President Bola Tinubu’s latest obsession with France, has obviously sparked off conversation in the diplomatic circles and the public sphere, as to the benefit of such “hastened” romance with a neighboring colonial master, that is being rapidly rejected by our Sahelian Francophone neighbors with relish.
It is on good record that President Tinubu, leading his West African regional peers, threatened sanctions against the military junta in Niger at the aftermath of the coup that brought in the present leadership in Niamey.
From Oagadougou to Bamako and back to Niamey, there seems to be an unwritten consensus, by the ruling military administrations, to reject France, their colonial master, and expunge them from their territories with dispatch.
This they did successfully, to the admiration of those who love them and to the chagrin of those who felt they were biting more than they could chew, as they were nations wholly dependent on France for their daily survival from time immemorial.
Outside Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Nigeria is the fourth-largest top trading partner of France in Africa and number one in the Sub-Sahara. President Tinubu seems to have oiled this relationship recently, with an official state visit to France by a Nigerian President after two decades.
But the tongues are wagging because of a wave of change and a new reawakening by former colonies of France calling the bluff, the recent being the most assimilated nation of Senegal.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal, who is about to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre of 1944, where countless protesting Senegalese workers were heartlessly massacred by the French Army, do not see the need any longer, for the continued presence of the French military base in Senegal since her independence.
While France is being rejected by her former colonies in West Africa, Nigeria is in a new-found love with France, signing “bilateral” agreements that involves top Nigerian Banks (and not her Tech Companies or the Manufacturing sector)
It was Gen Abacha who once took us to France in those days when Nigeria was declared a pariah nation, under severe sanctions by the US and the UK, to force the maximum ruler to return the nation to Democracy and stop human rights abuse. The then NNPC international headquarters was angrily moved to Paris. It is still debatable whether or not Nigeria was the better for it.
Today we are back to Paris in full circle, as we are head over heels in love. How will our Francophone neighbors look at us, their big brother? Nigeria has become the friend of their ” enemy” and, therefore, cannot be their friend anymore.
One man’s meat has become another man’s poison. What does this portend for peace or non-aggression around our shared territorial boundaries vis-a-vis regional security and geopolitics? What more do Nigeria stand to gain in this loud “Macronic” romance with France? I’m just wondering.
It’s simple, the present administration is hell bent on dymistyfying the political clout of the north. He believes the strength comes from shared brotherhood with Muslim dominated neighbours. Hence alignment with the enemy of those brothers will translate into creating distance amongst the brothers while pacifying the France that is frantically looking for new colonies.
I like this website so much, saved to bookmarks.