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.

The Boko Haram Question

It is not surprising that the Boko Haram question is fast gaining space in Nigeria. For a country that has almost been ruined by poor leadership in the political, cultural, economic, and religious sectors; the emergence of the Boko Haram sect is only a positive reminder that God loves Nigeria. With the pitiable depth Nigeria has sunk to in the last fifty years, many outside the shores of the country had thought that the world’s most populous black nation would have been dead and buried in the backyard of African history. Nigerians should therefore thank God before worrying about the menace of Boko Haram.

Over the last few months, many commentators have made the grave mistake of putting the Niger Delta crisis in the same basket with the Boko Haram question. Others have placed Boko Haram in the same cage with the Odua and Biafra agendas. They are not in any way birds of the same feather.

History has shown that political, social, and economic ideologies built on the foundation of religion is usually very complex and difficult to manage. This is due to the important place of God in the affairs of men and societies. It has therefore been easy for people and organizations to hide behind the banner of religion to promote their individual and collective beliefs. Even when some of these beliefs are doubtful or unpalatable, fear of the wrath of the unseen God- and not necessarily threats of violence weakens the resolve to put up open resistance. This, coupled with high quality propaganda has earned many radical Islamic organizations such as Al Qaeda the sympathy of many Muslim faithfuls.

In analyzing the Boko Haram question, one fundamental issue must be fully digested. Every religion has a unique way of responding to different issues involving God. For instance; Christians will gladly wait for God to avenge those that desecrate His name, nature, or eminence. Some Muslim sects will not. They will rather stand up to physically defend the name, nature, and eminence of Allah. This is the foundation of Islamic radicalism or fundamentalism. Unfortunately, several western countries like Britain and the United States have refused to accept this bare reality. The result is a steady increase in terrorist activities all over the world. In their own folly, Washington and London have responded with the use of extreme force against militant organisations at home and abroad.
Despite the astronomical amount of human and financial resources deployed in the last twenty years to combat religious radicalism as represented by Al Qaeda and sister organisations, very little have been achieved. This is one simple reason why I strongly endorse President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to bring the leadership of the Boko Haram sect to a round table. This should not be seen as weakness on the part of the federal government. President Jonathan should not for any reason repeat the mistakes of the two Bush presidencies in the United States. They undermined the complexities and spiritual strength of Islamic fundamentalists. We are all sad witnesses to how wrong Washington was.
With superior arguments, the Boko Haram sect will disengage. This argument will however not be done with threats, guns and tanks. In 2009, the Nigerian federal government appropriated about N400b to equip the military to extinguish militancy in the Niger Delta region but failed woefully. What the military succeeded in achieving was the demolition of several coastline communities. They also won the prize of killing thousands of innocent women and children.
With all of these in mind, the federal government will need to invest enough political will and diverse resources to make the Boko Haram leadership appreciate the truth about the mechanism of globalization. They need to be told that our failing value system- not western education is responsible for the sordid state we have found ourselves. A whole lot of intellectual capacity will be required to achieve this dream.

I am not aware that western education encourages government officials to ignore the interests of the wider society and protect their private interests alone. Western education does not teach corruption. It does not also promote sexual promiscuity. No doubt, the concerns raised by Boko Haram are tenable. The problem is how to address them. This should be a challenge to all political, economic, cultural, and religious leaders in Nigeria. We cannot sit back and allow our values to be rubbished by the greed and strength of a few heeled persons in the society.

The Undressing of Bill Clinton's White House

My latest book; The Undressing of Bill Clinton's White House: Enemies of United States' Democracy Unmasked offers a fresh perspective on the primary essence of political leadership. It argues that democracy does not begin and end with organizing credible elections. That, sound political leadership should go beyond appearing in cassock.

While recognizing the importance of morality, the book rejects the opinion that integrity alone can make one a successful leader. It also argues that Bill Clinton's private life failing is better than the public life failure of most American presidents.

The book can be purchased from: http://i-proclaimbookstore.com/unofbiclwhho2.html