Beyond playing on words to entertain readers, this wounded relationship between the US of Donald Trump and Nigeria of Bola Tinubu is an issue of a particular concern to both nations and to other nations that share economic tie with both nations.
A threat of invasion is not a melodious track sung to dance away sorrow. It is a step to actuality; that is, the substance of the threat, which, in this context of Trump, is invasion, military action and war against Nigeria.
In International Relations class we were taught more about threat beyond a daily usage on the street. May God bless the then unsmililing Professor Amadu Sesay who taught me Concepts of Foreign Policy. May God also bless Professor Alade Fawole, who taught me Nigeria’s Foreign Policy. Both, though detested an indifferent student I was, were impactful till this morning.
I was taught and advised that a threat is not issued untill action to back the threat up has been covertly concluded. I was taught that a power who issues a threat and later retreats, has shot himself in the leg. That is, his inability to advance with his threat is an evidence of weakness, and that failure has robbed him of his status and reduced it to ordinary, a vulnerable incapable of biting when it matters.
Can Trump afford this miscalculation despite the US pedigree and knowing its implication? It is in doubt. What is not in doubt, however, is when and how he is going to carry out his threat, when he would mobilise forces down here. Then, the world will not remain the same because Nigeria is not an orphan anybody can just match his booth on, humiliate and go. No. No. No. Despite our failed leadership, God has placed Nigeria in a position that any invasion against it is an invasion against other countries, especially those who sell their manufactured products in Nigerian market and record good sales and commensurate profit margin on daily basis. So, e lo fokan bale.
This notwithstanding, Tinubu should use Trump’s threat as a needed opportunity to accelerate pace of his approach to wiping out insecurity in the land. This is my interpretation of Trump’s threat, even though his Christian genocide claim is over the bar. That claim is not correct when many Muslims have been invaded inside mosques, shot and wasted. In the South-east, a predominantly Christian region, can anyone call the large-scale killings there a genocide? In other words, in the east, it is Matthew that is killing Micheal. Sad!
I think it is high time Tinubu, just coming from a failed coup, recharged the military and other security agencies to restore peace to this country. If banditry, terrorism continue untamed, his 2027 elections in doubt. On a final note, Tinubu should find ways of engaging Trump in constructive conversation and present to him the true image of the situation and his efforts so far and what he intends to do.
A colleague yesterday sought my opinion on Trump’s threat, I shared with him this: “Beyond principle of states relations, the US has enough ground to issue this threat. I am personally happy by the development. It has potential of ending this carnage. President Bola Tinubu, whom I assume knows what a super power can do, will rise up now and do something radical to stem the bloody tide in Benue and Plateau States in the first instance. The US is not actually coming to overrun Nigeria, it is coming to protect the vulnerable. However, the success of this action will eat a chunk of our sovereignty. Tinubu and his cabinet must have suspended their sleep and made the US intervention unnecessary.”
TINUBU, TRUMP AND TROUBLE
BY CHIEF TUNDE BUSARI
