The actions of the West lately — especially the United States — disgust me. They make me resent what these countries pretend to represent, because I am witnessing a reversal of everything the independence movements fought and died for. What was dismantled in the 20th century is being quietly rebuilt in the 21st — and it is happening without resistance, without shame, and without consequence.
Colonialism has returned, not as history, but as policy. Sovereign nations are treated like estates. Leaders are removed or threatened at will. International law is reduced to decoration. Power has replaced principle, and silence has replaced courage.
What enrages me most is how familiar this all feels. This is not a new system. It is the same old imperial logic, wearing a modern suit.
And nowhere is that colonial lie more obvious than in the very name “Nigeria.”
Nigeria is not an indigenous name. It did not emerge from the languages, cultures, or histories of the people who live there. It was coined in 1897 by a British journalist, Flora Shaw, as a convenient label for imperial administration — derived from the Niger area, a space to be managed, exploited, and controlled. The people were irrelevant. The name was designed for empire, not identity.
We were given a name the same way borders were drawn: for British convenience. It reduced ancient civilizations, kingdoms, and nations into a single colonial holding. That lie survived independence in 1960, and we carried it forward, hoping freedom alone would cleanse it.
It didn’t.
Because you cannot fully decolonise while still answering to a name imposed by empire. Names matter. They define how you see yourself and how the world sees you. And Nigeria was never meant to describe a people — it was meant to describe property.
Today, as Western powers once again behave like owners rather than partners, the symbolism is impossible to ignore. We are watching the same arrogance that named us reassert itself globally. The same assumption that some nations exist to be managed by others. The same belief that might makes right.
And leading this regression is Donald Trump — a stinking white racist who embodies the ugliest instincts of empire. He is not an aberration; he is a revelation. He says out loud what the imperial system has always believed. His contempt for international law, for sovereignty, for non-Western lives is not new — it is simply no longer disguised.
I cannot stand him.
I do not admire him.
And I do not wish him well.
Because what he and those like him are dragging the world back toward is exactly what generations of colonised peoples fought to escape. They fought for dignity. For self-determination. For the right to name themselves and govern themselves.
What we are seeing now is not strength. It is decay. A dying empire thrashing about, trying to reclaim a world that has already moved on.
If we are serious about decolonisation, it cannot stop at statues and speeches. It must include names, borders, institutions — and the courage to say that the colonial order is finished.
Independence was not a gift.
It was earned.
And it must be defended — including from those who now pretend they invented freedom.
#DecoloniseNigeria
#EndEmpire
#ColonialNamesColonialMindsets
#IndependenceWasEarned
#AfricaBeyondColonialism
#InternationalLawMatters
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