I look  today  at the impact   and prospect  of  climate  change and the accepted global objective of replacing fossil fuel with clean energy  by 2050  and halving it by 2030.  I look back  at the oil  embargo  in the late sixties when Arab  oil producing  nations fought the western  nations and starved them of oil thereby prompting the urgent  search  by the US and  EU nations   for sources of energy,  independent of supplies from hostile  nations and enemies. I want to examine  Nigeria’s mono product oil  economy in that light  and compare  that with the lamentation of the EU this week, that the EU  nations  import  90%  of their gas needs and most  of that  is from Russia, their  well known and avowed enemy. What  I intend  to do is try and separate  the wood from the chaff in making  the case, any  case, for  climate change to see that it is genuinely clear and desirable  and not an  attempt at strategic survival of the advanced  nations of the world, mischievously based and pursued on the altar of science and global  warming.

At first, let us look at the national interests of oil producing nations like Nigeria where oil is the main source of income and   nations like the US and Russia which   both have oil and huge reserves.  But the US for now is ready  to kill its oil  industry   in  favour of  clean  energy  and Russia which  has its European  enemies  by the balls  because  it  has oil and could freeze the EU  nations like the Arab embargo  did  earlier. This is because the EU nations   have failed woefully to realize that in terms of getting regular gas supplies from Russia they have not planned for the meaning of the old saying that those who live in glass houses just do not throw stones.

Let us go back to Nigeria, the cost, and impact of climate change now and in the future. The clean energy drive is bad news for Nigeria. This is because oil is our main source of income and once that is eclipsed by 2050 Nigeria is done for. But this is not case of Arithmetic alone or oil sales and revenue. Recently  the US which is strangulating its oil industry  asked OPEC  to increase  oil  supply  because  of high energy  prices especially of gasoline soaring in the US. So  in a case of unintended  consequences the US oil  shortages may  inadvertently  raise  the price  of oil   and thus increase  Nigeria’s  oil  revenue.  The truth is that Nigeria and Nigerians must survive between now,   2030 and 2050 and Nigeria cannot afford to kill its oil industry like the US in the pursuit of clean energy. At least under the Buhari regime we have a leader who understands the oil industry having been oil minister in both the military and democratic political development of Nigeria. What  is important is that Nigeria  should   diversify  and  develop its solid  minerals  base and make  a huge effort in getting food security with  whatever it can raise between  now and  the time that fossil  fuels  will  be a thing of the past in terms  of energy . Nigeria is not alone in terms of such prospects. Nations like China , India and even some EU nations  are not ready to close their coal  mines as we  did along time ago,  not because of global warming  but    because we discovered oil,  which  has now become  a curse  because we squandered  its  huge  proceeds and our people now live in penury and fear for their  lives and property on a daily  basis.  For  now we must  take urgent steps to lift our people out of poverty for the simple reason  that  life has no duplicate and Nigerians  must  exist and survive  now, in the present, regardless  of  how the climate  gets warm   in the  future  or thereafter.

Let   us   now look at the strategies or attitudes of the EU nations to the goals of achieving clean energy by 2050. It  is apparent they  have not put their house in order or they will  not be relying on their enemy  to give them gas  to warm themselves in their homes especially during winter.  They have always accused Russia of having no regard for human and gay rights. They are always using the threat of economic   sanctions to bully   a nation like Russia that have a controlled but stable democracy. Now they look up to Russia for gas for their vehicles and their homes and if these are not forthcoming there would be political and economic tension and hardships. Recently Russian President Vladmir Putin in reaction to accusation that Russia was hording gas simply said EU nations that needed gas have to ask for it first. That is a clear sign of things to come in terms of Russian gas supplies to Europe.  It  may seem unthinkable  now ,  but it may  not be long  before Russia  muscles the EU nations by stopping  gas supplies to those nations that criticize its human  rights and antigay rights  policies . Like climate change and the prospects of global warming, that too will be a sign of what reality is at present but also a potent sign of things to come.

We round up with the US and the U turn on climate change from the Trump presidency to the Biden Administration. It is an amazing change indeed. One of the first state visit in the Trump era was to Saudi Arabia to sign huge oil contracts with the Saudis for US oil companies.  Now  under Biden oil contracts are  being cancelled in preparation for  clean  energy and American oil  companies face  the dire prospects of folding up while   domestic  gasoline prices are rising  and  there is huge   shortage  of oil  products. Surely Biden believes in looking   after the future notwithstanding the sufferings of those who elected him as president. Biden is presiding over the liquidation of the oil industry at home while his NATO military allies   are dependent on gas from Russia with which the US is competing with China to be the most powerful nation in the world.  Sooner than later, if only on climate change and the US  led scramble  for  clean  energy as quickly as possible,  regardless of the opportunity costs at  present  to a suffering world, the  US will  soon discover it has shot  itself in the leg  in  its quest  to lead the world  and its adversaries  have taken  over the leadership of the world even  before the 2050 clean energy  dateline it is pursuing. Once again From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.

It  is almost  a taboo to mention the word’ coup’ amongst Nigerian politicians, who insist  that the worst  civilian  government is better than any military  government,  like the ones  that sprang up  defiantly in Mali  and Guinea recently  and the past ones  that have left  their indelible  marks on the Nigerian political  terrain and culture. But  when  a visiting head of state in the presence of the Nigerian president  insists  that those who planned a coup against him  in his  nation,  on July 15, my  birthday , in 2016 are  still residing in Nigeria,  then one  can feel  safe in discussing the issue of coup without the fear of being  accused of inviting an insurrection  or  being  branded a security  risk  by the security  forces of our nation. Incidentally  a treasonable felony trial  started  this week in Nigeria   on  an ongoing insurrection   in the East and the  accused  pleaded  not guilty and the case has  been postponed till November while  the  accused is to remain in the custody of the DSS.

However,  our focus  today  is the allegation of the Turkish  president that his opponents,  those  he called terrorists  are in  Nigeria and that  he would  trade intelligence  with the Nigerian government so  that both nations  can  cooperate in effectively  in tackling terrorism  in the two  nations together. It is obvious  that he has seen that  the Nigerian leader would not play ball  with  his order after  the 2016  coup in Turkey,   that  Nigeria  should  close Turkish  schools  in Nigeria affiliated  or owned by Fethullah  Gulen, a former  ally  of the Turkish  president before they  parted company , who has  a global network of influential  schools and charities. Nigeria ignored Erdogan’s order to close the schools and there is no doubt that this is still uppermost in the Turkish leader’s mind. Nevertheless Nigeria signed agreements on 8  economic fronts with Turkey  which  the Nigerian leader promised to implement and the Turkish  president was treated to a lavish  reception at the Turkey  Cultural  center in Abuja.  The  Nigerian president applauded his  Turkish  counterpart as an example to the world  on how to treat refugees with kindness and respect given the fact that Turkey  is home,  in recent times,  to  thousands  of  refugees fleeing wars in Syria, Iraq  and the entire Middle  East and is the  only  nation that is preventing Europe  from being  flooded and submerged by an avalanche  of desperate  refugees.

How the Turkish leader is handling the refugee crisis and his relations on this come under our scrutiny today. We  also  compare and contrast  Nigeria’s political  history  and culture with that  of Turkey and  see  what  we  can  learn  for better  leadership, diplomacy  and governance   for  the  benefit   of  both  nations and indeed the world at large .

We  start  by saying that Turkey’s  president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is  a strong democrat  who  has  been able to rescue  his nation from the terror or dominance  of military  intervention . He started as a politician operating in secular Turkey founded by Kemal Atartuk in 1923   and in which the military was the guarantor Turkey’s democracy with the proviso that banned Islamic fundamentalism by Turkey’s politicians and leaders. Turkey’s history is replete with military coups against civilian governments that put religion above politics. Turkey was therefore a secular state like Nigeria even though Islam was the religion of the Turks and they dominated the Ottoman Empire that collapsed after the second world war. Erdogan  has won three back to back  democratic  elections and the military tried  to  put him out in the coup  of July  15,  2016  unsuccessfully, mainly  because Erdogan personally and bravely rallied protesters to flood the streets  of the capital to prevent the army from taking over. Since then he has tried thousands of military officers and jailed them for treasonable felony, while he has amended the constitution to make himself an executive president.

On  diplomacy,  Erdogan  is largely at logger heads with the EU on the issue of Turkish  membership,  an application that  has not  been approved by the EU  for decades  as  well  as the refugees  crisis which  Erdogan  uses regularly  to threaten and blackmail  the EU nations even though Turkey  has been  paid handsomely  by EU to  look after  the  refugees. Also,   Erdogan  has  always  shown  that he could cooperate and buy arms  from Russia , the EU’s  main enemy  ,  even  though  Turkey is a member of NATO, a military  alliance and that simply  makes Turkey  a potent and real security risk to NATO in any war  with Russia.

In a way, Nigeria’s political and democratic evolution is similar to that of Turkey since Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966. Military  intervention is unthinkable in Nigeria  now  as the failed July 15 2016  coup  made  sure in Turkey. But there  is  a point  of departure in that  while Erdogan  put the  military  out of work in Turkey’s  political  dispensation, perhaps forever,   the military in Nigeria simply dropped   their   braided military    hats and boots   and metamorphosed  to professional   politicians and  won elections as governors, and presidents in our subsequent post coup  political  dispensations. Our president   who hosted Erdogan was a military head of state and had contested three presidential elections and lost, before winning two terms as president. He   has a senior military colleague with the same political experience and achievement. The  military  in democratic evolution in Nigeria behaved like the tiny  plant that  bent in the direction of a strong political  wind   of   change  and  survived,  unlike  the oak  that stood against  it, and was uprooted .

Aside  from the treasonable trial  going on now in Nigeria and  the one in Turkey,  Nigeria too had a famous  treasonable  trial  before  the civil  war after the military  intervention of 1966 . That was the trial  of Nigeria’s  Leader  of  Opposition in the Nigerian Parliament then,  the irrepressible  and charismatic  late   Chief Obafemi Awolowo  , popularly known as Awo.  He was jailed for treasonable felony but was released by the military government of General   Yakubu Gowon and became the Minister of Finance in the military   junta. Awo  played a crucial  role in the prosecution of the civil  war  that the Federal government won and brought Biafra , which  is now trying   dangerously   to rear its  ugly   head, back  into the fold of the Nigerian federation. It  is nice and beneficial  to  Nigeria that Turkey  and Nigeria  are poised to share intelligence on terrorism as  there is urgent need in Nigeria to curb the excesses of kidnappers, armed herdsmen, marauders, and especially  Boko  Haram,  as  Erdogan  has a good track  record  in Turkey  that has shown that those who attack  the Turkish state cannot sleep  well either in Turkey  or in Nigeria as he claimed,  and  has  indeed  come here  to  finish  them off,  albeit   unsuccessfully. Nigeria can  surely  borrow  a leaf  from the Turkish  book on  security  that  clearly shows   that  there  can only  be one sovereign state within a democratic  state  and it is the duty of that   state to protect its people,  their   lives and    property  –  just  as it protects its power in that same democracy. From the fury of this   pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.

It  has taken a former Facebook   worker,  doubling as a recognized whistle blower to tell  the world in the  US, the  global  leading  technology   nation, that it has been caught pants  down  on the regulation of   Information Technology and the Internet,   and  the sooner it makes laws to regulate big  technology  companies  like Facebook , Google and Instagram,  the better for  the sanity and moral  values of the world  we live in today. That  lady is Frances Haugen, a 37 year  old American lady called a whistle  blower but  for whom  I  doff  my hat   today   for  her bravery and integrity,  which are in tune with her specialty  called civic  integrity,  and  for which I expect  her to be nominated  for the Nobel Prize  sooner than  later.   This   is for saving the world from its folly while going about blind folded and lapping up the goodies of technologies that   it   cannot   discovered     that   it    cannot live without.  Frances  Haugen’s  – FH  for  short  –  story   was very  simple and is a clear  case  of compunction in  the public interest  for which she has acknowledged  that her life is in danger for the information she released  to the world on research conducted in Facebook  while she was working there,  which showed  the adverse effect  of misinformation on society at large but  which her employers did not implement,  because Facebook  management and leadership believed more in profit  than  people or the public interest at  large . You  may  call me a male chauvinist, but  I am  definitely  not  a misogynist , but the revelations of this woman, FH, is  an excellent  example  of  the notion occasionally  floated around, that what a  man  can  do, a woman  can do better. You  can imagine how US  legislators in  both  Houses,  especially  the old men of the senate  she faced, would  be feeling now because they are highly paid to make laws that protect society and this woman has shown that they have been sleeping on duty and have shirked their  moral  responsibilities in protecting society laws  to regulate  technology companies.

Read Also: UN, agencies advise countries to fight misinformation

The information disseminated and presented to the US senate is not an American issue alone, but a global one since technology has made the world a global village. Indeed I read somewhere that big tech companies cannot be regulated because they are so big, important and popular.  Which   really is an understatement  but should  be a wakeup call, and   an  urgent one  too   for clipping the wings and monopolies  of these  hydra  headed  technology  monsters  for now. Facebook internal research had    showen that some information were divisive,   promote and provoke anger and that when people are angry they spend more time on the internet and that makes more money for the company and such information were deliberately promoted instead of being put down by Facebook. FH narrated that civic integrity was maintained and implemented during the 2020 US presidential election   but dissolved after the election. That, she said,   led to the Jan 6   2021 insurrection that was instigated by Donald Trump because the insurrectionists organized and got connected through Facebook. That has serious political and legal implications that FH may not be aware of regardless of her political leanings or even if she is apolitical. This  is because from this information alone,  one can deduce correctly that since Big Tech companies and Big Media teamed up  with   the  opposition   then   to offload Trump  from the White House,  they  didn’t  need any civic  integrity thereafter because they  had achieved  their objective. The  uprising arising   therefore   from the absence of civic responsibility and integrity as FH claimed innocuously, was an unintended consequence and that showed FH is not politically  savvy,  because   again, that has serious  political  implications for  the division and polarization    now   permeating   the US society and political system ,   arising  from the results  of the US 2020 presidential  elections  which  the Jan 6  insurrection attempted  to preempt  and overturn , albeit  unsuccessfully . Another reason for my fascination with this story   is the background of FH, the brave whistleblower. It has changed my pejorative perception of whistleblowing as a betrayal   which is the general notion. FH  was described as an expert on civic integrity with a background in consumer protection , product  safety and  data integrity,  which  to me is a fusion of a career in  marketing and  technology and  she  has  topped that now with a public  conscience that has revealed  the evil  genius of  her  former  employers. She even pleaded for the legislators to make laws to regulate technology because it is the duty of government and governance. She cited the   history of the dangers of tobacco and the powers of tobacco companies before regulation on the health hazards of smoking as well as the introduction of safety belts in driving as the work and duty of governments. If  these  could be done in the past she  pleaded, it could  be done with these technology giants whose  powers,   wealth   and  immoral  sources  of revenue,  are  now  a clear  danger to global  democracy  and peace.

Ironically, the Nigerian government sensed what FH is revealing now and banned Twitter sometime ago and there was a lot of fury attacking the perceived lack of government   respect for free speech. I wrote against that then on the logic that free speech  should  not be at the expense of security and decent language  which  is lacking  on the Nigerian social  media   scene where profanity and foul  language are the vogue,  instead  of constructive criticism  based on crosschecked facts before publication or comment. Now that it has been shown that big tech promote anger to make profit Nigerians should be wary before they make attacks on people they disagree with. Governments too should not criminalise or weaponise disagreements with views of dissent, especially from the opposition .The    reported   threat to declare state of emergency in the East because of agitation for a better deal, which is prevalent in the other parts of the nation   except the North, is a clear sign of weaponisation and criminalization of disagreements and is undemocratic. Again anger was   rife in the East and led to the civil war and lessons should be learnt on that as well as the clamour for Oduduwa   nation in the South west. Who  knows how much  disinformation or misinformation that  people  have been  fed with especially  now that we know big  tech  companies  use anger  to maximize profit .

Even in the US   where FH made her revelations I  have  my fears that  there will be a bipartisan will  to make laws to regulate the big tech companies because there is no doubt that they had a hand in the election of the Biden Administration. There is clear  objective  and    danger  now in criminalizing dissent by  using the US  Justice Department  to ask the department – DOJ –  TO   direct  the FBI  to  go after parents who  object to  Critical Race Theory  being  taught in schools or those who  ask  that children   should not wear  masks in schools. Such parents reportedly have been branded as domestic terrorists on the same scale as ISIS or Al Quada to be investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by DOJ.  That clearly is undemocratic and is a far lesser evil than the revelations of the whistleblower on the manipulative role of big tech in not only promoting and marketing anger for profit but in also setting up governments on anger proceeds. As it did in undoing Trump  and setting up  his  successor,  who must  now  clean up the acts of  big tech  companies, if  he   has the nerve to do good,  like the God sent whistle blower and conscience of  the global   society-  FH. From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.

By Dayo Sobowale 

The politics of unity is all about integrating obviously strange bedfellows. That is the rationale for Nigeria’s motto that proclaims ‘unity in diversity ‘. How diverse nationalities and cultures fuse into an harmonious national identity or entity is the aim or goal of cultural integration. It is at once achievable, elusive at times and when very difficult   to   achieve can lead to conflicts and violent discord.  That is the theme of our discussion today as we look at Nigeria and its structural problems as well as the EU as a bigger integration fish; and the recent problems of both amalgam or pot pourri of diverse cultures and nationalities.

Nigeria’s Southern governors recently called for a power shift from the North to the south in the 2023 presidential elections while their Northern colleagues called their call unconstitutional. The  submarine deal quietly  forged between  the US, UK and  Australia after Australia cancelled another weapons deal with France  led to France crying foul and proceeding to carry  out another deal with Greece  while shouting that Europe should  not be naïve in relying on the US for its security and protection. In the same vein  Turkey  a member of the EU’S defence  alliance NATO is proceeding  to sign another weapons deal  with the well-known ideological  and military  foe  of the EU, Russia  and  Turkey  is still  expecting to be confirmed  as a full  member  of the EU.

Security is key to successful integration and unity as component states in any union, federation or confederation believe that their strength lies in their numbers and solidarity. When that security is not assured then coalitions of dissent spring up and that can threaten the unity and security of the larger whole. That  security uncertainty  or  guarantee,  while  the responsibility of integrated  states  or union is  also the barometer  to measure  national   or regional loyalty and sovereignty especially  in times of crisis. We now look at integration challenges in the states and unions mentioned before, starting with Nigeria.

That  Nigeria’s Northern governors  can say  no to power shift is to be expected  because most Northerners believe  in the ‘born to rule syndrome  which drives  the Northern quest  to monopolise power  in the Nigerian state. Yet the North has not been able to live up to its responsibility of securing the lives and properties of Northerners not to talk of Nigerians at large in the Nigerian nation. In the entire North from the North East to the Northwest and recently in Kaduna state there are painful reports of Northerners being killed in large numbers. Yet  the Northerners  have  been in  power  for the last eight  years and still  want  to continue  in power  in a nation of 36 states. The  perquisites and rewards of power  have  been  lopsidedly in favour of the North since independence in 1960  and more  so  during  military rule and yet the North  has  not lost its  appetite and greed  for  power in a nation that  loudly proclaims  unity  in diversity. Obviously  the north does  not  see security  as important in its quest  for power  but  sees power as something it must  have to lord it over the  rest of Nigeria. All  the calls for restructuring  are to correct  the northern monopoly of power as the rest of the nation wants a greater share  of the national  cake or at least a chance  to guarantee their safety or security  of life and property. Such expectations from the south for now are like barking at the moon. But 2003 is still  far off and  one hopes there  is a  change  of  mind in the northern  perspective  of monopoly  of power.

The AUKUS submarine deal is to sell technology to Australia which is a neighbor of China in the pacific region. China is already worried with the deal but there nothing it can do for now. For the UK the deal  shows what Brexit sovereignty  can do  for British  business, diplomacy and security .France can  shout foul but it knows the British  and Americans are closer as the US  was a colony of Britain even  though France  helped the US in its war of rebellion and independence from the UK. But in diplomacy there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests. All  the same the French deal  with  Greece will  serve to deter Turkey  which is Islamic and is always  threatening  Greece  especially  with the migrants  crisis and French President Macron’s crackdown on Islamic   terrorism  inside France for which the Turkish  president has  called his French counterpart  a mad man. The  French  president spoke wisely  when  he called on the EU  to   take  its security  in its own  hands rather  than relying on the NATO  Alliance dominated  by the US  which with its America first policy  under  Trump treated  the EU with disdain, made worse  by  his  successor’s confused and  unilateral  withdrawal  from Afghanistan.

With Turkey’s weapons deal   with Russia, the EU should know it has an enemy in the   house and do something about its security apparatus. The  Turkish  president  is telling the EU that  it can release  thousands of illegal  migrants  into the EU  even  though  the EU  has given a large  amount to Turkey  to look after the migrants in Turkey. Rightly the EU warned Turkey that Greece is its border with Turkey and the Turkey Greek deal should serve as a warning in that regard.

On another scale  Turkey  poses  a threat  to Europe  in terms  of religion as the EU is  largely  Christian  and no less a person  than  a recent  Pope  noted that the EU  cannot  harbor a Muslim nation like Turkey  in the heart of Europe . In   addition the EU nations  have found  it difficult  to integrate Muslims  into European culture  as the beheadings   in France  have   shown as well  as  the   new   danger  for European women  to come out at night as free folks as they fear  attacks   from migrants especially Muslim  men  prone  to attack them. Muslim migrants, men, have attacked women in nudist clubs in some parts of Europe forgetting that their culture is different   from the culture of their hosts in the EU. Yet EU nations’ liberalism  which  has scant regard for religion will  definitely  pay a huge price in future  for its failure to integrate Muslim  migrants who hold  religion in high esteem  and is not only their  faith  and Sharia but their total  way of life  regardless of European  integration of  whatever kind .  Once again From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.

When  I was a young staff writer at Times International ,  a publication of the defunct Daily Times on International Relations and Diplomacy,  reporters in other publications usually  teased us  on that  publication as indulging in Afghanistanism  by   which  they   meant  that  we wrote on far away places like Afghanistan ,  while ignoring home and national affairs . That was not true   then ,  even   as a joke  and is still  not true  today . Indeed such  mistaken   Afghanistanism needs a  correction or  a  different  definition   or   interpretation ,   which I shall attempt   today . For   this ,   my  source of information and analysis in getting a definition will  be the context of the US   hasty and nasty withdrawal   from  Afghanistan   this week  and  the take over of the American installed government by the Taliban in just  11  days .

Actually , the misconception   of Afghanistanism  as writing on distant  places  has been demolished by the advent of Information Technology  and the Internet  which  made the  world  a global  village . That  explains why the world was literally  at the ring side in Kabul   the  capital  of Afghanistan   this week  ,  globally  watching how US diplomacy  and nation building collapsed  pitilessly as Afghans  ,trying to flee the advancing Taliban clung to a cargo plane taking off    with over 600   frightened but lucky Afghans on board . For  the US  that  was a huge   collapse   of diplomacy ,  military invasion  and intervention as well as the  failure  of Intelligence . That  last bit was confirmed by the US top  military commander  after the Taliban  took  over ,  when  he said   the US had  no information that the  Afghan  government would  collapse in just 11 days . It was  corroborated by  a shifty and embarrassed US President who  blamed  a 300, 000 strong and   US   trained  Afghan   army  for vanishing into thin air on the approach of the Taliban  and  the Afghan president bolting from the presidential  palace  to a neighbouring nation  from where he safely  claimed  he abandoned his capital and presidential  palace , to prevent  massive bloodshed .These  then are the nitty gritty   for  the definition of Afghanistanism  , when  and  where the world  is at our feet in terms  of information , right before our eyes  in the global  village we now live   in and Afghanistan  politics is being watched in our living rooms or  places  of  abode ,  anywhere in the world .

Read Also: Five quick facts about Afghanistan

Afghanistanism   in my view then  is  the act of an invading force attempting to plant democracy in a foreign land  or  culture and shooting itself  in the leg by announcing a departure date thus creating a backlash  that  results in a power vacuum that  can  be exploited by armed  gangs or militia it  defeated in the initial invasion . It  is clear how this   tallies   with  the US invasion of Afghanistan 20 years ago after 9- 11 in 2001,  the collapse  of the Afghan government , a democratically   elected government and an army which  thought and bolted with its feet on the approach of the Taliban which the American invasion of 2001 dislodged for 20  years  from power . But  indeed Afghanistanism is applicable  in terms  of my definition  to  any  nation in the world where democracy  is practiced and power has changed hands forcefully   either through military intervention or rigged elections leading to a change of power or control of the political system . I  will  illustrate  this with some  interviews  I watched on CNN  and  commentary  on Fox News .

The  first interview   was   of an Afghan spokesman who said the Taliban was not surprised  by the take over of Afghanistan because they  have patience and that  patience would see them imposing Islamic law on the entire world sooner than later . I found  his confidence amazing but not unfounded or to be ignored . The  commentary in Fox News  was a lamentation that America , the  greatest power  in the world has been defeated by a group  of herdsmen carrying AK 47  rifles . That  again  is the grim truth that  has to be acknowledged and which  the US  has  to live  with, albeit   in  deep  humiliation  . Especially  as the US president himself  admitted that the chaos that followed the US withdrawal  was structured  or priced into the messy  US  withdrawal from Afghanistan . A  third  observation or commentary  noted that the Afghan army was so corrupt that it would set up check points and collect  money from passing Afghans by force  of arms meant  to protect Afghan  citizens . Yet  this same army  melted at the approach  of the gun toting Taliban . The  last  interview was of Amanpour talking above the head of the Afghan spokesman on human and women rights . The spokesman played ball for a while but insisted women rights would be protected while another spokesman insisted women would not be allowed to dress like the CNN interviewer because  that is the way of Islam .

There is no doubt in my mind that the Taliban victory in Afghanistan is an incentive to armed gangs fighting governments all over the world. If  the Taliban  can do it and the US can  cave in so easily and even abandoning its own citizens in Afghanistan not to talk  of betraying those who worked for it , then  these  insurgents  or bandits  would be  thinking their  time would come. That  really is the danger of global Afghanistanism and  it is already  in our midst . It does not matter whether it is Islamic or secular , they  are birds of the same feather .That  explains  why the Katsina state governor asked people not to flee on the approach of bandits or armed herdsmen . He  asked them , the people , to stay and defend themselves . He  is telling Nigerians not to behave like the Afghan army which  ran  away  but to stay , stand  and defend themselves . Some critics asked the governor  to buy  arms  for  them but what the governor was saying was  that Afghanistanism should  be contained in his state as security is not the duty of government alone but of everybody .

I think  that  is the crux of the matter .Fleeing at the  sight of armed bandits and religious  extremists is gradually  becoming suicidal as such  armed groups can suddenly become an invasion force that can subdue  governments at any  level of governance . Like the Palm Wine  Drinkers Club of   the   Great  UNIFE used  to  observe in serious  sessions , the Katsina  State governor has spoken and he has spoken well . Nigerians should not vanish into thin air at the approach of armed bandits , kidnappers or herdsmen like the Afghan army .That  is the only way to stop the importation of Afghanistanism into Nigeria by the back door . Once again ; From the fury of this pandemic , Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.