The Nigerian Army announced on December 6 that Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas is replacing Major General Ibrahim Attahiru as the commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military effort against the jihadist insurgency Boko Haram in what is a positive sign of accountability.

On May 3, President Muhammadu Buhari missed his third consecutive weekly cabinet meeting. He was also absent from Friday prayers on April 28 and his grandson’s wedding on April 29. On May 1, he did n…

Released last month, the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) confirmed what many Nigerians know intuitively—that a steady stream of official antigraft rhetoric has hardly made a dent on what many agree is the most formidable perennial challenge to the country’s long-term stability. President Buhari’s sentiment to the effect that “if Nigeria does not kill corruption, then corruption will kill Nigeria,” is widely shared. Not only is Nigeria down five places from its 2020 ranking, its total score of twenty-four out of a maximum one hundred points represents a drop for the third successive year, making it West Africa’s second most corrupt country. Guinea-Bissau, still reeling from a failed military takeover in early February, holds the dubious honor of being the most corrupt.  

These are unsettled times in Nigerian politics. On August 7, masked operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), secret police, barricaded the national assembly in Abuja, preventing access by legislators. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo proceeded to fire DSS chief Lawal Daura and later placed him under house arrest.