By Yakubu Shendam
Oh how the mighty have fallen, is a phrase used to describe the failure or decline in status of a person, group, society who used to be very successful, powerful, important and relevant. This phrase aptly captures the situation that happened in America starting with the November 20 Presidential election and the riots that sparked up on January 6th which has been termed a coup by media houses and political commentators worldwide.
The details and morality of what happened on the 6th of January is not important to this discourse. That America which had once elected herself the moral judge of the world and played it well albeit excesses has fallen beyond the standard it has set for the world does not still concern this narrative. Whether African leaders will sanction senior American citizens or freeze their businesses in Africa and elsewhere is still irrelevant here. What interest this discourse are the similarities between these two events and possible lessons to be learnt from them especially on how a national army salvaged the situation here in Nigeria.
The ‘attempted coup’ in the US on the 6th of January, 2021 smacks of a similar situation in Nigeria in the wake of the purported #Endsars protest in Nigeria towards the end of 2020. These two events have one or two things in common even though it took some people especially Nigerians who are not conversant with the game of power play a long time to understand what transpired.
First of all, these two events are all sponsored. While it will be of no use talking about the sponsors of the US post election riots, the siege on the capitol building and the desecration of the US constitution, it is important to say the Nigerian #Endsars protest was sponsored by opposition politicians, business men, military men and criminal elements within and outside the country who either had an eye for political office, appointments or whose criminal activities were thwarted by the stringent laws and policies of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.Those behind the dastardly act are being fished out and will certainly face the wrath of the law.
Secondly, these two ugly events are nothing but a coup on democracy and the rule of law. While the Nigerian government and her security agencies particularly the Army under the leadership of TY Buratai professionally brought the situation under control and ensured the protection of lives and property, it is yet to be known how the American ‘coup’ will play out.
One thing is however certain, there is a thing or two the American government has to learn from the proactive and people oriented administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the professionalism of the security agents especially the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Army.
It is now clear based on the evidence presented by the army before the Lagos state independent judicial panel of inquiry that the Nigerian Army has exercised high level of self restraint, Professionalism and respect for the rule of law and has not fired a live bullet nor killed anybody. As the world focuses on America and the events unfolding therein, it is the hope of every global citizen that lives of Americans will be placed above selfish and personal interest while maintaining the territorial integrity of America as was exemplified recently in Nigeria.
It is also pertinent to point out that nowhere has falsehood triumphed over truth. The series of staged ‘coup plots’ in Nigeria aimed at undermining the presidency such as the Kankara boys saga and similar events must be seen by Nigerians for what they are. The killing of farmers in Maiduguri is also one of the events serially arranged by the sponsors some of which are engineered by foreign organisations masquerading as NGOs to paint the Buhari administration in bad light so as to discredit the administration or at worst instigate a regime change. Merely listening to some of their collaborators during that period one could realise they were all calling for President Buhari to resign. The insiders in the National Assembly have already invited President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before the House of Representatives as a follow up of the #Endsars saga but these failed as our security agencies particularly the Nigerian Army were monitoring the plot by these cabal.
As the days go by, it has become clear to all that many of the challenges faced by the country are deliberately orchestrated and sponsored meant to discredit the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and create an impression among Nigerians and the international community that there is terrible insecurity in Nigeria which is not true in the real sense of the situation on the ground.
Since 2015, Nigeria has prevailed over her enemies through the instrumentality of her security forces. America will prevail too and all sponsors of protests and riots in Nigeria and elsewhere will be disgraced. It won’t be out of place if America turns to the Nigeria Army for help in this trying moment. Because here in Nigeria we have seen how a single organisation has protected our democracy and effectively checkmated selfish politicians, their collaborators and other crooks in bastardising the achievements of the administration of president Muhammadu Buhari and where possible humiliating him out of office.
Dr. Yakubu Shendam, a National Youth president writes from Abuja.
