Kerry, where is the empathy?

‘The headmaster is around and all pupils must behave’ seemed to be the message conveyed by the United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Lagos on Sunday, January 25.

There are several angles to this parachute visit, the first to Nigeria by any high-ranking United States official since 2012. The visit must also be viewed against the not-so-good relationship or to use a diplomatic expression – lack of détente – between our country and the United States.

I’m not one of those who blame others for my failures and mistakes, so I would not join the bandwagon of those who laid the blame of our woes at the doorsteps of America. Of particular significance is the war, or should one say lack of efforts, at castrating the terrorist group, Boko Haram, which has held our nation by the jugular for some time now.

But this visit leaves a sour taste in the mouth for some of us who have kept a close watch on the relationship between the two countries. Upon discovering that Kerry met President Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos and not at Aso Rock in Abuja, some questions came to my mind. “Who were the folks involved in this visit? What are the functions of those in our Foreign Affairs ministry? Who made the request that Jonathan receive Kerry in Lagos?”

If, however, the meeting was held in Lagos because President Jonathan was already in the city as a result of his visit to Winners Chapel, Ota, earlier in the day, then all is well and good. For goodness sake, it bears restating that partisanship aside, Jonathan is still our president until May 29 and he deserves to be treated as such. With a toxic atmosphere politically as we have presently, some of us may, however, not give a hoot that our president has allowed himself to be rubbished. I think, sometimes, the president does not act presidentially enough as the leader of the largest black nation on earth. A host receives his guest at a location preferred by the host and not at the whims and caprices of the guest.

Let’s step back a little bit. This was the same United States that refused to designate Boko Haram a terrorist group under the immediate past Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. In a piece titled ‘Hillary’s State Department Refused to Brand Boko Haram as Terrorists’ by Josh Rogin in May last year on the Daily Beast web page, the writer said: “What Clinton didn’t mention was that her own State Department refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011, after the group bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja. The refusal came despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and over a dozen senators and congressmen.”

Rogin said this in response to Clinton’s tweet on May 4 about the abduction of the schoolgirls now known as Boko Haram girls. Interestingly, protection of women and girls was a key pillar of her tenure as America’s foremost diplomat.

Further, give it to the Americans; they know how to respond to public opinion or tide but without compromising their interests. After the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, the global outrage that trailed the incredible show of support snowballed into questions about efforts to curtail Boko Haram. Suddenly too, CNN, which sometimes acts as the propaganda arm of the State Department, dispatched its crew to Abuja and Boko Haram became top item again in the media narrative. Even though this was not the real gist of Kerry’s visit, next month’s elections seemed more important to the United States and its interests, he tangentially mentioned that his country would lead a new initiative in the war against Boko Haram. He added that President Barrack Obama would host a conference next month.

But a story by New York Times on January 24 forces one to take Kerry’s announcement with a pinch of salt. Titled ‘Rifts between U.S and Nigeria Impeding Fight Against Boko Haram,’ it states: “Relations between American military trainers and specialists advising the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram are so strained that the Pentagon often bypasses the Nigerians altogether, choosing to work instead with security officials in the neighboring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger, according to defense officials and diplomats.”

It should, therefore, be clear to all Nigerians that we are the only ones that can solve our problems. The world does not care about us, let’s shun violence and accept the election results with equanimity. Kerry only came to whip our politicians into line, but we must ask him, “Where is the empathy?”