When the government abandons accountability and resorts to propaganda and excuses for its state policies, even the most advanced technology becomes ineffective. What Nigeria needs is not defence against words from abroad, but courage to act at home.
A time-honoured adage of the Yoruba country would capture the mood of this piece. “Agba ki wa loja, ki ori omo tuntun wo”. A loose translation of this saying means that the elder cannot forbear to see things going wrong, without his intervention. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, in the last few days has arrogated to himself the enviable position and influence of a wise, levelheaded and experienced elder who has seen life in different shades and seasons and has now come to nudge recalcitrant, incompetent and even corrupt bunch of political elites in a far away country across the Atlantic, who are too set in their ignoble and uninspiring ways, in the right direction.
Last week, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, finally broke his silence on the purported Christian genocide in Nigeria. Trump, though did not describe the killing of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and Northern regions as genocide, voiced his concern over the targeted persecution and targeted killings of Christians in the country. Trump would then go on to designate Nigeria as a country of primary concern and urged the government of the West African country to end the persecution and targeted killings of Christians.
Trump’s jarring post is the latest in the blizzard of claims of abhorrent treatment and mass killing of Christians in Nigeria which have gained traction on social media in recent weeks. Trump’s Friday post on the genocide claim in Nigeria was quickly followed by another post on his Truth Social on Saturday. This time his tone was combative, truculent, menacing, and unsettling. He described Nigeria as “a now disgraced country” and threatened an invasion of the country if the alleged persecution and killings of Christians in the country did not cease. His outburst has sent the habitually indifferent and lethargic Tinubu’s government into overdrive, with government officials, appointees, and supporters working assiduously to either downplay the threat of military invasion of Nigeria by the United States as an empty bluff or outrightly dismiss the claim of genocide.
The insecurity ravaging our land today, whether orchestrated by a vicious band of characters we call bandits or a clutch of ruthless and unconscionable men we tag Boko Haram terrorists, is forever a man-imposed sword of Damocles on an innocent citizenry that had a humble beginning. It became a festering, cancerous sore, because we wanted it so. The elites, the ruling and political class, especially those in the ruling party, from Sokoto to Calabar and from Maiduguri to Lagos, have lamentably kept a safe distance, fearing being labelled anti-establishment or pro-establishment. That remains their eternal moral burden, and like an old rugged cross, they carry it everywhere they go. Now, the erratic and overbearing Trump believes something as to give and it is the right time to be caught on the side of the people.
What a shame that it has required an importunate ultimatum and threat to the presidency so as to appear to be genuinely distressed. One thing that must be stressed here is that no nation, least of all the United States, has the right to interfere in the affairs of another sovereign nation decides let alone threaten it with military invasion. But the Nigerian government has itself to blame for the embarrassing and disgraceful situation it finds itself in. Trump speaks like a kingmaker and with a mocking tone of finality, and the presidency uncannily played into his hands by treating the cries, yearnings and pleas of hapless and defenceless Nigerians for it to end the violent attacks and bloodletting across the country with scant regard or outright disregard.
The Tinubu government waited, by choice, for extraordinary opportunities to seize common occasions, in dealing with the insecurity which has soaked us up to our knees. Only weak men wait for opportunities, strong men create them. The lame argument about an insecurity that predates Tinubu’s presidency must give way to a resolute commander-in-chief who grabs the bull by the horns. The president of a foreign nation that is unknown to the constitution of this country could never arrogate to itself, the power to make, or unmake.
By the way, president Tinubu, beyond some hastily written statement by his uncoordinated and disheveled communication team underscoring Nigeria’s unity and downplaying the mindbending insecurity, has not told us, not least of all, Trump, in details and concrete terms how he intends to tackle the nation’s security crisis head-on, annihilate the rampaging armed non-state actors who are destabilising it and return peace and stability to the country. Nigeria’s problem has never lacked fine and beautifully worded statements. It is the lack of truth and honesty behind them that is concerning.
The truth contained in one honest and sincere social media post hits harder than pages of algae-coloured government paper dripping with empty rhetoric. The Whitehouse is showing concern; Aso Rock is prevaricating and obfuscating. One side is shaping the narrative, the other is busy explaining itself. This is not sovereignty, it is poor statecraft and appalling diplomacy. The real threat to Nigeria’s peaceful coexistence and territorial integrity isn’t foreign castigation, it is internal decay, corruption, disinformation, and selective empathy that have cheapened lives and normalised senseless killings.
A government that truly protects and guarantees the security of its people doesn’t need to remind the world of it every week. When a nation constantly advertises its tolerance, it has already lost sight of what tolerance means. The insecurity we face also does not differentiate between truth and propaganda. What divides the nation is not combative remarks from the leader of a foreign nation but local abnegation and refusal to do the right thing. When the government abandons accountability and resorts to propaganda and excuses for its state policies, even the most advanced technology becomes ineffective. What Nigeria needs is not defence against admonition from abroad, but discipline and courage to act proactively and decisively at home.
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