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A TIME TO SAY THANK-YOU AND
CELEBRATE MOTHERS IN NIGERIA
Kwame Fosu
May 14, 2014
This week, as we empathized and watched the anguish and pain in
the faces of hundreds of grieving mothers, the Rebecca Project
for Justice and people of conscience all around the world prayed
for the safe return of approximately 300 female boarding school
pupils captured on April 14, 2013 by Boko Haram in Northern
Nigeria. It is important that Christians and Muslims in Nigeria
and around the world unite in this fight against an extremist
religious sect that indiscriminately attacks both Christians and
Muslims in their attempt to create a territory where they can
impose their inaccurate interpretation of Islam. This egregious
act by Boko Harm is subsequent to multiple attacks this year in
schools where male students were captured or hacked and burnt
alive and their school buildings and homes burnt to the ground.
Unlike male students, female students are usually not killed
instead they are taken forcibly into captivity as "brides" or
trafficked slaves. However, in spite of these unconscionable
kidnappings, we have to remain thoughtful and circumspect in the
process of reevaluating our foreign policy in Africa. The loss
in precious lives of thousands of school boys, school girls,
women and men-all Boko Haram victims-should not be in vain or
result in a reactionary international "Waco" military response,
that could cause an insurrection. Cooler heads have to prevail
to end this Boko Haram outrage.
On this Mother's Day, we have to take time to say Thank-You and
Celebrate Mothers in Nigeria for making our lives richer and
more meaningful by the births of their Sons and Daughters. Let
us remember the humanity, pure genius, and eloquence of a few
world renowned Sons and Daughters of Nigerian Mothers: Educator
and Prime Minister Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who
received his primary tutelage, as many in Northern Nigeria, from
Koranic schools called Madrasas, and his equally charismatic
President Nnamdi Azikiwe; graceful intellectual Human Rights
activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, thought-inspiring Writer, Chinua
Achebe, radical activist, Writer and Nobel Prize laureate, Wole
Soyinka, Human Rights Architect and Peacemaker, Ken Saro Wiwa
Jr., Women's Leader and Humanitarian Hajiya Amina Sambo
(coincidentally the wife of the current Vice President Sambo),
gifted Actor, Adepero Oduye, intellectual feminist Writers,
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Razinat Mohammed, and poet B. M.
Dzukogi; extraordinary Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, transcendent
Musicians Seal Olusegun Samuel and Sade Adu, and countless more
that will fill several pages. All birthed from Nigeria with love
for Western ideals and culture. What we need to answer is how
so-called "extreme anti-Western" groups are unceasingly created
in a country and culture that enduringly births unmatched
intellect, talent, and brilliance the world over? We will help
answer that question.
We applaud the United States Congress, President Barack and
Michelle Obama for expressing their outrage and for sending
military assistance to Nigeria to help rescue the girls.
However, we must understand that no President can wave a magic
wand and resolve the "Boko Haram" problem in a country that has
been exploited for over half a century by ravenous European and
U.S. corporations with tacit approval via U.S. foreign policy
and legislation, which protects the predatory interests of
multinationals against the economic, environmental and social
interests of Nigerians. That imperial European and U.S.
corporate policy posture is catalytic in creating radical groups
in Nigeria, which proliferate with misguided myopic ideologies
that seek immediate alienation from Western economic influence
and culture. Unfortunately, "Boko Haram's" goals extend beyond
ending the educational aspirations of girls as so many reports
have sensationalized--it is a deeper and wider problem. The
issues of extreme poverty and social discontent are glossed over
by celebrated reporters such as Nicholas Kristof, who write
passionately and knowledgeably about women's issues, but miss
the mark on policy analysis from an African perspective. It is
inaccurate to depict these indiscriminate killings and
abductions of both male and female pupils, Christians and
Muslims, as mainly a gender and/or religious issue. In the
frustrated minds of some Nigerians, radicalized by poverty,
predatory multinationals, and betrayed by American justice and
foreign policy, alienation from Western culture and ideals
appear to be the only logical path to economic justice, social
justice and freedom. Those are the issues that need to be
addressed in a new U.S.-African foreign policy directive.
From Mohammed Ali (2000) to Mohammed Yusuf (2009), when a leader
of Boko Harm is captured and killed (as will no doubt ultimately
befall Abubakar Shekau), the next acolyte who assumes leadership
is more ruthless and extreme; and through force or attrition
these fanatical leaders are embraced by millions wallowing in
poverty, because they are in need of direction and truthful
leadership that responds to their immediate needs for food,
shelter and clothing. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan may
seem indecisive, but what he probably wants to avoid is a
volatile situation that may spiral down into widespread
sectarian violence that could lead to a civil war. We have to be
thoughtful and step out of our systematic "Africa" foreign
policy playbook and for once empathize with human and economic
interests of Nigerians and not simply react with a Band-Aid
solution that ultimately only serves America's political
interests. President Jonathan has inherited an economic system
of bribes and kickbacks initiated, instituted and maintained by
a permanent cartel of U.S. and European corporate players that
makes Nigeria the world's number 12 oil producer, yet millions
of Nigerians continue to live in extreme poverty. Jonathan's
Special Advisor for Peace, Ken Saro Wiwa Jr, is an important
reason why government sponsored violence has dramatically
reduced as compared to previous administrations. Please, let us
respect their counsel and wisdom. Ken Wiwa's father died
violently at the hands of Nigerian officials paid by U.S.
corporations.
A turning point in the radicalization of groups against Western
education and corporate interests came after the brutal and
public murder of Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995 with the direct funding
from Shell Oil. After Wiwa's murder at the behest of Shell Oil,
something very deep shifted in Nigeria as disenfranchised and
impoverished sympathizers and victims from the South to Northern
Nigeria became more radical and intensified a campaign of
kidnappings of oil executives for ransom, culminating in the
murder of seven Chevron workers and military personnel by
militarized youth--they were not going to take it anymore.
Described as a gentle soul by friends and enemies alike, Ken
Saro Wiwa of the Ogoni Tribe was an intellectual, journalist,
writer, and eloquent human rights activist, who used dialogue,
debate, and a voice of reason, instead of guns and kidnappings,
to illuminate corruption, and destruction of the environment by
perpetual oil leaks and fires that have destroyed and decimated
the communities of the Niger Delta. Ken Saro Wiwa and hundreds
of Ogoni people were systematically murdered with the financing
from Shell Oil (he was hanged following a sham trial). The
destruction caused by Shell Oil to Nigerian land, air, rivers,
streams, and economy is quantitatively a hundred times worse
than any oil spill in the United States put together from Exxon
Valdez (1989 approximately $2 billion settlement and $2.5
billion in cleanup costs) to BP Oil spill of April 10, 2010
(approximately $9 billion settlement and $15 billion in cleanup
costs).
Shell did not clean up the polluted farm lands and waterways for
the citizens of Nigeria, nor build schools, hospitals and homes
for girls, women and families, displaced from their homes,
farming and fishing livelihoods, breathing and dying from toxic
chemicals produced in eternal petroleum flames burning in their
backyards and on blackened rivers and streams reeking with the
stench of death. What did Shell do to resolve these issues? They
first paid off Nigerian officials and judges to hang Ken Saro
Wiwa, systematically killed dissenters, and halted any
possibility of a public trial against Shell in Nigeria. There
are decades of seething resentment for those state-sponsored
murders on behalf of Shell. Furthermore, when a lawsuit (Kiobel
v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 456 F.Supp.2d 457, .2006) on
behalf of Nigerian victims finally reached our American shores
of Justice, the Honorable Judge Kimba Wood followed legal
precedent and dismissed the Koibel case in New York District
Court. Koibel was appealed to the Second Circuit Court and the
Judges logically affirmed Wood's dismissal. Finally, a Writ of
Certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court and they also
logically affirmed the Second Circuit. Shell Oil eventually
settled for a pittance with the Wiwa family ($15 million) for
less than Shell CEO's annual compensation with bonuses.
The fact of the matter is that Congress has not legislated clear
and distinct laws to protect vulnerable women, girls, and
families in Nigeria and "faraway" lands that are exploited by
the predatory negligence or criminality of multinational
corporations such as Shell and BP--we all tacitly support their
crimes with our silence, inaction and indifference. How does a
global economy exist in a "New Hyper Information Age" without
laws to protect vulnerable communities in Africa from
corporations? In the Appeal Court ruling affirming Honorable
Kimba Wood, the Second circuit said "nothing in their opinion
limits or forecloses Congress from amending the ATS to bring
corporate defendants within our jurisdiction. The Alien Tort
Statute (ATS) was enacted in 1789, with some distinguished
exceptions, does not address the issue of predatory criminal
corporations abroad. Apart from Shell Oil, another criminal and
repeat offender corporation, Pfizer, which has over 70 RICO
prosecutions in the United States, conducted illegal research on
children in Northern Nigeria (Kano) with Trovan. Pfizer's
research doctors killed 11 children and permanently injured
scores more in Kano and then escaped out of Nigeria with the
help of U.S. officials. Pfizer Corporation, which is on record
for paying the second highest pharmaceutical fine for criminal
fraud in the United States ($2.3 billion), is now engaged with
the U.S. government, financing a partnership with Becton and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Planned Parenthood and Marie
Stopes to promote and inject girls in Kano, Nigeria and other
parts of Africa with a deadly contraceptive called Sayana Press.
They do not inform girls and women in Nigeria of lethal Black
Box warnings, nor an increase of HIV/AIDS and breast cancer.
Sayana Press is the lethal contraceptive Depo Provera rebranded
to circumvent U.S. FDA laws. Rebecca Project as formally
requested that Congress to investigate and the Department of
Justice to prosecute Pfizer for fraud, to protect African girls
as young as 10 years old injected with Depo Provera and Sayana
Press.
There are immediate human consequences for supporting repressive
corporate foreign policy that directly and instantly impacts
every citizen of Nigeria. In this new hyper information
world-order, no person in this global economy lives in
proverbial "darkness" anymore; the most remote areas of the
world are connected to the hyper information grid by cellphones.
Therefore, gone are the days when powerful Multinational
Corporations and Superpowers could cover up crimes and foreign
policy debacles by insouciantly spinning news to their
advantage-Twitter, Facebook, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden,
etc., helped end that spin for virtue--as evidenced by the Arab
Spring that toppled monumental dictators, Benghazi that exposed
a failure of truth in U.S. Journalism even more than our
government's lies, because we expect all government officials to
lie--not our journalists; Ukraine exposed flawed Russian policy,
NSA Phone scandal exposed flawed U.S. policy, Abu Ghraib exposed
inhumanity by individual U.S. soldiers-it was not U.S. Policy,
WikiLeaks exposed flawed global foreign policy and strategy, and
the fog of war in Iraq; and BP's oil spill exposed corporate
arrogance, callousness, and profit before safety.
It is time Congress enacted new legislation at this "Boko Haram"
juncture, to shift foreign policy to protect Africa and
vulnerable U.S. allies. In this hyper information age,
Multinationals with a history of endemic criminality and/or
negligence, such as Pfizer and Oil corporations, should be held
accountable for crimes and torts they commit abroad, as they are
held accountable here in the United States or in Europe for
negligence and fraud. Otherwise, vulnerable African communities
struggling to find direction, protection, and truthful strong
leaders, in an environment they perceive as a destructive
Western global economy that is stacked against them, will
gravitate towards powerful extremists who are perceived as
saviors. Corporate sponsored murders and silencing of
conscientious leaders and intellectual activists here and
abroad, will consistently and invariably beget violence from
barbarian leaders such as Abubakar Shekau. We in the West should
be careful not to push this peace-seeking Nigerian government
into a regime of extreme military violence, especially when
Western multinational corporations and philanthropic foundations
and the U.S. government have not built or significantly
supported any modern institutions, form libraries, primary
schools, secondary schools or medical schools, teaching schools
or vocation schools or universities, in Northern Nigeria for
women and girls; as they have built here in the United States
and supported with multimillion dollar grants and endowments.
Cooler heads have to prevail to end this Boko Haram outrage, and
let peace reign in Nigeria on this Mother's Day and forever.
Thank you.
Kwame Fosu
Director of International Affairs & Policy Director
Kwame@RebeccaProjectJustice.org
202-406-0911
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