Mon General, Is It Still and Always About France?
By: Moumouni Aliharam
Yesterday again, in the three most important and richest countries on the planet, led by supposedly saintly regimes, bloated spokespeople came out to tell us that we are destabilized and that the world, which cannot live without us, is doing everything to destroy us. Experts have counted that this marks the 417th statement among these three countries combined.
Yesterday again, soldiers, who emerged from the corrupt systems they zealously served for years and miraculously became saints, are telling us that they are under threat.
Yesterday again, we are told that all those attacking us do so because they are financially supported by the French junta. Every single attack, from Agadez to Torodi, is reportedly financed by France, which apparently has only one problem in its existence: Niger under Prophet Tiani.
General Toumba, the man who promised Bazoum’s corpse in front of journalists in Lomé, even told Nigeriens that terrorists have their own printing press to manufacture currency. In some countries, children would mock him for his ignorance and bad faith, but in Niger, he is among those governing us.
Yesterday again, those who took up arms against the heads of state they were meant to protect have become our saviors, without whom our countries would be doomed. They are coup plotters—no one voted for them, no one asked them to take power—yet nothing is more important than their power. Not even our lives matter. We have never seen a statement from them mourning the thousands of deaths that have plunged our people into mourning.
I don’t know how I will tell this story one day, but I challenge any marabout, including the fake Sheikh Karanta (a former PNDS candidate for legislative elections in Damana and Bazoum’s official Friday prayer imam), to find a religious justification for the one who is holding hostage the very man he was supposed to protect.
Yesterday again, you talked about France and ECOWAS countries wanting to kill and destroy us, and not wanting us to leave ECOWAS. But as the Zarma saying goes, “Whoever does good, does so for themselves.”
Do you simply know that 95% of our trade is with ECOWAS countries?
Do you simply know, General, that we import nothing from Mali or Burkina Faso?
Do you simply know that the majority of Nigeriens live in regions bordering Nigeria, except for Tillabéri and Agadez?
So, for whom do you want to leave ECOWAS? Certainly not our people.
Do you know that 99% of the 7 million Nigeriens living abroad reside in ECOWAS countries?
Has your Finance Minister, Lamine Zeine—who reportedly passed his exams thanks to his sister and our uncle, Colonel Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye—informed you that remittances from Nigeriens living in ECOWAS countries surpass all the billions you have borrowed since coming to power?
We all know the truth: you just want to leave ECOWAS because it demands that you return power to elected leaders.
Yesterday, you announced putting the armed forces on “maximum alert.” But during all the time when our soldiers and civilians were massacred by the thousands, you didn’t think to put them on maximum alert? Ir Borey!
Yesterday again, you fed us the same imaginary conspiracies that only exist in your mind. Nigeriens now know that you are aware your claims are false. You also know that we know they are false. Yet we also know you will continue because that’s all you know how to do. This is how you operated with IM for 12 years, imprisoning all the soldiers since 2011. This is how you have operated since taking power, jailing ministers without charges or evidence, releasing them, only to detain them again.
Yesterday again, you missed the real challenges.
Nigeriens know what they want, and if you don’t know, let me remind you here:
1. Maintain Niger’s membership in ECOWAS and improve diplomatic relations with all our neighbors.
2. Reopen the Benin border. Enough of the deaths, burned trucks, high costs of living, and harassment from Togolese and Burkinabe authorities forcing us to use Burkina Faso’s port.
3. Release all political prisoners immediately.
4. Combat insecurity, kidnappings, and livestock raids, and end the taxes paid to terrorists across the regions. Too many deaths, too much suffering.
5. Arrest all corrupt officials, both civilian and military, including their well-known sponsors.
6. Announce a clear timeline for a return to democracy and credible elections within the timeframe you’ve already promised.
7. Address youth unemployment and remove retirees from active service.
8. Support farmers who had a disastrous millet harvest this year.
9. Ensure transparency in public procurement and the management of state finances.
10. Genuinely address issues in the education and healthcare systems.
11. Ensure transparency in gold exploitation and revenue distribution.
That is what we want. Everything else is woba woba (nonsense). And Wallahi, ir farga!
Moumouni Aliharam
Online Journalist
NigeRreport
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