tacticalmistake

10January1996

Even Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, the uncompromisingly pro-
government Federal Minister of Information, has thought
it expedient to echo the now familiar refrain, made
popular by the former Head of State, General Yakubu
Gowon, that the hanging of the Ogoni nine was a tactical
blunder. It is gradually becoming generally accepted that it
was not tactically proper for Nigeria to have hanged the nine
despite international appeals and at a time when
Commonwealth leaders were meeting, at Auckland,
Newzealand.

This was a noble gathering sporting a number of Heads of
State who had personally pleaded that the death sentence
be commuted. Why would not the decision to seemingly rush
the hangings be seen as a calculated slap on their noble
faces?
To them, Nigeria had said, by her action, that she could do
whatever she wanted to do and that nobody could do
anything about it. They therefore needed to tell Nigeria in no
uncertain terms that they were too important to be ignored.

In order to prove this point, the super-important ones
among them had to very rapidly bring about the imposition
of limited sanctions on Nigeria by no meaner a body than the
world’s life-wire, the European Union. In addition, the United
States, which buys 45% of our oil, and China, who are
poised to very conveniently step into any hastily deserted
shoes, have been directly appealed to, to support an oil
embargo on Nigeria, and effect thereby, the strangulation of
this nation.

An oil embargo, they hope, would bring Nigeria to her knees
by probably precipitating a scenario of unpaid salaries,
unpaid contractors, unexecuted projects, shut-down
factories, shut-down oil companies, refineries and Ompadec
concerns. Then would follow massive retrenchment,
unemployment, stagnant markets, lack of essential
commodities and the disruption of social services, such as
water, electricity, health care, road construction, low-cost
housing and so on. How great, the love they have for
democracy, and for Nigeria!

With the widespread malnutrition and starvation that should
invariably follow the above, Mandela et al must expect young
Nigerians, in the throes of aborted visions and impotent
rage, to spill onto the streets with clenched fists, and catch
bullets in bleeding bowels, as it was in Soweto.

These horrid prospects and the present rapid loss of
international esteem, fanned by opportunistic secret and
ancient foes, help put in clear perspective why everybody is
beginning to say that we had made a tactical blunder. We
have eaten fish with barbed bones while quarrelling with
native doctors, as our forefathers would, no doubt, have put
it.

But what exactly is a tactical blunder? It certainly is not the
same thing as a tactless blunder. Words can indeed be
funny. What General Gowon’s statement implies, whether he
means that or not, is that Nigeria made a mistake but that
this mistake was tactical. Seen this way, the quick hanging
of the convicted persons was possibly impelled by a desire
to tell the international community, who had spent several
sleepless nights and undertaken many a journey in
connection with June 12 (annulled elections) and the recent
coup trials, that there was a limit to how much they could
influence or indeed dictate events in Nigeria.

In other words, Nigeria was by her action making a fresh
declaration of independence, especially that aspect of
independence called sovereignty. A sovereign nation is
supposed to have limitless powers to self-govern her share
of human beings and to administer their rights. At least, that
is the ordinary English meaning of sovereignty.

What the super-important countries are saying, however, is
that, in matters relating to disputed elections, the opposition
of Government, judicial processes, human rights, civil liberty
and environmental care, no nation shall exercise sovereignty
without regard for the super-sovereignty of ‘universal
standards’. Universal standards are deemed breached when
an action of Government, including underground nuclear
testing, offends the sensibilities of Big Brothers in the
international community.

Where a sovereign nation, especially one from the so-called
third world, proves difficult to convince and so hesitates to
fall in line, she is reminded of the fact that no nation can
truly call herself independent, at least, in economic matters.
That reminder is called ‘sanctions’, the Mobile Police of
‘international law’. The goal of the noble ones, who verily
verily cannot be ignored, is the ultimate ultra-hominization of
the whole world, in their own image.

Long live Nigeria.