Here is an unrepentant bully, a warmonger whose incurable obsession with the re-creation of another Soviet Union continues to drive him into a frenzy and the commission of unjustifiable crimes against humanity.
The events of the last few days have left me on the edge of my seat after Russian imperialist Vladimir Putin criminally invaded his southern neighbour and unleashed full-scale military attack on Ukrainians for no justifiable reason whatsoever.
This comes following weeks in which Russia amassed over 150,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, with Washington consistently saying at the time that an invasion was imminent. Although Moscow dismissed those revelations and called them “misinformation,” everything came to a head in the early hours of Thursday, February 24, when Putin gave an order for the criminal invasion, calling it a “special military operation.”
The illegal invasion has attracted severe condemnation across the world. Even China, a well-known ally of Russia, refused to veto a draft of the United Nations Security Council resolution which was to condemn Moscow’s cruelty in Ukraine. Only Russia vetoed the resolution! China simply refused to participate in the voting process along with the United Arab Emirates and India. The rest of the 11 Council members voted in favour, including African representatives: Gabon, Ghana and Kenya.
In the face of this unjustifiable assault, which has resulted to the deaths of several innocent people and children, it is the behaviours of some Nigerians on social media, including the so-called “educated” ones, that have left me scandalised.
They have engaged in the celebration of violence that involves the spilling of innocent blood, such as the cheering of Vladimir Putin, a blood-thirsty aggressor who believes in imperial conquest. It is difficult to decipher the sudden idolisation of a man who is desperate to establish himself as the 21st century Adolf Hitler. Here is an unrepentant bully, a warmonger whose incurable obsession with the re-creation of another Soviet Union continues to drive him into a frenzy and the commission of unjustifiable crimes against humanity.
And, as a “well done” message for senselessly killing innocent people and displacing thousands, some of his social media praise-singers and defenders now use his image as their profile picture. This is sickening and unacceptable!
It is disturbing to learn that the Nigerian psychology has been subjected to such pernicious damage so much so that we are no longer sensitive to such cruel injustice and egregious crimes against innocent people.
To worsen matters, it is the harebrained and embarrassingly awkward arguments they build in dictator Vladimir Putin’s defence that tempt you into questioning their sanity. Even Putin, that tormented bully, would be surprised to learn of the junk excuses being concocted for him in Nigeria as the cause of the war he instigated in Ukraine.
I must now highlight only two of the baseless excuses Nigerians on social media are using to justify Putin’s illegal invasion and killings.
1. Putin does not want Ukraine in NATO:
Here dictator Putin’s Nigerian defenders claim that Russia previously told the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO] that Ukraine, an independent nation, is “not allowed” to join NATO. They claim that Ukraine joining NATO poses a threat to Russia and that such cannot be allowed. Others claim that dictator Putin has warned that no former member of the Soviet Union is allowed to join NATO.
This puerile defence for tyranny and contemporary imperialism is not only embarrassing to dictator Putin’s advocates, it insults the sovereign state of Ukraine to suggest that the country has no right to aspire for membership of any association it desires without the express approval of the president of another country.
What this means, for example, is that Benin Republic has the right to warn Nigeria against joining this or that association simply because Benin’s President Patrice Talon is not on good terms with said association[s] or would feel threatened. As a result, Nigeria is obligated to obey Benin Republic against its own interest. This is laughable.
2. United States invaded and killed in Libya, Iraq, etc; UK killed here and there, etc:
Here, Putin’s supporters in Nigeria are saying that their “hero’s” murderous actions in Ukraine are justified on the basis that the United States, the UK and other powerful nations did same in the past.
Whilst analysing this absurd defence concocted by some Nigerians for Putin, one question came to mind:
Are these Nigerians saying that dictator Buhari’s killing of peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate on the evening of Tuesday, October 20, 2020 should be justified simply because former president Olusegun Obasanjo did same when he massacred the defenceless people of Odi on November 20, 1999?
The hypocrisy of these people is chilling.
The grand irony of this blind support is that Putin’s citizens are against him for choosing to embark on this war and they’ve been protesting on the streets of 57 cities including: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Ekaterinburg, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh. They are chanting: “NO TO WAR!” According to OVD-Info, 1,858 Russians have been arbitrarily arrested by the Moscow-based dictator. Yet, street protests continue to grow even after the dictator banned demonstrations under the pretext that COVID-19 rules are being violated.
So, this blind, hypocritical love from Nigerians for a bloodthirsty tyrant who has been disowned by his own people remains incomprehensible. That Nigerians are trying to demonstrate that they “love” Russia more than Russians is ludicrous.
Even before dictator Putin went about bullying his neighbour, he had been an unpopular leader in his own country, jailing critics, opposition members and tagging them “terrorists” and “extremists.” Russia of the Future, which is the main opposition party in Russia, has been banned by the Putin tyranny and declared a terrorist organisation, just like dictator Buhari would do in Nigeria.
Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who is the founder of the banned political party, has been arrested and jailed along with members of the party. They’ve also been declared as “terrorists” and their bank accounts frozen.
Since assuming office in 1999, Putin has crowned himself the Lord of Russia, and has created a country in which his will is supreme and is subject to no questions.
But with the slew of economic sanctions slammed on an already struggling economy, there’s a likelihood that the ongoing demonstrations may metamorphose into an uprising or a revolution, which may eventually drown Putin, bringing to an end the reign of the new Adolf Hitler. Yet, the hypocrisy of these Nigerians will be nowhere to salvage him from the anger of his own people.
Elias Ozikpu
Playwright, novelist, essayist, polemicist, citizen journalist, permanent enemy of oppressors