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In the fearful months and years following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, Western democracies faced an unenviable dilemma. Their citizens demanded protection from an enemy that recognised no borders, wore no uniforms and deliberately targeted civilians.
Trump’s business career has long been characterized as embodying “con-artist” tactics: aggressive promotion, leveraging his personal brand for high-margin or low-substance ventures, heavy debt leverage, selective truth-stretching in marketing, and frequent legal disputes.
This is not an isolated comedy of errors. It is a textbook illustration of the black holes deliberately engineered into Nigeria’s public finance architecture opaque pockets that swallow money, evade legislative eyes, and render executives unaccountable. The Bodija tranche is merely one shiny pebble in a vast, dark galaxy of special interventions, contingency advances, service-wide votes, ecological funds, security “emergency” deductions, and other discretionary vehicles that allow the executive to move (or park) billions with minimal sunlight.
This was enabled by authoritarian control: no independent legislature or judiciary, weak oversight, and a patronage network treating public coffers as extensions of personal or regime power. International complicity—lax due diligence by banks—facilitated laundering through U.S. institutions and bond deals.
There are two kinds of students in life. The first studies history in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past. The second studies history carefully, identifies where the money was hidden, and repeats the exercise with greater efficiency.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 