Against the backdrop of the recent incident at Magistrate court in Abuja where the #Revolution leader and activist, Omoyele Sowore was seen with a so-called “herbalist”, thoughts and opinions have been flowing around the street of media with respect to the act of the one time presidential candidate. However, looking at the reactions and attitude of the citizenry towards the incident, we do not need a soothsayer to tell us that there is an emergency need to raise a team of army that will uphold the left-over pillar of African culture and traditions before the rapture catch up with our core values and identity even in our life time.
Since the outbreak of the incident there have been wide broadcast and media argument among scholars, traditionalist and media commentators as to the propriety or otherwise of the decision of such a public figure.
While many condemn the act of the one time presidential aspirant as being barbaric and a show-off of African juju aimed at influencing the judge to pervert the course of justice, others are of the opinion that the decision to parade himself in company of such a person is merely an intention to cause a scene of laughter and drama and perhaps to keep himself trending on the social media. Consequently, Mr. Sowore is confronted with the duty to explain the rationale behind the incident viz a viz his political aspiration, activism and advocacy for good governance.
As an analyst with wide range of interpretation and analytical reasoning, a logical voyage through the appearance of the so called herbalist leaves one to be stranded in the corridor of a question, that is; *Why Should an African explain his identity on his own soil?
Since the invasion and intrusion of African soil by the colonial masters, the African identity, Image and values have been subjected to ridiculous tests from the so-called white men who chose to overrate their culture as being superior and modern while condemning that of Africa as barbaric and devilish. Unfortunately, an average African man has been blindfolded to hold the same notion against his identity and norms without any question or oppossing argument to such unfounded assertion posed by some group of people who never took their time and energy to unfold the riches and benefits of African cultural values.
Consequently, the African man has been programmed to flaunt the culture and belief of Arabs, American and Europeans on home soil the effect of which has had tremendous impact on our religious belief, culture and civilization. Today, we celebrate the success of Bible being interpreted into over 300 languages across Africa yet no one to project our own traditions. We celebrate pastors and imams seen with turban and tie around their necks but condem local beeds and cowries. We celebrate imam and pastors speaking in tongues and reciting Arabic verses yet we demonized incantation. Intending couples now invest so much in white wedding to the detriment of traditional one forgetting that even the white wedding is the tradition of some people. Inability to speak good English today will simply earn you a tag of an illiterate forgetting that the English language is a dialect of some people just as we have numerous languages in Africa.
From whatever angle one looks at the continent of Africa today, we see nothing but a generation that has despised it’s identity and values while embracing the identity, values and culture of the Westerners. Thus, an African who chooses to adorn himself with African attires and objects would have to explain himself as to reason why he chose to parade himself on the street of Africa in an African object and element craved by African artisans failure of which may earn him a title of an herbalist and would unfortunately be treated as an example of what to avoid simply because he chooses to showcase his African identity.
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