With President Donald Trump designating Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), and within 24 hours of that designation putting his so-called War Department on notice to invade the country should Abuja fail to execute his orders, can Nigerian Christians, as they were urged by Mr. Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, be said to be taking back their country from Islamic elements? He it was who weaponised religion and made it the theme of his campaign during that election. And as is to be expected of a demagogue, it unusually took him more than 48 hours to say a word on Trump’s threat.
Politicians who misuse identity markers like religion and ethnicity and watch as the country collapses under the weight of the action of murderous groups masquerading as defenders of religion and ethnic nationalities are, in our current circumstances, as guilty as the northern religious and political establishments that for nearly two decades turned a blind eye to the activities of terrorists they euphemistically called herders and bandits. They make a lasting solution to the problem of identity in the country impossible by their habit of speaking from different sides of their mouths when they are not openly appeasing the aggressors. They are also guilty of complicity in the mass destruction of Nigerians.
Donald Trump needed nothing more than a tweet to make that momentous announcement that would surely upend the lives of millions should his ‘furious’ and ‘sweet’ crusade to save Christianity in Nigeria come to pass. This is because there is no way he would be initiating a ground offensive without the support of the Nigerian government and not incur the collateral damage that would trigger the displacement and even death of far more people than he wanted to save. An invading army is nothing but an enemy force as would be those, who for political reasons, are currently delirious with excitement at the prospect of a foreign power attacking their country. They would be traitors, ‘sabo’ in their own language, for working against the country’s national interest.
It is clear many of them would be willing tools in the hands of a foreign power. What is more, we can at best only know the beginning of such a violent breach of the country’s sovereign will, we cannot know the outcome. Those jubilating at the prospect of a war, even if all Trump promised is one quick action against the Islamic terrorists, will have no say in or means of controlling it when it starts. They would possibly become the first victims of their own irresponsible death wish. Perhaps, there would be nothing to worry about if we were certain that America’s intervention would not go beyond its advertised agenda to obliterate the terrorists given decades of our governments’ ineptitude.
But thinking that way would be tragically naïve. If the verdict of history is of any guide about America’s role as the policeman of the world, what it reveals gives no comfort. From Afghanistan, to Iraq, Libya to Gaza where it fought a proxy war against Palestinian Muslims and (wait for this) Christians, the result of America’s global conquistador role has been overwhelmingly dire. It leaves nothing but monumental ruin and decades-long chaos in its wake. Hardly anything good comes out of such invasions. Let’s be clear, the American President’s threat was not made in a vacuum. It came after weeks of speculation in both the American and Nigerian media of plans by the Trump administration to take action by designating Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) on grounds of persecution of Christians in the northern and north-central parts of the country.
These acts of persecution and killing of Christians the administration termed genocide. Simply defined as the targeted killing or persecution of people for religious, ethnic and political reasons etc., there is no doubt that genocide is in many cases what has been happening in nearly two decades in many parts of the north-central states of Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Christian-dominated parts of Taraba, Kwara, Southern Kaduna, Southern Borno and Kogi. Even Ondo state in the south-west is becoming a victim of such targeted attacks as Nigerians witnessed in Owo on June 5, 2022 when scores of worshippers were gruesomely murdered in St. Francis Catholic Church.
But the north-central states have suffered the worst casualties. Yes, the Islamic terrorists have murdered, perhaps, more Moslems than Christians when the entire north is considered but there is a difference to the character of the murders. First, the murdered Moslems are seen as infidels deserving of nothing better. Their cattle may be rustled and other property stolen but that is where it ends. In the north-central states and the Christian-dominated parts of the north, on the other hand, the people are not only murdered in their hundreds and thousands, their communities are occupied, taken over and renamed in some cases. Their historical links to the communities are, thus, erased. Killings like these would appear more ethnically motivated than religious but they are, nevertheless, classic cases of genocide.
While historically there has been a general lack of political will to prosecute and bring these terrorists to account by Nigerian governments, the Muhammadu Buhari administration was particularly negligent, criminally so and for that reason can be considered complicit in the genocidal killings. It did no more than urge victims of these attacks to accommodate their attackers for peace to reign.
Far from sanctioning the killings, the Tinubu administration has until the last few months of this year made good progress in fighting the terrorists. But for fear of further offending the northern Islamic, political and intellectual establishments that have been estranged by his political and economic reforms, including appointments, President Bola Tinubu has not been as assertive as he could have been in combating the attacks that have occurred recently.
It is for this same reason of not wanting to court the anger of the north that he has paused action on both his political and economic reforms like the introduction of state police, local government autonomy and the tax reforms that have been lauded both locally and internationally. Yet, we can all see what his government has been rewarded with despite his attempt at appeasement: manufactured outrage and sponsored protests, an alleged coup of mostly northern soldiers and now the threat of an invasion. The best option for the government is to work with Trump, seek the technological and military support of the Americans to end what has been turned into a national albatross and embarrassment by murderous powers bent on keeping Nigeria under.
The post The genocide is not state-sanctioned but it exists, by Rotimi Fasan appeared first on Vanguard News.
