Nigeria’s President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan…Neither an influence at home nor abroad
Mr Olugbenga Ashiru, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister…A very light weight in international diplomacy…Nigeria sure needs someone who understands the terms of that exalted office
Dr Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom…Not in charge, his compatriots don’t feel his impact here. Someone sure needs to step in and fill that yawning chasm!
Emeka Obasi writes:
Dear John,
Why do you think it is necessary for the Nigerian High commission or the ministry of foreign affairs to make statement condemning the act of a non Nigerian citizen?
By all accounts this act was committed by an Islamic extremist born and and raised in the UK. It was not committed on behalf of Nigeria, so I am very confused as to why you feel that they need to be making a statement about this. I look forward to your reply.
Emeks,
How body, family, work/business, etc? I throway salute for your akrision.
What you will discover after reading all the press releases which we intentionally published unedited is, the place of origin or the heritage of the Monsters of Woolwich (MOW) did not feature...this is how nations and prominent world citizens make their presence felt at the global arena or in the comity of nations. No nation that aspires to be a major influence in the world can afford to play the ostrich when another nation’s security is under threat. The nation states in the modern world belong to the broad family of mankind, and we all belong to the brotherhood of man, hence universal altruism should be a creed to which all the nation states and citizens of the world should both be heirs and signatories. Therefore, all humanity should feel diminished and be in pain and in mourning when some vampires amongst us hack down a flowering life on either side of the Atlantic. Some well to do nations of the world have been given helps to other nations, especially the poor ones because it should be our collective responsibility to open our hands to the poor, listen attentively to the cries and pains of our neighbours because we should all be our brothers’ keepers. And to act otherwise, is to be become Cain.
If the Nigerian State as a whole could not feel the pain of a soldier killed on a Street of London and issue an official statement, this to me is like acting the priest on Jericho Road. I have taken the time to visit the official websites of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, Nigeria and that of the Nigeria High Commission in London and both convey the impression of total indifference to global happenings. Whereas, if you visit the websites of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the U.S. Department of State they are both a beehive of activities on daily global happenings. The same active participation in global activities is witnessed when you visit the official websites of other nations of the world. These to my mind are how nation states seek to wield influence in the world and be positive and active key players in world affairs. If a foreign affairs ministry of a nation can maintain such callousness in the global scheme of things, then it has outlived its usefulness and if my observation is correct, such a ministry should either wake up to its international responsibilities or be closed down. To win the heart and mind of the entire world family, Nigeria cannot attain it by such money guzzling extravaganzas as “rebranding”, “the so-called image laundry” meant to fuel corruption amongst our globe-trotting compatriots who often fight to enlist themselves in such meaningless trips around the world, but by positive contributions to the world, a change of heart by Nigerians of all walks of life, honest living, ridding the endemic corruption of the Nigerian life, be hardworking, patient, prayerful, be law-abiding and be moral ambassadors of our nation wherever we live and find ourselves on the surface of the earth.
My dear Emeka, whilst on our website, please click on NIGERIA WATCH INTERNATIONAL which we have devoted solely to the covering of Nigerian affairs, and please do read my reaction to warn America when they sent a team to Nigeria with the hope of probing the Battle of Baga (BOB), an area you would recall I had done extensive investigations on the ecology of Northern Nigeria, the disappearance of the fadamas (farmlands), effects of mega dams, massive irrigation projects on the ecology of Northern Nigeria, desertification, flooding all over Nigeria due to development projects on flood plains and the damming of river/water outlets all over Nigeria, the confiscation of grazing lands from the hapless herdsmen by Generals and other agents of the oligarchic class, which is the very reason for the constant clashes between the herdsmen-the Fulani Borrors with their famer compatriots in the South of Nigeria....not sure if you are aware of the PASTORAL RESOLVE headed by General Muhammadu Buhari, which of course, some of my investigations were instrumental to its formation.
***That article of mine, I want to say, stopped them from using the team from the US to probe the BOB when both American and British diplomats resorted to issuing just press statements. Since then, I 've been looking out for an editorial from the Nigerian media condemning such meddlesomeness!
Why do you think every major problem/crisis in Nigeria and by extension Africa often attracts comments/reactions from foreign diplomats resident in Nigeria and Africa as a whole? Whist still in Nigeria, these foreign diplomats paid us courtesy visits to explain and clarify issues and policies of their home governments, they sought our support for major programmes and campaigns, both at national and international levels, they used to send press releases and express the views of their home governments in the press, contributed to national and international debates and wrote articles for the Nigerian media as often as they could. But over here, High Commissioners of African ancestry are simply dolomites over. They will never grant you an interview or comment on any issue of international importance, because: “I don’t want them to come and say blab la!” There are so far away from their compatriots. Back in Nigeria, you have the British Council, The Goethe Institute, The French Cultural Institute, The Russian Cultural Institute, etc, but to the best of my knowledge, there’s no such thing as the Nigerian Cultural Institute here to introduce and explain our ways of life to enquiring minds. Perhaps, some of our young ones suffering crisis of identity here in the West might have found solace in such places, thus helping to reduce their extreme frustrations and alienation which often lead them to become very rebellious and act irrationally as they often do become aware when the reality of life dawns on them that they are mere pendulums whilst here as they do come to that painful realization that they are neither Africans nor British nor Caucasians. So how do they learn about their roots, their languages and cultures? The anger and extreme irrationality of young Africans and Asians in the West can be analyzed, interpreted and properly understood only at the level of psychoanalysis and not by hastily jumping into the usual stereotypical conclusion of race and radicalization.
If I could tell you the truth, and I want to because I have worked personally with young Africans and Asians here in Britain and sought to know why they often behave the way they do and they have told me when they travelled to be reconnected to their roots they are greeted with: “You don’t belong here, go back to your country!” And when they return to their political cum biological countries they are met with unparalleled mistreatments in all ways-jobs, social standing/networking, admissions, securing loans for business, etc.” And they would turn to me to express their helplessness thus: “Boss, this is our situation. What do you want us to do?” These are all I hope to convey to you at this time about young Africans and Asians in Britain and I do hope I would have a global platform one day to talk to them here in the West and elsewhere.
Whilst you chew on these, I'd like to with all sense of responsibility say that this side of the Atlantic is a comfort zone for African High Commissioners/Ambassadors.
Until I come your way in an article shortly, also, chew on the Mutalab saga, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Libya, Boko Haram, Tunisia, Egypt, Mali and the destruction of the ancient civilization of Timbuktu, just as the library in Alexandria was destroyed, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sheikh Yerima of Zamfara, Ibrahim Yaqoub El-Zakzaky, Maitasine, the pogroms of the 60s, the beheading of Akaluka, the bloody exploits of Uthman Dan Fodio from 1809, Gadhafi's statement calling for the balkanization of Nigeria along religious lines, OIC, Nigerinistan in D-8, the destruction of black civilization, first by the Arabs and later by Europeans...
Can you not see that some foolish young Africans and politicians of African ancestry in the name of jihad are collecting money from the Arab world to destroy their countries and the continent?
Whereas these Arab/Muslim nations are buying up the whole of the West through strategic investments-the Shard, the tallest building in the whole of Western Europe, built by Qatar at about £450 million, property, clubs worth billions of pounds in exotic locations in the West, Excel Exhibition Centre in London, etc, etc, foolish African Muslim politicians, clerics and equally foolish young Africans in the name of Muslim Uma are collecting money from the Arab nations to destroy their nations and the continent.
This is what I call investment jihad. What is more, the core Arab nations (CANs) are relatively very peaceful, whereas the peripheral (Arab) Muslim nations (PANs) such as Pakistan, Yemen, Iran,Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, including Nigerianistan, I mean our Naija are in great conflagration. Please don't ever quote me as saying I did give the impression Nigeria is a Muslim nation, but her romance with the Arab nations since the 60s is very worrying...Gowon sending Sheik Abubakar Gumi to represent the nation at the OIC in 1967 culminating in her subsequent membership under IBB in 1986, remember what happened to Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe thereafter...our late President Umaru Yar'Adua died in Saudi Arabia, how much did his treatment cost the tax payers of Nigeria and why MUST the Saudi monarch be partly responsible for the payment of another nation's President's health bill? Are you aware of the investments from money stolen from us by some Nigerians in Arab nations?
Who are the sponsors of Boko Haram and the many Islamist sects that abound in Nigeria? Thus far, and from official quarters, only three are known, whereas I have personally told them there are more in the deserts, mountains, valleys, meeting in Lawanis' houses, private houses, hotels all over Nigeria, not just in the North, State Houses, the Apex Legislative Assembly which the constitution, and indeed, Nigerians erroneously refer to as THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - for your information, there is no such thing as the NA; in Nigeria, terrorists live in barracks, legislators quarters, they are in the presidency in the armed forces, read all the leads I had been giving Nigerian Authorities about BH's whereabouts, they are the ones that dominate the civil service, cells in every nooks and crannies of Nigeria, mechanic workshops, abandoned buildings which the Joint Task Force like to bandy about with; they are in rugas, road sides, airports, on bikes, parks, seaports, bush, forest reserves, forest, fadamas, cattle markets, palaces, bukas, local canteens brothels, motels, tea shops, bars, mammy markets in barracks, suya joints, market stalls, they eat every day with Jonathan, they speak to him every day; they called for the stupid amnesty when Jonathan is thinking of probing MASSOB, but I had since warned him of the repercussions of this idiocy, apart and hate, apart and rule; BH are in markets, they are being shielded in mosques, they are in the Cabinet, they are walking free in university campuses all over North, manufacturing their bombs in citadels of learning, the foreign ones come in and run out after causing havocs because of the porosity of our borders North/South, they are in Agege, Ijora Badia, Idi Araba, Ajegunle, etc, etc.
They said the President had declared a state of emergency in some States in the North...Dr Robert Amala needs to run with a dictionary to his boss to look up the words State of Emergency and Amnesty!
It is already franchised...the many sects that abound kill/attack in the name of Boko Haram and sometimes Ansaru, they are already internationalized, what you have now in Nigeria is global jihad and no more an issue of any one killing because of gross injustice done to the North, lack of jobs, fighting corruption. The Monsters of Woolwich (MOW) by attacking Drummer Lee Rigby had inaugurated INTIFADA PHASE III in Britain, and by extension in the West...remember the stabbing of a French soldier and the attempt to stab/behead a prison official a few days after the Woolwich orgiastic bestiality?
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika said Boko Haram's tactics are unpredicted; he should hang his head in shame. The so-called Joint Task Force are using Kangaroo and headless chicken strategy, whereas Boko Haram are using Paramecium, Diving Eagle, Round About, Buffer Zone strategies. Whilst BH are strategic, the JTF are not. Their method is Chaka Bula/Dane Gun-shoot and reload to shoot again! Let's pray against external invasion. The Post IBB Era Generals (PIIBEGs) for what they are, are just Peace Time Generals (PTGs...never seen wars) and at best, Pepper Soup Generals (PSGs) and Brukutu Generals (BGs). They run round after Boko Haram when they suffer brain waves and assemble for media show off. I would have again recommended the sack of all our so-called Service Chiefs, but are they betters?
Compare the PIIBEGs with the quality of the War Time Generals (WTGs) such as Obasanjo, Yar'Adua, Domkat Bali, T.Y. Danjuma, Akirinade, Ishola Williams, Ike Nwachukwu, M.B Haladu, and down the line to the Lion of the tribe of Nigeria Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, etc.
If petroleum rigs are on fire, the first thing to do is to close the flow station, but the real Boko Harams - their financiers (home and foreign), strategic planners, strategic implementers, logicians are working free since 2009 making inflammatory statements which had lately infected the millionaire from the Niger Delta and former Ghadafi boy Asari Dokubo.
My dear Emeka, if you are seeing what I'm seeing and are thinking what I'm thinking, then I cannot, but cry in the words of Hubert Ogude: (Yoruba Ronu!) out to young Africans and all the locusts which pass for African politicians to (Ronu!, Ronu! Ronu! ) Think! Think! Think! Here's is where an elder comes in, it does not matter whether that elder is a High Commissioner or a Foreign Affairs Minister. My people the Yalas of Cross River State of Nigeria have some sayings that go thus: "Where there are elders, young persons ought not to go astray," "If the old water is not in the house/pot, the new water will not last!"
Thus far,Olugbenga Ashiru and Dalhatu, from my own personal opinion are misfits who are not fit to represent Nigeria in a globalised world. You will do well to compare them with Ibrahim Gambari, Joe Garba, Bolaji Akinyemi, Hilary Clinton, John Kerry, Henry Kissinger, William Hague, etc.
I'm committing myself to addressing your question in a scholarly article shortly, so I go shut up my mouth, lest somebody push me down and take two-pence...a story in Achebe's The Arrow of God.
My dear Emekuku, make I drop here until we catch, but please keep visiting www.vigilance-securitymagazine.com
Best,
Compatriot John.
***Meanwhile, please do try and consult: Professor Chancellor Williams' THE DESTRUCTION OF BLACK CIVILIZATION (GREAT ISSUE OF A RACE, FROM 4500 B.C. TO 2000 A.D.).