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Nigeria: President Barack Obama in Ghana - Matters Arising

Fr Matthew Hassan Kukah

10 July 2009

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opinion

Lagos — Since the news of President Barack Obama's planned trip to Ghana en route from Russia became public, some Nigerians have been acting like a jilted wife on the matrimonial calendar in a polygamous household. With no hard evidence, some commentators have tried to put words in the mouth of the American President thereby creating the impression that President Obama is sending out a negative signal to Nigeria.

The media has gone to town to second guess and come to the dubious conclusion that the visit is an indictment on Nigeria's flawed elections. If elections were an issue for Obama, would he go out of his way to incur the wrath of his fellow countrymen by hugging or bowing to President Hugo Chavez or the King of Saudi Arabia as he did recently? While Chavez had amended the Constitution and secured an open ended tenure, Saudi Arabia's citizens have neither seen a ballot box or ballot paper in their lives. The message is simple: It is the oil, stupid!

As a measure of the seriousness of those who hold these views, which other country has reacted in the rather garrulous manner that some Nigerians have reacted to a routine state visit such as this? Are the Kenyans who can lay claim to Mr. Obama sulking, whining and pinning in the way these Nigerians are doing that he did not come home first? They had bad elections and a near civil war, but are they wallowing in self pity? If President Obama had chosen to visit Nigeria, would Ghanaians have shown this narrow mindedness or jealousy in their interpretation of his motive? Is President Obama the world's electoral Pope who is going around rewarding and punishing election defaulters?

Not surprising, our dear Nobel laureate has led the charge by offering to lead an Intifada against President Obama were he to visit Nigeria. What a show of cowardice! For over 10 years now, Intifada strategy of stone throwing has been abandoned. Why would Professor Wole Soyinka not opt for suicide bombing which has since replaced stone throwing? Would Professor Wangari Mathai (Kenya's own Nobel laureate) make the same threats if President Obama offered to visit Kenya? I am persuaded that we could have conducted this debate in a more robust, informed and matured manner and not exhibit our characteristic tendencies for self flagellation and self doubt. It is a bit shameful that we have been drained of our patriotic instincts and we are our own worst enemies. Our lack of restraint has become too embarrassing even to those who hate us.

This visit is, in simple terms, in pursuit, defence and protection of the permanent interests of the United States of America which is the primary responsibility of any President. These interests, whether they are economic, geopolitical, strategic or even intangible, are varied and complex and only the US knows and defines them. America has shown that it will go to any length or overlook any international obligations or obstacles to achieve these interests. Therefore, beyond these shenanigans, we need to rise to the occasion and situate this visit in proper context. This is an African and not a Ghanaian visit. I am fully in support of the choice of Ghana. All the evidence suggests that Ghana deserves this visit. Let us list just a few pointers.

Ghana's Elmina castle has been the unofficial cultural shrine for generations of African Americans in search of their identity and roots. Those African Americans who have found home and emotionally stood at the Gate-of-no-return where to see where their ancestors took off never to return to Africa would definitely find in Ghana a metaphor for a home coming for a President of African descent. Secondly, the Ghanaians have given us the Kente cloth which has now been appropriated as the symbol of our collective African identity. Thirdly, Ghana gave us Kwame Nkrumah. Whatever may have been his personal short comings, Nkrumah made Ghana the baptistery where our independence candles were lit across the continent. From our own Nnamdi Azikiwe to Robert Mugabe, freedom fighters across Africa used Ghana as their staging post for their anti-colonial revolutions. Ghana has produced a secular Pope in the person of Mr. Kofi Anan, the former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Laureate for Peace. Today, perhaps next to Nelson Mandela, Mr. Anan has the highest moral capital deposit on the African continent. At home and abroad, Ghana knows that its interests are in the safest hands. He is a silent but effective campaigner for Ghana's national interests within the international community. Finally, and to end this catalogue, Ghana has just discovered oil. It therefore makes sense that the US, with its gargantuan appetite for oil ensures that it is not caught napping.

Perhaps a more important question is, beyond the emotional and symbolic value, what difference will a Presidential visit make in the lives of ordinary people in the country? Three American Presidents have visited Nigeria as far as I can remember (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George Bush). The main drivers and beneficiaries of Presidential visits are businessmen and women who, under the shadow of the President, seek to cut the best business deals, concessions, and monopolies they can get for their businesses. For example, President Carter visited Nigeria during his Presidency but it was not until over 20 years of his leaving office that we have reaped the benefits of his tremendous work in fighting guinea worms around the world under the banner of his Jimmy Carter Foundation. When President Clinton visited Nigeria, the village of Ushafa within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was the cynosure of all eyes. Today, none of the promises made during that visit have not been realized by all sides. The good work that President Clinton has done for us in Nigeria through his Bill Clinton Foundation in the area of HIV/AIDS surpasses a 100 fold what his visit as President achieved. So, by themselves, Presidential visits are useful, but surely, they should not be the measure for a country's greatness or lack of.

I am not downplaying the significance of this momentous event. However, I believe that this visit is for Africa and President Obama will not only speak to Ghanaians but merely use Ghana as a platform to address Africa by laying down where he wishes to take the US.

I believe that in this visit, President Obama will restate America's commitment to seeking collaborators around the world in the search for global peace and an end to world terrorism. I expect that President Obama will politely but firmly speak directly to the leaders of Africa, calling for an end to corruption and the need for an equitable distribution and allocation of the continent's resources. He will call for an end to violence and the need for Africans to hold their leaders accountable and responsible. These may be nice sound bites. The real challenge is that as he may realize, Africans have heard all this before. What they are yet to see is a clear signal from the US and the international community that they are truly committed to helping Africa. For, to do this, they must be ready to expose their multinational corporations and other corporate crooks (e.g. Halliburton), the sponsors of strife and violence in Africa in the course of the exploitation of mineral resources and the need to energise and support civil society groups. I hope he will note the ubiquity of religion but appeal to the leaders to find a more muscular role for religion and to apply the fine principles of their faiths towards the attainment of the common good.

Whatever moral exhortations President Obama may make, African leaders must have the courage to admit and take full responsibility for the ruination of the continent. They must genuinely admit that effective collaboration entails their being held accountable to their international obligations. They must sign on to the inviolability of the democratic quest, the sanctity and dignity of the individuals, their rights to vote for or against their leaders. Young Africans who look up to President Obama must learn to imbibe hard work and shun violence, reject being conscripted into death squads in the name of religion and embrace the values of democracy.

Kukah is the Vicar General, Archd-iocese of Kaduna.

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