By Kayode Emola
From Venezuela to Nigeria the story seems to be the same when it concerns President Trump. Presently, over fifteen thousand US military personnel are battle ready to take out the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who has been given the opportunity of a safe passage to any country of his choice. Whether he will take it or not remains to be seen and what actions the US President will take.
When it comes to that of Nigeria, it will be what Yoruba refer to as “abowaba” (we’ll get back to that) approach President Trump is adopting. It’s more than a month now that President Trump threatened to attack the terrorists in Nigeria. Many people are wondering whether it’s still going to happen or whether this is the end we’ve end of the matter.
The truth of the matter is the US President is not sitting on the hands on this matter. He has appointed US congress men and women to investigate the matter, and this people are working night and day to get to the bottom of the matter. However sceptical some of our people may be about the intervention of the US, one thing is certain, it will surely happen.
What we can’t say is when it will happen and what the consequences or the fall out of the intervention will be. The most interesting thing is that at last, for once the US is alive to its responsibilities as the police of the world.
As for Nicolas Maduro, whether he is removed as President or not will depend on the support he receives from Russia. With the war in Ukraine, I don’t know how much appetite and resources the Russia federation is happy to deploy to save a foreign country. Especially when its own country and military personnel are in the frontline of a war. My guess is that if Russia could not save President Assad of Syria, then the likelihood of saving Nicolas Maduro is very slim.
Concerning we the Yoruba people, there are a lot of things we can begin to do amidst all these ongoing events. First thing we must realise is that it is very evident that there is nothing left to salvage in Nigeria. Even if the US army comes to Nigeria with all the armoury and arsenals they have, if the fundamentals that caused the insecurity is not addressed, the problem is bound to reoccur.
Therefore, as much as the US is wanting to fight terrorism in Nigeria which is a blessing. We Yoruba must realise that except we separate from Nigeria, poverty and terrorism will continue to be the experience for many of our folks. There is hardly any day that goes by without an incident of kidnapping taking place somewhere in Yorubaland.
Many of our folks can no longer travel to Nigeria from abroad without the fear of being kidnapped for ransom or worse still be killed by terrorists roaming our forests. Many are choosing to travel to other parts of Africa for holidays just to avoid going to Nigeria. For those who are brave enough to travel to Nigeria, they must get private security for they and their families protection which is not supposed to be.
How Nigeria allowed terrorism to fester for 15 years without any government intervention to curb it beats my imagination. The same Nigeria government that says it could not fight insecurity, and insurgency had the military personnel and equipment to put out a coup plot in neighbouring Benin Republic.
Therefore, it is evident that the lives and properties of Nigeria do not matter to the government. I will urge our Yoruba people to get themselves together and decide now that the only solution for us is total exit from Nigeria. Anything other than that is just cosmetics that is bound to fade away when tested in heat.
