Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
You are so specific: "Can I Be Proud of Nigeria's History and Institutions the Way that Many in the US Are Proud of Theirs?"
Ours, theirs, we, them, the crash of civilizations, the clash of ignorance
Adam!
Black & Proud - say it out loud!
Of course, "our " has a much wider application - Sierra Leone, Ghana, Pan-Africa, let's make it global. The tension between nightmare and reality is universal. Change of government, change of climate, climate change, change of crying and shmiling, we are all in the same boat/ Noah's ark /same planet
With what justification can we say that "The government you elect is the government you deserve "( Thomas Jefferson) may be applicable to the United States but at this stage of the nation's evolution, perhaps not to the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
It's the kind of question that cropped up whilst following yesterday's Conversation on 2023 Nigeria's Elections, educative in the extreme, even for the indocile like me, brilliant panellists especially those two ladies ( are they married?), brilliantly moderated, brilliantly down-to-earth, accessible ( wholly intelligible) and concrete - as when we're talking to the Almighty Himself, not a time to blow big grammar ( human arrogance) - never - fast forward to the hour of utter humility, especially on the fast approaching "Day of Judgement" when the hubris of even a senator's or a saint's spiritual conceit will sink to the dust beneath its knees and maybe even appeal with the pater noster, not in Latin but with the heartbeats of the heart-felt mother tongue learnt as a suckler at his and her holy mother's breast, so that if Joe Biden really believed in "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven", he'd stop sending billions of dollars weapons to Zelensky in order to deliver more death and destruction - instead of turning the other cheek and actually loving his " enemies" / fellow human beings…
It's the kind of question that wouldn't have to crop up if there was ( by any miraculous, even supernatural means) the brain drain from Nigeria to the US and the UK were to be reversed overnight, then President Tinubu would hit the ground running, get cracking with his government of national competence.! Then Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju and crew would start feeling Black and Proud again, or for the very first time start feeling " proud of Nigeria's History and Institutions the Way that Many in the US Are Proud of Theirs" !!!!!
On that kind of trajectory, Nigeria could soon be sending a few Nigerian astronauts to Jupiter. We have been made to understand that the rocket that just took off last week will take eight years to arrive there! When I heard this I made a note to ask my Nigerian pastor how much further is heaven and how long does he think it took Jesus to ascend all the way back, bodily?
My answer is: instantaneous - like the Isra and Mi'raj
By the way, in my opinion, yesterday's conversation on Nigeria's 2023 Elections would have been perfect if only the two missing ingredients could have been added to the sauce. The two missing ingredients:
Alhaji Atiku - number two,
and sour grapes number 3,
Peter Obi.
The very last I read about him was that he is " the conscience of Nigeria".
Just in case you think that I'm in any way " anti-Igbo or Igbophobic let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth! On this people's planet, I can guarantee that my dear friend from way back - Bishop Titus Akanabu - can vouchsafe the contrary on behalf of yours truly.
Should you care to answer the question, please consider what Sabine Hossenfelder says here about that cosmic phenomenon with such far-reaching consequences: Collective stupidity
Can I Be Proud of Nigeria's History and Institutions the Way that Many in the US Are Proud of Theirs?
A Reaction to Watching the US TV Series Designated Survivor
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
The President in the film, centre, flanked by his aides
Picture by Ben Mark Holzberg in Explore Entertainment
Watching on Netflix the fictional film Designated Survivor, a sheer celebration and idealization of the US Presidency through visual and performative symbolism, plot, characterization and speech projecting the Presidency as a noble institution rooted in the convergence of intimate, heterosexual family values and humanistic personal integrity, radiating outward to pastor the American people and care for the world through personal challenges the President may face, through national and international crisis, at one point I started crying bitterly, asking myself if I could be proud of my own country's history, institutions and values the way that films like this one project those of the US, idealized projections, but demonstrating some truth, and reflecting how many Americans see their country, in my view.
Against the background of the recurrent quotation of words of that most iconic of US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, the pervasive use of images of past US Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others, evoking for those informed about their symbolism, the glories they are associated with, and the recurrent showing of famous paintings dramatizing great moments in US history, I asked myself, are there any Nigerian Presidents or heads of state I can point to as heroic, whatever their limitations, any events in Nigerian history that I understand as collectively agreed by the nation as great moments?
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