Former Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta, at the 2023 Presidential Inaugural Lecture, appreciated Buhari, who invited him for the second time to Abuja to engage together in a meaningful discussion. He also described President Buhari as one of his closest colleagues while he was in government and also a wise and sober father figure. As a son, he retired before his father and looks forward to welcoming him [Buhari] to the exclusive club of former African Presidents.
In very every contest, there will always be those who emerge as victors and also those who end up as losers.
Uhuru Kenyatta
According to Kenyatta, Nigerian leaders have chosen to disappoint the naysayers and the prophet of doom and opted to express their political differences within the framework of the constitutional order. He saluted all Nigerians, in and outside the government, for steering the nation peacefully up to this milestone moment.
Speaking on Deepening Democracy for Development, Kenyatta expresses that his speech is not as a Kenyan speaking to Nigerians but as an African speaking to fellow Africans. He also requested permission to speak freely and to say things as they are so that you can glean the most from his own experiences and conservation as the former head of state. Experiences do not only celebrate success but equally acknowledge challenges.
The last set of African Nations to attain self-rule and independence from the shackles of colonialism was 33 years ago, in 1990 when Nelson Mandella and Sam Nujoma took the reigns of their respective countries. One would have expected that there decades from the departure from the Oppressors of Africa for centuries, Africa would have been prosperous, socially and economically stable.
Africa is blessed with God-given mineral wealth, agricultural potential, and abundant human capital to propel our citizens’ well-being and strengthen our voice in the global community of nations.
Africa and Africans
Sadly, thousands of African children are migrating to Europe on fishing boats, fleeing from chaos and poverty in search of so-called better lives. Over the last five decades, more than half of the countries in Africa have experienced some form of arms conflict. The African States were either at war with each other or at war with themselves. As of today, there are at least 15 active theatres of non-international conflicts on our continent, with a few more tethering on the brink.
We must go back and ask ourselves – Why are we here? We must remember when our borders were called off in European boardrooms in the late 1880s, our societies were turned apart by boundaries. Such action did not reflect how we would have chosen to organize ourselves. Traditional kingdoms were split or destroyed in their entirety. Those who shared common languages and other fraternal bounds found themselves on different sides of inhibitory borders.
You deal and live with what you are dealt with and make the most of it.
Advice for Nigeria
We must start seeing strength in our diversity if we are serious about assuming our rightful place in this world as Africans. Understanding the genesis of these conflicts and their impact on our development trajectory as a continent is important. We must strive to identify the issues existing in our societies that make it so easy for conflict to thrive and democracy to be undermined. Against this backdrop, we can drill down to three fundamental issues that are so easily weaponized to the detriment of our democratic growth:
- Negative Ethnicity, or Tribilaism
- Religion
- Economy Greed.
When you look deeply at the cause of most of our conflicts within our continent, we are either fighting for ethnic or sub-ethnic superiority of one community at the expense of others. Or, we are propagating divisive narratives with origin in religious differences or sectarianism. We also know for a fact some of the elements mentioned remain a clear and present danger for the future of Nigeria.
Will Nigeria continue fighting for its place on the world stage with one hand tied behind its back, or will it use this moment in time to embrace a brave new way of doing things and thereby unleash the full might of this green giant?
Highlighting some of his experiences when he was first elected as the President of Kenya, in 2013. At that time he was faced the most serious challenge of his life, as individual and as President. He was faced with the trial of alegged crime against humanity, charges later proved to be unfounded. Even after settling down in the Kenyan State House, he found himself introspecting more and more as to how he ended up in an enviable position.
Peace is not informed purely by the absence of conflict.
Kenyatta
What more Kenyatta’s speech and his advise for Tinubu in the video below :
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