By Femi Kusa
johnolufemikusa@gmail.com
I asked myself this morning, during my Contemplative Hour, a period in which I strive to refine my thoughts and gain deeper recognition or insights into them: “Why are we humans on earth?”
There could be no other answer than…TO FIND PEACE AND HAPPINESS in this small corner of The World which the Almighty Creator and ruler of the universe graciously lent to us for our development and maturity. However, these pursuits have defied acceptable definitions among humankind. I do not intend to define it here, although the subject of some public speeches I gave in the last decade or so was: THE KEY TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS. But suffice it to say that, if we humans agree that we did not create ourselves or the world in which we live and cannot locate our houses when we are airborne in an aeroplane flight, there is an authority which is behind the existence of everything before which we should UNCONDITIONALLY always bow.
The key to peace and happiness lies in recognizing the will or the laws of this authority and unconditionally fulfilling them. Then, we must ask ourselves about how that mighty authority defines PEACE AND HAPPINESS. We do not accept this thinking. We believe MIGHT is RIGHT or that WAR BEGETS PEACE. Thus, we believe in CONQUEST, whether we are a military junta that overruns an elected government, or elected governments which seek to vanquish the ugly bear i.e., military interference in civil governance.
I do not like violence or war. Both are smelling over West Africa right now and may suck in some other regions of the earth. The confrontation between Niger Republic and ECOWAS looks like a simple question, but, it is, on the other side of the coin, a complex one, if not a very complex one. On the simple side, we can ask:
1) What business does Nigeria or ECOWAS have with the internal affairs of another country?
2) If the elected governments of the Niger Republic had governed well, would the military of the Niger Republic have had comfortable legroom to intervene in the country’s politics?
3) If the elected government of the Niger Republic committed no crime, does the military government have an ulterior motive? If it does, is that ulterior motive Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, and is there a concerted plan with other irredentist countries to unleash mayhem on secular countries, including Nigeria? Could this be what ECOWAS wishes to prevent?
But can we not also ask:
- If Nigeria has impeccable evidence that the military men in the Niger Republic are going to support Islamic fundamentalism and promote Boko Haram and ISWAP activities in these and other ECOWAS countries under civil rule, what should ECOWAS countries do?
To answer this question, we should remember that the deposed president of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, worked harmoniously with President Muhammadu Buhari to minimize Boko Haram and ISWAP activities in Nigeria and that under his rule, France kept about 1,000 soldiers in Niger Republic to keep the fundamentalists in check.
I say the situation is not as simple as we may see it on the surface for these and more reasons.
- France has a defense pact with Francophone countries. Under this pact, any attack on any of them is an attack on France. France so assimilated these countries that it is widely thought that their national fiscal budgets must be approved first in Paris before they are presented to Parliament for rubber stamping. That is saying that France still feeds off these countries like a parasite. The new government in Niger Republic says it has done away with all of that. This is a threat to France’s finances and social well-being.
France says it has no intention of recalling the 1,000 soldiers sent in to protect civilian President Mohamed Bazoum. But does France have the money to fight a foreign war? Would it have easily forgotten its Indochina experiences and the shattering defeat on May 7, 1954, by Ho Chi Minh, communist leader of North Vietnam, at the battle of Dien Bien Phu, despite American financial support? This battle ended the dreams of France to set up the INDO CHINESE UNION between 1858 and 1893 and govern it. The French Indochina union was to comprise Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, China had become a communist country and inspired Ho Chi Minh to declare communism in Vietnam and make its country communist. With North Vietnam secured, Ho Chi Minh marched toward present-day South Vietnam.
The United States became militarily involved in the war to save South Vietnam and roll communism back. In the end, it was humiliated out of the Vietnam War, although it helped to save South Vietnam to this day. The French Indochina War and the Vietnam War left us with two concepts of power that may play each other out in any military encounter between the Niger Republic and ECOWAS. Waging its communist war in China, Chairman Mao Tse Tung, the country’s leader, said “Power Flows from The Barrel of a Gun,” which is like saying might is right. But in the defeat of France in North Vietnam and in the forced withdrawal of the United States from South Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh left Europeans and Americans in no doubt that power flows from the will of the people.
In Niger REPUBLIC, military junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani has called out the youths to “DEFEND THE HOMELAND”. This may be a way of telling Nigeriens to not fear the guns and the airplanes but to confront them with their will.
It is unlikely that Euro-Americans would like to burn their fingers and rub their noses in the dust in a West African war as they have done in some foreign wars. It is unlikely, also, that they will ignore the Russian promise to supply arms to the Niger Republic and the growth of Northern influence in the region. Recently, Russia forgave the debts of the Niger Republic and is now promising food and promising to help it break international sanctions.
Back to West Africa
Will France not wish to push ECOWAS into the blast furnace? It would appear, that most of the countries causing Islamic fundamentalist problems in Africa are former French colonies. France must be tired of being, like the United States, a policeman over many countries. With rebellion here and there among its former colonies, France has been losing money and influence. The cost of living is rising every day back home, and young people are restive. France is in a dilemma. It signed a defense treaty with the Niger Republic, and it is obliged under international law to respect that treaty. But where will it place its loyalty? Which people of Niger Republic would it defend? The people who democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum or the people military junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani says are behind him? If Mali and Burkina Faso make good on their promises to attack ECOWAS; if ECOWAS attacks the Niger Republic, what would France do, especially if Russia is behind them, as it has said it would?
To the credit of France, it had been spending a great deal of money and energy to check religious terrorism in its former colonies. It helped Algeria to put its house in order. Algeria later became a peace broker wherever jihadist terrorism raised its head but, lately, it would appear to have pulled into its shell. When it flushed out religious insurgents, some of them migrated to Mali to form Al-Qaeda which is behind Boko Haram and ISWAP in Nigeria.
France rallied its former colonies to form a regional block of five bulwarks against Islamic insurgents. They were known as the 5G countries and comprised Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad.
On 24th May 2021, Mali came under a military coup. Before his deposition on 26 July 2023, Niger Republic President Mohamed Bazoum solemnly announced the “death” of the G5 with the withdrawal of Mali. Only a few weeks later, he would be toppled in a military coup by Abdourahamane Tchiani. Algeria has expressed opposition to an ECOWAS military strike, saying it would impact it with refugees or revive Islamic fundamentalism within its borders.
Mali and Burkina Faso have promised to militarily support the Niger Republic should ECOWAS wage war against it. The promise may be coming from two levels. The first may be the military-government brotherhood that binds all three countries, a contagion that ECOWAS abhors like political cancer. The second platform may be an Islamic fundamentalist irredentism and a ferment for regional JIHAD, the Islamic Holy War. The Jihadists believe the practice of Islam has been polluted and watered down, and it was necessary to sanitize adherence among believers and incorporate non-believers into the religion. Their aim is to Islamise all countries in the Sahel and make Sharia Law the foundation of their constitutions. If sanctions do not work against Niger Republic, and if Niger Republic withdraws from ECOWAS, on what grounds would ECOWAS be calling it to order or wage war against it? They can do that only if the Niger Republic threatens their existence.
Will the United States, nay NATO, indirectly step in, using ECOWAS as its arrowhead as it did in Liberia? If Nigeria swallows the bait, puffed up as a regional power, will it have the resources to support a prolonged war if its generals decide, as in Liberia, to make a dollar feast out of the campaign? Some financial analysts have been suggesting the war might cost Nigeria $3 trillion! Does the country have this kind of money to waste on a war? If it has the money, will it not be better spent on expanding and equipping the armed forces and other security agencies to secure the borders against immigrant religious irredentists and comb the nooks and crannies of the country for them? Is there a history of events that justifies Nigeria’s military involvement?
HISTORY
We must return to the days of the SUNSHINE BOY OF AFRICA, as he was nicknamed by THE GUARDIAN’S ELLYOBASI, writing in the African Guardian magazine, when Muammar Gaddafi visited Nigeria on 25 April 1983 during the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB). Ghadaffi was an unrepentant fighter against Euro-American imperialism and neo-colonialization. Libya, his country, was a huge producer of crude oil and was stupendously rich. Almost everything from education and health to housing was FREE. He sought to rule Africa and unite it as a single nation to confront Euro-Americans. The United States declared him an enemy. Nigeria collaborated with Niger Republic to train in that country a resistance army comprising Libyans who would invade their country. It was possible this was one of the American plans to subdue the antagonist Ghadaffi. Libya made countermoves. The militia members were flown to safety in Nigeria. Ghadaffi telephoned Gen. Babangida that, if he was “A TRUE MUSLIM” he should hand them over, and that he was personally coming over to Nigeria for the handover. Gen. Babangida called one of Nigeria’s intelligence gurus at that time to help him. This gentleman had wanted to be a member of Nigeria’s ruling SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL (SMC), but Gen. Babangida kept him out. Under pressure, Gen. Babangida sent for him. This man called the president of ZAIRE, Mobutu Sese Seko, who agreed they could be brought to him. Thus, Ghadaffi lost out.
America would later destroy Libya and eliminate Ghadaffi. An outcome of this was the influx of small arms into neighboring countries and the irradiation of rebel forces there. Mali fell, and so did Burkina Faso. Islamic fundamentalism was spreading Southwards. Meanwhile, Chadians and other aliens poured into Nigerian forests with AK-47 rifles which were in short supply among Nigerian police officers at that time. It has been speculated that they were given free passage in for election purposes, paid off after the deed but they refused to return home and instead asked for colonies on which to resettle.
Boko Haram and ISWAP also joined the league. President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Ebele Azikwe Jonathan couldn’t handle them. Simultaneously, Iran was grooming EL-ZAKI to cause Islamic insurrection in Northern Nigeria. Iran’s brand of Islam disapproves of Nigeria’s brand of Islam as weak Islam. To safeguard Nigeria’s brand of Islam, President Buhari did what Obasanjo and Jonathan couldn’t do. Perhaps these were Southern and Christian Presidents who did not wish to burn their fingers in Northern and Islamic furnaces. Buhari, a Muslim, went after El-Zaki. Even when the courts ordered him to release El-Zaki from detention, Buhari taught political scientists and lawyers, and judges that the SAFETY OF THE STATE was superior to THE RULE OF LAW!
President Jonathan lost substantial ground on BOKO HARAM in the Northeast and was himself terrorized and threatened in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for some time.
This is how we plodded on until President Bola Ahmed TINUBU, a centrist Muslim, arrived on the scene. No one yet knows what the Niger Republic military strongman would be up to, although the cat is coming out of the bag. Mali and Burkina Faso are backing him along with Russia in the event of war with ECOWAS. If ECOWAS engages these countries as well, how would this fly in the space of military defense pacts they all have with France? Will France back them or keep mute? Would it lure ECOWAS into war and fold its hands? What would happen if NIGER REPUBLIC under military rule becomes a haven for the upscaling of Boko Haram and ISWAP activities against Nigeria? Currently, there is an outcry against the war in the North. Northern Nigerians are saying the war will impact them before other Nigerians. Already, the closure of the borders has impacted business across the frontiers, especially food and transportation trade. But will the North not easily accept ISWAP and BOKO HARAM because of the Islamic coloration? Were there no generals in the Nigerian army sympathetic to Boko Haram? If BOKO HARAM sweeps through the North and thunders towards the Southwest, will that region not capitulate in view of its substantial Muslim population? What would then stop a final push against the Southeast and the South-South regions? Is one of the QUATRAINS OF NOSTRADAMUS “the man who saw tomorrow”, seeking fulfillment in our time? These are some of the complex questions we should resolve in the subject: NIGER REPUBLIC AND ECOWAS…WAR OR NO WAR?
THE ANSWER?
The key to this question is the question: Did any of us create himself or herself and did any of us or all of us create our world? If our ancestry and origin of the world lie beyond us, we are not the Center of The World and we must obey the AUTHOR OF THE WORLD and of our existence. We and our world are governed by an ETERNAL, and UNSWERVING WILL of the Creator simplified for all creatures as THE LAWS OF NATURE or THE LAWS OF CREATION. It is intriguing that neither DEMOCRACY nor MILITOCRACY and religion, the three forces in contest in Niger REPUBLIC and between ECOWAS and Niger Republic are NOT recognized by THE LAWS OF NATURE or THE LAWS OF CREATION. Democracy arose out of class envy and class hatred. Citizens who are not knowledgeable about even their own lives are permitted by democracy to make decisions on public matters for not only themselves but for all of society. It is a semblance of one BLIND PERSON leading other BLIND PERSONS through a gigantic factory of huge working automatic machines on a floor space strewn with exposed heavy voltage electricity cables.
Democracy was an inevitable result of the abuse of authority by the primordial mechanism of governance among men. Militocracy is inflicting on Democracy what Democracy inflicted on Divine guidance in the governance of earthmen. What form of government will come next is still unclear. That is why the parts of the earth governed by Democracy seek to defend democracy.
In the primordial system of governance, mankind did not choose its own leaders. From higher spheres of existence, their leaders were appointed, anointed, and prepared for their mission, along with those persons who would be their aides, sent down to the earth in circumstances of birth which would lead them to their tasks. The persons they are sent to would recognize them either through divination or some other means, including their works. Should we not ask: Who elected Moses to be the leader of the Jews who would lead them out of slavery in Egypt? Who elected Abraham as the father of all nations? Who elected John the Baptist? Who elected the Lord Jesus? Who elected Prophet Mohammed in Arabia? Who elected Zoroaster in Iran? Who elected Laotse in China? Who elected Buddha in India? Who elected the founding fathers of the 252 or so nations in our country, Nigeria? Who tells us that the Almighty Creator who created all of us and the universe cannot govern his world and needs human beings to kill themselves for his sake?
Did we not hear about Atlantis? It was a great civilization in which human beings did not need motor vehicles or airplanes or rockets to move from one corner of the earth to the other. Many of them transported themselves using the knowledge of levitation or were flown about by dragons, a powerful bird species that the Chinese still salute today in their national cultural calendar. When Atlanteans overreached themselves and would even think that the two brothers who ruled over them were the Almighty Creator himself, and they heeded not the warnings of the priests and priestesses every seventh year for forty-nine years, was the moon not instructed to come so close to the earth that it seemed it would crash on it? Did Atlanteans not supplicate in their temples for help from above? As the moon retreated to its orbit and they began to jubilate, believing that their prayers had been answered, did the earth not begin to crack and tear from under their feet? Was their civilization not entombed and covered by the waters of the ocean? Did the Almighty Creator require the help of mankind to put away irreverent men and women?
Even now, has the coming of the GREAT COMET not been foretold by many persons long ago? Even “The man who saw tomorrow”, forewarned that when it stands before us, its size and brightness will eclipse our sun. Haven’t we been informed as well that it is coming from the origin of the STAR OF BETHLEHEM which heralded the birth of the Lord Jesus as a greeting from the Almighty Father? In the REVELATIONS of the great comet, we are told we would begin to feel the impact when it is far, far, away, inaccessible to our technology. If COVID-19 did not humble us that we are nothing, are we not dumbfounded by the effects of climatic changes in Europe and America? Strong winds, sometimes stronger than has ever been known, extreme temperatures of cold and heat, and even earthquakes may be blowing some trumpets into our ears. What may soon come to light is that the great comet is a harbinger of the world judgment of which every Messenger of the last days from On High, from Zoroaster and Laotse, and from Budha to Mohammed has forewarned humanity about. Climatic change is one of the few things it will bring about because, under its pressure, the magnetic poles of the earth would reverse their positions.
Prophet Isiah would appear to see this day when he foretold the collapse of the will of man everywhere and in everything because THE WILL OF “God is with us”.
One of the false works of mankind which will burn itself out, paving the way for the true recognition of GOD is…RELIGION. There are probably more GRAINS OF FALSEHOOD in them all than the grains of Truth they contain. ISLAM is not a religion of violence. Mankind made it so. Prophet Mohammed who was chosen to take a message from on high to Arabia was a compassionate, humble man of peace. The Almighty Creator sent messages to not only Arabia. Zoroaster was sent to Iran, Budha to India, and Laotse to China. Each message was adapted to the special need of the particular people at that time. Except for where men adulterated them after the departure of the Messengers, these messages did not contradict or antagonize themselves. Each was to be a rung of a ladder which would lead to the Godhead. Even my own people, the Yoruba believe that they were well guided to the Godhead. Yoruba historians say they knew of the Almighty Father and of the holy spirit. The Holy Spirit was known by different names. In their prayers, they beseeched OLUWA, OLORUN, OLODUMARE. Their prayers went to OLUWA, OLORUN, OLODUMARE, Olorun Orun Oun Aiye.
The Atlanteans knew OLORUN as ORORUN. OLUWA, OLORUN OLODUMARE means our Lord, THE LORD OF THE HEAVENS, THE OWNER OF THE SECRET OF CREATION, SON OF THE LIGHT. The ‘Mare in OLODUMARE means OMO (son) of AaRE (the light) or son of the light. THE LIGHT, to the Yorubas, means IMOLE or GOD. OLORUN OUN AIYE means Lord of the heavens and of the earth.
In Yoruba land, we believe God has a first son, OLODUMARE who is in possession of the secrets of CREATION, who is the creative power of God, The JUSTICE OF GOD. The Christian Bible confirms this belief. We know OLODUMARE created the UNIVERSE and holds its secret and is Alpha and Omega in Creation. The Bible tells us the spirit of God, not God hovered over the land. The Lord Jesus, the Love of God would tell us in Christian teachings that sins against him, or the Almighty Father (IMOLE) would be forgiven, but those against the Holy Spirit (OMO AaRE) would not. This confirms the special relationship of the Holy Spirit with Creation. The Holy Spirit is the one God assigned the task of bringing creation about.
The Yoruba people beautifully render this conception in various sayings such as …ESAN KO GBO OGUN, ESAN NI AKOBI… ELEDUMARE – Justice cannot be remedied or bought, Justice is the firstborn of God. The Lord Jesus confirmed it when he said The Spirit of Truth would come and reprove the world of sins and proclaim the final judgment. The Yorubas through their traditional religion, had been guided to the knowledge of the HOLY SPIRIT on their journey to the recognition of THE TRINITY of the ALMIGHTY FATHER.
If the Arabians dispute existence of THE TRINITY, it is possible that they were not yet mature for this knowledge when the Yorubas and the Jews were mature for it in the SCHOOL OF LIFE. It would be unfortunate if some Yorubas whose culture had advanced beyond the Arabian culture would descend from the ladder of knowledge to uphold Arabian understanding as superior to theirs.
I have gone this far to suggest that every people were given at the right time the knowledge of Creation it was mature for in the spiritual school that the earth is. Therefore, the imposition of one faith by force over other peoples is falsehood and a mere instrument of conquest and absorption for earthly power, control, and influence. This has been the plight for decades of the peoples of the Sahel region, from Senegal to Ethiopia. This is what ECOWAS seeks to address.
Whether ECOWAS can better address it through war or other means is another question I am not competent to address here. I am a man of peace. War hardly brings lasting solutions. At the same time, people who, like THE SONS OF THE INCAS, do not defend their God-given Homeland do not deserve to exist. The sons of the Incas developed what, arguably, was the world’s best economy and society which did not use money for their transactions or establish personal businesses as we do today, riven with competition and falling over one another, maiming, and killing for money. They made no provision for security and defense. Covetous people fell upon them and easily devoured them. In the matter of Niger Republic, backed by Russia, Mali, and Burkina Faso, INTUITION, guiding the INTELLECT, will fashion a flaming, conquering sword and teach ECOWAS to be wise like the snake and adroit like the dove.
For anyone anywhere on earth, who is seriously following the course of the spiritual (not religious) history of mankind on earth, it’s clear that a crucial CYCLE of events is closing under intense pressure mediated by the laws of nature. Every wrong idea introduced by mankind into his affairs is being lit up, strengthened, and energized so that it may burn itself up. We would encounter these blowouts and blow-ups in the family, offices, religious organizations, government, the economy, and in relations between and among nations. What is unnatural and, therefore spiritually illegal, will inevitably collapse and on its ruins, a new beginning will sprout that accords with the WILL OF THE CREATOR and RULER OF ALL THE WORLDS.
FEMI KUSA was at various times Editor; Director of Publication/ Editor-in-Chief of THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER; Editorial Director/ Editor-in-Chief of THE COMET NEWSPAPER. Currently, he keeps a Thursday Column on Alternative Medicine in the NATION NEWSPAPER.
Some of his health columns may be found on www.olufemikusa.com and in MIDIUM a digital platform for writers. He is active also on Facebook @ John OLUFEMI KUSA.
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