Friday 31 July 2015

Security, diplomacy and emerging perspectives


Nigeria’s  President Muhammadu  Ribadu, under pressure  to choose his cabinet in time,  was reported  to have retorted  that there was scarcity  of good honest  human  capacity.  According to reports he said so many knowledgeable  Nigerians have been compromised  by those who want  to use them to subvert our security  and loot  our  economy.  So  it is not as if the Nigerian president is wasting time or buying it.  He  is busy  working to live up to his mandate and his billing, especially on security and the anti  corruption crusade. But he  knows as well that what is what  doing at all is worth  doing well and  I  cannot  agree more.


 That really  is the name of the game today as  we  look  at  how what seemed to have hamstrung the Nigerian president  in living quickly up to the expectations  of those who elected him recently seem  akin   to  the same thing that has changed  the course of world diplomacy  in recent times. This  is because  on  the global   diplomatic  scene  solutions are not forthcoming fast enough and   where they  have surfaced they have been baffling and complicated, throwing up confusion in terms of expected appreciation  or  understanding. The result is an emerging trend  of world perspectives,  relations and alliances pitching strange bedfellows  together  in  bizarre     and   assorted relationships  both  in  the  volatile  hot spots as  well  as the   peaceful   regions of the world.


Starting with  Turkey   in  the  EU,  NATO  had  to hold a special  meeting last week  to consider how to  defend  Turkey  against  the increased  onslaught  of  ISIS which  has killed several people in that  nation recently.  Yet  Turkey  has been  struggling for over 50 years to become a full  member of the EU  in  which  some powerful  member nations  are  suspicious  of  Turkey’s  Islamic credentials  and  background.  But now NATO  is  to  defend an Islamist  nation  against ISIS in the name  of humanity and for  its  own security.


Similarly,  US  Secretary  of  State  John  Kerry  was busy  this week  explaining  to US  legislators why they  should not  throw out the Nuclear  Deal  the Obama  government  had struck with  Iran. This is in spite of the fact that even the  US  president  has sworn to veto  any turn down  of the deal  by Congress and  the  Ayatollah  Khameini, the real power in Iran  has questioned US good intentions on the deal.  So  on whose side  is the  US Secretary  of State? Definitely  the US legislators are  not going to take him  seriously as  most  of them  have sympathy  for Israel  and  its security and Israel  has said through   its vocal  Premier Benjamin  Netanyahu  that the Obama government  has been fooled on the deal because an  Iran spokesman still  recently said that Iran  will  never recognize  Israel.  So  the new  perspective is a US government pleading for understanding of a nuclear  deal with,  of  all  nations-  Iran,  whose Ayatollah  Ruhollah  Khomeini called  America   the ‘Great  Satan‘ during the  Iran  Hostage  Crisis  during the Jimmy  Carter  Presidency.


More  bizarrely Iran  and  Saudi  Arabia  are  jointly  fighting ISIS  on  all fronts except  Iraq  where  sectarian violence between  Sunni  and  Shiite  Muslims  have made Iraq ungovernable  and a doomed  failed  state  in spite  of US airstrikes  to shore up  the country and preserve  the  territorial rumps  of its sovereignty.  Yet   it has  not  occurred  to  the ruling House  of Saud  which is the monarchy  in  Saudi  Arabia or  the Islamic  Autocracy in Iran  that  they  could bury the hatchet on their sectarian  differences  to fight a common ruinous foe that ISIS  has  become to them in their nations  and regions of influence.  Instead  the Iranian Nuclear  Deal  made  the Saudi  Monarchy  suspicious  of US intentions although they knew that the volume of trade  with  the  US  assured  that he who  paid the piper  should  dictate  the tune.  Even  then  however given  the enormity  of the challenge of ISIS  the  two  champions  of  Shiite and Sunni  Islam  should  have shown each  other some armistice  or respite  to get ISIS  out  of the way  as quickly as possible in the  interest  of their  religion and the  welfare  and security  of   the millions of adherents following their dictates and direction.


In  the same vein  the  visit  of the US  President  Barak  Obama  to  Ethiopia a Marxist  nation almost  laid waste  recently   by IMF  conditionalities  which    it  rejected  when  it needed  economic  assistance is  instructive.  This time the US is asking for Ethiopian  military  cooperation  in fighting Al  Shabaab in the region  on the  Horn  of  Africa.  When  Ethiopia asked for  World  Bank  loans in the past  the American  funding officials  and bankers asked for such repayment arrangements   and  terms that would have crippled the Ethiopian  nation  and ruined  its social  fabric  and cohesion.  The  present  Ethiopian government rejected  such  anti  social  and anti  people  conditions  and did things their own way and Ethiopia survived  to  date   to be the new bride of the US  in the war against Islamic  terrorism  now threatening   the global  dominance and  security  of the US.


Actually  the visit  of the new  Nigerian president to  Cameroun  should  be seen in terms of new  perspectives  and diplomatic  vistas. After  the  past,  bad  vibes  of Bakassi  and the trauma  of the World  Court verdict favoring our neighbour   our  president has done well  to let bygones be bygones  and allow  the two  nations to chart a new course  of  détente. Of  course the Boko  Haram  menace  was a stimulant  for the new  cordiality  and its security  input  are certainly undisputable.  But  then Francophone nations in  Africa especially   West  Africa  have always begrudged  Nigeria’s  size  and  leadership not through their own volition  or disposition  but because  they have been culturally  tied  to the apron string of  France  their  colonial  master  that  never  wanted them  to be truly independent  individuals capable  of being on their  own.


President  Paul  Biya is over  80  and is much  older than our president but  the issue of security cooperation  transcends age as it  has to do with the present dangers  and the protection of populations  and posterity. Boko  Haram  has penetrated both  Cameroun and Nigeria with impunity  in recent times and especially during the life of the last  administration. We  even read  stories  of Nigerian soldiers  shedding their uniform  and surrendering across the border to be returned later in humiliating fashion. The  appointment  of new service chiefs especially for the Army  and the appointment  of a new Army  Chief  should show unserious military personnel  that it  cannot  be business as  usual  in the fight against  Boko  Haram.


The  fact  that the  new  Army  Chief  was photographed as he set  his walking stick aside to do  press  ups  in front of troops in the war zone of the North  East  showed  that the  era  of pot bellied leadership of the Army is over and that indeed the days  of  Boko  Haram  are numbered under the new military leadership.  That  surely  is another  welcome perspective that  should  delight Nigerians in terms  of the expected turn  around of our security and economic  fortunes under  the present dispensation. Again, long live the Federal  Republic of  Nigeria.





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