Nigeria and the White Man's Burden

I support the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. It is an indigenous campaign created by Ibrahim M Abdullahi, a Nigerian attorney. I hope that each girl is safety returned to their families. Clearly,  the Nigerian government has a moral and legal duty to rescue and protect those precious girls. The world community must continue to pressure the Nigerian government to take immediate, decisive and effective action against Boko Haram. Moreover, the world community should aid the Nigerians by providing training, equipment and intelligence assistance.

However, I strongly oppose U.S. military intervention in Nigeria. Ultimately, Nigeria and the African Union must be the ones to fight those despicable terrorists. U.S. military action will endanger American and Nigerian lives. It will only fuel Nigeria's civil war.

Who knows how long the U.S. would remain in Nigeria? After all of these years, American troops remain in Afghanistan. The military action may begin with the narrow mission of rescuing the girls and then morph into the much broader mission of nation building.

We cannot allow the West to exploit this crisis and come into Nigerian like a Trojan horse under the guise of generosity. Like a thief in the night, they may utilize this tragic and sad situation to further plunder Nigeria's oil and other natural resources. Nigeria's sovereignty should not be trampled upon in order to fulfill the white man's so-called burden. Africa does not need Western paternalism and militarism. We do not need another Somalia or Libya.