ON THE RESCUE OF ABDUCTED US CITIZEN, AND HOW NIGERIA AND AFRICA NEED THE LIKES OF DONALD TRUMP
November 3, 2020 | News
With reports that an American citizen, Philip Walton, 27, who was abducted in Niger on October 26th, 2020, has been rescued during a high-risk U.S. military counterterrorism raid in a neighboring country of Nigeria,
ON THE RESCUE OF ABDUCTED US CITIZEN, AND HOW NIGERIA AND AFRICA NEED THE LIKES OF DONALD TRUMP
With reports that an American citizen, Philip Walton, 27, who was abducted in the Republic of Niger on October 26th, 2020, has been rescued during a high-risk U.S. military counter-terrorism raid in a neighboring country of Nigeria, I cannot help but wonder why it practically takes forever, for Nigerian and African political leaders to handle/address similar situations in their countries? Or why the countries and their continent are mostly known for such bad news of abduction, kidnap, terrorism and what have you?
The said rescue mission, which was reportedly undertaken by US elite commandos as part of a major effort to free the said U.S. citizen, before his abductors could get far after taking him captive in the Republic of Niger, clearly expressed the value placed by the US Government on the life and wellbeing of every American citizen in other parts of the world. For the Nigerian and African situation, it is the complete opposite of how its political leaders treat and regard its citizens at home and abroad.
This shows how African countries and their leaders are a bunch of confused and self-centered people. In fact, their governments officials are just damn wicked.
Though, the report noted that the said operation involved the governments of the U.S., Niger and Nigeria working together to rescue Walton quickly, but it was the CIA that provided the intelligence leading to Walton's whereabouts, and Marine Special Operations elements in Africa helped in locating him. Then the US elite SEAL Team-Six carried out a "precision" hostage rescue mission and killed all but one of the seven captors, according to officials with direct knowledge about the operation.
In his response, President Donald Trump called the rescue mission a "big win for our very elite U.S. Special Forces" in a tweet and the Pentagon lauded the rescue mission in a statement. And the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our military, the support of our intelligence professionals, and our diplomatic efforts, the hostage will be reunited with his family. We will never abandon any American taken hostage." These are political leaders who place premium value on the lives and wellbeing of its citizens in any part of the world.
One question that we need to ask here is, why have we not had such response from the Nigerian Government in the rescue of Leah Sharibu, the now 17 year-old schoolgirl abducted from her school in northeast Nigeria in February 2018? Let us recall that Leah Sharibu was the sole Christian among 110 schoolgirls abducted by insurgents from their school in Dapchi, Yobe state on 19 February 2018. While her surviving classmates returned a month later following government negotiations, she was denied her freedom for refusing to convert as a precondition for her release. Till today, that poor girl has not been rescued to rejoin with her parents and family.
These, and many more are some of the sad stories in the country and indeed Africa, that make one wonder if we really have Executive Governments and Legislators at all levels? Let us be real with ourselves. The anger and frustration that we see today being poured out by the Nigerian youths and people, is not necessarily because of the police and soldiers, but it's because of the accumulated years of bad governance by Nigerian governments and legislatures at all levels. These are the people, whose actions over the years and still counting, is nothing but sheer wickedness and the height of man's evil against his fellow man. Sadly, some of these youths still run after/support these politicians even after deceiving them. However, many of the Nigerian youths are beginning to realize that these politicians are the real problem. But the corrupt Nigerian politicians (executives and legislators), are still bent on driving home their selfish interests and agendas regardless of what has been happening, and even in the face of the US election.
Just this week, some headline reports in Nigeria are insinuating that Trump's possible re-election "will be a danger to Nigeria's democracy." And one begins to wonder how? Whereas, this is their own way of saying that they are not happy or in support of Trump's possible re-election. Hence, it's more like Trump's re-election is a danger to Nigerian corrupt politicians who are not happy with the no-nonsense stand by him against their abuse of office, electioneering processes and bad governance.
Everything about Trump, who is not like the average politician, seems odd in the ears and eyes of most African leaders and some of its people. The hatred towards Trump today is simply because he is a patriotic American leader who believes in making America great again against all odds. Why the energy exerted today in the attack of Trump? It is simply because of what he stands for. But the truth is, we need the likes of Trump characters in all the 36 States of Nigeria and the federal capital territory, to aggressively rewrite and re-do all the things going wrong in our country, and indeed Africa.
Nigeria is our home and not the US. If Nigeria is safe and thriving economically today with an improved standard of living for every Nigerian citizenry, I am certain most Nigerians won't bother going to the US and Europe. Trump is tagged a bad US leader today simply because he loves his country, and he has stepped on toes to do what needed to be done to prove this. Nigerians who live in the US are there because Nigeria is economically backward and there is high rate of insecurity. So, what we lack in Nigeria are great leaders like Trump, who is a great leader for his people. All of you that hate Trump, are doing so because he loves his country and has been very stiff in his immigration policies. But until we realize that Trump is doing what he has been doing, to foster and protect the integrity of his country and people, and what we need in Nigeria are the likes of Trump across all levels of Government, we would be wasting our time and energies online over the affairs of another nation. It is time we focus on addressing our own issues for posterity sake, and leave other nations to focus on theirs.
Zik Gbemre.
November 4, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
With reports that an American citizen, Philip Walton, 27, who was abducted in the Republic of Niger on October 26th, 2020, has been rescued during a high-risk U.S. military counter-terrorism raid in a neighboring country of Nigeria, I cannot help but wonder why it practically takes forever, for Nigerian and African political leaders to handle/address similar situations in their countries? Or why the countries and their continent are mostly known for such bad news of abduction, kidnap, terrorism and what have you?
The said rescue mission, which was reportedly undertaken by US elite commandos as part of a major effort to free the said U.S. citizen, before his abductors could get far after taking him captive in the Republic of Niger, clearly expressed the value placed by the US Government on the life and wellbeing of every American citizen in other parts of the world. For the Nigerian and African situation, it is the complete opposite of how its political leaders treat and regard its citizens at home and abroad.
This shows how African countries and their leaders are a bunch of confused and self-centered people. In fact, their governments officials are just damn wicked.
Though, the report noted that the said operation involved the governments of the U.S., Niger and Nigeria working together to rescue Walton quickly, but it was the CIA that provided the intelligence leading to Walton's whereabouts, and Marine Special Operations elements in Africa helped in locating him. Then the US elite SEAL Team-Six carried out a "precision" hostage rescue mission and killed all but one of the seven captors, according to officials with direct knowledge about the operation.
In his response, President Donald Trump called the rescue mission a "big win for our very elite U.S. Special Forces" in a tweet and the Pentagon lauded the rescue mission in a statement. And the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our military, the support of our intelligence professionals, and our diplomatic efforts, the hostage will be reunited with his family. We will never abandon any American taken hostage." These are political leaders who place premium value on the lives and wellbeing of its citizens in any part of the world.
One question that we need to ask here is, why have we not had such response from the Nigerian Government in the rescue of Leah Sharibu, the now 17 year-old schoolgirl abducted from her school in northeast Nigeria in February 2018? Let us recall that Leah Sharibu was the sole Christian among 110 schoolgirls abducted by insurgents from their school in Dapchi, Yobe state on 19 February 2018. While her surviving classmates returned a month later following government negotiations, she was denied her freedom for refusing to convert as a precondition for her release. Till today, that poor girl has not been rescued to rejoin with her parents and family.
These, and many more are some of the sad stories in the country and indeed Africa, that make one wonder if we really have Executive Governments and Legislators at all levels? Let us be real with ourselves. The anger and frustration that we see today being poured out by the Nigerian youths and people, is not necessarily because of the police and soldiers, but it's because of the accumulated years of bad governance by Nigerian governments and legislatures at all levels. These are the people, whose actions over the years and still counting, is nothing but sheer wickedness and the height of man's evil against his fellow man. Sadly, some of these youths still run after/support these politicians even after deceiving them. However, many of the Nigerian youths are beginning to realize that these politicians are the real problem. But the corrupt Nigerian politicians (executives and legislators), are still bent on driving home their selfish interests and agendas regardless of what has been happening, and even in the face of the US election.
Just this week, some headline reports in Nigeria are insinuating that Trump's possible re-election "will be a danger to Nigeria's democracy." And one begins to wonder how? Whereas, this is their own way of saying that they are not happy or in support of Trump's possible re-election. Hence, it's more like Trump's re-election is a danger to Nigerian corrupt politicians who are not happy with the no-nonsense stand by him against their abuse of office, electioneering processes and bad governance.
Everything about Trump, who is not like the average politician, seems odd in the ears and eyes of most African leaders and some of its people. The hatred towards Trump today is simply because he is a patriotic American leader who believes in making America great again against all odds. Why the energy exerted today in the attack of Trump? It is simply because of what he stands for. But the truth is, we need the likes of Trump characters in all the 36 States of Nigeria and the federal capital territory, to aggressively rewrite and re-do all the things going wrong in our country, and indeed Africa.
Nigeria is our home and not the US. If Nigeria is safe and thriving economically today with an improved standard of living for every Nigerian citizenry, I am certain most Nigerians won't bother going to the US and Europe. Trump is tagged a bad US leader today simply because he loves his country, and he has stepped on toes to do what needed to be done to prove this. Nigerians who live in the US are there because Nigeria is economically backward and there is high rate of insecurity. So, what we lack in Nigeria are great leaders like Trump, who is a great leader for his people. All of you that hate Trump, are doing so because he loves his country and has been very stiff in his immigration policies. But until we realize that Trump is doing what he has been doing, to foster and protect the integrity of his country and people, and what we need in Nigeria are the likes of Trump across all levels of Government, we would be wasting our time and energies online over the affairs of another nation. It is time we focus on addressing our own issues for posterity sake, and leave other nations to focus on theirs.
Zik Gbemre.
November 4, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes