Despite President Donald Trump’s ban on Nigerian immigration to the United States, he apparently remains popular among Nigerias. The Washington Post headline was “Trump Trashes Nigeria and Bans Its Immigrants. Nigerians Love Him for It.” The article, by Nigerian writer and journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, ascribes Trump’s popularity to the perception that he is “tough, no-nonsense, blunt, pro-religion, and entertaining.” He also says what Nigerians believe to be true: the international community does not want to welcome a wave of Nigerian immigrants.

On April 18, President Muhammadu Buhari announced that his chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died from COVID-19 on the previous day. This is a tragedy for Nigeria and for the administration of President Bu…

The nascent elite consensus around state police is an important milestone on the path to true federalism.

The plane crash May 21 killing Chief of Army Staff General Ibrahim Attahiru and all passengers and crew aboard is the fourth air tragedy in the past five months involving Nigeria Air Force aircraft. Initially, few details on the most recent crash were released, allowing conspiracy theories and falsely claimed videos of the crash to emerge on social media.

Nigerian society and political behavior at all levels usually is shaped by patronage and clientage networks. Politically, there are few genuinely independent voters, in the sense that voters in, say, Vermont or Switzerland are completely free to vote for whomever they like. Clients usually vote as their patrons wish, and nearly everybody is both a patron and a client, from the top of society to rag pickers at the Lagos dump.