The caption above was borrowed from Eli Wallach, popularly referred to as Tuco, in the famous old western movie, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, of the mid-sixties. The ambition of the phrase is to tell one to act immediately, instead of wasting time deliberating or dillydallying on issues. It suggests that a moment for action can be missed if one delays.
Everyone in Nigeria today is perplexed by the pronouncement of President Donald Trump, the President of all-powerful America, that America had designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. He went ahead to publish on his X-handle that he had directed the war department of the US to commence action for a possible action in Nigeria. And the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, was quick to signal their readiness to commence the action.
By possible action in Nigeria, President Trump said, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.” A quick search in the dictionary gave the meaning of guns-a-blazing as attacks with great but reckless determination and energy.
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Certainly, this is frightening, very frightening for a country like Nigeria, that is struggling to get out of the woods from every direction. In response, President Bola Ahmed had spoken personally, through a release signed in person by him, where he said, President Trump’s remarks about what is happening in Nigeria is not reflective of the situation on the ground. Yes, there are killings in the country, but not any organized and coordinated attacks that are targeting the Christians. The Nigerian government under his watch has consistently abhorred and does not condone religious attacks or persecution.
Nigeria is a democracy with constitutional guarantees for all faiths and security challenges affect citizens across all religions and regions, he said. Afterwards, Mr Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, disclosed in a post on X that President Bola Tinubu will meet with President Donald Trump in the coming days to discuss on the Christian genocide allegations.
Although no details were given of where the meeting would hold and how, all these are talks, and the plan for more talks. But methinks, the issue at hand requires shots, before the talks. Swift, speedy and sparkly shots that would resonate with reasoning must be fired. Both President Trump and President Tinubu have agreed that there are killings in Nigeria.
The area of disagreement is the direction or the targets. While the perception of President Trump is that Christians are the target, President Tinubu is saying that is a misperception. The government of Nigeria can win by acting fast to correct that incorrect understanding or interpretation of the situation.
Happily, the former Governor of Jigawa state and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido, had advanced an advice to President Tinubu. He said the President should, as a matter of urgency, invite all the former Presidents and Heads of State of Nigeria who are alive, to a meeting, so as to proffer solution or solutions to the problem.
Thank God some of them have worn boots, and they know the real meaning and implications of the idiom, guns-a-blazing.
In the interim, since the issue has bearings with perception, the government must come up with a template for rapid and result-oriented response, with room for short-term visible results.The military, alongside other security agencies, must be mobilized and specially motivated to move meteorically through all the nooks and crannies of the country. Every corner must be combed and confronted for unconventional warfare.
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Where there is evidence of cynicism of any kind, instant action must be taken decisively and immediately. All actions must be hyped, without submitting to the secretive security concept. After all, we have been secretive about our security operations for decades. And the result is always the reverse, leading to misconceptions. Call it a declaration of emergency on security or anything. But plentiful results must be seen promptly.
That would convince the doubting Thomas’s, including President Trump, that President Tinubu is a man who can shoot when indeed he has to shoot. And hopefully, our country, Nigeria, may be delisted from that page of Countries of Particular Concern, that is already housing Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan.
I don’t think it would do President Trump any good to see Nigeria go the way of countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, or lately, Sudan.
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