Barack Obama’s Victory

HISTORY was made on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, as Senator Barack Obama was overwhelmingly elected America’s 44th and first African-American president who will occupy the White House at the end of President George Bush’s (Jnr.) tenure in January, 2009.

INDEED, by this victory, Americans themselves have made a very clear statement that all Americans are equal and that the country is truly God’s own country.

THE NIGERIAN OBSERVER joins millions of Africans and lovers of democracy all over the world to savour this sweet victory. Centuries of struggles by African-Americans to be integrated into the American state like every other citizen, has eventually been realised.

OBAMA’S victory has put an end to centuries of racial discrimination and the United States is now a country where every citizen, irrespective of race and colour can aspire to the highest office in the land.
THE jubilations from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine and all over the world are unprecedented in the history of American presidential elections. We consider Obama’s victory as a death blow to apartheid and other racial prejudices because he was elected by whites, blacks, Asians, Jews and all the races that make up America. His victory, by our estimation, has shot up America’s rating in terms of democracy in the world. We are happy that Obama’s victory has further given credence to the fact that all good things can come out of Africa, including an American President. It means that there is nothing wrong with the black man after all.

WHILE we join other Africans jubilating over the victory of one of their own in far away United States, THE NIGERIAN OBSERVER believes that the political development in that country is a big challenge to African politicians. African states, particularly Nigeria must begin to take steps to ensure that democracy is well established in the continent. The core principles of democracy: electoral process, pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture must take roots in our country.

WE are happy that the Nigerian elite watched the American electoral process that produced Obama and we are sure they are among the millions that are celebrating his victory. Nigerians are disenchanted with our electoral process. Tribal, selfish and sectional sentiments very often becloud national interest but the lesson from America shows that an Ibo man, or Isoko woman, Tiv youth or a Nupe man should be allowed, if he or she is the best candidate, to have a shot at the Nigerian presidency. Until we are prepared to eschew tribalism, selfish and sectional sentiments our quest and efforts of becoming a democratic society will continue to remain a mockery and embarrassment to the civilized world. The claim that it took American democracy hundreds of years to arrive at where it is today is not only amusing but nonsensical. It is shameful that the Economist Intelligence Unit report on democracy for 2008 rated Liberia and Sierra Leone, both post-war countries, far ahead of Nigeria in its democracy ranking released last week. Nigeria placed 124 of the 167 countries ranked while Liberia and Sierra-Leone placed 98 and 112 respectively.

AGAIN, we are particularly happy that Barack Obama’s victory is coming at a time the world seems to be at crossroads with global developmental challenges as characterized by recent food crisis, financial meltdown, climate change, unstable energy prices, job cuts, conflicts and many more. Obama has promised to deploy his managerial and democratic acumen to deal with these challenges. We urge him to proceed to tackle these multifaceted and interwoven issues as soon as he assumes office.

FURTHERMORE, we expect Obama to know that he carries the burden of history and he has no other option but to perform to the satisfaction of the average American man and woman. Obama should give the middle class some relief and provide working class families with viable opportunities. He should be prepared to provide jobs for the jobless, homes for the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair.

BARACK Obama should be prepared to enunciate and support global policies that will redress global inequalities as well as combat poverty, hunger and diseases across Africa, his ancestral place and elsewhere in the world. He has to demonstrate that an African can turn the world around for good so that at the end of his service, Americans would proudly say they did not make any mistake by electing him.

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