CONSUL-GENERAL LEADS US DELEGATION TO BAYELSA STATE
It is difficult to discern the exact nature of US interests in
Nigeria at all times. Those interests may have some fixed and variable
components such that, to copy the Iranian example pre-1979, the US
administration, in pursuit of a strategic objective, may overtly support an
incompetent and repressive Nigerian administration. The recent visit to
Northern Nigeria by US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, has drawn a lot of
flak from incensed Southerners and Christians alike. The question often asked
has been, "Why exactly did Kerry come to Nigeria?" Nigerians have
been at a loss over this matter. Kerry landed in Abuja and held consultations
with a highly unpopular former military dictator who recently wormed his way
into an elected presidency. As if to confirm the rabidly Islamic slant of the
Buhari administration, Kerry proceeded to hold further consultations with
Islamic religious leaders from only the north, headed by the Sultan of Sokoto.
Understandably the southern press and online social media have
taken up this matter. And we are still not getting any answers, convincing or
not. It is under this cloud of suspicion and distrust that a large retinue of
US consular officials, probably from the Lagos outpost, was dispatched to
Bayelsa State to advise the governor and perhaps the natives to ensure that oil
wealth is applied judiciously for the benefit of the people! To undertake such
a perilous journey, in the midst of the ongoing Niger Delta insurgency, is
supposed to be read as a show of true commitment to the affairs of Southern
Nigeria, after the recent inexplicable slight by Kerry.
It is instructive to note that the US never took the trouble to
advice our various profligate southern and Niger Delta state governments about
the benefit of accountability and good governance when they were awash with oil
funds that could be applied to such ends. Why now? Which oil wealth was the
delegation referring to? Everybody knows that the Federal Government and the
vassal states have long run out of money. If, as I suspect, the trip of the
Americans is one in a series of fence mending operations, I doubt that many
Nigerians in the south can be taken in by it.Then again, it is an established
fact that
the US justice system, despite the advent of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has not been able to rein in the crooked US lawyers who exploit every conceivable legal loophole to aid the laundering of dirty money stolen by corrupt third world leaders. For the purpose of this discussion, Russia is included in the 3rd World.
the US justice system, despite the advent of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has not been able to rein in the crooked US lawyers who exploit every conceivable legal loophole to aid the laundering of dirty money stolen by corrupt third world leaders. For the purpose of this discussion, Russia is included in the 3rd World.
It must be pointed out that
the London financial hub, not to be outdone, is in keen competition with the US
in this regard. The CBS Television Network recently addressed this problem in
its 60 Minutes programme. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anonymous-inc-60-minutes-steve-kroft-investigation/In
the US Congress, overpopulated with lawyers, there is absolutely no sense of
urgency to plug the loopholes that make these corrupt and unethical practices
even possible. Just like in the case of the war on drugs, the US can and should
help Nigeria, African and other vulnerable third world countries by making the
US territory hostile to stolen funds. Brief diplomatic forays into the swamps
of Yenagoa will not do.
A situation whereby the US completely subverts our own long term
strategic interests that require democratic, inclusive governance, devoid of aspects
of repression and genocide, because of it's own global imperatives, is
unacceptable. Nigerians should make it clear to both the US and President
Buhari that divide and rule will not augur well for our tottering national
edifice.
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