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Is Obasanjo ordained by God to
rule Nigeria? And, other fallacies
By Prof. Sola Adeyeye
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston and
USAfricaonline.com
(first posted/published here at
USAfricaonline.com March 3, 2002)
Because
of a juvenile interpretation of Scriptures, especially the 13th
Chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, there are those who
constantly assert that Obasanjo was raised by God to provide the only
need of Nigeria-a good government. Such people should be reminded
that God was alive when Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi
Amin, Mobutu Sesesoko, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and other
despots ascended to power. The point here is not that Obasanjo
belongs to this phylum of despots. Rather, one is debunking the
fallacy of ascribing all events in history to God. My Evangelical
Christian faith is comfortable with the notion of God's permissive
will enabling Obasanjo to become our President. However, Christians
know that sometimes, the permissive will of God is completely
different from His directive will. The election of retired General
Obasanjo (in pix) as the President of Nigeria was directed not by God
but by a survivalist, self-serving cabal of current and retired
Generals.
Fallacy Number One: God loves Nigeria and Only God will save
Nigeria:
Whenever Nigeria's problems are discussed, it does not take long
before someone asserts, with an air of sanctimoniousness, that "only
God can save Nigeria." Sometimes, those who make such assertions
cloak themselves in the toga of intellectual sophistry as they
mockingly ask an activist: "What changes have been achieved on
account of your activism?"
Of
course, it is easy to countermand such scoffers by asking them in
return: "Why has God not changed Nigeria despite your prayers and the
religious fervor of Nigerians? Despite endless prayers, fasting,
retreats, revivals and million-man jamborees, why do Nigerian
telephones and power supply constantly fail? Most Japanese care
nothing about the Bible or the Koran but their telephones work, as do
their railway system and other public utilities.
By contrast, why are Nigerian post offices, passport and
immigration offices, educational institutions and public utilities in
such state of chaos and dysfunction? Does God not love Nigeria? Can
the omnipotent God not cure the problems of NEPA in an instant? Why
do preventable diseases like meningitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria
and malnutrition continue to denigrate the lives our people to a
fragment of hell? Does God not care? Is He not able to save?
The answers are simple: God cares; He is able to save. But we,
Nigerians, deceive ourselves when we parade religious dogma as
authentic spirituality.
In today's Nigeria, the name of Jesus has been reduced to a
magical mantra invoked like a metaphysical abracadabra by those who
are doctrinally too erroneous, intellectually too lazy, politically
too obtuse, socially too reactionary and ideologically too confused.
Because they are also spiritually too undiscerning, attitudinally too
miserly, physically too undisciplined and psychologically too
detached, they are of little use to God or man! For Moses, Joshua,
Nehemiah, Esther, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Nahum, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk,
John the Baptist and yes, Jesus Christ, faith was not a fatalistic
resignation in the face of challenges.
Indeed, even in the most supernal of tasks, that of saving of a
soul, the Apostle Paul says, "we are laborers together with God" (1
Corinthians 3: 9). God loves Nigeria and will use Nigerians to rescue
Nigeria from its rut. Those who use God's holy name as canopy for
their inaction and dereliction of civic duty forget that the essence
of true religion lies not in sanctimonious creed but in sanctified
deed.
It is true that the Bible says that the just shall live by faith
(Habakkuk 4: 2). However, faith without works is metaphysical
hogwash. Indeed, the Apostle James bluntly calls it "dead
religion."
Fallacy Number Two:
All that Nigeria needs is a good government, and God has raised
Obasanjo to provide it.
Because of a juvenile interpretation of
Scriptures, especially the 13th Chapter of Paul's Epistle to the
Romans, there are those who constantly assert that Obasanjo was
raised by God to provide the only need of Nigeria-a good government.
Such people should be reminded that God was alive when Mussolini,
Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Mobutu Sesesoko, Ibrahim
Babangida, Sani Abacha and other despots ascended to power. The point
here is not that Obasanjo belongs to this phylum of despots. Rather,
one is debunking the fallacy of ascribing all events in history to
God.
My Evangelical Christian faith is comfortable with the notion of
God's permissive will enabling Obasanjo to become our President.
However, Christians know that sometimes, the permissive will of God
is completely different from His directive will. The election of
Chief Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria was directed not by God
but by a survivalist, self-serving cabal of current and retired
Generals.
On at least two occasions, I published articles about Obasanjo's
antecedents showing why he would be a very bad President at this
momentous pass of Nigeria's history. Of course, the view of one
person, no matter how considered, need not prevail. Flawed as the
electoral process was, Chief Obasanjo emerged as President and
deserved the support of all Nigerians.
In accordance with the finest tradition of democratic liberalism,
I immediately not only offered President Obasanjo my congratulations,
I pledged to him my daily prayers and whatever support I can render
to ensure his success. Hence, despite the personal discomfort of the
exercise, I published a scathing article in six Nigerian newspapers
taking the leadership of the AD and Afenifere to task over their
objection to Chief Ige serving in the Obasanjo cabinet.
Unfortunately, it is now obvious that all Nigeria will get from
President Obasanjo is administrative tinkering. A federalism gone
asunder is the albatross strangling Nigeria's neck. Obasanjo has no
intention to free us from this Draconian octopus with its suffocating
tentacles.
In any case, in the name of national unity, it was Obasanjo's
earlier regime that buried voracious termites beneath the wood of
Nigerian federalism. Nigeria will never know peace or prosperity for
as long as we adhere to the current overbearing, centralist system in
which the Federal Government has the audacity to fix the salaries of
state functionaries.
Is it imaginable that the US Federal Government would establish a
salary structure that binds the States of California, New York,
Mississippi, Texas and Minnesota? In what other federal system in the
world are taxes collected from one state and dispersed to others? The
fundamental defects in the structure of Nigerian Federation will
still be with us after Obasanjo leaves office. Unchanging changes:
forbacky dance indeed!
Why are Delta region states not given the control of the resources
within their territory? Does the United States Federal Government
control the oil of Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana? Why should only the
Federal Government have a police force? Some have argued that because
regional police forces had sometimes been used as instruments of
victimization in the past, they should remain disbanded. By that very
logic, the Nigerian Police Force and the entire Nigerian Military
should be disbanded. Certainly, they too have been used on too many
occasions as instruments of oppression.
Were we not eyewitnesses to the use of the Nigerian Police Force
to subvert the electoral wishes of the people in many parts of
Nigeria during the 1983 election? Was the apparatus of the federal
police and the military not used to terrorize the Nigerian people
during the dark days of Babangida and Abacha? Should they too be
disbanded?
As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian
history to assign military officers as governors of states from where
they did not originate. The fixation on unity, as if it is an end
unto itself, was the pernicious foundation for the internal
colonialism of the Babangida-Abacha years.
As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first to forcibly
either ban or acquire the ownership of private newspapers. Today, we
still do not have any constitutional guarantees against such
acquisition.
As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian
history to sack Nigerian workers en masse without established due
process. The Nigerian civil service, once among the best in the
world, collapsed under the weight of misguided passion for so-called
national discipline because sober judgment and due process were
recklessly trampled.
Twenty-five years later, among Obasanjo's first acts as President
was the sacking of workers who, again, were denied due process. As
military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was the first in Nigerian
history to forcibly acquire state properties and institutions without
any compensation. Twenty-five years later, Obasanjo has given us no
indication that he now understands the deleterious consequences of
this malignant centralism.
As military dictator, Obasanjo's government eroded the autonomy of
state-owned television and radio stations by imposing so-called
national programs. As a consequence, those stations asphyxiated under
the burden of intemperate centralism. For example, Western Nigerian
Television, once the best in Africa, became a caricature of itself.
Indeed, Obasanjo prepared the ground for the use of those stations in
furthering the satanic ambitions of more heinous despots that later
ascended to power.
As military dictator, Obasanjo's regime was allergic to open
discourse and criticism. Obarogie Ohanbamu, Edwin Ikechukwu Madunagu,
Areoye Oyebola, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo and many other illustrious
Nigerians were forced to lose their jobs when they dared criticize
Obasanjo. Twenty-five years later, in Atlanta Georgia, when a
Nigerian expressed the concerns of his people, our supposedly
"democratic" President lashed out in an autocratic outburst: "Go to
hell!" Without doubt, Nigeria needs good governance. However, there
is no indication that Obasanjo now has what it takes to provide the
visionary leadership that this moment demands. In any case, even if
by some miracle Obasanjo were able to provide good governance, what
happens when he leaves office?
Wisdom dictates to us all that this simple question be given our
urgent and grave attention. We desperately need a better structure, a
new political arrangement in which the Presidency does not suffocate
our lives by its omnipotence and omnipresence.
Fallacy Number Three: Nigerian unity is our highest national
priority
At independence, our nation adopted a simple motto- Unity and
Faith. But the metastases of military oligarchy and its centralist
tendencies have ruined Nigeria's unity.
Today, the Federation of Nigeria is a fatally flawed structural
abnormality. The inordinate concentration of power in the central
government is a mockery of federalism. For too long, by dishonestly
touting unity as an end unto itself, survivalist dictators have
created Federal monsters that gobbled at our innate diversity as if
our God-created diversity is, of itself, an evil!
It is now certain that President Obasanjo can never lead us out of
this political silliness and intellectual dishonesty. An African does
NOT cease to be human simply because he is African; a Nigerian does
not cease to be African simply because of being a Nigerian. For
heaven's sake, the diversity of our nationalities as Tiv, Jukum,
Ijaw, Ibiobio, Hausa, Igbo, Ogoni, Fulani, Yoruba or what have you,
in no way detracts from Nigerian patriotism.
In any case, our checkered history leaves us with absolutely
irrefutable evidence that the harmonious coexistence of Nigerian
nationalities will not be erected on the foundation of a coercive,
centralist structure that discountenances our diversity. Moreover,
contemporary events in many parts of the world clearly reveal that
the issue of nationality is not one to be buried under the carpet of
mere pretense and coerced relationship.
Ask the people of Bosnia and of Yugoslavia. Ask the people of our
former colonial masters, the so-called "United Kingdom" of Great
Britain where the Scottish, Welsh and Irish now assert their
nationalities after centuries of rigmarole.
Recently, I read a brilliant and most evocative article entitled
"Stop the bus" by Orok Edem. Edem likened Nigeria to a bus that
perennially travels in the wrong direction. He opined that Nigerian
Minority ethnic groups will be better by getting off the Nigerian
bus. One wishes that the Nigerian experiment will succeed and the
Nigerian bus will commence traveling in the right direction.
Without question, a big size confers some advantages to a nation.
But if our size and heterogeneity remain a hindrance to our
prosperity, all of us will be better served by getting off the
Nigerian bus.
The legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Western Nigeria bear
witness that even without oil resources, the Yorubas will be far
better off the Nigerian bus. Awolowo demonstrated that with Spartan
discipline and judicious husbandry of limited resources, quantum
leaps of progress are possible even if a people have no oil.
Likewise, the Hausa-Fulani would be better off the Nigerian bus
where they can resume the tremendous multi-faceted development that
took place under the leadership of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu
Bello.
Needless to say, the legacies of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr.
Michael Okpara resoundingly prove that the Igbos would have been far
better off had they not been forced back into the Nigerian bus.
Needless to say, the Nigerian Minorities such as those in the
Delta region or the Middlebelt would have done far better on their
own. What is the logic or morality of this fixation on unity? Let us
stay united if and only if being "united" will foster peace, liberty
and prosperity for our people. Otherwise, let us convoke around a
mahogany table and discuss the terms of our parting of ways.
What we call unity today is nothing but coerced co-existence in
which all of us are equal opportunity victims of distrust and
concomitant marginalization.
Fallacy Number Four: Our part of Nigeria is
marginalized
In traveling across Nigeria, one commonly encounters the fallacy
of the greener grass. "Those in the other parts of Nigeria are doing
much better than "we" are; "they" have better schools, hospitals,
roads etc." Quite commonly, southerners portray the north as a region
flowing with milk and honey; easterners think the westerners are
doing swell; the westerners think that life is more abundant in
northern and eastern Nigeria!
This myth is echoed daily across Nigeria. In sad reality, Nigeria
has been reduced to a fragment of hell, from Port Harcourt to Kaura
Namoda and from Lagos to Nguru.
Today, a Yoruba is the President in Nigeria. But how has that
preferentially benefited the workers of Osun State whose salaries are
rarely paid on time? We must not discountenance the ethnocentric
undercurrents of Nigerian politics. But we must not allow corrupt
leaders to exploit the concern about marginalization for their
self-serving purposes.
In any case, when a Nigerian politician decries the
marginalization of his people, his primary concern is often for
himself not the people; he is craving more opportunities for graft
and embezzlement.
If a Yoruba Stealator enriches himself by inflating the cost of
procuring computers, does that make Yorubas less marginalized than
their Ibiobio compatriots? Our elite, regardless of ethnic origin,
are plundering Nigeria's treasury while sentencing the masses of all
ethnic groups to marginal existence.
How many of our senators or ministers are concerned that after 30
years of service, the total gratuity of a professor, engineer,
lawyer, surveyor, teacher or civil servant is less than the furniture
allowance of a senator or minister? What is needed is a united front
by the marginalized masses of Nigeria against adventurers in power
and career opportunists who have turned public service into looting
service.
Fallacy Number Five: Nigeria is a rich and great country
It is true that God has bequeathed Nigeria with abundant natural
resources that can make us a rich and great nation. However, the
truth is that nations do not become rich or great simply because they
have natural resources. The Soviet Union, a nation with a surfeit of
natural resources, languished in economic stagnation and eventually
imploded under the crushing weight of its own internal
contradictions.
Their experience and ours epitomize the great gulf between
greatness and potential greatness. Those who enjoy the thrill of
watching a buffoon making a fool of himself may deceptively call us
the "Giant of Africa" but we must not be hoodwinked by such
frivolity.
Of course, the antics of a buffoon in the market square is a comic
relief but those who enjoy and laugh at such antics never wish to
have a buffoon for a child. The whole world has become a global
village in which being "the giant of Africa" while remaining a "dwarf
of the world" is nothing to sing about.
The pandemics of grinding poverty, preventable diseases,
ridiculous superstitions cloaked as religion, environmental
degradation and technological backwardness, all sprawling across
Nigeria are not indicators of greatness. Do we talk of greatness
about a country where educational institutions have broken down,
transportation services are backward, physical infrastructures are
decrepit, and agricultural technology is primitive?
Can we describe as great a nation where medical services are
extremely poor, water supply is episodic, and power supply is
epileptic? These variegated but all-too-familiar woes inflict
economic asphyxiation and physical debilitation on our people. Yet,
we talk about greatness!
Likewise, how can we say that Nigeria is rich when there is more
wealth in this city, Dallas Texas, than the entire country of
Nigeria? Sure, Nigeria has the potential to be rich. As we speak,
there are many individuals in this room today who have the potential
to be rich. But unless they develop that potential, they will never
be rich. Likewise, the wealth of nations is not created by wishful
thinking or bloated ego. Rather, it is created and sustained by the
concerted application of human ingenuity and discipline in the
exploitation of natural resources.
Whither the Nigerian Bus?
It is clear by now that I have not come here to paint for you a
rosy picture about Nigeria's future. I have long disqualified myself
from the membership of OFN (Operation Fool the Nation). Problems are
not solved when we shy away from them.
The perennial recurrence of our woes is sufficient proof that
problems do not disappear just by being neglected. The Nigerian bus
is badly damaged. Together, we can repair it. Every bus needs
headlights. Nigeria will not prosper until we embrace a collective
vision of justice for all.
If unity is our goal, justice must be our guiding light. When a
nation sows the seed of injustice, it inevitably reaps disunity.
Together, we must fight injustice in every part of our land. Every
bus needs a roof, windscreens and a protective frame.
For the Nigerian bus, the Rule of Law together with an unflagging
adherence to universal human rights must be our roof and windscreen.
Nigeria will not prosper until the winds of tyranny and the disregard
for due process are structurally disabled from ever assaulting our
human rights and civic liberties. These liberties are our God-given
unalienable rights.
Any government attempting to infringe upon these liberties must be
resisted by any means necessary.
Every bus needs a steering wheel. For the Nigerian bus, the
steering wheel must be discipline. And by discipline, I speak not of
the regimentation of our lives by military or civilian autocrats.
Rather, national discipline is the singular focus on noble goals and
the rational process for achieving them. It is not about morbid
centralism; it is about the resolute choices of a free people in
moral pursuit of progress.
Every bus needs brakes, and seatbelts. For the Nigerian bus, our
brakes and seatbelts must be constitutional checks and balances that
safeguard our nation against governmental excesses. Of course, every
bus needs an engine, a battery, tires, wheels accelerators etc. I
have no doubt that together, we can provide the Nigerian bus needs.
However, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue is not what we can do
together; it is what we shall do together.
The options before us are limited- only three.
First, we may leave the bus unattended and continue our journey of
harrowing woes. Needless to say, it is suicidal for anyone to
knowingly travel in a bus that is in a state of disrepair. Sooner or
later, such a bus will crash. Ask the Soviet Union, India, Pakistan,
Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia all of whom imploded under the weight
of internal stress. We must reject this option.
Second, we may repair the bus and take a ride to peace and
prosperity. Examples abound in history about nations that rebuilt
from disrepair.
Third, we may disembark the bus and let the passengers get unto
new ones according to their sovereign and free wishes. That was what
happened when Denmark peacefully broke into Sweden and Denmark;
Sweden later peacefully broke into Norway and Sweden. That was what
happened when Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into Czech and
Slovakia.
Quite frankly, I am completely comfortable either with joining to
repair the Nigerian bus or helping to peacefully dismantle it so that
we all can be spared the agonizing but inescapable destiny of riding
a damaged bus to our collective perdition.
And so, to that infinite Source of vision, wisdom, courage and
grace, the Supreme One we call Allah, Chineke, Obong, Oghene,
Olodumare, Ooundu, Osalobua etc., I say: So Help us God to either
repair soon or peacefully and quickly dismantle our hapless bus!
Adeyeye is Secretary-General of the United Democratic Front of
Nigeria (UDFN). Also, read his incisive insight,
Nigeria's destiny, democracy and its
corrupt Forbacky
dances
|
 USAfricaonline
LITERATURE
Why
Chinua
Achebe,
the Eagle on the Iroko,
is Africa's writer of the century.
Achebe, scholar, social conscience, cultural
historian and globally-acclaimed writer, has been a
significant and binding  source
for an engaging understanding of African pre-colonial,
colonial and post-colonial history and realities. I believe
that such insight has made him a favorite of
African-Americans, and other scholars and regular folks in
search of a better, realistic understanding of Africa, at
least, from Achebe's utilization of his rich and dynamic
Igbo ancestry, in south eastern Nigeria. I share the same
ancestry, and he's one of my
mentors.
By Chido
Nwangwu. Click
here for
commentary
 Chinua
Achebe returns "home" from U.S., to love and
adulation of community.
Exclusive
USAfricaonline.com tribute: Since 1958, Achebe's "Things
Fall Apart" set
a standard of artistic excellence, and more.
We met in person at the first conference on Commonwealth
Literature, organized by Professor An Jeffares at Leeds
University in 1964. We met again in Lagos, later, the same
year. We met again at the Canadian Association of
Commonwealth Literature conference in Toronto in 1973. By
Douglas Killam
Chinua Achebe wins Man Booker International Prize
2007. The highly-regarded Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe
has won the Man Booker International Prize, which is worth
£60,000 and awarded only once every two years. Achebe,
who was born in 1930, is best known for his first novel,
"Things Fall Apart," written in 1958, though he has written
more than 20 books. In "Things Fall Apart," Achebe portrays
Nigerian tribal life in an Ibo village before and after
colonialism.
Judges for the prize were American author and Princeton
University professor Elaine Showalter; South African writer
and 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Nadine Gordimer;
and Irish author Colm Tóibin. In her comment on the
prize, Gordimer said, "Chinua Achebe's early work made him
the father of modern African literature as an integral part
of world literature." Tóibin said, "Chinua Achebe has
been one of my heroes since I read his book Things Fall
Apart." The Man Booker International Prize can be won by a
living author of any nationality, as long as his or her work
is available in English. It is given for a body of work
rather than one book and is different from the Man Booker
Prize. It was first awarded in 2005 to the Albanian writer
Ismail Kadaré. NY Newsday/June 13, 2007
Chinua
Achebe: A Literary
Diaspora Toasts One of Its Own. By Somini
Sengupta
POLICY
A trial of two cities and
struggle for justice.
By Jack E. White, an essay by Time magazine columnist for
USAfricaonline.com
DISCOUNTED
Prices ...BEST DEALS for all your TRAVELS and Tours across
the U.S and the world. Get your e-tickets from USAfrica
TRAVELS
USAfricaonline.com INSIGHT: Nigeria
and burden of the fraudulent 2007
elections. By Dr.
Chidi Amuta. In the unsettling aftermath of the 2007
general elections, we come face to face with a rather
uncanny choice: to accept the outcome of an electoral fraud
or allow the nation to degenerate into anarchy. Quite
understandably, the thrust of domestic political opinion is
today is ranged on both sides of this unwholesome divide.
Similarly, international impressions about Nigeria are
likely to be coloured by the shadow of those bad
elections. FULL
commentary here
COMMUNITY
INTEREST
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as the O.J Simpson
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
A
Lott
of Racism?
Implications
of Obasanjo's
late wake up to the challenges of Sharia
in Nigeria. By Ken
Okorie
Osama
bin-Laden's goons
threaten Nigeria and Africa's stability. By Chido Nwangwu
What has
Africa to do with September
11 terror?
By Chido Nwangwu
Reflections on September
11.
By Jonathan Elendu
And
the Rocks Cried
Out (For Safiyatu).
By Effenus Henderson
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR Out
of Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
Pope John Paul, Abacha and Nigeria's
Christians
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
An African-American diplomat puts principles above self for
Nigeria.  USAfricaonline.com
Founder Chido Nwangwu with the U.S. former Ambassador
Carrington (right) at the U.S. embassy in Lagos during a
courtesy visit.
Biafra-Nigeria
war
and history
get fresh, critical look from a
survivor.
By Alverna
Johnson and Vivian Okeke.
'Biafra: History
Without Mercy' - a preliminary note.
By Chido Nwangwu
ODUMEGWU EMEKA OJUKWU:"It
was simply a choice between Biafra and enslavement! And,
here's why we chose Biafra"
Biafra:
From Boys to Men. By Dr. M.O. Ene
African
Union: Old
wine in new skin?
Sharia, Sex and
hypocrisy of Gendered
Justice.
By Chika Unigwe,
columnist for
USAfricaonline.com
And the Rocks
Cried
Out (For Safiyatu).
By Effenus Henderson
NEWS
INVESTIGATION:
The
Marc
Rich Oil Deals in Nigeria
Should Africa debates begin and end
at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS Beyond
U.S. electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a
democratic republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability
What
has Africa
to do with September 11
terror?
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to come....
Arafat's
duplicity, terrorism at the heart of
Israeli-Palestinian crises. By Barry
Rubin
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian
rule?
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin
and end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
Conflicting
emotions, feeling of disappointment, timing of revelation
that Rev. Jackson fathered a child with former aide lead to
charges of "right-wing
orchestration."
Nigeria's
Presidential Election: Is it just for the Highest
Bidder?
Nigeria at 40: punish financial thuggery,
build
domestic infrastructure
Is Obasanjo really up to
Nigeria's challenge and crises?
By USAfricaonline.com
contributing editor Ken Okorie. Commentary
appears from NigeriaCentral.com
Africa suffers the
scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of  Kgomotso
Mahlangu, a five-month-old AIDS patient (left) in a hospital
in the Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on
October 26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to
the sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
Wong is wrong on
Blacks in Houston city jobs
Why is 4-year old Onyedika
carrying a placard against killings
in Nigeria?
How Nigeria's Islamic
Sharia crises
will affect the U.S.
USAfrica
INTERVIEW "Why
African
Catholics are
concerned about crises,
sex abuse issues in our
church" - a frank
chat with ICCO's Mike Umeorah
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
The Economics of Elections
in Nigeria
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY How far, how deep will
Nigeria's human rights commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
COUNTERPOINT
'Why is
Bill Maher spreading racist nonsense about
HIV/AIDS
and Africa
on ABC?
Hate
groups' spin
by Lamar Alexander
benefits anti-Blacks, anti-Semites, and racists
Annan,
power and burden of the U.N
The
Civilianizing of African soldiers
into
Presidents
At
39,
Nigerians
still face dishonest
stereotypes such as Buckley's, and other self-inflicted
wounds.
JFK
Jr.: Death of a Good
Son
'Why is Bill
Maher spreading racist nonsense about HIV/AIDS
and Africa
on ABC?
National Summit
on Africa, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee hold policy forum in
Houston
'100 Black Men are solutions-oriented' says Thomas Dortch,
Jr., Richard Johnson and Nick Clayton II as they share
perspectives with USAfrica's founder on the national
organization.
Community Service Awards bring African-American, American
policy
and business leaders together with African
community at Texas Southern University
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
Nigeria,
Cry My Beloved Country
BULLET
Versus BALLOT The bloody stain
of military coup, on Friday December 24, 1999, sullied the
once unique history of democratic rule in the beautiful and
historically democratic, French-speaking west African
country of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) by General Robert
Guei (inset). USAfricaonline
report
and
commentary.
COMMUNITY
INTEREST Why the
revisionist forces of racist oppression in South Africa
should not
be allowed to
intimidate Ron and Charlayne Gault.
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Index of other Viewpoints
USAfricaonline contributors and columnists on the
issues
|
Will the rash of Ethnic
Violence
disrupt
Nigeria's effort at Democracy?
USAfrica
FORUM
IN THE HOUSE OF MANDELA:
A SILLY CRY FOR REPARATIONS
By Prof. Chimalum Nwankwo
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
EndGame in
Kinshasa: U.S must boot Mobutu for own interest, future of
Zaire
and
Africa
|
Seriously,
is your web site a Turkey, too? Get
Solutions
|
PetroGasWorks
Shell picks Leslie
Mays
as VP Global Diversity
Why Powell's
mission to the Middle
East failed. By Jonathan Elendu
TRANSITION
General Tunde
Idiagbon:
A nationalist, an iron-surgeon departs
Abiola's sudden death and the ghost of things
to come
Gen. Shehu
Musa
Yar'Adua's prison death, Nigeria and The Ghost of Things to
come .....
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Why
Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide. By
Chido Nwangwu
USAfrica
The Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston special as chosen by the editors and
readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
OPINION:
Destruction
of property and human massacres are always traumatic
events in a community, saddening and enraging, but the
organizers of the beauty contest, as well as the
participants, must understand that they are totally free of
guilt. The guilty are the storm troopers of intolerance, the
manipulators of feeble-minded but murderous hordes of
fanaticism. By Prof. Wole Soyinka
DEMOCRACY
WATCH: Obasanjo
rapes Nigeria's constitution
by suspending Plateau Assembly and Governor. Prof. By
Prof. Ben Nwabueze, leading constitutional scholar for
almost 45 years, former federal minister and SAN.
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my
heart had a voice...."
Nigeria,
a terrible beauty. By
Chido Nwangwu
VIEWPOINT: Obasanjo,
Go! Just go! Prof. Wole Soyinka
Obasanjo's
failed quest for 3rd Term has damaged his
reputation. By Prof. Patrick Wilmot
USAfrica VIEWPOINT: Nigeria's
flawed 2007 elections and avoiding a tragedy.
Nigerians not ready to be governed once again by those they
did not give the consent had began to protest and to call
for new elections. Click
here for an exclusive commentary for USAfricaonline.com by
our New York columnist Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo. He is the
author of a new book, Children of a retired God.
Why Nigeria and Africa's
leaders are leading us to nowhere. By
Professor Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe,
contributing editor of USAfricaonline.com,
author of the highly-acclaimed African Literature in
Defence of History: An Essay on Chinua Achebe and a
visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.
Anambra's rigged 2003 elections: Chris
Uba's confession at WIC 2004 in Newark, USA.
In a matter-of-fact manner, PDP's chieftain in Anambra
Chris Uba stood up and astonished all that were present in
Newark when he said, "We, the PDP, did not win the election
(of 2003). I have gone to church to confess. The election
had no document. I called the result before 12 midnight. I
gave INEC the money and asked them to call the result." The
revelation caused an uproar as well as some applause in the
hall. "The person we took his thing is here," Uba said,
pointing at Peter Obi (the APGA candidate) who was sitting
among the audience, in the back row. There was
OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid
Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse?
Investigating
Marc
Rich and his deals
with Nigeria's Oil
Through an elaborate network of carrots and
sticks and a willing army of Nigeria's soldiers and some
civilians, controversial global dealer and billionaire Marc
Rich, literally and practically, made deals and steals; yes,
laughed his way to the banks from crude oil contracts,
unpaid millions in oil royalties and false declarations of
quantities of crude lifted and exported from Nigeria for
almost 25 years. Worse, he lifted
Nigeria's oil and shipped same to then embargoed apartheid
regime in South Africa. Read Chido Nwangwu's NEWS
INVESTIGATION REPORT for PetroGasWorks.com
INSIGHT:
How Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an
'Animal
Farm.'
By Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Is
Obasanjo ordained by God to rule
Nigeria?
And, other fallacies.
By Prof. Sola Adeyeye
Obasanjo was not sworn in merely to "mean
well" for Nigeria. By Obi Nwakanma
Obasanjo's
'prayers' and the
Abacha path of staying in power. By Nkem Ekeopara
Creative writing, publishing and the future of
Nigerian
Literature.
By Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike
MEDIAWATCH
Should Africa debates begin
and end at The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
TRIBUTE
Nnamdi Azikiwe:
Statesman, Intellectual and Titan of African
politics
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where  he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents."
These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.' Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president. By Al Johnson
ARTS
The Life
and Irreverent times of Afrobeat
superstar,
FELA
PANAFRICANIST
Tanzania's founding
president Julius Nyerere
ELECTIONS
Gigolos on the
Campaign
Trail. By Prof.
Walt Brasch
Martin
Luther King's
legacy,
Jews and Black History
Month
Can Africa live a future
without war? An
Open Letter to
Mandela. By Fubara
David-West
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
Abati's
Revisionisms
and Distortions of history. By Obi Nwakanma, USAfrica
The Newspaper contributing editor and award-winning poet
Reuben Abati's
fallacies
on Nigeria's
history and secession. By Bayo
Arowolaju
How Abati, Adelaja and others fuel the
campaign
of hatred against Ndigbo. By Jonas Okwara
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists":
A response to Reuben Abati's
Igbophobia. By Josh Arinze,
USAfricaonline.com contributing editor.
Abati and other anti-Igbo
bigots in Nigeria. By Chuks
Iloegbunam, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor and
author of Ironsi
DEMOCRACY DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy was livecast on
February 19, 2002. It involved Nigeria's Information
Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on the CNN International site.
WILL
ARINZE BE THE
FIRST
POPE of RECENT
AFRICAN
ORIGIN?
To our Brother Cardinal
Arinze: May your pastoral lineage endure!
The
Democratic
Party
stood for nothing in 2002
election cycle.
By Jonathan Elendu
HEALTHWATCH
EVA
champions efforts
to combat
AIDS
among Nigerian youth. By Jessica
Rubin
Pros and cons of the circumcision
debate. By Ngozi
Ezeji, RN
TRIBUTE
Prof.
Chimere
Ikoku: Remembering
the legacy of a pan-Africanist,
scientist and
gentleman. By Prof. Chudi Uwazurike
Can Africa live a future
without war? An
Open Letter to
Mandela. By Fubara
David-West, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor
INSIGHT
Why Martin
Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
COUNTERPOINT
Tiger Woods is no Nelson
Mandela!
By Chido Nwangwu
SPORTS: Tiger
Woods makes more history with another golf Masters
win.
He shot 12-under-par 276
and a final round 71 at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club
event and collected $1,008,000, on Sunday April 14, 2002.
With it, the world's golf phenom added another green jacket
to his array of championships and titles, placing him, in
this instance, in the same respected Masters' league as
Nicklaus (winner 1965 and 1966) and Nick Faldo (1989 and
1990). The three are the only men to win back-to-back
Masters. At 26, Woods has since become the youngest golfer
to win his seventh professional major championship. He was
joined by his parents and his 22 year-old Swedish model
girlfriend, Elin Nordegren.
Impeachment process shows
Nigerian democracy "is alive... being
tested." Nigeria's president retired Gen.
Olusegun Obasanjo
has said that the impeachment process shows that
"democracy is alive, is being tested, and being tried....
What they (the legislators) have tried to do in the
democratic way, which is not easy, would probably have been
done by taking arms or by -- with bullets. So, but with
democracy, of course, some people feel that this is the way
this should be, and then I have an opportunity to defend
myself. There is discussion. There is dialogue. There is a
decision. There is fairness." He made
these
comments when he
appeared on Tuesday September 17, 2002 on CNN International
to discuss the issues of impeachment facing him, the
allegations of corruption, abuse of the constitution and
deployment of soldiers ina civilian environment which led to
the "massacre of civilians" in Odi (Bayelsa) and Zaki Biam
(Benue). On the charges by
international human rights organizations and Nigerian media
that his government has been involved in actions which have
led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerians, the retired
General gave a surprising answer. He
was asked that "as many as 10,000 people, it's being
reported, have been killed in Nigeria (in) communal
rivalries, and the number is believed to be increasing. And
people are saying that although President Obasanjo has done
a lot of good for Nigeria, you're accused of not -- accused
of failing to halt that spiraling violence."
Obasanjo: Let me say this to you, when you put the question
of 10,000 -- 10,000 people dying in Nigeria, of course, for
a population of over 120 million people...."
But USAfricaonline.com Founder and
recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997),
Chido
Nwangwu, who appeared on the same program as as a CNN
International analyst (Africa) pointed out that "when
(President Obasanjo) answered that in a country of 100
million that 10,000 people are said to have died, as if that
was a small number, that in itself reflects a disconnect
with the concerns of Nigerians. The second one is that when
the risk is civil disagreement, the police are required to
intervene in the country. And the deployment of the armed
forces of Nigeria requires at least some consultation,
however modest, with the parliament." Nwangwu,
former member of the editorial board of Nigeria's Daily
Times continued that "the third
factor that is equally important to underscore is that the
armed forces of Nigeria moved in for a punitive action
rather than just containing a civil
disagreement." He noted in USAfricaonline.com
backgrounder "it was revealing and interesting interesting
discussing Nigeria's issues with its leader - under the
current circumstances of an increasingly out-of-schedule
elections and the gathering storm of an impeachment process
by a majority of the members of the National Assembly,
predominantly by Obasanjo's party members." See
rush
transcript of the CNN
International news program.
Obasanjo
facing corruption and ineptitude impeachment
charges, again since the parliament, a few weeks ago, passed
a motion carrying a majority of the members of Obasanjo's
party, the PDP.
RELIGION
AND ETHNIC CONFLICT: Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers. By
Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria as a Nation of Vulcanizers
Why Colin Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.
PUBLIC
POLICY
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are keys to prosperity in Africa.
The
Civilianizing of African soldiers
into Presidents
Maduekwe,
Nwachukwu clash
over Obasanjo at World Igbo 2002 convention in
Houston. USAfrica Special
report
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy livecast on
February 19, 2002. It involved Nigeria's Information
Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
Steve Jobs and Apple represent the
future of digital
living. By Chido Nwangwu
The coup in Cote
d'Ivoire and its implications for democracy
in Africa. By Chido Nwangwu
(Related
commentary) Coup
in Cote d'Ivoire has been in the waiting.
By Tom Kamara
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