By Dayo Sobowale
The news of the arrest of Nigerians protesting against the fuel and electricity prices by the Police is something that should bother Nigerians as it is an anti democratic act that smothers the right of protest and dissent in a democracy such as Nigeria proudly claims to be. This is the kernel of our discussion today. People have the right to protest in a democracy and as long as they are not violent they must be protected even as they protest by the Police. That the protesters are quarrelling with the fuel price and power price hike is to be expected. Especially in this grueling pandemic and at a time when the National Grid is virtually always down while power failure is the norm rather than the exception mostly all over the nation. We shall face the reasons for the hike later but it needs to be put in proper perspective and recognized that the right to protest over issues that concern the welfare of Nigerians is an inalienable right which even the Police should respect as a legitimate right under the rule of Law.
Today however we look at the nomination of US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Prize by a Norwegian law maker who thinks he deserves it for brokering peace between the UAE and Israel recently. Is the mercurial US president worthy of such recognition ? We shall answer the question decisively. We shall also look at the North Central Politics in Nigeria as a group broke away from the sole representative, socio- political organization and weighty voice of the North , the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF to form a splinter group on grounds of insecurity pervading the North Central as well as marginalization. In the same vein we also appraise the killing of a repentant war lord called Gana by soldiers in the Middle Belt where an amnesty was recently forged and the slain war lord had publicly announced he was laying down arms and embracing the amnesty . Coincidentally all these issues revolve around security and peace which are essential for political stability and that recognition needs to be appreciated as we proceed on our analysis of these events.
First we look at the nomination of the US President Donald Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian MP which is the requirement for the Nobel Prize in Norway. The Norwegian Gdejje had nominated Trump for the 2018 Nobel Prize for brokering Peace between North and South Korea but the nomination failed . This time Gdejje is nomination Trump for brokering peace between Israel and UAE recently. I know the Democrats in US domestic politics would be mad as hell on Trump’s nomination but then that is there funeral. This is because in spite of the latest political grave they have dug for Trump to be buried alive by insisting he called military men captured or wounded in wars ‘losers ‘ Trump has performed very well in diplomacy and foreign affairs. He has done the unthinkable in this regard and he must be given recognition for blazing a trail in American foreign policy more than any American president in recent times. Aside from calling China to order on forging copyrights and getting away with it, his tariffs are defining World a Trade as we know it today He has created détente with North Korea and brought that nation in from the cold and isolation of nuclear politics. Now for the first time in recent times he has made another Middle East nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Hitherto only Egypt -1979 and Jordan- 1994 signed such a treaty and in Egypt, Anwar Sadat was assassinated for his bold effort. it is widely reported that more nations would sign the peace treaty with Israel , a fact which will not go down well with Palestinians who are out in the Cold for insisting that Israel should give up the land it captured in the Six Days War of 1967. To me ,Trump has done more in international relations than Barak Obama who was given the Nobel Prize for Peace for his Cairo speech on the Middle East but left that part of the world in the throes of the Arab Spring of 2011 which brought a false sense of democracy. Especially in Egypt where Morsi was elected democratically but later decimated by the Egyptian military which then ensured the election of its leader as civilian president of Egypt subsequently.
We now go to the North Central where the North Central Peoples Forum seceded as it were from ACF and cited as its rationale the fact that in spite of the abundant mineral and human resources of the North Central the area is’ bedeviled by vices like banditry and other forms of criminality. The leader of the new group is former Minister of State for Health Gabriel Aduku. The group expressed confidence that the people of Benue, Kogi , Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory would unite to ensure peace and stability in their area. The fact that NCPF has emerged shows that regional suspicion of Federal might to guarantee regional security, peace and stability is growing nation wide. This was the motive for the emergence of Amotekun in the South West. What this means is that the center is falling to pieces in guaranteeing peace in the regions and a security panacea of ‘every body for himself, God for us all‘ is slowly but surely emerging.
It is a situation based on pragmatism as life has no duplicate especially in the face of avoidable but constant violence that seems to persistently override government veto in the NE, and NW. That surely is the rationale for this North Central Initiative to make regional concern on security and protection of life and property its main goals and objectives. It is a way of saying that one does not put fire on the roof and go to sleep. I see it as step in the right direction for the safety of the area.
We now take a look at the death of the warlord Gana who had just embraced peace and amnesty but was nevertheless gunned down by soldiers. To me this is a clear sign of a failed peace. Obviously the soldiers who killed Gana knew who they were killing, amnesty or not. The peace of amnesty has always seem a dubious and unsteady peace to me. At best it is a peace of the grave yard with the ever present threat of death and retaliation. It failed in Katsina where the Governor was confounded with the resumption of hostilities after the amnesty was seen as a settled matter. Peace should come in any conflict once a victor has emerged who has subdued the defeated by superior violence and force of arms. Granting amnesty without victory is allowing a Trojan horse in any such territory. This is because there is no such thing as repentant terrorists. Terrorists are terrorists ad infinitum until they are captured and punished or decimated altogether. That is the language of war and only victors can impose peace and stability. Not amnesty.
Once again – From the raging fury of this pandemic, Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.
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