Terrorism: Of Sovereignty And Taking Help From Outside
Sovereignty is the supreme, absolute power and authority of a state to govern itself, manage its own affairs, and make laws within its territory without external interference. It signifies a state’s complete independence, autonomy, and recognition in international law, including the ability to control its own borders and population.
Besides,it means a state is totally free to govern itself and not to succumb to external influence over its territorial dominion.
However,over the years the application of practical sovereignty has been relative . This is so as there is an obvious interdepence of state actors especially in the modern world where superior powers of other nations have covertly or overtly redefined practical sovereignty.
Sovereignty received a test of its practicality even before the two World Wars fought by powerful nations who teamed up to fight a supposedly belligerent nation.
The world was moved by the United States to fight Hitler’s Germany and its allies between 1942-1945.
Even in pre-modern ages,nations temporarily surrender their Sovereignty as they beckon other powerful nations to help them defeat their nations.
In the Holy scriptures Joshua 10:1-14 to be precise, Adonizedec king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it as he had done to Jericho and her king,so had he done to Ai and her King and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them.”.further reading shows that from the beginning of civilization weaker nations have had to turn to stronger nations for help against their adversaries.
As it happened in the Old Oyo Empire among warring Yoruba nations until the 1898 armistice when western nations had to intervene to bring peace,though for obvious reasons, so had it happened among other African nation states.
In 1991,the United States had to mandate Nigeria to fund ECOMOG activities in war torn Liberia with the sovereignty of the West African nations taken over by foreign forces. But then,besides provision of logistics,the funding of ECOMOG in men and materials fell on Nigeria which spent billions of dollars to prevent the total collapse of the West African country with its likely debilitating effect of spreading instability to other West African countries.
For years, the war lasted,Liberia surrendered its sovereignty.
But then for relatively bigger countries with the interest of Western powers like the United States, France, the United Kingdom’s interest in resources they could get determine level of interference.
This perhaps explains why the US pushed funding of ECOMOG operations to West African big brother-Nigeria.
Liberia, though the US colony is not of much strategic interest to it.
Hence,the declaration last Friday by Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim on resumption in New York as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to United Nations that Nigeria has formally sought the help of nations like United States,United Kingdom, France and other countries to help in curbing terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria is a direct admission that the nation amidst its multifarious problems can no longer contain a war that has destabilized the Northern region,wasted billions of Naira and hundreds of soldiers who died fighting terrorism that has defied solution in over two decades.
It was an admission that hard as Yaradua,Jonathan,Buhari and now President Bola Tinubu has tried ,the war which in the last count has consumed three Army Generals,seven Lieutenant Cols and Colonels, has developed a life of its own difficult for Nigeria’s military capacity to sustain and curb.
Ibrahim declaration is a reflection of the frustration of the Tinubu’s government effort even when he has had to befriend UK,cajoled President Donald Trumps government which poked a finger in its nose last year December and has indeed carried out bombings in the Northern region of the country try to eliminate terrorists.
This it did with the cooperation and technical assistance of the host country Nigeria.
Tinubu’s latest diplomatic offensive to make war against terrorism and religious insurgency an international affair with involvement of Super powers is an indication that Sovereignty has limits and boundaries.
Since nothing goes for nothing, intervention of both UK,France,Turkiye and other powerful countries is a direct convergence of those countries interests in Nigeria and by extension the exploitation of their individual self interests especially in a region of the country with diverse solid mineral resources central to the core needs of the super powers.
Like oil,solid mineral resources are central to the new emerging world digital economy which itself is dependent on scarce resources like Uranium, Lithium and other solid minerals crucial to attainment of new technology order. It is, rub my back and I rub yours.
In other words,Nigeria may also have to shift in her allegiance to BRICS block which from all indications is in direct competition and threat to established economic blocks led by the United states,Western Europe etc.
But then do we have a choice?
At the last count Nigeria has lost following Generals and senior officers to the two decades old insurgency.
List of officers:
Brigadier Generals and Senior Officers Killed:
Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah (April 2026): Commander of the 29 Brigade, killed during an assault on a military base in Benisheikh.
Brigadier General Sani Uba (November 2025): Killed in an ISWAP ambush.
Brigadier General Dzarma Zirkusu (November 2021): Highest-ranking officer killed in 2021, ambushed in Askira Uba.
Colonel Dahiru, Chiroma Bako (September 2020): Died in an ambush.
Colonel Muhammad Abu Ali (November 2016): Killed in a Boko Haram attack.
The above list is beside other high ranking officers and men not mentioned but who have over the years paid the supreme sacrifice for their nation.
From the above list, it is quite apparent that Nigeria needs help.
But then, the pattern of killing of its top military officers shows a military institution that has been compromised over the years by internal saboteurs doing so for both economic, ethnic and purely religious reasons.
How could a house divided against itself stand?
Compromise of internal intelligence network by internal saboteurs mentioned above is reflected in the way and manner the Army Generals were ambushed and killed.
Again,as mentioned earlier,nothing goes for nothing.
It is quite apparent that resilience and sophistication of the terrorists and local and foreign insurgents troubling Nigeria has outstretched the capacity and capability of our men in the armed forces who have over the years put their life on the line.
How Nigeria is able to manage the concert of foreign powers now being requested to help her, given their separate interests is a test for a government facing election in the next eight months coupled with the economic reforms it had undertaken which has hurt its citizens.
