This column originally appeared in Vanguard
President Donald Trump regularly insults and discriminates against black people; and I don’t understand why African heads of state are not giving him much – or any in some cases – serious pushback.
When racists closely linked to Trump depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes on his social media account, he refused to apologise and our leaders refused to complain. I was particularly disappointed by the silence from the corridors of power in Kenya, Obama’s ancestral home.
When Trump arbitrarily changes visa, green card, citizenship and residency/work permit rules to exclude and inconvenience blameless Nigerians and other Africans who have committed no crimes, the big political boys on our continent remain doggedly silent.
When Trump’s infamous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conduct witch hunts against Somalis and other black folks in US cities like Minneapolis, including some who have US passports, there is no chorus of outrage from Trump’s colleagues in this part of the world.
And I don’t recall any African president thoroughly abusing Trump back when he described the countries they run as “shitholes”.
Meanwhile, white folks (including, occasionally, members of Trump’s own Republican party who are not famed for their liberal views!) often fling horrified criticisms at Trump when he says or does things that demean or injure black individuals and the black race in general.
Why are the likes of Tinubu and Ruto being so spineless?
Why is APC So Afraid of Electoral Reform?
Someone sent me this via WhatsApp. It made me hoot with laughter:
APC: We now have 30 governors.
Nigerians: Wow.
APC: We also have 75 senators.
Nigerians: Omo.
APC: Over 230 HOR members o.
Nigerians: Na you dey hot.
APC: Not to brag but we now have over 10m registered members.
Nigerians: That’s very nice. Oya approve Real time transmission of electoral results, so that the world can see you are winning because people love you.
APC: Haaa, that’s too risky ooo.
Opposition Unleashed
I have a new discussion “show” on Twitter or X. It is called Opposition Unleashed and happens every Monday night at 8pm Nigerian time.
My special guests last week and this week were Dele Farotimi and Chidi Odinkalu, both distinguished human rights activists. Let me share some of the thought-provoking and wise things they said below:
DELE FAROTIMI — Moral Resistance, Political Courage, Structural Rebellion
“Opposition is not an event; it is a discipline. If it cannot endure beyond personalities, it was never a movement, it was a moment.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“You cannot rescue a nation with borrowed structures. Reform demands courage to build, not convenience to join.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“If you claim to oppose power but depend on its architecture, you are not resisting it, you are negotiating with it.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“Coalitions built on fear rarely survive ambition. Principles must outlive elections.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“Political realignment without ideological clarity is merely elite rearrangement.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“You cannot outsource credibility. Trust is built through sacrifice, not press conferences.”
#OppositionUnleashed
CHIDI ODINKALU — Rule of Law, Institutional Accountability, Democratic Order
“The rule of law is not a slogan for the weak. It is the only restraint on the strong.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“Democracy does not die in darkness alone; it dies in compromise dressed as strategy.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“The tragedy of Nigerian politics is not the absence of heroes; it is the absence of institutional memory.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“A nation cannot heal when accountability is postponed for the sake of ‘strategy.’ Justice delayed becomes injustice institutionalized.”
#OppositionUnleashed
“Democracy is not about who shouts loudest; it is about who submits to the law first.”
READ ALSO: SWEET AND SOUR: WHY NIGERIA IS ALMOST A ONE PARTY STATE
#OppositionUnleashed
“If opposition leaders cannot endure scrutiny, how will they endure governance?”
#OppositionUnleashed
READER’S RESPONSE
Mike, who lives in Mushin, Lagos (+234 816 111 4572) sent this response to my recent comments on the political drama in Rivers, my home state.
DEAR DONU, THE DIE IS CAST IN THE RIVERS OF MULTIPLE TROUBLES. THE THREE MUSKETEERS OF TINUBU, WIKE & FUBARA ALL HAVE THEIR EYES SET ON 3 DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES.
TINUBU HAS HIS EYES FIRMLY FIXED ON EXTENDING HIS TENURE BEYOND 2027. HE SEES WIKE AS A ‘TESTED & TRUSTED’ ALLY TO CONJURE VOTES FOR HIM AS HE MAGICALLY DID IN 2023.
WIKE IS NOT DOING ALL THESE FOR NOTHING! HE WOULD FANCY VP IN 2031. HIS STEWARDSHIP TO TINUBU HAS NOT BEING FULLY REWARDED; HENCE, HE WONT REST. IT WILL YIELD/BEAR REAL FRUITS IN 2031 IF TINUBU REMAINS IN POWER.
FUBARA DESIRES A 2ND TERM WITHOUT WIKE’S HELP BUT VIA APC’S HELP.
THE DESTINY OF THESE 3 ARE IN THE HANDS OF GOD. THE OPPOSITION ARE NOT UNITED. SELFISH INTEREST IS THEIR GREATEST UNDOING. WHAT MANNER OF OPPOSITION IS THIS?
WHEN APC WANTED TO REMOVE PDP FROM POWER, THEY WERE UNITED AND PRESENTED A COMMON FRONT. TODAY’S OPPOSITION PEOPLE DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. THEY LOOK LIKE BUNCH OF UNSERIOUS PEOPLE.
APC IS AN IROKO TREE. YOU CANNOT REMOVE AN INCUMBENT IN AFRICA WITHOUT A VERY SHARP AXE. THE AXE OF THE PRESENT OPPOSITION IS TOO BLUNT FOR NOW TO REMOVE OR STOP TINUBU IN 2027. MIKE, MUSHIN
FROM WIKE’S STATEMENTS, HE IS DEFINITELY TARGETTING THE POST OF VP IN 2031 PREPARATORY TO BEING PRESIDENT IN 2039. HE HAS HIS PLANS WELL LAID OUT.
FUBARA IS A POLITICAL NEOPHYTE WHO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE GAME. THIS IS WHY HE WANTS THROW FUBARA UNDER THE BUS SINCE HE IS AN IMPEDIMENT TO HIS ‘LONG AMBITION’.
TINUBU KNOWS ALL OF THIS, HENCE, HE IS A WILLING ACCOMPLICE IN THE PLOT. HE TAGGED WIKE ‘THE POLITICAL LEADER’ IN RIVERS ON PURPOSE
RESPONSES TO donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or to 0805 404 6887. (TEXT ONLY). PLEASE NOTE THAT UNLESS YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, YOUR EMAIL OR TEXT MAY BE PUBLISHED WITH YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS ATTACHED.
DONU has a YouTube channel. It’s called DONU’S WORLD.
NIGERIA UNFILTERED – spicy commentaries on Naija issues – appears every Wednesday, while DONU’S WEEK appears on Fridays and is international as well as local and covers a mish-mash of soft and tough issues around her personal life, her work and her worldview.