By Okee Sydney-Obiukwu. A Special News Features
It was a dignified language purist and a super-class literary icon of blessed memory, professor Chinualumuogu Achebe; writer of the world-shaker, “Things Fall Apart,” and just recently, shortly before death visited, dropped another bomb: There was a country; that gave mileage to the adage that, looking at the kings mouth, one would think he never sucked his mothers breast.
He was a contemporary of Madiba Nelson Mandela, another cerebral writer and lawyer that has helped the cause and self-esteem of the African both at the homeland and the diaspora.
What prompted this piece, really, is the comment of a young South African girl, when asked to make her contribution on a voxpop (voice of the people) interview that CNN, conducted recently, to guage Mandela’s popularity.
The young lad, most probably in her early twenties, answered pointedly or should I say mechanically like a robot would do, devoid of emotions that, what was of utmost important and for which she could break a neck; was not really Mandela but her smart phone and education.
What a stone-cold treatment of an international statesman, now wearing the grab of conscience of the world.
But why must we as Africans bother when our youths follow a bush part that shows that they have lost touch with the African kind and communal spirit? It is because, essentially, we honor the aged and also drink from their rich, ancient fountain.
Really, the age of internet and twenty-four hour Television, has westernized our youths, to the point where many are still being brain-washed, to believe that every garbage from Europe and America; can always be floated as superior to our decent native culture.
Today, it is still baffling that the lawyers still copy western-styled dressing, which lives them gasping for breathe most of the time.
What is wrong in lawyers wearing official cloths made of Ankara and other African fancies. We really need to welcome a new kind of thinking.
Yes, that kind of thought, that role models like Dr. Kwame Nkurumah, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and a host of them, turn in their graves to salute their good conduct. It is possible.
