By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
It was reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) spent a combined total of about nineteen (19) days on a working vacation between the United Kingdom and France!!!
While PBAT was in those two colonial master countries (France and the United Kingdom), it appears that he took his time to read a lot about the methods that France and Britain applied in their conquest and domination of pre-colonial African nations.
It appears that PBAT really read and grasped the method known as “gunboat diplomacy”.
The only problem is that PBAT is applying a method that the inventors themselves have long since abandoned during the 1960s when the colonial masters granted independence to Nigeria and other African countries.
In other words, instead of making progress, PBAT is driving Nigeria into retrogression.
Retrogression is defined as: “the process of returning to an earlier state, typically a worse one.
“a retrogression to 19th-century attitudes”.
The method that PBAT and the National Assembly applied in the Proclamation of State of Emergency in Rivers State can be defined as a form of gunboat diplomacy.
It was a blatant show of force, a disguised threat to other Governors especially those in the Opposition, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), that a similar State of Emergency could be proclaimed in their States regardless of whether the ACTUAL EXISTENCE of the pre-requisite circumstances for invocation of Section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The expression “gunboat diplomacy” is an oxymoron of sorts.
An oxymoron is defined as “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (side by side in the same sentence).
The phrase “gunboat Diplomacy” is an oxymoron considering that on the one hand “gunboat” is an instrument of threat, war and destruction. Whereas “diplomacy” refers to a congenial approach of discussion and amicable resolution of issues between parties.
In other words, “gunboat diplomacy” is a method wherein a gunboat is stationed and pointed at one of the parties (just like holding a gun to the head) and telling the threatened person to sign his or her signature in agreement to the terms of an otherwise diplomatic discussion.
This is exactly how King Jaja of Opobo was dethroned and sent on exile by the officials of the British Empire in the year 1887.
He was lured to a meeting aboard HMS GOSHAWK for a supposed peaceful meeting to seek an amicable resolution of issues (diplomacy).
However as soon as King Jaja of Opobo stepped into the said ship, which was also gunboat, the guns/cannons of the said shop and others were pointed towards the Kingdom of Opobo, King Jaja of Opobo was given an ultimatum, either he agrees to be kidnapped and taken to Accra, Ghana for trial or the gunboats would destroy the Kingdom of Opobo. King Jaja chose to save the beloved Kingdom of Opobo which he started building in the year 1870.
PBAT is applying the same method of gunboat diplomacy in his interaction with Governor Fubara.
There is no level playing field between himself and Governor Fubara.
Before the alleged meeting with Governor Fubara in the United Kingdom, PBAT had installed his “gunboat” on the ground in Rivers State in the person of the Sole Administrator.
So whatever looks of a peaceful meeting pretending to employ diplomacy is only a ruse.
Below is a detailed description of gunboat diplomacy as follows:
“Gunboat diplomacy is the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to the superior force.
The term “gunboat diplomacy” comes from the nineteenth-century period of imperialism, when Western powers – from Europe and the United States – would intimidate other, less powerful entities into granting concessions through a demonstration of Western superior military capabilities, usually represented by their naval assets. A coastal country negotiating with a Western power would notice that a warship or fleet of ships had appeared off its coast.
The mere sight of such power almost always had a considerable effect, and it was rarely necessary for such boats to use other measures, such as demonstrations of firepower.
Diplomat and naval thinker James Cable spelled out the nature of gunboat diplomacy in a series of works published between 1971 and 1993. In these, he defined the phenomenon as “the use or threat of limited naval force, otherwise than as an act of war, in order to secure advantage or to avert loss, either in the furtherance of an international dispute or else against foreign nationals within the territory or the jurisdiction of their own state.
King Jaja of Opobo was a significant figure in the history of the Niger Delta, and his story is intertwined with the practice of “gunboat diplomacy” used by Great Britain during the 19th century. This involved using naval power to exert pressure and achieve political and economic objectives, often without resorting to direct military conflict.
Gunboat diplomacy, as exemplified in the case of King Jaja, was a tool of imperialism employed by European powers to assert dominance and control over weaker regions. In the Niger Delta, British naval power was used to intimidate and eventually remove King Jaja from power, leading to his exile.
Here’s a more detailed look at how gunboat diplomacy impacted King Jaja :
The context:
King Jaja rose to power in Opobo, a trading center in the Niger Delta, and established a thriving palm oil trade. This successful enterprise, however, led to conflict with British traders who sought to control the trade routes.
The use of force :
The British, using naval power, pressured King Jaja to sign treaties that would allow them greater control over trade and resources in the region.
The arrest and exile :
King Jaja was lured onto a British warship under false pretenses, arrested, and tried for treaty violations. He was subsequently exiled to the Caribbean, effectively ending his rule and paving the way for British control over the Niger Delta.
The broader implications :
The King Jaja affair highlighted the use of gunboat diplomacy and other forms of coercion by the British in their efforts to establish and maintain control over the Niger Delta.”
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
