also print their result from the Board’s website, www.jamb.gov.ng after linking their email address to their profile.
“The Board, in line with its desire to adhere to the ease of doing business protocol of the government, has emplaced this user-friendly and simplified process of checking UTME results.
“Furthermore, this simplified process would also serve to preclude the unconscionable exploitation of candidates by shylock business centres and cybercafes which often take advantage of hapless candidates.”
First, two impeachment attempts against former President Donald Trump and now the January 6 proceedings to criminalize a president who isn’t even in office: all over the world, people look on and think America is having an episode.
But politicians all over the world overlook on and think: I’ll have some of that.
Since the Democrats started going after Mr. Trump in the name of democracy, around the globe, copycat impeachments have been popping up in dozens of countries. From Malta to Peru and South Africa to Nigeria, suddenly democratically elected leaders the world over are being challenged, not by the voters, but their rival politicians.
Sure, the job of opposition leaders is to hold those in power to account. To help them do their job we have structures — committees to challenge and question, with powers of subpoena — and much more.
But it’s not opposition politicians’ job to remove democratically elected leaders from office. That’s for the voters. And when politicians snatch that role from them, it undermines democracy itself.
There are exceptional circumstances when presidents and other office holders deserved to be impeached: President Andrew Johnson in 1868 for defying the will of Congress and by extension, the American people in their commitment to political equality for Black Americans following the civil war, and more recently, Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois removed from office in 2009 on federal corruption charges. Both were slam-dunk cases of malfeasance in the highest office.
But two impeachments and one congressional investigation? That smells like political persecution.
The January 6 investigation is well-timed show trial — handily in the run-up to the November elections when President Biden and its aging, failing Democrats are running on fumes. It’s also a third Mr. Trump impeachment by any other name, just as the election day nears. And that’s not just a problem for American democracy, but for freedom and democracy the world over — for where America leads others follow.
In Nigeria, the world’s third largest democracy after India and the United States, there’s a copycat attempt underway.
Just last week, in a headline-grabbing stunt, opposition lawmakers in Nigeria staged a mass walkout from the Senate plenary. Their grievance? the Senate president did not entertain a motion to impeach the country’s two-time democratically elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, just months before the end of his second and final term.
It is no coincidence this occurs just months before Nigeria’s next presidential election. Nor is it a coincidence that the calls for impeachment are led by senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, which was defeated by Mr. Buhari after its leader, Goodluck Jonathan (president from 2010 to 2015), became synonymous with corruption and incompetence. And as in many other countries around the world, it is no coincidence that no other Nigerian president has faced impeachment proceedings. Recent events in the U.S. gave legitimacy and international attention to this unscrupulous and underhanded political tactic.
The Nigerian presidency responded predictably and appropriately. It called on the opposition to collaborate with the government more closely on tackling the same security issues that form the basis of their complaint, rather than resorting to theatrics. But the damage was already done. The headline grabbing stunt achieved what was intended: allowing left-wing international broadcasters such as CNN and BBC to naively report the impeachment attempt — without bothering to understand or cover the underhand reasons behind it.
Nigeria does face serious security challenges that have worsened under the pandemic and global cost of living crisis. But the current administration has made significant inroads in tackling the threats. West African terror cell Boko Haram, which before Mr. Buhari held territory the size of Belgium within Nigeria, has now been reduced to a shell of its former self. The Islamic State’s West Africa Province group that terrorizes the region lost its leaders thanks to Nigerian airstrikes using American-made fighter jets. Consequently, the U.S. and the U.K. are boosting security cooperation with the government in a way they never did with its predecessors for lack of trust.
Africa has sadly replaced the Middle East as the global breeding ground of Islamist terrorism. African governments and their stretched security forces are on the frontlines of battling this scourge. With many of these violent groups linked to global networks of terror, this is a threat that could extend well beyond the borders of Africa. Those African governments that are giving their all to fight this threat need and deserve all the support we can give.
As leaders of the free world, politicians in the United States should think carefully about their actions. They influence politicians in democracies the world over, particularly in newer democracies like those in Africa. If we play dirty politics at the expense of democracy, those democracies that look to us will follow suit. And then those who we should be united in fighting, the enemies of freedom, will gain the upper hand.
• Saul Anuzis is president of the 60 Plus Association, the American association of senior citizens; a former member of the Republican National Committee; and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has warned the local government chairmen in the state against operating from the State capital, asking them to stay in their council headquarters to enable them perform effectively.
Information has it that before now, council chairmen were operating from Yenagoa, the state capital.
Speaking during the inauguration of the chairman’s new office complex at Ekeremor local government, as part of legacy projects that was executed by council chairmen across the state, Governor Diri said that the idea of the council helmsman residing in their respective domain will fast track development.
“Let me inform all those that would take over the leadership of the third tier of government that as the policy of this administration, all local government chairmen must stay in their respective domains.
“I appeal to the elders and all other stakeholders to support the local government administration to enable them perform their duties in line with the Nigerian Constitution.
“We are happy that our council chairmen are now performing. If you have electricity, potable water, good roads and other social amenities, there will be no need moving to urban areas.
“As a government, we will continue to do those things that will impact on people living in our communities,” he said.
In his address, chairman of the Ekeremor council, Dr. Bertola Perekeme, appreciated the state government for its supervision of the councils through the deputy governor’s office, which he said had raised the level of achievements.
Dr. Perekeme noted that between August 2019 and February 2020, the Ekeremor council was only able to pay salaries through the benevolence of sister councils.
He is one of the finest gentlemen of the press that I have ever encountered. A courageous, fearless, humane and humble editor, Mallam Yusuf Alli has come a long way in redefining investigative journalism from his decades of experience in the coverage of various beats in the Nigerian media.
Born on August 8, 1962, Yusuf Alli attended the Kwara State College of Education, Oro, under the auspices of the Institute of Education of the University of Ilorin. He later studied Language Arts at the University of Jos
Mallam Yusuf Alli is a veteran investigative reporter, humanitarian journalist and seasoned editor.
For his career in journalism, he honed his skills at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos; the Centre for Foreign Journalists, Reston, Virginia in the United States; Lagos Business School; and Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea. He is also a product of journalism training in China, and he earned a BBC Certificate on Election Reporting.
Yusuf Alli has worked with several newspapers, including being a reporter with the Herald and standing out to be counted in the heady days of struggle against military dictatorship, as a guerilla journalist with the AM News/The News titles.
He rose through the ranks as a reporter, senior reporter, Chief Correspondent, Assistant Editor, before becoming a Deputy Editor and then getting elevated as the Editor, SUNDAY PUNCH, SATURDAY PUNCH and ultimately THE PUNCH daily newspaper in 2006. He is currently the Managing Editor, Northern Operations of The Nation newspapers.
When it comes to investigative reporting, Mallam Yusuf Alli is fundamentally guided by some of the central tenets and core principles of the practice, which is the necessities of objectivity, fairness and balance, and to report on people and issues without fear or favour. Naturally, such essentially professional conduct could be to the discomfort of friends and even family members, at times. In fact, as a journalist who covers anti-corruption agencies for more than two decades, Alli is reputed to have dossiers of lesser and most corrupt public officials at all levels.
On a few occasions, I had expressed my disenchantment with some of his investigative stories that were not favourable to common associates. He merely responded that “once you are an investigative reporter, you should demonstrate integrity above board.”
As an impartial lawyer in the finest legal tradition would, Yusuf always insists on the sanctity of truth-telling, and nothing other than that. And, rather than anyone trying to plead with him to kill an unfavourable story that could be harmful to certain interests, it is usually better for such a person to expend his or her energies on making a clearer presentation of the other side of the story involved to Yusuf Alli to enhance its balancing, than seeking to persuade him to renounce a story or distort the truth.
Beyond the often cat-and-mouse game between a PR professional and a journalist, our relationship is mutually built on trust, sincerity and openness. Mallam Yusuf can be very considerate in his reporting, to save a bad situation. In fact, he has saved many lives from ridicule, embarrassment, distress and even poverty, through philanthropic endeavours.
When I was forcefully retired from the public service in 2013, Yusuf Alli as an influential media personality, introduced me to highly placed individuals, including the current presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who is now a former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, among numerous others.
Knowing that Mallam Yusuf Alli is one who could take risks including riding Okada motorcycles during heavy traffic, undertaking inspections at odd hours and even spending his last kobo on investigative and exclusive reports, I have taken advantage of this awareness to the fullest on a number of occasions. An instance of this occurred when I was in Las Vegas, USA in 2015, and became informed that back home security personnel had surrounded Sambo Dasuki’s Abuja residence in an attempt to re-arrest him, as against court orders. This was at a time when fake news and hate speeches were deliberately being sponsored and churned out to incite citizens against top officials of the previous administration, in some of the darkest days of media trials in Nigeria.
I quickly called Mallam Yusuf on phone and urged him to reach Dasuki, as he could get some immediate exclusives (stories) if he did.
“Are you sure?”, he asked. To which I quickly replied: “Yes… But you have to meet with him as soon as possible at home not on phone, please!.”
Not surprisingly, Mallam Yusuf Alli managed to penetrate security corridors through the strategic disguise of a tested news spymaster. In the process, he ferreted out details of military procurements, dates of deliveries, and the acknowledgements by the end users. His subsequent reports blew open many of the toxic allegations that had been made against the previous administration – of which Dasuki was a prominent figure as the national security adviser (NSA).
Rather than me thanking him for the unbiased reports he did that yanked the veil off the unfortunate media accusations, Alli was the one thanking me for providing him with the opportunity for practicing his craft and delivering on such critical exclusive reports with fresh facts on security expenditures.
Despite being an Editor, the quintessential Yusuf Alli is still at the frontiers of breaking and reporting news, competing with reporters for the bylines. He would rather be on the field sweating out the daily grind of journalism than serving as a desk officer with a big title and in a comfortable office.
As a board member/director of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, the publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, Yusuf Alli is one of the brains behind the mentorship programme of the organisation for Mass Communication students, budding writers and young journalists. He regularly participates as a resource person and provides logistics for the success of capacity-building programmes.
He is also actively involved in charity activities as he belongs to many organisations including Ansarudeen (the Helper) Society of Nigeria and is a board member of NASFAT Zakat/Sadaqat Foundation in the Federal Capital Territory. Just recently, he emerged the 11th President of the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama District.
During his investiture as the Rotary Club President, many dignitaries commended Yusuf Alli for his various efforts and endeavours. In extolling his numerous qualities, the former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima said the quintessential journalist’s life is a study in dedicated professionalism, service, and a deep sense of duty.
Shettima said: “Today, Yusuf Alli has been recognised as a leading authority in investigative journalism in our country. His colleagues, from far and near, recognise the incredible hard work he puts into every story he pursues and the excellent quality of his outputs in the professional field. If all that Rotarian Yusuf Alli has done in life is the exemplary service that he has given to journalism in our country, we would be forgiven to conclude that he has done enough for a lifetime.”
I am aware that he has politely rejected many offers of juicy public affairs roles in a number of establishments. Instead of being on the driver’s seat, Alli usually says: “I have never aspired to lead. All I wanted was to serve in my little way. I come from a family with a deep passion for service and giving. I also married from a family which loves to share and give.”
Mallam Yusuf Alli gives without expecting anything in return and lends his professional practice to the promotion of truth, pursuit of fairness, building of goodwill, enhancement of better friendships and enabling acts that are beneficial to humanity. His brand of journalism, over the years, respects our diversity, protects the national interest and upholds equity and justice.
Married to Hajiya Muinat Abiola Yusuf on November 27, 1997, their marriage is blessed with four children, including a set of twins.
To an epitome of humility and simplicity, this is to wish Mallam Yusuf Alli Happy 60th Birthday and 25th Wedding Anniversary
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Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the release of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Mop-Up Examination result conducted on Saturday, 6th August.
Impeachment Proceedings, Damaging Democracy Everywhere, By Saul Anuzis
But politicians all over the world overlook on and think: I’ll have some of that.
Since the Democrats started going after Mr. Trump in the name of democracy, around the globe, copycat impeachments have been popping up in dozens of countries. From Malta to Peru and South Africa to Nigeria, suddenly democratically elected leaders the world over are being challenged, not by the voters, but their rival politicians.
Sure, the job of opposition leaders is to hold those in power to account. To help them do their job we have structures — committees to challenge and question, with powers of subpoena — and much more.
But it’s not opposition politicians’ job to remove democratically elected leaders from office. That’s for the voters. And when politicians snatch that role from them, it undermines democracy itself.
There are exceptional circumstances when presidents and other office holders deserved to be impeached: President Andrew Johnson in 1868 for defying the will of Congress and by extension, the American people in their commitment to political equality for Black Americans following the civil war, and more recently, Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois removed from office in 2009 on federal corruption charges. Both were slam-dunk cases of malfeasance in the highest office.
But two impeachments and one congressional investigation? That smells like political persecution.
The January 6 investigation is well-timed show trial — handily in the run-up to the November elections when President Biden and its aging, failing Democrats are running on fumes. It’s also a third Mr. Trump impeachment by any other name, just as the election day nears. And that’s not just a problem for American democracy, but for freedom and democracy the world over — for where America leads others follow.
In Nigeria, the world’s third largest democracy after India and the United States, there’s a copycat attempt underway.
Just last week, in a headline-grabbing stunt, opposition lawmakers in Nigeria staged a mass walkout from the Senate plenary. Their grievance? the Senate president did not entertain a motion to impeach the country’s two-time democratically elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, just months before the end of his second and final term.
It is no coincidence this occurs just months before Nigeria’s next presidential election. Nor is it a coincidence that the calls for impeachment are led by senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, which was defeated by Mr. Buhari after its leader, Goodluck Jonathan (president from 2010 to 2015), became synonymous with corruption and incompetence. And as in many other countries around the world, it is no coincidence that no other Nigerian president has faced impeachment proceedings. Recent events in the U.S. gave legitimacy and international attention to this unscrupulous and underhanded political tactic.
The Nigerian presidency responded predictably and appropriately. It called on the opposition to collaborate with the government more closely on tackling the same security issues that form the basis of their complaint, rather than resorting to theatrics. But the damage was already done. The headline grabbing stunt achieved what was intended: allowing left-wing international broadcasters such as CNN and BBC to naively report the impeachment attempt — without bothering to understand or cover the underhand reasons behind it.
Nigeria does face serious security challenges that have worsened under the pandemic and global cost of living crisis. But the current administration has made significant inroads in tackling the threats. West African terror cell Boko Haram, which before Mr. Buhari held territory the size of Belgium within Nigeria, has now been reduced to a shell of its former self. The Islamic State’s West Africa Province group that terrorizes the region lost its leaders thanks to Nigerian airstrikes using American-made fighter jets. Consequently, the U.S. and the U.K. are boosting security cooperation with the government in a way they never did with its predecessors for lack of trust.
Africa has sadly replaced the Middle East as the global breeding ground of Islamist terrorism. African governments and their stretched security forces are on the frontlines of battling this scourge. With many of these violent groups linked to global networks of terror, this is a threat that could extend well beyond the borders of Africa. Those African governments that are giving their all to fight this threat need and deserve all the support we can give.
As leaders of the free world, politicians in the United States should think carefully about their actions. They influence politicians in democracies the world over, particularly in newer democracies like those in Africa. If we play dirty politics at the expense of democracy, those democracies that look to us will follow suit. And then those who we should be united in fighting, the enemies of freedom, will gain the upper hand.
• Saul Anuzis is president of the 60 Plus Association, the American association of senior citizens; a former member of the Republican National Committee; and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.