Since the news broke that the big Western nations, America, UK, France and cohorts are willing to offer their military might and intelligence to help Nigeria #BringBackOurGirls, I have been thinking, is this an initiative worth the trial or a Greek gift?
After all, Nigeria is a sovereign state, so I thought our government may not accept this act of “brotherliness.” At least we have been battling Boko Haram for a while now, not like we have succeeded in the battle and since the rhetoric from the government has been, “we are winning the war against the insurgents,” I felt the government would resist this move. Plus we have always had this pride never to allow a foreign country help us fight our battles so why would we allow them assist us in the search for the missing girls true or not. At least we are the giant of Africa, the continent’s bulldog, think of the exploits of our soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia, nations where we help restore peace after terrible Civil wars.
It was shocking when I heard that the Calvary (US Marines) have arrived our shores. Then another thought came across my mind, do they really have our best interest at heart? Or are they just after global power? We have seen how there help has not worked out for countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia… Just as all these thoughts were running through my mind, I stumbled upon an article on a foreign blog titled
Dear Americans, Your Hashtags Won’t #BringBackOurGirls; You Might Actually Be Making Things Worse
Below is an excerpt from the article:
Simple question. Are you Nigerian? Do you have constitutional rights accorded to Nigerians to participate in their democratic process? If not, I have news for you. You can’t do anything about the girls missing in Nigeria. You can’t. Your insistence on urging American power, specifically American military power, to address this issue will ultimately hurt the people of Nigeria.
It heartens me that you’ve taken up the mantle of spreading “awareness” about the 200+ girls who were abducted from their school in Chibok; it heartens me that you’ve heard the cries of mothers and fathers who go yet another day without their child. It’s nice that you care.
Here’s the thing though. When you pressure Western powers, particularly the American government, to get involved in African affairs, and when you champion military intervention, you become part of a much larger problem. You become a complicit participant in a military expansionist agenda on the continent of Africa. This is not good.
You might not know this, but the United States military loves your hashtags because it gives them legitimacy to encroach and grow their military presence in Africa. AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), the military body that is responsible for overseeing US military operations across Africa, gained much from #KONY2012 and will now gain even more from #BringBackOurGirls.
Last year, before President Obama visited several countries in Africa, I wrote about how the U.S. military is expanding its role in Africa. In 2013 alone, AFRICOM carried out a total of 546 “military activities,” which is an average of one and half military missions a day. While we don’t know much about the purpose of these activities, keep in mind that AFRICOM’s mission is to “advance U.S. national security interests.”Full Story
These then brings me back to the question FOREIGN SOLDIERS ON NIGERIAN SOIL – GOOD OR BAD?
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Timi Adebayo