THREE important comments have recently been made on the linkages between poverty, politics and insecurity, and the current state of the North. First, the Governor of Borno State said that poverty and poor governance in the last few years are responsible for fuelling the Boko Haram insurgency in his region.

A GROUP which gave itself the title of Eminent National Leaders of Thought met a few days under the umbrella of a forum called National Summit Group with suspicious official support at the expensive Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Lagos.

IT is now tragically obvious that neither government nor Boko Haram will accept that it is losing a war which is bringing unprecedented levels of fear, pain and deprivation to the nation. In the last few weeks, the Boko Haram insurgency has escalated its campaign of terror, and says that it is doing so in response to arrests, killings and detentions of its members in Maiduguri, Kano and Kaduna, among other areas.

THE respected former Director-General of National Security organization (NSO) and a former top policeman, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi recently made a strong case for the introduction of police formations to be controlled and managed by State Governments.

AT the heat of the national resistance against President Jonathan’s decision to abruptly implement the decision to remove the subsidy on petroleum, a number of events took place which had the combined effect of raising the oldest question about the Nigerian state; as well as further damaging President Jonathan’s already limited capacity to offer an all-inclusive and purposeful leadership.