6 days ago
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Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, has reinforced a long-held belief that foreign superpowers have actively worked to destabilise Nigeria, tracing this interference back to British colonial rule and the strategic selection of the country’s post-independence leadership.
His opinion came during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, in the course of a discussion regarding the recent allegations by US Congressman Scott Perry that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded terrorist organisations, including Boko Haram, to the tune of $697 million annually.
Akinyemi noted that Nigeria’s geopolitical struggles were engineered as early as 1945 when the British deliberately chose to hand over power to a faction they could control.
He said, “Nigeria had been a target before we even became independent and that’s why even the British arranged the handing over power to, if you like, the least developed part of Nigeria and picked an elite that they think they can control. That is even before we became independent. As far back as 1945, the British had decided who they would hand over power to and it’s not the Azikiwes or the Awolowos or the Mbadiwes or the Okparas that they picked upon because they knew they couldn’t control those people.
“So, to that extent, they learnt their lesson when India under Jawaharlal Nehru managed to escape their control. They learnt their lesson that from then on, any of their colonies that is going to become independent, they have to ensure that the person they’re handing over power to is the person they can control so that they can continue to control those countries and Nigeria had been a target.”
Speaking on how superpowers have tried to destabilise Nigeria using Boko Haram, Akinyemi also revealed disturbing accounts from his time on the Boko Haram committee, where local villagers reported seeing helicopters piloted by white individuals landing in the dead of night to offload arms, money, and supplies to the terrorist group. Initially, members of the committee assumed the French were responsible, but recent revelations from the US congressman Scott Perry suggest that it was actually American operatives involved in these activities.
He said, “I served on the Boko Haram committee and villagers kept telling us that in the middle of the night, helicopters piloted by white people kept landing and offloading guns, goods and all kinds of things and money to these people. The villagers don’t even know who these white people are and they have no reason to lie to us. Some of us on the Boko Haram committee made a mistake. We thought it was the French that were doing this, now we have an American congressman who said ‘no, it was the Americans who were doing this.’ And when you add that to the Obama administration refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria on the grounds that we had human rights violations in the way we were dealing with Boko Haram, not in the way we were dealing with ordinary Nigerians where there were no security issues.
“The villagers knew these were white people and we who were on that committee made the mistake of thinking they were French. But now, it is an American congressman who’s telling us that it was the Americans who did this. The villagers wouldn’t know French from Americans, from British. They just knew that these were white people. And they not only did that, they also penetrated our armed forces.”
Beyond external involvement, Akinyemi pointed to internal betrayal within Nigeria’s security apparatus, claiming that some officers had been compromised by foreign interests. He recounted instances where Nigerian soldiers had Boko Haram fighters in their sights but were ordered by superiors to hold fire, a move that suggests high-level infiltration and collusion with foreign actors.
“Behind the scenes, our boys would tell us that there were times when they would have Boko Haram people in the sight of their guns and they would ask their headquarters for permission to open fire, only for their superior officers to tell them to pull back and not open fire. That shows the extent to which there was penetration and destabilisation of our own security forces.”
Akinyemi believes that superpowers such as the US and France have a vested interest in keeping Nigeria destabilised, arguing that no Western nation wants a black African country to emerge as a global superpower. He referenced a discussion at a Washington conference where it was suggested that a strong Nigeria would disrupt the racial dynamics within the global north.
“I believe it is Nigeria that they are trying to destabilise and use any agency that comes or that they can create. I attended a conference once in Washington and it came up that no country in the global north wants a black country to become a superpower because it will affect the domestic racial conundrum that they themselves are facing. It happened to Kwame Nkrumah. Recall what Mandela said, that until Nigeria makes it, there is no country with a black race that will make it in this world,” Akinyemi stated.
Melissa Enoch
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