Written by:
Paul thomas
Ireland


The Mighty Fall

How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath and publish it not in the street of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. King David Jesse of ancient Israel.

Nigeria’s dwindling relevance has finally come to a head. The final blow of utter shame and ignominy has been dealt Nigeria; by the United States inclusion of the country amongst nations with terrorist links or affiliation. Whatever modicum of significance that Nigeria enjoyed among the comity of nations has finally been torn to shreds by this outright humiliation of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The effrontery of the United States to include Nigeria among nations with terrorist proclivities sends a very strong signal to us as a nation and as a people. The Obama government through this recent action speaks very clearly that Nigeria is not as relevant as they think they are and has also justified the boycott of Nigeria when Obama visited Africa.

The lumping together of Nigeria with countries actively involved in terrorism portrays the United States conclusion that Nigeria is a rudderless state. If truth be told, the recent happening in Nigeria gives a perfect apposite for the international community to draw this very sad conclusion about Nigeria. A country without a leader for over two months and where just recently a near war experience was witnessed as a result of the Niger Delta uprising; the bombing of the jetty in Lagos and the planting of bombs by the warlords from the creeks are some of the very many facts that must have informed America’s conclusion of Nigeria as an enclave for terrorism.

The December 25th foiled bomb attempt cannot be the sole purpose why the United States came to the conclusion that Nigeria supports terror. The unbridled internal acts of terrorism that have prevailed since the 1980s and the unabated purposeless style of leadership are a few of the veritable platforms upon which America based her conclusion.

Prior to the bomb scenario Nigeria became the butt of most countries, even right in Nigeria. Nigerians long became pariah to most embassies. All sorts of trash and harassments were meted out to Nigerians right in their own country with our leaders pre-occupied with thievery and blinded by ostentation. While majority of Nigerians suffer untold humiliation by these embassies and nations our leaders looked away unperturbed.

Recently a film was released in South Africa projecting Nigerians as aliens and using Obasanjo’s name as the main character. An American company recently used Lagos in an advert; projecting Lagos as a place where online details of would-be-customers are collected and intercepted. All of these were subtle jabs preparing the ground for the massive humiliation that has left most Nigerians scurrying for cover.

The notoriety of some Nigerians is well documented and well known by most countries of the world. Advanced fee fraud emerged from Nigeria and found its way into modern day lexicon. Most countries now have laws and agents specially recruited to fight fraud originating from Nigeria. Any Nigerian investor attempting to invest in Europe and America have enhanced compliance checks carried out on them to be sure they are not conduit pipes to launder money for our unscrupulous kleptomaniacs.

The fundamentalist that we left for so long to carry out heinous crimes for politicians and local leaders all in the name of religion now haunts the nation. The ghost of innocent people fiendishly truncated now stalks the entity called Nigeria. The blood of Nigerians used for rituals by our politicians to enable them stay in power or to make them invincible cries from the ground. They cry for justice, vengeance and retribution. The Frankenstein created by Nigerian politicians has now turned on them. The perpetual pillaging and recklessness over the years is beginning to yield its bitter fruits.

The merciless abuse of human rights and the incessant religious riots fuelled by interest groups and political banditry are some of the reasons that facilitated Nigeria’s ignoble position on the list of terror nations. The stigmatisation of Nigeria by this act will have long rippling effect on Nigeria, long after Nigeria is taken out of that list. Nigeria’s disgrace among the nations was long coming but our leaders were so engrossed with folly that they did not see it coming. The subtle embarrassments and harassments thrown at Nigeria from all angles imaginable should have prepared Nigeria for this big onslaught that America has finally garnered to pelt Nigeria with.

Nigeria’s reputation has long been in the sewage, it only took the American act for our leaders to realise it. Nations do not fall in a day, a failed state follows a sequence unabated for a long time before it finally collapses and Nigeria has been on that path for too long.

The calumny of Nigeria by America is a direct affront to the entity called Nigeria, a complete disregard to the leadership and her peoples, a spit to the face of our cantankerous leaders and an audacious move to silence our egotistic masters we call leaders; that mouth the relevance of Nigeria as the most populous and most important nation in sub-Saharan Africa.

The vociferous loquacity of some of our leaders and the endless tirade of charade concern for Nigeria, since Nigeria became a member of the terror squad sends a very strong signal to Nigerians that our leaders are arrogant and ignorant about the workings of international diplomacy. A dependent state does not give ultimatum to a nation regarded as a super power. The bulk of our foreign exchange comes from America’s patronage of our most viable resource, oil. It is alright to make the noise after all we are a nation but you do not threaten a stronger, more militarily endowed and technologically advanced nation than yourself. It remains to be seen what steps our beleaguered senators will take after the expiration of the ultimatum.

If the zeal and fervour with which our leaders have responded to the American appellation is the same that we have displayed since demo-crazy found an inroad into Nigeria; we will not be where we are today. Perhaps the whole episode might be a rallying point for every Nigerian. It might be the one purpose that will jolt all of us out of our collective slumber and point us in the right direction of nation building and leadership rectitude.

The world’s perception about us cannot change until we take conscious efforts to change the way we do things which will ultimately change the way the world views us and treats us. The reality is Nigeria’s inclusion on the terror list is proof that Nigeria has fallen from her high height of grace in the eyes of the world and the backlash of that fall is the current onslaught on Nigeria. Rather than dissipate our energies on trying to get our name taken out of the terror list and still maintain status-quo let us rather focus our strength on changing our political topography to make it more transparent, more inclusive, less bloody, less corrupt and intellectually stimulating.

Nigeria must realise that the essence of size is to use our population to effect a positive change about ourselves and to the world but so far we have used our size to harass the world. Nigerian citizens constitute nuisance to most countries. Everyday Nigerians besiege foreign embassies with a bid of escaping the tales of woes that Nigeria currently wallows. Everyday all sorts of fraudulent emails emanate from our cyber cafes to the inboxes of weary browsers. Most Nigerian youths are looking for cheap money and are ready to pay the price even if it means wasting countless hours on internet sites soliciting for the next game.

In conclusion let us look at some other far fetched reasons for the recent inclusion of Nigeria by Washington on the terror list: one unconfirmed reason might be to punish Nigeria for the unusual closeness with China. China’s recent global positioning is becoming very worrisome to Washington; as such Nigeria’s recent romance with China is unsettling to Washington. With Nigeria entering the list of terror nations, it sends very strong signal to other African nations to maintain close ties with America in order to be in their good book. The other reason Washington might be playing politics with the listing of Nigeria on the terror group is to maintain a permanent presence in Africa as a condition for delisting Nigeria from the terror group. Whatever the reason, Nigeria remains in the eye of the storm and only wise counsel and diplomatic sagacity can once again bring Nigeria into the pride of place.


Shalom

Paul Thomas
Ireland

Please Tell a Friend about this article.