I thought we all went to school in this country, but what I see baffles me. Trump didn’t, on his own, decide to invade Nigeria. He—Trump—never said that he was coming to invade Nigeria or attack Nigerian territory for any economic reason. He is merely responding to the clarion appeal by our Nigerian leaders who went to him in the White House in 2014 and pleaded with him and the US government to come and save the nation from terrorists.
After the visit, the US sent investigators to ascertain the allegation. The report took the US government eleven good years to study. Today, they have confirmed that what the high-powered Nigerian leaders’ delegation led by General Buhari—a soldier—Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and the then APC National Chairman, Chief Oyegun, said was really true and needed immediate emergency attention.
Unfortunately, virtually all those who were on that high-powered delegation are now running the affairs of the country when the US chose to act accordingly, as they had pleaded. Maybe the US knew that Tinubu was going to be Nigeria’s president and chose to respond when the leader of that high-powered delegation would be president so that he could show them the areas of major terrorist attacks.
Similarly, during the same period, the present National Security Adviser to the President, Nuhu Ribadu, led a delegation to the US president, pleading with him to come and rout out the terrorists. Good enough, today as National Security Adviser, the US needs his assistance to complement what the other delegation told them, especially through his current portfolio, so that their assignment to eliminate the terrorists will be easier.
It is expected that those who led the delegation to plead with the US to eliminate the terrorists should be happy that their clarion call has finally been answered by the US. It would be hypocritical for all those who went to the US in those periods to now protest against the US response to their critical call for help to protect the lives of Nigerians. Their call was, no doubt, a genuine one. Let nobody attach any sentiments to it.
If the US hadn’t responded to their clarion call, the same people might have used it against the US in the future. The US mission is not to attack innocent citizens but to rout terrorists, as the high-powered Nigerian delegation—led by virtually all those in power presently—told them. It is clear that the video speeches of those delegations showed discussions that align with what Trump said. Denying it will portray our leaders as liars and hypocrites.
I think what they should do now is to find another way of telling the US the areas where immediate assistance is needed. For those like Femi Fani-Kayode talking about Nigerians fighting the US, and one Alhaji Shehu, they should drop that idea—unless they are ready to be in the frontline with their families when the war begins.
Again, those whose territories are enjoying the booties and leadership of the country will fight the battle, while those sidelined in national affairs will watch and clap for them.
It is pertinent to advise China, whose citizens are exploiting the nation’s solid mineral resources, to stay out because no Nigerian delegate invited them—same with Russia. Many people have said that all the nations where the US intervened never had lasting peace. But I believe those who invited them knew everything and had their reasons for asking them to intervene. They also knew what the US was capable of doing.
