Osato F. Giwa-Osagie
20 November 2008
opinion
Lagos — In everyone's life there are events that stick in our memories for decades and may be for all our life. When such events are recalled we remember exactly what we were doing on that day, hour and minute. I remember with minute detail Nigeria's Independence Day, October 1st 1960 and also our becoming a Republic, with Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe transforming into our first President.
I remember clearly, on the latter occasion, a hapless police outrider in his resplendent ceremonial uniform slipped as his motor cycle skidded in the wet grass of the Race Course, now known as Tafawa Balewa Square. I watched all these from the corridors of Kings College, Lagos overlooking the Race Course. Similarly I remember the day President John Fitzerald Kennedy was assassinated as my set was in the middle of our West African School Certificate Examinations. I recall the historic victory of Cassius Marcellus Clay, a.k.a Mohammed Ali, over Sonny Liston an event amplified many times to us by our seniors Patrick Akhionbare and Emeka Anadu before lights out with appropriate exaggeration. For events that we did not witness, we depended on the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of America or the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service. In sports commentary no commentator has equaled the eclectic hypreapolic description exhibited by Ishola Folorunsho in his football commentaries.
The world has become much smaller than in those days. We see almost everything in real time these days. This contraction of the world started long ago. As a medical undergraduate at Cambridge University, I saw on television, the ghastly details of the murderers of Dr Martin Luther King Junior and of the brilliant Senator Robert F. Kennedy, within minutes of their occurring. Not too long after those events, we sat crammed in the television room at International Students House, Great Portland Street, London to watch Astronaut Neil Armstrong make his famous statement as he stepped on the moon. These events are unforgettable as must be several events in each person's memory.
I happened to be pursuing my academic interest in Boston on November 4th 2008, the day of the election for the president of U.S.A. and I believe that day will become one of those unforgettable days. I had followed the American elections with great interest. I had watched as an extremely intelligent, slim, black American with recent Kenyan blood flowing in his veins, Senator Barack Obama, audaciously decided to reach for the peak of political ascendancy in the USA by declaring his intention to seek the high office of President. The obvious political assessment then was that he would fall by the way side like the Rev Jesse Jackson did, for it was improbable that he would be nominated by the Democratic Party. He surely could not defeat that highly intelligent, high performing, elegant, well spoken Former First Lady, Senator Hillary Clinton. Some astute analysts and politicians seemed to have read the script, they backed Obama; even Clinton supporters like Senator John Kerry and the Kennedys. Then one thought, this was a well laid Republican Party plot to defeat Senator Clinton and then walk over Senator Obama. However, the real rainbow coalition had kicked - in - a coalition of blacks, Hispanics, women and young men and women, with older men who saw the writing on the wall, and voted in America's first black President. As if to remind all black Americans that their roots are in Africa, the man elected still has close relations living in Kenya. So, God's own country, United States of America now has a President - Elect, with an incredible name of Barack Obama, who has brought new hope. He has come at a time the Americans image is at its worst for over 50years, to succeed a President whose foreign policy has failed, whose defense policy has worsened international security rather than enhance it, and whose domestic economy is at its worst for more than a generation. It is almost as if Barack Obama and his all American coalition have been chosen to rebuild from the ruins of a great nation. President George Bush, the son of a very good man, President George Bush Senior, and a very good mother, has the lowest approval rating of any American President in living memory.
What can we, the rest of the world, learn from this and what can we do for the elected leader? The first is to remember that President Bill Clinton came from probably the poorest state in the USA to become arguably the most successful President before Senator Obama; Barack Obama by logical and rational analysis did not have much chance of defeating Senator Hillary Clinton for the nomination, but he did. Some thought the Hispanics and the white Americans would not vote for Senator Obama, yet they did and he is now President-Elect. We already see from the appointments the President - Elect has made that he is looking for the best and is not operating in a box. The lasting message for us all is that we should always choose our best for whatever position we have and we must learn to think outside the box of immediate convenience. We should also ask ourselves in Nigeria if Bill Clinton or Barack Obama were Nigerians whether our selection processes would have allowed them to emerge as they have in the democracy we often think we are copying. If the answer is negative then we should do something corrective about the process here. If the answer is affirmative we must have, have had OR will have our own Clintons and Obamas. Senator Obama's priorities now have to be the resurrection of his damaged domestic economy which was fueled by greed and conspicuous consumption; withdrawal of substantial troops from Iraq and a re-visioning of America's foreign policy hopefully with more productive interest in Africa to replace a policy of benign neglect; strengthening the educational system for greater productivity and awareness of the rest of the world. The greatest help we can give President Barack Obama is our prayers for his safety and continuing wisdom. When he reviews his various policies he must also bring equity and rationale to his Embassies in developing countries like Nigeria to ensure that if former Eastern Europeans are given a soft access to visiting the USA or even settling there, African and Asian people must be treated equitably and with respect. As for the Schengen countries whose visas processes have become the most awkward, we all say "change has come" and they should treat people with the respect many of us more than deserve. With the election of Senator Barack Obama, the glass ceiling on many lives has been lifted. As part of the school song of Kings College, Lagos says "you have power to conquer if you only try". Dr Martin Luther King's statement and dreams of freedom have almost become reality. We may now say "Free at Last" for Americans and many others. The world has to become a better place for us all. Change has come.
-Prof. Giwa-Osagie wrote from Lagos
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