By Jimoh Ibrahim
The order of the first protocol of my memo to you comes from the ante etymology of the Latin ante bellum (before the war), for I hope that normalcy will prevail and there will be no third world war. Our actions preventing such will save us from the other protocol of observing the IHL rules of jus in Bello. Since we want total prevention of suffering, it is morally reprehensible for me for anyone to think of any war in the circumstances of jus ad bellum.
Yes, and specific to the United Nations, the law requires punishing any threat to international peace and security. There is nothing to wait for if the domestic threats graduate, as the UN will be expected to lift Articles 2(4) and (7). Please reverse my earlier memo on interventions for international peace and security as we saw in the case of Iraq (1991), intervention for national security in Bosnia Herzegovina (1995) or intervention for human security in Afghanistan (2001), or intervention after R2P (responsibility to protect) the case of Kosovo (1995) and Darfur (2008) the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). Contemporary international relations prevent the collaborative activities of terrorists and the genocide of crime against humanity.
The May 29, 2023 inauguration of President-elect Bola Tinubu will be an incredible advancement of democracy in a developing country. It is inevitable as a destiny with a collaborative geo-centric world to order international peace and security. Even in the face of the realist (power currency), it is not negotiable. The total peace of humanity is the reason for our sacrifices in the last three years of our convergence.
It is left for me to sound a warning for the historical trajectory that the First World War was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary (just one individual). Again, these are the consequences of alliances, imperialism, militarism, and nationalism. It is also not the case that we forgot the event of the Blank Check Assurance: Conspired Plans of Germany and Austria-Hungary and the Germany Millenarianism – Spirit of 1914.
In any event, we will remember Athens and Sparta of the Peloponnesian War, the precarious Peace of Nicias, or the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC. But, Nigeria cannot afford another civil war.
*Jimoh Ibrahim, Ph.D. sent this memo to a classmate
