Why we must teach Niger a lesson

Just look around and you are bound to find out there’s too much peace in Nigeria. Peace means there’s not enough war to go around for Nigeria’s justiciable defence budgets. Now, that’s not good for Nigeria and sub-continental neighbours especially at a time when ambitious soldiers have returned to terminating democratic regimes they were employed […]

Just look around and you are bound to find out there’s too much peace in Nigeria. Peace means there’s not enough war to go around for Nigeria’s justiciable defence budgets. Now, that’s not good for Nigeria and sub-continental neighbours especially at a time when ambitious soldiers have returned to terminating democratic regimes they were employed to protect.

The resurgent madness started in Mali, moved to Burkina Faso, infected Guinea and has now afflicted Niger where a certain General Abdirahmanne Tchiani employed to protect his own commander-in-chief has instead overthrown him. If Nigeria does not find a way of keeping its own soldiers engaged especially after retiring a record 120 generals, this infectious plague might threaten its young transition.

Our elders say when your neighbour eats poisonous worms, if you fail to caution him, his midnight yells might keep you awake. President Tinubu’s anger stems from hearing that his Nigerien colleague, Mohammed Bazoum, was kicked to the kerb shortly after he was elected the leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Our tough-talking president ordered Nigerien soldiers to drop the mutiny and return power back to Bazoum or face military intervention. That might sound like a bloody civilian barking orders at an armed Nigerian soldier at a checkpoint, but we do see skits like that on TikTok, so why not try it in real life?

At any rate, power means nothing until it is exercised. According to Tinubu, who vicariously doubles as the C-in-C of ECOMOG, the military arm of ECOWAS, Tchiani had till Sunday to comply or face war.

In the international scheme of things, only the almighty America has exclusive rights to marshal force against the enemies of democracy outside its shores while pandering to its local foes. Sadam Hussein did not survive his incursion into Kuwait nor did Gadaffi survive an old grouse against the West. Bashar al-Assad is yet to recover from his inchoate crimes against the superpowers.

Now, if America can do it and get away with it, why can’t Nigeria that is the America of the sub-Sahelian region? We should not forget that when Charles Ghankay Taylor threatened democracy in Liberia, Nigerian soldiers went there and dislodged him. A certain Foday Sankoh tried it in Sierra Leone and met the same fate. Only spoilt Millennials, think these heroic feats are like fiction just because they have lived with the scourge of kidnappers, the blight of Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgents and ritual killers coupled with confusion over whom, between elected governors and Biafra/ESN agitators really hold power. There are enough generals in the Nigerian army waiting to test their skills in real battle.

Femi Falana’s protests and the Nigerian Senate resolution notwithstanding, chances are, by the time you are reading this, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, other lovely accoutrements of war have joined boots on the ground to defend democracy and return Bazoum to power in Niamey. That is what America would do, but Falana appeared to have forgotten history so soon that when superpowers invade smaller states, they do so first before approaching the United Nations for retroactive endorsement.

As genuine patriots, we must believe that what Americans can do, Nigeria can do better. After all, we have the tacit support of the Americans who are looking for more African allies to counter the diplomatic cost of their adventure against the Russians in Ukraine.

Western media believes that Russia wants more allies in Africa and that the powerful Wagner mercenary group has been sighted in Mali mopping up after French troops were dislodged from their ex-colonies.

Pro-Tinubu forces are becoming more strident in re-echoing the capacity of the overstretched Nigerian army to restore order in Niger. They argue that if possible, Nigerian soldiers can take up the combined forces of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso and by extension Chad. In their articles, the pro-Tinubu forces have warned General Tchiani not to take our inability to tackle our own local demons for battle-weariness. We all know that the insurgencies that plague Nigeria could be surmounted militarily except that it might take food from the mouths of defence contractors.

In the meantime, having issued the war threat, President Tinubu has returned to the local war room where he is having trouble balancing the ministerial nominees on the scale of integrity and loyalty to himself and the party. This battle supersedes the declaration of war when the president has his own trusted generals in charge of his troops at home.

On that battlefront, the president is hitting roadblocks withdrawing and replacing nominees. Evidently, there are not too many people left in the Island of Integrity and the Vaults of Loyalty judging by the way the list is coming out in trickles.

One nominee, Maryam Shetty, woke up from the excitement of making the list only to find out after sauntering into the hallowed chambers of the Dome that she had been de-nominated. Her cheerful video of appreciation turned sour without prior warning and what could have been her prepared speech would now have to stay on the KIV folder on her laptop as the speech that never was. Not surprising, Aso Rock does not appear keen at explaining how a nominee that cleared security screening fails to get past the NASS VIP lounge.

A second nominee 46-year-old Bosun Tijani, PhD who in the heat of the #EndSARS protest not only criticised Nigeria for wasting its youth and called the drones at the Dome ‘morons’ was made to eat his words. His invectives against the cluelessness of past leaders might have escaped the eagle eyes of security agents; it was not scrapped off the black book of members of the Red Chamber who made him eat his own puke. His recant has now become a lesson for younger Nigerians never to condemn even what is bad about their government if they ever wish to serve the same nation. The rule is, even if it is bad suck it up and wait for your turn.

Coming from a parliament that spent time passing a resolution called ‘let the poor breathe’, future critics might do well to know their source of oxygen before running their fingers on keyboards or making critical comments. In the future, those who disapprove of government would be denied the subsidised ration cards that only APC supporters get to cushion the effect of the removal of the subsidies and inclusion on the social register for palliatives. There won’t be oxygen for critics who fail to recant.

We have precedents here. Godwin Emefiele, the man Tinubu accused of threatening his ascension is still in detention in spite of a court order. He is privileged. Abdulrasheed Bawa, the former EFCC chairman has spent nearly two months in detention without trial. He might have been an enemy of the state. These are classical examples of how enemies of government might end up. It’s a fertilizer that grows docile citizens to worship any government in power even in the face of institutionalisation of evil.