They should come and see what is happening in the country now. These were young people, who came out of the university and went into the army. They had been indoctrinated. They came out of school wanting to see an ideal society. They had their mindset on the right things they felt the country should do. Any other way would not be tolerated. And they swallowed all they read and learnt. They were looking for perfection. It is not that they came out wanting to kill because they wanted positions. They came out to do what they did because they were indoctrinated and they wanted a country that is perfect. But I think also that they may have been used by some greedy politicians.

Senator Adamu Aliero was governor of Kebbi State between 1999 and 2007. He was later appointed as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He is presently the Senate Committee Chairman on Customs. He explains, in this interview, why he supports the pro-Biafra protesters but disapproves of their break-away plan. Aliero says importation of rice must remain banned and describes the present revenue sharing formula as unconstitutional.

The issue of Nigeria has changed. Of course, Buhari brought this bandwagon, the change initiative which he told God that he wants to implement and Nigerians decided to follow him. But Buhari should be very careful because some people do not want him to go into the implementation stage of the change mantra. Change has many stages. You cannot remain a good egg forever. You either hatch as a chicken or you get eaten as a good egg. So, Buhari’s change has to be implemented and he should note that there is a bloc within the National Assembly that wants to undo him and they can go to any length because they do not want Buhari to continue.

Third what are we as Africans doing to solve the problem? I announced that AfDB will increase our support for climate financing to $5 billion a year by 2020. That will make us one of the largest financiers of climate change among the development banks in the world. So climate finance in the AfDB by 2020 will represent 40 percent of all of our portfolio as I want greener Africa and the Bank is ready to support that.

Professor Femi Odekunle, an expert in criminology, was an aide to Lt. General Oladipo Diya as Chief of General Staff (CGS) under the Sani Abacha regime and one of those held for the 1997 alleged coup against the then Nigerian leader. Odekunle is currently a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption set up by President Muhammadu Buhari and headed by Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN). In this interview, he speaks on the mandate of the committee with particular reference to the $2.1billion arms purchase case against former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, among others.

This has been largely misunderstood by the people. I think that we have met the deadline. This is because the understanding of our December deadline was that by the end of December 31, we would have reclaimed from Boko Haram the areas that were in their control, and we would have decimated their capacities and that they will not have a unified force. I want to say that, to a large extent, we have met that deadline. I have also said that meeting the deadline will not be the same as that there will no longer be any attack on the soft targets, or it will mean the end of suicide bombing or any surprise attack from the insurgents.

Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, in this interview, speaks on the efforts to recover the nation’s funds looted under the previous administration, saying Nigerians must own the ongoing war against corruption to make it effective.

In this interview, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Army, Colonel Sani Usman, explains the circumstances that led to the bloody confrontation between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, led by Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and the Nigeria Army, penultimate Saturday. Not the first of its kind, but the activities of the IMN and the handling of the matter by the army personnel have, this time, generated a lot of attention

Sheik Ibraheem Zakzaky, 62, the ever turbaned, tough looking leader of the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, is an Islamic scholar and a tempestuous preacher. He speaks straight to the powers-that-be and has survived many jail terms in the hands of military governments in the ‘80s and ‘90s for sedition. Never hiding his hatred for Israel and the United States, he lost three sons and 35 followers after a pro-Palestinian protest with the military on July 25, 2014 in Zaria, Kaduna State turned bloody. And penultimate Saturday night, gunfire and occasional explosions kept residents of Gyelesu area of Zaria nervously awake in their homes.

Chief Ben Apugo was a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former ruling party at the centre.

In this interview, Apugo speaks on why he, alongside Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Governor Nyako of Adamawa State, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, quit the PDP. He also speaks on the fate of the APC in the South-East and the pro-Biafra quest by some Igbo elements, among other issues.