Niggas in Paris
Insecurity is on the rise, but President Tinubu is still flexing in Paris
Happy Good Friday, Big Brains. Sadly, the people living in Plateau and Benue cannot necessarily relate today. If our president cares, he definitely has a weird way of showing it.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Insecurity is on the rise, but President Tinubu is still flexing in Paris
Trump might stop Harvard from admitting foreign students
The Big Deal
Insecurity is on the rise, but President Tinubu is still flexing in Paris
Jay-Z and Kanye might need to give President Tinubu some of that “Niggas in Paris” royalty because that man definitely loves the Parisian air. A little vacation typically wouldn’t upset anyone, but when it comes to a president who has refused to physically address the sudden rise of insecurity in his country, people are definitely going to get pressed.
On Wednesday, April 16, suspected herders attacked three communities in Otukpo Local Government of Benue State. This new attack happened just a few hours after 11 people were killed in the same local government by suspected herders as well.
While the death toll from the new attack hasn’t been confirmed, local sources who spoke to Channels Television believe that several lives may have been lost.
And it’s not just Benue that’s under attack. Earlier this week, at least 51 people were killed by gunmen in Plateau state, two weeks after 52 people were killed in another attack.
The real question we should be asking now is, “How many people need to die before President Tinubu returns to Nigeria?”
Why is this a big deal?
Nigerian leaders have never exactly built their reputations on empathy for the people they’re meant to serve. Their PR teams usually do all the heavy lifting to make them seem like they care. But we might be entering a new era in Nigerian politics because President Tinubu isn’t even pretending to be bothered.
It’s already bad enough that the president is in Paris to review his administration’s Q1 performance, but refusing to cancel a needless trip when your country is in chaos is a new kind of low.
Last month, the president declared a controversial state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended its duly elected governor for six months. You’d think he would channel the same energy into acting decisively in states like Plateau and Benue, where people are dying.
So far, President Tinubu’s two cents on the Plateau state attack is that Governor Caleb Mutfwang should control the killings in his state. 11 years ago, he was one of the first people to publicly question former President Jonathan’s competence in addressing the massacre of Christians in the same state. Now that he has the power to show Jonathan how to handle a crisis, he’s passing the responsibility on to a state governor.
If we cannot trust a sitting president to do what’s best for the people, who the hell are we supposed to trust then?
Trump might stop Harvard from admitting foreign students
If going to Harvard is one of the biggest goals on your bucket list, you’d hate to know that your Ivy League dream is under threat. Remember the drama between Harvard and Trump? We have updates, and it’s not good.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has basically told Harvard to roll with Trump’s rules, or say goodbye to enrolling international students. This threat came after Secretary Kristi Noem accused some foreign students at the university of being involved in “illegal and violent activities,” and asked for their student records to be shared by April 30. If Harvard doesn’t deliver, it could lose the privilege of hosting international students.
This isn’t just Harvard’s business; it is part of a larger Trump-inspired crackdown on universities seen as “too liberal,” especially those showing support for pro-Palestinian protests after Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The administration has been revoking student visas and threatening deportations, painting the protests as a national security issue.
Harvard’s hands are tied, but it isn’t giving in completely to Trump’s terms. In a statement, the school said it’ll follow the law but wouldn’t “relinquish its constitutional rights” or surrender its independence.
If the ban ends up happening, we know who to blame.
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Arise and Shine, Big Brains. It’s an interesting day to be a Nigerian, but I’ll leave you to decide whatever “interesting” means when you’re done reading this edition.