There is no gainsaying the fact that our beloved country, Nigeria, is currently in a high-octane dysfunction. Some might argue that it is because  of the kind of  President we have; but my own argument would be that President Muhammadu Buhari has never been anything different since he took the oath of office on May 29, 2015. In truth, the current dysfunction  is not unconnected to the various theaters of war across the country,  and we must know that President Buhari allowed this ferment.

The mendacity of 2015 and what Nigeria has become today, even as the unraveling continues is a near parallel to the lies that George Bush and Tony Blair told the world two decades ago. It was almost a year and six months after the September 11 attacks, and America was looking for an avenue to reassert itself. It knew that the intelligence was wrong, yet it was packaged and sold to its allies, including the British. Even though, then Prime Minister, Tony Blair did not see hard evidence, he joined the allied forces and took the British to Iraq.

At that time, Tony Blair was heard saying: “I only know what I believe.” Many may have wondered what he meant by that statement. For some, it was an appeal to the heart; while for others, it was a political sleight-of-hand, a simple way of saying, I have no concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. During the same period, we were also fed with such nonsensical statement accredited to the then Secretary of Defence of the US, Donald Rumsfeld, during a news briefing, he said: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we do not know.”

In the period leading to the launch of the war on March 19, 2003, the Arab League voiced its opposition to the war in very strong terms. In fact, in retrospect, it was as if the leaders of the Arab League were gazing at a crystal ball when they declared that “invading Iraq would open the gates of hell.” Indeed, after 20 years, and counting, that gate has become a gaping hole that continues to consume vital resources that could have been deployed in other ventures, and most of the crises in the Middle East could be traced to the fallout of the Iraq war.

It is now an open secret that Iraq was invaded on specious intelligence which was primarily sourced from a defector referred to as Curveball, who was also an alcoholic. The events of the last two decades have been tumultuous for the world and the Middle East, but particularly for the Iraqi people, even though one of the core arguments of Bush and Blair made for war on Iraq was for the betterment of the Iraqis – freeing them from the grip of a despot. Yes, Sadam Hussein was removed, however at an awful cost: about 300,000 lives, according to one estimate. Sadly, most of the casualties are Iraqi civilians.

Since 2003, so much has happened due to the leadership vacuum created at the heart of the Middle East with the fall of Saddam Hussein. In Iraq, ethnic and tribal sentiments and mistrust have crippled every government, and as a result, the present government is unable to provide something as basic as water. But then, we have seen major problems like the rise of ISIS and the Caliphate, and the impasse in Syria after President Asad killed thousands of his people without a clear resolution and action from the United Nations; and not leaving out the resultant northward migration of Arab youths to Europe.

Even Nigeria has not been spared from the ripple effects of the bad decision of Bush and Blaire because ISIS has gained a foothold in Nigeria. For instance, a December 2022 article on The Africa Report had the following caption: “Nigeria 2023: ISIS make inroads in Nigeria ahead of elections, says the report. But, the first paragraph of the article was more telling, and it reads: “The ISIS-backed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) had a “successful year” in Nigeria in 2022, carrying out attacks in the capital, Abuja; Kano; Kaduna; and setting up bases in and around Niger State, according to a report by a Nigerian based intelligence research consultancy, SBM Intelligence.”

As you already know, aside from natural causes, the 2022 flood inclusive, Boko Haram, ISIS and of course rogue Fulani herdsmen are the reason why Nigerian is in a food security crisis. Farmers are unable to cultivate their lands, while those who manage to cultivate their lands are unable to go back to the farms for harvest. Reports have it that in some cases, most farming communities have been  sacked to the point of no return. Even though Nigeria was not a member of the United Nations Security Council in 2003, and it is not a member currently, one might ask if our voice was heard in the Committee of Nations opposing the Bush and Blaire rascality. Honestly, I am in doubt if we took a position; or, if we even had the political finesse to play our part as the largest black nation on earth, and the so-called giant of Africa.

For too long, we have stood on the sidelines of history, and international epochs due to our perpetual babyhood. We have allowed international trouble to show up at our doorstep, even when we have no hand in it, but because we lack the clarity to make the right decision, and to take timely actions. The political significance and the full ramifications of the events of the past two decades are a kettle of fish still on fire. But the world, and Nigeria in particular, seem to have learned no lessons from the unholy cocktail of so-called expert advice and political massaging. This much was made plain at the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic; the experts sent the world into a lockdown without any real scientific proof that the approach would stem the spread of the virus.

But, it did not stop there. Major global leaders used their platforms to spread fear, especially in Africa. For instance, Melinda Gates was on CNN when she mentioned that the developing world would be hit the hardest, making particular reference to Africa. Some might have forgotten her actual words, but thank God for the news media and the internet that never forgets. She said: “It’s going to be horrible in the developing world.

“Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad, is because they do not have access to many tests. Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa.”Her projections were preposterous; yet when it did not materialise, African countries were accused of not having accurate data. Fortunately, the truth remains that; compared to our population of 1.2 billion people in Africa both the infection rate and the death from the covid-19 pandemic were infinitesimal.Another major case of global group thinking and disinformation is coming from the World Economic Forum, and other global institutions, especially in the issue regarding global warming and what should be done to curtain it. As it is, if most of the advanced ideas are implemented, global GDP would fall, and the negative impact will be more on developing countries like Nigeria.

As I look through the prism of time, and the lies that have been told over and over again by global leaders in the wake of the Iraqi war twenty years on, I am saddened that black Africa especially has not found its own voice. We are still fed crumbs of information in the event of a global crisis that might not be in our best interest. We need to wake up!

By:  Raphael Pepple