White Farmers, Obasanjo and Our Future
02/04/2004 19:16:44
http://www.thisdayonline.com/letters/20040403let01.html
Nigeria is gradually becoming a haven for "rejects" from other lands. From Charles Taylor of Liberia to Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti and now the "inglorious" White farmers from Zimbabwe, who are all contributors to instability and disquiet in their respective countries and we, as big brother to all, have thrown our doors open to them forgetting that Leopard can never change its colour ' The ninety-nine years leasehold of farmland in Nigeria to the white farmers of Zimbabwe is a political decision that is gravely inimical to the overall interest of this country because of its future consequences on our security and the general well being of our people, including generations yet unborn. Although it is not out of place for the government of the Federal republic of Nigeria to want to be seen as the 'godfather' and a dependable sibling and defender of the helpless and
suffering people of Africa, yet, granting a century tenancy of our land to political mis-fits in the name of "fraternity is certainly an unwelcome development and an act of betrayal to our nation.
While Bertrand Aristide and Charles Taylor are lesser evils, one is bound to be unnerved by the invitation extended by Olusegun Obasanjo to the white farmers of Zimbabwe whose primogenitors are the unrepentant harbingers of a system that made the blacks subservient to the whites. A people whose fore-fathers drove our own fore-bearers from their God-given land into the bush of Zimbabwe for centuries, a situation that led to the massacre of millions of Rhodesians in their own motherland, and the emergence of freedom fighters and warlords like Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe and many others who had to spill blood to emancipate their country from these apartheid zealots. Unlike Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Robert Mugabe's stance on those white farmers is based on first hand experience
that lasts for decades and the true lover of his country, he would not like to repeat the mistakes of his ancestors by carelessly leaving the farmers to continue to dominate the 'passage to the stomach' of his people through their possession of over 75 percent of the farmland in the country.
The most depressing aspect of the situation is that we have refused to peruse this situation like the adage of the proverbial old layer which was purchased from the cage in the market. If it lays and hatches all its eggs, the owner will not sell it. If the Zimbabwean whites were assets to their people, Robert Mugabe would not have dared the powerful Western block through the ejection of their brethren from the farmland.
Are we not making the same mistakes the ancestors of the Zimbabweans made when they accommodated the whites who later turned out to be the slave drivers and haters of blacks to the extent of secluding them from partaking in the development of that country for
centuries? Are we sure that we are not creating today, a foundation for the South African type of problems in Nigeria, in future? Must we bring them to this country? If they have given the Zimbabwe people so much head and heartache for so long, what stops them from being a cog in the wheel of progress of our people in future?
Although, we are driven today by the zeal to improve and develop our agricultural industry, it is certain that in decades to come, our children like it happened to the South Africans may have to fight for freedom from our guests of today. It is foolhardy for anyone to assume that those sad days and episodes of man's inhumanity to man have been confined to the dustbin of history and that they cannot be replicated in any country or society whose leadership are sheepish enough to leave room for the re-emergence of apartheid.
At that time, history may be too distant in the past to give a clear picture of the political misjudgment of our time but we
may almost certainly not receive any prayer from our off-springs if they have to form the "patriotic front" to be able to walk freely on Broad street in Lagos or Wuse in Abuja.
Amongst the multitude of nations in Africa, Nigeria has the rare opportunity of not having a large population of whites left in the country, after the exit of the colonial masters. This may be due to divine providence because we would have had to go through the experience of most of the countries in the southern part of Africa who had to fight to unshackle themselves from the control of the white people. Countries surrounding Zimbabwe like us also need investment in agriculture but their experience on apartheid is too fresh in their minds and places them in an enhanced position to appreciate the dangers inherent in harbouring the Zimbabwean white farmers.
Let us safe the future of our children by the wisdom of today.
Rasheed Ojikutu, Lagos.
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