The Zuma statue: Okorocha right, critics wrong

As you certainly know by now, the governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, invited President Jacob Zuma of South Africa here a couple of weeks ago as of this writing. The man came and was given the well-known Imo welcome. I am not sure he was made to taste the famous Imo delicacy, ofe Owerri. If he did, it would certainly make his visit even more memorable.

To cap it all, Okorocha did something that seems, on the face of it, quite unusual. He erected Zuma’s statue in the state capital, Owerri. It does not only commemorate the visit but it also celebrates Zuma and his uncommon leadership of the multi-racial South Africa. Only a Nigerian state governor could see the man behind the stoic president wrapped in layers of controversies. 

This was the first time such an honour has ever been done to a foreign leader by a state governor in Nigeria. Okorocha has blazed the trail. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, my prediction is that other state governors would try to do the same, not necessarily for Zuma but for other African and non-African leaders as well. Given our penchant for outdoing one another, a surfeit of statues would result, decorating our various state capitals with hundreds of statues of African and world leaders. Someone should invite the North Korean leader. Statues are part of the landscape in his country. His people would appreciate that and it would help to strengthen his resolve to look Donald Trump in the eye until the American president blinks. Yep, Imo leads, let other states follow.

I am surprised, however, that not many people in and outside his state like what Okorocha did. Instead of applauding him, they are laying the cane across the back of his excellency. The minor storm over an honour done to someone so well deserving of it smacks, in my view, of bad belly. I make bold to say that his critics were wrong and unfair to him. There is something to be said for Okorocha’s thoughtfulness. You see, it makes sense to celebrate a foreign leader and one who, in the informed opinion of the governor, has impeccable commitment to education, just as the governor himself has in his state. He can easily prove that with the number of schools and colleges he has built or rehabilitated since he assumed office some six years ago.

I have heard it argued that Zuma does not have a statue in his own country. True. He does not. But if his people are so unappreciative of him and refuse to honour him, is a Nigerian governor bound by what the South Africans think of their president? No. Still, let me remind such critics of the wise saying in the good book, to wit, a prophet has no honour in his own home. It applies to presidents too. Did we not see the evidence of this when Obasanjo was our president? Nigerians simply loved to hate him but the world loved him. This did not change even after he conducted the 2007 general elections adjudged by observers to be far below the regional standard. The outside world knew his worth, the worth of his leadership but we who he led, did not. 

You see, were anyone in South Africa to erect Zuma’s statue anywhere in the country, the president would take all the flak. He would be accused of megalomania and condemned for it. It is likely that most South Africans would never view their president’s statue in far away Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Oh well, if Okorocha handles this well, even if he leaves office, the statue alone should be enough tourist attraction for foreign as well as local tourists.

What Okorocha’s critics conveniently forget is this: We, Nigerians, have a long history of honouring world leaders in our own country. When President Bill Clinton visited the country, President Obasanjo named the airport road, Abuja, after him. Thus, Americans who come to Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, would feel transported back home as they cruise into town along Bill Clinton Drive. If they come to our country with a chip on their shoulders, they will moderate their swagger when they see that we love America so much we celebrate their president much more than they do.

I am not sure it would be wise of me to try to name all the streets named after other African leaders and foreign countries and cities in Abuja. But I am sure you cannot miss Mandela, Samora Machel, Thomas Sankara, Mousa Traore, Mississippi, Mozambique, etc., streets. 

Do you know of any African country that has been so generous to our own leaders, past and present? This is what makes Nigeria unique among African countries and Nigerian leaders unique among African and world leaders. We celebrate foreign achievers. We remember them and we etch their memories on our streets. In the case of African leaders, you should understand that being their appreciative big brother, we have a moral obligation to celebrate them.