A legal practitioner, Maxwell Opara, has filed an alleged defamatory suit seeking N10 billion in damages against Twitter and the State Security Service.

In the writ of summons marked FCT/HC/CV/7186/23 and filed at the FCT High Court by Malachy Nwaekpe, Mr Opara listed Twitter Nigeria Limited and the SSS director-general as the first and second defendants, respectively.

The SSS, the attorney general of the federation, and the justice minister are listed as 3rd and 4th defendants in the suit dated August 11 and filed August 14.

The lawyer filed the suit against the allegation that Twitter, now known as X, “negligently allowed the defamatory, ethnic profiling, and racist comments against” him by the SSS under the leadership of its director-general on the security agency’s platform on July 18 for more than 96 hours.

Mr Opara, who alleged that the post was caused to be published and made viral to millions of readers, described the message as “false, defamatory, demeaning, disparaging and harmful.”

He, therefore, sought eight reliefs which include “an order of this honourable court directing the second and third defendants (the secret police’s director-general and SSS), jointly and severally, to issue a letter of apology on the first defendant’s platform Twitter and a daily newspaper widely read across the federation of Nigeria.

Mr Opara sought an order of the court directing the defendants to pay N10 billion as damages for the various defamatory, demeaning, disparaging, and harmful words of the third defendant under the leadership of the second defendant, which words were published and caused to go viral by the 1st defendant on its Twitter platform.

“An award of 10 per cent post-judgment interest per annum on the entire judgment sum from the date of judgment till the same is fully liquidated,” stated Mr Opara.

The matter was yet to be assigned to a judgment at the time of the report.

In the tweet, SSS said, “Charge and bail, overzealous uninformed IPOB/ESN lawyer Maxwell Okpara mobilises other like-minded lawyers against DGSS. Futile Efforts. Well, Nigerians, beware! This is in bad faith. Transferred aggression.”

It added, “A Biafran republic agitator and outlawed IPOB counsel defending the suspended CBN governor. Is IPOB defending one of theirs? What a contradiction. What’s the connection? May Maxwell be properly educated on points of law, please.”

(NAN)

Leaders of the Muslim Community in Lagos on Wednesday staged a protest to the State House of Assembly over the recent list of 39 commissioner-nominees released by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The Muslim community had earlier voiced out against the list which has eight Muslims and 31 Christians, saying the list is unfair to the Muslims in the state and demanded a review.

However, the state government had ignored the protest of the Muslims as the House of Assembly on Monday commenced the screening of the nominees.

On Wednesday, leaders of the Muslim Community led by the President and Elderstatesman, Prof. Tajudeen Gbadamosi, stormed the House of Assembly to protest against what they called official discrimination of the Muslims in the state.

Heads of various Islamic organisations and scholars were also in attendance at the protest where Prof. Gbadamosi presented a petition to the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa.

They were carrying banners and placards with inscriptions such as “Muslims say no to official discrimination,” “All we ask is fairness,” “Stop the Screening Now, we want Justice”, among others.

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In the petition read by the President, the Muslims expressed “grievance and dissatisfaction against the blatant disregard for justice, equity and fairness in the proposed Lagos State’ Executive cabinet as contained in the list of commissioner-nominees.

According to the group, the list “is a classic case of discrimination and religious bigotry, as it has 31 nominees who are of the Christian faith and only eight (8) nominees who are Muslims.”

“This is not a new development, especially since Governor Sanwo-Olu assumed leadership of this State, as a matter of fact, it is has been elevated to a level of official state policy to deny Muslims their deserved positions under the Sanwo-Olu administration.

“For instance, in 2019, when Mr. Sanwo-Olu became governor, he appointed 14 Special Advisers, and only one (1) among them was a Muslim. Again, his State Executive Council, which had 43 members, only 14 were Muslims, and the remaining 29 were Christians. Also, of the 23 commissioners, 10 were Muslims and 13 of them Christians. Only 15 Muslims, with 35 Christians, made up the body of 50 Permanent Secretaries in his first term. These are just a few among numerous ways in which the Sanwo-Olu administration deny Muslims in this state their rightful place and number in leadership.”

The Muslim Community observed that Sanwo-Olu’s violates the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria particularly Section 14(4) and section 192(2).

The sections say: “The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples of the Federation.”

“192(2) Any appointment to the office of Commissioner of the Government of a State shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the House of Assembly of the State, be made by the Governor of that State and in making any such appointment the Governor shall conform with the provisions of section 14(4) of this Constitution.”

Gbadamosi said, “With due respect Governor Sanwo-Olu’s list clearly violates these provisions of the Constitution and we accordingly call upon this honorable House not to endorse any action that violates our national grundnorm, especially one which equally violates good conscience and natural justice.

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“The argument that Muslims have more elected officials in Lagos State in preposterous. This is even more so at a time when all the Six (6) Governors of the southwest are Christians and we the Muslims do not complain about this, because we recognise that they contested for offices and won.

“Why must Muslims in Lagos State always beg and fight for their constitutional rights especially since Mr Sanwo-olu became Governor? We recall with utmost sadness really, that until the Supreme Court ruled in favour of hijab for our school girls, successive Lagos Governments, never felt it should endeavor to align with the global best practice of accepting hijab in addition to abiding with the rule of law.

“The historic pro-hijab judgement was delivered in March 2022 and globally acknowledged. However, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s government in its peculiar idiosyncrasy chose to ignore this until a year later, after ceaseless pressure was mounted by well-meaning individuals.

“We the Muslims of, and in Lagos State wish to categorically state that the entire leadership of the Muslim Community of Lagos State representing various Muslim organizations, unequivocally and unanimously reject the list of commissioner-designates of Governor Sanwo-Olu and we demand a reversal and review to reflect 60% in favour of Muslims in a fresh list.

“We call on the Lagos State House of Assembly to reject the list as similarly done in the Niger State House of Assembly, where a noticeably minority Christian population demanded a reversal of the list of commissioners to reflect fairness and equity to them. We also call on you and the House of Assembly to impress on the government the need to respect the diversity of the state’s population and to appoint a more representative cabinet. We believe that this is essential for the future stability and prosperity of Lagos State.”

The Kano State Government has mandated the suspension of school fees increase for all private schools operating in the state.

The schools are also expected to renew their operating licenses in line with Governor Abba Yusuf’s policy on quality education in the state.

This is coming after the Special Adviser to the Kano State Government on Private Schools, Baba Umar, had a meeting with private schools stakeholders.

Umar noted that the suspension of increment of school fees for private schools is to ensure that there are no exploitations.

Kano schools are currently on holidays as school owners are looking forward to wards resumption for the first time in a new session after the price hike on commodities due to subsidy removal. However, some school owners and parents have mixed feelings on the government’s decision.

The federal capital territory (FCT) command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it intercepted about 3,091.032 kg of “illicit drugs” between January and August. 

Kabir Tsakuwa, NDLEA FCT commandant, disclosed this during an interview with NAN on Wednesday in Abuja.

Tsakuwa said the drugs were worth over N56.9 million.

The commandant said the seized drugs included cannabis sativa, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, tramadol, rohypnol, diazepam, ecstasy, and megadon, adding that cannabis sativa accounted for the largest seizure.

He also said 343 drug suspects —328 males and 15 females — were arrested within the period under review.

Tsakuwa also said 188 drug offenders were prosecuted, while 126 had been convicted and sentenced to various jail terms in the period under review.

“Drugs seized were cannabis sativa 3,022.529 kilograms, cocaine 0.114 kilograms, Methamphetamine 1.25 kilograms, Heroin 0.0021 kilograms,” he said.

“We also seized suspected Tramadol 18.578 kilograms, Rohypnol 1.195 kilograms, Diazepam 4.471 kilograms, Ecstasy 0.113 kilograms and Megadon 0.263 kilograms.

“The monetary value of these drugs stands at approximately N56, 903, 600) only.”

He added that 33 persons with drug use disorder were rehabilitated, while 102 drug users had been counselled and released within the period.

Tsakuwa added that the agency would collaborate with other security agencies within the FCT to dislodge shanties and hot spots.

[TheCable] 

The Kebbi State Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has seized 4,200 litres of petrol, 46 bags of foreign rice, 88 bales of second clothes, and other smuggled items.

The Command also handed over 81 tablets of Cannabis sativa, 138 packs of tramadol to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the state.

Addressing newsmen at the Command’s headquarters, the state Comptroller of Customs, Ben Oramalugo, said the items were seized during routine operations at various borders along the state.

He noted that though the closure of Kamba border and other borders close to Niger Republic has affected the revenue drive of the Customs.

The official added that the duty paid value of the seized items was estimated at N51.4m.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said the ‘Emilokan’ slogan will not win elections in the state.

He spoke while receiving the leaders of Edo South Senatorial District at the Government House.

President Bola Tinubu used ‘Emilokan’ during his presidential election campaign.

However, Obaseki said: “Edo people will not accept ‘Emilokan’ as a strategy in government as they are not known for that. For us, it is the people that will decide.

“What has happened in the last few months is strange, and even if you have ambition, this is not the time to express it. The timetable for the election is not out. You can’t be part of a government and also be the one to destabilise the same government.

“I thought we came together and will leave together and let the people say you have done a great job, and they will now make the decision themselves. They are the ones to say that come rain or sunshine, we must continue.

“You are telling the world one thing and yet doing another. You are loyal to your principal and yet you are in Court with your principal. Everybody has the right to be ambitious but do it the right way.”

Obaseki was apparently speaking about Philip Shaibu, his deputy. Shaibu recently dragged his principal to court to stop him from removing him from office.

The Governor had accused his deputy of manipulating youth council elections to favour his ambition of succeeding him.

Two leading opposition figures in the country, former Vice president Atiku Abubakar and a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, recently held a meeting in Abuja.

The meeting took place at the residence of the former Governor and leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) late Tuesday.

Kwankwaso confirmed the meeting on his Facebook page, saying that “I was pleased to receive my brother, the former Vice President, His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at my residence this evening. I thank Waziri for this fraternal visit. – RMK.”

Though details of the meeting are yet to be known as those close to the two leaders have kept sealed lips, Daily Trust gathered that the meeting might not be unconnected with the political situation in the country and recent developments.

Before taking oath of office, President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met with Kwankwaso, his NNPP rival in the election.

According to sources, the president considering a Government of National Unity and had planned to include Kwankwaso and some of his allies in his administration.

However, neither Kwankwaso nor any of his known associates made the ministerial list, while the immediate past governor of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, a known political foe of Kwankwaso, had some impute in the cabinet.

After Tinubu met with Kwankwaso, Ganduje had expressed worries, saying he felt abandoned.

In a leaked conversation, Ganduje was heard telling Alhaji Ibrahim Masari, one of Tinubu’s aides that there was noise all over Kano over the meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso.

The governor was then heard saying, “What could I have told him? Now he (Tinubu) is seeing Kwankwaso as an alternative to us? No problem. Because we don’t have a government? And it is even because of him (Tinubu) that we lost the government. Even if he would see him (Kwankwaso), he ought to have called us too. Or don’t you understand, even if symbolically.”

But Ganduje’s body language changed in the following weeks as he warmed his way into Tinubu’s camp, emerging National Chairman of the ruling party and also nominating a replacement for Maryam Shetty, the nominee who was dropped for the inclusion of Gnduje’s former commissioner in Tinubu’s cabinet.

Before the election Atiku and his allies tried to form a political alliance with Kwankwaso against the APC and its presidential candidate, but that was not to materialize.

Even though a source close to the former Vice President told Daily Trust that the meeting was just for fraternal greetings, the days ahead will show weather a new political alliance is already in the offing.

A notorious terrorist, Dogo Gide, and his members have claimed responsibility for shooting down a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter near Chukuba Ward in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

Naija News earlier reported that a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft, on Monday, took off from Kaduna en route to Minna, the Niger state capital when the incident occurred at about 1:00 pm.

In a statement on Monday, the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Edward Gabkwet, said the aircraft was on a casualty evacuation mission when the crash happened.

He said that the aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Niger state.

But in a viral video allegedly recorded at the site of Monday’s Air Force jet crash, Gide, and his group claimed responsibility for the accident.

In the less-than-three minutes clip, the terrorists claimed they killed dozens of soldiers on the plane.

The video showed terrorists wielding AK-47s. The aircraft had the inscription NAF 582.

The narrator said: “These are bodies belonging to soldiers of the Nigerian Army who attacked us with the intention of causing us harm.

“They did this to see the downfall of Dogo Gide and by God’s grace, he is still alive and won’t die.

“These are dozens of soldiers as you can see them. This is their airplane. Repent, we have no business with anyone except those who try to come for us. This is God’s work. We used an AK-47 to bring down this plane.

“Take a look at them. Let this be a lesson. You all should repent. It is not our intention to kill but for everyone to be enlightened and have the fear of God. Leaders who sent these soldiers our way to be killed by us should repent.

“We won’t surrender from pressure or even an aeroplane. Dogo Gide, who is their target, won’t die now. He is still alive. These are the AK-47s we used to bring down this plane.

“We opened fire when we sighted them and they did the same. Repent and fear God. We pray for God’s mercy at all times. This is God’s work and not ours as you can see.”

A resident, Simon Bulus, told The Nation: “The Dogo Gide terrorist group operates in the forest.”

“When we heard continuous gunshots, we took to our heels. But we saw shots being fired at the helicopter,” a resident, Haruna Ibrahim, said.

In a notable turn of events that sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency community, Binance, a prominent player in the crypto space, has announced its decision to shut down its fiat-to-crypto payments platform, Binance Connect.

This unexpected move comes amidst a broader slowdown in the crypto market, attributed to underlying structural issues within the digital landscape.

Recent market fluctuations have been a rollercoaster ride, with prices experiencing swings in response to various factors. The past 24 hours witnessed a market slump, following a brief upward trend observed over the preceding 7 days, according to the latest market reports.

Within this timeframe, a staggering total of 60,786 traders found themselves in liquidation, resulting in a cumulative liquidation volume of approximately $134.86 million USD.

The most significant liquidation event occurred on the Binance platform involving the ETHUSDT trading pair, with a hefty sum of $2.34 million USD involved.

Today, a chapter comes to an end for Binance Connect, the regulated avenue for purchasing and selling cryptocurrencies affiliated with the Binance exchange.

The decision to terminate operations for @Binance_Connect, effective August 15th, stemmed from the platform’s service provider discontinuing support for card payment services. Speaking on this development, a Binance spokesperson stated:

• “Our continuous evaluation of products and services ensures the alignment of our resources with our long-term strategic objectives at Binance. Over the past six years, Binance has evolved from a mere exchange into a global blockchain ecosystem, encompassing diverse business segments. We remain agile in adapting our business strategy to cater to evolving market dynamics and user preferences.”

Launched under the name “Bifinity” on March 7, 2022, Binance Connect served as an intermediary, facilitating fiat-to-crypto transactions by bridging the gap between the cryptocurrency sphere and conventional financial systems.

Resultantly, Bitcoin’s value encountered a dip over the past 24 hours, resting at approximately $29,000. However, it’s noteworthy that Bitcoin’s dominance over alternative coins (altcoins) has substantially increased.

This rise in dominance is attributed to the ongoing downturn in most altcoins, including notables like XRP, meme-inspired coins, EOS, and Solana, which have experienced losses of up to 5%.

Not long ago, Bitcoin surged by more than $1,500, touching a multi-week high above $30,000. Despite this rally, Bitcoin’s momentum faltered, leading to a significant drop the following day.

Interestingly, the cryptocurrency demonstrated stability over the week despite limited trading activity.

Furthermore, analytical chart patterns illustrate Bitcoin’s struggle to break free from the tight trading range hovering between $29,200 and $29,500, resulting in a lack of heightened price volatility, as anticipated.

This period of price calm for Bitcoin coincides with a decline in trading volume and year-on-year volatility for Bitcoin derivatives.

The 30-day average trading volume for both Bitcoin options and futures has hit its lowest point since January 2023, totalling approximately $487.37 million and $16.7 billion, respectively.

Amidst these fluctuations, industry experts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s prospects.

Analysts at Delphi Digital assert that a consolidation phase akin to the period between 2015 and 2017 is underway around the $30,000 mark, with indicators pointing towards a potential all-time high (ATH) for Bitcoin in Q4 2024.

In parallel news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be inching closer to greenlighting the launch of a Bitcoin Spot ETF investment vehicle after a protracted period of regulatory compliance.

In a strategic move, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, has furnished additional details to its Bitcoin ETF applications currently under SEC review.

This development has rekindled investor interest in the cryptocurrency realm both nationally and globally.

Taking a proactive stance, the company has forged a “supervisory sharing agreement” with Coinbase, a significant player in the crypto exchange arena.

This decision comes on the back of reports suggesting the SEC’s openness to considering ETF applications structured under such arrangements.

BlackRock joins the ranks of several entities awaiting regulatory approval for their crypto ETF submissions within the SEC’s domain.

Among them, ARK Invest, helmed by CEO Cathie Wood, submitted an application for an ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF listing in May 2023.

The company has recently faced a regulatory setback, encountering an additional 21-day delay from the SEC, providing the regulator with a three-week window to open the proposal for public input.

Everybody saw the coming disaster but the Economic community of West African States (Ecowas) whose top leaders, the Heads of State and Governments of its Member States, excepted the four countries under military regimes they have outlawed -they blindly decided on July 30th that the military route is the wisest way to dislodge those militaries who staged a coup on July 26 against what they term a constitutionally elected President. That happened in Niger Republic. In an esprit the corps, the civilian rulers of the remaining 11 West African States declared they would go to war to ensure their mission to restore democracy in the hapless Sahelian nation is accomplished.

That was grandstanding at its worst. And immediately the feeling ran through the populace of the region and in far-flung regions of the world that in addition to talking tough to preserve their own status, the new political warriors were also suspected to committing an assisted suicide in the hands of France in a bid to help this lingering neocolonial power to maintain its grip on what is called its “pré-carré”, the francophone preserve made up of a confettis of remnants of its colonial past on the continent.

Ecowas’ decision shocked the world. This was the blunder of all blunders awaiting to fall on a West African region already plagued with countless woes, torn apart between its economic impasse, social and security ills, political uncertainties -now comes in the hasty and headless decision by Ecowas to flex its weak muscles with a view to entering in a war, if needs be.

All this came about because its leaders without enough thoughts nor serenity decided barely four days after the coup d’Etat toppled their Nigerien pair that they would not want to be seen as giving to the latest pronunciamentos.

Dismissing their experts, not taken into account their proposition to go it gradually, and not properly consulting at home with their people or Parliaments, acting in an arrogant and blind way, the Authority of the Community as they are referred to, launched a series of unbearable economic sanctions against Niger, hurting strongly its people, along with an ultimatum to the authors of the coup plotters.

They were stark in their posture, calling them either to restore the ousted President, in the name of a sacrosanct constitutional order, within a week time, or face a military intervention that would force them out of office.

Never in international institutional cooperation has there been such a brutal response to an internal upheaval as the one the West African regional leaders have come up with to fix Niger’s latest bout of political disruption with the military exiting their barracks and positioning themselves at the heart and helms of their country’s socio-political life.

For Ecowas to unleash such a blow to the Nigeriens new leaders, many believe, there must be serious reasons.

France’s minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna said they had made the “coup de trop”, one drop too much, immediately echoed by Aïssata Tall Sall, her Senegalese counterpart, borrowing the same expression from her French conceptual leader, to justify the war rhetoric that shakes since then the whole West Africa.

Who may not see that under the threat to be the next domino to fall in a context when militarism or, to use a Nigerian concept, “militics”, is no longer a shame.

An Afrobarometer report recently stated that 53 percent of Africans feel now comfortable with that prospect. And a meeting held over the past ten days in Monrovia, Liberia, even posited that at least two coups d’Etat may rock West Africa before the year ends.

That means we are now experiencing a race to the bottom.

Civilians who came to power in dubious conditions and entrenched themselves in all kinds of shenanigans have been among the loudest in the region’s leadership to call for a military intervention against the Nigeriens coup makers.

Their objective is to frighten the soldiers. To keep them away from the allays of political powers in a bid to maintain what had been the original arrangement after African nations gained independence, ie, that the political and military relations should be governed by the submission of the last groups to the formers.

That principle didn’t however survive long as, at the inception of African countries early years of political independence, over 60 years ago, the syndrome of the big men in power, ethnic-rule or bad governance made the first civilian rulers quickly become illegitimate -and hence the flurry of intrusion of military in African politics to rescue their nations as they cast their move.

In June 1999, at an Algiers Summit, held by the predecessor of the African Union (AU), namely the Organization of African Unity (OAU), African leaders, following a global trend towards democratization, on the back of the end of the Cold war with the demise of the communism, vertical, leadership, agreed to change the continent’s polity.

They decided that a pact making the military return to the barracks, controlling national borders, ensuring a secure national atmosphere and providing military engineering for national development and infrastructure would be matched by an improved, democratic, governance of the politics by the civilians.

That deal fell apart in light of the gross failure of civilians’ rulers to live up to their promise to do better than their Kaki counterparts.

What happened in Niger falls in that context where civilians once they get to power practice “one man, one vote, once”, never willing to exit democratically nor manage the resources of their countries for the national interest but for their private yearnings.

What prompted Ecowas to vade in with the warmongering language may have also to do with the fact that many of its national leaders have a conscience problem. Some of them, if not many, know they have not been elected in a transparent manner; others carry a lot of baggage having looted their countries’ purses and natural resources; and, worse, there are those who have blood in their hands considering their human-rights abuses and even killings.

The Niger military safari they recklessly validated is not surprising for any careful observer of politics in places where democracy is just a tool for achieving private goals.

The world indeed knows that when leaders, in such environments, get confronted at home with challenges that affect negatively their popularity or legitimacy, one of the ways to extricate from their declining lot is to find a way to distract the attention of their compatriots is by finding a scapegoat or distracting project.

In this regard, the fastest bet is to create a war. Argentinian militaries did just that by engaging over forty years ago in a war against the United Kingdom around the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands.

The Niger coming war -if ever it passes the rhetoric level- is not just one about going after a bunch of coup makers nor a derivation conflict alone.

Who is not aware of the geopolitics behind it? Here comes to mind France’s role in this saga. As, clearly, losing her grip on the former colonies she maintains through a solid web of indirect neocolonial strategies in Africa, including the control of their money, the supervision of their resources and security apparatus and the selection of their leaders, acting on her behalf and interests, France has been a driving force behind the tough stance Ecowas has taken on Niger. Even to the poing where it has mobilized the international community, from the United Nations, The AU, The European Union and of course Ecowas puppets eager to serve her wishes.

No matter what America says, despite her laudable efforts at mediating by sending to Niamey, Niger’s capital, Victoria Nulland, her number 2 diplomat, Washington has continued unfortunately to repeat Paris’s mantra.  Stating that Ecowas, that is failing, must be supported. That is a stance that used to be the norm during the Cold war, from 1946 to 1989, when it agreed to a role-sharing with its European, former colonial powers, giving them the mandate to be in charge of Africa while it was focusing on the bigger picture, namely the containment of the Soviet Union.

No one can understand why when neocolonialism is being rejected across the continent and that former colonial powers have left Africa, why Paris remains still hell-bent to salvaging a divine ownership on over a dozen number of African nations. 

The truth is that with herself and her Western allies calling for the sovereignty of Ukraine to be upheld in opposition to the Russian invasion, it has been suffering from since February 2022, how come France has managed to convince further the international community, to back the military solution to end the coup d’Etat in Niger? Many are also aware that it is only doing so to keep control of that hapless country’s uranium while stating the case that her colonial safari is not yet over.

We are living at a time when Francophone people and countries, not necessarily the Trojan horses Paris has kept at their helms, have engaged the battle for a genuine decolonization, the second and most earnest, of their lands.

By covering the military coup, may be the “parricide”, as it is known in French parlance (killing of his adoptive father, Idriss Deby), by General Mahamat Deby, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, is in the midst of this confusing situation while making the local official players being put to use at meeting like those of Ecowas which create a new rupture between an organization losing touch with the pulses of their nations -and the peoples who no longer are aligned with its erratic behavior.

In light of the growing conundrum, we are now faced with a huge dilemma. Will France bankroll a neocolonial military adventure in Niger with the risk of transforming West Africa into a powder keg?  Will it not be funny to see the African military forces being deployed under the supervision of France? How can Macron justifies this zeal when barely two and four months after he was sworn-in as Niger President, the same Mohamed Bazoum he is projecting as a democracy champion was celebrating next to him, on April 2021, the coup d’Etat made by Deby-son as the sole manner to contain the rebels lurking on Chad?

Let us not overestimate the talk of Russia taking advantage of France’s demise in West Africa. The war against Ukraine and the Wagner rebellion, albeit brief, exposed the status of Russia’s Putin: a giant with clay legs…

Let us also not believe that China is eager to mingle in this complex crisis. The decision to invoke “force majeure” by the Chinese firm Guezouba in order to stop the Kandaji dam it was doing in Niger is the confirmation that the Middle Empire is more capitalistic than ideologically driven: hence the wait-and-see attitude it adopts, based on the tenets of real-politics -namely it bids its time, as advised by one of his paramount leaders, Deng Xiaoping, the father of its economic reform, before following the winning side.

The biggest challenge this crisis lay bare is the democracy decay in West Africa. We have never witnessed such a regression. Rule of law is suffocating. Corruption is rife. Social inequality destroys the social harmony. Ethnicism is back with a vengeance. Insecurity and terrorism all around. Human-rights trampled with. State-violence, the legitimate one, as argues Max Weber, is replaced by the surging of private militias, many created to sustain to power their masters. And, compounding this situation; sovereignty is being lost, even reduced, because leaders in the region are more dealers, willing to sell out what had been hitherto the pride of the nations they are in charge of.

Rescuing democracy will take more that bellicose rhetoric from the Ecowas leaders who are first and foremost compelled to show their true democratic colors before lecturing the world on what they don’t practice at home.  Going to war in Niger is an even worse proposition. Having failed to fight the rag-tags armies of terrorists and jihadists, unable to play a Leviathan role as the keeper of security in their national borders, most of them have become day-dreamers.

By announcing they will go to war in Niger to do what America failed to achieve in Somalia in 1993 and in Afghanistan (where it ended up negotiating with the Talibans), the West African leaders did not even take into account that they could not fly their Chiefs of Army Staff to a meeting place in Accra this past Saturday, August 12th. Now they will do the encounter on August 16 and 17th just to show off, to increase their bargaining capacity towards a military junta they know they can get out of power.

Too little, too late. Where will they get the muscles to carry the troops, maintain them, face the budgetary constraints to be added to their dire internal situation? Who will foot the bill? Have they prepared a plan before going to war? Do they have an exit strategy?

With a landmass of 1, 266000 km2, in the hands of a military backed up by their citizenry and the population of West Africa, this harsh and inhospitable territory that Niger is may be the graveyard for many ill-equipped West African armies -and for France’s neocolonial remaining allure. And at the end of the day, the solution will be worse that the ill it was meant to cure may transform West Africa into a new Libya.

The signs are on the walls: the outcome would make of the region a big ball in fire, a volcano, while West Africa would fall further in all the metrics it had tried to meet by creating Ecowas on May 28, 1975. 

This war talk is a joke that is better put aside than maintained as an unnecessary distraction for a region still grappling with challenges that make it the sick man of Africa.

Stop this nonsense…The shortest jokes, even those in the name of grandstanding or to seek legitimacy through proxy-wars, are the best. The West African leaders do not speak on behalf of democracy or the people of the region but only for the Club of civilian coup makers they want to be the sole in this league of criminals -the military is their fiercest competitors in this regard.

Restoring them once they lose power is not in the best interest of democracy, the world must be awaken on the complexity of West African politics…

As far as I am concerned, as an Ecowas citizen, I want to state it candidly: this war is not in my name!

•Adama Gaye, a former Director of Communication of Ecowas, lives in exile after being illegally detained by the human-rights violating state of Senegal. He is the author of Hostage of a State (Editions L’Harmattan) that recounts his ordeal.