Obama: Africans and Americans

Obama! The lesson for Nigerians and Africans

Some of us were visibly upset and heated up when it became apparent that the first African American President of the United States of American with first generation African heritage was not going to visit Nigeria during his inaugural homecoming visit to the sub-Saharan region of our continent from July 10-11 2009. How dare he impugn the “Giant of African,” the nation with the highest black population, and with some of the most intelligent people in the world? Interestingly, we failed to realize the under pinning of President Obama’s snub of Nigeria which was similar to that of Kenya his paternal homeland. Why did he go instead to Ghana, a stable best practice, result oriented, and reasonably governed African country?  

His Excellency Mr. Obama’s late mother is from the state of Kansas, he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. As a college student he went to the “big apple” New York for his undergraduate degree before heading to Illinois State to work as a community organizer. After spending time in three other American states he settled in the city of Chicago which is in Illinois State. Then he embraced Chicago as his home and no one asked him if he was an indigene or a settler. Mr. Obama concentrated on assisting the poor and underclass communities within the state. His primary goal was not to usurp power for himself but instead to organize the lower income inhabitants of the windy city and to empower them towards social change. In fact he enmeshed himself into the culture and norms of the city and state and eventually went to law school as a means to assist the less privileged in his adopted Chicago community.

Did people dangle his unusual name Barack Hussien Obama in his face and behind his back? Yes of course, a minority of people probably teased him and gossiped about his father’s African roots and Islamic religion. Some definitely viewed him more as an outsider, a Kenyan, Hawaiian and/or an Indonesian. However, because of his dedication and empathy for the community and people, he was supported by the majority of Chicagoans and eventually Americans.

This analysis per-se is not to negate the contemporary resentful and antagonistic opposition from the American conservatives and hate mongers that are still suffering from post traumatic syndrome because Mr. Obama was elected the President of the United States. Neither is my article a coronation of the man President Obama, whom many progressives like me in the United States are beginning to view with trepidation and buyers remorse. The apathy is due to his support of large chunks of the Bush and Cheney foreign and domestic policies. President Obama the individual has failed to articulate his positions on progressive issues and has allowed the conservatives to successfully triangulate and cow his administration. 

            However the situation in Africa and Nigeria is more volatile because when “push comes to shove,” Pan-Africanism, reason and logic goes out the window and we slaughter each other based on our perceived differences. We become mad in the name of economic difficulties, religion, and political expediency. In Kenya, Kikuyus and Kalenjins would rather have a blood bath than have dialogues and in Nigerian northerners are fighting each other in the name of settlers verse indigenes.  For example in Plateau State, Nigerian Christians and Muslims in the north have resulted to killing each in the name of colonial religions and to settle century old scores. We have practically forgotten the commonality of our black and/or African heritages and are quickly filled with hate and disdain for each other.

Conversely, I have experienced something different as a product of mixed parentage with Ibo and Ijaw heritage. I was born at Aggrey road waterside the epic center of civil disputes between the Ikwere and Okrika tribes in Port-Harcourt Rivers State. While I was fortunate to have the first stages of my development in the Town region of the garden city (Port-Harcourt), I would be remised if I fail to mention that this same region had large concentrations of Hausas and Fulanis. Though, most inhabitants of Port-Harcourt knew where our Hausa/Fulani brothers and sisters resided and conducted their businesses, there was never a single reprisal attack on our fellow country men and women notwithstanding the incessant attacks of individuals and families from the south and west of Nigeria in the north. Instead we patronized the businesses (foreign exchange and suya amongst others) of the northerners from the Niger street to Lagos street corridors of Rivers State Nigeria.

            Unlike President Obama and the United States we are still very much engaged in ti-for-tat vitriolic killings and hybrid destructive politicking. In Nigeria some of us are still trying to recriminate others for the assassination of his Excellency Prime Minister, Sir Abubaka Tafawa Balewa (the golden voice), northern Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and western Premier, Sir Ladoke Akintola. We present with acrimony despite the Nigerian and Biafran civil war that killed nearly two million of our fellow citizens. In Africa, we are quick to claim President Obama as a son like President Muammar al-Gaddafi did when he appeared at the United Nations while simultaneously remaining “Leader for Life” in Libya. There is a perplexing state of denial when we do not ask ourselves if Obama’s story is possible in most African countries.

            Similarly, there is a denial of the lessons that surrounds the life, rise, and ascendancy of Mr. Obama. He did not have the right family name and political pedigree but arose to lead a nation of immigrants in transition. Is his story possible in Cairo, Yaounde, Lome, Kinshasa, Dakar, and Kampala to mention a few capitals of African countries? The answer is a resounding and unequivocal no way because we are self-centered, greed, and contentious to the highest degree. In Africa most rulers aspire for power and leadership positions but metamorphose to become the impediment to our rudimentary progress and structural growth.

            In the United States of America we know how much money then Senator and now President Obama was/is paid as salary. We can easily find out who donated to his political action committees and how much each donor gave. Whereas this level of transparency is palpable to ensure good leadership and governance in the African continent, we seem to strive in secrecy that produces wanton corruption. Former President Obasanjo of Nigeria recently made a statement that our congressional delegates are bankrupting the nation. We the people spend time fighting each other over economic and political crumbs and senseless ethnic and religious internal strife. In essence we allow our so-called elites, representatives, and rulers to goad us into conflicts when they are engaged in the fleecing of our precious continental resources.  

Nnamdi Frank Akwada, MSW, BA, Community Activist
Masters of Social Work (2010)
University of Maryland Baltimore
Health Specialization
Management and Community Organization/Clinical Concentration
University Student Government Association
Chief of Public Relations, 2009-2010
Social Work Community Outreach Service-
Maryland Community Fellow Intern 2009-2010
Bachelors in Criminology and Criminal Justice (2001)
University of Maryland College Park