Full-scale war imminent in Niger Delta, by Joe Igbokwe

I can't take what some of Igbokwe says seriously (why all the nonsense about the North providing food, as if it were being done for free, or couldn't easily be bought somewhere else?), but he is right about one thing: these militants are going to provoke a full-scale war if they continue down their current path.

As much as I think Buhari must take a large portion of the blame here for his stubbornness and intellectual limitations, making threats to carry out terror attacks in Lagos and other places outside of the Niger Delta is also incredibly stupid: there is no better way to turn sympathy into enmity that I can imagine. The only thing that is stopping Buhari from simply sending in masses of troops to carry out a bloodbath in the Niger Delta is domestic and international public opinion, but if these guys go beyond vandalism to terrorism, the Nigerian army will have a free hand to kill indiscriminately without worrying about repercussions: after all, they'll only be "fighting the terrorists", like the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq ...

It's unfortunate that Nigeria is being led by someone so limited in intellect and rigid in his attitudes. Were a smarter leader in Aso Rock, he/she would realize that the key to defeating the militants is draining them of the mass support that legitimizes their extortion. You first start by distributing regular stipends directly to the ordinary residents of the region, bypassing all of their thieving elites, and you buttress that by seriously taking up the task of building schools, roads and hospitals, staffing them with skilled people (native to the region wherever possible), and supplying clean drinking water - all simple things that have never happened in the region under any leadership, local or national. Only after you get the ND masses to see direct benefits do you go after the militants, who will be left high and dry by "their" people, who will now have a lot more to lose if relations with the government break down.

It's really very simple: you need both a carrot and a stick to tame unrest like this. Unfortunately Buhari is all stick and no carrot, always has been, from the "War Against Indiscipline" era to today with his selective EFCC drive, his gunning down of IPOB protesters, etc.

Lol even the once upon a time hard core buhari seems confused at the moment. He knows the country is sitting on a powder keg. There's a thread on the front-page of Nairaland where he said something about lagoon

Anyway, let's hope he will finally think about restructuring the economy for good. This is the best time to put him under pressure to look into the confab report

Thought-provoking my brother

Exactly. We're in serious trouble and don't seem to realize it. The country is living on borrowed time -- FACT. LIke you said they are already bragging about their 'exploits' in the political sphere especially in Lagos. Lagos will be very dicey for us in the even of a violent breakup of that country. The only saving grace for the state is that it has Ogun and Ondo are buffer states, but nevertheless e no go easy coz some of the SEasterners are already saying they won't leave lasgidi without a fight. I pray what happened in Ivory coast doesn't play out over Lagos too coz it was largely the foreigners that were welcomed decades ago by Houphet Boigny that overthrew Gbagbo (who was trying to retain the ethnic integrity of the country) and installed Quattara the current president who is actually a foreigner. One yeebo guy on NL once boasted that a referrendum must be conducted to decide the fate of Lag in the event of breakup. It is only the SE people that talk all that trash. If we breakup peacefully, then we go fit bounce them as aliens. 

Still folding my arms. Still, it's better to prepare than wait for it to happen

These ones are different ooo so we can't afford to take them for jokes

Lagos is the lifeline of nigeria. If they attack lagos then we can all say goodbye to nigeria.