It was former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, who could not hide his disgust and pointedly told the world that the United States of America was not Nigeria’s friend in the battle against Boko Haram.
Others after him, like Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar have preferred to either maintain ungodly silence so as not to offend the world’s policeman; or become as clueless as BUHARI who continues to tell us how he will end the Boko Haram saga without any articulate position.
Now we hear that the usually garrulous diplomat in the American embassy, James Entwistle, has declared that the fight against Boko Haram was tough, after the entire insidious role he played in festering the carnage in the north east. He does not know that his role from when he was a diplomat in Niger and Cameroon is well documented. Also, it is known to the discernible that he has to come to finish what he planted in America’s mad desire to undermine Nigeria’s stability, break her back, and turn her into another Libya. But Entwistle and his cohorts will fail.
That agenda was seconded by John Kerry when he made a needless whistle stop visit to Lagos, in the hope that what was first predicted by the American Council on Foreign Relations, and being pushed through under the present leadership of the American government through its embassy, will come to pass. This is plotted to give a good reason for the Libyanisation of Nigeria. But then, again, they work within the limits of the intellect of men, and will surely fail. This time, woefully.
Gowon had late last year taken a swipe at the American government for refusing to sell military hardware to Nigeria, saying if the US was truly a diplomatic friend to Nigeria, it should do everything possible to keep the corporate existence of Nigeria. This, as he told The Punch, includes assisting Nigeria to fight aggression from any quarter. Last November, the Punch added, the U.S. defended its refusal to sell cobra helicopters to Nigeria, saying the Federal Government was free to buy fighter jets from any other country.
The State Department’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said, “Nigeria has purchased helicopters that originated in countries other than the US and nothing in our decision prevents Nigeria from obtaining weapons and equipment from other sources.” Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, had told members of the Council on Foreign Relations on November 10 last year that Washington was not doing enough to assist Nigeria in combating the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East of the country.
He said, “The U.S. government has up till today refused to grant Nigeria’s request to purchase lethal equipment that would have brought down the terrorists within a short time on the basis of the allegations that Nigeria’s defence forces have been violating human rights of Boko Haram suspects when captured or arrested. We find it difficult to understand how and why, in spite of the U.S. presence in Nigeria, with their sophisticated military technology, Boko Haram should be expanding and becoming more deadly.”
But Psaki, un-creatively and lamely, stated that the US refused to sell the helicopters to Nigeria due to concerns about the ability of the military to use and maintain them, adding that there were ongoing concerns about Nigerian military’s protection of civilians when conducting military operations. What a douche bag of crock waste!
Perhaps unknown to him, Gowon traced the history of America’s decades old ploy to destabilise the country. He said, “The same thing happened during the Civil War. The Americas refused to sell arms to us. I wanted them to help me with some modest aircraft so that I could chase out Ojukwu’s (Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu) B52 or B56 as they called it. That was all I wanted; not to shoot it down but to chase it away so that it does not drop bombs and kill innocent people.
“But the Americans refused to help us and they even refused to sell arms and ammunitions and the spare parts of the equipment that we got from them. And at the same time, they (America) were shipping aircraft and loads of arms and ammunition to Zaire. What sort of friends are they? You call them your friends and they say that they are helping us to fight terror. We don’t want their people (Americans) to come and fight the war (against Boko Haram) for us but, at least, we need the equipment. During my time (as Head of State), I had to go to the Russians to get the equipment we wanted in order to prosecute that war. If they cannot help us, they should allow us to go elsewhere and get what we want to ensure that we deal with this particular problem.”
Now Mallam Shehu Garba, Atku’s sidekick who has been seconded to Buhari, thinks he (Buhari) has the answer to the Boko Haram menace, when he cannot settle a matter as small as his West African School Certificate. A statement from the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation by Shehu, quoted Buhari as expressing his condolences, support and prayers to all those affected by the latest insurgent attacks, including Nigerian soldiers.
Buhari; because he is part Fulani, part Hausa, and part Kanuri, thinks his paternal and maternal heritage will help in this Boko Haram franchise put together by extraneous forces spread across the world who are bent on bringing Nigeria to her knees and making her leaders subservient to them; and, will not even let a man of his unpredictable temperament get on the throne.
These forces know Buhari has no secondary school certificate; they know he is a doubtful person who hides under a fallacious integrity mantra, but has fraudulently appropriated from his country, for five decades, salaries, pensions, and other perquisites of office. They may talk to him, or even do business with him, like his Siamese fraudster from Lagos, but they cannot allow them be more street snitches.
But anyway, Shehu continues to boast for him that, “While I commiserate with the latest victims of this despicable orgy of violence of Borno State, I equally implore them to bear in mind that this situation won’t last forever.” He assured that “In spite of the incompetent handling of this insurgency by the Federal Government, solution is in sight with the APC set to dislodge the PDP administration that has ruinously led this great country for nearly 16 years.”
For the records, Buhari, the failed secondary school drop-out, will not dislodge Jonathan. He is merely a pawn for those who need his popularity to mount some saddles, preparatory to the years between 2019 and 2017.
Mr Adakole sent this piece from Kaduna via abbaadakole@gmail.com
