It is however very pertinent to help the average Nigerian citizen with a toolkit to decode the wikileaks messages – to be able to tell what stories to take serious and what not to, and to be able to rationalize why a lot of ‘beer parlour’ discussions were present in the leaks, which were memos written by American ambassadors in Nigeria and copied to very important government officials in their country.
Firstly, all the leaked reports are verbatim and original. Any outlandish and childish comment, any that sounds like beer parlour discussion, are in those reports at that time, for specific strategic reasons. The US knows that many of the claims are outlandish eg Obasanjo and Yaradua collecting $60million a day from NNPC and Bankole and David Mark collecting another $30million! They may be corrupt quite alright, but a very potent tool that has been used to infect and confuse the minds of Africans, is the exaggeration of their leaders’ corruption. They used it against Mobutu – their own man – when he started to fret about all he has done for them and how his country was the worse for it. They have recently used it against Mubarak – by saying he has 70billion USD stashed somewhere. The way it works is that they make the anger burn inside us Africans, and since most of our information network is crude and informal, rumour becomes reality. This tool is used against their foes, or when their friends are developing cold feet. So even when the USA knows that a president is ‘not that corrupt’, they will keep compiling ‘beer parlour’ discussions about how corrupt he is and will use that against him when the need arises. They own the mass media…
I recommend to those who can, to go back and read ART OF WAR by SUN TZU. In it is catalogued the different strategies that a country can use to catch and eternally subjugate another. The use of different levels of spying are well documented in that book, and I hear it is studied by every US politician, military personnel and diplomat. The best spies according to Sun Tzu, are spies from the country you want to capture. Several strata: There are spies who don’t know they are spies, then those who are spying for free, and those who are paid to spy on their own country. Really, there are many Nigerians spying on Nigeria and undermining Nigeria’s progress, and Ann Pickard of Shell made direct reference to the fact that ‘Nigerian government seems to have forgotten that we have our people at all relevant ministries’, when she was fighting the ‘NOW DEAD?’ Petroleum Industry Bill. She even said she was sent the ENTIRE MANUSCRIPT of a meeting with Odein Ajumogobia (Minister of Petrol), by one of the Russians who came for the meeting on the side of Gazprom of Russia!
Most Nigerians who are ‘spies’ merely think they are being nice and modern and that they have ‘oyibo’ friends… They are invited to many of those evening parties where unknown to them, ALL the cocktail party discussions are being recorded, to be played back and relayed verbatim to those who know what to do with information. There is a verse in the Art of War which says ‘attract the best from your enemy country, with good deeds, and then use them against their country’. Many of these ‘spies’ are only in it for a US Visa of 2 years (even president Jonathan did acknowledge that he had only a two years visa to the US and was angry that it couldn’t be longer, in his latest chat!) If our president could complain about his short visa to the United States, we can imagine what poorer, less fortunate people will do to mortgage their country’s well being just for that visa.
Where patriotic and progressive Nigerians should focus the most are the discussions between US personnel or US personnel and senior officers of US companies. For such conversations, we must analyse all the commas and fullstops, all the nuances, all the coughs! That is where we may get their real opinions on where things may go. As diplomats and espionage people, they are trained to be subtle. Every word they say must therefore be amplified! Any leak where they talk to each other must be taken dead serious! It is interesting to note though, that the most ruthless and most efficient of the personnel sent to damage Africa, have been black Americans – some of whom are holding grudges against the rest of us, whom they blame for their ancestors being sold as slaves!
It is also pertinent to note that there is inordinate attention on Nigeria in all the leaks. Nigeria is easily the most monitored country in the southern hemisphere! For what purpose? To what end? They have us thoroughly confused and on the edge of destruction just for this reason… If they loved Nigeria as they claim, all the attention, all the teleguiding, all the interventions, would have borne positive results. But look at Nigeria today, bombs everywhere, as we draw closer to the US-predicted disintegration in 2015!
Finally, we should note that most of Nigeria’ senior civil servants and appointees or politicians, feel obliged to be warm to US diplomats, because it is just the normal thing to do. Many also feel intimidated and just turn to canaries upon little priming. We cannot blame them that much but the question are whether after all these revelations, will they continue to divulge the information(s)? Will they attend all those supposedly informal parties and cocktails less often? When they do will they keep their mouths shut at least so as not to be misconstrued? It is evident that recording devices were used because people were quoted verbatim. Even facial and body expressions were recorded (eg ‘he smugly said’, he was vehement’, ‘he sniggered’ etc). On one occasion, the US ambassador claimed that they ‘eavesdropped’ on a discussion between three of Nigeria’s Supreme Court Judges. Now that is unprofessional, despicable, debasing, and outright criminal! But then they are the Almighty USA – the strongest country in the world! If Nigeria was a normal country, this should serve as a turning point in our diplomacy and strategy. But with a government that jumps the gun and recognises rebels at the behest of the same US people who are making mockery of them, rather than use this as a lever, it may well turn out to sink us into another low… But let the few patriots take good notice. Perhaps someday, Nigeria will be redeemed! Back to Ghana next week…
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