Mr. Trump’s refusal so far to recognise Mr. Biden as the winner of the elections held in his country is nothing new to Africans. We are used to it and I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Trump is too. Otherwise, how could he be getting the script so right?!
Oyinkan Medubi
Among the things I remember about Mr. Donald Trump’s early days in office as America’s president are some of his utterances. One, he said he would build a wall between America, his country, and Mexico, a neighbouring country to discourage migration from Mexico. In vain did people remind him that migration is a fact of human nature, and, just as he, Mr. Trump, moved from his Trump Towers to the White House, many have been known to move from their sitting room to their TV room for no apparent reason.
The second thing I remember Mr. Trump for was when he called Nigeria a ‘Shithole’. Now, I thought that was a most indelicate and unpresidential thing to say. No president should call another country a ‘shithole’ when the black hole is really nothing much to look at either. It is, that’s right, one giant … black hole! Who’s to say we’re not all in one since cosmologists are still out in the field…
Now, as someone who is observing from that ‘shithole’ called Nigeria, I want to say that people had predicted that Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in the polls would happen, even when the electoral college figures are very clear to all. Heavens, even he predicted it when he said he would stop the elections if he perceived any irregularities, such as his not winning! The nation’s electoral system, however, has proved more enduring.
Unfortunately, Mr. Trump’s pastors could not prophesy this denial on their principal’s part. No sir, it was only those, like myself, who had studied the utterances of Mr. Trump, who made this dire prophesy. We took one look at the man, turned to the camera, and started to pray for the American nation. Well, the social media did too; prayed, that is.
Well, I don’t know about you, but these two utterances of Mr. Trump’s did something for me. They told me quite clearly that Mr. Trump is someone who loves to live off the cuff. I also observe that the man has only one religion, just like his pastors, and that is Mr. Trump; and there is only one creed – Mr. Donald Trump.
I understand that many pastors in America, and even in Nigeria, predicted a Trump-win in the November elections. If I had known, I would have loaned those gentlemen my ears and eyes and everything else they needed to apprehend their man’s performance with. They would have fared better than they are doing now. The election was obviously a bridge too far for many of them.
Seriously, Mr. Trump was prepared on how to hold out for as long as possible. He had planned his reaction to his loss, obviously. If he did not win, he must have told himself, he would play golf until Mr. Biden would become frustrated. I think he’s nearing his peak now.
What baffles me, however is how Mr. Trump has not seen in himself a replica of the dreaded African leadership disease – sit-tightism! I guess he’s too involved. It’s the African blood in him that is making him refuse to concede defeat and prepare to leave.
It is a well-known fact that many African countries, from independence from the colonial powers, have remained the backward ‘shitholes’ that they are because they are being governed by leaders who are not only spent but are overstaying their welcome. From Uganda to Cameroun to Equatorial Guinea, the story is the same; Africa is peopled by leaders who do not see any reason why they should quit the stage. Just think of a Mr. Paul Biya being helped to walk and still contesting an election, and the mind boggles!
For many of these African leaders, who often have the backing of foreign powers, sit-tightism is motivated by selfishness and greed. They want only themselves, their families and a few cronies to be the only ones with access to the nation’s resources, no matter how little it is. It manifests by their refusal to recognise results of elections that don’t favour them or by even patently intimidating the opposition. As such, this prompts them to employ force, the tool of authoritarianism, to put down strong oppositions in ways that discourage others from aspiring near the juicy bone. It’s the alpha dog syndrome.
Mr. Trump’s refusal to recognise Mr. Biden as the winner of the elections held in his country is nothing new to Africans. We are used to it and I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Trump is too. Otherwise, how could he be getting the script so right?! First, corona cases are rising exponentially in his country and the man goes off to play golf. Then, his opponent, Mr. Biden passes the pass mark required by the electoral college and the man screams blue murder. How like an African! Are we sure Mr. Trump is not an African after all?
What I don’t understand though is the role of the elders around him – his fellow party members and the church people who portend to constitute his constituency. If one man is blind, must the entire village be blind because of that? I don’t get it.
I mean, most youths in Africa just want to get to America. The reason is that they believe that it is a land of opportunities where anyone can chase the American dream. Perhaps rightly so. However, I like to paint a different picture for my own comfort. I like to believe that it is the land where reality matters, where truth can wear a cap and sit in the market square without being molested but will be venerated. And no one epitomises this picture more than the president of the country because he is the guardian of the truth galaxy.
This is unlike Africa where truth has to stay in hiding out of the limelight or it will be battered to death. In fact, in each African country, truth has suffered all kinds of battering, including hemorrhage. If it hasn’t died in this continent, it is not because the people did not try to murder it.
So, you see, for the American nation’s elders to see the naked truth and begin to deny it because of politics is most unfortunate. It amounts to trying to kill it. From the little I gathered in history books, the founding fathers of that nation should be squirming in their graves right now.
The religious leaders edging Mr. Trump on in his denial are also unbelievable since they purport to be representing God. This is strange. The reason is that anyone who represents God must not be prejudiced towards any leader in order that they may be able to tell the truth to power at any time, just like journalists. This is why distance is advocated between religion and the state.
Once again, Mr. Trump has something to tell the world, as always. He seems to be telling us that while sit-tightism appears to be an African thing now, America should get a feel of it so they’ll know how it feels and stop future wrongful support. Although it has somewhat affected Africa’s chances to move to the top league because she has not evolved a system that can withstand it, America is luckier because it already has its own internal dynamics that make something like that child’s play.
The rest of us can learn too that there is no end to the strangeness of human behaviour. More importantly, we do need black holes after all that can swallow such happenings, to rid us of the ‘shithole’ syndrome; and none needs it more than Nigeria.
