Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
Sent: Friday, November 5, 2021 11:14 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today
Please be cautious: **External Email**
Franklin Boukaka :Le Bucheron ( lyrics in English
Chidi,
You have spoken for all generations.
O so true, what you have written, so true and not only about some of the evil, corrupt, drunken, murderous, Satanic, trigger-happy powers that be, including some of their special constabulary & foot soldiers in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the horn of Africa and other wild places in this vale of tears.
They claim to be children of the Bible and the Holy Quran, but just see what they are doing to their fellow human beings created in God's image and likeness, whilst claiming to be God's vice-regents on earth.
"This world is hell - as men show it
its creatures are all made of steel
to win is of superior wit
to fail is thus to feel " ( Leon Thomas: "Shape your mind to die"
As Jesus put it, and verily, he was not mincing his words when he said about such arrogant, earthly powers-that-be,
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
What you and by extension, all of us are crying about is a far cry from the ideals of Government of the people, for the people, by the people...
Here we have Franklin Boukaka crying the same cry - at first, colonialism stood accused and now the so-called liberated, black & proud, black and beautiful post-colonial fellow Africans have become more oppressive than the so-called "white man". Hence the title of Ayi Kwei Armah's novel. "The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born"
Fratricide: Just look at the ongoing madness in Ethiopia where instead of suing for a ceasefire and peace the inexperienced, recently decorated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Abiy Ahmed is threatening, from the Africa Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, not the I-talians but his fellow countrymen, "We will bury this enemy with our blood and bones" - " our blood and bones" he says as in the name of patriotism, just like the other Masters of War he sends the young, the untrained and the inexperienced to the war front as cannon-fodder. Next thing you know, before the siege of Addis has even begun he will be hopping into the nearest helicopter fleeing to Dar es Salaam or maybe by Ethiopia Airlines to Oslo, for asylum.
Listen up : Put down your weapon.
Jesus: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
What I have noticed the past fifty years, everywhere, is that on the whole African Governments don't want to spend money on their people , they ( the sadists) love oppressing their own people ( preferably of a different ethnicity) - the lootocrats prefer to spend the people's wealth/ money on themselves at the expense of their people who they don't mind seeing shackled in poverty
Thank God, that China is contributing to African development in a big way. China is at least building the hitherto neglected but necessary, critical infrastructure, mostly in exchange for raw materials.
Back in post-shuffering & shmiling Nigeria, there was this ultimatum about releasing IPOB's Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally - or else! Or else what? Or else fire and lightning?
Or else the serious kind of serious ultimatum issuing from Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier that if the PM of Haiti does not resign he will be " removed"?
On Fri, 5 Nov 2021 at 08:50, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Let us briefly ponder a certain mindset that drives anti government sentiment in Nigeria, which makes persons with such mindset easy targets for anti government activities recruitments.
In Nigeria, government and by extension its officials are not seen as partners of the people, government and its agents are rather seen as conquerors and oppressors of the people.
This notion of government as conquerors and oppressors of the people is not baseless. In Nigeria, government conducts its activities in ways that can be considered anti people.
Little wonder that whenever government officials are killed and/or government property destroyed, the people rather than mourn, celebrate.
All over the country, there are sorry stories of persons at the lower rung of the citizenry suffering mistreatments in the hands of government agencies and officials. The worst part is that these persons have no where to turn to for remedy.
They suffer in silence and bottle up the resultant anti government sentiments, waiting for the slightest opportunity to take their revenge.
The opportunity for revenge usually comes in the way of recruitment into anti government activities. Most times, the only ideology that drives these persons' participation in anti government activities are the mistreatments they suffered in the hands of government agencies and officials.
A realization on the part of state actors that government ought to be for the people and the channeling of governmental activities to this end would help in reversing the aforementioned anti government sentiments.
When the people start feeling that government is theirs, they would hesitate to participate in anti government activities and will go out of their ways to protect government property and officials.
Thank you all for your time.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Founder/Publisher of; PublicInformationProjects (www.publicinformationprojects.org)
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