Africans Should Not Be Too Optimistic —Wole Olaoye

Wole Olaoye, political activist and President, Obafemi Awolowo University Alumni Association, explains the process leading to the victory of Mr. Barack Obama and its significance for Nigeria and Africa. He spoke with OLUOKUN AYORINDE

The election of Senator Barack Obama as the incoming president of America is awesome to start with. It’s like a combination of Sallah, Christmas Eid-el-Fitr and everything together in one elebration. It is awesome, historic, and something unprecedented. It is a good thing to be alive to witness this momentous occasion. It’s one election that is going to affect the whole world. That’s how significant it is. It is about time we heard some good news about the black man. It has been always bad news–wars, epidemics, militancy and all those kind of things. We’ve had too much bad news about Africans. The West, for example, tends to look down on Africa and Africans as if we are perpetual underachievers; as if there is something in our stars that makes us inferior, almost sub-human. But not after Obama came in and showcased the best that Africans can offer. You can see that wit for wit, intelligence for intelligence, we’re there. So, Obama is good news for Africa. Obama is good news for the black man. But having said that, what is the import of the victory? The victory will have spiral effect on the rest of the world, but specifically in Africa . If Barack Obama could scale all those hurdles to get to where he is today, then failure is not in our stars, it is just failure of leadership that we have had in Africa. There is nothing intrinsically inferior about the black man. It is just that our leaders have been shortchanging us and it’s about time we fixed the issue of leadership. If we don’t fix it, the continent will continue to regress while the rest of the world moves forward.

The first of the lessons we can learn is that race and tribe do not matter when we are talking about the destiny of a nation. When we are talking about power of ideas, the skin colour does not matter. What we’ve learnt is that a person can come from the minority, just like Donald Duke came from the minority during our own elections and this will not be a disadvantage to him. Duke was to many Nigerians the most eminently qualified for the job, but he didn’t get there. Some people just said: Ha, he is from the minority, he is this, he is that.’ But we want somebody that can fix Nigeria and we don’t care where he comes from. That’s what America is telling us now. They want somebody that can fix their country. They don’t care where he comes from. They don’t care if his father was a Kenyan. If it was here, we would be saying his father is a Kenyan, so he should go and claim Kenya. Obama’s victory could even affect residency rights in Nigeria eventually as people would realise that if I was born in Kaduna and I have spent all my life there, I should be qualified to run for election in that state. This is going to have spiral effects on the way we view politics and the way we view contests and candidates. We are going to realise that the most important thing is who can get us there. It is the relativity of ideas that establishes kinship, not colour, not tribe. Otherwise, those white boys who volunteered to go door to door on behalf of Obama would not do it. But they did it because they believe in his ideas. So, it’s about time we started playing politics of ideas instead of politics of thuggery, of voodoo, of very primitive criteria.

Professor Maurice Iwu is the worst example of the Nigerian variant of homo sapiens. A man who failed comprehensively in conducting free and fair elections in a different country would have resigned long ago and hide in his village to enjoy his money or whatever. But not Iwu. And the media should stop all these rubbish. They should stop agitating us because it is so vexatious for a man like Iwu to be opening his mouth. Iwu is an epitome of the kind of problem we have in this country. We specialise in putting the wrong people in high offices. When there is an important task to be done, we look for the worst specimen among us and prop him. That has to stop. Iwu is not even qualified to comment on the American election and eventually time will catch up with him. The wind of change that is blowing will touch Africa and sweep people like that away because they are yesterday’s people.

But I will caution people not to be unreasonably optimistic. If you look at everything dispassionately, Obama is first and foremost an American. His loyalty is hundred percent to America, make no mistake about that. You are deceiving yourself if you think otherwise. But he is a democrat. So, Obama is going to look favourably towards Africa because it is the tradition of the Democratic Party. People said Bill Clinton is the first black President because of his policies towards Africa . He has relations here and all that. But he is not going to favour Africa at the expense of his country. It will not happen. But more than anything, I think where we are going to enjoy Obama is that he is going to provide leadership for the entire world. America is at the lowest ebb in terms of image in all parts of the world. And if that American election had taken place in all countries of the world, Obama would have won by landslide. They know that McCain was like George Bush and that if we had another president like Bush, it could be the beginning of another World War. Obama is going to reverse all that and that is good news for Africa, because it is only when America is prosperous that it can think of partnerships, aids, grants and all those kind of things. But when Obama fixes the American economy, the ripple effect will be felt all over the world. Obama came fully prepared and ready. It is difficult to imagine a better candidate. All elements are mixed in adequate proportions to produce this brand now called Obama. His vision for America is incredible. How he controls his anger and his vision for America are also incredible. Some other candidates would have been gloating today. But he said change is a process and winning elections does not automatically bring change; it is just the beginning of the process. The road ahead is rough, it’s difficult, but he said Americans should count on him to tell them the truth always. He said he is going to level with the people and will always listen to them. Bush never listens. When you have a listening president, the job is half done. Now, in terms of challenges, Obama has everything it takes to fix the American economy. I was impressed when he said: ‘those of you Republicans who voted McCain, I know you didn’t vote for me, but I promise you that I will be your President.’ He doesn’t just want to be president for the democrats; he is the president of America . That touched me. Somebody who can be gracious in victory is what the world has been waiting for.