The Bellwether State

Nigerian politics does not lack ideology. Instead, the problem is that one ideology has become so dominant that we have stopped seeing it. 

There is no universal formula for determining how many states a country should have. Nigeria has 36 states, but why not 35 or 37? Is 36 even the ideal number? 

What began as a Tuesday evening service at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State, turned into a live-streamed kidnapping that dragged 38 worshippers into the forest and left three people dead. Nearly 40 days after the bandit attack, Pelumi Salako visits Eruku to speak with survivors.

Boko Haram terrorism fits into a longer pattern of insurgency in Borno. Civilians survive through collective resistance, negotiation and uneasy compliance, and ‘peace’ in wartime is often shaped by tragic trade-offs.

In 2011, a Boko Haram bombing at the United Nations House in Abuja claimed the lives of 26 people. The incident changed Nigeria’s capital city and the lives of its residents forever.