THE world saw in President Barack Obama a soaring intellect moderated by humility, common sense and natural humaneness.  His spotless character, his honesty and his transparency were so real, even his bitterest adversaries acknowledged them.   His brief experiment with marijuana in his teen years, he confessed himself.  He struggled with and eventually overcame the nicotine craving.  Because of his lack of blemishes, he was like a candidate made in heaven.

As president Obama remained true to himself; he saw the United States as a force for good in the world, not its police man.  He wanted the world to feel what he once referred to as “the power” of American “example” not “the example of its power.”  He advocated and worked for a world free of nuclear weapons.  He wanted America to help the world maintain international peace, stability and economic wellbeing.  Any spot where war could be prevented or ended, he was ready to deploy American resources to help.

He soon became one of the world’s most influential leaders and spent considerable effort rebuilding American image practically damaged by Vietnam and Iraq wars.  In the Islamic World he took on the task of changing the perception that America was an enemy of Islam.  He delivered two effective, well-received speeches.  The first was in Cairo University in June 2009 where he reminded Arabs youths that their problems are not the making of the United States and that they should do a soul-searching about their system.  The second speech was in the Turkish parliament in Ankara where he re-echoed the American commitment to freedom of religion and why Islam, as different from Islamic terrorism, was part of the American social fabric.  Obama’s successor, Trump, seems bent on making a different choice.

It is apparent that the Muslim and the Arab World believed Obama because when the Arab Springs came down in 2011, the slogans were not “Death to America” or “America the great Satan” as it used to be.  The lingering turmoil in Libya was the result of Obama’s overly optimistic handing off the leadership of the air support for the revolutionaries to the Europeans.  Libya is considered as being in the European orbit and Obama had hoped that they’d do it right, especially concerning ‘the day after,’ taking a cue from the lessons of Iraq.  It was his belief that operations such as Libya must be done with international co-operation with the US not necessarily leading it.  He was chagrined that as soon as Col. Muammar Gadhafi was overthrown and assassinated the Europeans pulled out precipitately and chaos descended on the country. It was for the same reason he refused to get embroiled in Syria.  First, he did not think that vital American interests were involved.

Secondly, after Iraq, America no longer had any doubts that it was calamitous to put its ground forces in Arab lands to baby-sit a civil war as happened in Iraq.

If Iran and Cuba were his most visible successes, the Arab-Israeli conflict was Obama’s biggest frustration, especially so because he had high hopes of ending the conflict by the sheer energy and talents he was willing to deploy.  On his second day in office he appointed America’s most famous peace envoy, George Mitchell, who ended the centuries-old war in Northern Ireland as his special peace envoy in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Obama didn’t reckon on the malevolence of the Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu who seemed to intensely dislike him, who worked night and day to help defeat him in 2012, a man whose political survival depends on the perpetuation of the conflict. Mr. Mitchel eventually resigned, frustrated by the intransigent Israeli government which continued building settlements on Parlestinian lands thereby making impossible the two states solution.

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The schedule of a US president, especially one under intense domestic pressure as Obama’s, would have allowed him very little time and effort in Africa.   He is African, yes, and he is proud of it.  Obama came to Africa twice but could not visit Nigeria.  Some Nigerians say this was a slap on the face.  Scheduling difficulties might be one reason.  Another might be that he had been briefed that the country is beyond redemption in corruption.  That’s what senior US leaders say about Nigeria, and not without cause.

Obama loathed corruption and avoided its contact whenever possible.  He would not dignify any corrupt African leader known to be corrupt.  When he addressed African leaders in Addis Ababa, he explained his despair because “corruption drains billions of dollars from (African) economies that can’t afford to lose billions of dollars – that’s money that could be used to create jobs and build hospitals and schools.”  When Muhammadu Buhari, known for honesty, was elected, Obama practically celebrated him, and accorded him the recognition due a leader of Nigeria.  Gay marriage is another issue of discord many Nigerians hold against Obama, and they don’t seem to realize that after the US Supreme Court had ruled on marriage equality and the constitutionality of gay marriage, an American president would be violating his oath of office by failing to recognize and protect gay marriages and citizens.

When Obama spoke to “the people of Africa”at his meeting with African heads of state and governments in Addis Ababa, some months ago, he spoke from the heart.  He reminded them of human dignity and human equality and that “every person has worth.  Every person matters.  Every person deserves to be treated with decency and respect.” (Compare this to “Nigeria is bigger than any one person” which the military and security forces use as license to unleash terror on the population).  Obama spoke of power and how it is exercised and noted that “when I first came to Sub-Sahara African as President, I said that Africa doesn’t need strongmen; it needs strong institutions.”

In fact he was criticized for saying so by some Nigerian strong men, including intellectuals who have continued to justify Nigeria’s continued rule by strong men who have no regard for or the need to build or obey institutions.  He lamented the grinding poverty in many African countries side by side with lavish opulence “many Africans still endure extreme poverty… are crowded into shanty towns without power or running water – a level of poverty that’s an assault on human dignity.”

“Nothing will unlock Africa’s economic potential more than ending the cancer of corruption…and when someone has to pay a bribe just to start a business or go to school or get an official to do the job they’re supposed to be doing anyway – that’s not ‘the African way’… Only Africans can end corruption in their countries,” he said.