By Aminu Habibu Jahun
Modern citizenship evolved from the 18th century French and American revolutions, embedded with liberties unheard of under the absolute monarchs. Citizenship underscores a two sided relationship, with rights and obligations. A citizen is entitled to the protection of the state, grant of political rights and obliged to pay taxes and undertake military service to defend the state.
Tracking Walton in Africa from a great power’s panoptic machinery
The case of Walton Phillip illustrates the relationship of the state to its citizens, how it fulfils its duties to them whilst in critical situations. But who is Walton Phillip whose case showcases an effective discharge of a side of the citizen— state relationship, which could motivate the fullest discharge of citizenship duties to the state? Walton Phillip is a 30 year old American, who was abducted by unknown gun men in Niger Republic. And within 96 hours of captivity, he was freed by the United States Special Forces on 31st October 2020 in Northern Nigeria, which prompted the then American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo to remark that the United States would defend Americans wherever they might be.
A forerunner to the Philip operation was undertaken on 15th October 2008, in which United States Special Forces freed an unnamed abducted American who worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Kabul.
Preceding the two operations by almost half a century, Operation Entebbe was executed on July 4th, 1976 by 100 commandos of the Israeli Defence Forces who flew over 4000 kilometres and, within 90 minutes, freed 102 Israeli hostages in Entebbe Airport, killing all the hostage takers. And sequel to the ongoing crisis in Sudan, Indian Airforce officers in a daring night operation on April 27th, 2023 involving a C 130J aircraft with electro optical/infra-red sensors and night vision googles, evacuated entrapped Indians who could hardly make it to Port Sudan, including a pregnant woman to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Before anybody could say Walton, he was safely at home
States can be differentiated by their capacity not only to fully dominate their domestic environments but to momentarily dominate a part of the external environment to eliminate serious threats to their citizens, illustrated by the American, Israeli and Indian states which operated beyond home to provide timely anchor to their citizens. Contrastingly, the Nigerian State has not demonstrated full domination of its environment. Nine years after the abduction of 276 Chibok school girls, 68 of them are still in captivity whilst seven students of Federal Government College, Yawuri and one student of Bethel Baptist High School, Kujama have, as at 30th April,2023, spent 684 and 660 days in captivity, respectively.
After coming to its senses and realising the futility of leaving the Kaduna train abducted passengers piecemeal huge money guzzling negotiations to private individuals, the Nigerian government finally secured the release of the remaining 23 abductees after six months in captivity. If it could take six months to get them out of abduction at home, they could have remained in perpetual captivity if they were abducted abroad, and since perpetual abduction is impossible, they would have been killed by their abductors.
Whether the American and the Israeli states were pushed by the no concessions policy to hostage takers, or by ultra concerns for the safety of their abducted citizens, they swiftly responded to them in their hour of need.
Since differential realisation of the rights of citizenship could lead to differential fulfilment of its duties to states, citizens would more effectively rally round states whose response time to the distress needs of their citizens is short rather than those whose response time to the critical needs of their citizens is long or an uncertain future. The two freed Americans, 102 Israeli hostages, the recently evacuated Indian nationals and numerous others freed from abductors by their responsive states, the Walton Phillips, would whole heartedly defend their states should the need arise, even at the risk of supreme sacrifices, since their respective states saved their lives. Years after the abductions of Chibok, Yawuri and Kujama students could any of them, if eventually found, or their parents be the Walton Phillips of Nigeria? The Nigerian State should be reengineered to have as many Walton Phillips as possible, by timely and effective responses to endangered Nigerians at home or beyond home.
