17 November 2008
editorial
Lagos — The election of Senator Barack Obama, as the next American President is one global event that has elicited world-wide applause and commendation.
Understandably so, it was historic on many fronts. Like an elixir, it represents a new face of the United States in the comity of nations, where the posture of the US was under constant diplomatic resistance. For the crisis-ridden economy of the country, the election represents hope. For the black race, it offers a fresh breath of possibilities.
The euphoria of the election, understandably, is high in Africa, if nothing else, because of the racial affiliation which Barack Obama shares with the rest of Africa. The American election was one that profoundly crossed all the lines drawn by race, tribe, status, creed and even class. But it is for the same continent the election of Barack Obama offers its finest lessons.
The commendations that have greeted the election should necessarily offer a strong challenge to the African continent, blighted by poor leadership and poverty, on the conduct of elections and the power of people's vote.
It is pretty ironical that even former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his well arched article on the election was full of praise for an election that was evidently as transparent as it was laudable. But the troubling part is what African leaders do with the chance to do same - conduct free and fair elections where the votes of the people count.
Indeed, as examples in some few African countries, particularly the June 12, 1993 presidential polls, show, it is not because Africa is incapable of organising free and fair elections. The problem is the penchant of politicians and even government officials to circumvent the electoral process for their own selfish ends.
Put differently, most of the post-election crises that have bedeviled the continent, Nigeria inclusive, is the disregard for the wish of the electorate. If the votes of the people are ever allowed to count, as we saw in the American election, there will be less or even no rancour resulting from elections. Then also, there will be no opportunity for failed leaders to stay put in power.
Some have tended to question why at many times over Africans find it difficult in getting it right, in nearly all of its affairs. If America can do it and we all clap for them, why can't we also do it and be clapped for? Like the ringing slogan of the Obama campaign, 'Yes, We Can', in Africa, to conduct controversy-free polls. All it takes is for leaders to be selfless and be true patriots. A country's future should not be sacrificed on the banal altar of self and greed.
The Obama election therefore does not only offer cause for racial celebration, but also, and more importantly, a wake-up call on how to conduct our own affairs with commendable propriety. It shows that, the elasticity of human possibilities. It demonstrates that so many things are possible with mankind, when there is dogged determination and focus. The Obama victory therefore is a pointer to what height the developed human mind can achieve.
However, it is not enough basking in the euphoria of the change which the Obama election represents, it is crucial that at our various levels as individuals, corporate or group stakeholders, we must imbibe the spirit of the change phenomenon, such that we can do things differently and commendably.
All said, the lessons and import of the Obama election would have been wasted and lost unless Africans, dump the old order and embrace fairness and respect for one another. It is only in doing this that the fire lit by the Obama phenomenon in America will catch on and light up the nation's or continent's path to self-redemption and re-discovery.
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THE WAY AFRICA CAN LEARN FROM THE OBAMA VICTORY IS TO SEND A GROUP OF POLITICAL SCIENTISTS TO USA,UK,AND CANADA, TO STUDY THEIR ELECTORAL PROCEDURES,AND DOCUMENT IT FOR THE AFRICAN UNION TO RECOMMEND IT TO THEIR MEMBER NATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. Mazianyaogu writes from USA.