The regular election season is here again. All the registered parties have conducted their primaries for nominations into various elective positions, including that of the president. Campaigns for those offices in the 2023 elections will officially commence at the end of the month. While the other parties can be said to have put the presidential primaries behind them, the main opposition party—Peoples Democratic Party—seems to be enmeshed in controversy arising from the exercise. Although other failed presidential aspirants have moved on, forging alliances where necessary, a particular candidate among the lot (a state governor who thinks very highly of himself) is still busy junketing around the world seeking concessions from whoever cares to receive him by promising 100% of his state’s votes. What an illusion! He has demonstrated by all his actions and pronouncements since the primary that he is either a bad loser or a rebel with a cause.
However, that is not the real issue as the governor is not done yet. He has added another perspective and perhaps a more dangerous dimension to the political agitation and rebellion against his own party. According to the Daily Trust newspaper report of September 1, 2022, titled “How the Generals threatened me with CIA,” Governor Nyesom Wike in his usual dramatic moment said some retired generals in the country threatened to use their Central Intelligence Agency contacts to deal with him if he did not do their bidding. Woah, what a bombshell! Can this allegation be true or he is just hallucinating?
Seriously, Nigerians should be worried by this disclosure. The threat of CIA wrath by retired generals in our political environment should be more than enough to send jitters down our spines, especially those who grew up in the 50s and 60s and perhaps read stories of how CIA was allegedly involved in assassinations and regime changes in Latin America, Middle East and Africa. For example, a report in the UK Guardian newspaper of May 5, 2017, entitled “The CIA has a long history of helping to kill leaders around the world,” stated that the “US intelligence agency has since 1945 succeeded in deposing or killing a string of leaders but was forced to cut back after a Senate investigation in the 1970s exposed the scale of its operations. Following the investigation, then President Gerald Ford signed in 1976 Executive Order 11095 stating: “No employee of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire in, political assassination anywhere in the world.” Executive Orders 12036 and 12333 by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan respectively affirmed the ban.
It is in light of the above scenario that we must try to situate Wike’s claim that he was threatened by some retired generals. He has thrown the gauntlet and God forbid that he encounters any unforeseen, it would be difficult to exonerate the so-called generals and the CIA. So it is logical to ask, who are these retired generals? The governor should be bold enough to tell the nation instead of just grandstanding, otherwise, Nigerians will see him for who he is: a coward, a tyrant with massive ego and huge vanity who is gradually coming to the realisation that eight years of immunity will expire at midday on May 29, 2023.
But then, let us give Wike the benefit of the doubt and assume for a moment that he was actually threatened by some unnamed generals because it is doubtful he would talk about CIA if someone did not try to bully him into submission with that nonsense. However, is it rational for such a highly placed state official to go to the marketplace to shout about it when he could have reached out to appropriate security authorities? Perhaps he has lost faith in their ability to do what is necessary in this circumstance; but is he not being protected by same security officials? So what has he gained from the revelation other than giving Nigeria a bad image in the international community?
Nevertheless, who are these generals? How could any general or group of generals worth their ranks name-drop a foreign intelligence service that they do not control? The mighty CIA, how possible? Can these generals even influence local security services? The generals that I know will never descend so low to threaten anyone with whom they are in political contest with the wrath of CIA even if they have such access because they are professionals and know the limit of their reach and the implications for national security. Moreover, they are much respected in the community of intelligence specialists. But this is the Nigeria of 2022, with so much decadence in all sectors, so it is possible that the military now has its own bullies being a microcosm of the larger population. Suffice to say that this Wike saga has more than enough proved to the generality of our countrymen, especially the civilian populace, the often ignored vainglorious antics of some generals, the myth about their invincibility, false pretences, and worse still, school boy bully tactics, their lack of understanding of the subordination of the military to civilian control and lack of appreciation of international affairs and geopolitics. They need to realise the imperatives of the rapidly evolving global arrangements which of course have domestic consequences, as should be
Unfortunately, the CIA has been thrown into our murky politics, at least indirectly, and if anything untoward happens to Wike at this moment in time, it would be easy for his supporters to start conspiracy stories about the reach and legendary tentacles of the CIA and how it can surreptitiously reach its targets. More of fiction than real, I guess! To all intents and purposes, apart from his terrific ambition and terrific confidence, it is safe to assume that Wike is not a threat to the national security interest of the US, since he is not linked to any known crime or something problematic. He is not in the same category as Osama Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri, so why should he be threatened?
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to note that only the US and Nigerian governments can authoritatively say if the CIA is operating in the country and the extent of its operations. One can only assume without evidence though that if the CIA is in Nigeria, perhaps it could be providing intelligence information to the Nigerian military and security and intelligence services in countering violent extremism. But the very attempt to bring the service into Nigeria’s political discourse as the governor did in Port Harcourt at an open forum, is unfortunate, to say the least. One can only imagine how uncomfortable the service would be feeling when a highly placed state official is wittingly or unwittingly pitching it against the Nigerian people and the ludicrousness of retired generals threatening CIA wrath on a state governor. It is therefore irresponsible to attempt to entrap the service knowing that it will not respond one way or the other. Political leaders should take responsibility for their actions instead of blaming outsiders for their immaturity and inability to get desired political benefit.
It is however understandable that after eight years of being a governor, Wike would like to continue to be relevant and what better way to do that than throwing tantrums around to get the attention and assurances of the next president? But must he bring the country and its leaders to disrepute all because he has failed in his bid to become the chosen candidate for the next president of the Federal Republic? Just in case he has a group of people he listens to; they should advise him to think twice and know that Nigeria will outlive people like him. He should be satisfied with the many flyovers and roads he is building in Port Harcourt and leave the imaginary retired generals and the CIA out of our political discourse.
Oloko, a Policy Analyst, writes via [email protected]
