By Dayo Sobowale

The opposition PDP in Nigeria is predictably happy about a US State Department report that corruption and insecurity is rampant in the Buhari Administration despite the war on corruption and the reputation for integrity of the Nigerian president that made the APC to win the last two presidential elections in Nigeria. That  really  is the duty of the opposition and I commend the PDP for its diligence in fulfilling its mandate  and in doing  that showing the world, that   after all  said and done,  Nigeria’s democracy is moving in the  right   direction in terms of the dictum of  democracy  that  says   while the majority may  have its   way,  as the APC  has  done, the minority must  have its say. Essentially  that is the only good thing about  the extravagant interest  of the   Americans  in our affairs because as   at now, the Democrats  in power in the US have  not been able to extend  the same courtesies on free speech and the right of dissent to the Republicans  as the APC    has   done to  the  PDP so  magnanimously   since President Joe Biden  came to power in the  US.

Indeed the state of lawlessness  and insecurity both in the US borders and the killings in US  cities rival  what  obtains  in Nigeria in terms of banditry, kidnapping and Fulani herdsmen killings  such  that  one can call the   US condemnation of Nigeria on insecurity and corruption a clear case of the pot calling the kettle  black. And I say clearly  to the ubiquitous,   meddlesome  and nosy  Americans,  as  well  as their  Nigerian  colleagues   in both the APC and  the  PDP that those  who live in glass houses should  not throw stones. This is the essence of our discussion today with illustrations from the EU, the US and of course Nigeria.

In  the EU there  is a cat and mouse game going on between a member -nation Poland, a yet-to-be member- nation, Turkey, and the rest of the EU over the issue of condemning domestic violence in a treaty  called the Istanbul Convention  which Turkey  signed and   later   withdrew from ,  and Poland has  replaced  with a new  proposal  entirely,   to the consternation of the rest of the EU which  is crying foul  loudly  and  very  stringently. In  the US where there is a new  president after the 2020 presidential  election over 40  states are amending   their electoral laws  and rules  purportedly to  ensure election integrity but  both  the Republicans and Democrats see this   differently. Yet,  to an outsider  it  is pertinent   to ask – if the elections were free and fair why  the rush to amend  laws to ensure electoral integrity  so  soon after  the elections during  which  the US courts   dismissed all  cases   and   irregularities brought  up  and   cited by the loser Donald Trump who charged that  the election was rigged?  That   is certainly   a good example   of getting wise after   the events.

With regard  to  the   criticism   of  the  present Nigerian    government   by the US,  it  is not as if one is  condoning  corruption or sanctioning insecurity but I object  to foreign  nations who do not have a  track  record of security  and   integrity  in terms of corruption and election integrity sanctioning other nations. That should stop and   I will show why I so resent such’ holier than thou ‘attitude of the Americans here today.

Let us go back to the culture war in the EU between Turkey Poland and the rest   of the EU on the Domestic Violence treaty also called the Istanbul Convention. That both Turkey and Poland are on the same side on the matter is not an accident. Turkey is an Islamic nation and Poland is staunchly Catholic. Both are deeply religious nations while   the rest of the EU is largely dismissive of the role or importance of the family and religion on this matter of domestic violence.  Poland’s government insists the Istanbul Convention does not respect religion and promotes controversial ideologies about   gender. Indeed the Convention signed in 2011 was to protect women against domestic violence but to Turkey and Poland it is as if the EU and its managers want to bring in the issue of gender recognition by the back door and both nations say No vehemently. In Poland the government has sent a bill to Parliament that says – ‘Yes to Family, No to gender’. In a way Poland and Turkey smelt a rat on the Istanbul Convention   implementation, and opted out because the rest of EU wanted to kill mischievously two birds with one stone. They,   the rest of the EU wanted to smuggle in gender recognition with domestic violence and women rights and these two nations    saw through their tricks and blew the whistle to say enough is enough.

Both nations like Nigeria and unlike the EU recognize that marriage is between a man and a woman and the family is the basis of society. Which is what the EU and US is trying to destroy with the LGBT and gay rights laws recently signed into law   by   President   Joe Biden in the US. The  same goes as well  for   transgender rights which are abhorrent to religious  nations like Poland  and Turkey which value family existence and respect for women  rights as well while also  condemning domestic  violence. The  EU  is trying  to portray  these  two religious  nations as against domestic violence and that is a lie because it is the rest  of the EU that  wants to smuggle in gender into the Istanbul  Convention and muscle the two  nations to  submission on  the gender issue they  are so much against.

Again it is in this light that I see the American criticism of Nigeria as lacking good faith and sincerity. It is on record that the US hates Nigeria because of its anti-gay law and non-recognition of LGBT rights. But that does not mean that Nigeria does not recognize women rights or that it condones domestic violence. No sane society can condone domestic violence and Nigeria is not an exception. But that should not mean that domestic violence is always against women. Some women in Nigeria are immensely more violent than their spouses and some are so verbally violent that they can bring a house down.

So, in a way, Nigeria, Poland and Turkey are on the same wavelength on the issue of family, anti-gay   laws, protection of women rights, and the stopping of domestic violence. The US and the Rest of the EU   are also together on promotion of gay, LGBT and transgender rights. So the stage is set as I predicted on starting this column that the US will muscle Nigeria on these issues. They reportedly did not sell weapons to us to fight Boko Haram even as they too were eliminating ISIS in the Middle East. That is how I see this latest criticism of our political system and leadership.

Yet, we know how deep a mess we are in as a nation and as a people and we know God, not the Americans are in control. Again I take  solace   as a  concerned  Nigerian   in my favourite Shakespeare play Henry V,  when the English King harangued   his  outnumbered  and   beleaguered  troops against  the  French  army with  the immortal and encouraging words -‘ We  are in God’s  Hand , Brother , Not  in Theirs ‘.  That is my message   to the Americans on this matter. Once again From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.