Dividends of the Trump Threat

ENGAGEMT with  Chidi Amuta

e-mail: chidi.amuta@gmail.com

it is Soyinka in his dreadful play, “Madmen and Specialists”, who insisted that “Even poison has its uses… You can use it either to kill or to cure.” In a sense, US President, Donald Trump, has fed Nigerians a big dose of Hemlock. It is now up to us to die or live by his potion. The proud and unvarnished Nigerian collective psyche may be used to abuse and shock from our succession of domestic tyrants.  But direct threat of military invasion and humiliation from a powerful foreign leader is an unfamiliar dose of poison for Nigerians. Yet this unusual threat and castigation by the world’s current Number One apprentice autocrat may have its uses after all.

It has already revealed the state of the Nigerian state and society, revealing clear weaknesses in the structure and cohesiveness of our creaky federation. Between the government and the people, there are clear lines of multiple fissure. Trump, who has scant regard for Nigeria and its current leadership had alleged genocide against Christians in the country. He had proceeded, with  little verifiable evidence and scanty Congressional authorization (31 out of over 500) to pass judgment on Nigeria as a country in which it is suicidal to profess Christianity. He could hardly disguise the pressure from Evangelical conservative lobbyists and their rich Nigerian diaspora and home -based billionaires backers. This is nothing  surprising from the Trump factory of serial falsehoods. After all, he had earlier seen anti -white racist genocide in South Africa for which he excoriated the South African president in a White House show of shame. He has since welcomed any number of white supremacist South Africans into the United States as ‘special refugees’. Let us wait and see how many planeloads of his Nigerian Christian brethren he will welcome as special refugees into the United States in the months ahead.

This is not to dismiss the now familiar practice of targeting churches and Christian communities by terrorists and anarchists in some parts of the country. We need to quickly admit that in some parts of the country, it is hazardous to be a follower of certain faiths, either Christianity or Islam. You risk life and limbs by being so identified. But the danger is from fundamentalist rascals and sectarian criminals than the result of an officially sanction genocidal agenda.

The public response to the Trump threat in Nigeria has been instant and multi -faceted. Nigerians, long immune from any form of external military or other threats since after independence in 1960, have only known internal domestic stress. In a sense, then, the Trump bluster against Nigeria has perhaps been more of a necessary stress test for the Nigerian state and Nigerians. The stress has shown us a mirror image of the state of the nation. For Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu and his near totalitarian party- the APC, the Trump threat has been more like a sting in the backside of a drunken chimp. Several incoherent statements have since emerged ostensibly from Aso Rock. Government has denied any systematic targeting of any sect in the series of industrial scale killings that now form Nigerian’s new normal.  The Minister of Information has flatly denied the genocide claim while admitting that general insecurity has led to many killings in parts of Nigeria. Commendably, Mr. Tinubu has managed to place his squad of attack hounds and unguarded megaphones on a leash. The usual loud mouths have gone into hiding! Yet there is as yet no systematic diplomatic response to Trump.

Nonetheless, defence and security forces seem to have been roused into a rude awakening. The army is conducting more attacks of terrorists havens. The Air Force is conducting more bombing raids on suspected terrorist and jihadist enclaves. Government has also expressed interest in working with the United States to curtail jihadist activities and general insecurity.

But the dividends of the threat are not limited to the government of the day. Among the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians, however, so much has emerged that speaks volumes about the way we now are. A minority of Nigerians especially among the  urban elite who understand a bit of what Nigeria as a nation means,  a certain patriotic note is loud and clear. They admit that we may not be in a perfect state but that Nigeria remains the only nation in the context of which the sovereign citizenship of Nigerians makes sense. To that extent, Trump has no right to threaten us without expecting stiff resistance from Nigerians irrespective of creed, ethnicity or political affiliation.

Predictably, among the Moslem youth, the Trump threat is more of an open invitation to resist America and become martyrs in the process. A minority of youth welcome the prospect of an American military presence even in the form of military bases.

Yet many political voices have risen who see the Nigerian federation as a long standing burden that has blocked the full realization of the full potentials of Nigerians and the communities that make it up. This minority has welcomed the Trump threat as a one way to unbundle the Nigerian leviathan and free the component units from the burden of an unworkable federation. These are people who have chosen to see Trump as something of a messianic figure. Adherents of this view are either separatists or advocates of regionalism. They would want the country to return to the pre-civil regionalism.

To the outright unrepentant separatists, there has been open dancing in the streets. Even among the elite, the threat has been greeted as a short cut to the separation of the component units of a nation that has refused to work for the good of its citizens. Some see the Trump threat as a pathway to the realization of the many waiting ‘republics’ -Biafra, Oduduwa, Arewa, Niger Delta etc.  that separatists have long been angling for.

For the political elite, there is a North-South silent divide. The northern political elite has gone somewhat quiet after the news that the US is contemplating massive financial sanctions on politicians’ assets hidden in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and London. This category of politicians have gone underground and largely silent. For the political opposition, the Trump threat is just another clear statement of disapproval of the policies and credibility of the government of the day. indictment against the government of the day. There is injustice in the land hence the government has turned a blind eye to the killings along the line. Killers and criminals from certain parts of the country go largely unpunished for religious and cultural  reasons. Other political interests insist that Trump has seen the imbalance in Nigeria’s geo political configuration and structure of citizenship benefits.

Perhaps the most obvious adverse dividend of the Trump threat has been to underline the absence of an elite consensus among Nigeria’s national elite. Hardly any voices of unanimity have risen to articulate Nigeria’s collective national interest in the face of an imminent external diplomatic and even military aggression. At best, our national   elite has been split among ethnic, regional, religious and material interest lines. No one, except perhaps some legacy media outlets have articulated the Nigerian national interest against an external adversary. What does Nigeria mean to its citizens? What does Nigeria mean for our children? What does Nigeria mean for Africa’s economic future and identity?  Silence on all fronts including those who live off the Nigerian state!

Yet, the Trump threat offers Nigeria many diplomatic advantages. We need t strengthen our Africa-centredness. We need to become a stronger voice in BRICS. We need to free our economy progressively from its long standing dependence on the Bretton Woods institutions and the clutch of Wall Street banks. Above all, we need to convert our ties with China into a better structured relationship.

In all this, there is an urgent call for Nigeria to become more mature in its diplomatic and political links with the rest of the world. But the necessary precondition to this is internal cohesiveness  based on reinforced secularity and impeccable internal security.

PIX: Trump2

…For Segun Adeniyi, It’s 60 O’Clock

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t that age, people expect the young to cede their seats to you in the bus or train. Seniors enjoy a great deal of privileges conferred by the blackmail of age. The grey old Pa or Ma that walks into a waiting lounge or crowded coach expects their grey hairs or walking stick to automatically convey their entitlement to the seats reserved for “Seniors”. From age 60, people begin to look forward to this entitlement of age. So, when you get to that magic age of 60, you are automatically enrolled into the privileged class of Seniors. But these days, that age no longer comes with the deficits of tired physical looks and other reminders that time has passed. We now have people who look more like ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ claiming to be 60!

Modernity  has literally shifted forward the attainment of Senior status. If I had not written a tribute to Segun ten years ago when he turned 50, I would have argued to no end that he is now 60. The last time I was in Abuja and Segun insisted on picking me and my wife up himself from the airport, I was struck by his boyish appearance and smart outfit. Of course he insists on driving himself In and around Abuja even after having enjoyed a chauffeur-driven existence as late President Yar’Adua’s Information and Media Adviser. Such is his habitual simplicity and lack of the pomposity.

Beyond the admission into the universal class of Seniors, age 60 can be quite significant. Modern medicine and the age of touch screen virtual reality may reassure us differently. But the reality is that you have to begin to take stock at 60. Some mistakes can no longer be corrected. There is not enough time to begin again. Some adventures and risks become increasingly senseless. Some dance steps become more appropriate for your children. The choices we made in our 30s and 40s become trademarks, millstones that we wear around our necks for ever after.

Physiologically, certain components of the original design, especially ‘moving parts’ may no longer work as intended. The 60- year old Nigerian hangs on a balance of historical disadvantage. They are too young to qualify as the ‘independent generation’, They were also too young to have directly experienced the civil war. But they are bearing the burden of these historical misfortunes and exigencies.

In Segun’s case, he has related to me more like a younger brother than just a friend. He has felt my pains, understood my trying moments and frequently gone above and beyond to identify with me. Above all, I have  followed his journalism and public affairs career almost religiously. I have also worked closely with him in other collectives informed by overwhelming national interest.  I have always been struck by his very nationalistic outlook and robust humanism.

In terms of his journalism trajectory, what has not stopped to amaze me is the ease and foresight with which he embraced new journalism. This is a tradition best exemplified by the careers of major American journalists like Bob Woodward and Carl Benstein who have covered and written books on centers of power in Washington especially the While House and the Capitol. In this tradition, the reporter immerses himself in his subject and chronicles the object of his news interest for the benefit of a larger audience. The main thrust of this journalism is the reporter as historian.

In Segun’s case, he has displayed an unusual acute sense of history in identifying major historical moments at which the interests of Nigerians have transcended geo-politics and ethnicity. His books, “Abiola’s Travails” and “Politricks: National Assembly Under Military Rule” come readily to mind.

Invariably, the reporter’s partisanship is never at issue because he has none. Of course the reporter as a citizen is entitled to a certain partisanship in the real world of the politics of his nation but his sense of history is never tainted by that partisanship. But the professional code of journalism insists on a certain objectivity of presentation, there is a larger citizen obligation that dictates that journalists also imply their larger and higher partisanship. True to this tradition, Segun chronicled the last days of the Abacha years – “The Last 100 Days of Abacha”. In the process, he indicates both why both the Abacha reign of terror and its tragic consequences were inevitable. He does so by capturing, from a reporters eye, the great moments of that brief period in our national history. There is an underlying insistence in this narrative that Nigeria deserved a higher level of leadership than Mr. Abacha provided.

When he opted to serve as spokesperson for the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, not a few of his readers and admirers expressed concern. To the more incisive ones, his decision to serve in government almost invariably meant that he would be lost to journalism. Looking back now at his stewardship, it would seem that Segun saw his role as that of a providing a more credible link between the citadel of power and his primary constituency: the media.

Self- effacing and almost shy and occasionally reclusive, Segun never allowed his elevation to a strategic government role to rob him of his modesty and courtesy. Nor did he experience a crisis of mission; he knew where he was coming from and was sure of where he would return.

As with all public officers, he may not have pleased all his friends and colleagues because he had a job to do.

After months of shielding the equally shy Yar’Adua from direct media exposure, Segun realized his moment when he finally allowed the ailing president to grant a very memorable and exhaustive interview to The Guardian. Mr. Yar’Adua was finally able to take off the veil and reveal his firm grasp of core national issues and what he intended to do about them. Nigerians were perhaps able to perceive for the first time, the intellectual depth of the man who previously said little as he struggled to navigate the limitations of terminal ill health and altruistic national commitment.

Secondly, in a tradition where Presidential spokespersons had previously been condemned to silence after office on account of an unstated code of official secrecy, Segun broke the myth and walked away largely with his personal integrity in tact.  The controversy around the Yar’Adua book was never about Segun’s personal honesty of intention but rather desperate attempts by the power players he fingered to becloud their own complicity in the uncanny outcomes that the book bears witness to. To crown it all, after Aso Rock, Segun spent a brief refresher stint at Harvard and walked straight back into the THISDAY newsroom from where he went to Aso Rock, thus renewing his covenant with both journalism and his readers.

Since after his brief encounter with power under Yar’Adua, Segun has written books that have kept abreast of major currents in national life. He has written about the political Tsunami that toppled President Jonathan and enthroned Buhari as President : “ Against the Run of Play”. He has also written a very incisive book on sexual harassment in Nigerian Universities: “ Naked Abuse: Sex for Grades in Nigerian Universities. As his encounter with the Nigerian reality continues and expands, the public still expects more intellectual harvest from the fertile mind of this unique man of letters.

Pix: Olusegun Adeniyi.jpg