Military Issues Stern Warning Against Calls for Coup Amid Economic Hardship

In response to social media discussions calling for a coup due to economic challenges, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has issued a stern warning.  He emphasized that those advocating for a coup “do not love Nigeria” and stated that the Armed Forces are committed to protecting democracy. Speaking at the commissioning of the 6 Division, Nigerian Army entrance in Port Harcourt, General Musa urged citizens to be patient, support the government, and trust that the country will overcome its current difficulties.  He emphasized that democracy is crucial, and any attempt to undermine it is considered as the work of “evil people” who will face legal consequences. “Whoever is making that call (coup) does not love Nigeria. We want to make it very clear that the Armed Forces of Nigeria are here to protect democracy. We all want democracy and we do better under democracy,” he said. “And so we will continue to support democracy. And any of those ones that are calling for anything other than Democracy are evil people and I think they don’t mean well for Nigeria. “And they should be very careful because the law will come after them. We can see that with democracy a lot of things are happening in Nigeria. Yes we are going through trying periods, I mean in life nothing is hundred percent.” He emphasized that what is needed is for citizens to be patient and give their support to the government to succeed and put the enemies of state to shame. “Everybody goes through a trying period in life, and it is what you do with them. You can see the government putting efforts to ensure that we come out better. And it is when you go through difficulties and come out better you will really appreciate what it is to build a nation. And so we are going through our trying period, but I can assure Nigerians that it will get better. “All we need is for all of us to put our hands together to ensure that we defeat those enemies of the government, those enemies of this country that don’t want us to succeed. We will surely succeed and the Armed Forces are here to support the Government in ensuring that we develop, we succeed and to see that there is peace in Nigeria.”

Niger Crisis: Guarding our minds against information warfare and perception manipulation

When we see a sleekly produced video with subliminal political overtone like the “Yoruba” woman on a viral video showing President Tinubu sleeping in the background, making an emotional plea about the plight of Yorubas in Niger, please keep your wits about you and be vigilant and know that you are being subjected to perception manipulation by AI and deep fake. The woman who claims she is more Nigerien than a Nigerian and that she is a foreigner in Nigeria should be told to stay her butt in her native country Niger, and let the president who Nigerians have elected to take the hard decisions on our behalf to do his job. History and the electorate will hold him accountable for the outcome of his decisions. That is why he has been hired, to take all the information in his possession and the experts serving on his national security council into account, to make the hard choice. He has the intelligence report most of us do not have access to. Yes, we can exercise our civic responsibility to let him know where we stand, but international crisis management is not conducted by taking polls but by data. Don’t let us be manipulated by crass emotionalism and social media hyperventilating when it comes to the ongoing Niger crisis. We must remember that complex international issues such as a military junta in Niger, and a clientele state run by Putin’s Wagner mercenaries, with which we have no real geographical nor cultural border, represents a present, imminent and existential danger to our country. None of us is getting the security and intelligence report that is on the desk of the president in Aso Rock, so we are not in the position to know the dynamic at play in the Niger crisis. Yes, Mr. Tinubu as the president of Nigeria and the Chairman of ECOWAS is the face of the Niger crisis, but we must remember this is a crisis of dire international and geopolitical implications and there are many actors involved, including the ECOWAS, the African Union, the UN, the Western powers and of course Russia. So the notion that piling pressure on President Tinubu like many are erroneously assuming, will cause him to deviate from what intelligence report is guiding him to do, shows naïveté about the complicated dynamics of international crisis management like the contagion of military coups that is spreading and rampaging the Sahel region, and that is inching towards our homeland. They are not issues that can be resolved by the maddening appeal to emotionalism on Nigerian social media. No one wants war. However, sleeping with one’s two eyes closed when you have a raging lion at one’s doorstep is neither a smart thing to do. The Nigerian social media and especially WhatsApp, is consumed by fear mongering about impending war and dooms day prediction about how the ragtag Niger military will make a mince meat of the Nigerian military. That is nothing but an empty posturing and fear-mongering. We must realise that behind the scenes, frenetic diplomatic, economic, and political pressures are now being applied to the juntas to make them see reason. Russian propagandists have seized on this crisis to portray the Nigerien coup plotters as anti-imperialists who are seeking to liberate Niger and the entire African continent from under the yoke of France imperialism, neo-colonialism, economic servitude and exploitation. What a pile of hogwash. Would a true anti-imperial regime go to bow before and kiss Putin’s ass like the young lad leader from Burkina Faso did, when like a school boy before his dad condescendingly gave his rousing support for the Ukraine war and then begged the Russian leader, that he is willing to open Burkina Faso economy to the Russian with no strings attached? He then made the ridiculous request to Putin to come and build a nuclear plant in impoverished Burkina Faso. We all could see the flag of Russia flying all over Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Are those the kind of actions that a Thomas Sankara whose image all the three military leaders are invoking would take? On the contrary, by their naive posturing, it can be said that they are frankly desecrating the values that their fabled hero stood for. If anything, they are merely selling to us their selfish lust for power as the long awaited African revolution to free the continent from servitude to France and other Western powers. Record has it that the coup leader in Niger, General Tchiani has been a member of the Nigerien political class that has enjoyed the spoils of power and that have been serving the imperialists’ interest of their France overlords for decades as the head the presidential guards. He, in fact, crushed another coup against President Bazoum just days to his inauguration in 2021. Reports have it that the reason he struck with a coup was because he was about to be booted out of his position of power and influence. All of a sudden, he is now the liberator and Thomas Sankara of Africa. What a desecration of that sacred name and of the legacy of Shankara, one of the greatest leaders to walk the surface of Africa. We must remember that we are fighting on social media against information, disinformation, and propaganda warfare, and against a force that is a thousand times smarter, more nimble, and more adaptable than us. Artificial intelligence and deep fake. AI can gobble through trillion bytes or data and use it to manipulate our thought process and perception. That is what is happening with the Niger coup with the massive amount of auditory and visual information manipulation and disinformation that is coming at us like the great flood of Noah. We must guard our brains and minds against this powerful enemy that is seeking to mess with our minds and perception of reality like the woman in the sleekly produced video whose intent is to tug at our heart strings. Don’t let us

Niger Coup: Thousands march in solidarity in Niamey

Demonstrators took to the streets of Niger’s capital Niamey on Thursday in a show of support for the country’s new leadership, a week after a military coup in the West African country. People rallied on the streets of Niamey to signal their support for de facto president Abdourahmane Tchiani and his junta, a dpa correspondent in the capital reported. The demonstrations followed a call by civil society associations, according to reports. They came on the 63rd anniversary of Niger gaining independence from former colonial power France. According to local media, people also demonstrated in the city of Agadez, with posters seen expressing support for the putschists. Russian flags are also said to have been waved. Agadez is on the edge of the Sahara Desert, which many migrants pass through on their way through the desert to Libya and towards the Mediterranean. The coup plotters managed to ignite a “nationalistic fire” in the population within a week, said Olaf Bernau from the migration network Afrique-Europe-Interact. Part of the reason for this is the EU’s migration strategy in Niger. For several years, Niger, as an important transit country for migrants heading for Europe, has received financial support to limit migration. Since 2015, a law in Niger has criminalized illegal migration and its support. So far, Niger has not only been an important partner for the West in containing migration, but also in the fight against terrorism. In the Sahel, dozens of militias, some of whom have sworn allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS) or the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, regularly carry out attacks. Last week, officers of the presidential guard in Niger arrested the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and declared him deposed. Tchiani, the commander of the presidential guard, appointed himself the new ruler on Friday, suspended the constitution, and dissolved all constitutional institutions. Bazoum used an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Thursday to call for the international world to help restore constitutional order. He was writing “as a hostage” and was “just one of hundreds of citizens who have been arbitrarily and illegally imprisoned,” Bazoum said in the piece. The coup had no justification and, if it succeeded, would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region, and the entire world,” Bazoum wrote. He used the piece to call on the US government and “the entire international community” to help restore order. “Fighting for our shared values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make sustainable progress against poverty and terrorism. The Nigerien people will never forget your support at this pivotal moment in our history,” he wrote. Niger’s new rulers are looking for allies. The deputy head of the country’s military junta, General Salifou Modi, travelled to the neighbouring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso, which are also ruled by army officers who took power in military coups. Both have pledged their support to Niger, Modi said, particularly in the area of security. “We are happy about the closeness we have with our brothers in Mali,” the deputy head of Niger’s military junta, General Salifou Modi, said after a meeting with the government in the Malian capital Bamako on Wednesday. Burkina Faso’s military strongman Ibrahima Traoré also assured him of his support at a meeting in the capital Ouagadougou on Wednesday, Modi said. Pressure continues to mount on Niger, with Nigeria suspending electricity supplies and the World Bank freezing payments to the West African nation on Wednesday. Also, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has given the putschists in Niger an ultimatum. If Bazoum is not reinstated by Sunday, ECOWAS will take action that could include sanctions and armed force, it declared. Meanwhile, in Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said the evacuation of its nationals from Niger has been completed, according to a statement on its website published on Thursday. French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Twitter that 1,079 French and foreign nationals have been evacuated since Tuesday. There were four Paris-bound flights carrying 992 people including 560 French nationals. A fifth and final flight brought about 100 people to Chad, the French General Staff told dpa. Paris said the evacuation was needed because Niger had closed its airspace and there had been reported violence at the French embassy during pro-coup protests. Niger’s junta has accused France of planning a military intervention. French broadcasters France 24 and RFI have been banned from broadcasting in Niger. A statement issued on Thursday evening by France’s Foreign Ministry said it very firmly condemned the suspension of broadcasting. The measures taken against the press in Niger occurred in a context of authoritarian repression by those responsible for the coup, the ministry added. In Washington, President Joe Biden noted on Thursday on the occasion of Niger’s Independence Day, that the West African country “is facing a grave challenge to its democracy.” He repeated calls for the immediate release of Bazoum and his family and “for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy.”