Why Obama’s Defeat May Be Good For Nigeria

Tomorrow, all things being equal Americans will file out in their numbers to elect the 45^th president of the greatest power in the history of mankind: United States. Nigerians are generally supportive of the reelection of the incumbent President, Barack Obama who is fighting hard against the spirited challenge of Mitt Romney to unseat him. Nigerians’ support for Obama are basically sentimental: because he is black. The same way many supported General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election because he is a northerner and others supported President Goodluck Jonathan because he is from the South-South and it had been long since the north has been ruling so the southerners had to support him. Ask many of the supporters of Jonathan or Buhari what was the economic blue print of Buhari or Jonathan that informed their support for them, they can’t show you. In Nigeria we play politics of sentiment and I see it in the support that Obama enjoys in Nigeria. Sadly for Obama, Nigerians and indeed Africans, Europeans and Middle Easterners that are rooting for him cannot vote in tomorrow’s election.

I am not saying that Obama is going to be defeated tomorrow neither are my sticking out my neck that he is going to win. From information available the election will be too close to call. But my concern is on the impact of his defeat or victory on Nigeria. My position is that Obama’s defeat may be good for Nigeria especially in the ongoing war against Boko Haram. You will recall that United States under Obama have been prevaricating in classifying Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization(FTO), which will automatically blacklist the sponsors and perpetrators of the killings in Northern Nigeria and their assets abroad will also be seized. It is the Republican Party legislators that have been pushing for Boko Haram to be classified as an FTO but they were being frustrated by Obama’s government. To Barack Obama the violence in Northern Nigeria was caused by poverty but he has been sending unmanned drones to Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan to kill terrorists in these countries that have more poverty than Nigeria. If that is not double standard I don’t know what is? So, in terms of what Nigerians can benefit from tomorrow’s election, a victory for Romney, a very staunch conservative Republican, will usher in a president that will be tough on terrorists around the world including Nigeria. If you doubt the impact of classifying Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization see how panicky that Senator Ahmad Zannah was when he was associated with Boko Haram. In his N5billion suit against the Federal Government ,Zannah among other claims that he made in his demand for payment of damages from the defendants(FG and Others) was that by his name being associated with Boko Haram all the foreign agencies and organizations will start treating him as a pariah and his travels to such countries restricted. That is just the tip of the ice berg on what will happen to supporters of terrorism in the North if the Boko Haram is classified as an FTO under President Romney.

However, if Obama wins Boko Haram will continue to be treated as a problem caused by poverty and a cross for Jonathan and Nigeria to carry and I am afraid that it may be too hard for Jonathan and Nigeria alone to address without the support of the most powerful country on earth. Make no mistake about it, I do not support force as the solution to Boko Haram insurgency. I believe in dialogue but dialogue without a mechanism for reining in sponsors of violence will not bring lasting solution. Once a President Romney classify Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization and the sponsors know that their international travels especially their travels for medical treatment is restricted they will seize to sponsor violence. Our leaders hate to die and leave their ill-gotten millions of dollars, so anything that will threaten their health and stop them from going to Dubai, London, Germany, United States etc will not be supported by them. The economy of the North and indeed Nigeria are being destroyed and United States under Obama has not been helpful, perhaps a President Romney will rescue Nigeria.