Pay attention to these if you're in a conflict.

Getting into a disagreement with another person is never easy. It often brings up uncomfortable feelings like stress, anger or sadness. But while arguments are generally uncomfortable with just about anyone, they are extra difficult with narcissists. 

Narcissists are manipulative and have a desire to control others, making disagreements really, really frustrating, said Monica Cwynar, a licensed clinical social worker with Thriveworks in Pittsburgh.

Just because you have an unpleasant interaction with another person doesn’t make them a narcissist. Just .5-5% of the U.S. population has narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD, according to Manahil Riaz, a psychotherapist in Houston and the owner of Riaz Counseling in Texas. So while someone can have narcissistic traits ― such as self-centeredness or a lack of empathy ― it does not mean they have NPD, Riaz added.  

Instead, narcissism is a continuum that ranges from healthy narcissism, which is defined as an “integrated sense of self and healthy self-esteem to pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder,” Justine Grosso, a somatic trauma psychologist, told HuffPost via email.

“Someone with pathological narcissistic traits may meet some but not all criteria for NPD,” Grosso added. These criteria includes entitlement, a lack of empathy, a desire for praise and admiration, exploiting others, arrogance and grandiosity, Grosso said.

These traits are hard to deal with on a normal day, and are that much harder when a narcissist is upset with you. We asked therapists to share the phrases and behaviors narcissists commonly use in conflict. Here’s what they are:

1. “You’re overreacting.”

“When talking to someone with pathological narcissism or NPD, they may repeatedly dismiss, deflect, or invalidate your concerns or hurt feelings in order to avoid taking accountability for their impact on you,” Grosso said.

This can sound like phrases such as “you’re overreacting” or “you’re too sensitive,” which can be used to control the narrative, said Cwynar, and make you feel like you’re the one causing a problem.

Instead of doubling down on your stance, comments like this likely make you doubt yourself and your feelings, and withdraw your complaint, Grosso said.

2. “I’m not angry, you’re angry.”

“People with pathological narcissism or NPD use an unconscious defense mechanism called projection in which they disown their own emotions and believe they belong to someone else,” Grosso said. 

Say you’re in the middle of a fight with a narcissist, you may hear them telling you that you’re the angry one as they yell, scream and say condescending things, Grosso gave as an example.

“People with pathological narcissism or NPD deny their vulnerable feelings because of toxic shame and emotion phobia,” she said.

3. “I can’t believe you’re attacking me, I always get blamed.”

No matter how wrong your loved one is, they can never see themselves that way. Instead, they’re always the victim.

“Narcissists often see themselves as victims due to their deep-seated sense of entitlement, fragile self-esteem and lack of empathy for others,” Cwynar said. This victim mentality leads narcissists to believe they are “constantly being wronged or mistreated by others.”

You may hear a narcissist say things like, “I can’t believe you’re attacking me like this. I’m the one who always gets blamed for everything, even when it’s not my fault,” or “No matter what I do, it’s never good enough for you. I’m constantly being criticized and judged unfairly,” she said.

“By portraying themselves as victims, narcissists can manipulate others to gain attention, sympathy or control in relationships,” Cwynar said. “They may use their perceived victimhood as a tool to elicit support or to shift focus away from their own problematic behavior.”

As a result, they can deflect blame and responsibility, and instead put the blame on someone or something else, she noted.

4. “If you loved me, you would do this.”

During a conflict, it’s common for narcissistic people to lean into manipulation, according to Cwynar. This language is intended to control so they can get what they want.

“They will use strong language like ... “If you love me, [you’d do this for me] ... if you don’t do this, I might hurt myself ... if you leave here, then you never loved me,” Cwynar explained.

Statements like this make it hard to stand up to the person you’re quarreling with, likely leading you to retreat and put the control back in their hands.

5. “You should have known I was upset.” 

“While many people with personality disorders and relational trauma may believe that others should read their mind, this is especially prominent in people with NPD,” said Grosso.

So, you may hear someone with narcissistic personality disorder say, “You should have known I was angry,” fully expecting you to anticipate their emotions and understand what they’re feeling without any kind of communication.

“A phrase like this may lead the other person to feel hypervigilant, like they’re walking on eggshells,” Grosso explained.

Additionally, feelings of fear, guilt and obligation may bubble up, too, which takes power away from the wronged individual, she noted.

6. Long-winded expressions that don’t touch on the point.

“There’s this concept called ‘word salad,’ where they just might say things that don’t make sense,” said Riaz. So, they may spout statements that don’t connect just to confuse you, she added.

“Like, ‘I do everything for this family, you sit at home, and I’m thinking about the future and what we can do better, and I’m trying to get my education,’” Riaz said. “And they just go on and on and on and on.”

Eventually, you forget why you’re even fighting because the conversation has gone so far left, she added.

A bonus red flag: There’s often little or no negotiation or compromise.

When in an argument with another person, typically there is some sort of negotiation. Maybe after a fight about cleanliness, you agree to take the trash out more often while your partner agrees to wipe down the countertops after they cook.

This is not the case for someone in a relationship with someone with narcissistic personality disorder. “There’s typically no negotiation because their patterns are just so disagreeable,” Riaz said.

Additionally, negotiation isn’t a goal because this person just wants to get their way, Cwynar noted. “So, if they’re having a disagreement with you, it’s about them being able to control the narrative, control the situation,” Cwynar said, not to get to a solution or compromise. 

If you are in a relationship with a narcissist, it’s important to take care of yourself.

All in all, it’s really tough to frequently deal with someone who uses the controlling, manipulative behavior mentioned above. 

To cope, Riaz said it’s important to seek therapy. “A good therapist will help you recognize, ‘Wow, it sounds like you’re really struggling, you’re trying everything you can — maybe it’s not you,’” Riaz said. Therapy can help you decide what you want to do about this relationship while processing the impact it has on you.

“You need to set boundaries so that you can maintain a healthy relationship with the person,” Cwynar said. If this is a person you need to have in your life, it’s important to have boundaries to protect yourself from them.

It’s also important to have a support system, whether that’s family, friends or a church group, said Riaz. You need folks you can count on and talk to about the things going on in your life. If you don’t have this kind of support, it’s important to create it by joining local groups, signing up for clubs and meeting new people, Riaz added.

When it comes to the toxic relationship itself, “If you can walk away, I would definitely say walk away,” Riaz said. But she acknowledged that it’s not always possible to do so, like if you co-parent with someone who has narcissistic personality disorder or have a narcissistic boss at a high-paying job that you can’t leave.

“So, either we can walk away and do no contact, or we can have really strong boundaries and have low contact,” Riaz said.

In the end, it’s important that you take care of your physical and emotional needs. “Understanding the ‘why’ behind abusive behavior does not excuse the impact and harmful nature of the behavior on your well-being,” Grosso said.

HuffPost

FirstNews editor Segun Olatunji, who regained his freedom on Thursday after 14 days in military detention, has recounted his ordeals in the hands of his abductors.

Olatunji was abducted from his Lagos home on 15 March by the military, taken to Abuja and held incommunicado until his release.

While in detention, the journalists’ unions and his organisation relentlessly demanded his freedom.

His colleagues at FirstNews also went spiritual in the quest to get him released.

Shortly after his release, Olatunji gave a vivid account of his ordeals at a joint presser organised by the International Press Institute (IPI), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja.

He said at dusk of Friday, 15 March, he and his seven-year-old son were watching a popular television programme on TVC, ‘Journalists Hangout,’ at home when armed military personnel broke into his living room in a Gestapo way.

He said the men were accompanied by his wife, whom they had taken from her shop and forced to take them to his home.

He said he was immediately arrested and whisked away to an air force base, also in Lagos.

“On March 15, I was at my house in Lagos, watching ‘Journalists’ Hangout’ with my seven-year-old son, when suddenly, soldiers burst into the sitting room.

“I saw my wife and one-year-old son amongst them, crying. I asked what happened, and she said they arrested her from her shop and asked her to take them to where I was,” Olatunji described how the soldiers used his wife as bait to arrest.

He would later learn while being incarcerated by the military that intelligence officers had lodged at a hotel near Olatunji’s wife’s shop days before the arrest.

Giving further insights into the event of 15 March, Olatunji said he identified a top military officer amongst the menacing soldiers simply called Colonel Lawal, whom he sought to know why he was being arrested.

“I asked an officer, whom I identified as Colonel Lawal if I could know why they were looking for me, and he said no, that they were from the military and they were there to arrest me.

“Immediately, he seized my phones as he had earlier seized my wife’s phones. I said okay, let me go in and dress up since I was only in my boxer shorts; some of them (soldiers) even followed me to my room as I took my shirt and trousers.”

The embattled journalist said he stepped out of his house into a waiting crowd of armed military personnel comprising the army, Air Force and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

“They handcuffed me and put me into the vehicle. At first, I thought they were taking me to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in Apapa (Lagos), but then we made a detour to the Air Force Base and straight to the office of the National Air Defense Corps (NADC) where we waited for about three hours. I didn’t know we were waiting for a military aircraft to come pick me up.

Journey to Abuja, cuffed and blindfolded

“After a while, when the aircraft came, someone came to me and asked me to hand over my glasses and then put a blindfold on me.

“They moved me into the aircraft, and we took off; when we landed, they took all my clothes. I was left with my boxer shorts. They also put leg cuffs on me in addition to the handcuffs and put me in a cell,” Olatunji narrated his perilous journey from Lagos to Abuja.

The pain of torture

Upon arrival in Abuja, the journalist was driven from the airport to a detention facility.

“At a point, one of the officers came and tightened the cuffs on my right hand and leg. I was there groaning in pain, and it was that way for three days. When they released it all, the right side of my body felt numb. As I’m talking to you, I can still feel the numbness in my right hand and leg,” Olatunji said as he tried clutching a microphone he was using to address journalists.

The next day, the journalist was presented at a military clinic where a doctor examined him, and his urine and blood samples were taken.

Allegations

Days after he was thrown into the dungeon, Olatunji was called into the interrogation room.

“They were asking me about certain stories that FirstNews had carried. One of them told me that I was one of those abusing the chief of defence intelligence. I said how? He said we did a story, and I replied that it was a general story. They didn’t say much on that.

“He also asked me about a story we carried about the chief of staff to the president, I think that was the major thing,” Olatunji said, attributing his ordeal “people in the corridors of power who are not happy with what FirstNews is doing and they are bent on taking their own pound of flesh.”

The military authorities equally accused Olatunji of terrorism.

Freedom at last

But talks about Olatunji’s release only began after a thorough search on his phone to ascertain the sources of his outlet’s stories and obtaining a statement from him.

“On Tuesday, they asked me to write a statement, they went through my phone and checked my source, then they left me in the cell till last night (Wednesday) when they asked me to call someone in Abuja who can guarantee my release. So, I called Mr Yomi Odunuga, a good friend and brother who brought me into journalism some 27 years ago when I joined ‘The Punch.'”

After that, the military authorities phoned Odunuga, a deputy editor at the Nations Newspaper, directing him to somewhere around the ECOWAS secretariat in the Asokoro area of Abuja.

Odunuga was accompanied by Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the general secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), to secure Olatunji’s release from the military on Thursday.

“After lots of back and forth, they eventually took me somewhere under the bridge in Abuja here, where he was also asked to come, and he came. I was happy when he came. They asked him to sign some files, and when he did, they released me to him.”

‘My life no longer safe’

After his release, Olatunji expressed concerns about his safety.

The journalist said he had been trailed for weeks before his eventual abduction by the Military.

“I would like to say something. Given the series of events, I want to say that my life is not safe because they have everything about me, they know my house.

“I was even made to understand that they would have arrested me in my hometown on 8 March, I was there for an ICT programme by Olamilekun Adeola Yayi, my senator. One of them told me how they had been trailing me and watching me for about two or three weeks. They even lodged in a hotel close to my wife’s shop, and it was from there they arrested her and my one-year-old son,” he said.

Olatunji said the military’s baseless allegation of terrorism against him further fuelled his worry about his family’s safety.

He, however, expressed gratitude to individuals and organisations who relentlessly demanded for his release from the Gulag

“I want to thank everybody once again. I’m very grateful for being steadfast in asking for my release. God will bless you all, thank you.”

Journalists must unite to fight oppression

While speaking at the presser on Thursday, the Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES and President IPI, Musikilu Mojeed, urged journalists to unite and be each other’s keepers.

He praised Nigerian journalists for standing up and demanding Olatunji’s release from the military.

Mojeed emphasised that journalism remains an essential component of every democratic society.

Earlier, Uwugiaren, while reading a press statement at the event, said the military’s initial denial of Olatunji’s abduction portends danger for the country’s democracy.

“The DIA’s action is a direct attack on press freedom. Without freedom of the press, our democracy is endangered.”

Uwugiaren said Olatunji’s release by the military was not the end of the matter.

“The Nigerian media community shall consult further in the next few days on the actions to take against the Chief of Defence Staff (Christopher Musa), the Chief Defence Intelligence (Emmanuel Undiandeye), and the military regarding this matter.”

He said Nigerians and the international community were horrified by the “lawlessness and fear-provoking” action of the Director of the Intelligence Agency.

PT

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced an upward review of the minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

In a statement on Thursday, CBN said the increase was necessary due to prevailing macroeconomic challenges and headwinds occasioned by external and domestic shocks.

The statement was signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, financial policy and regulation department.

According to the apex bank, the upward review will enhance their resilience, solvency and capacity to continue to support the growth of the Nigerian economy.

CBN increased the capital base for commercial banks with international licences to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were pegged at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

Also, CBN raised the merchant bank minimum capital requirement to N50 billion for national licence holders.

The financial regulator said the capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

To meet the minimum capital requirements, CBN advised banks to consider the injection of “fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issue and/or offer for subscription”.

CBN also suggested merger and acquisition (M&A), as well as upgrade or downgrade of licences.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING BANKS

• The minimum capital specified above shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. For the avoidance of doubt, the new capital requirement shall not be based on shareholders’ funds.
• Additional tier 1 (AT1) capital shall not be eligible for the purpose of meeting the new requirement.
• All banks are required to meet the minimum capital requirement within a period of 24 months commencing from April 1, 2024 and terminating on March 31, 2026.
• Notwithstanding the capital increase, banks are to ensure strict compliance with the minimum capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirement applicable to their license authorization.
• In line with extant regulations, banks that breach the CAR requirement shall required to inject fresh capital to regularise their position.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSED BANKS

• The minimum capital requirement shall be paid-up capital.
• The new minimum capital requirement shall be applicable to all new applications for banking licences submitted after April 1, 2024.
• The CBN shall continue to process all pending applications for banking licences for which capital deposit had been made and/or approval-in-principle (AIP) had been granted. However, the promoters of such proposed banks shall make up the difference between the capital deposited with the CBN and the new capital requirement not later than March 31

CBN said all banks are required to submit an implementation plan, clearly indicating the chosen option{s) for meeting the new capital requirement and various activities involved with their timelines.

“The plan shall be submitted to the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, not later than April 30, 2024,” the apex bank said.

CBN said it will monitor and ensure compliance with the new requirements within the specified timeline above.

The Cable

Nigeria was thrown into darkness on Thursday following the collapse of the electricity grid controlled from Osogbo, Osun State, around 4:32 p.m.

A source in one of the distribution companies (DisCo) said the feeders for most DisCos nationwide were out of supply.

The development, the source added, has left virtually all franchise areas for DisCos across the 36 states in darkness.

According to the source, as of 4p.m, the grid output was 2984 megawatts. But by 5 p.m., the 21 plants on the grid had zero output.

In February, a grid collapse also left the nation in darkness.

A last check with the source when filing this report revealed that Azura was the only plant on the grid with an output capacity of about 54 megawatts.

Egbin, Afam, Geregu, Ibom Power, Jebba, Kainji, Odukpani, and Olorunsogo, among other plants, all had zero output.

In November 2013, the federal government privatised all generation and 11 distribution companies, with the FG retaining the ownership of the transmission company. This was to improve efficiency in the sector.

However, since privatisation, the grid has collapsed more than 140 times.

PT

Two executives from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, have sued Nigeria's national security adviser's office and the anti-graft agency for violating their fundamental rights and asked the court to set them free.

Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is Binance's regional manager for Africa, flew to Nigeria following the country's decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites and were detained on arrival on Feb. 26.

Anjarwalla fled the country last week and now faces the prospect of an international arrest warrant.

On Thursday, Gambaryan appeared in a Federal High Court in the capital Abuja requesting Judge Iyang Ekwo declare his detention and seizure of his passport by the National Security Adviser and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) "amounts to a violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty" as guaranteed by Nigeria's constitution.

The executives, who said they had not been informed of any offences committed, requested an order to release them and return their passports, a public apology and a restraining order from further detention.

The judge adjourned the hearing to April 8 without making a ruling because lawyers for the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the EFCC were not in court.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were caught up in a crackdown following a period during which several cryptocurrency websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the Nigerian currency, as the country battles a chronic dollar shortages.

Reuters

UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings for aid into Gaza

The top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel denies it is committing genocide and accused South Africa of trying to “undermine Israel’s inherent right and obligation to defend its citizens.”

Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a cease-fire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel, which had urged the court not to issue new orders, said it places no limits on aid entering Gaza and vowed to “promote new initiatives” to bring in even more assistance.

In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure that its military does not take action that could that could harm Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, including by preventing the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The court told Israel to report back in a month on its implementation of the orders.

Israel declared war in response to a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel responded with a campaign of airstrikes and a ground offensive that have left over 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health authorities.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but say roughly two-thirds of the dead are women, children and teens. Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence to support the claim, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.

The fighting has displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population, caused widespread damage and has sparked a humanitarian crisis. The U.N. and international aid agencies say virtually the entire Gaza population is struggling to get enough food, with hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, especially in hard-hit northern Gaza.

South Africa welcomed Thursday’s decision, calling it “significant.”

“The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group’s right to exist,” the South African president said in a statement.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, said the ruling must be enforced by the international community.

“It must be implemented immediately, so that this decision does not remain a dead letter,” it said.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry thanked South Africa, calling the case “a vital step in the global effort to hold Israel accountable for perpetrating genocide.”

After initially sealing Gaza’s borders in the early days of the war, Israel began to permit entry of humanitarian supplies. It says it places no restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to properly organize the deliveries. On Tuesday, the army said it inspected 258 aid trucks, but only 116 were distributed within Gaza by the U.N.

The U.N. and international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused South Africa of making “cynical attempts” to exploit the world court to undermine Israel’s right to self-defense and to win the release of remaining hostages. Israel says Hamas continues to hold some 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others either killed on Oct. 7 or who died in captivity.

“Israel will continue to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones, in order to enable and facilitate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip ... despite the operational challenges on the ground and Hamas’ active and abhorrent efforts to commandeer, hoard and steal aid,” it added.

Israel has been working with international partners on a plan to soon begin deliveries of aid by sea.

Israel has repeatedly feuded with the United Nations, particularly UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza. Israel accuses the agency of tolerating and even cooperating with Hamas — a charge UNRWA denies.

The court said in its order that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in.” It cited a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that said at least 31 people, including 27 children, have already died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The world court said earlier orders imposed on Israel after landmark hearings in South Africa’s case “do not fully address the consequences arising from the changes in the situation” in Gaza.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, has also run pilot programs to inspect the humanitarian aid at Israel’s main checkpoints in the south and then use land crossings in central Gaza to try to bring aid to the devastated northern part of the Strip. The agency had no immediate comment on the ICJ ruling.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces destroy another US-made Abrams tank in Avdeyevka area over past day

Russian forces destroyed another US-made Abrams tank of the Ukrainian army in the Avdeyevka area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"The enemy lost as many as 95 personnel, 3 tanks, including a US-made Abrams tank, 2 infantry fighting vehicles, 9 motor vehicles, 2 US-manufactured M777 howitzers and 2 D-30 artillery guns," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces destroy 30 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces destroyed roughly 30 Ukrainian troops and 4 combat vehicles in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the Western Battlegroup conducted active operations and inflicted damage by firepower on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 32nd mechanized brigade and 117th territorial defense brigade near the settlements of Sinkovka and Stroyevka in the Kharkov Region. The Ukrainian army’s losses amounted to 30 personnel, a tank, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 4 motor vehicles and a Gvozdika motorized artillery system," the ministry said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces attacking infrastructure near Dnipro city, regional governor says

Russian forces attacked infrastructure sites early on Friday in Kamianske district near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro and at least one person was injured, the regional governor said.

"The enemy has attacked critical infrastucture sites in the region," governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. "The enemy's main aim is our people and vital sites of the population."

Lysak did not make clear what form the attack was taking, but commentators on Telegram indicated missiles had been used and explosions were reported in the area.

Reuters could not verify independently reports from the area.

One blogger from outside the city of Kamianske, a port city of more than 200,000 people with a hydropower station just upstream on the Dnipro River from the city of Dnipro, reported a crater 4m (13 feet) deep and 10m wide in the district.

Other reports said there were cuts to power and water supplies in some districts.

Russian forces have in recent weeks staged widespread strikes on energy infrastructure sites, including a mass attack on March 22 described by Kyiv as the largest such assault since Moscow's forces invaded in February 2022.

Tass/Reuters

When Lt. Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Ali, 49, assumed duties as Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army, all his mother, Hassana, could do was pray.

Three years ago, Ali’s younger brother, Jamilu, a captain, had been killed in action by bandits in Katsina State. As an officer in the North-east, Ali himself had escaped death a number of times in battles against Boko Haram insurgents.

His father had died after retirement from the Army. After his death, Ali’s ageing mother has been nursing her loss, in addition to coping with the death of her son in Katsina, and later, the deaths of her daughter and son-in-law in a road accident.

But Ali, a soldier’s soldier promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in November 2020, knew better than to demur when he was moved from commander of the 63 Brigade Garrison in Asaba to head the amphibious battalion. The battalion was part of efforts by the military to restructure the Joint Task Force (JTF) in 2016, following widespread oil theft in the region which, according to the Financial Times, had reached $1billion monthly.

Task force dilemma              

In a statement at the time, the military said the restructuring of the JTF was to “tackle the emerging security challenges in the Niger Delta region such as piracy, bunkering, vandalism and other criminal activities prevalent in the area.”

The task force comprising other services, but led by the military, as expedient as it was, was also an official admission that the Police could no longer cope with the situation. Oil money, mixed with militancy and violent local politics in the area, has created and nurtured private armies with money, weapons and political clout comparable to rogue states.

The relationship between the state and some of these private armies is complicated, even incestuous. With revenues in billions of naira monthly, for example, a few are better equipped than the military.

But politicians don’t mind. In their desperate search for solutions to the problem of oil theft and also to consolidate their political hold, they have indulged the private armies. Officers deployed in the area are left to invent their own ways of serving two masters – the state and the communities on the one hand, and the powerful private armies on the other.

With a population of about 31 million and over 40 ethnic groups, the Niger Delta is a cauldron, radicalised by decades of poverty, agitation, militancy and violent politics. A quarrel between a husband and wife could spill into an intra-communal dispute; an intra-communal dispute could engulf the community.

On March 14, a lingering spark of dispute between Okuama and Okoloba (one Urhobo and the other Ijaw, two of the largest ethnic groups in Delta State) over a fish farm, erupted in violence.

More questions…

How did the officer from the amphibious battalion who led a team to Okuama on March 14 on what was supposed to be a peace mission understand and define his mandate? Was the mission to Okuama over the alleged kidnap of one Anthony Aboh from neighbouring Okoloba (in retaliation for an Okuama youth allegedly killed by persons suspected to be from Okoloba), his job as a soldier or that of a first responder, say, the police? Was the officer like many others, too embedded in the local politics to draw the line? Or did he anticipate that after thefailure of the peace accord facilitated by the Delta State government, military mediation was necessary to quench the fire?

Media reports suggested that leaders in Okuama brokekola nuts with the officer (some accounts say he was a major) and his team when they arrived. At what point did murderous violence erupt? If people in the community were opposed to the officer taking their leader away for statements at the army base in Bomadi, as was reported, was murdering him and his team and seizing their weapons the answer?  

Meanwhile, back at the base on the same day, Lt. Col. Alidid not know what was happening in Okuama. He was in Kano only two weeks earlier to visit his ailing mother, his wife, Hauwa, and six children, and may have visited again at Sallah, if he got a pass. Okuama was the last thing on his mind.

And then, it happened. Soldiers who had been waiting in a boat at the Okuama creek escaped after the peace team was attacked and reported to Ali what had befallen the major and the three other soldiers believed to have followed him into the town.

Hindsight

Hindsight is 20/20. There has been no shortage of opinions about what might have been. Given the enormity of what happened to the major and his men, couldn’t Ali have done a recce, and possibly mobilised other services before going in? Did the alleged use by the military of boats belonging to a private security company perceived to have a vested interest in the conflict further endanger this mission?

In a conflict zone where the private armies have gunboats, specially fitted crafts, and relatively modern arms, while the military depends largely on improvisations, how is a commanding officer supposed to respond to an emergency like the one in Okuama, where his men had been murdered and their weapons seized?

Perhaps, out of a sense of holy rage, Ali took the plunge. He gathered his men and went to Okuama. Sadly, that was his last journey. He and his men were ambushed and brutally killed by people they had sworn to protect.

The savagery has called to question the humanity of the perpetrators. Okuama has been compared with Odi in Bayelsa State in 1999, and Zaki Biam in Benue State, two years later where military operations killed hundreds of people extrajudicially.

“Those who make such comparisons are mistaken,” a retired top military officer told me over the weekend. “In Odi and Zaki-Biam the communities were harbouring persons believed to have committed crimes against the state. Okuama was savage militancy.”

Perhaps one thing common to the three, however, is the increasing mismanagement, if not weaponisation of conflicts by politicians, a posture that has further damaged and compromised an undertrained, undermanned, underfunded and under-equipped military. Command and control is fuzzy.

In a crime scene like Okuama, for example, a commanding officer has to worry about what his chief would say and where Abuja stands with the private armies and local strongmen. Being in good standing with the host states, and of course, the morale of his troops, are also not far from his mind. The art of serving many masters, itself an enemy of a single-minded mission, complicates the terrain.

Tail wags dog

It’s hard to say at what point the tail of a savage few started wagging the dog of what by several accounts had been a largely peaceful community. It’s improbable that the major and his men who went first would have done so if the community had a reputation for collective savagery. Now, the entire community has a bad name and a difficult future.

The memory of the dead deserves justice and it’s just as well that President Bola Tinubu has made this clear. Perhaps, also, it is time to review the role of the military in domestic conflicts.

Sadly, the harvest of heart-wrenching violence in many parts of the country today, and in this instance, the Niger Delta, was largely seeded during Nigeria’s civil war. During the war, swathes of the region were ruined and radicalised by the extrajudicial killings of thousands of innocent civilians. We can’t afford to let the mission to Okuama haunt us 57 years from now.

If two wrongs don’t make a right, we’ll do well to avoid a third, not just for the sake of the dead and their grieving families, but also to break this cycle of violence and grief.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Some security exploits never die, and others seemingly cannot be killed. When a threat is named after a legendary vampire perhaps we should have expected it to come back from the dead. The real surprise, as security researchers raise the alarm over the Darcula phishing-as-a-service exploit resurfacing, and targeting 100 countries using more than 20,000 registered brand domains to help quench its thirst for iPhone user credential theft, is the way it evades Apple security measures. Here’s what you need to know.

Darcula Rises From The Dead To Suck Credentials From iPhone Users

First spotted in the wild last year by security researcher Oshri Kalfon in July 2023, Darcula has resurfaced and Netcraft’s Harry Everett has issued a new warning to all iPhone users to be onboard the lookout for the bloodthirsty iMessage threat.

Everett describes Darcula as a “new, sophisticated Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform used on more than 20,000 phishing domains that provide cyber criminals with easy access to branded phishing campaigns.” The phishing domains in question relate to brands across numerous market sectors and target more than 100 different countries. At least 200 templates exist for would-be attackers to use the Darcula exploit, with postal services, including the United States Postal Service, being among the most popular. Other templates concentrate on institutions and brands that are trusted by consumers worldwide, including utilities, banks, government bodies such as taxation as well as airlines. The Netcraft report reveals that an average of 120 new domains have been hosting Darcula phishing pages every day this year. It certainly looks like the criminal operators behind the campaign have been busy.

Leveraging Trust By Using The Secure iMessage Platform

All phishing schemes look to leverage trust from the victim, and Darcula is no different. This is one reason why it has opted not to focus on sending messages with malicious links to those spoofed brand domains by SMS. There has simply been too much publicity about SMS scams, and the public is generally wary about responding to the “you have a parcel for a delivery” type of bait used. Instead, Darcula is distributed using iMessage on the iPhone and RCS on Android. The reasoning behind this is that iMessage is regarded as a more secure messaging medium than SMS, and for good reason: it was designed to be precisely that.

The end-to-end encryption employed in iMessage is great for user privacy, but it also enables attackers such as the Darcula criminals to bypass security filtering as the content of the messages cannot be analyzed by the network operators. This leaves “Apple’s on-device spam detection and third-party spam filter apps as the primary line of defense preventing these messages from reaching victims,” Netcraft warns.

How Darcula Evades Apple Security Measures For iMessage Users

Darcula even gets around Apple security measures such as requiring that links in an iMessage can only be clicked if you’ve already replied to the account sending it. “To evade this,” Everett says, “one of the templates created by criminals using Darcula is sent to Apple users with a ‘Please reply to Y’ or ‘Please reply to 1’ message.” Once users have replied, the malicious links are then clickable, and the victim will be redirected to the credential-stealing website operated by the criminals.

How To Defend Yourself Against The Darcula Threat

Because the Darcula phishing pages are very well put together, without the usual spelling mistakes or grammatical errors associated with such campaigns of old, use the local language of the country in question and are convincing copies of the brand being spoofed, it sits with users to be extra vigilant from the get-go. This means you need to be on the lookout for messages that appear to be too good to be true. Even if you are expecting notification concerning a parcel delivery, as this is the most common ruse used by Darcula, be alert to where that message is coming from and take special care to look for unusual domains, such as .top for example, and misspellings or hyphens in the brand name. ”If you’re expecting a message from an organization, navigate to their official website and avoid following links,” Everett advises.

An Apple spokesperson suggested concerned users refer to the Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scamssupport posting.

Forbes

Elon Musk has announced new changes to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that will allow certain accounts to unlock free premium features.

Posting on the platform Thursday, the 52-year old tech billionaire, and TIME’s 2021 Person of the Year, said: “Going forward, all X accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free.”

Previously, X Premium features would cost a user $8 per month and include the ability to share longer posts and video uploads, have larger reply prioritization, and see fewer adverts on their timeline. Meanwhile X Premium+ users have all the features of Premium with no adverts in the For You and Following timelines, as well as access to generative artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. 

These models are the only way users can now display a blue checkmark that once denoted a verified account before the Tesla and SpaceX CEO acquired Twitter Inc for $44bn in April 2022.

The changes come two days after a U.S. judge threw out a lawsuit brought by X against a group that claimed hate speech has risen on the app since Musk’s takeover. 

X accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of taking "unlawful" steps to access and misrepresent its company data in CCDH research. But Judge Charles Breyer said it was "evident" that Musk’s X could not handle criticism and that his firm was "punishing the defendants for their speech." X is set to appeal Judge Breyer’s decision. 

The number of people using X each day is also reportedly falling, lagging behind its market rivals Instagram and TikTok. 

As of February, the platform’s daily usership in America has decreased by 23% since November 2022, the month after Musk’s takeover was finalized, according to Sensor Tower figures reported by NBC News. Meanwhile, figures show that TikTok recorded drops of 10%, while Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all had user slumps of less than 5%.

Outside the U.S., global figures have also taken a hit. Daily active users on X fell to 174 million, a decline of 15% on the previous year. Meanwhile Snapchat grew by 8.8%, Instagram recorded 5.3%, Facebook 1.5%, and TikTok 0.5%, per Sensor Tower data.  

“This decline in X mobile app active users may have been driven by user frustration over flagrant content, general platform technical issues, and the growing threat of short-form video platforms,” Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, wrote in a research report. 

In a post shared by X Data on March 18, the platform said it currently welcomes 250 million global daily users. Outlets such as NBC News have been quick to point out that this is still a decrease from the 258 million users Musk reported in 2022, upon completing his acquisition of the platform.

TIME