Israeli missiles strike Gaza hospital, patients evacuated

Two Israeli missiles hit a major Gaza hospital on Sunday, putting the emergency department out of action and damaging other structures, medics said, in a strike which Israel said was aimed at Hamas fighters exploiting the facility.

Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital evacuated patients after a phone call from someone who identified himself as Israeli security shortly before the attack.

No casualties were reported in the strike. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck the compound, which it said was being used by Hamas militants to plan attacks. Hamas rejected the accusation and called for an international investigation.

The hospital - an institution run by the Anglican Church in Jerusalem - was no longer operational, according to Gaza's health ministry.

"Hundreds of patients and injured people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night, and many of them are now out in the streets without medical care, which puts their lives at risk," said ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran.

Sunday's strikes came as Hamas leaders began a fresh round of talks in Cairo in a bid to salvage a stalled ceasefire agreement with Israel, as Egypt, Qatar, and the United States attempted to bridge gaps between the sides.

Reuters footage showed significant destruction in and outside the hospital compound's church, and patients who could not leave.

WARNING

"The scene was scary. From last night until now, I haven't slept a single minute out of fear. All night, glass was shattering over us inside," said an injured man, Mohammed Abu Nasser.

The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem said the warning to evacuate the hospital came 20 minutes before the strike that destroyed the two-storey genetic laboratory, and damaged the pharmacy and emergency department buildings and other surrounding structures.

"We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions," the church said in a statement.

The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas condemned the attack, saying Israel was destroying Gaza's healthcare system.

Israel says Hamas systematically exploits civilian structures, including hospitals, which the militant group denies. Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids in medical facilities in Gaza.

In October 2023, a deadly blast at a parking lot in the compound of Al-Ahli hospital was blamed by Hamas on an Israeli airstrike. Israel said a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group had caused the blast.

The militant group denied it was responsible. An investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded the explosion was most likely caused by a failed Palestinian rocket launch.

OTHER STRIKES

Separate strikes in the enclave on Sunday killed at least 30 Palestinians, including the head of a police station in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Hamas-run enclave, according to Hamas and health authorities. Six brothers were killed when an Israeli strike hit their car in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, medics said.

Later on Sunday, the Israeli military said it had located and destroyed a 1.2 km underground tunnel used by militants in the northern Gaza Strip. It said it struck several militants identified as planting a bomb near the Israeli soldiers carrying out the operation to demolish the tunnel.

The armed wing of Hamas, meanwhile, said its fighters detonated bombs they had planted in a house in eastern Rafah, in the south of the enclave, after Israeli soldiers entered it.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 50,900 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities. Much of Gaza is in ruins and most of its population has been displaced.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says 32 killed by Russian ballistic missile strike on Sumy

Thirty-two people were killed and over 80 others wounded by two Russian ballistic missiles that slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday morning, Ukrainian officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack - one of the deadliest strikes on Ukraine this year - and called for a tough international reaction against Moscow.

"Only scoundrels can act like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people," Zelenskiy wrote on social media, alongside a chilling video which showed corpses on the ground, a destroyed bus and burnt-out cars in the middle of a city street.

"And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem," he said.

Interior minister Klymenko said the victims were on the street, in vehicles, public transport and in buildings when the strike hit.

"Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church feast day," he wrote.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said the missiles contained cluster munitions.

"The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible," he said.

Reuters was seeking comment from Russian authorities.

Andriy Kovalenko, a security official who runs Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, noted that the strike came after a visit to Moscow by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

"Russia is building all this so-called diplomacy ... around strikes on civilians," he wrote on Telegram.

Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, held talkswith Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg on the search for a Ukraine peace deal, as Trump told Russia to "get moving".

In the aftermath of Sunday's strike, Zelenskiy called on the U.S. and Europe to get tough on Russia in response to what he described as terrorism.

"Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible. Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs," he wrote.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently holds about 20% of the country's territory in the east and south. Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the east of late, though missile and drone strikes now dominate the war.

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day in what it called a violation of a U.S.-brokered moratorium on such strikes.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on each other's energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile strikes Kiev troops during award ceremony in Sumy – Ukrainian MP

A Russian missile has struck Ukrainian troops lining up for an award ceremony in the city of Sumy near the front line, according to Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuglaya, a former member of Vladimir Zelensky’s political party.

The acting mayor of Sumy, Artyon Kobzar, said that the strike on the city’s center on Sunday left more than 20 people dead and over 80 wounded.

Bezuglaya claimed in a post on Telegram later in the day that those killed were Ukrainian servicemen.

“An appeal to [Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr] Syrsky and separately to the commander of the Territorial Defense Forces: Do not gather the troops for award ceremonies, especially in civilian cities,” she wrote.

The legislator, who used to be a member of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘Servant of the People’ party, also alleged that “the Russians had information about the gathering.”

“Do not do roll calls. Do not stage award ceremonies,” she urged the military.

Ukrainian journalist and former MP Natalya Mosiychuk also confirmed that the Russian strike had targeted a muster of the Ukrainian servicemen. She called for the arrest of the head of the Sumy military administration Vladimir Artyukh and Zelensky party legislator Mikhail Ananachenko, who she blamed for organizing and promoting the award ceremony. “Beside the soldiers, they gathered civilians, including children there. Bastards and scumbags!”

The Russian Defense Ministry did not mention a strike in Sumy during its daily bulletin on Sunday.

Bezuglaya, 36, has repeatedly criticized Ukraine’s senior military commanders since quitting Zelensky’s party last February. In July 2024, she was blacklisted by the notorious Ukrainian website Mirotvorets, a semi-official database of perceived enemies of the state.

Reuters/RT

2025 has not been easy on Nigerians. The economy has looked far from bright; the weather has been suffocating; and cost of living has been stubbornly oppressive. With rising massacres in the Middle Belt, and Borno State in the north-east apparently losing ground to the nihilism of Boko Haram terror, violence remains unremitting. In the Niger Delta, a judicially manufactured crisis of political godfathering threatens serious repercussions for the national purse and endangers rent and royalties from the wells of oil-rich Rivers State. All this unfolds under the watch of a president who appears to have grown into a habit of sending episodic missives to Nigerians from his preferred base in Paris and occasionally paying a visit to Abuja from there.

Each of these developments is eminently newsworthy. Together, they should grip attentions about the goings-on in the sixth most populous country in the world. Instead, the biggest news out of Nigeria this year is the failure of Nigeria’s men of power to manage libidinal sexploits in the workplace, and the accompanying tendency to default to abuse of power to inter any resulting embarrassments.

Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is the Senator for Kogi Central and, by herself, 25% of the female contingent in the Nigeria’s Senate. Her detailed allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, would probably have long ago run their course if the chamber and its leadership had approached the matter with due regard to any rule book. Instead, they chose to orchestrate the longest-running political soap opera in Africa’s most populous country.

As with these things, most people no longer remember the complaint because the cover-up procured by abuse of power has been more impressive. It has guaranteed that this story has “dominated conversations and highlighted longstanding women’s rights issues in the socially conservative country, where no woman has ever been elected governor, vice-president or president.”

For many, any suggestion that it is abnormal for a man not to get excited in the presence of a woman in the workplace is perplexing to the point of vexing. In a case in 2016, a lawyer representing a powerful international organisation in a case of sexual harassment before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), told the judge that “it is expected among adults that a man would naturally chase a woman, make romantic overtures.” Few have paused to ask what exactly “sexual harassment” means, why it matters and why it is such a lingering issue in both work spaces and public institutions.

In 2011, the Lagos State Criminal Law made sexual harassment a felony. The law describes the crime to include “unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours, and other visual, verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which when submitted to or rejected” could affect or unreasonably interfere with the employment or educational opportunities of a person; become a factor in their academic or employment decision, or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive learning or working environment. Other states like Ekiti and Kaduna States have followed the example of Lagos in making sexual harassment a crime.

Sexual harassment can also create civil liability. Stella Odey was a widow with four children when the development organisation, CUSO, hired her for four years in January 2015 as project manager. At work, she found herself under a male boss who repeatedly told her that “her voice arrests him, slapping her buttocks and embracing her against her will and consent.” He was reluctant to hear her protestation that she desired to remarry.

In July 2015, 14 days after Ms Odey gave her boss a card inviting him to her wedding, he summarily sacked her. In upholding her claim of unlawful termination, the National Industrial Court pointed out that “the main point in allegations of sexual harassment is that unwelcome sexual conduct has invaded the workplace.”

Four years earlier, the same court awarded quite substantial damages against Microsoft in Nigeria in favour of a female staff whose employment the country manager, a man, terminated after she refused his sexual advances.

While parliamentary sexploits in the Senate have brought much-needed attention to the subject generally, it remains the case that Nigeria’s educational and academic institutions are the places most persistently associated with sexual harassment. Nearly 45 years ago, in 1981, a mere two years after Akpoti-Uduaghan was born, the report of the Presidential Commission on Salary and Conditions of University Staff chaired by Samuel Cookey acknowledged an incipient problem of sexual harassment in the universities. Since then, the issue has grown in both scope and significance.

In 2024, a pioneering Baseline Survey conducted under the auspices of the Committee of Gender Directors in Nigerian Universities in partnership with the non-governmental organization, Alliances for Africa, found that at least 63% of female students in universities in the country had experienced sexual harassment. The perpetrators included lecturers, staff, and students. The report acknowledged an absence of progress on this issue, citing “stigmatisation, absence of adequate institutional support, power imbalances between victims and perpetrators, lack of clear policies and procedures for reporting incidents.”

An ongoing scandal at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), involving allegations of sexual harassment against the Vice-Chancellor, Abayomi Fasina, a professor, illustrates how bad the situation is. At the end of last year, it emerged that a female senior director at the university, Folasade Adebayo, had accused the Vice-Chancellor of work place reprisals after she allegedly rejected his persistent sexual advances.

The Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law creates a felony crime of sexual harassment which occurs when there is “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature or other conduct based on sex or gender which is persistent or serious and demeans, humiliates, or creates a hostile or intimidating environment.” To prove her allegations, Mrs. Adebayo produced a sound clip of a telephone conversation with the Vice-Chancellor in 2023 in which he could be heard pleading that he would make her happy as long as she made him happy, and confessing: “Let me tell you, I’m dying inside for you.”

After what was supposed to be an internal investigation, the Governing Council issued a statement this past week claiming that it had cleared the Vice-Chancellor of the allegations. Instead it ordered various disciplinary measures against Mrs. Adebayo and the leadership of the Staff Union of the University (which made her allegations public), “for bringing the name of the university into disrepute.”

Without challenging the provenance of the sound clip or the veracity of its contents, the Governing Council instead “condemned the recording of the Vice-Chancellor without his knowledge and consent.” Yet, it resolved to advise the Vice-Chancellor “in writing to be more careful and circumspect in dealing with subordinates.” Not done with this piece of tortured administrative theatre, the Governing Council then announced that it would constitute a “peace and reconciliation committee to look into all the issues in the university.”

The performance of the Senate in the institutional calisthenics of inspired cover-up easily pales into insignificance beside the mastery displayed by the Governing Council of FUOYE. Under cover of high statutory authority, the Governing Council procured the burial of serious allegations that could be criminal in Ekiti while implicitly validating their veracity. Why would the Vice-Chancellor need gratuitous advice of the kind the Council will be offering if the recording lacked credibility? Unsurprisingly, the university staff union promptly denounced the decision.

The bigger problem is that the Council by this decision destroys any hope of remedies for students, staff or anyone with credible claims of sexual harassment in the university. Instead, they guarantee exactly the opposite of what the university seeks to avoid: resort to public advocacy by victims. Anticipating that, the Governing Council of FUOYE says it will expedite the production of policies on cyber-bullying and use of social media. The intention is not to help victims or to bring perpetrators to account. Rather, it seeks to perpetuate a culture of cover-up. Anyone looking for where the men in Senate learnt their art when they were boys should look no further than a Nigerian University.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Every day, I am barraged by individuals trying to get me to buy into their program to get more qualified leads, get noticed on LinkedIn, streamline my workflow... and on and on and on. I am exhausted by it all and at the same time strangely intrigued. I have always wanted and tried to be an early adopter. I love being able to try something new, to find that "shiny penny."

After all, I might be missing some cool system for generating the leads that are most suited to my product and service offering. Perhaps I am overlooking someone who has the expertise I need to reach a whole untapped market? Who does not want to get noticed for their work and accomplishments on LinkedIn or other platforms?

I know I do, but beware. It is easy to fall prey to shiny object syndrome. By definition, it is "the tendency of being constantly drawn to exciting new opportunities." I have done this and see the same thing happening to many clients. They introduce new initiatives or programs only to have them disappear without ever achieving results in favor of something newer.

Today, there is constant pressure to improve awareness of your brand and be more efficient and profitable. That's why new tools, programs and consultants are popping up to help. But do you really need help? Will that shiny penny deliver results? Here are a few things to consider.

Are you maximizing your current systems?

Back when the microwave was first introduced there were all sorts of features. I know mine had all kinds of programs, but all I did was warm up coffee or defrost food. The microwave could do so much more. I did not use it to its full potential. I think the same thing is true today of business systems.

It is easy to think you need help generating business leads and being more efficient in the sales process, but are you using what you have in place? Take, for example, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) technology. There are a variety of options from well-known products to smaller tracking systems.

Most of them are great at helping manage customer interactions and build relationships. Even some of the simplest ones have valuable information. The problem is that often employees don't use it routinely. It takes constant effort to input information about current and potential projects. If the data is not accurate or timely, you can miss opportunities. A new or more robust system may not be any better than an existing one.

The same can be true of project management software, safety programs and other efforts. Before you try something new, see if you are utilizing what you have to the fullest.

Are you distracted by the latest idea?

Have you ever had a great idea for a product that you thought would be in demand? At least three times, I have devoted significant effort and resources to producing video projects that I believe would be a tremendous success. The ideas were solid. One was a primer on the Americans with Disabilities Act, which we released shortly after the legislation went into effect.

Another was a series of videos based on an extraordinarily successful in-person program that taught kids basic physical skills that would lead to better participation in sports and other activities. Both projects were well-produced and had substantial content. Unfortunately, neither was a commercial success, and both distracted me from my core business, which is B2B corporate communication.

When you constantly get excited about new ideas or projects, it can pull attention away from existing initiatives and confuse employees about what is really important. That doesn't mean you should not try to expand and enhance your product offering. You should. Just be sure that boredom is not pushing you to try things that are not the right fit for your business.

Are you attracted to outside experts?

Many years ago, a business friend suggested that I work with a consultant that he used to improve the quality of leads for his service business. He raved about the return on the monthly investment and saw results by the second month of the engagement. I met with the consultant and was impressed by what appeared to be a solid system for understanding my needs and using data to find and match potential clients.

As you might guess, the result was lackluster. After several months, the promised leads did not materialize. I did make some connections, but not enough to justify the cost. The work was also not the kind or quality of work that I wanted to do.

Over the years, I have tried several times to hire outside consultants with mixed results. There are times when consultants can help jump-start efforts, and it is exciting when someone wants to work with you. It is also easy to waste a great deal of money on consultants who can talk a good game but don't have a solid process or method to track the benefits.

I discovered that I had employees on staff who could do the necessary research and get us quality leads. I also found that I was not leveraging my memberships in organizations that could help me connect with potential clients who were a good fit.

What makes entrepreneurs successful is the ability to see what others cannot. To come up with fresh ideas and approaches to problems. To get excited about the possibilities. However, that can also be a weakness if we let our enthusiasm distract us from focusing on our day-to-day business. I admit I am still intrigued by shiny pennies. However, I am getting better at walking by and not picking them up.

Entrepreneur

Hamas releases video of Israeli-American hostage held in Gaza

Hamas on Saturday released a video purportedly of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held in Gaza since he was captured by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023.

In the undated video, the man who introduces himself as Edan Alexander states he has been held in Gaza for 551 days. The man questions why he is still being held and pleads for his release.

Alexander is a soldier serving in the Israeli military.

The edited video was released as Jews began to mark Passover, a weeklong holiday that celebrates freedom. Alexander's family released a statement acknowledging the video that said the holiday would not be one of freedom as long as Edan and the 58 other hostages in Gaza remained in captivity.

Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda that is designed to put pressure on the government. The war is in its eighteenth month.

Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel's military resumed its ground and aerial campaign on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.

Israeli officials say that campaign will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt are mediating between Hamas and Israel.

The war started when Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israeli communities near Gaza on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel's retaliatory assault has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches scores of drones on Ukraine, four people injured, Kyiv says

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, injuring four people and damaging residential and commercial buildings in Kyiv and other parts of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

Ukraine's air defences shot down 56 of 88 Russian drones, its air force said. It added that 24 drones were "lost" as the military used electronic warfare to redirect them.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitchko said that three people were injured in the capital as a result of the drone attacks.

Drone debris also destroyed a private house and damaged several commercial buildings, causing large fires in different parts of Kyiv, city officials said.

One more person was wounded in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said.

Regional officials also said that residential and commercial buildings were damaged in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, and the military reported damage in the Odesa region in the south.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Trump extends package of anti-Russian sanctions for another year

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that extends a package of anti-Russian sanctions introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden for a year, according to the US Federal Register.

On April 15, 2021, the Biden administration introduced executive order 14024, imposing sanctions on Russian individuals and entities that may have allegedly been engaged in cyber-enabled activities against the country, efforts to undermine the conduct of elections in the United States and other countries, attempts to harm or kill American citizens, as well as financial and other sanctions-busting operations.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in March that Russia considered all restrictions imposed on it as illegitimate and expected them to be lifted.

Reuters/Tass

According to data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigeria's crude oil production declined to 1,400,783 barrels per day (bpd) in March, marking the lowest output since January.

The figures reveal a 4.38% decrease from February's production of 1,465,006 bpd, representing a reduction of 64,223 bpd. When condensate is included, total production dropped to 1.603 million bpd in March from 1.671 million bpd in February.

Despite the decrease, the NUPRC noted that March's average crude oil production achieved 93% of Nigeria's 1.5 million bpd quota allocated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Production levels fluctuated throughout the month, with the lowest combined output at 1.49 million bpd and the peak reaching 1.76 million bpd.

The current production remains well below the NUPRC's 2025 target of 2.1 million bpd. This decline comes as OPEC and its allies recently approved an increase in oil production by 411,000 bpd for May, amid falling oil prices that could potentially impact the implementation of Nigeria's 2025 budget.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

At least eight travellers were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on the Maiduguri-Damboa road in Borno state on Saturday.

According to the police command in Borno, the incident, which left 11 other persons severely injured, involved a commercial bus heading to Maiduguri, the state capital, from Damboa.

“At about 11:45hrs today, a tragic incident occurred at Komala Village, Konduga LGA, Borno State,” Nahum Daso, police spokesperson, said in a statement.

“A Hummer Bus vehicle with registration number Jigawa MMR 144 XA, stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists.

“The explosion resulted in the deaths of eight individuals, including the driver, while eleven others sustained various injuries. The injured victims have been taken to the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri for treatment.

“Joint Clearance operation between the police and military ongoing.”

Babagana Zulum, governor of the state, who visited the victims in the hospital, directed that they be given free medical treatment.

Zulum also offered N50,000 cash to each of the injured as immediate support.

On April 8, Zulum expressed concern over the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks and kidnappings across the state.

The governor noted that renewed Boko Haram attacks and kidnappings in many communities in Borno showed that the state is losing its ground.

He added that the recent dislodgment of military formations in some LGAs is a “significant setback” in the country’s fight against insurgency.

There have been spates of attacks in the state in recent times.

On March 21, four passengers were killed and four others injured after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded under a commercial vehicle in Biu LGA of the state.

The Cable

After the Bokkos massacre, three persons have been confirmed killed in the Zogu community, Miango District, Irigwe Chiefdom of the Bassa local government area of Plateau State.

The leadership of the Irigwe Development Association, IDA, that confirmed the incident said the deceased are of the same family.

Sam Jugo, the National Publicity Secretary of IDA, said, “IDA has been notified of yet another attack on Zogu village, Miango yesterday the 11th April, 2025 at about 10 pm which claimed the lives of a father and two of his sons namely: Weyi Gebeh, 56 years, Zhu Weyi, 25 years, and Henry Weyi, 16 years old.

“This recent event brings to nine deaths recorded this week alone. IDA expresses its utmost displeasure on the deteriorating situation in Irigweland and calls on the security agencies to do whatever that is required to halt this barbarism on our land and perpetrators apprehended to face justice.

“The way criminal elements invade our motherland and kill with impunity seems to suggest a more sinister motive. IDA therefore calls on the Plateau State government and the security services to do the needful and stop the killing of innocent people in Irigweland.”

In another development, troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN (OPSH) on the ongoing Operation LAFIYAN JAMA’A have arrested two members of the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Plateau State. The Media Information Officer of OpSH, Samson Zhakom, in a statement at the weekend, noted, “In a coordinated operation on 11 April 2025, troops of Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shendam busted an ISWAP cell located around Yelwa axis in Shendam Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State.

“During the sting operation, two suspected ISWAP members identified as Abdulkadir Dalhatu 25 years-old and Ubaidu Hassan 25 years-old posing as tailors were arrested by troops. Preliminary investigation revealed that the arrested suspects were mandated by ISWAP Commander to use the cover of tailoring to facilitate the establishment of ISWAP bases in Plateau and Bauchi States. The suspects are in custody for further action.

“Additionally, on 11 April 2025, troops of Sector 4 OPSH conducted follow-up operation at the hideout of a wanted criminal at Mazat Village in Barkin Ladi LGA of Plateau State. During the operation, the suspect fled before troops arrived at the scene.

However, troops searched the hideout and recovered 1 AK-47 rifle with registration number 23402 as well as 1 AK-47 magazine buried in the building. The recovered weapons are in custody, while efforts are ongoing to nab the fleeing criminal and also recover other weapons in his possession.

“On the 12 April 2025, troops of Sector 2 OPSH acting on credible intelligence laid ambush against bandits along Road Pinau – Bangalala in Wase LGA of Plateau State. During the operation, troops made contact and neutralized one bandit while others fled with possible gunshot injuries. Troops exploited the general area and recovered one fabricated pistol.”

He called for more credible information to aid the operations of troops as they intensify onslaughts on arm-carrying criminals.

Vanguard

You probably call it something else, but I call it the Loyalty Line: that routine line-up of top government—mostly security-related—officials in front of the presidential jet when a Nigerian leader is about to travel.

You’ve seen it over and over: officials of the National Security Council and the National Defence Council standing against the backdrop of the aircraft.

In case you didn’t know, the NSC advises the President on security matters, including issues relating to organizations or agencies responsible for national security. Similarly, the NDC advises the President on matters concerning the defence of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Given Nigeria’s fractured security and the growing lack of public trust in the government, these two overlapping bodies, along with the officials who populate them, are clearly critical today.

And yet, every time the President travels, they have room in their schedules—wherever they are and whatever they’re doing—to show up at the airport. In effect, the Loyalty Line has become more important than the hard work of securing Nigeria as anticipated by the constitution.

If the President travelled by helicopter from the Presidential Villa to the airport in Abuja, it would only take about 20 minutes. By road, every Nigerian knows it’s an exorbitant, exuberant, and expensive power show.

Since the Loyalty Line must be at the airport ahead of his arrival, it stands to reason that the loyalists don’t travel with him. Each must arrive in their individual convoys to pledge their loyalty for a few seconds.

The Loyalty Line is a reminder that officials do not have to deliver results; they simply have to be loyal. And that loyalty is part of why Nigeria remains so insecure. The security architecture, which is based on professionals doing the work of professionals, has been replaced with professionals doing political bootlicking.

But perhaps this is why Nigeria does not work? Key government chieftains are, in practice, gathered in Abuja to please and praise the president rather than being in their offices or out in the field, doggedly working for the Nigerian people. If the National Security Adviser, the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, and the Inspector-General of Police must gather at the airport simply because the president is going on a flight, who is in the trenches? And why do their subordinates—in or out of Abuja—have any urgency about the 24-hour task ahead of them? Who is out there that the terrorists are afraid of?

Let us remember that in the administration before this—Muhammadu Buhari’s—the practice was the same. Like Tinubu, Buhari appeared to resent the notion of medical care in his own country (or providing it for Nigerians), even ignoring the State House Medical Centre next door.

The former president’s notion of security was a meeting of his “security chiefs.” Repeatedly surrounding himself with them in Aso Rock was his idea of combating Boko Haram.

Because he failed so disastrously and left Nigeria in a far worse situation but enjoys portraying himself as a statesman, I have often had to respond to his propaganda, including in two “Farewell to the General” articles in May 2023; “What Buhari seeks is peace, not rest” (July 2023); “Buhari still hungers for attention,” (September 2023); “Resisting Revisionist History” (December 2024); and “Go away, Muhammadu Buhari” (February 2025).

Last week, Buhari re-emerged, wielding his “integrity” flag and claiming“personal example of not accumulating wealth” and having supposedly departed “with the same physical assets he had before his presidency.”

There are two problems. The first is that Buhari counts poorly. While he only counts five homes, he has never answered the question about “the sprawling Asokoro lakeside mansion located at Number 9, Udo Udoma Street, Asokoro, Abuja,” that Abuja’s Breaking Times reported just days after he took the presidency.

The story curiously disappeared from the newspaper’s website thereafter.

And Buhari also does not list or count any home built for him by the federal government to which he is entitled by law.

Under Nigeria’s “Remuneration Of Former Presidents And Heads Of State (And Other Ancillary Matters) Act,” every former leader receives, among others, “a well-furnished five-bedroom house” anywhere he chooses in Nigeria.

And yet, we now learn that his Kaduna home was “demolished and thereafter rebuilt”—perhaps illegally—by the federal government.  Clearly, Buhari cannot count this property as one of the five he acknowledged since 2015, and yet he is not saying that it was built for him by the government in 2023.

The second problem is that apart from his perennial self-congratulations, nobody knows how wealthy Buhari really is.  He never held himself accountable, and nobody saw the declaration of assets he promised.

Even his cattle, contrary to science, grow fewer annually.

The truth is that Buhari made Nigeria far more corrupt than his predecessors because of the daily, sectoral and routine corruption he nurtured as president, a lot of it documented in the mass media.

That included the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, whom he authorised to sell billions of dollars in federal assets Buhari never accounted for.

First Lady Aisha Buhari, a woman without a salary, lived in Dubai for six months between 2020 and 2021 as if it were another Nigerian state capital.  Maybe she paid for it with her Aso Rock housekeeping allowance.

It is remarkable that Buhari is now advising leaders to grant some kind of priority to the welfare of the people, but he ought to be saying it directly to Tinubu.

Remember that Buhari, five years ago, declaredthat their APC would lift 10 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, a deceit nobody now addresses.

And then, of course—because the subject has returned—was Buhari’s enthronement of nepotism, which he does not recognise as corruption.

Tinubu, in his two years, has become recognised as an even worse nepotist than Buhari, but it was a practice that Buhari loved during his eight years in office.

A friend who visited him in his hotel in New York during a UN General Assembly told me how stunned he was that nobody around Buhari in the hotel spoke English!

But for Tinubu, it is not about whether he has appointed fewer non-Yorubas; it is that for the most important and strategic positions, the evidence is clear as to how his mind works.

This is the ‘Loyalty Line’ mindset. When loyalty is the underlying emotion, you do not demand or prioritise strategic brilliance, thinking, or accomplishment, let alone measurement or accountability.

That is the formula for traveling in circles: achieving motion but not progress. Our problem is that, in effect, we nurture people who nurture our insecurity.

Nigeria cannot make any progress with her leaders sojourning abroad, loaded with excuses, or by government apparatchiks gathering in Abuja in a vast orchestrated pretense of governance.  We need committed officials who, taking advantage of widely-available domestic and expertise, can fashion and implement a strong strategy to free Nigeria from the grip of insecurity.

What we currently have is a painful political pantomime that is hard to watch.

Punch