LIKE NORTH KOREA LIKE NIGERIA: THE BULL & THE BUCKET By JOSEPH OKECHUKWU

BACKGROUND

When in February of 2016, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “Israel is Coming Back to Africa and Africa is Returning to Israel” he wasn’t joking. That is because Donald Trump must have advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get to work and make more friends on the continent so Israel is not constantly isolated at the United Nations whenever the need for voting arises. Israel is one of the most hated and vulnerable UN member states. If they have more allies, more countries will vote in their favor at the Security Council. This is very critical because Donald Trump will not always be there. So, Bibi Netanyahu meant business and he went to work immediately.

His first move was to attend an ECOWAS meeting in Monrovia, Liberia. That would be the first time an Israeli Prime Minister would be attending an ECOWAS meeting ever. Funny enough, the Moroccan King was also on his way to the same meeting. Bibi was earlier. The moment the Moroccan king arrived at the airport and heard that Bibi was already on ground, he immediately cancelled attendance and flew back to Morocco. 

It was after this whole scenario that I heard for the first time that Morocco, a North African Islamic Nation was strongly fighting to become a member state of ECOWAS. ECOWAS stands for Economic Community of West African States. It’s meant only for countries in West Africa. So why would a North African nation want to tip the balance?

Apparently, Morocco and the rest of the Islamic world have been understandably restless over Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration about Africa returning to Israel. That obviously sent shivers down their spines hence the frantic move by Morocco to join ECOWAS and use their relationship with the most populous black nation on earth, Nigeria to hurt Israel’s new found love with African nations. Little wonder the Nigerian government quickly exited 90 international bodies and refused to disclose their names to the Nigerian public. It was not difficult to suspect that Nigeria had exited those, probably non-Islamic bodies in other to enter into new Islamic alliances and further consolidate existing ones, the reason they wouldn’t publicly declare the international bodies they were exiting.  

For instance, Nigeria ratified and consolidated its membership of the OIC - Organization of Islamic Communities; Nigeria became a member of the D8 - Organization of 8 Developing Islamic Nations. In this organization you have countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Bangladesh, & Nigeria; Also, Nigeria quickly joined the Saudi - Arabian formed IMA - Islamic Military Alliance – call it the NATO of the Islamic world. All these happened barely one year of president Buhari’s ascent to power. 

FAST FORWARD 

So, I’ve been tracking a set of interesting pieces of diplomatic puzzles for some months now. When the Nigerian presidency announced that a meeting had been scheduled with the US President, Donald J Trump, slated for April 30, 2018, I literally gasped with an unsettling anticipatory spontaneity. I knew it was about to go down. How did I know?

Remember, if you’ve followed me and or my postings/writings long enough, that I wrote a piece some time ago on why I was happy that Trump fired Rex Tillerson, the former US Secretary of State? Sure. 

In that piece, I had explained that Tillerson’s ouster was not unconnected with his recalcitrant and insubordinate attitude of always doing what he wanted and not what his boss, the president wanted. I explained in little detail that his troubles began in Ethiopia and peaked in Kenya, where he tended to sound a little like an Obama appointee, which posed a huge National Security threat to Israel and by extension, the United States. 

Israel literally runs much of East Africa in more ways than one. They are so wary of any form of regime change that will benefit Islamists in any way, shape or form in that region. They would fight tooth and nail to resist the subtle Islamization of that region and they have many reasons to. Obama did his best to neutralize Israel’s grip on the region and for some strange reason, he came out failing with every try. Tillerson’s posturing was toeing that path and he expectedly lost out. 

Under the current US regime, an attack on Israel or her interest is an attack on America and vice versa. I’ve never seen these two countries so close for as long as I’ve been alive and Tillerson simply took that for granted and he paid a huge price. 

If you recall, it was reported that he got winds of the plan to fire him while in West Africa. I don’t agree. He already knew from East Africa. He only got wind of a possible announcement of the president’s decision while in West Africa. That is why his Nigerian trip was cut short – almost as if he never came, leaving behind a diplomatic deficit. Trump and Israel knew he could no longer be trusted; they saw through his globalist posturing and unholy alliances with anti Israel elements in Europe. This was the reason they couldn’t even wait for him to wrap up the trip before making the announcement that he’s been fired. 

When I saw that, the first thing I said was “the next US Secretary of State will soon visit Nigeria”. I was too sure the US was going to make up for that diplomatic deficit left behind by “globalist Tillerson”. I knew there was a strong message that the White House needed to pass across to Nigeria and since Tillerson had betrayed the trust, expectedly, Trump would still get the message across, one way or another. Interestingly, rather than send another Secretary of State, Trump and his team decided that an invite will be more appropriate and I totally agree. To me, that looks even more decent – just that when the message comes from Trump himself, it doesn’t always look as pretty. And sure enough, he lived up to expectations. But there is more. 

Running up to the proposed US visit, the Nigerian presidency was unusually excited about Buhari’s meeting with Trump and they made such a big deal of it. They sure wanted that to be a Public Relations blow on “anti – Buharists” in Nigeria who believe that Buhari is only friends with Islamic nations and not in the good books of the United States. But deep down in my spirit, I knew a drama was about to unfold. I knew Trump was about to deliver the exact same message he would’ve loved Tillerson to deliver to the Nigerian president, which Tillerson would’ve possibly twisted, and I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty because Trump doesn’t know the meaning of “political correctness”, and I proudly share that trait with him. 

So when president Trump eventually “dropped the bomb”, I exhaled. The warning to stop the killing of Christians in Nigeria or “we will do something” came to the Nigerian President and government as a rude shock. It was a massive spoiler to their “beautiful” PR trip to America. It was a gigantic mess. I could imagine the face of the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, who was all over CNN falsely claiming that Buhari would become the first African Head of State to meet with Trump in the oval office. No, the Egyptian president did already. CNN expectedly let him get away with it but they later admitted the truth. It was a disaster. Their social media handles went into a freeze mode. Officials went cold and you could literally just hear their hearts pounding away from a distance. Not what they expected to hear. I was surprised they didn’t see that coming. But that’s not all that came at them...

From my little back channels, I heard that there was probably so much more said to the Nigerian president than was broadcast in the news media. From what I gathered, the only way to describe the scenario is “historic change of guards”! Power of control may have just slipped from the bloody, guilty, filthy hands of England to the formidable, no nonsense invincible grip of the duo of USA/Israel - controlling the two most powerful military and intelligence outfits in the world. All of Britain’s efforts to control or court Trump have hitherto failed and all their expectations have been dashed. There’s a huge dilemma. Whatever Israel wants is what will happen now. And there’s not much anyone can do about that. You’re either in or you’re out. It’s a hot, liquid flowing nightmare to a regime that has done everything since inception to lean absolutely Islamic by every stretch of the imagination. 

Remember that on their way back from the USA, the Nigeria government strangely detoured to England. That made some news. Mixed reports here and there. They initially said it was a technical stop over, and then later admitted the president saw his doctor briefly. No, I suspect it was all to brief the English architects of the current Nigerian disaster of a regime, on how much of a failure the US trip turned out to be. It was time to re strategize. So he had to head to Nigeria and return to England only a few days later. This time, the presidency said he was going to see his doctor. Well, he went to see his doctor and he returned one day earlier! That never happened before! Just saying though.

But trust me, I believe it was all a strategy session on what to do next. I believe he was advised to listen and take orders from the White House. They must have informed him that the bull in the White House has neither control nor mercy. Isn’t that why China and South Korea quickly advised North Korea to behave, because Trump wasn’t joking when he said he wasn’t going to allow a nuclear North Korea to stand? He was already amassing around the peninsular. He was and still is dead ready, not to impose sanctions but to bomb North Korea back to stone ages. It’s no joke. The US military is ferociously back to its number 1 position in the world, and they’re not smiling. Thanks to Trump. North Korea saw it and knew it was game over. Buhari was served from the same pot of soup on this April 30 trip. If North Korea were jittery, what would Nigeria do? Exactly what the president of Nigeria did – overtaken with shock and fear! 

So what were those other things that may have been said to Buhari behind closed doors? Well I don’t really know but I’ll try to connect a few more dots for you. Now, remember that Nigeria has stood against Israel since Buhari came into power and ratified Nigeria’s membership of those hardcore Islamic organizations? Even on the floor of the UN, you could hear President Buhari openly defending Palestine and so on. But what happened after the US trip? What changed so much that Nigeria would dare to secretly send its ambassador to the opening ceremony of the US embassy in Jerusalem – an occasion that has infuriated the Muslim world so much that Nigeria’s strong Islamic ally, Turkey had to recall its ambassadors from both the US and Israel? The Nigerian government knew exactly how badly the Islamic world would react to this flagrant violation, so they didn’t want the world to know they had sent an ambassador to the event. But the media broke the news and had the Nigerian government running for cover, denying that they sent the ambassador there, even claiming that they were querying the ambassador for his actions, just to assuage the Islamic block they already sold out to on multiple fronts. But the truth would later come out on the senate floor.  

So shortly after all that show of shame and double standard, a Northern Muslim senator, Hon. Aliyu Madaki exploded on the floor of the senate lambasting the Nigerian government for sending an ambassador to legitimize Israel’s claim over Jerusalem at the embassy opening ceremony. He must have been so frustrated because strangely, Nigeria was attending an event that England had boycotted. Unprecedented! The poor guy didn’t know that power has smoothly changed hands. Now, the truth is out and words are flying high and low. “What happened”? Why the sudden change”? Everybody asks. 

In very plain terms, I think Buhari must have been told that his new bosses are now Israel and no longer England, under the circumstance. And America is standing right behind to ensure he plays the good boy whether he likes it or not. That is why he would send an ambassador in breaking with all the Islamic treaties that Nigeria is signatory to. That’s why that senator freaked out because they all knew how deep Buhari had fallen into his subtle Islamization program. Unfortunately, there’s a new sheriff in town and it’s not the kind of sheriff you’d ordinarily see over a country that had almost been sold out completely to Islam. Israel is now in charge and you either take what they say or you’re out. Trump will do whatever it takes to ensure you obey Israel. He broke ranks with European allies to ensure the Iran deal was evacuated. And Secretary Pompeo just announced that US will unload on Iran the harshest sanctions they’ve ever seen, and that European multi national companies who fail to comply with US orders, no matter how big they are will be severely punished! This is unprecedented. Never before seen. Everyone is scared in Europe. The North Korean leadership is shivering themselves to stupor. China had to quickly make a deal closing the annual trade deficit gap with the US by a staggering $380 billion out of $500 billion. What an amazing dealmaker Trump is!

So where does these all lead? My suspicions are that 1. Buhari was given an option of not running for a second term, while in the White House. 2. I believe that he probably begged to run on any conditions that the US/Israel would lay out. 3. I believe that America laid out too much and Buhari agreed to way too much, just to stay in power. 4. I believe that based on that agreement, which is not cast on stone, Buhari sent the Nigerian ambassador to the embassy opening event in Jerusalem, which means that Nigeria must have be compelled to confess that they agree to Israel’s ownership of Jerusalem. 5. I believe that Nigeria will begin to scale back the Fulani herdsmen crisis as soon as possible. 6. I believe that even after the gentlemanly agreement to allow Buhari to prove himself, that Israel may still be bent on showing him the door. 7. I suspect that on sensing a renewed effort to remove Buhari from office, that England and their Islamic allies may pull a surprise by telling Buhari to ignore Trump, and I suspect that this will spell doom for Nigeria. 

A fully Islamized Nigeria is an incredible security risk to Israel. If Israel would bomb Syria just for hosting an enemy nation like Iran, they will annihilate Nigeria for entertaining more than just one enemy - Turkey, Iran, etc. 

It almost appears as if Donald Trump came to power because of Israel. Whichever way you look at it, the game has changed and power has changed hands. Trust me, England is at a crossroads right now because they can’t control Trump. The only way they get anything significant done again in Nigeria, in terms of policy is if Donald Trump is impeached or if he’s killed. Unfortunately, as much as these two horrifying possibilities hang in the air, Trump’s popularity has continued to soar out of proportion, even amongst liberals. Besides, he seems to have mastered the game so much he now has near formidable team of diehard loyalists – that’s all it takes to assert yourself, and he has! That’s basically why there is fire on the mountain, the world over. The days and weeks and months ahead will unfold in such dramatic fashion that our socio political landscape in Africa, especially Nigeria may never be the same again.