"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." -- Edward Abbey

In parts of colonial Nigeria whenever there was manual labour requiring many hands, the white overseers would encourage the unlettered workers with a rhythmic chant. The workers would respond with a joyful shout and heave at the job. That call-response chant still used in some areas to this day is “Heeeh- shobeeeh – Heeh!” to the Africans. It was a corruption of what the white overseers had actually shouted. The whitemen had yelled, “Apes Obey!” And they obeyed!

In Sir Walter Rodney’s book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, he tells of a statement in an official British Colonial Report that goes thus, “Africans are no better than apes and cannot be trusted to govern themselves”. Perhaps this was the basis for the partition of Africa where trade and defense treaties between the African Chiefs and the foreign governments were forcefully converted into complete submission of sovereignty to the strangers. The Berlin Conference of 1884/85 at which the European Governments delineated and divided their, “Territories” regardless of ethnicity, cultural contiguity or homogeneity was the foundation of many of the wars across Africa. There are three types of war. There are internecine wars between Nations such as the Ethiopia/Eritrea war, the Western Polisario/Morocco war, the Sierra Leone/Liberia, Ghana/Togo, Nigeria/Cameroun Skirmishes. Next are the Civil wars caused by incompatible cultural nations being forced to live cheek by jowl within countries. They often come into conflict with their strange bedfellows over ethnic minority or majority issues. The Nigerian Civil War and other civil wars in Congo, Algeria, Chad, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire as well as the liberation Movements of Namibia and South Africa are such examples. The nations are ravaged and destroyed, generations are decimated and the only winners are those that manufacture and sell the weapons of destruction, the nations of the Northern Hemisphere. The South is always the loser.

In the United Nations Charter of Universal Human Rights, one of the pivotal Rights is the Right to Self-Determination. It is therefore strange that in the situation of a territorial dispute in Africa between Nigeria and Cameroun, Africans will turn to a Western Court for adjudication using the same instruments of evaluation that threw Africa into turmoil! Is it not possible, nay probable that the Court would take a decision based on the Interests of the Superpowers behind the Court? Such seems to be the rationale behind the strange judgment giving the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun basing its decision on an Anglo-German Treaty of 1913. The judgment has been faulted by Nigeria’s representative at the World Court, Justice Bola Ajibola; SAN, Nigeria’s former Foreign Minister, Chief Bolaji Akinyemi as well as the legal luminary that handled the case for Nigeria, Chief Richard Akinjide SAN. The consensus is that it was a judgment 50% based on fact and 50% politics. No attention was paid to the fact that the 1913 Treaty was not ratified and the exercise for the precise determination of the borderlines was truncated by the First World War and was therefore inconclusive.

There is also the belief that with the French interest manifest in Cameroun, the President of the Court and most of the judges who were French speaking would have swayed the judgment in France’s favour. Some would go so far as to suggest that there is an International conspiracy, an ‘Apartheid’ designed to keep the ‘Third World’ Countries permanently subjected to the major nations in a new form of neocolonialism. Interests of the poorer underdeveloped countries are subsumed within the larger interests of these major societies with the cooperation of their leaders. This is purportedly done through the international Agencies such as United Nations Organization and its ancillary Organizations such as the IFC, UNDP, IMF, UNESCO and in this case, even The International Court of Justice! All these bodies kept quiet when Britain invaded the Maldives, (Falkland Islands) just off the coast of Argentina with all her military might.

Nigeria has since ceded the oil-rich Bakassi region to Cameroun and employed military might to suppress all nationalist opposition within the area. Other portions of the country along the eastern border have been handed over to Cameroun without a whimper. All these goings-on were superintended by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the former President and aspiring International Statesman. He had agreed to an unprecedented accord to “abide by the ruling of the ICJ whatever the outcome. It is believed his acquiescence was in furtherance of his kowtow to Western powers among his many acts of ingratiation for relevance.

The main import of the foregoing issues is lost on most people. Accepting to abide by a ruling based on Treaties by two foreign countries, who had violated the Rights to Determination of Peoples through colonialism, is tantamount to Nigeria once more ceding its sovereignty and coming again under the ‘protective’ wings of Colonials. It is this writer’s belief that African people should solve African problems with their own interest at heart. Africans should stop going to war. Instead, the African Union (AU) should accelerate its plans for an African Court, to determine this dispute and any others that may arise from the colonial interference.

Finally, there is one important gain from the ICJ Judgment. The issue of nationhood has been thrown up once more in Nigeria. If we are to question the partition decision of our colonial masters on one border shared with one country, why then do we not dispute the other borders? Did any ethnic group within “Nigeria” accept to be a part of her, or partake in her naming? Was there a Treaty of Habsburg or Westphalia as there was for Europe? That is the new National Question.

As in the Hutu-Tutsi situation in Central Africa, where the tribes continually chafe as they are spread over Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Congo, Nigeria has tribes that are contiguous with the neighboring countries. The Lamido of Adamawa has the larger part of his subjects in Cameroun and Central African Republic. The Shehu of Borno has many subjects in Tchad, Cameroun and Niger. The Sultan of Sokoto has many subjects in Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republics. The Alaafin of Oyo has subjects in Benin, Togo and Ghana Republics. The Oba of Benin has historical subjects in Benin and Togo. The Alaketu of Ketu in Benin Republic has subjects in Nigeria! Furthermore, internal borders drawn by the colonialists, used as the basis of subsequent state creations, have sent the nation into turmoil. Is it not time to look into all these things and have a true, Nationhood? The International Court of Justice has shouted, “AAAAAPES OBEEEY!”  The Nigerian Government has implemented the judgment over the loud “NAAAYs!” of the people, yet life continues as normal.

Robot  # 1 | 01.03.2009 13:58

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." -- Edward Abbey In parts of colonial Nigeria whenever there was manual labour requiring many hands, the white overseers would encourage the unlettered workers with a rhythmic chant. The workers would respond with a joyful shout and heave at the job. That call-response chant still used in some areas to this day is “Heeeh- shobeeeh – Heeh!” to the Africans. It was a corruption of what the white overseers had actually shouted. The whitemen had yelled, “Apes Obey!” And they obeyed! ...Read the full article.

DeepThought  # 2 | 01.03.2009 15:04

Forgive us O lord, for we know not what we do.

emj  # 3 | 01.03.2009 15:18

The main import of the foregoing issues is lost on most people. Accepting to abide by a ruling based on Treaties by two foreign countries, who had violated the Rights to Determination of Peoples through colonialism, is tantamount to Nigeria once more ceding its sovereignty and coming again under the ‘protective’ wings of Colonials. It is this writer’s belief that African people should solve African problems with their own interest at heart. Africans should stop going to war. Instead, the African Union (AU) should accelerate its plans for an African Court, to determine this dispute and any others that may arise from the colonial interference. Apeees Obeeey....and the Circle Continues:arrow: Eherm African Union is a Union of Rulers(not Leaders) without Backbone:arrow: PS>......time to say the Benediction:pray:

Eja  # 4 | 02.03.2009 04:08

Our world was never wrenched from its true course May 23, 2004 by Ayanna Gillian Self Empowerment Learning Fraternity Trinidad and Tobago The URL of this article is: www.rootswomen.com/ayanna/articles/23052004.html For so many African people in the Diaspora it is difficult to really conceptualize our history and heritage as something miraculous and marvelous. Centuries of racism, colonialism and misappropriated history have created a people who have very little concept of the great civilizations that they were taken from, a large segment of humanity which is in a sense rootless, with no real understanding of its own historical origins. Even as Afrocentric historians attempt to uncover what was buried and rediscover what was thought lost, it seems to be a drop in the bucket in the face of the daily wars, massacres, poverty and political torment that take place on so much of the continent in our present day. Added to this, the only African history that is often taught to our children in schools is the legacy of slavery and colonialism and the awful brutalization at the hands of Europeans. It is little wonder then that psychologically for so many African people, their history seems to begin with European intervention. This is not the fault of the historian who works tirelessly to expose the real history of the colonial era, or the journalist who seeks to bring to light the political and economic travesties that many Africans face at home and abroad. However it is perhaps the inevitable result of our recent history. I must however stress the phrase "recent history," for the last few centuries have been merely a moment in the vast span of African history. But sometimes it can appear that, like the forest that took thousands of years to grow but can be destroyed by a carelessly thrown match in matter of hours, our recent history has done us irreparable damage. When faced with a global power structure that is hell-bent on the destruction of the powerless, with the perpetuation of mind-numbing ignorance which allows it to continue the pillage of the world, one can ask: what weapon can be forged to fight the beast? When I look at the wealth of literature, art, music and theatre that has emerged from Africa and elsewhere in the Diaspora, I can't help but notice how much of 'us' has survived there and how much of 'us' can be transmitted through these expressions as well. I recently read a play by Nigerian playwright, author and poet Wole Soyinka, called Death and the King's Horseman. The play is set in the last days of the great Yoruba kingdom of Old Oyo, which was, unbeknownst to it, (as all empires are destined to be), on the brink of collapse. While it is ostensibly about a particular interaction between Yoruba society and Western colonial intervention, the play focuses on the ritual of Yoruba life, the intersection of the world of the living and the dead. Most of the drama is in fact psychological and metaphysical and not material at all. It examines the physical clash of cultures and the domination of one over the other (which seems to pervade much of the discourse on the colonial history) through the lens of Yoruba cosmology and ritualized community structure. One particular part of the play caught my attention. Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, is living his last few hours before he is to commit ritual suicide upon the death of the King. He sees it as divine honour to continue his duties and lead the way for the king to pass over, and then join the ancestors in the heavens. This is a portion of the conversation he had with his Praise Singer: "PRAISE SINGER: "In their time the great wars came and went, the little wars came and went; the white slavers came and went, they took away the heart of our race; they bore away the mind and muscle of our race. The city fell and was rebuilt, the city fell and our people trudged through mountain and forest to found a new home but- Elesin Oba do you hear me? ELESIN: I hear your voice Olohun-iyo PRAISE SINGER: Our world was never wrenched from its true course. There is only one home to the life of a river mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of a man; there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?" What beautiful words! In the midst of our reality of injustice, persecution and racism, of children who can identify more with European history than their own, and self-deprecating academics and anthropologists who tell the stories of their people yet demean them in the same breath... When I read those lines, one thing is made abundantly clear: our colonial history, while cataclysmic and traumatic with far-reaching consequences that must be addressed, was merely an incident in African, and indeed human, history. Our culture and legacy are so much deeper and so much more ancient than that. If we can conceptualize African people as ancient kings and queens, as the businessmen, educators, empire-builders and spiritual leaders of the world, if we can conceptualize the origins of mankind in Ethiopia and our long, slow beautiful movement, our adaptation and survival right along with the evolution of the geological landscape as we know it, if we can conceptualize our even more ancient origins as energy, as bits of the universe and right out of the divine darkness of a black hole, if we can conceptualize these things, then we will have touched the tip of the iceberg of African and human history. "There is only one home to the life of a river mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of a man; there is only one world to the spirit of our race." There is something immensely comforting and powerful in those words: to know that the strongest part of us is in spirit, in the very essence of our beings, and that it is this that is more infinitely valuable than anything else we can conceive. In spite of all that has happened, in spite of our scars and wounds, we emerge strong and continue the long trod that we began millions of years ago. This is why the study of history is so important: not only the study of the colonial incident in an academic sense, but getting in touch with what is truly integral to African culture and spirituality. When we can see this and get to the heart of it then we can get a more expansive knowledge and understanding of WORLD HISTORY AND OUR COMMON ORIGINS. So many Diasporic Africans have been brainwashed. While they talk of racism and the evil of colonialism, psychologically they still really believe the culture of Africans inferior to that of Europeans. They still use European ideas of success to evaluate ancient Africa. Much is about measuring against Europe, and many cannot let go of Europe enough to just look at the rich diversity of ancient Africa together with the people's common values. They can get that they were treated horribly, they can get that the injustice was built on racism, but they still cannot see past the years of cultural brainwashing to the real magnificence of our African culture. Works like this one can help. They help us begin the process of psychological decolonization right along with the struggle for physical, economic and political sovereignty. Knowledge of history must go hand in hand with a rich appreciation for the diverse cultures of Africa. We must see our ancestors as the initiators of world history, and not as its victims. The art, the literature, the song, the dance, can create a litany of healing and reconciliation. The power of a people with a firm grasp of its history is formidable, and we Africans have the wealth of all history behind us. It is in embracing that history that folks may be able to really see themselves as they are and as they could be, and to truly appreciate the wisdom of the best of our ancestors. When we traverse history, experiencing aspects of the culture, visiting the literature, we get a heightened sense of that magnificence and can see clearly that this colonial 'incident' was certainly not the 'death of the race'. In the words of our ancestors calling out to us in gentle reminder from across the ages, "Our world was never wrenched from its true course", but we know the way back, and forward.

igalaman55  # 5 | 03.03.2009 04:54

this reminds me of the first song they taught us in infant school all those years ago: 'we are africans,we are africans,we are people who have no brains for education!' Even then I wondered why they sent us to school to tell us we were idiots.....hey but I sang with gusto and rushed home after school to tell my mother what they taught us.

akuluouno  # 6 | 03.03.2009 06:08

Apes obey:clap::clap:Yaaaaaaaaaaaa:clap: Who said that we are not apes given the way our leaders behave especially in Nigeria. Indeed we are even infra apes because a close study of our brothers shows that they do not loot the commonwealth of their republic, a sick one can never be king and you dare not joke with their territorial integrity be you a human, lion or hyena. I think we are below the apes:D