Nigeria and the ‘Madman’ of the Desert

“I've got two idols in my life — President Lincoln and Dr. Sun Yat-sen.”
—Muammar Gaddafi

Gaddafi with his female bodyguards aka Amazonian Guards

Nigerian senate president, David Mark called the Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi a madman simply because Gaddafi made a comment on the Jos massacre. Gaddafi felt that the best solution was to split Nigeria into two (North/Muslims – South/Christians) in order to avert further bloodshed like India and Pakistan. It was not the first time that Gaddafi made the suggestion but some Nigerians called him assorted names.
David Mark was not the first person to call Gaddafi a ‘madman’ because former US President Ronald Reagan dubbed Gaddafi, ‘the madman of the desert’ several years ago but is he actually mad? To make the matter worse, Nigeria recalled its Ambassador to Libya in haste. In fact, Nigeria reacted harshly with lack of diplomacy. The argument is not whether Gaddafi had the right or no right to comment on Nigeria but how Nigeria responds to any form of criticism. If we truly believe in freedom of expression, has Gaddafi said anything wrong? Some Nigerians including freedom fighters are likely to back Gaddafi’s initiative. In fact, the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) backed Gaddafi’s call for the disintegration of Nigeria. Some eminent church leaders have also backed Gaddafi…
It will be recalled that the senate initially reacted to the United States inclusion of Nigeria on the terror watch list by giving the US a 7-Day ultimatum to delist Nigeria, after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to denote a bomb in the Northwest Airlines Flight 253, on Christmas Day, 2009. It was the most ignorant move that a country could make in decades. How can a country that is not a superpower attempt to threaten a superpower and the most powerful country in the world? Nigeria is not a nuclear weapons state. The ultimatum portrayed Nigeria as a country of ignoramuses which was untrue and the senate later denied the 'suicidal' ultimatum.
The President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré and the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor are President Gaddafi’s protégés. Gaddafi has ‘never’ had a good relationship with Nigerian leaders apart from former President Olusegun Obasanjo despite the fact that Gaddafi is a Muslim and Obasanjo is a Christian. Gaddafi’s long stance on the disintegration of Nigeria made him unpopular among former Nigerian leaders that are mostly Muslims. Nevertheless, Gaddafi did not support the Muslim fanatical killing of Christians in Nigeria. It is obvious that Nigeria has not shown any interest in his proposed United States of Africa and neither do we support it.
In 2008, over 200 African Kings and traditional rulers ‘crowned’ Gaddafi the King of Kings. In 2007, Gaddafi commented on the authenticity of the Holy Bible but it did not really spark off a row. Libya’s flaws include a past history of assassination and terrorism including the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. As the past President of the African Union, Gaddafi should be able to comment on any of the African States. The major reason why the African Union remains a useless union of dictators is because member states are not ready to interfere or comment on other states. Are some Nigerians not politically and religiously enslaved by other Nigerians?

The Amazonian Guard sparked an international incident in 2006 when Gaddafi landed in Nigeria with over two hundred armed guards for a summit. Nigerian security officials refused to allow the Libyans entry based on their armaments, and Gaddafi angrily resolved to set off on foot 40 kilometres to Nigeria's capital from the airport. The Nigerian President personally intervened, and a compromise was sought. However, the Libyans rejected mediation and threatened to fly home, whereupon the Nigerians revoked their compromise offers and announced that the Libyans could only bring in 8 pistols, which is the limit for international delegations. The Libyans finally backed down and complied with the Nigerians after several hours.
—Metapedia

Nigeria is a complex country of people with opposite ideologies. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu aka Ikemba Nnewi seceded Biafra from Nigeria and it lead to the Nigerian-Biafran war (1967 – 1970), but Ojukwu remains a national hero although Biafra lost the civil war. The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) predicted that Nigeria could break up in 2015. If Nigeria breaks up, Gaddafi would definitely have the last laugh.
Revolutionist Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was born in 1942 and studied Law at the University of Libya before joining the military. Captain Gaddafi led a bloodless coup on 1 September 1969, which abolished the monarchy and reign of King Idris I. He rose to the rank of a colonel and refused further promotion.
Dictator Gaddafi’s wife “owns all the telecommunication companies in Libya.” The fourth of his eight children, Mutasim-Billah Gaddafi, was involved in a failed coup to oust his father but Gaddafi later forgave him and he returned to Libya from Egypt. His only daughter, Ayesha was one of executed Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein's defence counsels.

Gaddafi And Mark, Who's Mad?
David Mark and Maummar Gaddafi, who is mad?
Ghaddafi’s proposal for conflict resolution in Nigeria: A critical analysis
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Jos Massacre and Strange Text Messages

Some Nigerians received strange text messages telling them not eat “suya” for sometime because of food poisoning. In fact, there was an alleged plot by some people to also poison farm produce from Northern Nigeria sold in Southern Nigeria. The “suya” sellers will definitely ‘curse’ those that want to put them out of business because of the Jos Massacre. Shikena!
It could be wrong to ‘listen’ to gossips or accept such pranks unless you want to ‘starve’ in Nigeria. The funny part of the message was an instruction for Southerners to 'hold' their 'throats' or not to eat such food. It is a form of discrimination if you decide not to buy foodstuffs just because it is from Northern Nigeria without any evidence of proposed food poisoning. Well, the choice is yours, isn’t it? After all, we all have to die one day. If you have genuine information like that why not tell the Nigeria Police?