OPINION: Sorry Chief Obafemi Awolowo… not like you dreamt it

Once, they were giant of that land mass. Now Rwanda, Burundi, Botswana and even Kenya have taken that title economically from them.
Once, they were a regular feature in African football competitions. Now, nobody even knows when they play.
They have been called corrupt and indisciplined 7,600km away by the person that was to defend their honour in a foreign land.
They have been called fantastically corrupt 5,000km away by a foreign leader in the presence of his own monarch.
Her, children have been specifically targeted in a xenophobic attack by a country and people they almost singlehandedly led out of apartheid.
Now, the only thing of honour that even their masses hold dearly to,
– the only thing that still gives them a sense of belonging….
– the only food that unites 170 million people at any and every function…
– even the millions of foetuses yet to be born know what it taste like….
– their own version of JOLLOF RICE…THEY HAVE BEEN STRIPPED OF ITS OWNERSHIP…by someone that was supposed to represent their cultural value and project their National identity.
Agreed, the name jollof sounds like a Senegalese tribe name Wollof, but hey save me some hailstorm, we have tweaked and twerked and stapled poshness, varieties and funkiness to what was a stale tasteless food by some people. We raised its bar 100 folds. We made it a national food!
Just like Hummus whose ownership, or origin, is being contested by nothing less than 12 – 15 countries.
Nobody will hear a leader from any of the country involved in the dispute give away its claim to that chick peas purée that actually originated from Egypt. All you hear about its ownership is….LEVANT…a more generic name for about 12 countries!
A real diplomat who knows its onions very well would have just given a blanket answer – that Jollof rice is a general West African delicacy packaged stylishly and differently to suit one’s ethnicity, culture and even, faith!
At that, he would have walked free. Anyway, what is mine? We told them before when an angel selected them as his saints that they were mostly misfits for the roles given them.
So what product do they have left to officially project as a national pride of 170 million people? Well, they are waiting for the manufacture of their own pencil….in a couple of years!
Sorry Chief Obafemi Awolowo…not like you dreamt it.
The above was written by Amostiasis Deji Ajewole, a social commentator.