July 16, 2019
NigeriaFormer Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s international reputation has improved since conceding the presidency in 2015. What does that say about democracy in the country?
May 16, 2019
NigeriaIn a court case in London involving international oil companies and the oil block designated OPL 245—thought to be one of the largest untapped reserves in Africa—lawyers for the Nigerian government accused Jonathan and Alison-Madueke with plotting to “receive bribes and make a secret profit.”
November 10, 2019
United StatesThe U.S. Marine Corps turns 244 years-old today. On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution to create a Marine force composed of two battalions. Since then, the Marines have …
October 18, 2019
Election 2020Each Friday, I look at what the presidential challengers are saying about foreign policy.
October 4, 2019
NigeriaCommentators, especially outside Nigeria, saw the elections of 2015 as an important milestone for the country’s democratic development breaking the pattern of rigged elections. However, could it be that it was the elections of 2011 that really broke the pattern, and the elections of 2015 merely restored it? Were in fact the elections of 2015 much better than those before and after? Did the political classes determine that Jonathan had to go, in part because of the deteriorating economy and security situation, but also understanding that the 1998–9 bargain struck between the south and the north be restored? Will the bargain survive in 2023?
September 20, 2019
NigeriaPresident Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, on a number of occasions, has stated that Boko Haram is “technically defeated.” The Council’s Nigeria Security Tracker indicates otherwise, and on September 14, the New York Times published an extensive story on the resurgence of Boko Haram. It was accompanied by three pictures on a back page, including one of a child’s scar from an injury sustained during a suicide bombing.
February 10, 2017
NigeriaIn his February 1, address to the U.S. Congress’s House Subcommittee on Africa, former President Goodluck Jonathan argued for Nigeria’s continued importance to U.S. strategic interests in Africa. He …
August 21, 2019
NigeriaPresident Buhari is publicly asking the Federal Inland Revenue Service about its failure to meet tax-collecting targets since 2015. Nigerian Federal and state entities have borrowed so much money that debt service now consumes more than 70 percent of revenue, according to the Finance Ministry.
August 7, 2019
Election 2020It has been a while since Americans have elected successive presidents from the same state. Not since November 2, 1880 in fact.* That’s when Republican James A. Garfield of Ohio won the right to succ…
August 6, 2019
Election 2020Is America ready for a president who is single and a vegan? Cory Booker, New Jersey’s junior senator, certainly hopes so. The fifty-year-old former Rhodes Scholar would be the first bachelor elected …