In another sign of elite alarm over the deterioration of security in Nigeria, representatives from fifteen of the seventeen southern states—hailing from the South West, South South, and South East geopolitical zones—met virtually on May 4 and again on May 11 for an in-person meeting in Asaba, Delta State to "harmonise their positions."

As the battle for Marawi, a major city of some 200,000 in the southern Philippines, has dragged on for weeks, it has begun to raise global concern. The conflict pits fighters who have pledged allegia…