Sure Guy

ECOWAS VERSUS NIGER: WHO IS FOOLING WHO? We worked hard, took many bullets & took great risks to put this Government in place & we not only have a big stake in it but we must also ensure that it succeeds. Apart from our unalloyed loyalty & unflinching support & our commitment to assist him in weathering every storm & stabilising the country there is only one thing we owe the President & that is to always tell him the plain truth. Today that truth is that the pending attack on Niger Republic is unpopular at home &, if unleashed, would be a monumental error. If ECOWAS must go into Niger in the name of wanting to restore constitutional order so be it but let them do so without any Nigerian troops. Let the French & their Franco-phone allies in our sub-region, with American intelligence & logistical support, do the job on their own & leave us out of it. It is only if our nation is attacked or our sovereignty violated that we should get into the fray. Outside of that & until then we should use only diplomatic means to setttle the issue & not allow ourselves to be drawn into an unecessary & bloody regional war the end of which no-one knows. To the Ivory Coast's President Alhassan Outarra, who has said that this is not a Nigeria versus Niger conflict but rather an ECOWAS versus Niger one, I respectfully ask the following questions: who will contribute 90% of the troops & foot almost all the bills of this force? Is it not Nigeria? Whose military hardware & assets will be deployed, mobilised & utilised more than any other? Is it not Nigeria? Who shares her Northern border with Niger & whose northern civilian population are bound to suffer the most hardship, the greatest degree of collateral damage, the highest number of casualties & accommodate the highest number of displaced people & refugees? Is it not Nigeria? We have trod this path before & we know where it ends. We cannot be fooled again. If any force is deployed & Nigeria opts to participate we will pay more than all the other ECOWAS nations put together in the loss of civilian & military lives & in blood & treasure. Apart from that the ECOWAS force & their military capability is nothing without Nigerian troops. To say that this would be an ECOWAS versus Niger war as opposed to a de facto Nigeria versus Niger one is misleading & disingenuous. Such a war would be fought, prosecuted & won by primarily Nigerian forces even though there may be a sprinkling of a few others just for show & for the record. All the sophistry, propaganda and delusion in the world cannot change that. If & when the whole thing goes down & we get involved militarily, you can bet your bottom dollar that it won't just be a Nigeria versus Niger war but it would also end up being a Nigeria versus Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso & Wagner one. Worse still involvement in such a military conflict may tear our country apart along ethnic, regional & religious lines. This must be avoided at all costs. To add to this complex mix the wife of Gen. Abdourahman Tiani, the head of the military junta in Niger, is actually a Nigerian from Kangiwa in Kebbi state whilst his Emir, the Emir of Dosso in Niger, owes allegience & pays homage to the Emir of Argungu in Nigeria! That is how connected our two countries are. The truth is that there is hardly any family in the core north that does not have relatives from & in Niger. Can they be expected to sit by idly & applaud us whilst we kill their brothers & sisters across the border for no just cause even when our nation has not been attacked & our territorial integrity has not been violated? Methinks not! As I wrote elsewhere, outside of any diplomatic initiatives, let the French clean up their own self-inflicted mess & fight for their hegemonist & parasitic neo-colonial interests & uranium supplies in Niger & let us stay out of our beleaguered neighbour's internal affairs. (CONTINUED👇👇👇)