Politicians’ Debate in Washington; is Nigeria unsuitable for discourse on Nigeria?

 

 

OUR politicians never cease to amaze. Their trip to a Washington policy forum on Nigeria’s plans and preparations for the 2015 elections leaves many wondering what America has to do with how Nigerians are governed. The affinity for rushing abroad to ventilate feelings about Nigeria must have more motives than the patriotism that people tend to wrap round it. Why do the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, believe Americans are the best audience about their concerns over the 2015 elections? Will Americans vote in the elections? Will they be the ones to live under the cruel conditions politicians have subjected Nigerians to since 1999 when they began the new round of unfulfilled promising to improve the country? Have we not seen the country degenerate to increasing poverty and collapse of infrastructure that should support employment generation?
What were they doing in Washington engaging in schoolchildren debate, waiting to win the approval of their hosts and possibly secure more invitations to more debates in America? Has Nigeria finally proven unsuitable for discourse on Nigeria? What was the Washington outing meant to achieve when the parties are not engaging the electorate? Who paid for the waste?
The Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, is an intelligence centre fishing for information for the good of Americans. It has no interest in Nigeria, like most international organisations, beyond a semblance of stability that continues to guarantee the interests of America and her allies.
Another concern of Americans is that further degeneration of Nigeria could lead to mass migration abroad with the US as a target. If Nigerians understand these, they would stop jumping at opportunities to rehash the country’s challenges abroad to titillate audiences that are part of those sowing the divisiveness that denies our country greatness. The United States, contrary to popular expectations, would not want Nigeria to attain greatness for it would minimise some of America’s influences round the world.
Fora like the CSIS’ are meant to check how the divisive agenda on Nigeria is working. CSIS and their principals would be glad to see Nigerians tearing themselves apart. If they were that vicious against each other abroad, the bigger fight would be back home.
Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, Professor Ade Adefuye, warned the contending sides about washing the country’s linen in public and raised questions about the propriety of Nigerians coming to the United States to discuss their problems.
The bigger question is what the ambassador was doing at the forum. He should have declined the invitation with the same points he raised. His eminent presence conferred official approval on the disgrace in Washington.