Example of Positive Construction of Africaness in Christian Music

Introduction

There is growing frustration among many on the purpose of life. As an extra bill, for many Africans an addition conundrum is the question of identity. Most of these experiences and renewed search border on the apparent failure of observed solutions, various puerile salvific constructions and colossal failure of human interpretations of divine claims. Be that as it were it is not the purpose of this piece to delve into theologies rather make a brief detour on a long journey towards eliciting the lacuna between Africans and cultural imperialism of the last 500 years.

On a small scale I am attempting to use the music of a relatively known musician called Harcourt Whyte (1905 – 1977) to construct a compelling positive narrative that successfully blended African ontology, pan Africanism and Christianity through singing. Of course geography will bind it together in the form more likely of a state. In the background were the dominant logic surges towards giving options or prescription melding, this sagacious man constructed his music with a refreshing foundation of immutable African metaphysical core expressed through nuggets of philosophical statements, evergreen proverbs and pre-Christian reflections.  Atop this edifice, he laid out the resurrection-imperative of Christianity.  In a sense you obtain full dose of African dignity and unblemished rendering of Christ essence.

The State called Music

For non-Igbo speakers, it is a challenge because most of the songs I am referred to are composed and sang in Igbo nevertheless there are similar templates among various African peoples and nations especially for many whose linguist heritage is under serious assault and threat of extinction.  One must assert that the first radiance of his music is the intrinsic beauty of Igbo language, like other African languages. I am aware that associating African languages with beauty is something many Africa may reject with reflex action. The diabolical Hegelian (German) distortion of Africa and Africans has carried itself into the present with similar untainted panache as aggressive despoliation of the continent through transatlantic slave trade. Nevertheless there is consolation that such gems are captured and saved for future generations.

I stumbled onto Harcourt Whyte music and songs while reflecting on the subject introduced above. I must put my hand up that my detailed knowledge of man is limited. Internet search generated an eclectic array of web pages with thin information on the man. The beauty of his productions is that for me, they are not rendered in English which preserved their richness while the contents touch on many values including cultural pride, pan Africanism, cultural identity, rich Christian theology devoid of dominating/rejecting Africanness, Afrocentric geopolitics and many more.  I am certain that no primary school, secondary school or university in Igboland/Nigeria has a productive curriculum of this man.

Still I found a number of points vindicating my position that Christianity and Africanness have a lot in common and a lot of share without the former dominating and suppressing the latter in a given geographical and or geopolitical entity.  This is more exciting considering the climate of imposed separation of Church and state, a template for sharing power by European power elite concluded in 1648. Harcourt Whyte simply developed a theology in his songs that confirmed that every experience in a unique place must have its context upheld, an unimposed context that reflects essence of the people and their unique historical experiences down the ages and towards the future.

Many may have listened to these songs in the past and present without giving much taught beyond their inspiration, originality, intellectual potential and high-quality. Nevertheless these values reflect the fact that like many good things that come out of Africa, Harcourt Whyte was ahead of his time in his thinking, his theology and outlook of life. His message is that you can be fully African and be fully Christian, and be political. And that this Christianity is constructed on African historical and metaphysical experiences, something Latin American Catholics attempted in the 1950s with European counter-reactionary vehemence.  More so that being an African Christian is not a template for inferiority or an excuse for retrogressive performance.

From a personal perspective, his magna opus K’Afrika Wee Muta Ihe, [For Africa to learn (from the past)] was arranged with clinical efficiency in simple lyrics, powerful harmony with powerful (geo) political messages. They draw one to listen attentively while using Christ’s experience as a template for reminding African listeners of their strategic collective errors in dealing with imperialists and global power elites due to lack of foresight, inability to engage oppressors cunningly with matching tenacity, lack of unity and etc.  See sample of the (rough translated) lyrics;

Christ came to his own

His own rejected him

The Jews preferred a (common) thief

And condemned their redeemer

Today Jews have regretted

When (Mazi) Mbonu Ojike

Killed the whiteman in himself

And immersed fully into his African tradition

Nigeria failed to notice his positive humanity

Never understood him or his words

Today Nigeria has remembered Ojike

When Lumumba wanted to unite Congo

The Congolese regarded him as a lunatic

Followed Shombe and whiteman to kill him

Today Congo has remembered Lumumba

When Nkrumah liberated Ghana

Towards total liberation of Africa

When he concluded that only whiteman worthy of trust

Is a dead one

Ghana never understood

Ghana removed him from power to die in exile

Today Ghana has remembered Nkrumah....

Africa

The ungrateful receiver of gifts

Who shows appreciation only when the gift is finished.

His powerful poetry hacks on the mysteries of life, the inevitability of personal responsibility and futility of human experiences. When one contrasts some of the verses with current events, you are confronted with a reality that is no different. A reality which all the human intellectual constructions so far have miserably failed to articulate or manage successfully. Atop is the unfurling evidence of industrial-scale misinterpretation of various religious traditions (in Africa) starting with their alignment with the global power elite solely committed to unbridled profit, monopolistic capital acquisition and unchallenged capital accumulation. Consequences do not exist!

Real Politics with eyes open

It is very clear that from these experiences, Harcourt Whyte was ahead of his time as current generation self-condemn with uncritical attachment with conventional wisdom even as evidence of their abuse and distortion manifest daily. As democracy wings dangerously with virulent capitalism irreversibility on its legs, as Whyte warned, Africa confusingly remains the crucible of domination by United States via AFRICOM and China in apparent penetration via dumping of poor-quality goods, questionable deals and lop-sided trade.  While United States is a known quantity, many Africans assumed Beijing is and will be a benevolent player as if (independent/interdependent) superpowers play moral games. Most importantly many Africans (some will deny) are unaware that current Chinese mainstream thinking rejects Africa as the home of man, hence a separate Chinese origin.

Not only has the post Berlin-conference failed the people for whom the decisions were against their wish/will, their descendants have grossly failed to confront the basic questions of what, why and how of these imposed territorial and geopolitical configurations. The main culprit is the ubiquitous lack for identity. Clarity of identity and essence of existence precede call for discussion of common issues and problem dynamics whose potential solutions may be incentive to pursue further cohesion and closer bonds. Unity is an expensive value and Harcourt Whyte laid it bare by laying harshly into generations of post-colonial leaders who have grown pathologically allergic to people-oriented leadership and governance.

He navigated the headlines of the sad experiences across Africa by expressing these gaps as failures of Christianity and or divine duties as related in the gospel.  Of course what was missing in Harcourt Whyte political theology is the absence of acknowledge that Christianity in Africa is stunted because instead of being a victim it is an oppressor who trait continues to manifest. Christianity did not arrive in Africa as an unaided evangelical encounter between peoples; rather it touched down as an arm of imperialistic script of civilisation stripping. Most importantly, the end will never and doesn’t justify the means. The conundrum will be resolved when pedlars of ‘truth’ finally concede with praxis of a ‘truth that sets one free’. Whether what obtains in Africa (except Egypt and Ethiopia) currently is an unfettered Christianity is open to debate. Following Chinua Achebe’s 1999 Odenigbo Lecture conclusion on the role of early (foreign) church in bastardisation of Igbo Language, one wonders whether the so-called church leaders have (any) authority  or leverage whatsoever on politics and socio-economic issues.

Conclusion

In recognising Harcourt Whyte, I managed to represent a reality that is not only denied deliberately in discourses but has shifted like some form of mind control that Christianity in Africa is separate from her politics. Nevertheless another useful point is the fearlessness of his lyrics which presupposes that Christianity in Africa can only thrive in spaces of confidence and bold relationships of praxis that Africa is the common of Africans and the common home of man under the charge of Africans. Above all (African) gospel music is influential more so if listeners permit their inspiration to navigate beyond the platitude of time-limited & attention-limited relaxation towards transforming positive feelings into calculated life-giving positive action.

Confusion of History in the African (Home and Abroad)

Introduction

The issue of history for Africa and Africans is very complex especially in the last 2 generations and almost everywhere Africans are found currently. The confusion of an average African when it comes to his or her history can be disturbing. While it is very clear that a dramatic shift emerged with colonialism, this shift seem to have morphed into consolidation of nonsense; the abrogation of African history. Of course if you do not know your history you are not only lost, your trajectory is equally a lost path no matter how temporally rewarding it may appear. Let me do a brief survey of my contentions in confrontations with history for Africans.

Assignment 1

In an era when the northern countries have ‘conquered history’ by attempting to re-write the historiography of human interaction in part through allowance for relationships of negatives, double negatives. A counter-productive and regressive affront on compendium of certified human historical precedence! A concerned individual agape at the confusion is best served to know oneselves with certainty before taking a plunge. Let us inject some tasks by tackling the questions, Who are you? Who are your fathers and mother at least to last 4 generations? Where did each generation reside? Do you believe as ‘instructed’ that data is unavailable or unreliable where it is available?

Plain Truth Ma’am/Sir

Few items to clarify! I have stated in an earlier piece that the biggest battle for mankind is the battle of the mind. It will be the most contested piece of ‘real’ estate as evidence increasingly shows that concentration of attention on the material is waning. What is attracting most attention of power elites is the means to control the mind of those controlling/consuming resources especially what I call hidden or unknown but knowable knowledge. Nothing esoteric! Reflect back on the various battles fought with so much blood to testify the dignity of African person. The earlier generations of Africans suffered, perished and decimated because they are human but denied their dignity.

When this battle was won on the back of irrefutable evidence that the ‘conqueror’ is rather a child of the conquered hence came from a common origin in Black (East) Africa, naturally the discursive calculus was shifted to culture. That all human beings are Africans including the Chinese and Indians, that no one is superior to Africans and vice versa. A powerful conclusion in the face of slavery and racism and other discriminatory strategies institutionalised even in God’s name! In essence the case is finally settled that we are all (equal) human beings but gaps remain in the cultural sphere. Have you noticed how mainstream media and establishments in the Anglo world attempt to portray their view of underground racism? How they avoid the biological question but focus on culture whatever-it-means when equality issues by minorities come to public attention? Then such attitudes will be trivial challenges to Africans at least for the effort of Dr Chiek Anta Diop whose indefatigable scholarship finally laid bare the truth of Africa and Africans. His books are legendary in setting in stone who Africans are. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality?, Black Africa: Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federal State, The Cultural Unity of Black Africa, Civilization or Barbarism etc.

No Obstacles

Those who spent sometimes in formal studies in Africa in the last few generations must have confronted parts of the brainwashing that suggest African peoples/communities’ isolation, siege mentality and erstwhile fear of their neighbours including impossibility to conquer their physical environments and elements.  One point is that Sahara Desert was an obstacle to interaction between African peoples while evidence points in the opposite direction. Another salient point was the determinism enthroned that the peoples/communities inhabiting jungles of tropical equatorial climate stagnated in the shrub areas of impenetrable vegetation, suggesting their lack of technological initiative/infrastructure to dominate and control their environment and intellectual advancement to trade, share, exchange and interact. Evidence equally points in opposite direction.

The second case continues to raise its head with most peoples of Southern Nigeria in their argument against errors of colonialism that forced different peoples under the same political/geopolitical umbrella. Yes, differences exist but were similarities totally absent? Were interactions between communities totally non-existent? If these peoples come from the same origin in East Africa, how come difference rings the bell more than similarities? Does the failure of imposed political experiments eviscerate prior indigenous models and structures of interaction between communities prior to colonialism? Weren’t communities engaged in trading across thousands of miles? Are Igbo totally isolated from Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, Angas, Birom and the rest? Prof John Oriji’s effort in this direction is laudable at least in delineating the temporal and spatial dimension of interconnection and interaction between Ndigbo and their neighbours over time.

Common Identity

Are our historical endeavours serious when attention is focused mostly on unique differences and narrow cultural nationalism? No offense to Ijaw/Ijo family members but Prof E Alagoa made this type of historical scholarship his fort in the attempt to erase Igbo connections in space and time. At a sundry level, doesn’t the current Nigerian President possess Igbo heritage in his names despite being Ijaw? Whose interest is best served by such academic and political polemics? Is it not the case that every community or people in West Africa finally settled in their respective geographies after setting on westward migration from East Africa many generations ago? Naturally languages are lost and gained; defensive-oriented dispersal produced new losses and gains, cultural reduction and enrichment as well.

Is it logical to claim the Berlin Conference boundaries are unrepresentative while simultaneously deny the obvious brotherhood/sisterhood littered across common words, similar manners, similar rituals and accepted hospitalities? Divide-and-rule seems to be the lesson most (African) elites accepted hook, line and sinker.

One of the saddest outcomes of independence is the confidence colonisers maintained and continues to do so that their expectation will not fail. The confidence that the new elite in various African countries will maintain the status quo. In essence that the new elite will never recover their history, they’ll never know who they are. It is a powerful faith even for the theologically faithless. Part of this outcome originated in the universalist imposition of cultural imperialism by sadistic purveyors of Christianity & Islam. Their ultimate goal of creating new men and new women rested in their prior total destruction; their historicide. At this point one can surmise some correlations between rendering of unique history of peoples and the propensity to concentrate power in a particular people to dominate others.  Few African countries actually pursued sound historically-oriented development post-independence where citizenship of the new political entity doesn’t clash with original nationality.

The knowledge of history is the beginning of wisdom. Until Africans begin to see and believe that all Africans regardless of their pigmentation come from the same source, the same origin, the same hearth; then previous mistake occupy the conveyor belt for the next run. History is not just about yesterday; it is equally about living connection with events of long time ago, appreciating the highs and lows of these interconnected actions of peoples, deep reflexive reception of one’s heritage as historical/value priority without bigotry and devoid of puritanical fit.

A spectre is haunting the world, the spectre of change. This change is gradually emerging even as many deny it. It is not just about the decline of North America and Europe, it is rather the obvious reality that political experiments of the last 100 years will modify or go away. For those who are thumping their limbs as archpriests and apostles of one brand of democracy or another, such realities will decline. Look back to the history of Africa and other continents up until 1900, political power is mostly concentrated in few individuals and is definitely hierarchical. The delusion that the current generation is special and privileged is nonsense. Only lack of historical knowledge can generate such conclusions.

Conclusion

I’ll conclude this piece with a comparative rendition of 2 men’s understanding of history, their distinct managements of state affairs and how their platforms have survived their legacies.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah burst into the colonial scene with vigour and clarity of his place, the place of Africans and the place of the coloniser in history. He was not a child of privilege or sufficiency. He was quick, aggressive and too shrewd a player for London. In a sense he was isolated at the time even in his own (West Africa) backyard. While Ghana (Gold Coast) offered him a platform to resist the coloniser he had no illusions of his limited resources and it in part contributed to his leaning toward utilisation of communist opportunities. Nevertheless he accepted the historical vision of one people, one heritage and one continent. Geopolitics dominated and underpinned by African history and experiences! While he was overthrown under the auspices of the West, Ghana at least remained intact and continues to do.

Mr Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Le Vieux: Old Man) burst into the scene as an aristocrat and privileged. As an assimilated French person he saw himself as an extension of the metropolitan France hence Ivory Coast is solely an appendage of the Republic in the north that happened to be in Africa. His position and strategic interest conflicted with his African origin as expressed in Franz Fanon’s conclusion in Wretched of the Earth. Le Vieux was aware and could have been present in Paris when General De Gaulle denied gallant African troops glory in WW2 victory parade. There is no evidence he protested such racism. Today, he’ll be regarded as a moderate in the true sense of the word. His understanding of history is rather confusing but at best accommodates subservience.

As time will have it he served as useful conduit for destabilising Nkrumah’s Ghana and contributed to his overthrow and exile. While he stood in power for the next 3 decades, Ivory Coast, his baby, became a model with ‘achievements’ including a replica Vatican in Yamoussoukro his village when majority of his subject had little to eat. When he died in 1993, his baby equally died with him. But before that he played a part in the murder of another proud African whom he despised as a challenger, Captain Thomas Sankara. Captain Sankara’s murderer, Captain Blaise Campoare heeded his father-in-laws advice to do the honours and Captain Sankara was cut down in his prime because he knew and relished his African history.

In a twist of history, Ivory Coast has never seen peace since Le Vieux’s exit to the point that his Paris deemed it strategic to attack the country twice. Just another piece of real estate! Of course Le Vieux approved of General De Gaulle’s genocide of Africans.

In a history of 2 histories of 2 men, one was driven out in ignominy because of his assertiveness and acute sense of history. The other held on for tactical victory only for the heritage amassed from his poor sense of history to go up in flames.  Lessons of history are not only acquired in classroom rather enriched in willing hearts out of great experiences and proud associations drawn from greatness of men and women who lived before.

Where is your money and where will your money be?

Introduction

Talking and writing about money in a personal way can be challenging at a time it requires expertise to do so.  Nevertheless my concern and its expression through the title question is rather a confirmation that a major shift in our (diaspora) thinking of effort, work and reward in Europe and US has occurred in a radical way albeit latent. Events of 2007-2008 alerted everyone that the erstwhile economic normal has vanished.  The main question remains if we (I mean adults, parents) have received the new economic lesson and its implication for the future especially when it comes to hard-earned cash.

The Old Known

Ever since the dawn of man in East Africa and with distribution of various people across the world, man in various communities have consolidated the art of wealth accumulation, monetary exchange and interaction, and investment management. Call it whatever you like, each community or peoples have articulated market and economy as can be observed in their on-going survival and or prior to their genocidal extinctions.  Economy, market and capital (ism) is nothing foreign to most of the world’s peoples; what is different is application, purpose and motivation. The over-arching argument of all at the base level is that investment is a risk and if an investor fails to obtain returns, then loss accumulates.  The reverse holds for returns and profits. No one needs Adam Smith or Dr Karl Marx for enlightenment.

It was also a known fact the banks are a sources of wealth creation or substantial income accumulation for individuals, families, institutions and the state through interest-yielding instruments.  This is based on the ground that interest rate as national policy appreciates that citizens and people (not select classes) are the highest (potential) wealth of nations/states.

The New Known

The reality arrived in 2008 masked as global economic bubble burst accelerate by global banking elite virulent machination of US housing market. Sadly this is part of the truth which commenced earlier with Reaganomics, and earlier by delinking of US dollar from gold in the 1970s. In a simple language, at this time the interest of the powerful global political elite converged with those of the powerful global money/banking elite. In Gramscian conclusion, it is a re-hashing of merging of state interest with those of the corporate world.(1)  Recent increases in domestic energy prices in the face of UK government platitudes is a classic example. Sadly many in the diaspora ‘believe’ it is a sound economic/fiscal policy. Genocide without firing a shot!

For these select (poor) performers, the world is the only geography of interest with states as convenient appendages for realising tactical and strategic objectives. Backed with deadly military power, any state that obstructs this plan is reduced back to Neolithic age. Examples litter the highway of mangled conventional wisdom!

This implies that politicians of Europe and US answer only to their co-elites. The people or citizens have vanished.  The banks are free to mess up ordinary peoples’ deposits including losing it without compensation to owners.  Failed banks in contrast to the old known become too big to fail. Responsible individuals within failed banks are sacrosanct and rewarded with huge bonuses while failed banks are recapitalised with public fund.  With US leading the way, the so-called developed world finessed their emporium of virulent capitalism by unleashing austerity on powerless, confused and raped populations accompanied by the media cabal.

Real Outcomes

When you reward a bandit, he comes for more.  When the bandit is too powerful, then he drafts the enabling laws. So this is the state of event in the self-inflicted declining US-dominated geopolitical and geo-economic space. (2)

First of all the banks have changed. With Central banks moving away from managing the national economy to now making cheap money available, accelerated by money printing to enable money elite consolidate their destructive speculations.  Commercial banks are reduced to accomplices of national rapes and manipulations that leave populations and cities impoverished, mangled, wasted and demoralised. European and North American banks no longer serve as points or sources of wealth accumulation, income aggradation and safe deposit management for ordinary people. Underpinning the whole edifice is low (0%) interest rate across the board only accessed by a privileged few and austerity unleashed on the majority.

Implications

As for many diaspora working very hard under challenging circumstances, there is a reality which most of them confront but seem unable to admit. That is the fact that so-called development of the developed Europe and North America has hit the buffers, in a sense the centre is not holding. No shaking!  Remember Fela’s song, “Army robber…”! Then the army was in power in Nigeria, hence the government was stealing from the state according to the lyric. Fast forward the same lyric to post-2008 Europe and North America.

Now, have we bordered to unpack the meaning of 0% interest rate plus austerity for individuals and families? We read and hear it so much that its serious daily impact is lost. For starters, you cannot save money in a bank. Secondly, your work time is shortened. Thirdly, income diminishes aggressively as days go by.  Have you guessed or thought that a possible correlation exists between 0% interest plus austerity and criminality in the society? The challenge of making ends meet for families is getting increasingly savage.

Now the questions! Do you in good conscience believe that your hard-earned money is safe in any bank? Can you advise your child that banks are safe depositories for hard-earned cash? Will you deny that the pillow you sleep on offers better service than today’s banks?

With common people devastated and their hard-earned money dissolved through collective punishment via low interest rate, the door to income aggradation through bank instruments is closed. Survey banks in UK and confirm if any product offers up to annual return of 5%? If you deposit 1000 units of any currency in any European bank in January 2013, are you certain that at least 50 units will be added as interest? This is your hard-earned money.

Considering the fact that many diaspora possess an insincere image of their ontology and their original geography, I am hamstring in offering fresh ideas. Somebody gave me a serious warning, which is that one mustn’t assume individuals/families want to improvement their lives. However for the sake of the children I’ll pose a few questions. Read these questions back to yourself as if your child is asking them. Does your homeland offer viable investment opportunities? Does commercial banks in your homeland offer better return on deposits of their instruments? Does your homeland’s central bank offer better returns on treasury bills/bonds?

Conflict of denying Change

Change is complicated even when one is at the centre of it. Diaspora or being one is part of complicated and complex change. The wear-and-tear naturally wants one to settle for the initial consolation prize.  In truth very little matters! Nevertheless consider seriously your sacrifice, effort and deprivations.  Consider current and future state of your hard-earn cash in Europe and North America. Convergence of political and money interest means that citizens/people have much to lose.

Perfect example is the recent past economic 2013 debacle in Cyprus. For the first time European Union approved official stealing of peoples’ bank deposits in the name of haircut. The dirty part of it was the mainstream media insincerity in refusing to add the preceding adjective, ‘imposed’ haircut. It was done under duress, imposed by force, stolen by legal impunity. A collorary is that Greece is currently and for a long time will be ‘living in bondage’ under the Troika! Remember a Nigerian film with similar title!  Whether its presence in Europe is a geographical accident is a debate for another day! Portugal and Ireland are also European too.

It was a first and so will happen again. The colour of one of your passports, if it is red will not guarantee your protection. As Ndigbo home in, “The manner a quail is savagely dealt with will be template for dealing with the chicken”.

Notes:

1. Selections from the Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci. International Publishers

2. World in Crisis: The End of the American Century by Gabriel Kolko. London: Pluto Press

Who are you and who are your children?

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to survey challenges of maintaining identity for diaspora and their offspring. While the scope of the issue in the title can be generalised, the focus is rather restricted to Africans and Ndigbo specifically in the diaspora. One cannot but observe different dimensions identity crisis express itself in diaspora populations as a result of various structural forces among others. Fact is diaspora is a minority. In the grand scheme of things, a minority is a legal, religious and cultural after-thought of the host country. Of course there is no reason to suggest a puritanical agenda which is not only impossible but is humanly counterproductive. Sparta and Apartheid South Africa are perfect examples of puritanical extremism based on myopic view of heritage.

Journey of Life

One of the most ubiquitous artefacts of diaspora (not induced by conflict) is the sense of unpreparedness for the length of time spent on the road. For a great minority, it was anticipated and for the majority it comes as a shock. This is irrespective of whether the first trip was made with eyes open or not. Men are in majority of this experience. Memories of home is sustained by various ingenious ways including but not limited to family meetings or networks clusters especially in police states of Europe.

These men and women struggle a great deal and their inspiration is mostly drawn from events from home. In few cases did the pain of settlement compel them to marry indigenes of their host countries, in most cases they marry by importation. By importation I mean arranging/travelling to the home country if possible to find a wife/husband from within the community. This is one way of sustaining one’s identity.  No doubt one remains the son or daughter of their father including those who married outside the community.

Second Base

Given the social/legal structures of host countries, diaspora quickly realises that the underlying forces where not tailored to his/her interest, history and ontology. The struggle to survive, regularise stay, get a decent job, improve one’s prospect add to the stress that weighs down historical dimensions of existence. In the first instance the host language diminishes one’s existence regardless of one’s fluency because it can only render truly its own history. It is very clear that history of a people is best transmitted in their own tongue and (top) women in this case are the undisputed inter-generational teachers.

The stress of life challenges and in some cases diminishes sustenance of identity stability in the guise of extended periods of time between home visits, poor connection/communication with umunne/umunnadi, removal from social, economic and political changes in the home country; and where children are involved, poor linkage between children and aunties, uncles, cousins and the physical identify of the community.

Third Base

Addition of children into the equation adds a new dimension to the complexity of identity. Level of cultural pride indicates the direction of travel. It is anticipated that in host country’s cultural space where indigenous culture is dominant and unshakable especially in language and religion, diaspora identity could be sustained by exposing the children to their parents’ first language.  Fluency in speaking, reading and writing should be the ideal. Indians, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Chinese and lately the Poles have shown the way in United Kingdom. Many of their children are not only multilingual but perform excellently in schools including post-secondary formal developments.

Cultural immaturity of parents only prevents such development in African/Igbo diaspora. Many parents who discourage their children from speaking their first language fall into this category and for them the colonial languages are the viable tongues. This is equally a carry-over from various home countries where interactions between nationalities were reduced to bidirectional exchange across imposed colonial linguistic relic. In addition for this lot, their first language is deemed inferior, an intellectual handicap and an inconsequential colloquial necessity.

Reviewing many school curricula in Europe, obviously diaspora/minority has no place. The on-going changes in the UK education system are further testament that future history will be contested in terms of minority contribution. For any diaspora/minority parent to expect his/her children to learn the history of their (African) peoples in a European classroom borders on the lunatic fringe. It is the responsibility of parents to provide their children with histories, cultures and metaphysics of their peoples through home readings, encouraged historical readings, walking through both sides of genealogies. By so doing these children of tomorrow should be able to see themselves as personages of multiples heritages and multiple cultural experiences with none less or greater. Parents should network to share information on resources, publication and new developments.

Cold Reality

 The biggest battle that has confounded man/woman is the battle of the mind. The mind remains the last frontier, a contested geography where each parent must prepare their children and consolidate their identity, cultural maturity and cultural pride. Such values allow children to navigate seamlessly between cultures without supressing and disrespecting themselves or even go as far as condemning themselves in ignorance.

Many parents will surely work assiduously to provide material things, intellectual development and security to their children. In the absence of clear understanding of cultural identity, their ability to have a balanced understanding of their inclusive heritages; only disaster waits in the corner of time. Even the investments and assets purchases in the home country for the children’s future management remain doubtful. According to Ndigbo, those who are ignorant of a particular burial (process) start exhumation from the feet. Surely not a good sign!    

Matters arising from latest Blowback of Kenyan State Clientism

Introduction

The media has been abuzz in the last 2 weeks with the targeted attack on a select target in Kenya by Somalia’s non-state violence purveyor, Al-Shabab.  Apart from the usual media razzmatazz, there were important issues already on operation before the attack with potential to re-occur in future. These issues are part of Kenya’s DNA. With the media circus out of the way it is justified to highlight this incident based on world-system framework and invisibility periscope.

Foreign Policy Agenda

Kenya is an interesting place and a periphery country despite her potentials. It is one of the few African countries where the military has never tasted power so far since independence. However despite her painful independence struggle against the British who unleashed genocide as fallout of world war experience, Nairobi political elite has constituently maintained a pro-Western foreign policy which was consolidated towards Washington DC under Mr Daniel Arap Moi. He sedimented Nairobi’s role in geopolitics as a client state of United States and her remora (UK) which managed Nairobi desk in the face of sustained US ambivalent African policy.

This meant that US interest in the proximity of East Africa and the Horn is likely to be facilitated unchallenged by Nairobi and this was the case in the 1970s and 1980s. The collapse of USSR opened her to competitors as Ethiopia swung around with the flight of Col Mengistu, the revival of Entebbe under Mr Museveni and lately Kigali post-genocide.  Nevertheless it has been a refreshing and calm neighbourhood. Nairobi proved her mettle in facilitating Israeli raid on Entebbe that refuelled in Nairobi on the rift-valley radar evading mission. Ex-president Kibaki and current president Mr Kenyatta have not departed from this foreign policy orientation.

Somalia Factor

Funny enough Somalia is one of those countries or political spaces one expects to have political stability in the possession of a common language and a population consisting of one people divided between 2 clans. Some of these family members extend into Kenya and Ethiopia as a result of Berlin Conference inconsideration but adhered-to boundary delineations. Somalia is not and has never been a security/strategic threat to Nairobi even with the collapse of Said Barre’s government, the last government in Somalia for decades.

Kenyan political elite are aware of this dimension however for parochial interest in personal enhancement blindly pursue a policy that placed Somalia or Somalis as enemies.  The ill-fated assault of Mogadishu (mineral resources) by US led troops in early 1990s led Washington DC to go ‘lite’ by ushering clients like Nairobi to carry the burden, to fulfil no-boots-on-the-ground. By accepting this poisoned chalice, Kenyan political and foreign policy experts opened a can of worms whose dividends can only be exhausted violently by time. There is no reason or interest for Kenya in Somalia. Somalia is not a threat to Nairobi and any military engagement or invasion of the former by the latter is bound to blowback contrary to attribution to corruption by select western armchair ‘analysts’.

Blowback Party a la Nairobi

Nairobi’s dalliance in clientism has brought a number of dividends. Unfortunately the violent dividends has been selective in the victims that are targeted. The 1998 explosion of Nairobi US embassy is an example where common people rather than the elites bore the brunt of reverse attack on non-independent non-state violence purveyors.  Importantly target locations are always upscale and swanky locations with high proportion of elite (core) investments that target ordinary people (periphery) disposable income. In the US embassy case, most of the dead were ordinary people who have nothing to do against Somalia. The latest attach bears the mark of targeted high investment location of used dependents on common people for profit.

Targeting the rich and powerful is not usually the case for avengers with limited resources. Funny enough when the news reached the airwaves, the body counts highlights those of foreigners while that of Kenyans are counted as given. Orientalism in practice! Al-Shabab can never invade Kenya rather in their bid to attack symbols of Kenya power and prowess, ordinary innocent Kenyans will be caught down. These Kenyans are different and reside farther away from the rich and powerful unlike the line taken by the foreign minister who careers placed her outside more than inside the country for nearly 3 decades.

Powerful Enemy within

No matter how much this latest incident is spun it remains in the background of violence in Kenya a minor spur.  State and elite-sponsored violence in Kenya is a matter that apparently took over from British pre-independence national security initiatives. Various governments from Jomo Kenyatta promoted law & order which is another guise to arrest, torture, imprison indefinitely and genocide. Mr Daniel Arap Moi turned it into a national past-time as repression, mass arrest, mass imprisonment and genocide because first line of citizens handling. The 1984 Wajir massacre by Kenyan security forces under Mr Moi made global headlines with over 400 men killed. Other massacres include Malkameri in 1996, Garissa in 1980, Madogashe in 1982 and Bagala in 1989.

By coincidence, most of the victims are ethnic Somalis. Till today there is no record of comprehensive investigation and retribution.  A sitting Foreign Minister, Dr Robert Ouko was cut down by invisible hands of the state he served as her top diplomat. One of the foremost Kenya’s writers, Ngugi wa Thiongo, himself a victim of state repression, is probably one of the lucky ones alive. Even the election war of 2007/8 took more lives of ordinary Kenyans at the instigation of their powerful compatriots. So we argue that Kenya’s enemy is not anyone in the neighborhood, or Al-Qaida or Al-Shabab. No amount of media spotlight will hide this crucial fact nor standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the hegemon can obliterate the cry of innocent blood shed by kenya’s elite.

Masters in (taking Advantage) Diplomacy

Event of the last few days has catapulted the art of diplomacy to the firmament of dazzle as various stakeholders in the Syrian conflict found themselves (and their interests) diametrically removed from initial positions. Beyond the biased pontifications of various groups, somehow diplomacy resurrected from the abyss of near-neglect to the high throne of attention with minor effort from smart reaction.

For many watchers of events the gradual decline of so-called democracy and their arch apostles followed by potency of power-is-might, the high priest of democrazy, USA, since 1991 has consolidated her grip on dismantling what remain of Treaty of Westphalia and associated definition of nation-state. For Washington DC states are insignificant vehicles for advancing strategic interest of the most powerful global elites with brute violence. In the rabid hunt to secure scarce mineral resources and coral emerging markets for the highest profits, the last decade has seen US dismantle 3 countries with little to show those whose erstwhile countries are ‘liberated’.

As Syria remains in the crosshairs of potential surgical strike of US armament, a twist took place with all the trappings of unquantifiable hubris in addition to heavy dose of diplomatic inexperience. Despite domestic and international stomach-ache for another conflict, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, arrived in London, the hotspot of poodlism and remora geopolitics, to declare his next ‘sermon on Whitehall’ in contradiction to earlier unambiguous rejection of war by British Parliament. Very disrespectful of British people!

In a near state of trance this imperial inexperienced diplomat open his being to a perfect declaration of invincibility in creating and destroying scenarios without care for consequences. Above all he judged it impossible for Damascus to be rational. Sadly he not only forgot that his counterparts in Damascus, Teheran and Moscow were attentive in real-time. Like the best strikers in the world, an opponent’s error in the penalty box is a welcome gift, these savvy men of diplomacy gave US an own goal with clinical finish. It was not just an excellent finish, it turned to be rescuing stroke for US President and his pack of global elites. Another lesson in diplomacy in a highly connected world! Be mindful of your mouth especially if it is a basket.

Contrasting Mr Kerry and the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Lavrov shows a sharp contrast between a gung-ho high walker and a consummate professional with many years of experience. The confidence, language, composition and nuanced of Russia’s top diplomat is stratospheric. Foreign ministers look ugly with lack of confidence, devoid of nuance and careless with words. Mr Kerry cut a lonely figure just like US among the comity of nations.

Lastly the dissimilarity struck poignantly yesterday night in Geneva press conference of the first meeting between Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov since the debacle of monumental proportion with Mr Kerry caught out again when he ‘missed’ part of a translation of his Russian speech where simply warned that ‘Diplomacy likes silence’.

In this diplomatic pugilism, Mr Lavrov couldn’t have helped to confirm that he is a master of diplomacy. Important to chancelleries around the world especially Washington DC!

Matters Arising from Slavery and UK inter-generational Historical Outcomes

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/27/britain-slave-trade

Tent, Upheavals and National Security

Introduction

The last 2 years has accelerated with precision characteristic hubris of imperialistic machine in North Africa. It is important to stress that Africa is a single continental block including her continental shelves, islands and peoples. Acts of imperial preponderance with associated metageographical reconfigurations which attempt to partition or decapitate the continent are time-constrained for each imperial power. Therefore one should not be confused with the concept of ‘Middle East’ that includes contiguous parts of Africa. Be that as it were, the focus of the piece is to highlight what amounts to geopolitical 419 in the name of ‘revolutions’ executed with clinical efficiency as it simultaneously simulates national security loses in the national security crisis.

Flag of the Tent

Tents have many meanings but more so to nomadic and desert communities. Considering the harsh climatic conditions that necessitated their emergence, functionally they are complete in the face of the elements. The howling dry winds, harsh hot storms and deadly sandstorms abet for those staying tents. It is a bastion of security in its unique place and time. Of course majority of human population who have been relatively sedentary have cultivated superiority in their perceptions of tents as fit only for the less Other.

In the last few decades, tents warmed their way into international diplomacy in a curious way. For many observers it represented nothing short of irrationality at best and mediaeval at worst. Nevertheless those who pitch their tents in the face of severe geopolitical machinations though they later lost were prescient.  It is not lost on anyone that late Libyan president, Col Muammar Ghaddafi, raised the flag of illegal surveillance and gradual emergence of surveillance geopolitics but was dismissed.  On a number of occasions be it state visits or visit to United Nations in US, this leader preferred pitching his tent in an open space or rather created Libya in a temporary abrogation of imposed metageographical construction. Diplomats and Heads of State stay in posh hotels and special houses in the hosting countries.

With the emergence of Wikileaks and Mr Edward Snowden, it is clear that Col Ghaddafi was not only ahead of the times but his allergy confirmed the massive surveillance machine then dismissed as irrationality. It is now common knowledge that US regime’s surveillance apparatus has no regard for diplomatic norms and international conduction as United Nations diplomats and visiting Heads of States are fair game. Overt and covert operations are deployed to capture voice record, passwords and DNA of the gullible lot. So much for staying in real houses and hobnobbing with ‘friends and allies’! Only time will reveal how much intel have been creamed off Nigerian diplomats abroad and in the External Affairs Ministry Abuja by US surveillance machine!

Upheavals in the North

A few years ago rent-a-crowd of a different kinds started mutating in various North African countries.  Talk of democracy increased as economies of United States and European Union started heaving like emphysema patients. With populations in various shapes of political maturity drifting in and out awareness coma, they were bombarded with strong advertisement of ‘liberty and freedom’ and ‘revolution’. With unprecedented firepower where applicable colonial war for scarce resources were unleashed with genocidal aplomb in a ‘Yes, we can’ charisma from the ‘rear’; communities became entombed.

Rewind to the present Libya which is no longer a state, Egypt is haemorrhaging, Tunisia barely sleep-walking and ‘revolutions’ were affirmed without change of power from the ruling class to the ruled. Apparently the status quo barely changed for the better. This is classic geopolitical 419 101! Whoever sold the construct that massive crowds without coherent, independent and articulate political roadmap could grab power without force or violence from an entrenched group is the ultimate salesperson. Nice one! The Egyptian reversal waited and reached its natural conclusion. Now my dear North African ‘revolutionaries’, please go home and find something to eat and later seat down to plan for grabbing power by any means.

Snowden and Nigeria

Snowden is resting in Russia but his fart is smelling big time in various capitals. What is it for Nigeria? While spying Nigeria Embassies is a forgone conclusion, what of interference into domestic affairs? Are local telecommunication carriers and internet service providers compromised? Are submarine cables transmitting data to Nigeria compromised? What does the high service-charging MTN, Globacom, Etisalat and the lot incredibly do to their vast customers? At least Wikileaks established the pattern of intrusions and subversion of internal affairs/national interest by state and non-state actors. The establishment of US Drone Base in Niamey, Niger, is nothing reassuring to Abuja rather is a threat to Nigeria’s strategic interest in the West Africa.

Conclusion

In the single race of the single military superpower toward a surveillance state, nation states have become perfect tools for compromise and destruction in the insatiable hunger for information. Nigeria no doubt is too weak an entity and too confused a viable state to raise talk less of highlighting the issues of alleged illegal surveillance. Rather   Nigeria and many other states will be collaterally damaged in the US quest for total domination in military and cyber spheres. There is a consolation anyway, which is the fact that in this race for unchallenged domination lie seeds of self-degradation, overreach and apparent self-diminution which may restrict Washington DC to her front yard in time. In the meantime her erstwhile backyard is gradually reverting to its rightful owners.

One small step for United Kingdom, one giant leap for ….

Recent developments in Syria has gone in overdrive towards accelerating plans and complexity which above all are intended to finally quarantine Arabistan for years to come. While Cairo got a breathing space from intense media coverage of its coup-is-not-a-coup, the use of banned gases in Damascus that resulted in massive dead has among other things exposed many players definition of reason and due-process. From making doubtful conclusions to jumping without looking to making a mess of due-process, finally the usual dogs-of-war, merchants of death and hustlers of innocent blood have repositioned to cash their pay. United Kingdom is one of those playing her allocated part.

Interestingly those calling for punishment of Damascus without diplomacy, due-process and evidence are isolated and should be. The same capitals who flaunt their democratic and rule of raw credentials have once again failed miserably in standing up for their beliefs.  One would have expected London to initially call for full investigation of the alleged gas incident rather Mr David Cameron made a direct detour for immediate military attack. The hubris of Tripoli few years ago remain evergreen. Constrained success begets constrained success! Of course he’s a direct descendant of Blair-lite remora geopolitics. How times have changed!

Since democracy and rule of law have failed London, apparently London did not fail. It is clear that from Mr Cameron’s perspective, United Kingdom lack independence, sovereignty and integrity to stand alone from the shark of White House. By so doing Mr Cameron allowed himself into believing that British people are no more than willing lapdogs who are doomed to jump as high as directed. Misreading an ally’s intention, despising party line and ignoring public opinion are not marks of a politician of worthy stripe, rather are attributes of one lacking legitimacy and sees national pride as anathema. One cannot legitimately accuse Conservative Party of signing up for the questionable decision to attack Damascus for now.

Unfortunately Mr Cameron missed important issues. Times have changed and public opinion‘s memory bank is not depleted. His reading of Washington DC’s imperial power was misleading and inaccurate. The times of London unquestioned nodding to State Department’s instructions may be declining. United State power is diminishing and many indicators are already on display. United Kingdom possesses the chance to commence baby-steps towards post US hegemony. The West or what is left of it is increasingly isolated and blind followership of United States will not help matters. The rest of the world is watching these changes in fortune as a gradual as they evolve with keen interest.

In view of this Labour Party arrived well to the party even though the jury is still out on their brand of foreign policy and ‘special’ relationship with Washington DC. By accurately reading public opinion, weak global appetite for conflict and declining economic fortunes, Mr Ed Miliband defied conventional wisdom by leading his party on the argument of caution, common sense and respect for due-process in international law. In a sense he robustly taught the constitutional law professor holding the fort in Washington DC.  He equally distinguished himself from a previous party leader and former prime minister, marking a sharp contrast that UK politicians have deep appreciation for their country and its national interest rather than blind followership of questionable blood-thirsty military campaigns. He also repositioned his party as the party of reason when it comes to foreign policy, a party ready for post-US hegemony and finally a party for true UK independence and sovereignty. Of course it will take time to unravel if he’ll finally put finishing touches on these first showings. He has not made a strong show of his position on supply and funding sources of the current Syrian civil war. Too early for the end of Remora Geopolitics!

Nevertheless it is abundantly clear that Liberal Democrats have rightly dissolved their credibility as the anti-war party as they are now singing Coalition war hymns. They are the main loser in the current discourse.

It is worth noting that around the world United States and United Kingdom are isolated in their warmongering. Paris is a surprise late entrée. It beggars belief that Charles De Gaulle’s France is now jumping and barking loud for State Department since ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, hence making London compete strongly to fend her off the special relationship prize. Apparently De Gaulle needs to be given a final burial as his France has ceased to exist. So much for Gallic pride! European Union ranking members seem to be humming along the anticipated script without declared commitment to rhetoric or imminent action.

Events are still unfolding nevertheless this is the first stab on the test of future relevance of UK politicians as the right custodians of UK independence and sovereignty. Labour Party has opened up a new vista towards potential reconfiguration of Remora geopolitics into a foreign policy fit for a future where US power is diminishing or diminished. Then UK will once again take her rightful place in the comity of nations.

Deportation Lagos State Footprint

Introduction

The media is abuzz with the latest display of political incoherence and strategic blunder of Lagos State in the guise of internally deporting Nigerian citizens across state boundary under false premise. For a state that converges as the commercial centre of the country and an international interface such a policy comes in conflict with expectations of social-conscious governance for both the state and its governor.  The article attempts to review the issues at stake including positions taken by select members of a motley crew of state officials and media sympathisers as well as point out rich reserves of historical amnesia on their parts.

Action Governor

This week many newspapers have been running with the story regarding internal deportation of 70 Nigerian citizen-residents of Lagos State to Anambra State on the orders of Governor Babatunde Fashola.  Further investigation confirmed that the policy is standard policy of the state as part of an overarching policy implementation instrument.  This is an interesting development in the life of both state and the republic as it carries a lot of uncertainties. Our position is to review the position taken by the state from a legal point of view.

Legal Hellhole

A number of pundits have resorted to becoming state echo-chamber without credible facts for or against the policy. Nevertheless before tackling the problem one must initially address the issue of citizenship in Nigeria with regard to states and local governments. While the first line of citizenship is without question except when ex-president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, deported Alhaji Shugaba to the Sahel, internal deportation has always carried the spot-mark of illegality mostly under the threat of death under irrepressible religio-politcally motivated violence.

It my understanding that 2^nd line and 3^rd line citizenship based on domicile is unclear in Nigeria. It is common knowledge that citizens can reside in another part of the country for years and not be legally recognised as citizens of those states/local governments hence contract working arrangements in the public sector for proverbial non-indigenes in many states. Surely internal discrimination! One must conjecture that this fuzzy application of right of domicile as criteria for citizenship is part of the motivation of the legal-governor to strike. It is unfortunate that other variables were not critically considered including her role as primary city/state. If Nigerians have the right to reside in any part of the country therefore they are not supposed to be internally deported to another state unless convicted of a grave crime or in compliance with an extradition request. The absence of coherent legal structures to formalise 2^nd/3^rd level citizenship through right of domicile exposes the flawed concept of Nigeria’s federalism.

Then the 70 (Igbo) men or so women were ‘convicted’ by the governor and summarily dispatched like cattle across the state boundary without recourse to law and potential social opprobrium. Maybe Ikeja conjured that quick and fast internal deportation is cheaper than going the whole legal route. Above all they rested on their historical amnesia laurel as if such action is ethnic-neutral in a country where ethnic sentiment is high for very good reasons. The question will be what happens to a Yoruba/Lagos indigene fitting the criteria adopted for current internal deportation?

The shallowness of the affair has exposed the governor as lacking in clarity in the purported exchange with his counterpart in Awka who rightly raise the issue with Abuja.  Sadly Ikeja failed miserably to provide its legal justification to the media at least to bolster her position which is more in line with uncoordinated understanding of information management. Therefore Ikeja succeeded in scoring an own-goal which in part left her reputation in tatters.  In Fela’s parlance, legal teacher has taught me legal nonsense. It is Law stupid!

Semantics Illusion

Concerned citizens have jumped onto the issue from both sides with their eclectic array of understandings. Some have moved across the aisle to dismiss any suggestion of ethnicity as if ethnicity is a no-go area al a IBB. It is the fundamental question in Nigeria and only when it is tackled with respect, clarity and progressive strategy can the country move forward. Currently Nigeria is an unfortunately leaking umbrella holding over disappointed 250 nationalities/ethnic groups. The speed with which some pundits rushed to dismiss the ethnic footprint of the victim reeks of rootless intellectualism without functional dimension. Which part of the world is ethnicity delimited or discredited with reckless aplomb? Even France failed to construct herself effectively along such lines.  This motley crew of knowledgeable men and women seem to forget that states are social constructions with dynamic changes over time.

It is insensitive of Lagos State and her governor to embark on this wild chase without historical recollection. Maybe they gave it thumps-up as doing politics by other means in parallel to Lenin perception of war as politics by other means.

Another vista of this intellectual hubris is attempted justification of the most inhuman act with pretentious light touch of Marx without details distinguishing from Bolshevik communism. It is impressive that these streams of knowledge deliberately run dry suddenly at the river’s youthful stage. Marx not only deconstructed class conflict but flayed those who assume power in the name of bring good only to betray it. In his 18^th Brumaire of Louis-Napoleon, he incisively remarked on the grave dangers of the French revolution which pretended to sweep clean the political landscape only to evolve into a position no different to the preceding decadent days. He noticed how the upper and middle classes conspired in the Napoleon III coup d’état to betray the commons with the massacre of Paris Commune leaders that represented the lower class. Eventually what the usurpers of powers succeeded in doing was adopting the state toward tight coupling with machines of capital accumulation via the market.

Despite the fact that current governor got into office by elections, some similarity is found in the latest fumble of Lagos State as the targeted deportees are no more than those the state considered wretched of the earth, unfit to share the space and largesse of the state with the powerful, the rich and the elite. Marx was right after all.  Unfortunately these unfortunate individuals are treated in the media as if they lack history and humanity, or have never contributed positively to the state and have no positive and lasting links with the state. Similar action by a foreign state on a Nigerian may potentially carry the mark of institutional racism and discrimination.

Final Legal Recollection

One of Punch Newspaper respondents in favour claiming to be a lawyer gave his widow’s mite by considering the act as legal and labelled it resettlement. In an increasingly interconnected world such justification attempt to lump Lagos State with some of the most despicable episodes of inhumanity.  It is worth reminding readers that as Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere”.

Words similar to resettlement have been used and adopted to justify dispossession, repression and annihilation of peoples in recent memory. Scramble for Africa was implemented with similar illegal and forceful movement/dispossession/genocide of various African peoples by the French (in Congo), Belgium (in DRC Congo), British (in Zambia/Zimbabwe/Kenya), Germans (in Namibia/Cameroun/Togo) and Portuguese (Angola/Mozambique) in the name of law and order. The eminence grise of concentration camping of the innocent!

Peoples of Pre-Columbian America where invested with similar resettlements, dispossession, rape and genocide that reached its zenith in the United States during Andrew Jackson regime that finally consigned indigenous Indians to reservations till the present day. Eminent historian Howard Zinn captured these stark realities in his excellent book, Peoples History of the United States. Similar exploitations of peoples through forced relocation policies in the Americas is reconstructed by Eduardo Gealano in his epic, Open Veins of South America.

In the last century European elites not only decimated their population with industrial killing machines called world wars, but equally condemned the weak and vulnerable in forced relocation policies that annihilated millions like sanctions flowing from Adolph Hitler’s executive legal orders. Consolidation of nascent communist power projected Joseph Stalin to corrupt the first fruit of practical Bolshevik communism with mass murder of millions through forced deportations to gulags across the land. The remnants are today littered across the former Soviet Union with returning Tartars in conflict with later occupiers of their lands in Crimea and the burning Nargano-Karabak conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Lessons

In conclusion it is wise to admit that leadership is complex but short cuts do not provide lasting solutions. Leadership without understanding of history is counter-productive and such expression must be condemned. Lagos State and her leaders must be clear on the implication of their decisions because it has a vibrant brand within and beyond her boundaries that could be tarnish by reckless resort to quixotic pseudo legalism. Such mustn’t be allowed to happen again.