PRESIDENTS BOLA TINUBU, DONALD TRUMP AND PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY
By: PROF YEMI OKE, SAN
Dear Presidents Tinubu, Trump and P.M Carney,
REVISITING THREATS OF THE US TO CANADA AND NIGERIA- THE CASE OF UNDIPLOMATIC DISTORTIONS OF INSURGENCY SITUATIONS IN NIGERIA AND US’S “HOLIER” MIS-ADVENTURE
Background:
It is axiomatic, and needs no restating that no principle of International Law and/or Diplomacy permits or tolerates acts of needless aggressions against a sovereign State, or usage of threats to “annex”, “invade”, “take-over”, etc of another sovereign State under whatever guise, irrespective of the (mis)conceived “nobility” or the “lack of nobility” of such declared or muted intention(s).
International law, diplomacy and diplomatic relationship are not strange phenomena. By divine providence, I had researched, taught, supervised and professed globally these vital principles, and also taught these at the undergraduate level in Canada. I’ve been teaching same at both undergraduate and graduate levels in Nigeria since 2008 till date.
The recent pronouncements credited to His Excellency, President Donald Trump have simply stirred the hornet of intellectual curiosity and discourses on the subject. It not the intention of writer to teach His Excellencies and Rt. Honorable PM those principles of international law or international relations. The aim is to rethink the absurdities and inappropriateness of the declaration on a fledgling democracy like Nigeria unlike Canada that was able to call the bluff of the “Trumps” when similar moves were made.
This open letter to His Excellencies and Rt. Honorable PM is in the exercise of my constitutional right, Charter rights and legal rights as a global citizen respectively in Nigeria, Canada and the US, as someone with significant interests and attachments to Nigeria and Canada.
First, it was the misplaced, vexatious threat of His Excellency, President Donald Trump to “annex” the Great Canada as the “51st State of the US! Now, it is the rumored threat of President Trump to send military forces to Nigeria on the unjustifiable assumption anchored on undiplomatic distortions of facts of insurgency situations in Nigeria.
Threats of Sovereign Nations Not Justifiable in International Law
There are no factual, legal, diplomatic or any form of justifiable reasons for the US to have threatened Canada and Nigeria in the first instance. Threats to a sovereign nation is not in any way justifiable in international law. Every known statistics – human-indexed, economy-indexed, social-indexed and others indicated that Canada was doing far better than the US as at the time the threat to “annex” Canada as 51st US State was issued.
Similarly, every available facts and indicators show that Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fast-recovering. The “Renewed Hope” mantra of President Tinubu is not a political slogan. The US and Canada did not become developed countries without taking hard economic decisions, including radical reforms. No country would have developed without embarking on radical social, economic and political reforms. This, precisely, are the difficult choices before Nigerians for which the administration of Bola Tinubu has demonstrated rare patriotic statemanly courage to reposition the country for prosperity. Quite frankly, beyond political rhetorics, every statistics including human-indexed, economy-indexed, social-indexed and other verifiable data indicate that Nigeria is now recovering and growing significantly. It will only get better in the coming years.
The Challenge of Ethnicity and Insurgency
It is apparent that Nigeria is still challenged in terms of insurgency. Admittedly, like the US, Canada and other countries, there are security challenges in Nigeria and other countries in the African region. The difference is the level, manner, and sophistication of the security, intelligence and other apparatuses deployed to adequately respond and tame the evil elements called terrorists and fanatical insurgents.
Beyond doubts, Nigeria is still hugely challenged in these regards. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that what Nigeria – a democracy of over 200 million human beings needs is not threats from superpowers like the US or medium powers like Canada and others but military, security and intelligence assistance, cooperation and collaboration.
Serious security challenges that had existed in Southern Kaduna of Nigeria are now being radically confronted, and the threats are receding and declining. Taraba, Benue and Plateau States of Nigeria are similarly Christian dominated neighborhoods, like Southern Kaduna. The Tinubu administration is responding aggressively and remarkably, but helps are still required. This further reinforces the logicality of the arguments that what Nigeria needs is sincere help and assistance from the Superpowers, and not threats of any sort.
I had described the nature of Nigeria’s insurgency in one of my articles as an infusion of ideology, ethnicity and religion. (See Yemi Oke, “International Criminal Court, Crimes Against Humanity and the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamist Group: Can Two Wrongs Make A Right?” (2012-13) Vol. XII-XIII, Indian Journal of International Law (The Indian Society of International Law (ISIL), Yearbook of International Humanitarian and Refuge Law, New Delhi, India, 2014, at 156-188.
Nigeria is a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country like the US and Canada. To win insurgency wars in ethnically-diverse and multi-culturally structured countries like Nigeria might require a “coalition of the wiling”, similar to NATO’s philosophy as contained in Article 5 of the Treaty of Washington (See Yemi Oke “Substitute for the UN? Extending Frontiers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Implications for African Unity” (2013) 21:1 African Journal of International and Comparative Law (AJICL, Edinburg), at 120-141).
The US and other global actors need to learn from histories of misplaced “interventions” and the lack of sincerity in interventions in Africa, like in Libya, Egypt, Somalia, D. R. of Congo, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Sudan, Southern Sudan, and the genocidal war in Rwanda.
International law scholars (particularly those of us who belong to TWAIL-Third World Approach to International Law) often allege that the “World” tends to look “elsewhere” and only attempts to “step-in” to repossess natural resources in crisis-ridden, vulnerable African countries with abundant gold, diamond, crude-oil, and others.
Mercantilists’ interventionism should never form the basis for stepping forward to assist vulnerable developing countries, even in justifiable cases. The agonizing stories of woes are lessons learnt from Cuba, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and others. The sad realities of “those (mis)interventions” are still readily pricking global conscience, but only for truly conscientious global actors- some have none by way of conscience.
Conclusion:
The GIANT called NIGERIA is Rising Again…
The US soon realised that Canada was too BIG to be “annexed” as the 51st US State. Canada has since continued to wax stronger under the amiable and intellectually-endowed Prime Minister Mark Carney. The threat has since fizzled-out.
In the case of Nigeria, the hands of desperate opposition figures seem noticeable in the misplaced call for the US’s threat to Nigeria. This is similar to the seditious publication of a Nigerian-American writer, who incurred the wrath of notable Nigerians, including the author. (See Yemi Oke, “Re: Chimamanda’s Seditious Open Letter to President Joe Biden – A Case of Extraterritorial Ethnocentric Politicking of a Non-Resident Nigerian-American” dated April 9, 2023).
Nigerians at home or abroad should never join hands to destroy their country by calling for needless invasion on the basis of misplaced, distorted insurgency situation. Americans built America. Canadians built Canada. Nigerians at home and abroad should join hands to build Nigeria.
Superpowers, or foreign elements are not reputed for “building” any countries. They “unwittingly” or intentionally destroy them under the guise of “humanitarianism” or “diplomatic” interventions or, put differently, “invasion”.
The pride of Canada and the US democracies are Multi-ethnicity and Multi-culturalism, not ethnocentrism. Nigeria share these in common with both countries. We should deploy our differences to wax stronger and better like Canada and the US. This is a vital lesson for all concerned Nigerians at home or abroad.
The expectations of Nigerians are still very high on the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidency, which had triumphed over all known forces of religious bigotry of “Muslim-Muslim ticket, ethnicity and other divisive tendencies.
The act of serious, progressive and purposeful governance has now commenced, and must be sustained by way of progressive reforms and polices to build a prosperous Nigeria of our common dream and aspiration.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Prof. Yemi Oke, SAN, PhD, FCTI, FCArb.
The writer, Yemi Oke is a Canada-trained Professor of Energy/Electricity Law. He teaches law in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria