not all populists are the same. trump is neofascist, which is most visible in his attacks on minority groups—refugees, mexicans, arabs, jews, blacks—and his ultranationalism. is that true of obi? trump was antidemocratic, subverting any democratic institution he could for his own personal aggrandizement and wealth. i could go on. he represented the worst aspects of our country, including rightwing antagonism toward gays and lesbians, trans, toward any progressive cause. he is close to a mussolini in many respects, and on jan 6th mobilized what could have turned into blackshirt fascists, if he had succeeded in his attempted coup
the ugly thing is so many americans on the right still support that. not to mention his invention of the term fake news, and his lies that get swallowed by republicans.
he has destroyed an enormous democratic heritage, flawed though it was.
gramsci asked how this could have happened in italy in the 20s and 30s; it happened here now
all i know about obi is he mobilized the youth, and contested the election results.
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
harrow@msu.edu
From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 7:38 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR ESSAY: Obi - Trump of Africa by Niyi Akinnaso
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 7:38 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR ESSAY: Obi - Trump of Africa by Niyi Akinnaso
Yep, Oluwatoyin, I also thought it was an extreme comparison. In my mind, the two men are apples and oranges. For those of us who are fairly familiar with the two candidates, they are poles apart in their political actions, persuasions, dispositions and even intelligence.
As to the apparent "rabid" ethnocentrism, the blame goes both ways. You cannot absolve either of the groups. I think it almost became Newton's third law of motion, "action and reaction are always equal and opposite." It is a well known story: The Yoruba reacted swiftly to the Igbo's gloating over the victory of the LP in Lagos State over Tinubu's APC, claiming it was their overpowering ethnic revolution against the Yoruba that brought it to being. The Yoruba then convinced and mobilized their people overwhelmingly, literally neutralizing the seemingly strong power of the LP. The Igbo, in their own case, then reacted to the Yoruba folk's unmatched reaction that drowned the LP in the gubernatorial polls. It's a simple scenario. In all, it's such a sad narrative. Any action or reaction that brings about the loss of any life is unfortunate. Sadly, lives were lost in the fracas. I hope both sides learned some lessons moving forward!
MOA
On Monday, April 10, 2023 at 04:23:14 AM EDT, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
is this not taking things too far in equating Trump and Obi?
Obi's supporters are pan-ethnic even though containing a good no of Igbos.
Obi's supporters are pan-ethnic even though containing a good no of Igbos.
Could Igbos alone have given Labour the Presidential elections in the APC stronghold of Lagos?
APC and PDP are parties many people are tired of. They want something different and Obi and Labour gave it to them.
If any party is rabidly ethnocentric, its is Lagos APC, which used deadly ethnocentrism as its main tool of fighting back after losing that election, a strategy spearheaded by the vile anti-Igbo utterances of their spokesmen Bayo Ononuga and FFK, which latter I have compiled and sent to this group in response to a challenge from another forumite but which the moderator has refused to post because it foregrounds ethnocentrism without preferring solutions, he claims.
How will dangerous ethnocentrism be combated if evidence of it is not presented as some pretend it was not a central factor of APC in the Lagos guber, and has been in recurrent elections, with even the Oba of Lagos in a previous election threatening to drown Igbos in the lagoon if they did not vote for APC's Ambode?
Make we hear word, as its said in pidgin.
thanks
toyin
On Sun, 9 Apr 2023 at 21:37, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
STAR ESSAY: Obi - Trump of Africa--
By
Niyi AkinnasoApril 5, 2023
Donald J. Trump and Peter Gregory Obi. The comparisons of aspects of their political behaviour are too close to ignore. They are both supposed billionaires turned politician. They both won elections before, Trump as President of the United States and Obi as Governor of Anambra state, Nigeria. They both lost the election to be President of their respective countries. Trump lost reelection in 2020, while Obi lost in his first attempt in 2023. They both denied the election they lost and encouraged their supporters to protest the results, while they continue to attack electoral officials and to denigrate the winner of the election.The similarities in the campaigns for their failed presidential bid are worth detailed examination. To varying degrees, they both relied on ethnic and religious bigotry. True, there are no primordial ethic groups in the US as in Nigeria, but there are ethnisised populations in the country. They include Native American Indians (the original, but displaced, owners of the land), Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Jews. Some of these populations, especially Blacks, are racialised more than others. Opposed to these "ethnics" are Whites—nationalists and patriots in Trump's terminology. Against that terminology, Trump's campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, actually translates to Make America White Again.
As for Obi and his ethnic followers, there are basically two ethnic groups in Nigeria—the Igbo and others. He took his campaign to the Igbo wherever they are located in Nigeria and even in the Diaspora. Majority of Igbo voters responded with their votes for him so much so that no other candidate had meaningful votes in the five Igbo states in the Southeast. He also mopped up Igbo votes elsewhere. IPOB and so-called Unknown Gunmen in the Southeast went into voluntary ceasefire to pave way for Obi's unrealised victory.
Trump and Obi also both used religion as a campaign weapon. Trump, who rarely goes to church, would visit churches during campaign tours and boast of his popularity with "the evangelicals". His transactional use of religion could be illustrated by two separate events. On one occasion, during the riots following George Floyd's police killing, Trump stood by Saint John Episcopal Church beside the White House, with a closed Bible in his right hand, for a photo-op, while protesters were being tear-gassed in front of the White House. His attempt to further demonstrate his religiosity the following day, by posing in front of the statue of Pope John Paul II in Washington, drew even more criticisms. Politicians and even church leaders lambasted him for his transactional use of religion.
Obi's transactional use of religion is much worse than Trump's. Just as he targeted Igbo populations across the country, so did he target religious leaders, moving his campaign from church to church. Sunday sermons in many churches, especially in his Southeastern base, became political sermons and tutorials on how to vote "wisely". In no time, his Labour Party logo of Papa, Mama, and Pikin was quickly reinterpreted in terms of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Translation: A vote for Obi is a vote for the Lord. It is no wonder then that Obi told Bishop Oyedepo in a leaked audio conversation between the two that the election "is a religious war". The Bishop responded, "I believe that, I believe that, I believe that", and assured Obi that "the result will be favourable". Obi almost offered a quid pro quo during the conversation: "Like I keep saying, if this works, you people will never regret the support".
Another shared feature between Trump and Obi is the use of social media by their supporters for disinformation, misinformation, defamation, and even slander. While Trump's supporters are famous for conspiracy theories, Obi's are famous for fake news and trolls.
By the time the election was held, it was clear that Trump and Obi had developed into some cultish figure for their followers. Relying on these followers, religious blessings, and inaccurate opinion poll results, both men became sow psychologically invested in the success of their campaigns that they did not even imagine that they could lose.
Yet, both men lost squarely. Trump had 74.2 million popular votes, whereas Biden had 81.2 million. What is more, Trump did not meet the constitutional requirement of 270 electoral college votes to be elected President. Instead, he had only 232 electoral college votes, while Biden had 306.
Obi's case is even worse. While Trump was the runner-up in the US election, Obi came third with 6.1 million votes in the Nigerian presidential election. Even the person who came second, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, with 6.9 votes said publicly that Obi could never have won. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, had 8.7 million votes. Even more importantly, both Atiku and Obi fell short of the constitutional requirement of winning at least 25 percent of the votes in 24 or more states. Both Atiku (21 states) and Obi (17 states) fell short of the requirement, whereas Tinubu, who won, met the requirement in as many as 30 states.
Trump's and Obi's denials of the election could only arm their supporters to spew conspiracy theories and misinformation about the election on social media and on TV as well as engage in disruptive behaviour. While Trump's supporters went as far as attacking the Capitol, which houses Congress, in order to prevent the certification of Biden's winning result, Obi's supporters are protesting all over the place and vowing to disrupt Tinubu's inauguration as Nigeria's President on May 29, 2023. Instead of inauguration, they advocate an Interim National Government, which is unknown to law.
What makes the political behaviour of these two men most objectionable is that they both have availed themselves of the constitutional means of seeking redress. Trump filed over 60 lawsuits to challenge one aspect or the other of the 2020 US presidential election and lost all of them. Obi's petition is already with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. If he is so confident of his evidence, why not wait for the verdict?
By continuing to deny the election and inciting his followers, even after filing his petition, Obi appears to be playing Trump. The last man who did that was Jair Bolsonaro, the former President of Brazil, who lost his reelection bid in 2022 to the present President, Luiz Lula da Silva.
Angered by the loss, and incited by Bolsonaro's speeches, his supporters attacked the Supreme Court, the Congress, and the Presidential Palace. Like many of Trump's rioters, many of Bolsonaro's rioters are now languishing in jail. Bolsonaro earned the nickname of Trump of the Tropics. Obi may well be Trump of Africa.
Aluko Commentary
This is all Chimamanda's fault: for writing that silly hollow letter to Biden asking him to do what? Now an essay has to be written that Biden fully understands.
Thanks, Prof. Akinnaso!
Bolaji Aluko--------------------------------
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