On July 26, 2023, members of the Nigerien presidential guard successfully staged a military coup d’etat against the President Mohamed Bazoum government. And as things stand, Nigeria is on the horns of a dilemma. How to react to the enemies without and contend with those within.
For starters, a European powerhouse like France has always had it for Nigeria, and has taken numerous countermeasures in furtherance of a burning desire to see Nigeria cut down to size. Apart from successfully applying pressure on her former colonies to baulk at the implementation of the ECOWAS currency, the eco, at the eleventh hour, it has severally sought to use the numerical advantage of Francophone countries to admit Cameroon (Central Africa) and Morocco (North Africa) into the West African organisation as a vital counterbalance to Nigeria’s influence.
Then there’s South Africa. The relationship between her and Nigeria since President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office has been more like a cat and mouse affair. South Africa increasingly perceives Nigeria as an adversarial competitor rather than a partner – be it in the bloodless war to emerge as permanent member for Africa in a reformed UN Security Council or who’s truly Africa’s biggest economy.
The Ramaphosa administration would grasp any opportunity that avails itself to discomfit and de-market Nigeria by stereotyping her as a big-for-nothing with fake democratic credentials. And after noting that the internet – particularly the social media – is easily dominated by storm troopers of a particular political party, South Africa has decided to use the same media to ventilate sound bites that will highly resonate with them.
Why else would agents of the South African government disdain the immoral optic of biting the same fingers that fed their nation in times of great need and gleefully parrot the absurdity that the coup in Niger happened “because of the illegitimacy of President Bola Tinubu’s government?” How daring and preposterous! Rather regrettably but not surprisingly, the moonlight tale not only succeeded in besmirching Tinubu and the nation he presides over, but it equally achieved the desired goal of lulling the target audience into forgiving and forgetting that their kith and kin are major victims of South Africa’s serial xenophobia, if torrents of concurring commentaries are anything to go by!
To further underscore just how low South Africa is prepared to forment diplomatic spats at Nigeria’s expense, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, who together with Gen. Joe Garba comprise the most vibrant and effective ministers of external affairs this country has had to date, told a TV viewing audience last Monday that the glaring breach of protocols that occurred when the African Union (AU) went over ECOWAS to directly make decisions in respect of the Nigerien coup, rather than the other way round, “was masterminded by South Africa to spite newly elected ECOWAS chairman President Tinubu in the face.”
All political leaders, irrespective of ideologies and personal animosities are supposed to rally to the nation’s defence at times like this. Our national interests must come before any individual’s interest or ambition. Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi must now put heads together to defend the honour and integrity of this nation. While it may be impossible for Obi to rein in his army of Obidients in the social media, I fully expect him to issue a joint statement with Atiku that leaves no individual, organisation or nation with a feeling of doubt and uncertainty about their patriotic fervour.
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They can achieve the foregoing by immediately releasing a joint press statement to the effect that “While the last elections did not meet the high standards we believe Nigerians are entitled to, we must, however, warn that the unity and stability of this giant of Africa are non-negotiable. We have availed ourselves of the right to appeal the results in court as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution and must warn that no individuals, organisation or country should attempt to stoke the embers of the flames of internal division in our participatory democracy with misguided intent.”
But we shouldn’t really blame South Africa for opting to stick her fingers in the collective eye of Nigerians since it is a trite saying in international relations that the only permanent thing in politics is interest, not friendship. Still, Nigerians must come to terms with the reality that only someone with sawdust in the brain would incredibly imagine that cutting one’s nose is a sane way to spite the face.
It is even worse that many Nigerians are glamorising the military coup in Niger amidst a test of wills to see who will blink first between those who want to return to Africa’s coup-infested dark past and those seeking to establish a new democratic order. What’s more, they even wish the military would illegally seize power too in Nigeria! These are the enemies within.
Youthful agents-provocateur can be excused for being born during or after the last military junta ruled Nigeria. They hardly know that the first moves coupists make include closing down international borders, suspending democratic institutions and the constitution and rolling out the first set of decrees ousting the Judiciary from adjudicating cases against the government. These indolent youths who prattle 24/7 on social media platforms would suddenly discover that their right to free speech – including freedom to abuse and curse – has been brusquely abrogated and that violation would easily land them in military dungeons with no questions asked.
My bewilderment can best be imagined when a secondary school classmate shared a video clip of the spokesman for the coupists – Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane – proffering ‘Why we struck’ reasons on our WhatsApp Group platform, comprising septuagenarians and octogenarians with a comment in bold letters that read: “I LOVE THIS; IT IS SWEET MUSIC TO MY EARS!”
Just what did the spokesman say that constituted ‘sweet music’ in the ears of my secondary school pal? First, that the governments of the various ECOWAS member states should first remove the log in their eyes in order to safely pick the speck of wood in the eye of the coupists. The challenge that readily presents itself is how to correctly ascertain which side really has a log in the eye and which side has a speck of wood. We can easily deduce the answer from his magisterial pronouncement that by rigging elections using ballot papers, civilians could be dubbed “institutional coupists” on the same page as military coupists who seize power using guns.
It’s very easy to explain why his syllogism would resonate very highly with some populations in Nigeria. But does one really justify the other? Have there never been allegations of rigged or stolen elections in America and Europe; why haven’t the military in those countries toppled civilian political leaders?
He went on to add that various heads of government in ECOWAS have been extending their term limits without any pushback from the regional body now condemning the coup in Niger. No matter what your opinion of Buhari’s performance may be, no one can take away from him his determination to extirpate constitutional non-compliance on term limits by ECOWAS Heads of Government. He arm-twisted the Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh to vacate office after refusing to accept his loss to Adama Barrow in the 2016 presidential election and accept the offer of exile in Equatorial Guinea.
And don’t we know from our experiences in Africa that warlords simply use the sound bite of booting corrupt politicians from office as a charm offensive to win initial public acclamation, only to subsequently bare their blood-thirsty teeth and take corruption to unprecedented levels? Besides, the problem isn’t as graphically malignant as critics would tend to portray. A UN report showed that countries in southern and western Africa have demonstrated the greatest adherence to constitutional term limits. Furthermore, of the 10 leaders to rule in Africa for over 20 years, only one – the Gnassingbe dynasty of Togo – is in western Africa. So what are we really talking about?
Right on the heels of the French foreign legion departing their former colonies come the Wagner Group of mercenaries. This military contractor sponsored by Russia and notorious for its record of horrendous war crimes committed in Ukraine are now right on our doorsteps in a pincer formation – just when Cold War Part 2 is racing to its zenith and Scramble for Africa Part 2 is set to commence.
Most Nigerians side with Russia in respect of the war in Ukraine on the basis that Putin’s pre-emptive invasion designed to protect the motherland from being encircled by NATO is rational, logical and justifiable. Yet, the same Nigerians – blinded by domestic partisan politicking – fail to espy the clear and present danger posed to Nigeria by these unfolding developments, especially with Russia and South Africa being chummy buddies in a BRICS solidarity union seeking to create a new world order. They refuse to see the truth in the aphorism that the worst democratic government is better than the best military rule until it is too late. When shall we wake up from our self-imposed hate-induced sleep or would we be obliged, faute de mieux, to invite the military to take over power and hop on the Wagner/Russian train?