WITHOUT
consulting widely, President Muhammadu Buhari has committed Nigeria to
the Saudi Arabia-promoted military alliance against terrorism. It is a
move fraught with danger and reflects the President’s unfamiliarity with
consensus-building and nuances of a democratic and diverse polity. It
is an unholy coalition with a noxious motive. He should quickly pull
Nigeria back from this dangerous alliance. We must not be part of it.
The President jolted the public by his
declaration that Nigeria had joined the controversial Islamic Military
Coalition Against Terrorism in an interview with Aljazeera.
Earlier, he had tacitly dissociated Nigeria from the alliance when he
told his hosts in Riyadh, “Even if we are not a part of it, we support
you.” Now he says, “We are part of it because we’ve got terrorists in
Nigeria that everybody knows, which claim that they are Islamic. So, if
there’s an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of
it because we’re casualties of Islamic terrorism.” This is alluring but
is plain wrong-headed. A major foreign policy move ought to be debated
and a decision taken only after consensus building.
Our first objection to this is his
frequent choice of foreign soil to make major policy announcements. Why
should Nigerians, including members of the National Assembly, have to
tune to a foreign TV station to learn of such a strategic decision about
their own country? This attitude is a dispiriting reminder of Nigerian
rulers’ contemptuous and arrogant approach to governance. His
justification for the move is equally obtuse. His dismissal of the
concerns of non-Muslims is insensitive, too.
Let’s get specific. The alliance
promoters, according to Saudi’s Deputy Crown Prince and Defence
Minister, Mohammed bin Salman, said it was informed by the “keenness of
the Muslim world to fight this disease (terrorism), which affected the
Islamic world first, before the international community as a whole.” But
Nigeria is neither a Muslim country nor a Christian state. Indeed, the
whole world knows that the Saudis are involved in a high-powered battle
for influence and supremacy with the Iranians. ISMAT is only the latest
foreign policy tool deployed in the contest for supremacy between Sunni
Islam and Shia Islam that has been raging since the seventh century.
If Saudi Arabia’s motive is sincere, why
are Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Indonesia, which are Muslim countries,
not part of the alliance? Iran and Iraq have majority Shia populations
and Syria is led by the minority Alawite sect that is aligned to Shia
Iran, underlining the sectarian rivalry at play. If, as Buhari said,
Nigeria is joining because the coalition aims to fight ISIS and Boko
Haram, the terrorist group operating in the North-East has pledged
allegiance to ISIS, then Iraq and Syria should be the pivots since ISIS
has carved out the “Islamic State” from the two countries who are the
Saudis’ neighbours.
Saudi Arabia’s role in the sponsorship
of terrorism is also unsettling many countries across the globe. And
here are the facts. Wahhabism, a fundamentalist sect of Sunni Islam that
inspired both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda, is
also the official form of the religion in Saudi Arabia. A bipartisan
commission on terrorism during the George Bush administration
reported: “For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia
have been the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda. And for
years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem.” Riyadh
has also taken pleasure in recent ISIS-led Sunni advances against Iraq’s
Shiite government, and in jihadist gains in Syria at Bashar al-Assad’s
expense, according to United States-based think tank, the Washington
Institute. Will Nigerian soldiers be deployed to fight Saudi Arabia’s
war in Yemen?
Not done, enraged Germany has publicly
accused Saudi Arabia of financing Islamic extremism in the West and
warned that it must stop. “Wahhabi mosques all over the world are
financed by Saudi Arabia. Many Islamists who are a threat to public
safety come from these communities in Germany,” a German spokesman said.
German intelligence had once issued a rare public warning that Saudi
Arabia is at risk of becoming a major destabilising force in the Arab
world.
It is a grave mistake, therefore, for
Buhari to conclude that Saudi Arabia is our ally in the war on Boko
Haram terrorism. Nigeria is a secular state, a multi-religious polity
where tensions and frequent bloody clashes have defined sectarian
relationships, especially since 1986 when another insensitive
administration smuggled the country into the Organisation of Islamic
Conference. Rather than blame the mass media as the Foreign Affairs
Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, sought to do, he must admit that his
ministry has not sufficiently briefed the President about the complexity
of global jihadist terrorism. His defence that the coalition seeks to
prove that terrorism “has nothing to do with Islam” is equally bizarre.
Buhari should not allow the impression
to gain ground that he allows his personal preferences to dictate
national policy. A nation’s foreign policy should reflect its national
aspirations, promote its security, economy and prestige and safeguard
its strategic interests. Countries rely on expert advice in the
bureaucracy and on think tanks. A president who goes it alone, as Buhari
appears to be doing, could cause long term problems for his country.
Experience should have tutored our leaders to steer clear of Saudi
Arabia and Iran, two countries the International Institute of Strategic
Studies and sundry think tanks have identified as major inspirations for
terrorism. According to secret US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks,
“Saudi Arabia remains a critical support base for al-Qaeda, the
Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups.” As America’s Secretary of
State in 2009, Hillary Clinton said Saudi donors were the largest source
of funding for terrorist groups worldwide.
Significantly, Saudi Arabia did not
offer Nigeria significant assistance at the height of the Boko Haram
insurgency. It was Western countries that offered to help. Indonesia,
the world’s largest (Sunni) Islamic nation, has not joined as many of
its nationals have in the past been executed by the Saudis who have
beheaded 70 persons so far this year. The Saudi-Iran rivalry has
exploded in Yemen and is unfolding in Syria.
We acknowledge that Buhari has been very
effective in combating the Boko Haram menace and this move could be
part of his determination to exterminate terrorists. However,
geo-political reality dictates some caution. We expect our distracted
parliament to stand up to the executive on this misadventure. A
country’s foreign policy is not dictated by a kick-and-start reaction.
Our national interests have always been Africa-centered and foreign
policy decisions should always take our national and sectarian diversity
into consideration. This government’s lack of clearly defined policy
direction is becoming more troubling by the day. A vehicle of 170
million persons should have a destination and a road map.
We had a robust foreign policy in the
past; from non-alignment, anti-colonialism to regional cooperation,
medium powers and African development. We should sustain that legacy.
The National Assembly, especially, should wake up from its slumber and
responsibly engage the executive in promoting national interest.
Buhari should have a rethink and avoid the Saudis’ poisoned chalice.
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