IF I WAS JONATHAN - An Official Response To #Ferguson

While I admit quite a lot is going on the home front, a strong leader of the largest black nation on earth must be interested in international affairs. Especially where black people are involved.

This past week in America, events have occurred that have made me wish it was already 2015 and I was already president. In Ferguson, Missouri, the white killer of an unarmed black teenager was told by a grand jury that he did nothing wrong and was not going to be charged for any offence. (Also, in another city, police shot and killed a 12 year old black male who was holding a toy gun). Of course there were violent protests, which resulted in some arson and looting. As video evidence and documents emerge to emphasize the injustice (in both situations), protests have spread across the civilized world. But Goodluck Jonathan, the leader of the black world has said nothing in response to the killing of African Americans, who could be of Nigerian origin if traced, by American law enforcement officers.  I just want to make it clear that Jonathan does not speak for me in this issue. In fact, I have written a speech that I would have read out at an international press conference immediately after the protests broke out, if I was President Jonathan. Ok, I admit I poached most of the words from Obama’s 2011 Arab spring speech, but the words apply so perfectly. Please find below:

Dear fellow world leaders, Africans and black people trapped around the world,

For a few hours now we have witnessed extraordinary change taking place in America, a nation founded on the blood of innocent indigenous American Indians. In city after city people are rising up to demand basic human rights in a nation that takes pride in being the human rights watch dog of the world. To God be the glory.

Today I want to talk about this change, the forces that are driving it and how we can respond in a way that is both practical and sensible.

The events of the past few months in Ferguson and the violent outbursts that have justifiably followed, show us that strategies of repression and strategies of diversion will not work anymore. Camera phones, CCTV footages, a biased CNN, Don Lemon, bald thin-lipped Rudy Giuliani, Twitter and the internet as a whole now provide a window into a racially divided America – a world of astonishing contradictions where standards for global human rights are set but broken in the most brazen way. Social media and DSTV have allowed us to connect with our black brothers all over the world like never before. God bless DSTV. We know that the young black men being shot in the streets of America every day by white law enforcement officers could have been descendants of Nigerian slaves. (You can tell from the nose when someone is a Nigerian.)

The story of this attempt at a revolution, and the protests and arson that have followed should not come as a surprise. The slaves of America won their freedom a long time ago but in too many places, their descendants still get treated like slaves. In too many black cities, power has been concentrated in the hands of a few white policemen and politicians. A citizen like Michael Brown had no independent judiciary to hear his case, no independent media to challenge CNN and give him voice; no credible political party to represent his views and even though he may have elected a mixed-race leader, he had no equality.

And this lack of self-determination – the chance to live, unarmed, without being shot dead by policemen – has applied to America’s educational system and economy as well. Yet America is blessed with oil and gas and many mineral resources and military might.

Darren Wilson who shot this young unarmed teenager is no hero. He is simply a man who killed a black man whose descendants could have been Nigerian slaves. And that is unfortunate.

A new generation has emerged o! And their voices tell us that change cannot be denied. In Ferguson and all around America, shouts of human dignity are being heard for the first time, sometimes expressed through placards, other times by saying, Hands up, Don’t Shoot, other times by looting liquor stores and burning police vehicles.

The big question before us is what role Nigeria will play as this story unfolds. For decades, Nigerian leaders have foolishly refused to pursue any set of core interests in America and have simply relied on it to consume our crude oil. We will continue to try to sell oil to them but while standing up for the interests of its oppressed minorities. We will continue to remind them that Thanksgiving should be mourned and not celebrated, because it marked the death of many American Indian communities and people as well as the senseless slaughtering of turkeys.

Nigeria opposes the use of violence and repression against the people of Ferguson. Even our police officers who are notorious for extrajudicial killings are not that bad. American police cannot be more brutal than Nigerian police. God forbid. We will not allow that.

We look forward to working with all who embrace genuine and inclusive democracy – one that includes descendants of former slaves in addition to descendants of former slave owners as well as descendants of criminals exiled from Europe.

Now ultimately, it is for the blacks to take action. No peace can be imposed upon them. There is no straight line to progress, but however crooked, we will stand with all those who are reaching out for their rights. We promise to look for that white officer even harder than we are looking for our kidnapped schoolgirls and women, wherever he may be, and bring him to justice.

Like I have said, this doesn’t mean America should stop buying our oil. All I am saying is that black people have a right to defend themselves. Either that, or you return our black people to us.

Thank you and God bless.