It was difficult to understand how our president, Bola Tinubu, would go and beg President Trump to shoot missiles into Nigeria on Christmas evening last year, allegedly to kill Islamist terrorists. Did the Nigerian presidency not read the new national security strategy, which states bluntly that all American action would only be in the interest of the United States alone and not that of any other country?
There are two types of countries in the world today. Those openly resisting, combatting with, dealing with or undermining the United States. The second type are countries keeping as long a distance as possible from the United States because the country has become very toxic. Nigeria is in a special category. We are actively soliciting close ties and collaboration with the Americans. We have taken the option of succumbing to American imperialism at a historical moment when that crumbling hegemon is declining, indeed collapsing before our very eyes. We are becoming close friends with a country that recently acted as a brigand, sending a military force to kidnap President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and his wife. Why are we so close to a country that decided to completely wipe out the leadership of Iran to impose regime change, only to find out that the Iranians do not tolerate hegemons but give them a sound beating.
Don’t we know that the overriding lesson of American foreign affairs in the past century is that of attempting to destroy countries that love their liberty and believe that they should control their own resources? The United States is a notorious destroyer of countries. It spent 20 years trying to control Afghanistan but failed. It killed the Libyan President, replacing a functional developmental state with a fractured state that set-in motion the massive distribution of small arms and light weapons to entrench terrorism in Africa. The tragic consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq continue to destabilise the world. The United States has also repeatedly destabilised Latin American countries, including Chile, Cuba, Guatemala and Nicaragua, by trying to oust their governments through force.
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We live in interesting times in which leading imperialist countries have stopped pretending about the rules based international order. They are now engaging in imperialist action without ideological cover, shame or constraint to continue their control of world resources, while engaging in 19th century style gunboat diplomacy. This is what we see in the abduction of the sitting President of Venezuela and his wife and takeover of the country’s vast petroleum resources, the murders of the Libyan and Iraqi presidents and takeover of their petroleum resources, the Syrian debacle, and now the battle to take over Iran’s resources.
While the façade was the protection of the international rules-based system, the reality has been that MIGHT IS RIGHT. From the Korean war, to Vietnam, Afghanistan etc., external aggression has led to the deaths of over 40 million people since the end of the Second World War under American hegemony. Extractivism has always been the guiding principle. Nonetheless, Comrade Mao tells us that American imperialism is a paper tiger.
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It was difficult to understand how our president, Bola Tinubu, would go and beg President Trump to shoot missiles into Nigeria on Christmas evening last year, allegedly to kill Islamist terrorists. Did the Nigerian presidency not read the new national security strategy, which states bluntly that all American action would only be in the interest of the United States alone and not that of any other country? The world knew that the idea that the United States would act to protect Nigerian Christians, who are suffering from genocide perpetrated by Islamic terrorists, was as far from reality as it could be. How could Nigeria be grovelling for help from a government that says it will only help itself?
“Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality, it isn’t. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality, it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger.”
For reasons of fear, Nigeria may be playing the game of subservience to the United States. If that is the case, it never works because it is in the nature of bullies to deal ruthlessly with those it sees are living in fear. My advice to President Tinubu is to read Chairman Mao on “US imperialism is a paper tiger, fear no more”:
“Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality, it isn’t. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality, it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger.”
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Last week, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) celebrated, on its website, its delivery of military equipment to Nigeria. The command said: “the equipment delivery is part of a foreign military sales agreement between the U.S. and Nigerian militaries,” and “The delivery furthers the strategic partnership between the two nations in order to enhance Nigerian-led efforts to counter terrorism in the region. U.S. military support to the Armed Forces of Nigeria is by its invitation and rooted in respect for Nigerian sovereignty.”
Last month, Dagvin Anderson, the AFRICOM commander, announced that the US had pulled back many of its troops in Nigeria following the May operation that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS, in the Lake Chad Basin. The next step, I understand, is working towards the signing of a trade agreement between the two countries. There have been negotiations for several months, which are now focused on investment in the critical minerals sector by the Americans. It is very disconcerting that our government is not telling us the content of the agreements on security and trade with the United States. The only reason they would be hiding these agreements is that we will scream if we know how cheaply and unfairly we are being sold off.
Nigerians should be particularly troubled by the severe deficit of information regarding the nature, scope, legal basis, and rules of engagement governing the collaboration between the Nigerian and US governments. When Sokoto was bombed by the United States last December, Nigerians were not informed about the basis for authorising the strikes, under what legal framework they were conducted, what safeguards were in place to protect civilians, whether the National Assembly exercised any oversight on this, or what accountability mechanisms exist for the harms caused.
We have been told that a dedicated forum for discussion has been established: the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group. Chaired by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker, they are said to have been meeting. What are they talking about?
Nigerians should be particularly troubled by the severe deficit of information regarding the nature, scope, legal basis, and rules of engagement governing the collaboration between the Nigerian and US governments. When Sokoto was bombed by the United States last December, Nigerians were not informed about the basis for authorising the strikes, under what legal framework they were conducted, what safeguards were in place to protect civilians, whether the National Assembly exercised any oversight on this, or what accountability mechanisms exist for the harms caused. Now that more detailed agreements are being negotiated, we still do not have any indication of the content and implications of what they are doing. This opacity fuels mistrust and undermines public confidence in government, at a time when trust is already dangerously low. Nigerians are left to speculate on how our sovereignty is being undermined.
I have said it before. I have so much nostalgia for the proud and assertive Nigeria of 11 January 1976 when our Head of State told the world and the American President, Gerald Ford, that Africa has come of age. In his speech at the OAU Summit in Addis Ababa, General Murtala Mohammed declared:
“Africa has Come of age. It is no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or mar. For too long have we been kicked around: for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly. For too long has it been presumed that the African needs outside ‘experts’ to tell him who are his friends and who are his enemies. The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves; that we know our own interests and how to protect those interest; that we are capable of resolving African problems without presumptuous lessons in ideological dangers which, more often than not, have no relevance for us, nor for the problem at hand. Nigeria has come to this Assembly determined to co-operate with you, Mr Chairman, and with all member States to put a stop to foreign interference in our continental matters. As an African nationalist of distinction, I trust that your wise guidance will direct our deliberations to fruitful conclusions of which our peoples will be proud.”
A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.
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