Popular Nigerian human rights lawyer, Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo has faulted President Donald Trump United States to control Venezuela’s oil resources, describing it as ‘economic banditry’ dressed up as diplomacy.
This comes after US forces conducted a military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores on Saturday, reports say.
In an opinion article titled, “Oil, Power and Plunder: Venezuela Is Not a Spoil of War”, Omirhobo said the move is a “pattern the world has seen before, and it has always ended in devastation for the targeted nation”.
Omirhobo said, “The attempt by the United States of America to corner, control, or hand over Venezuela’s oil resources to U.S. oil companies is not foreign policy . it is economic banditry dressed up as diplomacy. It is a pattern the world has seen before, and it has always ended in devastation for the targeted nation.
“Iraq was invaded on false pretences. Libya was destroyed under the banner of “humanitarian intervention.” In both cases, once the smoke cleared, oil contracts quietly changed hands, national institutions collapsed, and the people were left poorer, weaker, and fragmented. Today, those countries are shadows of what they once were rich in resources, poor in stability.
“Venezuela now stands in the same firing line”, according to him, noting that “what is happening has nothing to do with democracy, human rights, or the well-being of Venezuelans”.
“It is about oil who controls it, who sells it, and who profits from it. When sanctions fail, regime change is attempted.
“When regime change fails, economic strangulation continues until the oil flows in the desired direction.
“Let us be clear: Venezuela’s oil belongs to Venezuelans, not to Washington, not to Wall Street, and not to any multinational oil corporation.
“The doctrine that powerful nations can invade, destabilise, or economically suffocate weaker states to seize their natural resources is a gross violation of international law, the UN Charter, and the very idea of global order. It is modern piracy executed not with cutlasses and ships, but with sanctions, drones, and contracts.
“Under Donald Trump, this approach was not even hidden. It was openly celebrated. Oil was spoken of as “taken,” nations were treated as commodities, and sovereignty was reduced to a bargaining chip. That kind of rhetoric belongs to the age of empire, not the 21st century.
“Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Global South must pay attention. Today it is Venezuela. Yesterday it was Iraq and Libya. Tomorrow, it could be any resource-rich nation that refuses to bow.
“The world must reject this lawless model of global governance. No Country no matter how powerful has the right to exhaust its own resources and then roam the globe looting the wealth of others.
“This is not leadership.
This is not democracy.
This is piracy with a flag”, Omirhobo alleged.
