Pi Network has been accused of being a scam by Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, bringing up a police notice from 2023 that calls it a ‘scam that preys on the elderly.’

In a recent post, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou responded to a claim made by an unofficial Pi PI-39.31%Pi Network technical team account that claims the crypto exchange was “rejected by Pi” to list on its exchange. The Pi Network is a project that enables users to mine cryptocurrency through a mobile app.

“Bybit had made no listing request to PI and the claim that PI refused Bybit listing or Bybit did not pass some sort of KYB of PI is completely nonsense,” said Zhou in his post.

Zhou retaliated by bringing up a Chinese police report that was published in 2023, warning citizens about a virtual currency scam that targets the elderly through a “get rich overnight” scheme perpetrated by actors claiming to be affiliated with the Pi Network.

“Many criminals use “π Coin” to claim that they can mine for free by simply downloading an app on their mobile phones. They also give lectures to the elderly, expand the victim group by claiming that they can “recommend rebates” by developing downlines, resell user personal information, and defraud the elderly of their pensions,” wrote the Wuxi Public Security Bureau in a translated notice.

The report state that scammers would use free rewards and gifts to lure in victims who wish to gain small profits by downloading the app and promising them a small amount of Pi tokens as gift.

“They expand the victim group by rewarding people for recruiting more people, resell users’ personal information, and defraud victims of their money,” added the police bureau.

Zhou used the article as the basis for his claims, reaffirming his crypto exchange would not be listing Pi Network in the foreseeable future, unlike other major exchanges like OKX and Bitget. Even Binance has started to test the waters by holding a community vote on whether the exchange should list the Pi Network.

In an interview with crypto.news, Pi Network co-founders Dr Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan elaborated on Pi Network’s model and mining mechanism shortly after the launch of the project’s mainnet.

They explained that their goal is to ensure Pi remains stable by providing a fair and wide token distribution whilst facilitating real-world uses. To ensure safety on the network, they implement actions like security circles, utility-based Pi apps, running nodes and other precautions.

Additionally, Pi users, known as Pioneers, are required to undergo an identity verification process before they are able to obtain Pi .

Pi Network warns users of potential scams and bad actors

In an X post shared a few days ahead of its mainnet launch, the Pi Network warned users of the emergence of “potential bad actors and activities, scams, and individuals impersonating others” that claim to be affiliated with the project.

“Neither Pi Network, nor anyone affiliated with Pi Network, has any affiliation whatsoever with any parties organizing or engaging in such illegal or harmful activities to our users or the community,” wrote the Pi Network in its post.

The account explained that any activities that require users to pay a fee as well as actors that make “misleading promises of monetary rewards or future profits, or MLM [Multi-Level Marketing]” are not authorized by Pi Network. The protocol also urges its followers to check their official site for information on how to protect their Pi accounts and wallets.

At the time of writing, the Pi token has plummeted more than 50% in the past 24 hours. PI is currently trading hands at $0.65. The token has maintained a trading volume of $1.2 billion in the past day.

[Crypto News]

Treehouse CEO Brandon Goh recently discussed the potential of fixed income in decentralized finance (DeFi), calling it a key factor for the sector's institutional adoption. In an interview on the podcast Hashing It Out, Goh explained that although DeFi has seen growth with products like decentralized exchanges and lending platforms, it lacks the core component of traditional finance: fixed income. Goh emphasized that fixed income, which includes assets like bonds and savings accounts, forms the backbone of traditional finance, but its absence in the DeFi ecosystem presents a barrier to wider institutional involvement.

One of the main challenges with introducing fixed income to DeFi is the lack of standardized benchmark rates, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is commonly used in traditional finance. Goh pointed out that without these foundational benchmark rates, scaling fixed-income products in a decentralized environment becomes difficult. He believes this gap is one reason fixed income is nearly non-existent in the current DeFi landscape.

Treehouse, the platform Goh co-founded, aims to address this issue by combining traditional fixed-income products with the flexibility of DeFi. Through its platform, Treehouse offers a way for users to earn predictable returns, making it easier for investors to manage risks in yield-generating products. This approach is designed to provide both stability and transparency, key factors that could attract institutional investors to the DeFi space.

Additionally, Goh stressed the importance of creating an on-chain benchmark, such as a decentralized offered rate (DOR), to improve market efficiency and transparency. He explained that Treehouse’s model uses these tools to provide a secure and reliable investment environment, helping bridge the gap between traditional finance and the emerging DeFi market.

The conversation also turned to how large financial institutions might engage with DeFi in the future. Goh suggested that while these institutions may be cautious about participating in high-risk DeFi products, they may be more likely to adopt stable and transparent options like staking. He predicts that as regulatory clarity improves and the infrastructure around DeFi becomes more robust, fixed income could play a significant role in the next phase of DeFi’s growth.

Treehouse’s work in introducing fixed income to DeFi represents a crucial step in the sector’s maturation. With its combination of traditional financial models and decentralized technology, Treehouse could provide the stability needed to attract institutional players. As DeFi continues to evolve, Goh’s vision for fixed-income products may help create the foundation for a more stable and widely accepted decentralized financial ecosystem.

[Yahoo.com]

The cryptocurrency market is lacking positive catalysts in the near term, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a report Wednesday.

The correction in crypto markets in recent months has seen both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) futures near backwardation, which is a sign of lower demand, the report said. Backwardation occurs when the spot price of an asset is higher than the price trading in the futures market.

"This is a negative development and indicative of demand weakness by those institutional investors that use regulated CME futures contracts to gain exposure into these two cryptocurrencies," analysts led Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote.

If demand for bitcoin and ether futures is healthy, the futures cost more than the spot price, and the curve is said to be in contango, the bank noted.

When demand slows and price expectations soften, the futures curve moves towards backwardation, the bank added.

This weakness in demand could be due to a number of reasons.

Positive crypto initiatives by Trump's new administration are more likely to kick in during the second half of the year, the bank said, and this means institutional investors are likely taking profits due to a lack of short-term catalysts.

Lower demand from systematic and momentum-driven funds, such as CTAs, has also affected bitcoin and ether futures, JPMorgan added.

[markets businessinsider]

Black History Month, being observed this February in the United States and many other countries around the world, including Nigeria, affords one the appropriate opportunity to share some thoughts on the rather consequential subject of systemic racism – racism of the kind that is not ad hoc, but seems built into the system itself. The irony of it, though, is that the persistence of racism in many of the concerned countries and situations is not necessarily for want of, but in spite of, efforts to eradicate it! In fact, one of the more baffling, and undoubtedly frustrating, realities confronting people and organizations working in this area has been the seemingly “die hard” nature of the problem, its resilience and persistence despite quite considerable effort over the years to eradicate it. It may actually be recalled in this context that jolted, and no doubt equally revolted, by the Nazi race theories and atrocities of the Second World War, the post-war world reacted, particularly in the West, by deploying considerable effort and resources into the fight to combat racism and racial discrimination, spearheading, for example, adoption by the United Nations of the landmark Universal Declaration Of Human Rights(1948) expressly condemning racism and prohibiting the adoption by Member States of racially discriminatory laws.

Yet, if we take the example of the United States, the truth, as recognized by President Biden himself upon his election in 2020, is that, despite the undeniable progress that has been made, especially in the wake of the great Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s, there remains an underlying systemic racism in society that refuses to go away and so continues to manifest itself in various ways on the ground: the George Floyd and George Floyd-type incidents, the near legitimization and “mainstreaming” of “white supremacy” ideologies and movements, showcased in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. In Europe, the mounting anti-racism campaigns by football authorities, particularly the FA in England, and the numerous racist avowals and incidents connected with ongoing anti-immigration protests speak to the same fact.

So, what is going on here and why? “Why have all the efforts over many decades failed to defeat or excise this social evil?” My book OF BLACK SERVITUDE WITHOUT SLAVERY, The Unspoken Politics Of The English Language, in proffering a totally new approach to dealing with the systemic racism problem, addresses this particular question by pointing out that the difficulty so far lies in the nature of the problem and the efforts directed at it. I argue, inter alia, that racism, as people encounter it, is an outward expression of the perpetrator’s racial bias mindset, which no amount of clamping down on discriminatory acts, whether in jobs, schools, housing or social interactions, such as has been the case hitherto, can effectively address: only actions targeting the mindset can be relevant.

In order to effectively combat a negative mindset, one must first identify its origin and sustenance – its well-spring, as it were – and then tackle the problem at its roots. The book identifies language as a major repository, as well as purveyor, of racial bias, which then goes on, whether intended or not, to create a racial bias mindset in its users. Using the English language, the world’s dominant and virtually only global language, to illustrate this thesis, I demonstrate that embedded in it is a systemic denigration of “blackness” and corresponding glorification of “whiteness”, which is exemplified by expressions such as blacklist, black sheep, painting someone black, for example, and white list, white knight, white lie, and more. There is, in effect, a “blackness of bad/whiteness of good, badness of black/goodness of white” narrative that runs through the language – and necessarily all thinking in that language – in which “black” basically denotes “bad” and “white”, in turn, denotes “good”. Such a narrative, imbibed over a period (often from birth), and reinforced by everyday usage, must undoubtedly create in users of the language a mindset that is conditioned, subconsciously at least, to shun “black” things while instinctively embracing things designated as “white”.

In such a scenario a black person becomes routinely subsumed – subconsciously or otherwise – into the general category of “black”, and, therefore, “bad”, things, which, in turn, triggers the preprogrammed negative reaction in the other person, regardless of conscious intentions, leaving it to that person’s conscious mind, if aware and so inclined, to make the correction by separating the black person from the general category of “bad” “black” things. It actually may well be that the psychological inability to make this separation accounts for much existing racist disposition.

The white person, too, being also an integral part of the same conditioning system, and indeed its main beneficiary, would likewise get subsumed, subconsciously or otherwise, but this time into the category of “good” things, which, in turn, implicitly “entitles” him or her to favorable or “sympathetic” treatment – so much so that it may indeed form the psychological underpinning to the long-observed phenomenon of decidedly unequal treatment of black and white persons in law enforcement, not just by the police and prison authorities, but often even by judges.

Considering the processes outlined above, one can well perceive racism of the kind under discussion as a kind of social system into which people are indoctrinated by fate (i.e. birth) or by circumstance! As such, the people involved may actually be seen as being themselves entrapped by the system!

Coming now to solutions, it becomes apparent from the foregoing analysis that the key to resolving the systemic racism problem is the elimination of the “blackness of bad/whiteness of good” narrative and its related mindset. Effective action in that regard would be to delink the race-designating terms of “black” and “white” from all qualitative assessment functions in the language and, so, from figurative expressions such as those noted above.  Substituting other terms not associated with racial designations for these two terms would render these terms value-neutral and, so, mindset irrelevant, while also ending their unintended racial bias reinforcement effect as part of everyday conversations.  A random example of such substitution, strictly as illustration, could be something like dronche, for “black” and freen, for “white”, giving us expressions like “dronche sheep” and “dronche list”, in the case of “black”, and, in the case of “white”, “freen knight”, and “freen magic”, and so on. Of course, whatever new substitute terms are chosen will at first appear strange, unfamiliar and maybe even nonsensical, having by necessity no intrinsic meaning; however, with time and the requisite will these should all become normalized and, more importantly, imbued with the meanings we have chosen for them, just like other invented new terms in the language: “Ms.”, “phishing”, “meme” and others, being examples.

The idea here is that upon successful implementation of such substitution, it would not be long before the older generation, no longer functioning in the “bad is black, good is white” milieu and mindset, would have this connection erased from its consciousness, while for the new-born generation no such linkage would have even existed in their consciousness, thereby leading us, in principle, to a complete and permanent solution of the systemic racism problem!

Conclusion and Notable Points

While no one can say for certain that successful implementation of the solution envisaged here would in and of itself solve all of society’s racism problem, its singular importance lies, nevertheless, in the fact that no fundamental or enduring resolution of the problem seems possible without addressing the underlying mindset issue that the solution targets! 

The great merit of the solution proposed here, as argued above, is that it aims to be a real and permanent solution of the problem, rather than a palliative to douse the current crisis, as often happens.  Furthermore, this is a solution that will be welcomed by all involved: no longer does the black person have to endure the psychological humiliation and stigma of sharing “labels” with everything bad, ugly and evil, while the white person will be relieved of the awkwardness of being compelled, for want of alternatives, to use terminology which they can sense is demeaning to the other person. Adding to the merits of this solution is the fact that: it costs next-to-nothing to implement, unlike other “social justice” undertakings!

It is important to note once again that the focus in this analysis on the English language is merely strategic: as the dominant international communications medium, it can do – and no doubt has  already done – serious damage, spreading the narrative and mindset globally; it can, on the other hand, likewise positively transmit any correction through a large swathe of the global population. Moreover, any reform of English would exert enormous pressure for change on the other languages. This well-known French adage, for example, speaks volumes and requires no commentary: “La diable n’est pas aussi noir qu’ on le dit!”, translating essentially as “The devil is not as black as he is made out to be!”  #BADISNOTBLACK&VICEVERSA

•Dr. Okali, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, is Founder-Chairman, Society for the Elimination of Racism In All Language (SERIAL) 

The events at the Lagos State House of Assembly on February 17, 2025, were more than just another political crisis; they were a moment of dangerous miscalculation that put both the reputation of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the lives of its field operatives at unnecessary risk. As a psychologist and writer, I am not here to take sides but to raise an important concern—one that should trouble even the most hardened defenders of the DSS. The viral video footage does not lie. It captured DSS operatives in the kind of physically vulnerable, life-threatening situation that an elite force should never find itself in. These were not inexperienced recruits; they were trained officers of a national security agency who suddenly found themselves struggling for breath, pinned between determined lawmakers and legislative workers pushing forward against them. Their faces—half-covered by helmets, masks soaked in sweat—showed visible distress. Their bodies were strained under the pressure of the confrontation. And as the tide of lawmakers pressed forward, those officers were seconds away from being completely overpowered.

And so, I ask, what if one of them had not made it out?

What if a DSS officer had collapsed from exhaustion, suffocated in the heat of the struggle?

What if a law enforcement operative had suffered serious injury from the physical force of the crowd?

What if the lawmakers, in the heat of frustration, had retaliated more aggressively?

What if an officer, under extreme stress, had reacted with force that escalated into violence?

This is not speculation. This is exactly what was set into motion on that day. This was not a strategic operation; this was a dangerous misjudgment, one that could have turned fatal within seconds. And that should concern the DSS more than anything else. Because while politicians play their games, it is always the men on the ground—the uniformed officers—who bear the real consequences.

The official statement from the Lagos Assembly, signed by Ogundipe Olukayode, Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy, and Security, confirmed what Nigerians already knew:

Yes, the DSS was invited to provide security—but not to invade the chamber.

Yes, the Clerk requested their presence—but not to seal the Speaker’s office.

Yes, there were security concerns—but on that day, the DSS itself became the biggest threat.

How did an elite security force—an agency feared for its intelligence, operational precision, and enforcement power—allow itself to be turned into the story? The DSS is supposed to neutralize threats before they escalate, yet this time, it became the crisis. Instead of being the force that ensured peace, DSS operatives were physically caught in a power struggle, outnumbered, overwhelmed, and left struggling against the force of a determined Assembly. This is not how an elite force should operate.

There are bigger questions DSS leadership must now answer. Who made the call to position these officers in such a confrontational stance? Who in DSS believed that physically blocking lawmakers from their own chamber would not lead to open resistance? Who in command failed to anticipate that emotions would flare, that the situation would escalate, and that the officers placed at the doors could be trapped in a physical struggle that endangered their own safety?

If the DSS’s true mission was security enforcement, how did it end up in direct physical conflict with lawmakers and Assembly workers? If DSS officers were meant to prevent instability, why were they the ones visibly struggling, unable to maintain control, and ultimately being forced out?

Because the truth is, this was not a strategic operation. This was a tactical failure.

And what was achieved? Despite deploying DSS operatives, sealing the Speaker’s office, blocking the chamber doors, and physically engaging with lawmakers—nothing was stopped.

The Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, still presided.

The lawmakers still convened.

The Assembly still held its session.

Democracy still went on.

And DSS? What did they gain?

If the goal was to stop the session, it failed.

If the goal was to scare the lawmakers, it failed.

If the goal was to prove dominance, it failed.

Instead, DSS officers were physically overpowered, outnumbered, and exhausted, forced to retreat from a battle they should never have been sent into. What was the real objective here? And at what cost

DSS is not a riot squad. DSS is not a political enforcement agency. DSS is not a tool for individual interests. It is an elite security force, designed to protect national stability, not to be thrown into politically motivated conflicts that leave its own officers gasping for air at the doors of an Assembly building.

This incident should serve as a serious warning. It was not just a failure of tactics—it was a failure of leadership within DSS. It was a reckless deployment of operatives, without a clear strategy to ensure their success or safety. The officers involved were placed in harm’s way, while those who issued the orders watched from a distance.

This time, the officers walked away.

But next time?

Next time, the outcome may not be so fortunate.

Next time, someone may not survive the encounter.

Next time, no politician, no government official, and no DSS commander will take responsibility.

And that is why DSS must rethink its approach now. Not because of political pressure. Not because of public scrutiny. But because the lives of its own officers are at stake. No security force should be put in a position where it becomes the crisis instead of the solution. No law enforcement agent should be forced into a battle they were never meant to fight.

DSS must ask itself: Is this what we have become? Are we an agency that strategically ensures security, or one that blindly walks into chaos without a plan?

The time to rethink tactics is now. Because next time, the cost may be irreversible.

The President of ECK Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Dr. Emeka Kalu, has stated that former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has the capacity to rescue Nigeria from its current economic crisis if elected president in 2027.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Kalu lamented the country’s deteriorating economy, describing Atiku as a “rational game-changer” with an impressive track record in leadership. He asserted that Atiku possesses the vision and experience to prevent the nation’s economy from collapsing entirely.

Kalu criticized the mismanagement of Nigeria’s natural resources, emphasizing the need to explore and maximize them for economic growth. He urged both voters and political leaders to rally behind Atiku to bring about the necessary reforms.

He also called on Nigerians to stop supporting corrupt politicians for personal gain, advocating instead for “selfless, capable, trusted, and competent hands” like Atiku to restore the country to its former economic strength.

“The sorry state of our economy should remind all Nigerians that we are under a failed leadership. The rising hunger, high cost of living, naira depreciation, insecurity, nepotism, treasury looting, tariff hikes, and unemployment have set us back significantly. The only hope for recovery lies in supporting competent political leadership in 2027,” Kalu said.

According to him, governing a nation of over 200 million people requires intelligence, character, sound education, and a detribalized mindset. He maintained that Atiku possesses these qualities and is best suited to revive Nigeria’s economy.

Kalu expressed regret that electoral malpractices had repeatedly denied Atiku the opportunity to lead the country. He recalled Atiku’s tenure as Vice President, highlighting his contributions to economic liberalization, trade investments, job creation, and other significant reforms.

Furthermore, he criticized the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for its lack of transparency in handling the fuel subsidy regime, noting that this was one of many economic challenges the country faces.

“With Atiku Abubakar in charge, Nigeria will experience rapid economic progress,” Kalu asserted. “This is not a campaign or political propaganda, but a statement of facts whose impact cannot be erased.”

[Opinion Nigeria]

Nigeria’s independence in 1960 provided a momentous occasion for the country to pause, re-evaluate its excision from Britain’s clogged colonial policy and make a dash for a decorated prosperous future. The dash wash frighteningly and forcefully promising until the military abandoned their barracks to truncate Nigeria’s future between 1966 and 1970 and for long periods after that. Those wounds have simply refused to heal.

Gratefully, Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. With the reinstatement of democracy, elections returned as did institutions of government. The executive, judiciary, and legislature have been up and running since then.

At the federal level, it is the national assembly that makes laws. The state houses of assembly take over that task in the states.

However, to say that since 1999, Nigerians have been repeatedly embarrassed with the lack of class and composure shown by many of those who represent them at the federal and state legislature is to put it mildly. Again and again, the supposed representatives of the people have shown by their words and conduct that they are not worth their salt, many times of course, with the executive shamefully compelling them or conniving with them.

The latest assembly that is more akin to a lunatic asylum is the Lagos State House of Assembly. Weeks ago, the long-standing and grandstanding speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, was removed and replaced by Mojisola Meranda . But he has refused to back down or go down quietly, insisting that his removal was flawed and he deserves reinstatement. The fiasco has unsettled the assembly with security personnel moving in to lock out the legislators and their staff some days ago.

What a slap to the face of the people of Lagos State. It is a big slight to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is showing impregnable fortitude in trying to fix Nigeria’s problems in Abuja that legislators in his home state are indulging their whims and caprices and are instead behaving like spoilt school kids.

This embarrassment that is made in Lagos is coming very early in the year, but Nigerians have been there many times before. Rivers State was the last to provide such embarrassing theater. Legislators in the Benue State House of Assembly are not exactly at one another’s necks, but their attempt to remove the state chief judge is one of such extensive theatrics that can only come from an overbearing and overexcited state house of Assembly.

It Is in the best interest of Nigerians that those elected to represent them at any level show themselves as people worthy to bear such sacred responsibilities. This is key. They must show themselves consistently as people of excellent character.

No matter the temptation, they must refuse to reduce themselves to the level of touts and truants, which would cast great indignity on their office as legislators.

As for the overbearing executives who lean too hard on the legislature to make it impossible for them to work freely, it is important to remember that separation of powers is the hallmark of the constitutional democracy Nigeria is trying to operate.

It is not about one person. It goes beyond anybody and extends to the health of democracy in Nigeria. If the institutions which underpin democracy in Nigeria perform optimally, the country will be in the best place possible eventually.

It is often said that time heals wounds, but history has shown us that time also demands accountability. After decades of evasion, former military president General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has finally nurtured his wounded conscience with the truth regarding the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. 

Just as Uthman Dan Fodio once recommended that “conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it,” the former military president has finally tended to his wounded conscience by admitting the truth about the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election in his book. For decades, the ghost of that historic injustice has haunted Nigeria’s democratic journey, but by coming clean, IBB has, at least, acknowledged the weight of his actions. While his confession does not erase the past, it aligns with Dan Fodio’s wisdom, which says only truth has the power to bring closure to history’s most painful wounds.

Though his somewhat confession has come late, long after many key players in that unfortunate monkeyshines have passed on, it still holds significance for the sake of posterity.

For years, Nigerians have yearned for an honest acknowledgment of the circumstances surrounding the annulment of what is still widely regarded as Nigeria’s freest and fairest election. The event that denied Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola his legitimate mandate remains a dark stain on our democratic journey. The excuses and justifications provided over the years never satisfied the thirst for truth. Now, IBB’s belated confession, though not a complete absolution of his role, serves as a historical document that at least gives Nigerians some clarity.

The question on the lips of many Nigerians is: “Why now?” “Why did IBB choose to reveal his truth at a time when the principal victims of his actions are no longer alive to react?” MKO Abiola, the man whose mandate was stolen, died under suspicious circumstances while still demanding justice. His wife, Kudirat Abiola, was assassinated in the course of the struggle. Other activists and journalists who fought relentlessly for the reversal of the annulment either suffered exile, imprisonment, or lost their lives. The Nigerian people endured political repression, economic hardship, and a prolonged transition to democracy. The confession, though welcomed, is coming at a time when justice can no longer be served to those directly affected.

Yet, it is better late than never. By admitting the truth, IBB has at least given Nigerians something tangible to hold onto. The significance of this confession cannot be overlooked. It reinforces the fact that Nigeria’s democratic struggle was not in vain. It also serves as a reminder that no matter how long it takes, the truth has a way of emerging. For those who doubted the sincerity of the opposition to the annulment, this confession is a validation that history had judged rightly.

In fact, IBB’s public acknowledgment should serve as a moral benchmark for others who have, at different political dispensations, contributed to Nigeria’s downfall. Nigeria has suffered repeated betrayals from individuals entrusted with power and responsibility. From electoral manipulations to corruption and governance failures, the country has been plagued by leaders who, like IBB, made self-serving decisions at the expense of the people.

Where are those who orchestrated the economic policies that plunged millions into poverty? Where are the architects of failed government programs that siphoned public funds while leaving citizens in suffering? Where are the political leaders who used ethnic and religious divisions to gain power, only to abandon the people when it mattered most? These individuals, like IBB, owe Nigerians the truth.

Confession is not just about admitting wrongdoing; it is about setting the record straight and giving future generations the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. Those who have played key roles in Nigeria’s political and economic sabotage should follow IBB’s example and admit their misdeeds. This is not about public shaming but about fostering a culture of answerability. Nigeria cannot move forward if its history remains shrouded in lies and deliberate misinformation.

Without a doubt, there is an urgent need for institutional truth-telling. Many countries that have suffered similar political betrayals have implemented truth and reconciliation commissions. South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission provided a platform for perpetrators of political crimes to confess their actions and seek forgiveness. Nigeria has never had such a structured approach to addressing its past.

Imagine a situation where past military rulers, corrupt politicians, and economic saboteurs come forward to acknowledge their wrongdoings. Imagine how much healing it would bring if those who orchestrated electoral frauds admitted their roles and sought national forgiveness. Such a process would not erase the damage done, but it would give Nigeria a stronger foundation for moving forward.

In fact, IBB’s confession has reignited discussions on the role of citizens in holding leaders accountable. While it is easy to blame those in power, Nigerians must also reflect on how they have enabled unpatriotic leadership. Too often, the electorate has been complicit in electing or tolerating corrupt politicians. The culture of political sycophancy, where individuals support leaders based on ethnic or religious affiliations rather than competence, has been detrimental to the nation’s progress.

The lessons from June 12 should go beyond IBB’s confession. Nigerians must demand better governance, transparency, and integrity from their leaders. If we do not hold our leaders accountable, history will continue to repeat itself. Confessions are useful, but they should lead to systemic change.

Beyond individual confessions, Nigeria must explore avenues for restorative justice. While some might argue that IBB’s confession is enough, others believe that justice must go beyond mere words. Should there be reparations for the damage caused by the annulment of June 12? Should there be legal consequences for historical political crimes? These are tough but necessary questions that Nigerians must begin to ask.

Furthermore, the government should take steps to formally document the history of June 12 in school curricula, civic education, and national discourse. We must not allow future generations to be misinformed or manipulated about the true events of the past. If we are to build a stronger democracy, we must learn from our past mistakes and ensure that the mistakes of history are never repeated.

IBB’s delayed confession about the June 12 annulment is not enough to erase the pain and damage caused, but it is still a step in the right direction. It is an acknowledgment that the Nigerian people were wronged, and that truth, no matter how long it takes, will always surface. Other political actors who have betrayed Nigeria in one way or another should take a cue from IBB and come forward with their own confessions.

For the sake of posterity, Nigeria must embrace truth as a necessary component of nation-building. Without honesty about our past, we cannot chart a clear course for the future. As we remember June 12 and its significance, let us also remember that democracy thrives on accountability. The journey to a better Nigeria begins with a commitment to truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. The time for silence and denial is over, Nigeria deserves the truth, and it deserves it now.