It has been one hectic week of stoic and sordid effusion of intense equivocation of nationalism, skewed and spurious claims to patriotic pride and zealotry inter playing with deft, devious and delicate international diplomatic wranglings, verbal exchanges and tantrums.
These features have combined to produce an engaging diplomatic drama of fast unfolding actions, voice and suspense.This followed what has come to be tagged Trump’s threat of American military’s readiness to invade Nigeria.
His words were typically trumpish; brash and abrasive, laced in unbridled arrogance, deliberate haughtiness, lacking in any form of traceable diplomatic finesse. His words will for several years to come remain on the marbles of intemperate diplomatic rage.
‘The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the World!
We may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing’, to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action.
If we attack, it will be fast, vicious and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians! WARNING: The Nigerian Government Had Better Move Fast’!
This development came after the United States of America had officially designated Nigeria a ‘Country of Particular Concern’, as it has to do with religious freedom.
Trump clarified the position of America on the festering insecurity and what has now been referenced as systemic genocidal killings targeted at Christian populations across the country especially in Benue and Plateau regions. This, he did in very clear, curious and unequivocal terms.
Expectedly, President Trump’s threat has generated diverse and far reaching reactions. They basically come with vehement reprehension and deep seated admiration all at the same time. There are those who claim that the allegation of systemic genocide against Christians is as unfounded as it is baseless.
These same people insist that Trump is merely demonstrating bent up displeasure over Nigeria’s deepening diplomatic romance with China. They claim that the US president’s remarks about alleged persecution of Christians falls in tandem with the theme of standing up in defense of persecuted Christians abroad in apparent response to sustained pressure from his evangelical base and did not reflect the whole picture about Nigeria’s struggle with festering insecurity and efforts made so far to contain same. There are equally those who consider Trump’s threat as an affront on Nigeria’s sovereignty.
The law of sovereignty of nations is a core component of international law which recognizes a state’s supreme and independent authority over its own territory and population, free from outside interference.
This explains the growing feelings of vehemence, askance and reprehension amongst segments of Nigerian population over Trump’s reference to Nigeria as a ‘now disgraced country’. The statement on its own is deemed a calculated national denigration and deliberate assault on Nigeria’s sovereignty.
There are however those who maintain that when a government has failed in its primary responsibility of protecting lives and securing property, then its very essence has been compromised and the claim to being the sovereign becomes questionable. It therefore becomes the responsibility of the global community to take legitimate steps to prevent a steady slide to the status of a failed state which can result in a wanton humanitarian crisis that can spillover to other parts of the world.
Nigerians are therefore looking beyond the insult to confront the reality of the domestic failures that gave room for the rage of trumpian insults. Nigeria’s security failings are like an open wound which only truth, not cosmetic diplomatese can heal. By negotiating with bandits and turning non state actors into celebrities the government has compromised its role as the sovereign.
These are therefore no time for rhetorics; we have for long trifled with the lives of citizens while rewarding impunity and brigandage.
Trump never minced words when he noted that ‘Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter’, He then went ahead to sound a warning that was prefixed with a conditional clause “if the Nigerian government fails to stop the killings, Washington would immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria’ and could ‘go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing’.
This leaves the Nigerian government with room to be awakened to the urgency of healing the land for in the words of Prof Chinua Achebe, there was a country. This was before leadership failure began to manifest in all forms of social economic decadence threatening to stifle the soul of the country. We therefore must resolve to put an end to the ongoing national capitulation.
If an open wound on the face of the nation is taking so long to heal, why all the fuss now that the world has decided to point it out and call it by its name?
Both sides of the divide therefore are presenting valid arguments subject to perspectives, persuasions and levels of political involvement with the mainstream government of the day.
There are however equally fundamental clarifications that need to be dispassionately made. Firstly, is it true that the Christian population is under any threat of genocidal killings? That claim is profoundly so. Has the government of Nigeria adequately addressed the issue? Without any fangs of malice? The answer is no. Because it is not considered so much of a priority. The nation’s population profile is ever growing alongside poverty index . Lives of citizens don’t matter much to the government of the day.
Not much difference is made if a few hundreds are done away with when villages are raided and razed on a daily basis. When security is politicized, banditry gets State sponsorship or endorsements, impunity is emboldened, lives of the innocent get trivialized. Legitimate enterprises like Agriculture suffer grave setbacks while banditry booms as organized criminal enterprise. Given such a scenario, we are all back to the Hobbesian State of nature where life is predictably short, brutish and nasty.
Even at that, what remains of utmost importance to the government is how to win the next elections, stay in power and control the common wealth by whatever calculations and political permutations. We go from one election cycle to the other. Practical administration takes the back stage. This is what we call politics in our domestic circumstances but is clearly considered disgraceful in the culture of civilised democracies.
Granted that every part of the country is facing one form of security challenge or the other. In the midst of this however, violence against Christians has followed a familiar pattern and unabated frequency.
Little wonder it has drawn significant international attention. Content analysis of our local news generated on a daily basis confirms that no week passes without priests and pastors being kidnapped for ransom, as they are viewed as influential figures whose worshippers or organisations can mobilise funds quickly. While some say this ugly trend is driven more by criminal economics others insist it is borne out of religious discrimination and persecution targeting decimation.
Successive governments have struggled to contain these threats and a previous U S administration had at some point accused Nigerian security forces of high handedness and human rights abuses in the confrontation against the bandits, insurgents and radical Islamist extremists.
It was on this score that America previously halted support and restricted arms sales to forces accused of human rights violations. Successive governments at the center have failed to see the imperatives of State Police giving Nigeria’s geo-political realities. Nigeria is therefore evidently under policed. This gives room for targeted communities to be raided by bandits without significant resistance.
Equally of interest are the dispositions of China and Russia to the invasion threat from the United States of America.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova maintained that her country was closely monitoring the issue and called on all parties involved to strictly comply with international legal norms and desist from actions that could heighten global tensions or undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty.
In the same vein China has pledged her support for Nigeria with a warning to America not to stand on spurious allegations of religious persecution and human rights abuses to gain in row to begin to meddle into the internal affairs of Nigeria. It is not in doubt that Nigeria has bled for long. It has also become desirable that if it takes a foreign insult for the government of the day to be alive to its primary responsibility, so be it.
We must swallow our pride, admit our fault lines and be ready to collaborate with stronger military powers to put an end to the bleeding and commence processes that will heal the land. The Federal Government should act fast and not get deluded by the promises of support and alliances from China and Russia. We must not volunteer our land as a test ground for superpower rivalries.
The end is predictably a bloodied national cannage. Sustained peace is needed to adequately explore the social economic gains in our diversity. Behind the haughty words of Trump’s insults is a historic opportunity that presents itself for Nigeria to heal her land.
