If African heads of state care about their jobs, sincere about good governance, and love the people they lead, then they should get the message behind Obama’s statement, as relied via the AllAfrica’s video clips. This is what the man’s saying in plain English:
“Africa, a place of extraordinary promise” – Obama
Obama talks to Allafrica. Some interesting quotes from the interesting interview:
Living in a land of freedom – try this at your own peril!
Woe be tied an African — or a Nigerian, who speaks ill of his head of state. Most likely, that person wouldn’t live to see the next day as a free man. He will be sought out like a rabid dog, arrested and thrown in jail! While in jail, he/she will be tortured, and the state security agents may even seek out family members accord them “appropriate treatment under the law”.
But this scenario can only be imagined in places where freedom of speech is truly recognized, places like America, where a man can publicly confront a sitting head of state and say “he’s an abomination!”
Watch Alan Keyes take his head of state, President Obama to the toilet. Alan rants against Obama are fast attaining a legendary status, even if his utterances are as deluded as a schizophrenic. Should I add that Mr. keyes is a three time republican presidential candidate who ran against Obama on that 2004 Illinois Senatorial race, the election that launched Obama into national limelight?
The video footage speaks for itself…Watch it and tell me what you think!
President Barack H. Obama! [video]
January 20, 2009: Barack Obama took the oath of office, becoming the 44th president of the United States at 12.05PM EST.
Barack and Michelle…
They are the most important couple in the world right now. And by this time tomorrow, their lives, and that of those closely associated with them will take a new meaning.
Their lives will be changed forever!
Good luck!
Before we crucify Okereke-Onyiuke
One Nik Ogbulie, a self-proclaimed “Lagos-based journalist”, has a rejoinder published in Guardian Newspapers online to the failed Okereke-Onyiuke-led Africans for Obama initiative. Excerpt:
Taking into consideration the fact that Nigerians are a very sensitive lot, given the various intervening variables that condition their reactions, the Obama issue should be seen as a mere pedestrian discourse that fits into the game plan of a segment of the disgruntled elites who see Okereke-Onyiuke’s records with awe and envy…
After reading the Nik’s essay, I was left to wonder how fat the envelope he received was, for him to stick out his neck for a supposedly learned lady that made a clearly catastrophic blunder.
The envelope must be well padded!
Barack Obama: He’s black. He’s my brother. He’ll save Africa!
I love Obama for what he stands for, and for what he has done, to get to where he is today. And I will most likely vote for him for those reasons, not because he is black, like me.
But this is not how some of my countrymen in Nigeria see him. He’s their brother; he’s black; he’ll save Africa!
One of those people is Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Ndidi is the Chairman of the Africans for Obama 2008, a Nigeria-based pro-Obama group. Speaking in Lagos while inaugurating ‘Africans for Obama Presidency’ in June, she said, “the policies of Obama will have effect for Africa, not only the world, because he believes in Africa.”
On August 12, Ndidi and her friends held a fund raising dinner for Obama at the MUSON Center Lagos.
The price tag?
About $2,500 to 20,000USD per plate!
Their goal is to raise 100 million Naira (about 1 million USD) to mobilize the five million Africans in United States to support and vote for Obama in November.
There are many things wrong with this. Even if there are five million Africans with American voters registration cards, is it legal for a non-American pressure group to embark on political advocacy projects within America?
Was Ndidi and co aware of “The US Foreign Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1974?”
I don’t think so.
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.
One thing is clear about most Nigerians, including our dear Ndidi: An obsession for foreign ready-made products. This obsession manifests in every facet of life in Nigeria. Now some have seen Obama as a prime object for that obsession.
Did Obama get to be the first American black presidential candidate because he had people like Ndidi supporting him?
Wouldn’t it be great if the Ndidis of Nigeria (and their rich friends) re-channel their obsessive energy toward something more practical and relevant to their immediate society?
Rather that obsessing over an ‘American Obama’, how about helping to create a local system that would produce a ‘Nigerian Obama’, say within the next five years?