A Reply to Sabella Abidde’s Response to Paul Adujie on
Development Problems in Africa
By
Eric Ula-Lisa
ulalisa@hotmail.com
I would
like to step into the arena and contribute to the discourse. When you
conduct any meaningful research into the history of
Africa and
its interaction with its European masters, you would come to the
conclusion that every step of the way was deliberately planned and
meticulously executed; and it was not to the benefit of Africa or the
Africans. To say that Africa is playing victim is to add insult upon
injury. Did you ever hear of the “Hausa Force” in Lagos? Who recruited
them and what was their mission in Lagos? The police force got its mission
from the history of domination and not for the protection of society.
Apply that philosophy to every institution of government in
Nigeria and you begin to
see the foundation that was laid.
Slave Trade, Slavery and
Disrespect
There was slave trade among Europeans. But European slavery did not fit
the bill of the new human industry because the Europeans died like rats
when brutally treated like the masters were wont to do. Then they tried
the Indians with the same result. The Africans had their own version of
slavery; the slave in Africa became a member of the family and could
inherit property, buy his freedom and even marry into the master’s family.
The Europeans after the “discovery” of America, were looking for an
industrial machine. They found that the Africans were ingenious with the
soil, could mine and could survive the harsh conditions of the frontier
land. So a whole economy became built around the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade. These traders in men now sought all kinds of tricks and devices to
get more slaves as their greed waxed worse. Mirrors, guns, gun-powder and
all kinds of useless trinkets were used to lure the Africans who though
skeptical at first, became willing participants. Where this failed, slave
raiding missions were organized and Africans snatched and taken off to the
waiting boats. The African as a human being became debased and less
esteemed by the Europeans who just a few years previously had been trading
with them on an equal footing.
African Systems of Society and
Law Changed
Before the advent of the Europeans, we had a system of laws and
adjudication of disputes in our little disparate communities in Africa.
These systems in every part of the area now known as Nigeria had to be
replaced because they were “inadequate” to meet the needs of the European
visitors. They had to change our laws to a system they could manipulate.
Common law was introduced and appeals allowed to the Privy Council far
removed from our shores. You can test the veracity of laws by its
application. When it suited them, it was justice, when you sue them, they
manipulate the system.
Corruption
It is not playing victim if we identify the causes of our problems and
remedy same. If the parties are not equal in all respects (in this case,
western ways), you cannot equalize the responsibilities. For instance, if
a twelve year damsel walks bare-chested in innocence, a predator pedophile
cannot follow her around, rape her and then claim that she led him on. He
would be sent to jail and rightly so!
Africa had gold, diamonds
and still has several other mineral resources that the predator nations
are following to snatch away like they did the slaves when the African
chiefs would not play ball. In Nigeria, who corrupted the systems? Who
selected the gullible for leadership? Who taught the rogues how to
re-route off-shore monies to hide the trace? Who are the current agents of
corruption? Does public outrage have nationality? Would it be okay to
steal $100 million from the City of London and hide it in
Abuja? Did the Western
States not know when these loud stolen monies hit their shores? Why were
they silent? Why have they not stood on the side of “Equity and Good
Conscience” which phrase they introduced into our legal lexicon? Of
course, we want OBJ to prosecute the scoundrels, but he is afraid, he does
not know what the genie let out of the bottle would do. The whole system
is built on corruption. We need to tear it all down and build afresh.
The Leadership Problem
It is true that
Africa has had a problem
with leadership. Reading some of my articles, you will know that I have
not spared the bad leaders; but the foundational problem is something to
be tackled. Nigeria
was contrived by the British to foster their exploitative needs. They
manipulated the systems to further this objective every step of the way.
The way to keep the truly nationalistic and patriotic Nigerians from the
helm of government was to label them “communist” and hang them. I am not a
communist. I prefer capitalism but I also believe that government was
created by God to order society, distribute justice and protect the poor
and needy. Excessive greed is the worst enemy of capitalism. Excessive
Greed has always sought to bring the half-educated and sometimes
completely ignorant to positions so they may be manipulated. The strong
are assassinated or replaced through coup d’etats.
A New Direction
At great risk the internet has thrown out a new crop of Nigerians who can
independently research and bring out the contrary view. We are still
hounded and labeled but at least the hypocrisy of the west is exposed to
those who themselves preach to us while they set up perpetrate and run the
corrupt systems. While I practiced in Nigeria, I had a client from the
west who did business with a connected ‘Permanent Secretary’ who had
always been in government from the time of Sadauna. Although I represented
him as lawyer, this westerner would not pay me my Statute-regulated fees
for services. He rather threatened that although I was effective as a
lawyer, he could ruin me in Nigeria, because they controlled the system.
He dictated how much he wanted to pay me for my services although I am a
lawyer and he was a foreigner. I had been around the corridors of power
long enough to know that it was not an empty boast. We are not playing
victim, Mr. Abidde, when we complain of the effect of slave trade,
colonialism and neo-colonialism. That is our current reality.
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