FROM CHANGE TO CHAIN: THE ONGOING METAMORPHOSIS OF A POPULIST REGIME. BY JAYE GASKIA

[This piece was written originally for publication by Pan African Visions – US based online Magazine with a Pan African Focus]

This is the month of the first anniversary of the inauguration of the PMB populist regime and of the formal ascension to power of the self-proclaimed ‘New Governing Party’ – the APC. And I am not trying to be cheeky here, just coming from a bruising encounter with the populist regime as it tries to consolidate its hold on power.

How many of us still remember the heady days of exuberant triumphalism occasioned by the declaration of the then APC Presidential candidate as the president elect? How many of us remember the atmosphere of incredulous anticipation and of mass hysteria on the streets in general, and around the APC National Headquarters in particular?

It was while enveloped in the surreal ambience of a longed for and hard fought victory that the then main opposition party addressed the world press promising as an evidence of the change that was promised that it was going to be ‘a governing’, and not ‘a ruling party’! So as you can see, I am not being cheeky at all.

BOKO HARAM: Soldiers flee to Cameroon, Nigerian military says its ‘tactical manoeuvre’

The Nigerian military has admitted that hundreds of government troops have fled heavy fighting with Boko Haram, but said their apparent escape to neighbouring Cameroon was a “tactical manoeuvre”. 

The Cameroonian army said Monday some 480 Nigerian soldiers who sought refuge in the country, had been disarmed and accommodated in schools.

The news came a day after Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, released a new video in which he declared Gwosa, a town captured by the group, as part of an “Islamic Caliphate”.

A spokesperson for the Army spokesperson, Lt. Col Didier Badjek, was quoted by the BBC as saying that the Nigerian soldiers are currently in the Cameroonian town of Maroua, about 80km from the Nigerian border.

The Seized Town, Gwoza , Now Part of Islamic Caliphate Says Boko Haram Leader

Boko Haram's leader said Gwoza which was seized by the insurgents earlier this month has been placed under an Islamic caliphate, in a video obtained by AFP on Sunday.

A town in the north east of Nigeria is under an 'Islamic caliphate', according to Boko Haram's leader which the Nigerian military denies.

"Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in (the town of) Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate," Abubakar Shekau said in the 52-minute video.

The military however rejected the claim, saying in a statement the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact".

In a July video, Shekau voiced support for the leader of the Islamic State and the Levant (Isil) militants Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in late June declared himself "the caliph" and "leader of Muslims everywhere".

But there was no indication from Shekau in the latest video that he was associating himself with Baghdadi, whose Sunni Muslim fighters have taken over parts of Iraq and Syria.

As such, it was not clear if Shekau was declaring himself to be a part of Baghdadi's call or if he was referring to a separate Nigerian caliphate.