WikiLeak: The Dressing of Informants as Diplomats

Every coin has three sides- not two as widely believed. It is only when you role a coin on a smooth surface that you will realize the hidden truth surrounding the third face of every coin. In the same vein, it took only the now infamous WikiLeaks for the world to know that most developed democracies dress informants in diplomats’ robes to deceive unsuspecting friendly countries for their own gains.

The emergence of WikiLeaks is not just an eye opener for the entire African continent, but very timely too for Nigeria in particular. Only recently, the Nigerian federal government woke up from its shameful slumber to attempt redirecting her foreign policy thrust, which had been long overdue.

Going by the conventional mandates given to most western diplomats by their home governments, one can hurriedly conclude that our foreign missions have done nothing more than providing jobs for some of our citizens. As exposed by WikiLeaks, most advanced democracies including the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Germany among others, hold more critical information about our nation than the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does. This is because these countries see Nigeria as a very vital link in their various national security and economic plans.

This is exactly what was expected of our diplomats abroad. Had this been the case, Nigeria would have benefited tremendously from America’s military technology, China’s industrial revolution, India’s medical prowess, Britain’s mass transport scheme, Japan’s automobile industry, Germany’s construction technology, Spain’s agricultural exploits, and France’s electricity success story among others. Owing largely to a weak and purposeless foreign policy thrust, our diplomats just spend taxpayers’ money to wine, dine, and shop in their duty posts. At best, they organize elaborate tours and cocktail parties for visiting government officials.

Here in Nigeria, a deliberate plan has been successfully hatched to make it very fashionable for critical public figures; including presidents, vice presidents, leadership of the National Assembly, military chiefs, ministers, governors, anti-graft officials, and the leadership of religious, tribal, cultural, and opposition political parties to befriend western diplomats. The reward is mostly speed-of- light approval of visa applications by friends and family members of the friends of these western diplomats.

Do not doubt a Nigerian if he or she boasts of securing you a visa to any grade A country just with a phone call. In most cases, it does not amount to anything criminal if critical information is volunteered to foreign diplomats. It becomes a different ball game if the information is solicited. This is where cases of espionage take root.

The dangers posed by this unhealthy diplomatic culture are very grave. Apart from endangering national security, the cord that holds the multi-ethnic fiber of the nation is threatened. In most cases, the information sent back to their home governments by these diplomats is not usually verified to ascertain their authenticity. This can be confirmed by the pattern of the many one-sided reports sent by the immediate past American Ambassador in Nigeria, Dr. Robin Sanders, as was leaked by WikiLeaks. The “informant” simply reported the personal opinions of critical citizens about key government officials and national issues. No doubt, the hoard of information they gathered were open to being tainted with lies, half-truths, anger, hate, and vengeance. This view is responsible for why most advanced democracies, especially the United States hold wrong opinion about many personalities and countries. Without doubt, this fact has caused Washington to take several wrong and unilateral actions in the past. The United States will continue to do more as long as Washington refuses to change her foreign policy mechanism.

In one of my books, “The Undressing of Bill Clinton’s White House: Enemies of United States’ Democracy Unmasked” which was published in 2010, I have pursued the argument that America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 was based on wrong intelligence. This is unfortunate. Only God knows what the world has suffered in the hands of the world’s super powers owing to faulty intelligence and wrong opinions they hold about personalities and governments.

The time has therefore come for the world to wake up and act fast too. It is exceedingly unwise and wasteful for the United States to sacrifice the lives of thousands of brilliant youths and billions of taxpayers’ dollars to fight terrorism while she is provoking more people to embrace extreme violence. It will be far cheaper and easier to achieve victory over terrorism by simply respecting the human rights of citizens and political independence of weaker nations.

Back then, our grand parents used guns to fight for political independence from the colonists. In this age, we should use patriotism to fight for the economic independence of the African continent. Without economic independence, our future will offer nothing. Too many of our patriots have been blinded by the west.