However, as a safeguard, African leaders as a matter of necessity and urgency, should focus on strengthening regional institutions like the African Union (AU), so they can set terms for cooperation, build stronger local governance, diversify economic partners, and stay vigilant about trade and aid agreements, ensuring that they prioritize sovereignty and long-term developments over short-term gains.
On March 25, 2026, a historic resolution was passed by the United Nations General Assembly, officially condemning slavery as the gravest offense against humanity. This landmark declaration serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring legacies of the impact of slavery and the ongoing need for justice, reconciliation and remembrance worldwide. The vote was 123 in favour with America, Israel and Argentina voting against, and 52 countries abstaining. This was significant, because it was the first time slave trade was legally framed as a crime against humanity. One important lesson to learn from history, is that history does not die, and that no matter how long the night keeps, dawn will break, and the abandoned rag under your cupboard, may be useful on a rainy day. The question that agitates the mind is how did humans get to that point of dehumanizing fellow humans, turning them into mere commodities for sale. Even though the period when the heinous crime was committed was described as the Dark Age, was that suggestive of total ignorance of God or were there no any noticeable stronger force, or were there no sky, sun, moon, seas and all the powerful works of nature that naturally command the attention of man? It is heartbreaking to note that the driving force into slave trade was rooted in dehumanization and economic greed. Slave traders and colonial powers saw people as commodities and objects to be exploited for labour especially in the Americas, and that mindset was really enforced by racial ideologies that justified them as achievement. At that time, the motivation for slave trade was both financial and moral corruption.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade lasted for about 4 centuries, beginning from the mid 1500 continuing into the 1860s. So, it had been roughly for 360 to 400 years with the peak in the 1700s and in the early 1800. Although, the legal ban started in the 1800, illegal trading continued until the 1860s. There is no gainsaying the fact that, describing the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity, is apt, especially because of its shared scale and shared brutality. Millions of people were uprooted, dehumanized and treated as property. Families were torn apart, cultures erased, and the psychological trauma is carried through generations. Suffice to say also, that the trade wasn’t just a commercial enterprise, it was a systematic extermination of dignity and humanity. Wait a minute, is it not the same pattern of systematic extermination of race, dignity and humanity that the African countries especially Nigeria are witnessing, in the forms of terrorism and banditry? Why are the African leaders not putting the blames, especially about the seemingly intractable insecurity problems, at the appropriate place, which is the doorstep of their former slave and colonial masters. Since I was told that the devil rebelled against God and was cast down to the earth, I have not been told anything different that alludes to his repentance. When we talk about the idea of the deradicalization of terrorist, kudos to some African countries that are trying the experiment even though it is bad and has not yielded any positive results. How much of the understanding of the Bible they brought to assuage us with, have they in themselves? Whereas, that was the greatest reparation that man can ever get anywhere in the land of the living. They may not think of it as such a big deal, other than a bait. Hence, they gave it all and lost it all. This accounts for why you cannot find a Christian terrorist in Nigeria. However, majority of them from the Christian countries, being one of the nine (9) countries with nuclear capabilities are also super terrorists. To this end, now they need it, knowledge about the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, more than we do. The wickedness of man to man is unquantifiable. Moreover, since it is impossible to build something on nothing, it follows therefore, that our cherished democracy which is a system of government copied from the former colonial and slave masters, was built on the legacies of slave trade, and if that be the case, what should be expected, and what can be done after the foundation has been destroyed? Remember also, that it is not falling into water that drowns, but lying in it. Democracy as practiced on the legacies of slavery, with weak institutions and serious security challenges, is a cheap gateway for the modern colonial masters to come in and further infest the ground with insecurity. Often, super powers promote democratic ideals as a soft power, framing themselves as the champions of freedom.
Also, in practice, they sometimes use democratic language to push for strategic interests like securing resources, maintaining political allies. So, while democracy is the rhetoric, the underlying goals can still be about influence and control. However, as a safeguard, African leaders as a matter of necessity and urgency, should focus on strengthening regional institutions like the African Union (AU), so they can set terms for cooperation, build stronger local governance, diversify economic partners, and stay vigilant about trade and aid agreements, ensuring that they prioritize sovereignty and long-term developments over short-term gains. This brings to fore the question of whether if one’s head is to break, better to break in one’s hat or others. Fellow citizens of the world, Africans, and Nigerians, this is food for thought. It is there in the political philosophy of the framers of the United States of American constitution, who in the words of James Madison famous federalist No. 51, “organize the government in which ambition must be made to counteract ambition. Or, if men were angels, no government would be necessary”. Augustine in trying to make a comparison between the city of God and the city of man, in the city of man whose characteristics are a complete opposite of the city of God, he aims to show that in the city of man all human relations are ultimately relations of power; “because I do it with a tiny craft I am called the pirate, because you have a mighty Navy you are called an Emperor”. From the above analysis, Nigerians may now review the most recent visit of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the United Kingdom and score him accordingly.
To all well-meaning Nigerians, both at home and abroad, including the vibrant Civil Society Organizations, Labour Unions, Professional bodies, Great Nigerian students and all well-wishers, all shall rise up to the occasion and do all that is humanly possible, and within the ambits of the law to stop the second term ambition of Bola Tinubu for President in 2027, to free Nigeria from the shackles of Neo Colonialism.
In conclusion, this important question is for you and I to ponder on; “To what extent am I and others motivated by an urge to dominate, to impose our will to subjugate others?” A borrower is forever a slave to the lender.
God bless Nigeria
By Samuel Tunji Adeyanju
