Sovereignty in its internal dimension means the state is in firm control of its territory and what happens therein. As such, if mass slaughter, abductions, wanton killings and other forms of unchecked violence continue unabated within a national space, then sovereignty is lost already… You cannot wave sovereignty when the barbaric slaughter of human beings is going on within your territory. The long and short of it is that Nigeria needs to summon the resolve to deal with this crisis. If we don’t, we can as well kiss off any notion of iron-clad national sovereignty
AS citizens, analysts and think-tanks continue their postmortems on the Christmas Day airstrikes against terrorists’ enclaves in Sokoto, concerns about Nigeria’s sovereignty remain persistent. The bombing ordered by United States President Donald J. Trump has no doubt, radically altered the trajectory of counter terrorism efforts in Nigeria. In the last few years, the experience has been one in which the country heads into every new year with painful tales of mourning and deaths visited on defenceless communities by roving bands of outlaws. For the festive period in December this year, we were largely spared of those horrors. There have been fewer reports of bands of blood thirsty marauders stalking villages and unleashing death and destruction. While there have been a couple of incidents, including a reported mosque bombing in Maiduguri, the scale of bloodletting is nowhere near what it was in the recent year end yuletide period.
This should be applauded by anyone or group with the scantest regard for human life, rights and dignity. That Nigeria could have end of the year festivities in which there are no crowds of mourners crying over the butchering of their loved ones is a commendable break. Add to this the deafening silence from the camp of terrorists who would usually issue defiant statements, claiming responsibility for mindless slaughter. The ISIS, ISWAP, ISIL, Lakurawa and their various franchises have been unusually mum. There has been no litany of online propaganda videos. This either signals a strategic retreat under pressure or the reassessment of their evil objectives. If these emerging outcomes alone were precipitated by Trump’s Christmas Day Tomahawk missiles, then the bleeding hinterlands of Nigeria have no doubt breathed a momentary sigh of relief.
This brings to mind the subjectivity and selectivity, which have underlined the position of those propping up sovereignty as a particular concern. They question whether Nigeria has ceded its sovereignty by coordinating with the United States to target the terrorists. The simplest way to respond to this is to assail the notion that sovereignty should only be invoked when dealing with foreign power and influence. Sovereignty in its internal dimension means the state is in firm control of its territory and what happens therein. As such, if mass slaughter, abductions, wanton killings and other forms of unchecked violence continue unabated within a national space, then sovereignty is lost already.
Territorial integrity in this kind of extreme situation has been ceded to criminals. That was the reality Nigeria grappled with before the United States dropped the missiles. Applying it to the context of State-to-State relations, sovereignty is neither a rigid nor an absolute concept. The concept in practice can be shaped by the principle of humanitarian intervention. You cannot wave sovereignty when the barbaric slaughter of human beings is going on within your territory. The long and short of it is that Nigeria needs to summon the resolve to deal with this crisis. If we don’t, we can as well kiss off any notion of iron-clad national sovereignty.
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