Ebuka
6 September 2008
column
Lagos — The whole world is currently being held spell bound by the run up to the American elections. For over a year now, the world's favourite soap opera has been on and with every passing day, there seems to be a new twist added to the story.
I am just simply glad that all of this is happening in my time seeing that regardless of who wins; new grounds will be broken in November after the results are announced with either America's first female Vice President emerging or her first Black President getting set to take office.
The average Nigerian is a supporter of the Democratic Party in America and it has nothing to do with the party manifesto or policies. It is mostly thanks to stories about President John F. Kennedy and acts of former President Bill Clinton. We loved the latter for making Africa a huge part of his agenda and for his soft stance after the world had been taken on a serious ride with the Gulf War initiated by President H.W. Bush before him. He was just generally likeable and always gave off a good vibe. But what most Nigerians do not know is that if they were Americans, or even tried to know what these parties really stood for, most of us would actually be Republicans and not Democrats. The Republicans are anti abortion and believe that life begins at conception just like most Nigerians (especially the many who (pretend) to be religious) equally believe. They also do not support gay marriages; something which many Nigerians totally abhor! These by the way, are issues, which the Democrats are more liberal about.
As the showdown between Barak Obama and John McCain draws ever so close, 1 out of every 1000 Nigerians whom you see on the street wants Obama to win. Most of these people do not have any more reasons than the fact that he is black! Of course, that should be a valid enough reason as far as we are concerned. After all, whoever is elected would not be the Nigerian President so why should we bother about giving any more reasons for supporting a candidate. We just feel like he is one of us and that should be good enough.
I was at the bank not too long ago and Barak Obama came up on the screen as CNN was recapping his speech at the Democratic National Convention. Two guys who were also in the bank were watching and smiling in admiration until one of them said; "Kai this Obama eh, the guy is just too powerful o. If e win eh, I know say things go change for the whole world; especially for Africa." I then quietly asked myself if these guys knew that Africa had not even come up as an issue all through the Illinois Senator's campaign. I also wondered if the half Kenyan Presidential candidate had any idea what sort of expectations there were of him around the world. I get even more bothered seeing that the inexperience of the Senator is always thrown at us by the Republicans. Senator Obama has been most questioned when it comes to his foreign policy stance. In the course of the campaign, questions about his abilities have been raised with regards to how he would handle dictators around the world, Iran and now, the Georgia-Russia conflict where it sadly emerged that he probably had no idea that Russia had the exact same veto power in the UN Security Council as the USA. But in spite of all these, Nigerians, Africans and most of the world still loves him as a poll showed sometime in July that if he were to be voted for by all the countries of the world, he would win by 80%. Yet in America, he is almost running neck and neck with McCain.
John McCain on the other hand, is extremely unpopular in Nigeria. Firstly he is Republican, secondly he supports the war in Iraq, thirdly he belongs to the same party as the incumbent, George W. Bush, fourthly he is 72 years old and most importantly, he is running against the first black man with real potential to rule America (very bad timing). He definitely does have the most experience of the two and would win by a huge margin if elections were won simply by the presentation of CV's and the elimination of speeches.
But as the campaigns progressed, one of the strongest attacks launched by the Democrats on McCain has been on the state of his health (and rightly so). Here is a quick reel of some of his health problems; he has severe arthritis, he is being treated for an enlarged prostate, he has undergone cataract surgery, he has dizzy spells (and has collapsed a number of times), he suffers from vertigo, he has had benign lumps removed from his colon and was treated when early signs of skin cell cancer was noticed. All these against an Obama who still plays active basketball and works out in a gym at least on a weekly basis!
As recently as last month, some skin was taken out of his right cheek for testing to be sure that the skin cancer had not reoccurred. As a result, much of America is worried that they might be voting in a President who though is very experienced and capable of leading the country, might not live out his 4 years in office. There is a serious fear that McCain might spend more time in hospitals than he would, leading the country thus leaving America all the worse for it. Whether he dies in office or falls ill regularly while there cannot necessarily be known for now but what we all know now for sure is that he is not the healthiest man in America and voters are rightfully worried about that fact.
In reply to the whole talk about his health issues, his age, his not too conservative roots and his supposed old Washington image, he stunned America and the world with his choice of a running mate when he picked the young female Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. What better way to tell the world that he still had fresh ideas (picking a woman was a strong statement to that effect), would have the suddenly politically active youth covered (Sarah Palin is younger than Barak Obama) and would not be too tied to Washington (Palin's Alaska is as far away from Washington as possible). But with every brilliant move, there always seems to be a minus.
She has been termed as totally inexperienced; even much more than Obama (as she has been governor for only a year and half), completely clueless with foreign policy issues and now, not possessing the strongest family values seeing that her own 17 year old daughter got pregnant right under her nose.
Her pick by McCain, has made it tougher for the Republicans to keep targeting Obama for his inexperience since their own VP candidate (who should be ready to take over as president at anytime) is equally or even less experienced. She comes from a little known state and emerged as the candidate against all expectations and predictions. It is yet to be seen how a not so fit McCain and a relatively inexperienced Palin would fair in November.
Meanwhile, back here in Nigeria, we seem to have both McCain and Palin rolled into one in the person of our very own President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua!
When the 2007 elections were approaching, a lot of names kept flying around as possible candidates for the ruling PDP. All the names at the time were heavyweights in their own rights and so predicting who the winner would be seemed impossible. The country was braced for the race of a lifetime when from nowhere, just like Palin, we were informed that the preferred candidate for the ruling party would be little known (nationally that is) Katsina State Governor Umaru Yar'Adua. Many people did not see it coming and it took his appointment for people to start trying to dig up stories and facts about (possibly) Nigeria's next president. He seemed very unassuming and though seemed like the star of his state (just like Palin), was a new comer to the national scene. He seemed like a good guy anyway and most people seemed ready to accept him going by his clean records as governor. But during his campaign for President in March of 2007, things took a different turn when President Yar'Adua suddenly had to be flown out of the country for treatment. He missed a campaign leg and the rumours started out, that he was dead. That led to the famous phone call which was live on TV, where the then President Obasanjo asked him; "Umaru, are you dead?" Mr. President came back and continued his campaign to rule Nigeria despite emerging stories that he was not in the best state of health. He eventually got elected and attention subsequently got diverted from his health. But not for too long!
President Yar'Adua has been in office now for a year and 3 months and concerns by Nigerians over his health have only grown with time. He has severally been rumoured to be dead only for him to come back and tell us that he either went to treat catarrh abroad or simply had an allergy (which only 'oyinbo's' can handle, abi?)!
In the past week, this same issue has come up again and as usual, Mr. President has sadly thought it more appropriate to wave the concerns of Nigerians aside, saying that he is simply away on pilgrimage. What gets everyone worked up is simple; why is it so hard for Mr. President to tell us that he is okay by himself? Why do we always have to listen to Media Advisers, presidential spokespersons and Ministers if the President is actually healthy enough to speak? All evidence points to the fact that our President is not alright and all we want is for him to simply tell us that he is fine and show signs that he is or tell us what is wrong with him. Even John McCain has been upright enough to always talk about his health as he was known to have shown off the right cheek, where skin was taken from, to cameras without being scared of a backlash. It is only sensible that people whom you (intend to) lead are not left in the dark about issues that could affect their interest in the long run. If the president is sick, the country could suffer as a result and so his health becomes a public issue and not something that should be treated with kid gloves!
Why is it so hard for Mr. President to tell Nigerians that the he is ill and has a few problems? And if like he claims, there is nothing wrong with him, then why is he so distant from those he is supposed to be serving so much so that he cannot come face to face with us to tell us that he is fine?
Nigerians are worried and understandably so. We did have a lot of faith in Mr. President at his swearing in and so would like to be told if and when delivery by the President would suffer. It should not be a case of cat and mouse between Nigerians and a man who promised to serve and run an open government.
We may not have a political terrain as interesting as that of the Americans but it is about time we started showing that we equally require accountability from those who govern us. Accountability, not just for that which is monetary and tangible but also a moral responsibility to carry Nigerians along and let them know things as simple as the state of health of their President. It is our right to know and Mr. Rule of Law should abide by his own policies too.
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FIRST OF ALL, LET ME INFORM YOU THAT BARACK OBAMA IS A WELL EDUCATED PERSON HE WAS A HARVARD UNIVERSITY TRAINED LAWYER,EXPERIENCED IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.HE WAS A SENETOR IN ILLINOIS,AND BECAME SENATOR IN THE FED.HOUSE HE IS KNOWN,AND PARTRONIZED BY EMINENT POLITICAL LEADERS IN USA, SUCH AS SEN.KENNEDY, FMR PRESIDENT CLINTON.McCAIN IS A WAR LORD WHOSE ONLY EXPERIENCE IN THE SENATE IS HOW TO PLAN A WAR.IF LEFT ALONE HE WOULD HAVE DECLARED WAR ON IRAN. HE IS A PART OF BUSH ADMN,INSTIGATED THE IRAQ WAR.HE HAD CONTESTED AGAINST BUSH IN 2000,AND LOST.NOW HE IS 72,SICKLY,AND HAS CHOSEN A YOUNG INEXPERIENCED LADY AS HIS VICE,IF HE DIES IN OFFICE,IS THAT HIS VP PICK WHO SHOULD BECOME PRESIDENT.BESIDES,8YRS OF REPUBLICAN ADMIN. HAS BROUGHT ECONOMIC DISATER ON THE USA. THIS HAS AFFECTED THE WHOLE WORLD,INCLUDING NIGERIA.IHE WORLD WILL EXPERIENCE RELIEF IF OBAMA WINS IN NOV.200,000 people turned out to hear him in Berlin.
Please allow me to thank the author of that good and well balanced article. The analogy that Africans could in principle be more Republican than they are democrats, and that their support for Obama could in the same vain merely be guided by inclination than conviction is striking. The suggestion of the author for Africans to learn from the West that health and moral issues of our leaders are not issues of the private domain is at best befitting. Who in their right mind would intentionally opt for a sick pilot? Charles Katjivirue from Namibia.