We Need a White President

By 

Phil Tam-Al Alalibo

Two weeks ago, the Nigerian Football Association announced the hiring of a white German coach, Berti Vogt, signed at a sizzling sum of 50,00 Euros per month (amounting to $800,000 a year) to handle the nation’s national team, the Super Eagles, whose football fortunes, since 2001 when its management went to indigenous coaches had been dwindling to no end. During this time, it had a most horrifying run at the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup returning home without winning a single game and scoring only one goal against Sweden . In a spiraling wave of disappointments, two years later, it crashed out of the African Nation’s Cup in Tunisia against the host at the semi-final stage and repeated the same feat in Egypt only last year losing 0-1 to the less fancied Elephants of Ivory Coast. All these were happening against the painful backdrop of losing 1-2 to lowly Senegal , also at the semi-final stage in the 2002 edition in Mali . In spite of its 9^th position in the world, according to FIFA’s latest ranking, the Super Eagles, like the nation it represents, have been perennial underachievers in the grand scheme of things and this has not pleased its teaming fans in Nigeria and around the world.

It is noteworthy that the Super Eagles (then Green Eagles) won its first ever continental honors in 1980 under the tutelage of Brazil ’s Otto Gloria and fourteen years later, in 1994, won the same African Nation’s Cup under Holland ’s Clemens Westerholf. That same year, with Westerholf still at the helm, the team dazzled the soccer world in the USA World Cup, topping its group and advancing to the second round before the ill-fated game against the Azzuries of Italy. In 1996, under the auspices of another Dutch coach, Jo Bonfere, the team (U-23) won the Atlanta Olympic Gold beating the big South American combo of Brazil and Argentina in the process. What is intriguing in all these is the solemn and provoking fact that the team has never won any major trophies under the direction of a local coach. Since 2001, when Jo Bonfere, the last white coach left and Amado Shaibu took control, it has been one unforgivable gaffe after the other. It would be recalled that during the 2002 World Cup, then coach, old man Adegboyega Onigbinde, was dosing on the bench while his team played on the field.

Perhaps, Christian Chukwu’s tenure spelt the worst disaster for the team in the domain of tactical errors when he took only thirteen players (this included two goalkeepers, leaving only eleven field players) to play a World Cup qualifying match in Angola, losing 0-1. If Nigerians are willing to forgive him for this atrocity, they would not forgive so easily when they remember the decision to play a most crucial match against the same Angolans in the arid and punishing sun of Kano, a condition our cold-weather playing players were no longer used to, but most favorable to the Angolans most of whom plied their trade in the aridity of the Middle East and Africa. This condition, most pundits agreed, was responsible for the shocking outcome of 1-1, emboldening the Angolans to eventually sweep aside the Swaps of Rwanda in Kigali to pick up the group’s only ticket on a head-to-head basis. The decision to play in Kano in a stadium named after the evil Sani Abacha, has since foreclosed any thoughts of Chukwu returning to the national team.

With this belief that only a white coach can save Nigerian football, predicated on the fact that a white coach is more knowledgeable than an indigenous coach, we ought to extend that same thought to the national leadership level since the white man knows more about democracy than we, as a nation, can ever phantom. Therefore, Nigeria , as a country needs a white president to set it on the path of progress under a democratic dispensation. We need a white president to tell us what to do, to direct our affairs and set our priorities as a country. We need a white president to send meaningful bills to the National Assembly aimed at improving the lot of the people. We need a white president to compile our budget, we need a white president to represent us at the United Nations and other international organizations, we need a white president to fight corruption and clear our name of this disease that is eating deep into the fabric of the nation, even 419.

Indeed, we need a white president to provide leadership which has been lacking in our eight years of democracy. We need a white president to tell us what it means to practice democracy. We need a white president to put to good use our petroleum dollars and advice us of which sectors to invest in.  We need a white president to build roads, improve our aviation, and reduce the erratic power supply we are still experiencing 46 years after independence. We need a white president to build hospitals for us, to equip our universities and secondary schools and pay teachers and civil servants on time. We need a white president to build bridges, ensure their continued maintenance and oversee the contracts that are given. We need a white president to ensure that we conduct free and fair elections and stem the tide of armed robbery and insecurity that is unnerving the country.

As we speak of investment, foreigners are most likely to invest in Nigeria when they see a white president at the helm of affairs. They are more likely to trust one of their own. With a white president, Nigeria , like the Super Eagles, is poised to win hearts and major recognition as a bastion of hope and prosperity. With a white president, Nigeria is likely to see more investment monies from the West, monies most needed to resuscitate a sagged economy. With a white president, Nigeria will join the ranks of the G8 and will win a seat in the United Nations' Security Council. The United States , being the main dominant player in the UN, will be more favorable to a white president than it would to an indigenous president. With a white president, just like the white coaches have done for the national team, it will ascend to the mountain top and dwarf its competitors on it way to victory.

Since the Nigerian nation believes that the deliverables reside with the white man in the realm of football, so should we believe that only a white man can save the Nigerian nation. We have had eight years of an indigenous president and our performance as a nation has been damningly disappointing in the same manner six years of indigenous coaches have bastardized our football. What we have is a president more interested in exchanging salvos with his vice than providing leadership. What we have is a vice president who wants to be president at all cost remaining in his position as VP instead of resigning even when it is apparent that he is no longer useful to the polity. But let us note well that a white president and an equally white vice president would never sling mud at each other knowing fully well their responsibilities and the meaning of leadership. We have a good example in President Clinton and Al Gore both of whom demonstrated exceptional leadership while in office for eight years. Even when Clinton was having an affair with a school girl, Gore remained loyal and never criticized his boss in public. This is the type of leadership needed in Nigeria .

A white president would never accuse his vice in public and deny him of the use of the presidential jet bought with public funds. Similarly, a white vice president would not seek to use his official plane to jet out to the US for a personal vacation in a mansion bought for millions of dollars while in office. If we have a white president in power, he would not seek to extend his term by seeking to amend the constitution. He would not send troops to Odi to kill innocent citizens. He would treat the people of the Niger Delta, the bread basket of the nation, well and take actions to improve the standard of living in that part of the country. A white president, my friends, would never steal money to fund his farm in Otta in the same manner a white vice president would not build a university while in office and attribute it to the multiplication of rent investment.

It is thus, a foregone conclusion that the future of Nigeria , just like the future of Nigerian football, lies in the hands of a white president. Nigerians are wasting their time with the present rotten crop of presidential candidates who have nothing to say but “We want to move the country forward.” Nigerians should know that a white president will not need to say such words as his actions will determine his intentions.  Nigerians should and must follow the wise example of the football handlers in hiring a white coach to clean up the mess that is Nigerian football and vote in a white president in the April elections, shaming the imbeciles who rather than providing true leadership and advancing the course of democracy have resorted to exchanging abuses and insults in the full glare of the international community.

I'm telling you, folks, we need a white president.

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 Author can be reached at alalibo@gmail.com   

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 31.01.2007 20:17

planet1899  Villager

# 2 Indeed, a white president is far better than what we have now...the fools in power. Personally, I blame the white man for all our problems because he gave us independence and allowed us to rule ourselves...with this mess we have now, I am beginning to think if independence is really worth it...what is the difference between then and now? I am afraid, none. Our quality of life has really gone down to the gutters worst than it was before 1960... We are waiting for the white messiah..... Posted by planet1899| 31.01.2007 22:32

nero africanus  Villager

# 3 =planet1899;152445>Indeed, a white president is far better than what we have now...the fools in power. Personally, I blame the white man for all our problems because he gave us independence and allowed us to rule ourselves...with this mess we have now, I am beginning to think if independence is really worth it...what is the difference between then and now? I am afraid, none. Our quality of life has really gone down to the gutters worst than it was before 1960... We are waiting for the white messiah..... planet , whatever it is you smoke stop it . it is not good for you IF IT WERE NOT FOR INDEPENDENCE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN ILLITERATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted by nero africanus| 31.01.2007 22:38

planet1899  Villager

# 4 What I am smoking is a dose of reality...I am sure most Nigerian will pefer a white president to these clowns in the persons of OBJ and Atiku we have now.... Posted by planet1899| 31.01.2007 22:59

nero africanus  Villager

# 5 =planet1899;152450>What I am smoking is a dose of reality...I am sure most Nigerian will pefer a white president to these clowns in the persons of OBJ and Atiku we have now.... A WHITE PRESIDENT WILL ONLY EXPLOIT YOU. for him everything is about profit Posted by nero africanus| 31.01.2007 23:05

planet1899  Villager

# 6 So tell me are our leaders not exploiting us now to the tune of billions in their bank accounts and billions more to their foreign collaborators in the form of PR contracts ...and they are not even white...care to explain?????? Posted by planet1899| 31.01.2007 23:13

britroyal1  Villager

# 7 I had to check and ensure that I was on NVS. For a second, I thought I was on a kkk website or a white supremacist site. Never have I read such an inflamatory article. We do not need a white president, we need an honest one. Last time I checked, Nelson Mandela and Kwame Nkromah were black Africans. On the contrary, it was white south africans that created an oligarchy in south africa and enslaved Africans in their own land. Does this author wish to suggest that inspite of the plethora of professional, articulate and eminent Nigerians all over the world, we cannot find one with the requiste ability to govern us? I see that the portrait of Bill Clinton was used as the poster for this essay. Words cannot express my admiration and awe of Bill Clinton, which is why we must recall his words when he visited Nigeria some time ago: "There is nothing wrong with Nigeria that cannot be fixed by what is right with Nigeria." The solution to our problem is not a white president (George Bush is white for God's sake and the US is not progressing under his presidency); We do not need a caucasian president, we need a competent one. Our country is intellectually rich with those who can set our polity back on track. What we need is for the people to first get rid of the old guard of incompetent, self serving politicians that have plagued us from time immemorial and get behind a fresh breed of statesmen ready, willing and able to curb our maladies. Posted by britroyal1| 31.01.2007 23:44

planet1899  Villager

# 8 Mr. Britroyal...I believe you missed the point the author is making in the article....it is ladened with sarcasm and in reality he is not calling for a white president but poking fun at Nigerians who think a white man can fix their football and not the country, he is simplyin saying stop with the football, why not hire a white president to fix teh country as well....if we can find a competent Nigerian....I believe that would do the trick but where can we find such to be honest? Coing to think about it, it was Achebe who suggested that Nigeria under Bristish rule was far better than what it is.....by this statement I do not believe he was calling for a white presdient but just expressing frustration.... Hope this helps... Posted by planet1899| 01.02.2007 00:07

Auspicious  Villager

# 9 "We need a white President" - a catchy tittle for a catchy essay. I am very much inclined to believe that the British colonialists would not treat us with as much contempt - they will not treat serious national issues that affect us citizens of Nigeria with the kind of irresponsible levity that those who call themselves leaders have treated us for the greater part of our post-independence years. Ok, maybe back then, when they invaded Benin Empire and all - maybe back in the days when colonization was its height, they would treat us like second class citizens and all. But I very much doubt that in today's world, they will show the kind of utter contempt for us like the current leaders like Obasanjo, Babangida and the rest of them are doing. Even in their land, we recieve better respect and dignity than our fellow black leaders give us on our ancestors soil. How unfortunate! So one can relate to what the author of this article is talking about. And that is just sad. But make we yarn true, it boils down to the fact that majority of those who have ascended to leadership in this country of ours are just ignoramuses - buffoons and complete fools who most of us will not put in charge of supervising a market stall, much less a whole nation or states. Or come to think of it, what..what..what is special about Obasanjo? What is special about Atiku? Somebody talk to me!!! Andy Uba who paraded the hallways of Aso Rock for the last 7.75 years nko? In decent societies, those people will never smell leadership, much less bask under that tittle called leader. If you are reading me, compare your father to Obasanjo. Most of our parents are more civilized, exposed, refined and well educated than that man ke! Atiku nko? Take his money away from him and you will see he is nothing better than an Agbero (bus conductor) - the same goes for Ekiti's former Governor Ayo Fayose and the rest of them. Look in their private homes and see how there is no warmth or affection or parental responsibility there. How I wish a Nigerian like Donald Etim Duke had made it out there. Here was a man who from the day he declared his intention to run for the office of the President of Ngeria, he began speaking specifically about issues that affect us and proferring very realistic solutions to these problems! He had his wife by his side the day he declared his intention to run. He criss-crossed the lenght and breadth of Nigeria and updated his supporters with his comments and activities at every campaign stop, while others simply went about courting useless Emirs and Obas with their filthy monies around. Young men and women and a sizeable portion of our enlightened older people who were attracted to his style were aleady growing in numbers. We finally had someone who had some 8 years of leadership experience, who had a stable, warm and simple home; someone who had a distinguished record of stewardship in Cross-River was contesting vigorously for our votes! That was like a dream come true for some of us. We began to hope and believe again. But what would our irresponsible President do? He and his buddies bullied their way through and annointed a reluctant little-known candidate and imposed him on their fellow party members. How foolish! What are we going to do with a Yar'Adua who cannot even pronounce "Nigeria" properly (he calls it Nai-jeh-ri-ya)? What are we going to do in 2007 A.D. with a tired-looking and sickly politician and his equally boring and confused-looking running-mate who doesn't really have any particular achievement to show us, when other countries are looking for and finding energetic, passionate, intellectually-gifted leaders to run their affairs shoulder-to-shoulder with other smart leaders? Why can't Obasanjo do anything right for once - the buffudled and foolishly arrogant old man that he is?!? Why can't he pick and groom an experienced Donald Duke to be his party flag-bearer in the next presidential elections? Why does he have to force a shady Andy Uba on Anambra's PDP for future Governor of that state? Why can't he find another of the many shinning stars from that state instead of a fraud like Uba? Why did he have to come to Ekiti and raise Ayo Fayose's hand as his annointed candidate for Governor in 2003? That same HND graduate Fayose who would latter assault our sensibilities with his excesses, as he flew around from backyard to backyard in expensively rented choppers . Let it be known, Obasanjo is a cursed man. He is NOT a good man at all. He is vindictive, he is evil and he is vile. That man had wasted the goodwill he had to position this country on the path to greatness! Eight years is a long time, o'jare! So let nobody tell me it takes longer to fix years of destruction. It does not take so much effort to fix our roads or at least, to an extent, improve electricity supply in Nigeria. It is why the road to his own farm in Otta is in a disgraceful state of disrepair. I wish Nigerians would just sieze this moment - sieze the involvement of Patrick Okedinache Utomi in the forthcoming presidential election to effect a devastating paradigm shift in our national and local leadership. We have had ENOUGH! of this army-mechanics and other glorified conscripts running our affairs. It is time we go back to the era of refined and distinguished leadership that the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo provided in their time. It is time we did something about our plight for goodness sake! We need passionate leaders, not leaders who have nothing better to say than "I yam going to continue Baba's reforms in Nai-jeh-ri-yah". We need creative leaders - leaders like Duke, who saw opportunities around him and created something out of those opportunities for the overall benefit of his people! We need leaders who we would be proud to point at anywhere with pride saying "That, is my leader!". No more old people who are bereft of ideas. No more reluctant people who act like they owe us nothing. No more recyled ex-conscript dictators! It is not too late; Patrick Utomi is still out there crying for your vote. Do something! And if the retrogression continues for the next five years, the constituent nationalities in Nigeria should begin to negotiate their gradual dismemberment so each person can be his own leader in his own domain. Nor be by force make we dey togeda. Auspicious. Posted by Auspicious| 01.02.2007 00:14

planet1899  Villager

# 10 Auspicious....very well said...I understand your frustrations as well as those of the author....and you are right some the British even treated Africans better than what Africans are doing to themselves.....look at Mugabe, Amin, Taylor, Abacha, Mengistu, etc.....all of them guilty of crimes against humanity....when will Nigerians improve their lot by throwing these ignoble leaders into the Atlantic Ocean to drown and make room for true Nigerians like Utomi????? Well said.... Posted by planet1899| 01.02.2007 00:49

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