It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with which their property is possessed-- Thomas PaineI regard as unfortunate all that has occurred in the North African state ofLibya, and I declare illegal the present occupation of the once-free nation by rebel warlords backed by insidious neo-colonialist western forces.I do not in anyway support the tyrannical manner with which Gaddafi ruled his people; neither will I support the barbaric attempt by the imperialist West to impinge on the sovereignty of a state. The urgency with which Sarkozy, Cameron and Robert Gates went around with papers conducting secretarial duties for the United Nations (UN) was also quite amazing, and one could easily have forgotten that Libya was entrenched inside the African continent. One cannot also ignore the expedient manner with which heavy arms and artilleries moved into the African state; I only hoped this expediency had been employed in the Darfur crisis, that lingered for more than a decade and the current Kordofan crisis in South Sudan; maybe that region would have been calmer by now. But of course, there were no altruistic intentions in this invasion of Africa, and only the plundering of the oil reserves of Libya, kept the Western forces going.One of the articles from the UN declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples (14 December, 1960) reads,'All states shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of all states, and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity.' I really wonder where France missed out the part about 'non-interference in the internal affairs of all states' before it decided to sponsor a coup d'tat against a legitimate regime and the free people of Libya' The most devious form of tyrants always find ways to selectively interpret laid down laws to achieve their sinister aims, and justice can never be truly dispensed with selective application of the law.Very much unlike Iraq, and Afghanistan before it, Libya had a more stable socio-economical atmosphere and there was hardly any broken spot on the hedge for the western serpent to creep through. Like a fox seeking to feast on a bird locked in a cage, the West kept circling Libya with keen preying eyes, waiting for any opportunity to pounce on the richest oil state in Africa. One cannot help but hypothesise that the so-called Arab Revolution that began in Algeria last year was all a carefully planned plot that was intended to end in the seizure of Libya! One cannot understand how the UN Resolution 1973, which sought to simply implement a 'no-fly zone' quickly turned into a 'regime change' campaign. Was NATO's involvement in this crisis not clearly defined from the onset as a neutral 'civilian-protection' operation and not a mercenary-styled, rebel-backing offence against the legitimate government of a sovereign state' The sovereignty of the Libyan state was never in contention, there was no call from any group seeking secession, but just an internal uprising from certain sections of the citizenry intoxicated with the adrenaline that shoots off from just watching the Egyptian, Yemeni and Syrian youths fight rowdily against their own governments.It is the duty of any responsible government to protect the citizens from external and internal aggression, and clearly Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was doing the later. I did not see any NATO tanks and fighter jets heading into Darfur when clearly Omar Bashir was killing the Sudanese people! I do not see Sarkozy running around like a man whose wife is in the labour room as Syrian leader, Bashir Al Assad continues to crackdown violently against the dissenting voices in the country. Simple, the West is in a deep economic crisis and placing their hands on Libya's several oil wealth, would no doubt ease the pressure on their books. My suspicions were confirmed with the Paris rendezvous on September 22, sinisterly dubbed 'Friends of Libya' and reminiscent of Versailles after World War II, the oil territories of Libya were conceded to the scheming imperialist countries led by France by the faceless, structureless and purposeless rebel government. Mustapha Abdel-Jalil is being brought forward as the leader of the NTC, but it is an indubitable fact that top Al Qaeda military commander, Abdelhakim Belhaj, who was made Tripoli's security chief by the NTC has his sight clearly on the top seat and has not been too quiet about his ambitions. If Abdel-Jalil does survive long enough to conduct an election and Belhaj does win, will NATO not have helped in the creation of a new terrorist state' While Abdel-Jalil was minister of Justice under Colonel Gaddafi, he was particularly one of those who did not see anything wrong with the brutal attacks on Nigerians and Ghanaians a few years back in one of the worst xenophobic attacks the country ever witnessed. It was still his rebel group that vengefully went seeking out black sub-Saharan Africans in Tripoli after the exit of Gaddafi, accusing them of being mercenaries of the Colonel.Like a dog quickly scampering to its master's calls, the Nigerian government hastily went against the resolution of the African Union (AU) and gave recognition to the rebel group. Olusegun Ashiru has hastily come out to assert that no Nigerian was killed by the Rebel group in Tripoli. I hope he would have the decency to resign his appointment when I thrust forward names of two Nigerian citizens, who were butchered two days after the rebels took over Tripoli. Let us see the wood for the trees.I cannot help but compare the economic status of Nigeria to that of Post-Imperialist anarchy Libya and wonder to myself what moral right this sheepish government has to denounce Gaddafi's government' According to the CIA Factbook, as of 2009, Libya was producing 22 million megawatts of electricity, as against the meagre 3,500 megawatts that is being celebrated at Aso Rock. Libya had over 77 per cent of adult male population gainfully employed and inflation rate well below 3 per cent and its GDP per capita stood at $14,000 at December, 2010, as against $2500 GDP per capita and 13.8 per cent inflation rate for Nigeria. Libya had enough economic sanctions placed on it to cripple it, yet, it still fended for its people.Nigeria has practically no embargo, produces just a little below the same quantity of crude oil produced by Libya, but has absolutely no regard for its citizenry, and through corruption keeps them in a perpetual state of poverty (over 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line!) What international moral right does Nigeria even have to make any comment on the Libyan issue' For me, the answer is none!!!I look a few years into the future of this once prosperous African state and behold the seething inter-tribe conflict that would be ravaging it. We are, indeed, witnessing the creation of another 'Osama Bin Laden' out of the greed of Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and the Emir of Qatar! However, those countries that have supported the actions of these 'rebel-rousers' should not in future point fingers at any one else, but themselves when the chicken comes home to roast. Nigeria has just supported the erection of a terrorist enclave closer to its domain, and when Boko Haram becomes Al Qaeda, we know who we should blame! We owe Gaddafi an apology!Sylvester wrote in from Agbara, Ogun State.
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