Africa can never be the same again. A continent with the highest number of Blacks in the world, it has suffered all manner of human degradations and abuses from slavery to apatheid, and now sit-tight syndrome by leaders. Today, a wind of change is blowing from Pretoria to Khatoun, down to Abidjan and up to Rabat. The revolution is still being restricted  to that section of the continent, which has been in the grip of despots and sit-tight leaders for decades.  Every region of the continent has had a fair share of the inept leadership, which has left the continent behind among countries hitherto classified as third world nations. The liability of corrupt and visionless political leadership has made it difficult for most individual African countries to fully tap into their immense potentialities like Brazil, and those countries now tagged the Asian tigers.

I recall that many had thought that South Africa could soon sink into the same miasma of rudderlessness and confusion when it became apparent that it was at the threshold of political autonomy from the evil called apartheid under the stranglehold of the minority. The country has been able to prove those cynics wrong, as its leaders have repositioned it in such a way that South Africa is now an indisputed contender for the voice of the continent and bastion of democracy.

In the West African sub-region, Ghana has become the toast of advanced democracies. The country with a human population of less than that of Lagos State, is an investors’ haven because of its rising democratic credentials. Ghana did not achieve the feat by a fiat. It was a product of demonstrable political will by Ghanaian leaders that it cannot be business as usual if their country must join the league of modern nations, where the welfare of the citizenry is paramount. After all, stability at the domestic front is a precursor for respectability and influence for any country at the global level. A nation that cannot feed its citizens and meet other basic needs cannot be taken serious by the international community.

When Egyptians resolved to take their destiny in their hands, a lot of people had thought the battle would fizzle out in a matter of days. The assumption was that Mubarak would roll out military tanks with intent to crush the ever-increasing number of protesters. Only a few had given them the chance to oust a man, whose main support base had become the United States and its other western allies.

The inherent lessons are too many for many other countries, where leadership is equated to personal empire-building. It was a clear demonstration of the fact that power of the people was superior and all-conquering than a million armoured tanks and soldiers. It showed that the people can achieve more than they envisaged if only they can come together and frontally confront a common enemy no matter how ruthless. The action of the Egyptians amply corroborated the belief that the steel heart of a despot will melt like an ice under the tropical sun if the people are resolved to demand and stand firm on their inalienable rights. Above all, it was instructive that freedom and liberty can only come by a people willing and prepared to make, if you like, some painful sacrifices; that a people must be ready to pay some price if they desire and want a change.

In Nigeria, the ordinary citizens of Egypt deserve our applause for their unbroken spirit in adopting passive resistance, which led to exit of Hosni Mubarak from power.

It was a spectacle to see toddlers at the Tahrir Square teemed up with millions of adults that defied threats from defiant Mubarak to save their country from dacades of totalitarianism sustained by covert support from western nations for their own selfish economic and political interests.

For 18 days, the people sacrificed all they possessed as individuals and groups to press for an immediate change, realising that any attempt to cave in to Mubarak, who dangled both the stick and carrot before them, would amount to mortgaging the future of their fatherland. What meaningful reform based on public genuine wish could he have achieved by September when he had offered to leave willingly that he could not realise in 30 years of his circus show? It was a good thing that Egyptians did not buy into the Greek gift, which is a common style with most African dictators.

Happily, many Nigerian glued to television screens as the ongoing sweeping revolution in the Maghreb region caught up with the land of Pharaohs. The Nigerian dailies also gave incisive and indepth analyses on the crisis, which have succeeded in reawakening the subconsciousness of the populace on the inevitability of such rebellion in any environment, where the political leadership insulates itself from realities. Africa accounts for about half of the 25 countries with the longest serving leaders. These include Libya since 1969; Equitorial Guinea, Cameroun, Swizaland, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Gambia.

Nigeria ranks third among the top five African largest economies. South Africa tops the list, followed by Egypt; while Algetia and Morocco complete the list in that order.

reality as far as the domestic economies of most African countries give little to cheer, as the continent is believed to harbour the poorest people on earth.

The Egyptian option, however, might not be a perfect model for many countries in the continent with despotic regimes towards attaining the kind of real change many are clamouring for because of their individual peculiarities. There are issues of deep-rooted frustration arising from poverty, ignorance, ethnicity and state-sponsored terrorism and policies of impoverishing the citizens, towards making it almost impossible for them to appreciate their collective slavery in the hands of imposters. Another debilitating factor is the unholy alliance many western nations have forged with those leaders, which are to the vast disadavantage of the people.

Consequently, many popular rebellions against the totalitarian regimes are suppressed with ease and in the most cruel manner in some African countries such as was witnessed in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Nigeria moved closed to forging a mass movement against dictatorship following the June 12 annulment in 1993. A coalition of forces, which championed the struggle against the cancellation of the freest presidential election, was able to achieve a measure of success until some elements resorted to the use of propaganda that the struggle was anchored on ethnicity. Since then, many organisations, which could serve as the fulcrum for similar popular agitations have been consistently weakened and castrated by powerful cliques within the political circle.

We have less than two months to the 2011elections. Nigerians cannot boast of having derived a minimum benefit economically under 12 years of civil rule.

Therefore, the need for a more pragmatic action by Nigerians towards taking their destinies in their hands cannot be overemphsised. The success of the elections must not be measured by the way they are held. It will only be a means towards achieving an end. Nigerians require the will to insist on what is right and good for them during and after casting their vote.The vigilance must be extended to the post-election era, when elected persons begin to assume office. But before then, Nigerian voters must realise that those politicians, who have imposed their candidates on their parties; those politicians, who have consistently jumped from one party to another because of their blind ambition to occupy elective offices and those politicians, who are determined to foist politics of dynasty on us, cannot be true agents of a meaningful holistic change similar to the ongoing hurricane  in the Maghareb region for openness and accountabilty. The election holds a great hope for democracy for Nigeria and its people, who believe they can live like kings and queens only if their leaders can think less of themselves but would concentrate on building instuitutions and promoting those values that exalt a nation.

Oderemi, 08023501874 (SMS only)

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