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Wumione@AOL.com New York, NY, USA

THANK GOD ALMIGHTY FOR THE FIRST AND THE BEST AFRICAN SECRETARY GENERAL

am borrowing the first three words of this title from one of the greatest speeches ever delivered for the empowerment of mankind. I am talking of "Free at Last" delivered with inspiration and clairvoyance by the one and only Martin Luther King, an American of African descent, who will, for ever, live in our hearts. I want to begin by thanking God for my self as a prelude to thanking God for Africa and for the enigma, the whole world has come to know simply as Kofi Annan.

It will be recalled that only last week I wrote a piece titled "The Countdown has begun" to show in some graphic terms, my frustration with Nigeria the Land of my Birth. If I sound a bit pessimistic and alarmist in that article, it is because I truly believe, as a concerned citizen, that Nigeria has a whole lot to worry about as we move towards the 2003 Elections which are going to shake to its foundation, once again, our very fragile experiment in Democracy. The prognosis on the problems of Nigeria, from my own point of view, and from all we hear and read about, don't look too good, unless we just want to continue to deceive ourselves, as we have done for 42 years. There is a very wise proverb in Yoruba Land that says, "If you need as much as three years just to prepare for insanity, how many more years would you need to actually put the madness into practice."

If after 42 years, the best we can do, to explain why Nigeria is still going round in circles, and why trial and error laced with alarming graft and corruption have since become a virtue in a country, we must hold ourselves and our leaders accountable. I am just sick and tired of hearing our Head of State continuously admit that we are still learning, and therefore must continue to wallow in avoidable mistakes. We no longer need individuals who are seeking the Presidency, the Governorships or senate seats so as to go learn on the job. We sell our Nation short by so doing. We need individuals with a plan and a road map to get us to where we need to be as a Nation. We need leaders who are able to set new directions for our country. We need leaders who are determined to execute their party or individual manifestoes with truth and commitment, from their very first day in office. We don't need a leader who will promise one thing going in, and will take a complete U-turn after taking on power.

All of our leaders must be held accountable for their ineptitude in office. You don't reward them by reelecting them. You flush them out, so that better materials can replace them like is done in all civilized societies. The provisions in the 1999 Constitution which make it possible for looters to seek and secure a second term in office have constituted a major disservice and setback for our country and must be abrogated. Any President who thinks such provisions ought to remain unchanged by popular demand, does not deserve to be reelected. The stewardship of Kofi Annan in the UN is a case in point. Africans can walk tall today because we have an African in the UN we all can be proud of.

If you have read my last article which sounds a bit despondent, and you are reading this which is starting on a very euphoric note, you might think this writer is at best schizophrenic, delusional or both. How could he sound so pessimistic in one article, and yet sound so hilarious in the very next? I have never been diagnosed as a schizophrenic, and neither am I on medication for any mild form of mental or emotional condition. But I have to confess to serious mixed emotions every time I reflect on situations in our continent, the sub Region and Nigeria in particular. What may have informed my appearing to move from one extreme to another is the nature of events in the African Continent in general? Charles Dickens probably got as close as anyone could get in sizing up Africa and Nigeria when he wrote in his "Tale of two Cities" which he started by saying "It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times" I guess you can say I was in the Charles Dickens frame of mind when I started gathering my thoughts for this and my last piece. There are certain observations that make me happy and euphoric about Nigeria and Africa, and there are some observations that make me a bit nervous and despondent atimes. The appointment of Kofi Annan as Secretary General to the UN is turning to be one such episode in our history that make my heart throb with excitement.

I am thanking God at a personal level, because I really need to. I am thanking God because I live in America where Freedom of Expression is a reality and not a precept. To fully understand what I mean, you need to hear this confession. I got one frantic message, over the phone, a few days ago, from my God daughter who lives in Silverspring in Maryland. Jumoke fondly referred to, as Jumo Babe, had just finished reading three of my latest articles [one - two - three] on the Nigeriaworld website. She felt so concerned about me that she could not sleep until she was able to track me down. I could tell from her voice that Jumoke was terribly perturbed that some of the Nigerians I have had the guts to criticize in some of my articles, are vicious enough to come get me even here in America, regardless of the Homeland Security efforts of President Bush. She actually cautioned me not to open or even claim mails coming to me from Nigeria, because she was scared I might end up like Dele Giwa or Chief Bola Ige.

I assured Jumoke not to worry because we are in America, and above all that God is in control. After Jumoke had dropped the phone, I had time to reflect on what the young lady had just told me. She truly had cause to be concerned about me. But when you are in America, in spite of Osama Bin Laden and the 911 emotionally charged psyche of people around the country, we all still have cause to thank God for our relative security in and out of the places we call home, Unless the Lord builds and watches over the House, those who do so labor in vain. Of course I understand that as a Christian. But I also realize that we all still have to be thankful for many more things, like the food we eat and for the air we breathe. We have to thank God for the companies we keep and even for the fact that we can pick up our pen, any time and day in this country, and freely express an opinion without fear or favor. You could lash out against President Bush , even at the peak of his popularity following the events of 911, without fearing for your life.

In Beautiful America , the Land of Freedom and the Land of the Brave, you don't have to go to a Hyde Park Corner, like you, often, have to do in London, to be able to openly lash out against Her Majesty the Queen or Prime Minister, Tony Blair, if you need to. In America, nobody sends you a parcel bomb for expressing an honest opinion. Nobody sends an assassin after you for just expressing an opinion. Agreed, you could get yourself in a Pandora box, if you run foul of the Mafia or if you engage in Drug Gangs and Money Laundering connected with the Drug cartels around the world. If all you do is express an opinion in writing like many of us do, from time to time, you have nothing to fear, but fear itself. That is precisely why I have cause to really thank God for myself in this article, for being here at this moment in time.

Jumo Babe was therefore exactly right. If I were in Nigeria, I, probably, would not have the privilege to be saying half the things I have felt very safe to say or to write here in God's own country. And if I do, there is no question in my mind that there would have been a hell to pay. I therefore have more reason to thank God for being here, and having the opportunity to make this a pastime, by joining in the constant debate of getting Nigeria out of the moral decadence and the inequities which I have trying to summarize and articulate in my last article.

You know Empires rise and fall according to the natural Law of Nature. The Great Ottoman Empire, the Greek Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the British Empire on which the Sun never sets, the Monomotapa Empire of old, the Ethiopian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Chinese Empire, the Russian Empire, the Egyptian Empire and the old Oyo Empire under Alafin Agaja in our own backyard in Nigeria have all become history. Even though the Great American Civilization is doing her best today with everything at her disposal, including technology, to make sure that American dominance of the World remain unchallenged through out the World. If History is anything to go by, one can well imagine that the same fate could befall, "the same Leader of the Free World that looks so formidable today. It may well reach its peak like other Empires before it, only to disintegrate or self destruct. My submission is that Africa which is despised today, may well become the corner stone tomorrow through the activities of some of her own sons and daughters at home or in Diaspora.

Once upon a time, the African Continent which was universally accepted by anthropologists around the World as the cradle of Civilization simply lost its appeal and fell behind. Egypt as relatively backward as that country is, today, is one of the surviving relics of that Civilization. Timbuktu is another surviving relics. Africa, if I could borrow a cliche from the great Martin Luther King, again, had once been to the mountain top, but somehow had its back against the wall as it fell apart, and got totally relegated to the valley of despondency. All of the countries in that continent with the possible exception of South Africa are now classified as third World. As bad as that may sound, one is beginning to observe some silver lining at the end of the tunnel for Africa as a whole. That development, and the role Kofi Annan and others like him may have played in it is what I intend to explore in the remaining part of this article for whatever it may be worth.

Africa, in spite of itself, is fast becoming "the come back kid" It is a quiet revolution that may not have caught the imagination of the whole world yet. But it is a milestone development that should make all of us proud. As Africans. Africa is gradually coming back with a bang. The dreams of distinguished Africans like Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Justice Thurgood Marshall, Herbert Macaulay, Osagyefo Kwameh Nkrumah, Gamel Abdel Nasser, the Great Nnamdi Azikiwe of Africa, the great Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, the dynamic Murtala Mohammed, the unflappable Madiba Nelson Mandela, the great Jomo Kenyatta, the Nwalimu Julius Nyerere, the amazing Sekou Toure and the great poet and writer Leopold Senghor of Senegal and his powerful writing and definition of Negritude and what it is supposed to mean to all of us, are all parts of what I refer to as the silver lining in our cloud as a continent

It was that silver lining that I believed that Martin Luther King was talking about in another of his prophetic speeches titled "I have a Dream" in which he predicted very accurately what I am so much excited about in this article. Martin Luther King had predicted a day when the children of Slaves and children of Slave owners must one day sit around the same table of brotherhood, taking far reaching decisions that would affect the whole of mankind in very profound ways. Martin Luther King had predicted that time, when all of mankind would no longer be judged by the skin color, but by the strength and content of one's character.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can tell you here and now that, that day is already here. It has come, not with just a whimper, but a very big bang heard from coast to coast and from sea to shining sea around the World.

I just want to profile for you four or Five Africans that have helped to shape the last century and are helping, in a big way, to shape and mold the future in every profound ways, I might add. These Africans are right in the forefront of Power and influence regardless of how you cut it. The first of them that this article is really about is the one and only Kofi Annan of Ghana. You all know him as the Secretary General of the United Nations. But I call him the Head of State of the entire World pulled together at this point in time. I will come back to that as I zero in on him in greater details shortly. I present to you Nelson Mandela universally recognized around the globe, as the moral conscience and elder statesman of the World today, by reason of his unique character and life history. I present to you the great Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria, now the number four in the entire Roman Catholic Hierarchy around the World, and God willing, "insha Allah," the next in Line to succeed the Holy Father, the Pope and the Successor of Simon Peter on Earth.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you two other Africans that have become the LiveWire among the movers and shakers of power in the greatest Country on Earth, the only super Power and the Leader of the Free World as we speak. I present to you Condoles Rice, the Security Adviser to the very Leader of the Free World himself. Finally, I present to you the former four star General of the United States Army, the former Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff of the greatest Military on Earth and now the first Secretary of State of African descent to serve the United States of America in more than 200 years of her existence, as an independent Nation. I can tell you, it doesn't get any better than this for any of the six continents of the World. I guess you could begin to call this the Golden Age of Africa in the 21st Century. The man around whom this event has crystallized today, for Africa, is the target of this article. It is the one and only Kofi Annan of Africa.

The verdict is already in on Kofi Annan. It is a unanimous consent symbolized by his winning the Nobel Peace Award while still serving as the Secretary General. I have heard of many distinguished Secretary Generals of the United Nations. I doff my hat to U Thant, I throw my salute to Dag Hammaskjold. I give kudos and honor to the best and the most seasoned, and the best prepared and the most unflappable Secretary General who has done Africa proud, and has earned the respect of all and sundry, around the World without any question. Any time I think of Kofi Annan, I thank God for his life. I thank God for Ghana. I thank God for the United Nations. I thank God for Africa and above all I thank God for the World.

There were two very strong candidates for the position when Boutros Boutros Ghali had to relinquish the position due to forces higher than what himself or his country was able to confront or silence. By any stretch of the imagination, Boutros Boutros Ghali who spoke no less than five languages, was also an asset to Africa. He was also a round peg in a round hole for the position, but was clearly nothing to compare with this unassuming, easygoing technocrat and God-sent Diplomat from the Land of the Osagyefo Kwameh Nkrumah. Kofi looks like a dove in appearance but he is truly a lion at heart who is changing the way and manner that Africans are now perceived in sanctuary of Power around the World. I am as proud as any African can be about Kofi Annan. I can see this article as the curtain raiser to many more from people around the world who know him better than I do. and who can paint a far rosier picture of what he truly is as a man, as a husband and as a father, and more importantly, as a leader.

I am definitely short of words to describe exactly how I feel about this African giant, except I do it in my native dialect. Akure from where I come and her people have a graphic way of describing a man like Kofi Annan who has broken all comers record in some unique sense. Akure people will tell you Kofi Annan has cracked the head of a special and rare bird, in our own part of the World, known as "OLIU" "Kofi ti f'ori Oliu" His record in office doesn't get any better than the feat he has already performed to the glory of our Continent.

To drive my point home I want to briefly examine his stand and position on the current Iraq versus the World stalemate or crisis. I have to couch this stalemate in that partisan language because I am an American and proud of it. I am on the side of America on this as any loyal American must be. I love the job my President is doing on Iraq and I love the fact that one or two people that look like me in the Bush Cabinet are the "Agbebodorun" (the Power behind the throne) in much of what has now become President's policy on iraq minus the initial saber rattling for a war by all means, regardless of what Carl Rove and others may have said to the contrary. James Brown, no matter how much he tries, could never be more "black and proud" than I am on this.

President Bush had set out on this policy, listening to the hawks in Dick Cheney and Runsfeldt, while leaving out in the cold, for a little while, the doves symbolized by the Great Colin Powell. But in the fullness of time, President Bush, to his great credit, had been able to make a great U-turn to side with the Powell's of this World, instead of maintaining his original stance that America was ready to do the job alone with or without international support. Colin Powell's side finally won the day without appearing so to do. He was also able to help the President cleverly reposition himself without losing face. President Bush suddenly had to show himself as coming to save the UN from itself and from its inertia of the past, by challenging the UN to reassert herself and her authority. That, in of itself, was the genius of President Bush and Colin Powell working together to get, not everything they had sought, but what they could reasonably live with. President Bush had gone to the General Assembly to make a speech that nobody in his right senses at the UN, could fault or repudiate. All they could do is throw their salute, and to regroup reconsider the other options open to them, in the face of the new coup de grace engineered by the only African blood in the kitchen cabinet of President Bush . President Bush has been riding on that wave of approval ever since, and he continues to do so as we speak.

What is significant and powerful in all of this development are the power players in the Bush Kitchen Cabinet and those who are supposed to respond to the new challenge thrown by Bush to the World body? Another African of stature in Kofi Annan, the real Leader of both the Free and the unfree world was on the other side shaping what must be the response to the new Bush offensive. That exactly is where the rubber has now met the road, and this is the point I really want to drive home to let the whole world know and appreciate, for once, that the Martin Luther King's dream has been fully realized. Africa has truly come of age. I have said in one of my articles on this website in which I have openly criticized the Bush Administration's decision to be going for Regime Change in Iraq, instead of going for Disarmament only.

Mr President has already committed himself to Regime Change which was a faulty move, and it was not going to be easy for him to take back his words. So what he had decided to do was to progressively talk less of Regime Change, while taking hook, line, and sinker the initial position taken by the same Colin Powell, the only "Nigger" (Beg your pardon) in that crowd of power brokers at the Oval Office. I think it's about time we all now begin to wear the word "Nigger" like a real badge of Honor because Black is beautiful and "Negritude" coined by Leopold Senghor, which is a more refined and socially acceptable word for "Nigger" is equally as appealing. Nothing is either good or bad. It depends on how you view it. The "Niggers" have arrived, leading the greatest Nation in the world in ways that can no longer be denied or swept under the carpet. They have done it in the White House, and they have done it at the pinnacle of the UN. We all must thank God for that.

Success has many a parent said JFK at one time, but failure is an orphan. JFK was dead right on that. Kofi Annan has not only become the ambassador of Ghana, he has become the ambassador to Africa and the ambassador to the whole world. He has been doing a fabulous job that would remain the sign post and the yardstick by which all future Secretary Generals are judged. He is leaving behind an imperishable legacies of accomplishments within a year of assuming office, even when he was supposed to just go there to complete the remaining term of Boutros Boutros Ghali. Within a few months of assuming office, he was determined to change the direction of the UN, and he did it with great success, infusing new blood and enthusiasm into a dying organization. He had not gone there to learn on the job, or to give excuses that a problem that had taken so many years to evolve cannot be expected to be solved in a few years. Going to that job with that mind set would have been self defeating, is what I am saying here. Kofi Annan had confronted the challenge, as if it were his last. He had worked his heart out to change the organization with immediate effect.

Kofi Annan is maintaining a level playing field as he should, regardless of the pressures on him by America to do otherwise. You have got to respect the man for that. He is doing it in a way that would not let him appear to be taking sides -- a move that would have, irredeemably, undercut his management of the crisis as the center of gravity around the mighty UNO. By so doing he has earned the respect of both Iraq and the International Community symbolized by America and Britain and Russia, China and France combined, and the remaining ten members of the Security Council. The genius of Kofi Annan had become manifest with Syria, the only Arab member of the Security Council, voting to support the motion in a show of Unity never before seen in the UN, but which Kofi Annan had solicited and engineered in a feat of high wire Diplomacy. Many had thought America had used his money and influence to buy that. They were wrong. The African wizard Kofi Annan with some help from another African genius from the American side were the two people calling the shot not Bush at all. The war has been kept under wrap so far, not because of weather constrains as claimed by some, but because of the careful and the very balanced and fair handling of the crisis by the best Secretary General in this Century, and one of the very best American Secretary of State both of whom happen to be ardent believers in, and genuine sons of Africa. They have both become major players in their various theaters of Power. Praise the Lord. Alleluyah. See you next time. I rest my case.