Do Nigerians really wish to be recolonised?

Weeks ago during the tempestuous meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s headquarters Wadata Plaza, apparently shaken by the fracas that accompanied the event,  newly elected Chairman of the party Tanimu Turaki (SAN) was caught publicly calling on President Donald Trump of the United States of America to hasten on his plans to intervene in Nigeria not just to stop the alleged genocide against Christians but also to ‘’save democracy’’ in the country.

Of course, the statement drew comments across the country mainly for its inappropriateness. But there are also fundamental issues that it threw up against the background of contemporary developments in Nigeria and into the future which we need to delve much deeper on.

Turaki’s statement is not the first of its kind by a Nigerian political figure. Indeed, it is on record that some Nigerian political figures have in the past made similar pronouncements in the course of their observations on developments in the Nigerian political scene such that it has become almost a normal matter when disagreements occur among politicians and political parties over their interests and preferences.

At the time Turaki made that statement, the country was in a fever pitch on the stated intentions of President Trump to intervene militarily in the country in order to stop and defend the Christian population from alleged genocidal killings by Islamist jihadists. Across the country there was a storm of comments especially in the social media where many were in favour of Trump’s plans to intervene in the country.

That a great many Nigerians expressed opinions in favour of foreign military intervention in the country’s internal affairs with some even calling for its dismemberment by the intervening and occupying power indicates that there is something fundamentally wrong with the country. And this raises some pertinent questions.

Why would a country that fought for and secured its independence from a foreign power sixty-five years ago on the hope and expectation that it will better run its affairs now clamour for the return of colonial subjugation? Why would the calls for recolonization come more stridently from the leaders and elites than from ordinary folks? Have we paused to consider that both for the foreign power that some of us we are clamouring for to recolonize us and ourselves that it is bound to be a difficult and messy business?

A power that wishes to recolonize Nigeria would need to first of all commit military and civil administrative structure to govern the country. Along with that the power will also necessarily suspend or suspend indefinitely the constitution we now operate along with the current administrative structure and institutions of government in the country. This will make way for the installation of the colonial power’s structures to enable it govern the country according to its preferences.

With the indefinite suspension of the constitution there will be suspension of all the untrammeled rights we now enjoy as free citizens; expression, movements, association etc. All of us as Nigerians from our ‘’big’’ men to us ‘’small men’’ will be subjects to the new power. Our economy will no longer be in our hands to manage. Corporations from the occupying power will determine how we trade internally and externally. We wont have budgets of our own and resource allocation for infrastructure, education, health and social services, food, etc will be determined by the colonizing/recolonizing power.

In effect a colonizing/recolonizing power will have to subject Nigeria to a colonizing ‘’fee’’ for which our human and resources will be deployed as the power deems fit to exploit and deploy to cover the cost.

In real terms the first casualties of the recolonizing power in Nigeria will be our ‘’big’’ men. The status and privileges which they enjoy presently will be severely limited if not totally removed. Many of them will have their VIP status revoked. They will not be allowed unrestricted access to many places and their retinue of aides, vehicles, residences etc will be revoked. Many of them will turn to ordinary men at par with the ‘’small men’’ in society.

Is that the kind of situation some of our ‘’big’’ men calling for foreign intervention in Nigeria wish for us? Do they expect that foreign intervention in Nigeria will be a benign act of charity on the part of the foreign power? Who will pay for the cost of the intervention in terms of the constabulary deployment and the administrative structures to run the country?

But it must be stated that with regards to contemporary global trends, the only two powers that could take on the job of recolonizing Nigeria, America and Britain, will not agree to it. It is anachronistic and burdensome task will be hardly worth the while. Britain is right now battling with issues across all spheres of its life from immigration, economic stagnation, social issues and political instability among others. And quite honestly Britain has gone out of the business of colonies. Not only will they struggle to find the people to run Nigeria as a colony, the enterprise will almost certainly tear good old Britain apart politically and socially. Quite frankly for Britain coming back to Nigeria as a colonial power once again will amount to eating a sixty-five-year-old vomit.

As for the Americans despite all the threats of intervening in Nigeria, President Trump knows that the reality outweighs the rhetoric. Threats of intervening in Nigeria may sound pleasing to some segments of America for political reasons. But the reality of such intervention will not sit well with the American military and political establishment which will oppose it vehemently. Americans will simply not stomach committing resources to colonize a country as huge and complex as Nigeria.

Calling for foreign military intervention in Nigeria is a clear indication that our leaders and elite have not been able to rise to the challenges of building this country. The fact over six decades of independence and we are still struggling with the basics of governance shows that we have not even started yet on the path of genuine and true independence and national independence. But the truth is that no foreign power will heed the request to come and save us from ourselves. And in the unlikely event of their agreeing to do so, they will exact a heavy price for their effort at our expense.

The sooner our leaders realize that and do the needful like their counterparts in other peer countries, the better for them and us all.

Gadu can be reached via [email protected] and 08035355706 (texts only).