Whilst the whole world rejoiced with Nigeria – the ‘Giant of Africa’ for not going up in conflagration due to the defeat of an incumbent President for the first time in its chequered electoral history and for its successful handing over of power to an opposition leader, concerns should be raised as to the fate of her brothers in the once prosperous land formerly known as Rhodesia. Going down memory lane, Nigeria played a prominent role in the struggle for her liberation from white minority rule and it’s a shame that the country once known as the food basket of the continent is now grappling with the behemoth of crisis it never bargained for which is attributable to abysmally dismal political leadership.
Africa is well known for dictators ever since most of its countries gained independence from her erstwhile colonial masters. The tragedy is that many of the liberation fighters that spearheaded the independence struggle ended up being worse than the ‘oppressors’ they sent packing. From Kwame Nkrumah to Sekou Toure, Ahmadu Ahidjo, the sad tale rings true like a tsunami.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe has the notoriety of being the oldest dictator in the continent. At 91, he shows no signs of wanting to strictly adhere to any succession plan and has surreptitiously made himself President for Life. His claim to fame was his ten year incarceration for his troubles in campaigning for political liberty. He was not as charismatic as his arch rival, Joshua Nkomo who was the favourite by the west to take over from Ian Smith. He took advantage of his Shona tribe majority to become Prime Minister on March 4, 1980. He unleashed a reign of terror on the people of Ndebele – the tribe of Nkomo between 1982 and 1985 when he used the military to crush an uprising in Matabeland leading to the death of about twenty thousand people. This genocide made Nkomo flee the country before he reluctantly agreed to serve as his vice-president – his powers greatly whittled down by the power hungry Mugabe.
At independence, the annual income per capita was $950 and the Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than the American one. By 2003, it had dropped to a mere $400 with the dollar being more worthless than used tissue paper.
His appalling human rights records made three universities – University of Edinburgh, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Michigan State University withdraw the honorary doctorate degree they had earlier conferred on him. He holds the record of being the First African Head of State to be so disgraced.
While his people wallow in abject poverty, he didn’t feel any qualms about spending a $1 million on his 91st birthday and even went as far as taxing innocent teachers $10 each for his show of shame despite their gargantuan starvation. The global corruption rating body, Transparency International ranked the small country 163rd out of 176 in a recent rating index. Public officials were also alleged to have received about $2 billion in bribes and kickbacks. Hyperinflation has fast made the tiny state worse than a banana republic.
It is sad that there is no conscious effort by the African Union and other African leaders to sanction the cruel dictator for his murderous crimes which have attracted global concern among the international community. It took the intervention by the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere for the sadistic Idi Amin of Uganda to get flushed out. There has been a nauseating silence among the leaders. Why can’t he be banned from African Union meetings until he allows sanity to prevail by ensuring free and fair elections in his beleaguered country? In 2005 when the former Togolese Strongman, Gnassingbe Eyadema died, the army installed his son, Faure as President. Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo kicked against it and ensured elections were held. African leaders can’t sit back and pretend all is well. The Pan-Africanist vision crafted by the late Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah is not being met by his successors. He never envisaged a nation where the people would be denied the right to elect their leaders and the fellow African leaders bound by camaraderie would look aside and do nothing.
The rise to power of Buhari the first opposition leader in Nigeria is interesting as Africa still remains the centre piece of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy to a very large extent. We hope to see the Leader of the most populous black nation on earth hurriedly do something about this malaise that has brought the continent needless pain and grief.
We hope to see his back as soon as possible.
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Buhari has to tidy up his house first before tackling other people’s environment.