EP 1 African News Review 🌍

In this conversation, Adesoji Iginla and Milton Allimadi discuss the demonization of Africa in Western media, the Rwandan genocide, and the kidnapping of the Chibok girls in Nigeria.
They highlight the importance of understanding Africa's history and reclaiming its past, as well as the role of Western media in perpetuating stereotypes and disinformation. They also touch on the exploitation of Africa's resources and the failure of the African state.
Overall, the conversation sheds light on the complex issues facing Africa and the need for a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to address them.
In this conversation, the principal themes discussed include
*The activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria,
* The challenges faced by the armed forces, the youth population in Africa,
*The election of Bassirou Faye as the new president of Senegal, and the political situation in Uganda.
*The conversation also touches on imperialism and the role of the military in political transitions.
Overall, the conversation highlights the need for systemic change and the importance of youth empowerment in African countries.
Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Discussion of Milton Allimadi's Book

13:00 The Rwandan Genocide and France's Role

33:53 The Impact of Boko Haram and Challenges Faced by the Armed Forces

40:24 The Election of Bassirou Faye as Senegal's New and Africa's youngest President and the Demand for Systemic Change

52:36 The Military's Role in Political Transitions

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:01.842)
Yes, good evening, good evening, good evening. My name is Adesoji Iginla and welcome again to Adesoji Speaks Knowledge and this edition of African News Review, episode one. And this evening I am joined with a very special guest, a man who I respect his work. He is not just a journalist, a columnist, a social commentator, an author.

And one on which I would say his work, one of his most pivotal works, is what this program is based on, which is a book. And I would share, let me second, his book titled, Manufacturing Hate, How Africa was Demonized in the Western Media.

This is my copy here. I would ask you to try to get your copy. You can hear him laugh, which means good luck with that. But as I understand, you might be lucky enough to get one on Amazon if the ancestors are indeed with you. Yes, without further ado, I would let the man even add a bit of words. But.

Milton Allimadi (01:04.017)
Hahaha

Milton Allimadi (01:10.53)
Mm-hmm. That's it. Ha ha ha.

Milton Allimadi (01:20.049)
Hahaha.

Adesoji Iginla (01:30.946)
Prior to him doing so, I should also add that he also has a knack for going around and naming things and I wonder where he got that idea from. But welcome, Brother Milton.

Milton Allimadi (01:44.562)
Okay, asante sana. Thank you. Thank you, comrade, for the good work you do in enlightening our people, in making the connections, linking all the dots in our history. As the late AbdulRahman Babu

Adesoji Iginla (02:05.303)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (02:09.438)
to Walter Rodney's book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. In order to understand where we are today, we have to know our past. In order to understand where we might be heading, we have to know our present. And you can't know the present without the past. So I'm paraphrasing what he said. So it's very important that we discuss how our history has shaped

where we are today in contemporary society. Without any connection to the history, we're just groping around in the dark, looking for solutions in the dark. And that is why we have really been wandering in the forest for the last 60 years since most African countries want independence. That's why independence has remained independence on paper alone.

So part of, sometimes you have to operate outside the bank. So for example, you mentioned my discovery. I believe it was, this would be actually the fourth year anniversary now.

on this coming next week on April the 23rd, when I was just wandering around in the jungles of Europe. And I came upon this long river and I asked the European natives, I said, you know, what's going on here? And they claimed it was called the Thames. I have no understanding of what that meant.

Adesoji Iginla (03:38.288)
laughter

Adesoji Iginla (03:47.106)
Hehehe

Milton Allimadi (03:55.271)
So I asked one of those European natives to take my photograph posing in front of this river, which then I renamed, of course, you know, River Gulu.

And for some reason it connected very well with many Africans who now started to make that connection. What right did Europeans have to rename our countries, to rename our lakes, our rivers, our mountains, and impose their cultural, intellectual hegemony?

Adesoji Iginla (04:25.286)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (04:35.875)
Even the Europeans understood because, you know, the BBC did a short item about it, a short story.

and other media outlets also wrote about it. So it's important that we reclaim our past, our history, our culture, our tradition by any creative means necessary. And now with the new media that we have, we can make those connections. Yeah, I invite sisters and brothers to.

Adesoji Iginla (05:01.454)
That sounds true. Yep, yep, yep.

Milton Allimadi (05:13.895)
Go out there and make their own explorations of darkest Europe or even darkest North America and rename these mountains and rivers and lakes. Why not? And let them think about it. It lets them, you think in fact, the point was made in the same BBC article about it. They touched upon how Europeans had gone to Africa and done that. And also thank you for mentioning my book.

Adesoji Iginla (05:34.638)
Yep, yep, yep.

Adesoji Iginla (05:40.302)
because.

Milton Allimadi (05:42.971)
My book, of course, in similar vein, I went back and I read the European literature. And when I say European, that includes North America as well. How Africa was dehumanized and demonized in the newspapers, in the books, the books by the so-called explorers who renamed

these monuments as I just mentioned earlier from the 17, 18, and 19 centuries. Of course, those were scouts. They were sent there to gather intelligence, which then benefited formal colonization of Africa in the last two decades of the 19th century. So the book, when it was first published in 2020,

book was selling very well and I know that because I was getting a hefty royalty check on a regular basis. But then I think maybe the publisher was not familiar with the impact that the book might have. Now it seems to me that the publisher is afraid to push and sell my book, which the publisher owns the copyrights to.

So it's been very difficult for people to get copies. In fact, last year, I was surprised. I was in class and I asked my students, you know, whether they'd read the chapters so we can discuss a couple of the chapters. And one of my students said, oh professor, I could not get a physical copy. That's what I wanted. They only have the digital copy. I said, oh no, no. When you go to the publisher's website, there are two options. One is for digital.

One is for hard copy. You should click on the hard copy. I said, Professor, I really tried. I said, oh, no, I'll show you. Bring your computer over to my desk in front of the class. That was when I discovered for the first time that my own publisher had stopped producing the hard copy, even though the contract says both hard copy and digital. So that's why it may be difficult to get a copy of the book, but I'm working with...

Adesoji Iginla (07:41.957)
and the other one.

Adesoji Iginla (07:55.295)
or some domain name, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (08:01.582)
than electronic.

Milton Allimadi (08:10.599)
some other publishers, and if I get a deal finalized with another publisher, I will make sure I get the copyright back so that I can get a new publisher. Of course, they want me to pay money to regain my copyright back, but it's something worth doing since they seem to be afraid of the book. So thank you for the introduction, Kamran.

Adesoji Iginla (08:34.231)
I mean, I know it's a work that has to be celebrated in the sense that it goes to the heart of what's, again, like I said, what the essence of this African news review is about. It's looking at the media, the story that they've written about us, our stories, how are they told, by whom, for whom.

Milton Allimadi (08:56.05)
Right.

Adesoji Iginla (09:00.946)
and devoid of their biases and prejudices because if you take a body of people and you already have a preconceived notion of who they are and what their narrative is, then you're doing both the person you're supposed to be giving said information to a disservice and undermining the humanity of the person you're reporting on. So

Milton Allimadi (09:28.487)
Right.

Adesoji Iginla (09:31.019)
One of your stories in there was of the gentleman who went to Nigeria, who was reporting on the Biafra War, and coming back with the grass-cut stories. I mean, if you could just give people a short synopsis of that.

Milton Allimadi (09:42.719)
Correct.

Milton Allimadi (09:48.551)
Right, absolutely. In fact, his name was Lloyd Garrison, and he was the descendant of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. So his politics and inclinations were much more progressive compared to his peers and contemporaries as a European American. So he was reporting.

I think it was posting from the East, actually, his articles. In fact, another very interesting thing that I didn't mention in the book, when I was going through the archives, I found a letter from his editors in New York saying they would get him out of the country as soon as possible because a Nigerian general had contacted the New York Times and said, we cannot guarantee his safety.

Adesoji Iginla (10:21.847)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (10:48.199)
if we were to catch him in Eastern Nigeria. So reluctantly, for him he was reluctant, but they got him out of the country. But to go to your question, when he was still there and he read one of the articles under his byline published in the New York Times, he was shocked that between him writing it and sending it to New York by cable, in those days that's what they use.

The story had changed. Somehow, the editor sitting in New York inserted a reference to Nigerian tribesmen dressed in skirts made of grass leaves, grass leaf skirts.

Nowadays, they call this what? Fake news, right? Absolutely fake, manufactured out of cold, thin air by editors sitting here in New York. And in their mind, a story file from Africa had to be represented in such a way. Obviously, they were not satisfied with what Garrison had written. On the one hand, they preach.

Adesoji Iginla (11:44.511)
Big news, yep.

Adesoji Iginla (12:05.51)
there yep

Milton Allimadi (12:10.159)
objective journalism. On the other hand, they undermine an article written by their own correspondent. Think about that. The audacity. This is their own reporter having to now write to his editors and say, wait a minute, how did that end up in my story? I never saw anything like that, you know? It's amazing. And now...

That's one of many examples. And now obviously people can understand why my own publisher is now afraid to sell my books widely because the New York Times remains one of the most powerful media companies in the world today in the 21st century.

Adesoji Iginla (12:42.042)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (12:56.266)
Organization. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (13:00.818)
And yes, OK, so in light of that, I mean, you've taken us back memory lane. And we begin today's episode with the 30-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. And why do we, why is it necessary to begin from there? Again, this last week.

Milton Allimadi (13:19.177)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (13:31.17)
France decided it was time to say... What's the word they use? Let me share my screen. France would say...

Adesoji Iginla (13:49.518)
France decided it is time the allies could have stopped the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Now, people will probably be wondering why are they now coming to, why is this issue now coming to light? Well, unfortunately, there was a book written in, just after,

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, I think it was 2004, the book came out and it was written by the Canadian general who led the United Nations mission in Rwanda, Romeo Daillaire And so Romeo Daillaire was of the opinion that the French could have done a lot more.

not least before because they impounded machetes that was used in majority of the killings and but somehow those machetes found their way back into where it was supposed not to have gone and so with France now coming out of a sudden to say oh yet we ought to have stopped this what would you say is their motivation?

Milton Allimadi (15:16.151)
Okay, so I have a rather different take on the whole rundown tragedy, calamity of 1994. But I will first address the motives behind what Franz and Macron are saying, which is cynical on many, many levels.

Adesoji Iginla (15:27.111)
Okay, go on.

Milton Allimadi (15:44.2)
Part of what is not being widely covered right now is the tragedy in eastern Congo.

Adesoji Iginla (15:51.231)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (15:52.827)
which is of course the victim of an invasion by Rwanda.

Milton Allimadi (16:00.684)
Chaos in Eastern Congo benefits Rwanda tremendously in terms of the resources. There was an estimate by Rwanda's Minister of Finance, I think it came out in the Financial Times like maybe two years ago, in terms of resources that are extracted from Eastern Congo.

Adesoji Iginla (16:05.257)
OK.

Milton Allimadi (16:28.887)
and exported by Rwanda. And the value was more than a billion US dollars. And that's a significant amount. Absolutely. So obviously, Rwanda does not have the factories to utilize these resources. These resources end up being shipped to Europe, to North America.

Adesoji Iginla (16:39.273)
Wow.

Milton Allimadi (16:57.535)
and to Asia as well. So by coming up with that statement, it seems to me that France has decided to be a partner with Rwanda in this theft of Congo's resources, which suggests that Congo is going to have difficulty in really exercising sovereignty over

Adesoji Iginla (17:12.547)
It's resources.

Milton Allimadi (17:26.087)
Eastern Congo, which of course is just laden with mineral resources. So that's my reading of it. And then in terms of stopping the genocide of 1994, I think it would have been very difficult. In fact, France actually tried to get the United Nations Security Council to declare that

Adesoji Iginla (17:30.706)
Rural resources, yep.

Milton Allimadi (17:55.087)
at that time, before the planes were even shut down, before the genocide occurred, before the presidential plane carrying the late Juvenal, Javier Jimenez, and as well as the president, of course, of Burundi, Jan Tayyemire, Cyprian, was shut down. France had tried to get the Security Council to intervene and say that Rwanda had been

Adesoji Iginla (17:59.022)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (18:11.306)
Yes, Ciprian.

Milton Allimadi (18:24.903)
by Uganda, which of course it had been in 1990, in October 1. And what is not written about sufficiently was that in fact, massacres had been occurring from 1990 all the way up to 1994 when the plane was shot down. So had the Security Council actually taken an interest and taken that position.

Adesoji Iginla (18:27.062)
Yeah, it had been, yeah, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (18:42.306)
94, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (18:50.726)
Act, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (18:53.999)
Uganda might have been forced to actually withdraw. And that's not to say that Rwanda would not have remained a tinderbox with many problems. Because of course the problem is the land issue, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Of course that's number one. Number two, the issue of the.

Adesoji Iginla (19:07.798)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (19:14.154)
populated countries.

Milton Allimadi (19:22.535)
descendants of Tutsi who had fled massacres when Rwanda became independent. And they had the initial revolution which got rid of the monarchy. And many Tutsi were killed at that time. Many fled to Kenya, Uganda, as well as Tanzania. And they had remained in perpetual exile. Those many...

Adesoji Iginla (19:28.814)
coming.

Adesoji Iginla (19:32.898)
Thank you.

Milton Allimadi (19:51.783)
decades and had always agitated to come back to Rwanda. And then of course, many of them in Uganda, the young ones had helped General Moussarvani, absolutely to cease fire in 1986. So part of what he had promised to them was that eventually down the line, he would also help them.

Adesoji Iginla (20:05.898)
and as when you come to power.

Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (20:16.35)
I would return the favor, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (20:19.107)
Absolutely to invade and return to Rwanda. So those elements Are always left out in the discussion. In fact the country that owes a major apology to Rwanda And even reparations is the united states the united states blocked The attempt to get this matter before the security council number one. It is the united states That provided weapons to uganda

Adesoji Iginla (20:23.127)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (20:48.511)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (20:49.003)
And later on, some units of the Ugandan armed force turned itself into the Rwanda Patriotic Front. Many people are not aware that Paul Kagame was actually an officer in the Ugandan army. He was a senior intelligence officer. He was sent, because he was a Ugandan citizen at that time, he was sent by Uganda to train at Fort Leavenworth in the United States.

Adesoji Iginla (20:54.158)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (21:03.642)
in the Ugandan army.

Adesoji Iginla (21:13.198)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (21:18.511)
It was after the invasion occurred, the first commander, I think his name was Fred Rugema, was killed under very mysterious circumstances, by the way, within the first two days of the invasion. And then Kagame left his training at Fort Leavenworth, United States, went straight back to Uganda and went to take command of the Rwanda Patriotic Front. So United States would roll.

Adesoji Iginla (21:26.326)
Hmm. Yo, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (21:32.207)
Today's are the very first fighting.

Milton Allimadi (21:46.963)
has not been effectively dealt with. It is much more destructive than the role of France, Belgium, or any other party. And that's the role that still needs to be fully explored and its liability. In fact, one other point I would like to add, it is the United States that blocked a thorough investigation of the shooting down of the presidential plane.

Adesoji Iginla (21:49.358)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (21:58.955)
invest, look at, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (22:14.16)
of the planes.

Milton Allimadi (22:16.359)
which is discussed in a very interesting BBC documentary called Rwanda's Untold Story. So if anybody wants to watch it, go on Google and then put Rwanda's Untold Story and it will take you to a link to Venmo where you can watch the documentary, which of course the BBC is not promoting that documentary widely anymore because Rwanda declared the BBC a genocide denier.

Adesoji Iginla (22:23.338)
Sorry, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (22:28.641)
YouTube.

Adesoji Iginla (22:45.005)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (22:45.719)
after that documentary came out. But the documentary includes statements by who became Rwanda's ambassador to the United States, Rudra Singa. And it includes statement by General Nyamwasa, Kayumba Nyamwasa, who was Rwanda's chief of military staff. And both of them say, in fact,

It was Kagame who ordered the plane to be shot down. Now, what would be the motive? The motive was that the peace treaty signed in Tanzania would have led to one man, one vote. And obviously, given the composition of the population with Hutu being overall majority, it would have been as if the rebellion had never happened, the invasion, because...

Adesoji Iginla (23:33.534)
Yeah, yeah. It will have a Status quo Status code. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (23:42.631)
they would end up having a Hutu-dominated government. So the only way it could really come to power was by military means. And of course, by creating that conflagration, that tragedy, then it could then come and say, I'm the one who rescued the country. And that is actually what unfolded.

Adesoji Iginla (24:06.806)
Wow, interesting. And to think we had a report that had less than 1000 words and you've just given us a walk down the history lane as to... I mean, you probably won't get this in Western media anyway. So which is...

Milton Allimadi (24:25.647)
No, you won't. And that's part of the tragedy of Western media. The weapons of mass distraction, weapons of mass disinformation. And part of it, of course, is to maintain this global narrative that of course allows the contradiction that the most wealthy continent in the world can at the same time have the most impoverished people.

Adesoji Iginla (24:34.806)
Hehehe

Milton Allimadi (24:55.235)
in the world by constantly referring to poor African countries. There's not a single poor African country. They are impoverished African countries. Impoverished comes by action. You see, action that is being taken detrimental to Africa's development and growth. And that is why they remain impoverished, but they are not poor. You find Krumah used

Adesoji Iginla (24:55.286)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (25:03.938)
True? Obvious, yeah, intentionally. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (25:23.899)
the best description in his book, which is always nearby because it's one of my favorite books.

Adesoji Iginla (25:30.634)
Neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism. Yes, I know.

Milton Allimadi (25:33.431)
Absolutely. In the introduction, what does Nkrumah say? Nkrumah calls it, you find this term very quickly right here, it's the best description.

I propose to analyze neocolonialism first by examining the state of the African continent and showing how neocolonialism at the moment keeps it artificially poor. Artificially poor. That's what Nkrumah said. And it's 100% correct. It is artificially poor. It is not poor in reality. How can a country like Congo, with all those resources?

Adesoji Iginla (26:08.874)
artificially put.

Adesoji Iginla (26:13.723)
Mm-mm.

Milton Allimadi (26:18.279)
that the developed industrialized world needs. How can Congo at the same time be one of the most impoverished countries? Doesn't make sense. It is because Congo's resources are exploited, the labor of Congolese are exploited, and you can duplicate that across every African country. And that explains our current situation. You know?

Adesoji Iginla (26:29.135)
true

Adesoji Iginla (26:41.25)
Thank you, thank you very much. And yes, and so which gives us a very important segue since we're still marking anniversary. Another anniversary would be the Chibok girls who again, 10 year anniversary of the Chibok girls being kidnapped from their school. 276 Nigerian girls snatched from their school.

Milton Allimadi (26:56.71)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (27:09.994)
Some would escape, but from a school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria, Borno State. And for years, they've been looked for, sought after, and the understanding is they were being held in Sambiso Forest. Now Sambiso Forest is in a place bordering Nigeria and Chad. Again,

the one cannot help but imagine what the possible motivation can be for their kidnap because when it happened in 2014 people were of the opinion that what is why kidnap why kidnap girls and

Adesoji Iginla (28:08.63)
devoid their families of contact and what have you. And the state has, to an extent, would say it has done what it can. Well, here's the thing. If you cannot protect your citizens, how is it you can call yourself a sovereign state?

Milton Allimadi (28:34.575)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (28:36.062)
So my initial take was when it happened was, okay, we're looking at a country bordered around, they bordered in the Northeast by Cameroon, Lake Chad, Republic of Chad, and Niger Republic. Now what do all of them have in common? They all speak French.

Now why is that a key thing? Because initially it was like this story does not add up. When you say you're Boko Haram, you're an Islamic insurgency, but you're attacking people who do the same thing as you, it just doesn't make sense. Now some will say, but they do need to each other. The first major Islamic group

that really took hold in Nigeria then was in the 1980s. And it was called the Matasini set. The government crushed it. But then most of the people were not in favor of whatever it is they prefer as their dictum. But this one has taken on a turn which is hard to comprehend. And so,

Again, if you look through the news reports, you can't really piece anything together until you lay a series of events that have happened in around 2014. One was the fact that for the first time, power went from the north to the south in Nigeria.

And so people saw it as a way of undermining the government. But even though that government has been out of power for now more than 12 years, the problem still persists. And now the kidnapping is not so much as ideological, it's financial. So you begin to see loads and loads and loads of threads

Adesoji Iginla (30:59.262)
economic issues, political issues, and obviously it takes a religious connotation because of who is seizing said girls. So what do you think?

Milton Allimadi (31:08.639)
Correct.

Well, you've touched upon many of the possible motives and reasons behind it. And of course, a key amongst those is the weakness of the state itself, the Nigerian federal state, the nation itself, which of course is something that has been consistent pretty much since the...

country won its independence, you know. The elite political class has really failed Nigeria tremendously. And of course the failure continues and it's not unique to Nigeria. So it's not like I'm laying any particular criticism or critique of Nigeria. I'm critiquing the African state actually. You know, the African state remains mostly a fictitious state.

Adesoji Iginla (31:43.307)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (32:04.618)
with the legacy of colonialism.

Milton Allimadi (32:10.283)
right? Where you have a you know power really centralized amongst the elite with no concrete connection to the grassroots, right? So in a situation like that it's not surprising that now you find when you need the national army to intervene.

Adesoji Iginla (32:26.178)
They'll be all itchy. Yup.

Milton Allimadi (32:40.307)
the National Army actually has no capacity to be effective in really dealing with this phenomenon that's now bedeviled Nigeria for decades. Just imagine a major nation like Nigeria with all its resources, you know. If this had been made a national priority, you know, who really believes that this issue would not be...

have been resolved a long time ago. If Nigeria had said this is our number one priority, we will deploy the necessary military resources, the diplomatic resources and the financial resources of course because it has to be a multi prompt approach. You cannot say we're just going to have a military approach, we have you know firepower and we will deal with that and crush this situation.

Because, you know, quite frankly, as you actually also alluded to, a lot of this also has issues connected with, you know, marginalization of that part of the country in terms of education, in terms of economic development, in terms of deprivation. So young people have incentive to be recruited.

Adesoji Iginla (33:53.838)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (34:06.168)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (34:06.499)
into the kind of activities that Boko Haram would engage in. If they were really involved in alternative activities, I imagine the young people don't like to go out there and be hiding in the forest or in the jungles also, putting their lives at jeopardy. If they had other activities that could allow them to.

Adesoji Iginla (34:26.807)
Of course not.

Milton Allimadi (34:37.247)
to flourish actually. So these are all tied in together. And obviously we've read many accounts of how even elements of the army sometimes collaborate with them in terms of selling them weapons, you know? So that goes back to the elements that would want to undermine whoever is...

Adesoji Iginla (34:54.043)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (35:05.075)
the president at that particular time. So it has to be a multi-prong issue. It has to be sold to the nation as something that, if we resolve this collectively as Nigeria, it would benefit everybody in the country. But I don't think that approach has been taken. I don't think the crisis is seen that way personally.

Adesoji Iginla (35:28.026)
True, true, true. And also, aside from that, it's also the fact that there's a lack of morale in the armed forces. Years and years of underfunding, lack of training, lack of materials. Again, yes, you want to do so much, but then if you don't have the capacity to approach the task at hand...

Milton Allimadi (35:45.224)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (35:56.138)
You're defeated even before you started. And so the loss in the course of executing the challenge itself, most of it had come from lack of equipment. I mean, there was a time when dissenting became the only way they can register their dissent. But eventually,

Milton Allimadi (35:58.715)
Yes, I agree.

Milton Allimadi (36:14.109)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (36:25.182)
it sort of died down now. At the moment, it's much more internal displacement. So the kidnapping is internal. So again, going back to what you were saying, it's the society, you know, lashing out at the lack of resources to carry out normal economic activities and, you know, left to their own devices, if it's easy money.

you know, even at the cost of, you know, rupturing society, they're carrying out kidnappings, you know. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (37:01.974)
Have a good day.

Milton Allimadi (37:05.447)
Yeah, and it's really tragic. It's sad, but it speaks to many of the underlying currents that are evolving in many African countries with a tremendously burgeoning youth population, right? When we're dealing with separate crisis points, but we are not making the connection that what connects all of them.

Adesoji Iginla (37:23.873)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (37:36.155)
is that Africa has the world's youngest population. The employment opportunities are not expanding. So a lot of the disruptions that we see are actually very predictable. And the population, of course, continues to increase. The youth population continues to increase.

the economic retraction is occurring in many African countries. So if we think that we are in a crisis position today, as we speak in 2024, where will the continent be in the next five to 10 years? It's actually quite frightening. And in my own estimation, if we don't take radical transformative measures,

Adesoji Iginla (38:27.086)
with the projections.

Milton Allimadi (38:35.571)
that are quite different from what we are engaged in right now, that the continent could become overwhelmed. And I'm not trying to create like a doomsday scenario. But if you look at the objective facts, the youth population continues to increase rapidly. Population in general on the African continent, fastest growing in the world.

Adesoji Iginla (38:46.999)
panic.

Milton Allimadi (39:03.175)
while employment opportunities diminish, there's no industrialization, right? Just producing so-called raw materials, minerals and agricultural product. And we have to depend on the well wishes of the outside world. If they don't have demand for the products at one particular time, then it means income collapses. If there's a surge,

Adesoji Iginla (39:13.55)
the roads yeah destruction industries yes

Milton Allimadi (39:32.775)
because they are producing more and they need raw materials, then income goes up. We cannot develop nations based on that type of erratic economic activity. So that's what I really mean that we're in a position where we have to become much more insistent, much more demanding of the leadership. And if the leadership are not presenting ideas how to address these issues, we must not tolerate their existence.

Adesoji Iginla (39:40.918)
on soju.

Adesoji Iginla (39:53.75)
Much more intentional. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (39:59.578)
Vodama? Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (40:02.471)
because it means we as Africans are subsidizing our own suicide. That's unacceptable.

Adesoji Iginla (40:12.698)
So speaking of insisting things had to change, which brings us to the election of Bassirou Faye Fahir, the new president of Senegal. And let's just say things have been very interesting. Right from his oath of office.

Milton Allimadi (40:24.254)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (40:28.841)
Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (40:41.022)
on Tuesday, and he immediately announced the appointment of Ousmane Sonko as his prime minister, which goes to show that it's no longer business as usual. At 44, he is Africa's youngest elected president.

Milton Allimadi (40:53.535)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (41:06.662)
He took his office promising systemic change and paying homage to many people killed. You know, again, like you said, people are not going to stand for the normal business as usual, but in fact will demand that because you have the power or you've been the power to do certain things have been resided in you. It's time for you to pick up the baton and run with it. And so.

Milton Allimadi (41:12.403)
Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (41:36.046)
Question would be.

Milton Allimadi (41:40.465)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (41:41.242)
What do you think in terms of

That election within Senegal, outside of Senegal, and for the greater Africa, what would be your take? Or what do you think the media is not exactly telling us?

Milton Allimadi (42:05.839)
Okay, well, the media actually in this case have had no choice but to see things run ahead of the media, in which case you have no choice, you cannot no longer control the narrative, right? The narrative could have been controlled when a Maquisal, the president who was just,

Adesoji Iginla (42:16.311)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (42:21.806)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (42:32.138)
outgoing yeah

Milton Allimadi (42:36.591)
was creating alternative narratives. You know, first he had postponed the elections. Now, the year before that, he had been equivocating whether he would run again or not, finding loopholes, political loopholes to justify the possibility of running again.

Adesoji Iginla (42:54.322)
Run again.

Milton Allimadi (43:05.507)
Of course, that led to protests in which security forces killed several Senegalese. So that narrative, of course, was dispelled instantly by the election. When people showed that even given only three weeks, they were prepared because they knew whom they wanted to vote for. They wanted to vote for.

Adesoji Iginla (43:30.816)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (43:34.571)
Osman Sonko.

Milton Allimadi (43:34.619)
Osweyn Songo, but of course he was barred by what he said was politically motivated criminal charges, barred from running. And he had been incarcerated and people were concerned at some point, should election proceed without him being allowed to be a candidate? What might be the outcome?

Adesoji Iginla (43:42.89)
of judges, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (43:58.39)
Without him? Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (44:02.787)
it do in terms of stability of the Senegalese state. There was a genuine concern about that, that it could lead to the kind of street disruptions that could not be stopped by the military. And I think at some point, that also became clear to Maki Sao. And of course, he retracted his position.

and he allowed the elections to be held. And as I say, the rest is history. Since Uusman Songo had endorsed Fayek, it was inevitable that he would win overwhelmingly, which he did. And then he appointed, of course, Songo to be the prime minister. So one hopes that they continue to work in Congress, meaning in unison in terms of

Adesoji Iginla (44:37.934)
Yeah

Milton Allimadi (45:02.067)
the political agenda and economic agenda that they share for the nation. So it's a very good sign for me, because obviously people who are familiar with Ustman Songo knew that he had been denouncing French political and economic imperialism, not only in Senegal in particular, but generally throughout West Africa. And in fact,

Adesoji Iginla (45:04.142)
agenda. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (45:22.15)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (45:31.835)
My reading of what has happened in Senegal is that it's the same thing that's been unfolding in other West African countries. In Niger, in Burkina Faso, and in Mali. The only difference is that in those countries, the military was at the forefront of those changes. But those are a different type.

of military coup d'etat compared to the ones in the past, where you would see the general populace, in some instances, will come out to cheer the new leadership because things are so frustrating that there's always a wish that something new in and of itself will be better. Exactly, which of course has not been the case.

Adesoji Iginla (46:22.882)
do regardless of regardless of what

Milton Allimadi (46:30.467)
in many instances. Of course, it was the case when Thomas Saakara came to power in Burkina Faso, in what was an upper Volta, changed it to Burkina Faso and implemented his, you know, socioeconomic and political agenda, which was very beneficial for the country and set a very positive example for other African countries, which of course imperialism did not like.

Adesoji Iginla (46:33.21)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (46:37.304)
Hmm.

That's all we have.

Milton Allimadi (47:00.659)
When you advocate independence and self-reliance, imperialism does not like that. But now, Sankara's name is being echoed by the youth in Mali, in Burkina Faso, in Niger. And it's the same thing that was also being echoed in Senegal. Only in Senegal, it did not get to a situation where the military had to become involved.

Adesoji Iginla (47:00.982)
tool.

Adesoji Iginla (47:15.67)
guinea?

Milton Allimadi (47:29.691)
But to be quite frank, it was not impossible that the military might have become involved had the elections been permanently postponed, had both Fayet and Songo been denied the opportunity to run, and had either Makaesal himself or his hand-picked successor been rigged into the presidency.

Adesoji Iginla (47:57.518)
I'm a, I'm a doobah.

Milton Allimadi (47:59.699)
then in that particular case, I would not have ruled the possibility that the military in Senegal might have done the same thing that has happened in Mali, Bukino Faso and Niger. So I see it as similar to what's evolving in West African country. I think West Africa had been notoriously accused of being too passive and accommodationist to imperialism by France.

Adesoji Iginla (48:07.886)
Thank you Matt, that's into the hour now.

Adesoji Iginla (48:23.822)
The cool.

Milton Allimadi (48:29.211)
But now, West Africa, led by the youth, is actually ahead of the game. And what the example that's setting might actually be transmitted to other parts of the continent, Central Africa, East Africa, going further. Of course, in South Africa, you have the economic freedom fighters, which is definitely a party of the young people. In South Africa, the Constitution and the

Adesoji Iginla (48:37.003)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (48:58.259)
tradition of relative democracy is gaining momentum at a better pace than in other African countries. So in South Africa, I don't see the risk or the need for the armed forces to be involved in the transition. The economic freedom fighters are not being harassed, unlike what we see in Uganda, for example, where you also have the youth movement led by Robert Keagulani, aka Bobby Wine.

who actually outright won the election in 2021, but the military dictator, Museveni, has refused to step down. So in Uganda, I think that's an evolving story, and the military be playing a role, cannot be taken off the table in a place like Uganda. But in South Africa, where you have the youth are not being harassed, not being arrested, not being tortured, not being killed.

But the party is functioning and the party is actually growing in each election cycle. So in South Africa, you can see that the youth empowerment coming to place through largely peaceful means, the way it happened in Senegal. Of course, there was death, bloodshed during the uprising, but relatively, it was largely peaceful in terms of how the election itself was finally conducted.

Adesoji Iginla (50:15.886)
in Senegal.

Adesoji Iginla (50:25.646)
Yeah, I mean, for me, the standout thing was the fact that the election was called at a weekend. People turned out and in two days you knew who were they. Because the result itself was clear. The people didn't mince their words, you know. They were adamant that this is who we wanted, no matter any kind of trickery that the government had in store.

everything just faltered because the people would just say, listen, this is who we're voting for, you know, and that's it. Anything else is, we're not even interested, we're not even, you know, we're not even looking at. And so...

Milton Allimadi (51:08.7)
Right. And we have to congratulate them, actually. Senegal has had a vibrant civil society for a long time, in terms of protests, in terms of the security forces honoring the rights of the people to protest. I mean, Maki Sal almost changed that, and I was about to get security forces involved in partisan politics. And, uh...

Adesoji Iginla (51:12.2)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (51:36.179)
Had he not been checked, had he not retracted, I was very fearful for where Senegal might have ended. So Senegal continues to set an example for other African countries. But I want to say there's not much of a difference between what is going on in Senegal than what is going on in Mali or Burkina Faso, Nijah, which is to end exploitation of Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (51:58.082)
I'm out of here.

Milton Allimadi (52:06.023)
by imperialism, in this case, French imperialism.

Adesoji Iginla (52:12.442)
Okay, and speaking of imperialism, but this time internal imperialism, there's news making the rounds that your favorite president...

Milton Allimadi (52:28.971)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (52:32.043)
has chosen General Muazzei Kalarugaba as army chief with the possibility of him becoming

Milton Allimadi (52:36.848)
Right, it's done.

Milton Allimadi (52:42.163)
all right.

Adesoji Iginla (52:50.347)
uh possibly head of state i'm sure he's uh he's done his internship

Milton Allimadi (52:53.267)
Correct. That is right.

Milton Allimadi (52:58.568)
Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (53:03.822)
And so what would you read into that really? I mean, why now though? Why now? Because, I mean, he's just had an election with... Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (53:09.991)
Why now? Because the country will hold elections within two years.

And of course, in political timeline, two years is a very short time. So this is part of the dictator's campaign strategy, right? To have his son in control of the security forces because there's actually a fear that the military might intervene and prevent him from continuing his dictatorship. He has been in power for 38 years now.

I met with a retired Ugandan military officer last year here in New York, and he told me the level of dissent and division within the military in terms of the officers. And oh yeah, absolutely. And the thing that they detest the most is that the dictator would dare.

Adesoji Iginla (54:02.262)
within the military.

Adesoji Iginla (54:06.39)
Oh.

Milton Allimadi (54:15.959)
install his incompetent alcoholic son. You know, and I have nothing against, you know, alcoholics in particular, but most alcoholics that are serious, they seek help to improve their condition. You know, but in this case, he actually is pride. Yeah, he's proud of his condition, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (54:35.801)
is SIKIM POWA

Milton Allimadi (54:42.687)
And but the officers are quite serious. People that have dedicated their years of service and then see somebody who is promoted over them just because, you know, he just is the progeny is the seeds of dictator Moseveni. That to them is very galling and it's actually reaching their limit. And this is an officer who

Adesoji Iginla (54:49.57)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (55:12.907)
who speaks with these officers on a regular basis. And the word is that the military would not tolerate this. And now that it's installed him as the army commander, it means that the tension within the officer corps, within the armed forces is much, much more intensified. I think this is an act of desperation, of course.

Adesoji Iginla (55:17.437)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (55:28.951)
damage. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (55:42.823)
by the dictator to find ways to prolong his regime. But there are a number of things. Number one, he does not have the kind of relationship that he had in the past with his number one sponsor, which is the United States. The United States, of course, was able to block the World Bank from providing any new credit, any new loans to Uganda, which is significant.

Adesoji Iginla (55:59.918)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (56:10.635)
Oh.

Milton Allimadi (56:12.091)
beginning last year in August. So the budget is under tremendous pressure right now. So what it's doing is increasing taxes on almost a monthly basis. So in fact, what is occurring right now in Campala, many of the merchants are on strike. So many of the stores are shut down with many streets.

Adesoji Iginla (56:40.706)
So there's no taxes.

Milton Allimadi (56:42.023)
deserted. And these are the kind of issues that ultimately, at some point, can lead people to come out to the streets in mass numbers. And the word is that the military don't want to be ahead of the change. The military want the people on the streets to be at the forefront of any change. And then the military.

Adesoji Iginla (57:01.869)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (57:08.282)
lead yeah okay we'll step in if you need

Milton Allimadi (57:11.511)
would not stop this change from occurring. So that's what we might see between now and 2026 before the elections, or we might see it after the elections. In other words, if you don't have the cohesiveness in the military establishment, it will be very difficult for you to rig elections once again, as you have done on several occasions in the past, just perpetuating its role. So that's my reading of what is going on.

Adesoji Iginla (57:33.084)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (57:40.135)
He thinks that by installing his son, he has a better chance to control the military. So his son would be gathering intelligence for him. People would be feeding intelligence to his son because obviously he's the commander now. But that intelligence alone, if the will is not to support you anymore, you may know as much as you know, but it won't stop things.

Adesoji Iginla (57:40.43)
So 2020. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (57:49.998)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (58:01.507)
They can feed you, yeah, they can feed you, they can even feed you dot information.

Milton Allimadi (58:05.99)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (58:07.53)
So what you're now saying is he has no capital in terms of his geopolitical importance. He did send some troops to Somalia and his forays into Congo, and he's leaning on Kagame. So that is in jeopardy. That's what we can read into the situation.

Milton Allimadi (58:15.28)
Absolutely.

Milton Allimadi (58:20.284)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (58:34.331)
Right, because in Somalia, Kenya has also deployed, and the U.S. would rather deal with Kenya, actually. You see, the Secretary of Defense, when he visited East Africa, he went to Kenya, not to Uganda. The Secretary of State has met with Kenyan President Ruto. Ruto was in the White House. Yes, he was there.

Adesoji Iginla (58:37.697)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (58:46.327)
Lotus.

Adesoji Iginla (58:57.131)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (59:03.303)
when they had the US Africa Business Summit. So it was not the Ugandan leader being saying come to the White House. It was just there when all the other African leaders happened to be there, but Ruto was invited to come. So they're working now closely with Kenya. So Kenya is now seen as the country that the US would work with that would do, play the role that Moussourvenie played in the past.

Adesoji Iginla (59:05.782)
I forgot some of it, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (59:32.91)
Okay. So thank you for this inaugural premiere, which is hopefully people take a lot and we hope to see you all next week, but this time at an earlier time between six and seven. And so until next week.

Any famous words, comrade?

Milton Allimadi (01:00:07.073)
I always loved Samora Machel Although I have a very funny story. And I forget who the author of the book was. It was about Fela. And Fela shared a plane with some of the fighters of FRELIMO I don't know where the plane was flying from, where to where. So Fela went and got into conversation with them.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:14.55)
God, just do that.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:20.31)
Oh.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:26.114)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (01:00:31.299)
And one of them said, I'll do the continue. And I said, what is that? So the struggle continues. Fela said, oh, no, no. The struggle must end. That would be the solution. The struggle must end is better than the struggle continues. Only Fela can come up with something like that. He said, why would you want the struggle to just keep continuing? It must end with victory.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:40.61)
Oh.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:45.582)
Oh my god.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:52.199)
Heh.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:57.939)
Victory has set us. Yeah, thank you everyone. Now you're welcome, you're welcome. Thank you all for coming. Yeah, thank you for coming. Thank you.

Milton Allimadi (01:00:59.827)
Thank you, comrade, for having me. Thank you so much.

Great.