JUSTICIA on The Southerner Newspaper 

Sunny, November 2, 2025

Last week, I expressed concerns about the United States’ President Donald Trump’s drift towards authoritarianism and fears of the resurgence of imperialism. I am again forced to revisit the issue, since a provocative statement was issued by the American President stigmatizing Nigeria as a “country of concern ‘over a spurious allegation that Nigeria was systematically killing Christians.

If we don’t have any idea what that means, we should look at Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Palestine. It should be clear to all that Nigeria and South Africa in Africa, and Venezuela and Colombia in Latin America, have been identified as nations to be destabilized or destroyed.

As I write, I am waiting for an official response by the Federal Government of Nigeria to the statement, which was straight from the CIA playbook: give a dog a bad name as an excuse to hang it. In Iraq, the excuse was alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction.

It is bewildering that America’s Embassy in Nigeria, which stood tall for democracy in Nigeria during our struggle against military rule, would fall for cheap propaganda by centrifugal forces spreading hatred abroad to weaken the country so they would achieve their goal of breaking up Nigeria.

The recent cancellation of the passport of Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka is not just a humiliation of Nigeria but Africa, and it should be seen in the context of this vile campaign to smear the image of Nigeria and the integrity of the Nigerian people.

The weaponization of the issuance of visas to prominent world figures and international politicians who are likely to criticize the Trump regime’s policies is part of the policy of resurgent imperialism. Nigeria should be ready to respond if the United States, after many years of friendly relations and robust trade with Nigeria, has now decided that we are dispensable.

Trump is probably unaware that the great American century has passed. America is no longer the greatest country in the world. No one can doubt her dominant position in world affairs today, but that would not last for long. America’s dominance was not due to its technological breakthroughs or superiority. Other countries or their citizens who fled to America also achieved incredible or greater feats.

There is nothing America has achieved that other nations have not. Not even in space exploration or nuclear weapons. Vietnam proved that the United States was not the world’s most significant military power. Or that Americans fight better than other nations and peoples. American exceptionalism is a ruse, a fiction, and delusional.

Yes, all oppressed peoples of the world, including Nigerians, have looked to America for salvation, not because of its military strength but because of the allure of democracy. Yes, America has presented itself for good reasons as the home of the free and the brave. Brave people who are ready and willing to defend freedom everywhere. Or take significant risks to achieve their goals.

Even that is a normal human condition; nothing exceptional about it. America’s intervention during the Second World War made the defeat of fascism possible and largely validated that claim. But the Soviets fought harder and made perhaps the greatest sacrifice in human lives.

America triumphed in the Cold War because it was seen as a home for all and the leader of the free world. I dare say, even that can be contested. It never was. It is not now, even with Barack Obama’s election as the first black President of the United States.

So it is my position that there are, and have been, great things in or about America. Of course, we can say that of many other nations, too. That America is in pitiable and perilous decline today is self-evident. It is a self-evident truth that it has the largest population of prisoners in the world. It is a self-evident truth that the excellent American economy is driven mainly by huge historical debts to other nations, on the back of enslaved Africans, and the unrestrained corruption of its corporations. It is self-evident that America is a divided and unequal society, with deep racial hatred, hypocrisy, and unequal citizenship.

About 15% of the population live in fear of being killed every day. It is now self-evident that the rule of law in America was and is a fraudulent claim. It does not serve the end of justice for all. In America, justice has grades. The lowest or none at all is reserved for African Americans. Native Americans have become absolutely insignificant and have been relegated to destitution.

One can say more. That America is in decline is now also clear to most Americans and their allies. And it will continue if they don’t do something about it.

America’s decline is reversible. Yes, it can, because there are good Americans of all races. There are strong institutions in America that can make it possible.

It cannot, however, be halted under the hate-driven and unempathetic administration of President Donald J Trump. Americans must vote out Donald J. Trump’s MAGA right-wing racist horde in November. For America to be great again, a post-Trump America must emerge to recalibrate the country’s democratic foundation, restore the American dream, and uphold the finest ideals of American democracy.

To restore American humanity, to humanize democracy, America must re-engage the world by embracing the multilateral institutions that have sustained world peace since the end of the Second World War, and respecting other nations and cultures irrespective of their size or weight.

America must spend less on the military-industrial complex, abandon its belligerent foreign policy, and close most, if not all, of its military bases abroad. Her economy can no longer sustain its foreign military adventures. America must reform the criminal justice system, including prisons and law enforcement, which at present is terribly militarized, predominantly racist, and cruel.

Under the reform, most prisoners, especially African Americans and other minorities, should be freed, rehabilitated, and compensated. America should also amend its constitution to regulate the possession of firearms and the type of weapons private citizens may carry. The prevailing culture of violence that drives Hollywood must be addressed.

To make America great again and attractive, America must, most importantly, address the AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROBLEM. In other words, America must address the legacy of slavery. The problem is clear and visible even to the blind. America can never really be a great country as long as African Americans are not free. African Americans were brought to that land in chains. They are there to stay for eternity, even if, like the Roman Empire, the United States of America disappears.

China is asking for a place at the top of the table. Why not? Who would miss American leadership and its democracy? Not me.

There is no question that the election of Barack Obama as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President under President Biden has raised the hope of African Americans that they can strike out on their own by embracing more of what Obama called the “promise of America”. They have good reasons to.

America still holds great promises of freedom, opportunity, and economic prosperity for African Americans despite systemic racism. An African-American woman serves as a justice of the US Supreme Court. Vice President Kamala Harris was a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

As Vice president, she would have been elected President but for the resurgence of white supremacists, believed to have waned with the election of Barack Obama as President. An African-American retired General served as Defense Secretary. Another African American was appointed as the Chief of the United States Air Force. Another African American woman spoke for America at the United Nations, and another spoke for President Biden at the White House.

A black man has been elected as the Mayor of New York. African Americans see hope in America. Not in Africa. This feeling must change. They can be good and loyal Americans. Like Jewish Americans who would do anything to defend the interests of Israel, African Americans must embrace Africa as their eternal homeland.

Africa’s reaction, or lack of it, to the killing of George Floyd and several Black people by racist police officers has been absolutely hopeless and shameful. Our silence, which could be interpreted as neutrality, meant betrayal. The Black Lives Matter Movement was not felt anywhere in Africa. The civil society in Africa took no notice or showed solidarity. There is clearly a vast gulf. And it is neither in the interest of Africa nor of Africa-America.

There should be a renewed process of engagement, especially in the economic sector and people-to-people relationships. We must encourage African American investment in Africa. They can replace or complement the Chinese. Africa must open its borders to African Americans without restrictions.

African American professors should be attracted to teach at African universities on full-time or sabbatical appointments. There must be some incentives to give them comfort. For instance, every person of African descent should have the right to be a citizen of any African country of their choice, or should be totally exempt from obtaining a visa to enter an African Union country.

On arrival in Africa, they should be accorded the full rights and privileges of a citizen. These same rights should also be granted to citizens of Caribbean countries. Caribbean countries should be admitted as of right to full membership of the African Union. Observer Status is not good enough.

I believe the African diaspora can effectively compete with the Chinese for space in Africa. Even the term African-American has been replaced by Black-America. No thanks to Barack Obama, who, in his heart, rejected Africa despite his platitudes about human rights, LGBTQ issues, and the American press. Obama spearheaded the attack on Libya and the killing of Gaddafi, a man who called him ” brother”. That confirmed the depth of his hatred or disdain for Africa. He could not live with the pain of his Kenyan father not being there for him growing up.

Neither does Kamala Harris, who sees herself more as the Indian Lotus. Jamaica and Africa mean nothing to her. I think she feels the same way Barack does about her Jamaican father. She is always celebrating her Indian mother for her values and how she raised her and her sister.

As Vice President, she did not visit any African country. She visited Poland and the EU states close to Russia, spreading war hysteria and cozying up to the Europeans as their defender against Russia. She could not condemn Israeli genocide in Gaza.

As we advance, I think Africa should revisit the whole issue of slavery. In Africa, we cannot pretend not to know that this is an external injury in the soul of Africans everywhere. Africa must own up to their role in the enslavement of African people and apologize for the sins of our fathers. We must embrace African Americans sincerely and accord them a dignified position in Africa as Africans, and respect them as members of the same family. We must also recognize that we cannot be neutral in the war against racism in America and elsewhere.

We cannot be neutral on anything that adversely affects African Americans and the African diaspora.

We must adopt Black Lives Matter as a political philosophy, just as our ancestors adopted Pan-Africanism as a battle cry against colonialism eighty years ago.