A surge of state-sponsored stupidity recently shot through the illegal military junta in the Niger Republic when it mouthed the outrageous allegation that Nigeria and a handful of other West African countries are marching in lockstep with France to sponsor terrorism in the country to destabilize it.
It is an astonishing allegation coming from a country whose parasitism rather than mutualism has been detrimental to Nigeria over the years.
The allegation can be understood in the Igbo proverb that explains the fate of the chicken, which farts and is then pursued by the ground. In 2023, Niger Republic joined West Africa’s ring of coup republics which already included Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. The coup plotters took over the government and imprisoned Mohammed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of the country.
The coup in Niger which is Nigeria’s closest geographical neighbour and has almost been absorbed into the North of Nigeria was a devastating blow to the incipient presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu who had just become Nigeria’s president and chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). A democrat in his heart of hearts, the president was never going to be silent or passive about the illegal change of government.
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Niger Republic and its renegade military junta is a classic example of the lizard which having just grown teeth is biting its owner hard. When he was president, Muhammadu Buhari ignored critical Nigerian infrastructure to build railways connecting his hometown, Daura, to the Niger Republic.
Nigeria’s porous border with Niger has also complicated the insecurity the country is reeling from. Terrorists have continued to pour over the Nigeria-Niger border into Nigeria to destabilize the country. Yet, they have the cheeks to say that Nigeria is sponsoring terrorism in the country.
The outrageous allegations by the military junta in Niger which by all indications has failed, though not unexpectedly, to improve the lives of Nigeriens, again point to the grave folly of military intervention in government.
Military coups have never saved any country but have often succeeded in watering the ground for long-term destabilization. More than ever, it has become imperative that democracy be restored in Guinea, Burkina Faso, and especially in Niger Republic. There is no other option.
Ike Willie-Nwobu wrote via [email protected]
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