Okereke-Onyiuke’s Obama error
It was with much consternation and mixed feelings that Nigerians received the news of the fund raising luncheon organized by Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke’s organization –Africans for Obama. If only she had known what lay just after that unseen bend, she certainly would not have gone ahead with the programme. In the wake of the fund raising luncheon, in which about N100 million was raised to “sensitize African-Americans to vote for the American Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama,” Okereke-Onyiuke got pummeled from every side. The luncheon drew the ire of public opinion as opinion leaders roundly denounced it in its entirety. The EFCC promptly picked up Okereke-Onyiuke for investigation and confiscated the funds raised and declared it would return the funds to the donors.
I am proud of Barack Obama. I love his personality and I respect his ambition. I admire his rare talent in public speaking and I covet his oratory talent. I am cowed at the courage he displays and the defiant confidence he exudes despite being the first black man in the United States to reach such a height in politics. He is not even the conventional black American; he is one generation out of Africa, his father, a Kenyan was an immigrant in the United States in the 1950s. Barack Obama is not from a wealthy background and neither is he a billionaire. Yet he has achieved the seemingly unachievable – winning the nomination of a major American political party for presidency. Barack Obama is by far one of the greatest black men who have ever lived. He is a living legend. He is my hero, my inspiration. I have downloaded videos of his speeches from the Internet and I listen to them everyday; the musical track done for his campaign by the American hip hop group, Black eyed peas, rings in my mind as I play it everyday and watch the video on my computer. Barack Obama embodies everything I want to be and so I take every joy in identifying with him and with anyone who wishes him well in his unprecedented pursuit in reaching for the presidency of the United States.
However, I disagree completely with the concept of Okereke-Onyiuke’s Africans for Obama. I disagree with the fundraiser and the reasons posited for its justification. The event reflects once again, our perverted mindsets in Nigeria where every good thing is twisted for personal gain and the gratification of selfish desires. America is the world’s bastion of democracy. Nigeria has not even attained the basic ideals of mutual tolerance yet let alone true democracy.
How on earth would some Nigerians think they stand in a good position to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in a democratic election? Is there one single African American who lives in America or beyond who does not know about Barack Obama and his great ambition? Is there any black American who is not proud of Obama today? Does he not represent hope and vindication for them and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s forty-five year old dream? And if there were African Americans who do not support Barack Obama’s ambition today, it would definitely be due to a really deep and strong reason. How does Okereke-Onyiuke think she and her group will be the ones to influence them otherwise? Wait a minute; I thought charity, as they say, begins at home. How well is the democracy in Nigeria being practiced? There are many Nigerians, especially in the elitist community, who are disillusioned and completely disappointed with the violent and desperate manner in which elections are conducted and rigged in Nigeria and as a result have concluded that voting in Nigerian elections is a mere exercise in futility. Why has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke not established an organization that will “sensitize” these people to vote good people into government positions here in her country Nigeria? If your country has a need, and another country has the same need, I think it should be expected that you take care of that need in your country first before you think about catering for that same need in someone else’s country. She spent fourteen years of her life living in the United States, so what? Is she telling us she is more American than Nigerian?
E gba mi, Nigerians, a people whose recent presidential election was absolutely condemned by the international community are the ones who now want to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in an election. What a shame! The Holy Scripture says ‘Take care of the log of wood in your eyes first before you try to remove the speck of dust in the other person’s eye.” What meaningful positive role has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke played in sensitizing well-meaning Nigerians to play a more significant role in politics and elections before she shifts her focus to the United States of America? The concept of her fundraiser to “sensitize” Americans over their forthcoming election is baseless, unpatriotic and an indication of shallow thinking.
There are basic lessons and home truths that the emergence of Barack Obama on the world stage poses to us as Nigerians. These are the lessons I would have expected the likes of Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke to pick and harness towards the development of their own country, Nigeria. Africans for Obama’s fundraising luncheon was an act that was absolutely anti-Obama. It does not reflect the desires of the man Barack Obama himself who is a nationalist that loves his nation to the depth. The man Obama himself said, “I love this country, and so do you and so does John McCain. We all put our country first.” If Barack Obama puts his own country first, who are these people who put Barack Obama’s country first before their own. They should be ashamed of themselves for they do not even understand the simplest ideals he stands for.
One significant lesson Obama teaches us as Nigerians who love and pray for him is the lesson of change and hope. This man preaches the message of optimism to his countrymen and lives it. He would give his campaign the slogan ‘Yes we can’ to show the possibilities of self-belief. His campaign theme can be summarized thus: “We have the audacity to hope that change will come to Washington, and to our nation.” Is that not what we need in Nigeria today? Many Nigerians have completely lost hope in the wake of the situation of our country. Many do not believe this country can be redeemed from the curse of greed, corruption and desperate money politics. But listening to this American politician; I dare nurse the rare hope that Nigeria will one day change for the better; that there will be power; there will be potable water: there will be good roads; there will be world class education; there will accountability in government; and one day the results of elections will reflect the true wishes of the people. What I would have expected the Africans for Obama to do is to task themselves in this regard. How can we bring about change in our country? How do we inspire hope in Nigerians the way a black man inspired hope in America by winning Iowa, a 90% white state! They should have embarked on a massive re-orientation campaign that will run through all of Nigeria’s television and radio stations to try to change the pessimistic and cynical mindset that a lot of Nigerians have about the future of our nation. If Obama’s America needs change, what does Okereke-Onyiuke’s Nigeria need? A complete overhaul I guess!
Another lesson Obama’s candidacy teaches us, as Nigerians, is the shame of our own version of politics –money politics and do-or-die politics. Barack Obama is not a billionaire. He has only one house, despite being a senator of the United States of America. Yet he contested and won the nomination of one of the parties of the wealthiest nations on earth. He did not have to possess millions of dollars and billions of dollars to contest. His campaign spent money, but they were donations of people from all over his country, not the loot of the treasuries of governments across his country like it is in my nation. When he stands to talk, thousands of people come to listen to his hope inspiring speeches. He does not have to spray dollar notes all over the place and cause the people to scamper and struggle to pick as much as they can before they can come out and listen to him. What do we have here in Nigeria; we have politicians spraying money across the roads as they move around to show as evidence of their love for their people. They hand naira notes to voters who come to vote for their party, capitalizing on the people's poverty and ignorance. Is it not about time we changed our style of politics where parties loot and loot to finance their campaigns? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke and her organization start a leadership institute that will inspire youths, teach them to possess and surpass the qualities of Barack Obama – articulation, intelligence, simplicity, oratory and nationalism? If they have the clout to raise so much money for sensitizing the people of another country, then they should use that same clout to do much more for their own country.
Over eighty thousand people attended Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Denver. It was held peacefully and at the end of the programme, everyone went back to his house in less than one hour. There was no protest of marginaliszation; no gunshots; no fighting; no bloodshed and no one died. A political programme of an opposition party of that magnitude would happen in Nigeria here just like that? Laelae, somebody would definitely be beaten, guns would be fired and most likely, some people would die. The government of the day may get policemen to teargas the people or an aggrieved member of the party would complain of injustice and try to malign the programme. Shouldn’t we learn tolerant politics in Nigeria? Shouldn’t we practice true democracy? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke learn from these things and start a campaign that will “sensitize” our politicians at every level to exercise patience, restraint and common sense in their own style of politics?
Barack Obama would not tear down his opponent even if he had the chance to do so. He would criticize but with constructive tones. He said of John McCain his opponent “The republican nominee Senator John McCain has worn our military uniform with bravery and distinction and so deserves our gratitude and respect” before he criticized the political views of his opponent. After the world got to know that Sarah Palin, John Mc Cain’s deputy had a seventeen year old daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, one would have expected Obama to use the opportunity to taunt and rubbish her political profile, but instead he would come to her aid saying “People’s families are off limits.” What if it were Nigeria, with out style of do-or-die politics. Political opponents would insult each other, their families and even resort to sorting out their difference by hiring thugs and miscreants who will fight each other and disrupt the public peace.
Studying the life and political career of Barack Obama, there are questions posed to our collective conscience that demand soul-searching answers. This is Africa; we are Nigeria, the supposed giant and pride of Africa. This man is basically a Kenyan seed, performing wonders in the United States of America. Shouldn’t that inspire us to shake our political and socio-economic lethargy and struggle to change the fortunes of our nation for the better? Isn’t it about time that Nigerians and black men all over the world raised their heads up with pride on the world stage with the confidence that our continent can compete favorably in the scheme of things in the international community. In less than fifty years the nations of Asia have earned themselves the acronym –Asian Tigers, but in Africa what do we have? African ants that are always being spoon-fed by aids, grants and loans from the United Nations?
I am sad about the state of Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa I must say. Of what benefit is it to me if I can afford to buy a Hummer Jeep but the roads of my country are rough, riddled with potholes like roads in a jungle forest? Of what benefit is it to me if I build a mansion, when many people are homeless in my country and refugees abound in the land, are we not all the same people, with a collective name and destiny –Nigerians? What is the joy in looting billions and stashing them away for my unborn generations when there are men and children living in my time that cannot afford to feed their selves and are hungry and starving?
These I believe are the issues that should move the likes of Okereke-Onyiuke and her ilk who are the proponents of Africans for Obama. Instead of an organization like Africans for Obama which would concern itself with affairs of other nations, we should instead have an organization called “The Obama initiative” that will bring the sterling qualities, virtues and values of the man called Barack Obama to bear on our people and use all the might and influence they can garner to cause a positive impact in our politics and polity, no matter how minimal.
We all, leaders and followers alike must learn to love this nation, and be ready to sacrifice for it. We cannot celebrate Obama’s America while our own Nigeria stands for backwardness and corruption throughout the world. We only need to learn and be inspired from people like him. Then the world can celebrate us and wish to identify with us and not us running after cheap international recognition.
It was with much consternation and mixed feelings that Nigerians received the news of the fund raising luncheon organized by Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke’s organization –Africans for Obama. If only she had known what lay just after that unseen bend, she certainly would not have gone ahead with the programme. In the wake of the fund raising luncheon, in which about N100 million was raised to “sensitize African-Americans to vote for the American Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama,” Okereke-Onyiuke got pummeled from every side. The luncheon drew the ire of public opinion as opinion leaders roundly denounced it in its entirety. The EFCC promptly picked up Okereke-Onyiuke for investigation and confiscated the funds raised and declared it would return the funds to the donors.
I am proud of Barack Obama. I love his personality and I respect his ambition. I admire his rare talent in public speaking and I covet his oratory talent. I am cowed at the courage he displays and the defiant confidence he exudes despite being the first black man in the United States to reach such a height in politics. He is not even the conventional black American; he is one generation out of Africa, his father, a Kenyan was an immigrant in the United States in the 1950s. Barack Obama is not from a wealthy background and neither is he a billionaire. Yet he has achieved the seemingly unachievable – winning the nomination of a major American political party for presidency. Barack Obama is by far one of the greatest black men who have ever lived. He is a living legend. He is my hero, my inspiration. I have downloaded videos of his speeches from the Internet and I listen to them everyday; the musical track done for his campaign by the American hip hop group, Black eyed peas, rings in my mind as I play it everyday and watch the video on my computer. Barack Obama embodies everything I want to be and so I take every joy in identifying with him and with anyone who wishes him well in his unprecedented pursuit in reaching for the presidency of the United States.
However, I disagree completely with the concept of Okereke-Onyiuke’s Africans for Obama. I disagree with the fundraiser and the reasons posited for its justification. The event reflects once again, our perverted mindsets in Nigeria where every good thing is twisted for personal gain and the gratification of selfish desires. America is the world’s bastion of democracy. Nigeria has not even attained the basic ideals of mutual tolerance yet let alone true democracy.
How on earth would some Nigerians think they stand in a good position to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in a democratic election? Is there one single African American who lives in America or beyond who does not know about Barack Obama and his great ambition? Is there any black American who is not proud of Obama today? Does he not represent hope and vindication for them and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s forty-five year old dream? And if there were African Americans who do not support Barack Obama’s ambition today, it would definitely be due to a really deep and strong reason. How does Okereke-Onyiuke think she and her group will be the ones to influence them otherwise? Wait a minute; I thought charity, as they say, begins at home. How well is the democracy in Nigeria being practiced? There are many Nigerians, especially in the elitist community, who are disillusioned and completely disappointed with the violent and desperate manner in which elections are conducted and rigged in Nigeria and as a result have concluded that voting in Nigerian elections is a mere exercise in futility. Why has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke not established an organization that will “sensitize” these people to vote good people into government positions here in her country Nigeria? If your country has a need, and another country has the same need, I think it should be expected that you take care of that need in your country first before you think about catering for that same need in someone else’s country. She spent fourteen years of her life living in the United States, so what? Is she telling us she is more American than Nigerian?
E gba mi, Nigerians, a people whose recent presidential election was absolutely condemned by the international community are the ones who now want to go to “sensitize” Americans to vote in an election. What a shame! The Holy Scripture says ‘Take care of the log of wood in your eyes first before you try to remove the speck of dust in the other person’s eye.” What meaningful positive role has Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke played in sensitizing well-meaning Nigerians to play a more significant role in politics and elections before she shifts her focus to the United States of America? The concept of her fundraiser to “sensitize” Americans over their forthcoming election is baseless, unpatriotic and an indication of shallow thinking.
There are basic lessons and home truths that the emergence of Barack Obama on the world stage poses to us as Nigerians. These are the lessons I would have expected the likes of Mrs. Okereke-Onyiuke to pick and harness towards the development of their own country, Nigeria. Africans for Obama’s fundraising luncheon was an act that was absolutely anti-Obama. It does not reflect the desires of the man Barack Obama himself who is a nationalist that loves his nation to the depth. The man Obama himself said, “I love this country, and so do you and so does John McCain. We all put our country first.” If Barack Obama puts his own country first, who are these people who put Barack Obama’s country first before their own. They should be ashamed of themselves for they do not even understand the simplest ideals he stands for.
One significant lesson Obama teaches us as Nigerians who love and pray for him is the lesson of change and hope. This man preaches the message of optimism to his countrymen and lives it. He would give his campaign the slogan ‘Yes we can’ to show the possibilities of self-belief. His campaign theme can be summarized thus: “We have the audacity to hope that change will come to Washington, and to our nation.” Is that not what we need in Nigeria today? Many Nigerians have completely lost hope in the wake of the situation of our country. Many do not believe this country can be redeemed from the curse of greed, corruption and desperate money politics. But listening to this American politician; I dare nurse the rare hope that Nigeria will one day change for the better; that there will be power; there will be potable water: there will be good roads; there will be world class education; there will accountability in government; and one day the results of elections will reflect the true wishes of the people. What I would have expected the Africans for Obama to do is to task themselves in this regard. How can we bring about change in our country? How do we inspire hope in Nigerians the way a black man inspired hope in America by winning Iowa, a 90% white state! They should have embarked on a massive re-orientation campaign that will run through all of Nigeria’s television and radio stations to try to change the pessimistic and cynical mindset that a lot of Nigerians have about the future of our nation. If Obama’s America needs change, what does Okereke-Onyiuke’s Nigeria need? A complete overhaul I guess!
Another lesson Obama’s candidacy teaches us, as Nigerians, is the shame of our own version of politics –money politics and do-or-die politics. Barack Obama is not a billionaire. He has only one house, despite being a senator of the United States of America. Yet he contested and won the nomination of one of the parties of the wealthiest nations on earth. He did not have to possess millions of dollars and billions of dollars to contest. His campaign spent money, but they were donations of people from all over his country, not the loot of the treasuries of governments across his country like it is in my nation. When he stands to talk, thousands of people come to listen to his hope inspiring speeches. He does not have to spray dollar notes all over the place and cause the people to scamper and struggle to pick as much as they can before they can come out and listen to him. What do we have here in Nigeria; we have politicians spraying money across the roads as they move around to show as evidence of their love for their people. They hand naira notes to voters who come to vote for their party, capitalizing on the people's poverty and ignorance. Is it not about time we changed our style of politics where parties loot and loot to finance their campaigns? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke and her organization start a leadership institute that will inspire youths, teach them to possess and surpass the qualities of Barack Obama – articulation, intelligence, simplicity, oratory and nationalism? If they have the clout to raise so much money for sensitizing the people of another country, then they should use that same clout to do much more for their own country.
Over eighty thousand people attended Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Denver. It was held peacefully and at the end of the programme, everyone went back to his house in less than one hour. There was no protest of marginaliszation; no gunshots; no fighting; no bloodshed and no one died. A political programme of an opposition party of that magnitude would happen in Nigeria here just like that? Laelae, somebody would definitely be beaten, guns would be fired and most likely, some people would die. The government of the day may get policemen to teargas the people or an aggrieved member of the party would complain of injustice and try to malign the programme. Shouldn’t we learn tolerant politics in Nigeria? Shouldn’t we practice true democracy? Why can’t Okereke-Onyiuke learn from these things and start a campaign that will “sensitize” our politicians at every level to exercise patience, restraint and common sense in their own style of politics?
Barack Obama would not tear down his opponent even if he had the chance to do so. He would criticize but with constructive tones. He said of John McCain his opponent “The republican nominee Senator John McCain has worn our military uniform with bravery and distinction and so deserves our gratitude and respect” before he criticized the political views of his opponent. After the world got to know that Sarah Palin, John Mc Cain’s deputy had a seventeen year old daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, one would have expected Obama to use the opportunity to taunt and rubbish her political profile, but instead he would come to her aid saying “People’s families are off limits.” What if it were Nigeria, with out style of do-or-die politics. Political opponents would insult each other, their families and even resort to sorting out their difference by hiring thugs and miscreants who will fight each other and disrupt the public peace.
Studying the life and political career of Barack Obama, there are questions posed to our collective conscience that demand soul-searching answers. This is Africa; we are Nigeria, the supposed giant and pride of Africa. This man is basically a Kenyan seed, performing wonders in the United States of America. Shouldn’t that inspire us to shake our political and socio-economic lethargy and struggle to change the fortunes of our nation for the better? Isn’t it about time that Nigerians and black men all over the world raised their heads up with pride on the world stage with the confidence that our continent can compete favorably in the scheme of things in the international community. In less than fifty years the nations of Asia have earned themselves the acronym –Asian Tigers, but in Africa what do we have? African ants that are always being spoon-fed by aids, grants and loans from the United Nations?
I am sad about the state of Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa I must say. Of what benefit is it to me if I can afford to buy a Hummer Jeep but the roads of my country are rough, riddled with potholes like roads in a jungle forest? Of what benefit is it to me if I build a mansion, when many people are homeless in my country and refugees abound in the land, are we not all the same people, with a collective name and destiny –Nigerians? What is the joy in looting billions and stashing them away for my unborn generations when there are men and children living in my time that cannot afford to feed their selves and are hungry and starving?
These I believe are the issues that should move the likes of Okereke-Onyiuke and her ilk who are the proponents of Africans for Obama. Instead of an organization like Africans for Obama which would concern itself with affairs of other nations, we should instead have an organization called “The Obama initiative” that will bring the sterling qualities, virtues and values of the man called Barack Obama to bear on our people and use all the might and influence they can garner to cause a positive impact in our politics and polity, no matter how minimal.
We all, leaders and followers alike must learn to love this nation, and be ready to sacrifice for it. We cannot celebrate Obama’s America while our own Nigeria stands for backwardness and corruption throughout the world. We only need to learn and be inspired from people like him. Then the world can celebrate us and wish to identify with us and not us running after cheap international recognition.
God bless Barack Obama’s ambition, and God bless my Nigeria.
2 comments:
Hello friend: it wanted invitarte that you visit blog that I am making with my students of second year of the secondary one on the DISCRIMINATION.
http://nodiscrimine.blogspot.com
arduous and interesting Subject.
Surely it will be of your affability.
We invited to you that you read what pleases of him and makes an opinion on he himself.
Its contribution will be valuable.
In blog it will find a translator of the page in several languages if he needs it.
A hug from Argentina.
Bros, nice one. You kinda look like Obama....lol
I'm a starter, pls don't hesistate to advise me on how to do things better on my blog.
Regards
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