Reporting News and opinions
here is an old, bitter administrative joke in Nigeria that you are only formally counted twice: never when you arrive, and certainly not when you leave. In between, your existence is largely an unverified rumor negotiated between your creator, your luck, and whatever age declaration affidavit you paid a court clerk two thousand Naira to stamp.
The difference between the United Kingdom and Nigeria is not primarily in the letter of the law. It is in the general application and consistent enforcement of that law. This divergence reveals a deeper reality about how the Nigerian state relates to its citizens.
NN reports that the pilot of a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, shot down over Iran in April, described a sight that immediately triggered debate inside the U.S. Intelligence Community: multiple Iranian drones in the air, apparently interconnected or coordinated, moving as one. One source described larger drones with smaller drones beneath them, “like legs.” Another described it as a “minefield of drones” in the sky.
For years the International Criminal Court has operated like a colonial-era court with better stationery and a more solemn logo. The docket groaned under the weight of African cases while the architects of certain adventures in Libya, Iraq, and beyond somehow remained mysteriously unburdened by the same enthusiastic pursuit of accountability. The rule of law, we were solemnly told, was universal. The application, it turned out, was rather more exclusive.
King Leopold II of Belgium laid claim to the Congo and declared it his territory while exerting physical threats to the indigenous people of the Congo (Kongo). He declared the people and the land to be his property, and he quickly turned the country into a moneymaking venture for himself and his throne.
