On Maduro: A Word of Warning to My Fellow Africans
It is quite unfortunate to see many Africans out clapping and celebrating the abduction of Maduro by American forces. It could be true that his inner circle sold him to the Yankees; that is not our business here.
It grieves to see how many of us choose to remain illiterate in both history and geopolitics, even though we are constant victims.
Cursed are those who refused to learn from the bitter lessons of history
Anarchy in world politics is not noise and disorder. It is the simple, brutal fact that there is no policeman above nations. The strong do as they wish; the weak suffer what they must.
International law is the thin fence erected to slow that brutality, not to make the world moral, but to stop it from becoming a slaughterhouse. International law seeks to temper the unilateral actions of rogue actors like Trump.
The question on my mind as I see Africans cheering the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro by American forces, clapping like spectators at a wrestling match, is: have we learned nothing from history?
We jubilated when NATO killed Gaddafi, only to end with Black Africans being sold like cattle in auctions in Libya. Gaddafi’s vast armoury was turned over to Jihadists who today menace us in the subregion!
No, this is not about liking Maduro. I do not care for his face, his speeches, or his politics. In my writings, I have consistently advocated for self-reliance. I have always maintained that countries that could not protect themselves deserve any fate that befalls them.
This is about precedent. This is about our survival as weaklings in the international arena. This is about whether Africans still possess the instinct to recognize danger when it announces itself loudly.
Our leaders wave the UN Charter whenever sanctions bite or their borders are threatened.
The charter unequivocally says sovereign states are equal. It says no country has the right to use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another. It says internal affairs are not open hunting grounds for foreign cowboys.
These are not Western ideas. They are defensive tools for weak nations, written after the world was drowned in blood in WWII.
When Trump ignores these rules and kidnaps a sitting president, he is not being “strong.” He is tearing down the fence. And once the wall is gone, Africa is naked and vulnerable.
This is the lesson that the Africans who celebrate Trump ignore.
Those applauding this crime are applauding the right of powerful nations to snatch leaders they dislike.
Do you think Washington will stop at Caracas? Do you think Africans will be spared because we tweet enthusiastically on behalf of Trump?
History tells us that Imperial powers do not reward loyalty. They consume it.
We Africans have a tragic habit of mistaking emotion for analysis. We argue geopolitics like football fans, not like people whose continent has been carved, invaded, and managed by force.
We shout “serves him right” today, forgetting that tomorrow the same logic will be used on us, with better cameras and louder applause.
This is my free advice to my fellow Africans: learn geopolitics or prepare to be humiliated by it. Study sovereignty. Study power. Study International law, not because the law is always obeyed, but because its violation tells you exactly who is coming for you next.
Public space is not a barroom: words and applause matter. When Africans cheer imperial lawlessness, we announce to the world that we have learned nothing from history, and that we are ready, once again, to pay for that ignorance in full.
To those who care, here are the relevant unambiguous portions of the UN Charter:
Article 2(1):
“The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”
Article 2(4):
“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…”
Article 2(7):
“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state…”
Strip away the legal language and the message is brutal in its clarity: no country — not the United States, not Trump, not NATO — has the right to abduct the leader of another sovereign state. Not because Maduro is virtuous. But because once that line is crossed, no African leader, no African state, no African border is safe.
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀ (1st Dan)
Blog: https://femiakogun.substack.com
