with

Ben C. Abraham.

GOV ZULUM’s OUTCRY

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State is surely a man in the throes of despondency. Why? Boko Haram, that dreaded assemblage of God-forsaken sons of perdition are on the ascendancy after over 15 years of battle with the Nigerian State, after several victories by Nigerian forces and after trillions of Naira have been sunk into the campaign. Borno State has remained the Headquarters and key operational theater of the group and their recent successful hits against the military have precipitated the Governor’s outcry. Zulum specifically accused some members of the Military as well as unnamed political actors of sabotaging the efforts to crush the sect. He stated that Boko Haram had informants and collaborators within the military, the political class and the communities. The Governor’s statement came on the heels of a recent run of successes by Boko Haram insurgents against key Military outposts notably in Marte. What was more intriguing in Gov Zulum’s outburst was the fact that he defended the repentant insurgents as not being involved in the sabotage. He said that over 99% of the repentant terrorists were doing well. How our dear Governor arrived at this statistic is not known. There is a common saying about cutting one’s nose to spite his face. Remember that Zulum and his co-travellers pressured the Federal Government to offer amnesty to identified Boko Haram murderers and insurrectionists in the mould of the Niger Delta amnesty in defiance of sound advice and the memories of the fallen officers and men. The amnesty took off and thousands of former insurgents were rehabilitated and reabsorbed into the communities and even the army. Years after, the chicken surely has come home to roost; oh yes, it has. The result? Sabotage, a prolonged campaign and trillions of unaccounted funds allocated to fight the intractable war. Albert Einstein gave a classic definition of insanity, viz, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Nigeria has chosen to fall into the group Einstein had in mind when he crafted this definition. Judging from what has transpired in the past 6 weeks or thereabouts, Oga Zulum should do well preparing himself for more shocks, sabotage and a teary outing. He and his ilk would also do well scripting an apology letter to Gen Ihejirika who took the battle head on to the terrorists but Zulum’s kinsmen and even a former two-time C-i-C resisted him and made efforts to arraign him before the international criminal court for genocide. Nigeria sef.

THAT APC NATIONAL SUMMIT;

The 2027 presidential elections drums are increasing in sound, intensity and insensitivity and the dancers who initially began by a gentle sway of the body have graduated into a wild gyration; hands, heads, legs, sweat and saliva flapping everywhere. And so the APC, the ruling party took the macabre dance one notch higher when they gathered for their national summit on Thursday 22^nd May 2025 at the Villa in Abuja. The high point was when the Governors of all 22 APC controlled states endorsed President Bola Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate for the 2027 elections. Govs Hope Uzodinma and Uba couriered the message on behalf of the Governors; progressive Governors as they are wont to call themselves. The Governors promised to deliver their various states for the President and the party in 2027, that is. Speaker after speaker extolled the magic wand of the president in various areas of our National life. Even Nuhu Ribadu had something to say about how security had improved under APC and Tinubu. Methinks that these guys are existing in an alternate universe. Well, Nigerians are in a season of harvest; because seedtime and harvest shall never cease. When other Nations chose the truth, we chose sycophancy, religion and my-tribe-is-better-than-yours rantings and so development took flight from our shores. In its place, our tribesmen who are in politics now insist on achievements they have recorded but which we are busy searching to confirm. We are told that our economy is doing beautifully well, our Naira has gained against the dollar, life cannot be better than it is and every Nigerian now sleeps with 2 eyes closed; it is indeed Eldorado. Whaoo! Speaking during the summit, President Tinubu, obviously basking in the glory of it all, alluded to the fact that more defections will happen soon. Indeed, sooner than later, as Gov Eno of Akwa Ibom has all but defected and news is swirling around about the Enugu, Anambra, Zamfara and Plateau Governors. Did someone not remind us that China was a one-party State and they are doing extremely well? He was simply informing us of the next level of politicking pre-2027 – the level that comes with renewed hope or hopelessness? As they say, Allah kiyayi.

……AND ONE OTHER THING:

 JAMB AND A NATION IN SEARCH OF TRUTH;

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education has been in the spotlight for some time now. Why not? With the mass failure of candidates in Lagos State and the south eastern states in the 2025 cycle of examinations attributed to technical glitches on its server. The results drew the ire of parents, stakeholders and Federal legislators. To compensate, JAMB organized a resit examinations in the affected states and offered a tear-filled apology to Nigerians. From the 1970s JAMB has been a centralized examination body for aspiring undergraduates into our universities, polytechnics and colleges. Back in the day, your admission letter would come straight from JAMB to your preferred address. The Universities set cut-off points and gave JAMB list of qualified candidates. Gradually, Nigeria happened to JAMB and then perhaps, in a bid to level everybody and every part of the country, began to set cut-off points. And so we began to see JAMB cut off and universities cut off points. JAMB issued cut-of points as low as 120 out of a possible 400 points. With fewer universities and greater population of secondary school leavers, the education waters got really muddled. JAMB transited from pen and paper to computer based test (CBT) approach, and from charging a token to becoming a funds-remitting agency contributing to the Revenue basket; all of these while academic standards fell. JAMB like the police and some other agencies is styled after our usual centralized organizational pattern even when it has outlived its usefulness. But we rather sacrifice our children’s future than change the status quo; that is classic Nigeria where we like agencies big and central so that one order in Abuja will echo in far-away Bakassi or Daura. It is this quest for power over big areas that has crippled Nigeria and made devolution of powers impossible in reality, even where the Tinubus of this world ‘fought’ for and campaigned on the promise of fiscal federalism and devolution of powers. It is the same hypocrisy that has kept JAMB doing what it knows how to do, adding to our educational woes. If the prisons could be decentralized and the State Police bill is undergoing legislative hearing, why should examinations into universities not be reformed? In the US, few states come together to have a common exams board. Every state in the US has its own law school admission and licensing procedure with few that are joint. It is time for universities to spearhead the quest for who they admit. Why must we hold everyone to the same level always? Nigeria truly needs help. Who JAMB epp?