Nigeria, May 25 -- There are stories that do not scream. They unfold not on television, social media scrolls or in the exaggeration of viral tweets but in moments of stillness, in places where peace used to be a stranger and is now fully settled. They whisper from war rooms lit by strategy, not spectacle. From farmlands where once no child dared to run, but which are now echoing with laughter. From police outposts resurrected brick by brick, from rubbles and ashes. I believe this is one of those stories, a chronicle of how Nigeria, through quiet resolve and determined strategy, began to reclaim itself from the grip of chaos.

In the days before 29 May, 2023, Nigeria resembled a federation of fragilities. Boko Haram's menace in the North-E...