I haven’t done rhymes in a while
But thoughts of you strikes a chord
I can’t suppress it though I try
Memories, they rush on like a flood
Not again! My heart says to my eyes
I’ll sing you a song from my heart
A chorister I know I never was
My inspiration, my song, you are
You gave me what I’ll never lose
An identity; the faith to go on
One, two, three years; I count up to eighteen
That little boy is now a man
You’d be so proud to see this thing
Though far away, you linger near
This day, long ago you were born
To my best friend, Happy Birthday
No doubt, you find your sleep restful
We hurry not; we shall see you once again
My love for you, it’s so deep
Happy Birthday dad…
To you, my ode
Thursday, 25 December 2008
A Birthday poem for Daddy...
Sunday, 21 December 2008
The Colours of Christmas
It’s six days before Christmas today. As a little boy, I used to think that grown-ups don’t get excited about Christmas, especially parents because that (I believed in my childish mind) was the time of the year when they parted with most money from their accounts buying presents for people and stocking the house. Our neighbour, papa Gladys (Not real name) further confirmed my theory because I believed Christmas was his worst time of the year. He beat his children more and quarrelled more with his wife and neighbours during Christmas.
Although everyday was like Christmas in our home, as a child, I remember my sisters and I still looked forward to that special day because Christmas day just felt “different”. This later changed, as Christmas became more of an event in our home unlike before, when it was more of our family lifestyle. It became a one-day “special” event in the year. Ironically, that sort of made it more special because we looked forward to it in more anticipation. Our parents obviously felt the change but we just carried on with life even as we had more gaps to be filled as days passed by. Christmas then became the time of the year when we got our new shoes and clothes for the year. It became the only time when you didn’t have to share meat with your siblings; It became about the only day when we ate in different plates and you could ask for more, more than once.
Looking back, Christmas has evolved quite dramatically in my eyes. I’ve been through a phase when it didn’t really mean much to me anymore. Some of these times, I slept for the whole day without much interest in what becomes of me the next hour. It was just too much to take that it didn’t matter anymore. Afterall, life is not fair. I remember seven years ago, in my final year at the University when I was doing my project. I woke up on Christmas day; it was a cold harmattan Tuesday morning. The previous night had not been any better and all I had to my name was a miserable One naira coin covered in dust on my windowsill. After a traumatic night, with all my roommates gone on holiday, the only thing that came to my mind was the nightmare I had and my father – my father, because it was his birthday and I was still thinking about the poem I was going to write for him in my head.
Hot tears stung and gently flowed through the corners of my eyes – freely. There was no reason to hold back – I was the only one in the room. I felt all alone not because I was the only one in the room and I guess the entire hall of residence - there were probably a handful of others whom I can’t recall ever meeting on the walkway throughout my Christmas “retreat” that year but it was more of a deeper loneliness. No one seemed to know where I was or what was happening to me and I doubt if it bothered any of my kins. Much more, I would have loved to be with them or at least have an idea of how they were spending the day. I ransacked my cupboard and there was not even a grain of garri to start the day. I was lucky in my first year; my first Christmas at the university to have garri and K-K to start my Christmas morning and that took me for the rest of the day. Subsequent years were a lot “better” until this one.
Thank goodness, I still had soap and body lotion and the university water supply was running. I took a bath amidst pungent ammonia fumes – the bathroom cleaners were on holiday; I dressed up, picked my project file and made for my project lab. I had a stock of sugar and zobo leaves (my research materials). I made a hot pot of zobo. The hunger was biting so much I couldn’t wait for the drink to cool before drinking. I sipped the drink, fanning through my tongue and teeth and before I knew it, I had downed a pot of zobo. If you’re wondering how a drink (zobo of all drinks) could quench hunger, then I’d tell you that my life depended on it at that moment. My brain, needed sugar desperately. Somehow, I saw that my fate lay in what I made out of that phase that I was going through. The zobo could only sustain me for a few hours before I became weak again. My body needed nourishment. I needed FOOD. I was starving on Christmas day. The only company I had was the sounds of birds and other strange creatures in the forest that housed my university campus. Fat rats and heavy lizards merried around. You could tell they were in great mood for the season and I could only wish that I’d hear a voice that would say to me “Son of man, take and eat” – like it happened to one of bible heroes.
Later in the evening, an angel visited me - all the way from a town call Fate (pronounced far-tey) in Ilorin. She brought me a flask of very rich Christmas rice with chicken. Although I acted up as if it was “normal”, I knew in my heart that this angel had indeed strengthened a feeble knee. Where the next meal would come from was not enough a thought. I needed to take care of the now and think about the later, later.
That was seven years ago.
December 2004 (three years later), I gave a family 50kg of rice, a gallon of vegetable oil and a live chicken as Christmas gift – they are not even my relatives. Yesterday I began a nearly 1000 miles drive across five different cities to spend time with friends over the Christmas. I can look back and say truly something has happened, I have moved on and the past is nothing but the past. It’s gone and gone forever.
Three days ago, like I do every year, I gave colleagues in my office Christmas cards and in each person’s card, I wrote a few words as inspired. They all appreciated the gesture as most of them told me that it was actually the first Christmas card they’d received in the year. Everyone displayed their cards on their desks. A visitor from another department walked in and picked one of the cards on the desk she was visiting. She saw my name at the bottom and looked at me in surprise. What is the matter? “Femi, your handwriting is too neat – for a man!”
I’ve never considered my handwriting to be one of the neatest – though my cousin once teased me a few years ago when I was writing job applications that if applicants’ handwriting was a criterion for being considered for a job, I would get a job before anyone else in the “labour market”. Without being a sexist, Jane did not expect men to have neat handwritings. That was her opinion about men.
I’ve found that in life, our opinions are shaped, among other reasons, by our experience. This in turn drives the way we see and relate with people and sometimes ourselves. In fact, the way we see others is a reflection of the way we see ourselves. I’ve also found that more often than not, as humans we have the tendency to allow people’s opinions shape our lives and our belief. Our beliefs shape our morals; our morals shape our attitudes; our attitude shapes our actions and our actions shapes our destiny.
I remember the story of a young man who had 78 percentile in his SAT exam. He was one of the brightest in his college. But after his first semester at the university, his performance went rock bottom. He had an awful mixture of Ds and Es. The second semester was not any better as his performance got worse. His puzzled tutor then arranged a review session with him in order to find out what the problem was. Going by his SAT result, Tom ought to be among the top 5 in his class as a freshman but he was in the bottom 5 instead. Trying to justify his failure, Tom explained to his tutor that he couldn’t perform better because he only had 78% IQ (Intelligence quotient) while the course he was doing required him to have 85% IQ. Someone had wrongly informed him. He had been told that his SAT result was a measure of his IQ. His confounded tutor then explained to him that his SAT result meant that he had performed better than 78% of the pupils who took the test at the same time as him. The results after this counselling session? Your guess is good as mine. Our friend rose from the bottom to the top where he rightfully belonged.
The moral of this story is that he allowed what he heard to determine his fate – in either situation. Sometimes, it is not just what we hear; the things that we see and pay attention to also influence our destiny. This is why the media is a very powerful tool. Business executives utilise the power of the media to create a social culture and drive the market in the direction they want. Sometimes, the information being presented could not be farther from the real truth behind a product or service. They influence our perception and therefore, our reaction to help them achieve their business goals.
Christmas, I believe is a period to recap the year and more importantly, to celebrate. But can you imagine if we lived everyday as if it was Christmas. Enjoy life, have fun to the max but live today as if it is your last. Make maximum impact and never miss the lessons of yesterday’s mistakes. Above all, remember, you are the master of your own fate, the captain of your own life. If at any point in life, you’re fortunate to be corrected for a mistake you made, take it positively, make the necessary corrections and move on. If you’re being congratulated, take it as a challenge to improve. And if you feel like nothing is happening the way you’d have loved it to happen, look into the big picture and take a gaze into the future. Imagine what would happen if you quit and also what would happen if you carried on. I would rather die trying than die a quitter.
I wish you a Merry Christmas my friends. May the year ahead bring us all good tidings.
Cherio!
Although everyday was like Christmas in our home, as a child, I remember my sisters and I still looked forward to that special day because Christmas day just felt “different”. This later changed, as Christmas became more of an event in our home unlike before, when it was more of our family lifestyle. It became a one-day “special” event in the year. Ironically, that sort of made it more special because we looked forward to it in more anticipation. Our parents obviously felt the change but we just carried on with life even as we had more gaps to be filled as days passed by. Christmas then became the time of the year when we got our new shoes and clothes for the year. It became the only time when you didn’t have to share meat with your siblings; It became about the only day when we ate in different plates and you could ask for more, more than once.
Looking back, Christmas has evolved quite dramatically in my eyes. I’ve been through a phase when it didn’t really mean much to me anymore. Some of these times, I slept for the whole day without much interest in what becomes of me the next hour. It was just too much to take that it didn’t matter anymore. Afterall, life is not fair. I remember seven years ago, in my final year at the University when I was doing my project. I woke up on Christmas day; it was a cold harmattan Tuesday morning. The previous night had not been any better and all I had to my name was a miserable One naira coin covered in dust on my windowsill. After a traumatic night, with all my roommates gone on holiday, the only thing that came to my mind was the nightmare I had and my father – my father, because it was his birthday and I was still thinking about the poem I was going to write for him in my head.
Hot tears stung and gently flowed through the corners of my eyes – freely. There was no reason to hold back – I was the only one in the room. I felt all alone not because I was the only one in the room and I guess the entire hall of residence - there were probably a handful of others whom I can’t recall ever meeting on the walkway throughout my Christmas “retreat” that year but it was more of a deeper loneliness. No one seemed to know where I was or what was happening to me and I doubt if it bothered any of my kins. Much more, I would have loved to be with them or at least have an idea of how they were spending the day. I ransacked my cupboard and there was not even a grain of garri to start the day. I was lucky in my first year; my first Christmas at the university to have garri and K-K to start my Christmas morning and that took me for the rest of the day. Subsequent years were a lot “better” until this one.
Thank goodness, I still had soap and body lotion and the university water supply was running. I took a bath amidst pungent ammonia fumes – the bathroom cleaners were on holiday; I dressed up, picked my project file and made for my project lab. I had a stock of sugar and zobo leaves (my research materials). I made a hot pot of zobo. The hunger was biting so much I couldn’t wait for the drink to cool before drinking. I sipped the drink, fanning through my tongue and teeth and before I knew it, I had downed a pot of zobo. If you’re wondering how a drink (zobo of all drinks) could quench hunger, then I’d tell you that my life depended on it at that moment. My brain, needed sugar desperately. Somehow, I saw that my fate lay in what I made out of that phase that I was going through. The zobo could only sustain me for a few hours before I became weak again. My body needed nourishment. I needed FOOD. I was starving on Christmas day. The only company I had was the sounds of birds and other strange creatures in the forest that housed my university campus. Fat rats and heavy lizards merried around. You could tell they were in great mood for the season and I could only wish that I’d hear a voice that would say to me “Son of man, take and eat” – like it happened to one of bible heroes.
Later in the evening, an angel visited me - all the way from a town call Fate (pronounced far-tey) in Ilorin. She brought me a flask of very rich Christmas rice with chicken. Although I acted up as if it was “normal”, I knew in my heart that this angel had indeed strengthened a feeble knee. Where the next meal would come from was not enough a thought. I needed to take care of the now and think about the later, later.
That was seven years ago.
December 2004 (three years later), I gave a family 50kg of rice, a gallon of vegetable oil and a live chicken as Christmas gift – they are not even my relatives. Yesterday I began a nearly 1000 miles drive across five different cities to spend time with friends over the Christmas. I can look back and say truly something has happened, I have moved on and the past is nothing but the past. It’s gone and gone forever.
Three days ago, like I do every year, I gave colleagues in my office Christmas cards and in each person’s card, I wrote a few words as inspired. They all appreciated the gesture as most of them told me that it was actually the first Christmas card they’d received in the year. Everyone displayed their cards on their desks. A visitor from another department walked in and picked one of the cards on the desk she was visiting. She saw my name at the bottom and looked at me in surprise. What is the matter? “Femi, your handwriting is too neat – for a man!”
I’ve never considered my handwriting to be one of the neatest – though my cousin once teased me a few years ago when I was writing job applications that if applicants’ handwriting was a criterion for being considered for a job, I would get a job before anyone else in the “labour market”. Without being a sexist, Jane did not expect men to have neat handwritings. That was her opinion about men.
I’ve found that in life, our opinions are shaped, among other reasons, by our experience. This in turn drives the way we see and relate with people and sometimes ourselves. In fact, the way we see others is a reflection of the way we see ourselves. I’ve also found that more often than not, as humans we have the tendency to allow people’s opinions shape our lives and our belief. Our beliefs shape our morals; our morals shape our attitudes; our attitude shapes our actions and our actions shapes our destiny.
I remember the story of a young man who had 78 percentile in his SAT exam. He was one of the brightest in his college. But after his first semester at the university, his performance went rock bottom. He had an awful mixture of Ds and Es. The second semester was not any better as his performance got worse. His puzzled tutor then arranged a review session with him in order to find out what the problem was. Going by his SAT result, Tom ought to be among the top 5 in his class as a freshman but he was in the bottom 5 instead. Trying to justify his failure, Tom explained to his tutor that he couldn’t perform better because he only had 78% IQ (Intelligence quotient) while the course he was doing required him to have 85% IQ. Someone had wrongly informed him. He had been told that his SAT result was a measure of his IQ. His confounded tutor then explained to him that his SAT result meant that he had performed better than 78% of the pupils who took the test at the same time as him. The results after this counselling session? Your guess is good as mine. Our friend rose from the bottom to the top where he rightfully belonged.
The moral of this story is that he allowed what he heard to determine his fate – in either situation. Sometimes, it is not just what we hear; the things that we see and pay attention to also influence our destiny. This is why the media is a very powerful tool. Business executives utilise the power of the media to create a social culture and drive the market in the direction they want. Sometimes, the information being presented could not be farther from the real truth behind a product or service. They influence our perception and therefore, our reaction to help them achieve their business goals.
Christmas, I believe is a period to recap the year and more importantly, to celebrate. But can you imagine if we lived everyday as if it was Christmas. Enjoy life, have fun to the max but live today as if it is your last. Make maximum impact and never miss the lessons of yesterday’s mistakes. Above all, remember, you are the master of your own fate, the captain of your own life. If at any point in life, you’re fortunate to be corrected for a mistake you made, take it positively, make the necessary corrections and move on. If you’re being congratulated, take it as a challenge to improve. And if you feel like nothing is happening the way you’d have loved it to happen, look into the big picture and take a gaze into the future. Imagine what would happen if you quit and also what would happen if you carried on. I would rather die trying than die a quitter.
I wish you a Merry Christmas my friends. May the year ahead bring us all good tidings.
Cherio!
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
HIV?.....Nah!.......Gimme HI's with no V's!
6:10 p.m...
It's a Wednesday and I just returned from work. As usual, I turned on my computer and opened my electronic mail box, eagerly looking out for a particular mail. Then I saw this Facebook notification of a message from a very good friend - D'Gbnoj. D'Gbonj and I have been good friends since our 100L days. I still remember the first time we spoke - it was in the famous LT3 at the University dubbed "better by far" - She was wearing a fanciful wristwatch, I called it wrist-clock. I guess she was surprised, she asked where I'm from.
I've always known D'Gbonj as a doctor and a showbiz enthusiast; you can tell by her nickname (She's on the intern by the way...). Apart from her love for psychiatric medicine and showbiz, I didn't realise her writing prowess until yesterday. When she hit the face of Facebook with yet another inspiring write-up today, I couldn't help asking for her permission to publish her notes in my blog. I would like to share this piece with you all and hopefully the one she wrote on people with disability in the next few days.
"Unlike everyone else that had stepped into the ER that day,he looked really different.Calm,calculated,unaided,distant,yet interested.Accompanied by his mom,probably the only one that still cared.He was only 17,but old enough to communicate with me.I asked for his name and documented it.I asked for his religion and he told me he was both (christian and moslem!)A double dose,i can only just imagine.This was of course a glimpse of what was yet in store.His problem?he was beginning to show symptoms and signs of an ADC(AIDS dementia complex).Just 17,not just HIV, but AIDS.I couldn't help but wonder.It all started when he was 12,had taken ill and was taken to a hospital where he was unfortunately transfused with HIV-infected blood.PLS! don't put the blame on me.And since then,that had been his cross.He had been stable on ARV's(antiretrovirals)then stopped just because he felt like it.But then i encouraged him to use his meds,because i needed that bright young man alive and well too!We have been friends since then.He could have contacted it via any other means;Unprotected sexual intercourse,sharing of infected needles,.........But this was how.We probably have all been exposed in one or more ways.Its December 1st, another world AIDS day.This year's theme is :Leadership.......Stop AIDS,keep the promise!The best you can do is to know your status today.Let's abstain,Lets play safe,Let's show love and support to people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA),Let's educate,Let's reduce the stigma associated with the condition.Let's dedicate our profile picture to the red ribbon(pls copy from my page.i did same from Wobo!)As for me,i'm getting HI'S with no V'S!and m urging you to give and take same.I am repping the day all the way!I am doing all i can to reduce the incidence and the scourge associated with the condition.I will even dress up in red(nah) more like wear my red hand band...wait a minute,where is it?............Hey black boi.......hand back my hand band!"
Credit: Dr. Gbonjubola Babalola (a.k.a D'Gbonj)
Sunday, 23 November 2008
The Significance of Obama’s Election to Nigeria (II)
Indeed, no drama, in consonance with Obama’s supplemented theme for his campaign of Change and Hope. One can only best quote Robin Renee Sanders, (black) Ambassador of the US to Nigeria, when in a November 4 press release, she wrote in Abuja that:
QUOTE: Democracy works for the people. A democratic system ensures our governments serve us. Democracy educates our children, cares for our sick, and ensures the common wealth and security of our nations. Democracy works because it gives ordinary citizens control over their government through the power of their vote. As a citizen, casting your vote serves as your voice on issues and policies important to you. American’s democracy reflects our own unique history and traditions, as it does in other democracies around the world. In Nigeria too, democracy should respect the traditions of the Nigerian people, while honoring and reflecting the will of the Nigerian people through free, fair, transparent and orderly elections which allow for the peaceful transition from one elected government to the next. All democracies, however, should rest on key fundamental principles which most notably are freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly.
Well functioning democracies share common characteristics: free and fair elections, respect for the rule of law, open and transparent institutions of government, and effective measures to combat public and private corruption and illicit enrichment by any member of government. Those in the past who have done so should face the rule of law. Strong democracies meet the needs of their people. They invest in their people through education and health care; they ensure economic opportunity for all; and they create an environment of peace and security in which each individual can thrive. UNQUOTE
Enough said.
THE ETHNIC DIMENSION
There are four ethnic groups in America’s social fabric – White, Black, Hispanic/Latino and All Others (which include Asian and Native American populations). According to the Census Bureau, in 2000 (the last census), Whites constitute 69.1%, Blacks 12.1%, Hispanic/Latino 12.5% and All Others 6.3%. The percentage of the White Majority, particularly of the voting electorate, has been decreasing over the years. Obama’s winning coalition therefore had to cut across all ethnic groups, and particularly the young White folks many of who were voting for the first time, and do not have the ethnic inhibitions of their older generation. The Obama-Biden team was so vastly superior to the McCain-Palin team that the United States would have earned global opprobrium if Obama had lost, for it would have been assigned to simple racism.
While at one level, there are as many as 378 ethno-linguistic groupings in Nigeria, there are also four ethnic groupings – Hausa-Fulani (29%) , Yoruba (21%), Igbo (18%), and Ethnic Minorities (32%, comprised of Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, etc ). The absence of an outrightly dominating ethnic group, the sheer size of the so-called ethnic minorities, and the geographical, cultural and religious identifications of the various groups, the lack of political-party ideologies - as well as historical and colonial legacies - clearly complicate Nigeria’s political life more than that of the USA. Nevertheless, the emergence of an ethnic minority such as Obama in a truly federal system such as the United States is a good harbinger for Nigeria and many countries in Africa – such as his own native Kenya where a winning Luo was recently denied the presidency through a stolen election - if the proper lessons can be learnt.
WHAT OBAMA’S ELECTION IS NOT TO NIGERIA AND AFRICA
Finally, Obama as president of the United States of America beginning January 20, 2008, will become arguably the most POWERFUL Black Man ever in the history of the world, as Prof. Ali Mazrui succinctly put it in a recent interview, atop the most powerful country economically and defense-wise. However, he will still just be president of the US, not of Nigeria, not of Africa, and not of the world, and his primary constituency will still be those who voted for him. Nevertheless, while there are members of the Nigerian and African Diaspora who are tax-paying citizens of the US and daily contribute to its ecumene, it will remain incumbent upon us to ensure that American foreign policy towards Africa in trade, aid, immigration and other matters becomes more enlightened and mutually beneficial, and that Obama use his good offices to be a bully pulpit to the political leaders of the continent of his father to stop their rapacious attitudes and tend more to the developmental needs of their people. So it is not yet Uhuru, but we may be closer with the election of Obama.
QUOTE: Democracy works for the people. A democratic system ensures our governments serve us. Democracy educates our children, cares for our sick, and ensures the common wealth and security of our nations. Democracy works because it gives ordinary citizens control over their government through the power of their vote. As a citizen, casting your vote serves as your voice on issues and policies important to you. American’s democracy reflects our own unique history and traditions, as it does in other democracies around the world. In Nigeria too, democracy should respect the traditions of the Nigerian people, while honoring and reflecting the will of the Nigerian people through free, fair, transparent and orderly elections which allow for the peaceful transition from one elected government to the next. All democracies, however, should rest on key fundamental principles which most notably are freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly.
Well functioning democracies share common characteristics: free and fair elections, respect for the rule of law, open and transparent institutions of government, and effective measures to combat public and private corruption and illicit enrichment by any member of government. Those in the past who have done so should face the rule of law. Strong democracies meet the needs of their people. They invest in their people through education and health care; they ensure economic opportunity for all; and they create an environment of peace and security in which each individual can thrive. UNQUOTE
Enough said.
THE ETHNIC DIMENSION
There are four ethnic groups in America’s social fabric – White, Black, Hispanic/Latino and All Others (which include Asian and Native American populations). According to the Census Bureau, in 2000 (the last census), Whites constitute 69.1%, Blacks 12.1%, Hispanic/Latino 12.5% and All Others 6.3%. The percentage of the White Majority, particularly of the voting electorate, has been decreasing over the years. Obama’s winning coalition therefore had to cut across all ethnic groups, and particularly the young White folks many of who were voting for the first time, and do not have the ethnic inhibitions of their older generation. The Obama-Biden team was so vastly superior to the McCain-Palin team that the United States would have earned global opprobrium if Obama had lost, for it would have been assigned to simple racism.
While at one level, there are as many as 378 ethno-linguistic groupings in Nigeria, there are also four ethnic groupings – Hausa-Fulani (29%) , Yoruba (21%), Igbo (18%), and Ethnic Minorities (32%, comprised of Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, etc ). The absence of an outrightly dominating ethnic group, the sheer size of the so-called ethnic minorities, and the geographical, cultural and religious identifications of the various groups, the lack of political-party ideologies - as well as historical and colonial legacies - clearly complicate Nigeria’s political life more than that of the USA. Nevertheless, the emergence of an ethnic minority such as Obama in a truly federal system such as the United States is a good harbinger for Nigeria and many countries in Africa – such as his own native Kenya where a winning Luo was recently denied the presidency through a stolen election - if the proper lessons can be learnt.
WHAT OBAMA’S ELECTION IS NOT TO NIGERIA AND AFRICA
Finally, Obama as president of the United States of America beginning January 20, 2008, will become arguably the most POWERFUL Black Man ever in the history of the world, as Prof. Ali Mazrui succinctly put it in a recent interview, atop the most powerful country economically and defense-wise. However, he will still just be president of the US, not of Nigeria, not of Africa, and not of the world, and his primary constituency will still be those who voted for him. Nevertheless, while there are members of the Nigerian and African Diaspora who are tax-paying citizens of the US and daily contribute to its ecumene, it will remain incumbent upon us to ensure that American foreign policy towards Africa in trade, aid, immigration and other matters becomes more enlightened and mutually beneficial, and that Obama use his good offices to be a bully pulpit to the political leaders of the continent of his father to stop their rapacious attitudes and tend more to the developmental needs of their people. So it is not yet Uhuru, but we may be closer with the election of Obama.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The Significance of Obama’s Election to Nigeria and its diaspora
INTRODUCTION
On November 4, 2008, a remarkable event occurred in the United States of America: a Kenyan-African-American named Barack Hussein Obama, aged 47, Federal Senator from the State of Illinois, was elected to be the 44th President of the USA in its 56th presidential election since George Washington was first elected in 1789. He is the first African-American so honored, and the second Illinois legislator ever to be elected president [after Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)].
This was a keenly-fought contest against white Senator John McCain from Arizona, war hero with a military family pedigree. Needing only 270 Electoral Votes to clinch the position, the result was a big national mandate for Obama: 64,975,682 million popular votes (or 53%) and 364 Electoral Votes for Obama to 57,118,380 million (46%) popular votes and 174 Electoral Votes for McCain. The Democratic candidate Obama won the highest votes EVER recorded by ANY president of the United States, winning in states like Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado and Nevada that were considered too Republican for a generation now to attempt a win. He competed well in many other states even where he lost the popular vote, winning almost every demographic imaginable. To this writer, a Nigerian immigrant with five children all born in the United State, who has lived in the United States continuously since December 1978, who has now witnessed the last eight US presidential contests, who voted in last four of them, who actively participated in some little way in this year’s contest, and teaches in a historically black college (Howard University) right in the heart of the nation’s capital where one almost sees the Capitol and the White House on a daily basis, the outcome is of immense socio-cultural and political implications, both to Nigerian/African immigrants as well as to Nigeria/Africa.
OUR CHILDREN CAN ASPIRE WITHOUT NAME AMPUTATION OR ABANDONMENT...
Raised by his white mother and grandparents, and for a time living with an Asian step-father, Barack’s life trajectory is a remarkable one. His Black father may not have been with him all his life, but he (Obama Junior) knew where his father was from (Kenya), even his ethnic group (Luo) and visited with his extended family in Kenya. Yet he was American enough to love his country of birth, participate fully as a citizen and now attain its presidency WITHOUT changing his name to fit the majority White-Anglo-Saxon orthodoxy. Although he went by “Barry” for a while, a cultural epiphany made him to change back to his original “Barack” (for “thunder” in Hebrew but “blessed one” in Arabic/Swahili) – not “That One” as he recently joked in backhand reference to .
Obama joked throughout his campaign that whoever gave him his names obviously never thought that he should aspire to become the president of the United States of America. But we can all look at him now, and tell our children born in the US that provided you live a clean life, go to the best schools that you possibly can, do the best in school that you possibly can, even possibly become a mere community organizer somewhere before beginning your political career ANYWHERE in the United States – and along the way possibly marry a beautiful or handsome African(-America) spouse and loving partner - you too can become a legislator (state or federal), a governor of a state – or the President of the United States of America, WITHOUT amputating your family-given first and/or last name out of recognition.
OUR COUNTRY CAN LEARN (ONCE AGAIN) FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS OF FREE, FAIR AND CREDIBLE ELECTIONS…
Participatory democracy is a desideratum for any country that wishes to develop socially and politically, and free, fair and periodic elections are a grund-norm for such a democracy. Although the United States unilaterally declared its Independence from Great Britain in July 1776, it did not become an operational (con)federal government with a ratified Constitution until March/April 1789, whereupon it elected its first president in George Washington who took office on April 30, 1789.
There have been periodic four-year terms for the presidents ever since each begun with an election - exactly fifty-six of them including Barak Obama’s. Ever since, no military coups, nothing…..unlike Nigeria where we have had more than dozen successful and failed coup attempts since Independence in 1960. One sincerely hopes that one has seen the last of military coups in Nigeria – the last successful one against an elected government was against President Shehu Shagari by Mohammed Buhari in December 1983, and the last successful one against a military regime was against Buhari himself by Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985. [Abacha’s coup of sorts of November 1993 was against a transition civilian government of Shonekan following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.] In Obama’s election, no election-related violence, nothing…in eighteen months of a tough primary contest within each of the two main parties (Democrats and Republicans), and about four months of the general contest between Obama and McCain, to the best of the knowledge of this author, no one was knifed or gunned to death specifically over the campaign. Even the hint of an assassination attempt against Obama by a deranged pair of Neo-Nazis was quickly squelched.
In Obama’s election, no rigging, nothing…..For the first time, as many as thirty-four states out of the fifty and the District of Columbia in the US permitted early voting (distinct from absentee voting) in this year’s presidential election, with 31.7 million people out of the total of 124 million people that voted. There were fifteen candidates by the way, not just Obama and McCain. The various states had various closing times since America has different time zones, with each STATE secretary being in charge of their elections – no central INEC, no Maurice Iwu. By 10 pm EST, on November 4 election day proper, the election had been called by the TV networks; within an hour, Senator John McCain had conceded and sent his congratulatory message; soon after Senator Barack Obama had given his victory speech; and to cap it off, President Bush also sent his congratulatory message and pledge to ensure a smooth transition between now and Inauguration Day January 20, 2009.
To be continued...
Author: Mobolaji E. Aluko, PhD
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