IANA Blog- April 2025

 Blog

Happy April,

First off, I want to address some things from the last blog. I made an error about the IANA Convention happening in 2026 and the Issele Uku Convention happening this year. I accidentally got both mixed up, so please recognize, it was an accident. Also, I kind of expected my last blog about Umar Johnson to be a little controversial compared to the last couple of blogs, but just remember, these blogs are all my opinion, but it’s great to know that many of you all have a response to my blog.

With that being said, I wanted to talk about something that I brought up last year. For those that don’t know, there are many notable things happening in Africa. In my opinion, I definitely feel a shift happening in Africa. One of those things I’ve been noticing has come from the Sahel Alliance.

The Sahel Alliance, also known as the Alliance of Sahel States is a confederation formed between African countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. I actually brought this up in past blogs. Originally formed as a defense pact in 2023, after the Nigerien crisis in  which ECOWAS threatened to intervene with the military. In July of 2024, the confederation was established.

Being led by Burkinabe President Ibrahim Traore, Malian President Assimi Goita and Nigerien President Abdourahmane Tchani, the Sahel Alliance aka AES, in my opinion, represents that new shift in Africa. Last year, some of the highlights for AES was cutting off military relations with the Western powers and replacing them with Russian mercenaries, focusing on providing resources for the three countries, including access to clean drinking water, healthcare, food and vocational training. One of the most important things, in my opinion, to happen with AES was kicking the French out of their countries.

It’s not just Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, it is also Senegal, Chad and Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire as well. Seeing these West African nations striking back against the French puts a smile on my face. I still remember first hearing about it and talking to my friends about it. I jokingly said, “Anytime I see Africans telling the French, the British or other Europeans to piss off, an angel gets its wings.” I feel this is great for Africa, especially after years of exploitation from the British, the French and other parts of Europe, and I can’t forget about the U.S. as well. I’ve seen so many stupid jokes and statements from Americans about how Africa is poor or Africans are all from third-world countries or Africans are corrupt. Kwame Nkrumah said it best, “Africa is far from being poor, it is Africans who are poor and not Africa. And they are poor because of the uncounted profits that have been exploited from their labor and from their land.”

The last couple of months, I was rewatching films about Africa that I always enjoy watching, because they each depicted Africans fighting back against their colonizers, although the endings were either leaving me bittersweet or pissed off. I watched the film Lumumba, which was a biopic about Patrice Lumumba and that ending always pisses me off, just because of what the French, the Belgians, the U.S., the rest of the West…and especially Mobutu did to him. I also saw the 2024 biopic, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, which was about one of Nigeria’s greatest freedom fighters…aka the mother of Fela Kuti. The biopic depicted Funmilayo’s fight against British colonial rule and sexism. It was probably the best Nollywood film I’ve seen in a while. The ending was bittersweet for me, just because we all know that Ms. Funmilayo should have died peacefully at an old age, instead of basically being martyred. (I feel like I should make a review of that film.) One of my favorite films I definitely like to watch about Africa is The Battle of Algiers. A film that depicts Algeria’s fight for independence from the French. Although it is based in North Africa, it’s still a great film that every African should watch, to get a glimpse of what Africans have been feeling forever, especially with the continued fight against colonialism and imperialism. The ending is very bittersweet, because it talks about how it still took a couple more years until Algeria gained its independence. These films, along with many other films about Africa are still relevant, especially with how, as mentioned, Africa has been dealing with this exploitation for years, but I really got a good feeling that Africa’s shift will lead to a huge movement.

I also bring up the shift, because in terms of positive things happening in Africa, there’s also one more thing I have to mention. Ghana has been offering citizenship to the people of the African diaspora, especially Black Americans, as part of its “Beyond the Return” initiative. The initiative started in 2019, after 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in America. The motive is to strengthen ties between Africa and the Diaspora. Ghana isn’t the only country offering citizenship, other countries are as well, such as Sierra Leone, Benin, Gabon, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Zimbabwe and Nigeria offer citizenship too for members of the Diaspora, but it’s a little different. Zimbabwe offers citizenship to people of Zimbabwean descent since 2000 and Nigeria has been offering citizenship to any person with a Nigerian parent.

For me, I think this is great and smart too. A couple of blogs ago, I talked about the whole online “diaspora war” between Black Americans, Africans, Caribbeans and the rest of the diaspora and the stupid narrative that Africans don’t like Black Americans. All of these tactics are part of the whole “divide and conquer” routine. It’s a great and smart way to show unity within the Diaspora. We’re stronger united and can bring change, than when we are divided. Now, there was already a Back-to-Africa movement in the 19th and 20th Century. Formerly enslaved Black Americans and Liberated Africans left America to live in Sierra Leone and Liberia, but unfortunately, those that went back, had a “colonization” type of mentality which would eventually lead to a civil war in Liberia. Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X also attempted to revive the Back-to-Africa movement, but unfortunately, Garvey died never being able to make it to Africa, while Malcolm X was assassinated, never having the chance to have a huge momentum. I know that there are challenges to the initiative of bringing the diaspora back to Africa especially considering there are Black people who are only thinking of going back on a capitalistic approach and as a way to make money. My friends and I talked about it. I still think it’s a great approach, especially as a way to preach unity. They want us to hate each other. They don’t want us to unite. What a better way to prove them wrong.

On April 5, his royal majesty, Obi Nduka MNSE, JP, had a meet and greet/Q&A session with IANA youths, led by Dr. Emi Nwabueze. There were many questions on the state of Nigeria and the state of Issele-Uku and issues on traveling back home. The last question was actually based on many things I brought up. His royal majesty was asked about the change happening in Africa with the Sahel Alliance, African countries kicking out the French and African countries allowing citizenship to the diaspora. His royal majesty said, “There’s a point in life of an individual or a society where you need to have this enlightenment. When you realize that as a people, there are unique ways of doing things, especially after many years, like when we mentioned the issue of colonization. We’re doing things based on how the colonizers taught us how to do; the methods that they put in place. But over the years, there will be a time when you realize that before the colonizers, before the Western influence, there were unique ways that we can achieve meaningful results. So, this is what is going on now, a realization that we can now solve our own problems by ourselves with our own unique ideas. What you see with the Sahel Alliance, and even here, across the country [of Nigeria], is the realization that we can begin to do things, for ourselves, and create better results. 

I definitely agree with the king himself. Africa is on the rise and does not need outside interference from the West to help “build” Africa, when they have stolen and exploited and destroyed Africa for a long time. Us Africans have to come together to help build Africa. With so much going on around the continent, seeing change should be more reason for us to unite.

As for Ibrahim Traore, someone online said it, but he’s one of the most important people in Africa right now, probably one of the most important Black people in the world, right now. As I expected, there are people who don’t agree with Traore, or want to see him taken out, I know the West has. He has already survived multiple assassination attempts, but the people of Burkina Faso definitely have his back. It’s just great to see him bring change to Africa, and I hope his work continues to inspire other Africans, especially Nigerians to rise up with him. I know that there are some comparing him to Thomas Sankara, or saying he's the next Sankara...I'm not going that far, he's got a long way to go to have the same legacy as Sankara's...but hopefully he builds to have a legacy that'll be remembered as Sankara's.

What do you guys think? Let me know what you feel about what’s going on in Africa. Are you a fan of the Sahel Alliance? What do you think of Africa kicking the French out? What about African countries giving citizenship to the diaspora? Let me know.