Awo Kingsley Emeka

I was a Democrat, & for many years. Last year was an eye-opener, my very own epiphany. 2024 was the first time I didn’t vote at all. I never liked President Trump & you know my reason. I had a soft spot for Kamala Harris, a bias that I accepted wholeheartedly. That promise of the First Female President, on top of that (a person of color). And that was it for me, it was enticing & novel. My gender finally getting the recognition we deserve, a seat at the table as equal. Yet, I held back my vote. My candidate was Nikki Haley. I held my bias, but I was open-minded as well. I was willing to try the Republican Party this time. Hindsight? I wish that I voted for Donald Trump. When you dip it, putting Americans First is not such a bad idea. I wish that I could say the same for Bola Tinubu. That is the man that told Nigerians to tighten their belts, while his own robes are as loose as the Gulf of Aden. “Do as I say, not as I do.” I have come to realize that the Democrats were always the problem in Africa. Most Nigerians love them because they will give you Aid, Scholarships & Visas to America. It was that desire to escape Nigeria that drove our rabid affinity to the Democratic Party. It wasn’t anything to do with Democracy itself, or its ideals; America itself is Hypocrisy. The Democrats will only support & aide geriatric despots to power in Africa. They put their stamp on it, & tell you to go to court (where there is no justice). And if we all escape, who then will develop the continent of Africa? Who is going to do the heavy lifting? This is where the Chinese have the edge over us. At the end of the Opium Wars, China had to send its first batch of students to Britain & to America to gain western education. China fought more wars, & staged more Revolutions (more than the entire continent of Africa). I have so much respect for the Chinese. They suffered (A Century Of Humiliation) at the hand of the foreign powers that had invaded the Empire. Ruler or no ruler, China remained a “Semi-Colonial, Semi-Feudal State.” You see; the Boxer Protocol condemned China to pay millions in taels of silver (billions of dollars in today’s money) to the foreign powers that had invaded it. On top of that, the Imperial Palace (right outside the Ligation Quarter) was reduced to shelter for the foreign invaders. They were equally exempt from taxes. The Boxer Protocol was one of China's unequal treaties signed. So when you see China pushing back against Western Imperialism, this is it. After the Opium Wars, the Chinese sort for answers to their woes in many forms. The Qing Dynasty (the last House to rule Imperial China) saw the following Revolutions: 1. White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1804) 2. The Eight Trigrams uprising of 1813. 3. The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864). 4. The Nian Rebellion (1851–1868). 5. The Du Wenxiu Rebellion (1856–1872). 6. The First Muslim Dungan Revolt (1862–1877). 7. The Second Dungan Rebellion (1895–1896). 8. The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901). Finally, the Xinhai Revolution came in 1912, & in the twinkling of an eye, the over 2000 years Imperial Dynasty of China was no more. Emperor Puyi (the last emperor to rule Imperial China) abdicated his throne. The Republic of China was born. A true-life sad story. You see, Western Education saved China. And many decades later, the Chinese diaspora came back, & the Miracle you see today; the “Miracle of Opening-up” called (Socialism with Chinese Characteristics) began. Now, if all that Nigerians have to do is escape to America to have a good life, what then will happen to the millions of Nigerians who can't escape? And that’s the problem. Aid, Visas & Scholarships are all there is to being a Nigerian? I believe that at some point, Nigeria will get the focused leadership we deserve, an end to moral turpitude. When that happen, the diaspora will return. Then “Nigeria: Journey to Nationhood” will start. From that moment on, Patriotism will be the anthem, the mood of all Nigeria. 😭