EP 8 Cartoons, Carats and Congo I African News Review 🌍

In this episode of African News Review, Adesoji Iginla discusses key stories affecting Africa, including Botswana's diamond industry, the political dynamics in Burkina Faso, a controversial sponsorship deal involving the DR Congo, and Kemi Badenoch's identity and political views. 

The conversation highlights the impact of colonialism, local agency, and the challenges faced by African nations in asserting control over their resources and narratives.

Takeaways

*Botswana is considering taking full control of its diamond resources.
*The diamond market is facing challenges from lab-grown alternatives.
*Colonial legacies continue to influence African nations' control over resources.
*Burkina Faso is experiencing political instability linked to security issues.
*The French government has historically influenced political changes in West Africa.
*DR Congo's sponsorship deal with Barcelona raises questions about national priorities.
*Kemi Badenoch's rejection of her Nigerian identity reflects broader themes of cultural assimilation.
*Satirical cartoons in Uganda serve as a form of political critique.
*The local population's perspective is often overlooked in international reporting.
*African nations must navigate the complexities of foreign imperialism while asserting their agency.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Overview of Botswana's Diamond Industry
12:12 Political Dynamics in Burkina Faso
24:47 DR Congo's Sponsorship Deal with Barcelona
31:56 Satire and Freedom of Expression in Uganda
41:33 Kemi Badenoch's Identity and Political Views

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:01.58)
Yes, greetings, greetings, and welcome to another episode of African News Review. I am your host, Adesuji Iginla. And with me, unfortunately, I'm by myself. Comrade Milton Alimadi is under the weather, and Sister Aya is on a study tour of Egypt. She will be away for the next three weeks. But.

that nowithstanding the show must continue as they say. And for our first story today, we go to the Money Paper, the Financial Times, and it lends itself by saying.

The best.

Can Botswana mount a takeover of the Bears? The Bears happens to be the largest diamond company in the world. And it's currently undergoing some sort of turmoil in Botswana. And I'll read further. The lead says, diamond transformed the African nation economy at its serious about taking control of Anglo-Americans business.

The story was filed in by Kamila Hodgson and Joseph Cottrell in London and Monica Mark in Johannesburg. When the Bears found diamond in Botswana in 1967, it set a newly independent nation on the course to become one of Africa's wealthiest countries. Almost 60 years later, a ferocious attack by Botswana's government in Angola

Adesoji Iginla (01:49.248)
in the Anglo-American sale of the world's most valuable diamond producers has shown just how quickly the long relationship has hit the rocks. The country's mining minister told the Financial Times last week that President Duma Boko was serious about turning Botswana 15 % in the bears into full control over the strategic national asset as tension rises during the worst slump in the diamond market.

And for those who are not conversant, the diamond market has been going through a turmoil largely because you now have lab-grown diamonds taking over the market in terms as against the natural diamond market. And so those economies in Africa, the likes of South Africa and Botswana, and to a lesser extent Angola,

have seen a drop in their revenue with regards to the amount that comes in from the diamond trade. I will go further. There is something quite interesting next. It said Boko in a fiery July speech that Boko Botswana, the source of most of the best diamond and reliant on the stone for most of his exports, was broke, adding that the company was not doing his job.

Maybe we should take over and sell them ourselves. Now, in this story I've highlighted two key parts. For me, one is who owns the diamonds and who has agency over said diamonds. Now, if you read here, it says almost 60 years later, a ferocious attack. You're calling, you're referring to Botswana as a pack of dogs.

And this is supposed to be in the morning paper. Colonialism is never far when money is involved. Because there is no way you would say this of another company, any other place in the world other than in Africa, that chooses to exercise its agency with regards to its own natural resources. So that's one. Then two is the fact that you allude to the fact

Adesoji Iginla (04:17.6)
that yes, Botswana is the source of most of the bears diamonds. And so you're now questioning its reliance on the stones for most of its exports. Now categorizing them as broke, adding that the company was not doing its job. You know, that's the Botswana saying that the company was not doing its job. Now, one would ask the question, when

You see, Botswana being the source of most of the best diamond and reliant on it, are you questioning their reliance? Surely, its agency with regards to whether it owns the diamond or not or how it deals with it on the grand scheme of things would suggest the country in itself is not really independent. Which takes me back to the book written in

in the early 60s by Kwame Nkrumah in Neocolonialism, the last stage on imperialism, where he says specifically that most of these countries have only gotten flag independence and they don't exactly control their resources because most of these resources are controlled by companies outside of. Mr. The late Dr. Walter Rodney also goes a step further in his book

how Europe underdeveloped Africa, that most of the resources in those countries are not, and I repeat, are not within the control of the indigenous population. And so when Botswana owning 15 % decides to increase its control, its stake in the exploitation of its own natural resources,

And external companies are now questioning the reason why that is. One should then ask the question, who is really in charge? You know, so...

Adesoji Iginla (06:27.47)
There was one other thing, it's also important that we highlight, and that is the fact that the diamond trade, although has been crashing for a very long time, with the advent of lab-grown diamonds, we also have to understand that in this case, there is a tussle between the old government, which used to run

business with the bears and the new newly elected government which came into power last year who probably want to chart a new course with regards to how diamonds are exploited in Botswana. But for some reason the money paper and those that have been doing the quiet whispers have a different opinion as to how the said diamonds should be run.

We should also bear in mind, which regards to Botswana's takeover talks, it could also be that it is a bargaining chip, a bargaining tactic that is, that Botswana is saying, maybe if they put it out there that we are looking to take over the company and run the business on our own, maybe the company, the

Partners might then say, we can give you a better deal as opposed to you running on your own and we'll work in tandem with you. So that is one that remains to be seen. With regards to the political shifts,

We must understand that the new government is of a new generation. That's the generation that was born after, clearly long after the country got independence. And they might just see, well, looking to the likes of Burkina Faso, where Captain Ibrahim Draore has decided, you know what, I'm going to take control over the control of gold.

Adesoji Iginla (08:40.73)
and see what I can do with regards to increasing the income of Burkina Faso. The new government of President Boko might just be thinking, I might also be thinking, I might also be willing to do the same thing. Let me try and see what is out there. If we go a different route and decide, you know what, there is something favorable in terms of how we go about

exploiting this business, it might increase our income. It might bring in more jobs for the kids and the local population. So when it comes to this...

article. When I was reading it, what was lost on me was, for one, although the mining minister was interviewed, the thought of the local population was not taken into consideration. Again, if we look at the fact that the three, the four people who wrote, the three people who wrote the article

were not based in Botswana. So they were writing from afar, two in London and one in Johannesburg. So you then have to ask the question is, if you're not on there and you're not gauging the local population's understanding of what the affairs are, what you're basically doing is a projection. You are doing a commercial projection on the country. And so

we're talking about understanding how the population will see the possible takeover of President Duma Boko of the diamond trade. And if not, clearly something maybe the president knows something that and the people know something that the Financial Times clearly doesn't. And then there is also the lack of community

Adesoji Iginla (10:56.5)
impact assessment. The company has been operating in Botswana since 1967. There is no question of what the impact is with regards to how the company has been operated, what has been its social responsibility or response in terms to set social responsibility within Botswana. That is missing in the article.

But I will just leave with this. While the paper underscores the economic dependency of Botswana on its diamonds, we should also understand that in 2025, with the large movement of the political nature of how the interests of the youth in terms of how their countries are governed,

we cannot easily dismiss that African ownership of said resources is a very enticing promise.

But the problem is they still have to engage with foreign imperialism, as we've seen in this article within the Financial Times. And so it remains a story that we'll continue to watch and we'll continue to monitor how the citation pans out. So that said, the issue of

mineral resources within the African continent has always been one of contention. And you can just look across the continent. Gold in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Adesoji Iginla (12:55.352)
diamonds in Botswana, oil in the likes of Nigeria, the likes of Ghana, gold also in Ghana. But there is a constant drumbeat. And the constant drumbeat is most of this exploitation is done to the detriment of the local population.

Being a Nigerian, slew of cases have been running through the British courts with regards to the exploitation of crude oil in the eastern part of Nigeria. And most of those cases have been founded in favor of the local population. By that, the environmental degradation of that space leads much to be desired. And so, again, that was one thing that was missing.

within the story I just looked at in the Financial Times. For our next story, we go to Upper Volta, or as it's now known, Burkina Faso, the land of Captain Ibrahim Traore. And the story comes from the Associated Press.

And it reads, attack on military base in Burkina Faso kills about 50 soldiers, residents say. The lead, the story was filed in Lagos, which again lends itself to the lack of local input. And you and I could take a guess as to why that is the case.

So the lead reads, an attack by an armed group on a military base in northern Burkina Faso has left about 50 soldiers dead, according to account by a community leader and a resident on Tuesday. The Jamal Nazri Al Islam Wa Mumin group, or JNIM, are suspected of carrying out the attack on Monday.

Adesoji Iginla (15:12.646)
the base in Dago in Bolsa province in the northern region of the landlocked West African nation. The two sources who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from the military said about a hundred militants participated in the attack that killed that participating in the attack and that the gunmen burned and looted the base after the

killings.

The end part of the article lends itself to the possible motivation as to why the story is written, was filed rather. The deteriorating security situation has led to political shifts in the country and has served as a pretext for back-to-back coups. The military leader Ibrahim Jauré has been unable to rein in the Islamic group within

despite the redrawing of political and military allies. Well, again, we've dealt with stories like this in the past. And in order to break them down, we have to also understand context. Context is key. Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, to a lesser extent, Niger, have been impacted by the overthrow.

of Cornell, Mohamed Gaddafi in 2011.

Adesoji Iginla (16:47.776)
And that has continued to play itself out in the course of that decade and into the present decade. Now, the story says the deteriorating security situation has led to political shifts in the country, and it says there's a pretext for back-to-back coups. That's not the reason for the back-to-back coups. The reason for the back-to-back coups have been the

French exploitation of the resources within French speaking West Africa. And we have been party to coups in Guinea, coups in Mali, coups in Niger, and coups in Burkina Faso.

And the thing that has happened thereafter, these coups have been the seeking of the French forces leaving. But one would ask, why would they leave when coups have just happened in the countries? Most of these coups have gotten the rubber stamp of the French Legionnaire within those forces.

and they have acted as destabilizing forces in those aforementioned countries. Within the West African coast, from 1962 up till and including now, there have been over 67 military coups. Majority of those military coups, about 40 or 45%, 40 or 40 of them, have been largely backed by the French government. Why? Because

The French has been involved in removing, quote unquote, unfriendly governments to Paris, that is the government in Paris. And so using this as a codule, using that phrase there, the deteriorating security situation has led to political shifts in the country and are said as a pretext to back to back coups. That is in itself a codule. It's a

Adesoji Iginla (19:04.59)
a dog whistle to say the only reason why the incessant incursions into the territorial regions of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea and Niger have only been down to the fact that they don't have a democratically elected government in place. I should also add

that France was there, military, during the presidency of President Jules Hollande of Paris, of France, who insisted on sending brigades to Burkina Faso to fight the so-called terrorist, which is another word that was actually missing in this article.

The phrase, terrorists, was not used, but instead militants. So one begins to ask the question, what's the motivation for said story? If you're not using the, quote unquote, the normal phrases you use when a foreign backed government is in charge and it's the territorial integrity of said foreign government is being undermined, you're not using

terrorist, you're not using Islamist, you're not using what's the other phrase they would use, you're not using, I mean, host, a repertoire of normal descriptive terms are missing in here. And so you have to ask what's the reason. And so again, the, oh yeah, jihad is another one that's missing.

So one would ask, why is it that most of these countries are unstable? Majority of them have a long standing colonial legacy. And like I said, when majority of them got independence in the early, in the 1960s, they were co-opted by the French government to sign an understanding called the pact of continued

Adesoji Iginla (21:33.88)
colonialism and I repeat the pact of continued colonialism which meant most of their budgets resided in Paris so much so that even if they wanted to use money, their money to develop their spaces they had to write a business case to Paris for their money to be released.

And I kid you not, yes, they're effectively having to give a business case as to why they need their money. And even then, even then when the money is released, French companies have the right of first refusal. I repeat, French companies have the right of first refusal to those contracts.

So just because you got the money from France or you were lucky enough to get the money from France does not mean you can go off and do your own stuff. French companies will still take the first bite of the cherry when it comes to those contracts. So you begin to see that so much

misunderstanding will have been brewing over time and the development that could have been spread across the country had not been the case. Instead, companies in France can basically plan out their year with regards to where they will get the contracts from. And meanwhile, the people in these respective French speaking countries have no say. One final

my point on this article. There's also the issue of, I mean, to a lesser extent now, there's also the issue of the land standing residual issue as regards the CFA, which was the currency that was used by majority of those 16 countries, French speaking countries in West Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (23:53.61)
up to now, some of them are, but the Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are already looking at modalities of moving away from the Sifa. But while they move away, the residual effects of those currencies are still living with them. And so we have to ask the question, when it comes to colonialism, yes, the flags

The tricolor in the case of France went down in 1960 in majority of those West African countries.

The strings of colonialism were not entirely cut. In fact, they were strengthened not just through cultural exchanges, but also ensuring that the government in power only acquires to the dictates of successive French governments. I'm talking from Charles de Gaulle, Optiland, including

Emmanuel Macron, who is not the president. And so if

My listeners and viewers want to dig a little deeper with regards to the impact of colonialism within that space called French-speaking West Africa. First and foremost, I would ask you to go and look into Patrick Manning's Francophone, Sub-Saharan Africa, 1880 to 1995. It's...

Adesoji Iginla (25:34.744)
Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa by Patrick Manin. Another one would be Africa's Last Colonial Currency, the Sifa-Frank Story by Fania Picard and Ndogo Silla. The Africa's Last Colonial Currency, the Sifa Story, Fania Picard and Ndogo Samba Silla.

Adesoji Iginla (26:06.018)
That said, we move on to our next story, which comes from the BBC and it's titled.

Adesoji Iginla (26:22.712)
But one, Barcelona agrees to share sponsorship deal with Wharton the DRC, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It says Barcelona players would have DR Congo, heart of Africa, emblazoned on the back of their training shirts from the start of next season after the top Spanish football team agreed on a four-year deal with a Central African country. The partnership will reportedly cost the Democratic Republic of Congo

44 million euros, about 50 million dollars, and that is 38 million pounds, although the club has not disclosed the figure it will receive. The arrangement has faced criticisms from some Congolese who have questioned their government's priorities, especially at its own football league has been plagued by chronic underfunding for years.

But the authorities have defended the agreement saying it will raise the profile of the country.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has signed similar deals with Italian side AC Milan and French team AS Monaco. Last month, Boudinbo described them as part of a strategy to reposition DR Congo as a leader in tourism and investment opportunities. He says, when you talk about tourism, it should be about things that

Adesoji Iginla (28:09.816)
to see when people come here. For me, rather than investing money abroad, they should invest that money to build the country first. Mosinga Lefu, a resident of the capital, Kinshasa, told the BBC what another resident, Freddie Kabageli, said the advantages of the deal and saw the advantages of the deal and said he was happy to show the DRC off to the world and also to bring tourists.

to the country. Whoa. When I first saw this story, I was a bit taken aback. For one.

Two things screamed at me here. First and foremost, Barcelona too is going through a financial crisis at the moment. But taking 44 million euros from the DRC to put the name, to put the words DRC, heart of Africa on the back of your training shirts.

not your jerseys, not the one you wear during the matches, but on the back of your training shirts as part of the four-year deal.

makes me sick to the depth of my stomach and I'll tell you why. First and foremost, Congo is going through a crisis. We have run a number of stories here about how Congo continues to suffer since the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 up till and including 2025.

Adesoji Iginla (30:04.774)
and a government is now talking tourism. The country is virtually a war zone and you're talking about attracting tourism. One of your residents said your football league suffers for a lack of funds. Surely if you spread this money over your national league you would see some sort of recompense with regards to what it would bring.

to your country. You have teams running in the African Champions League. If they have money to travel back and forth to go and play their league, surely people would see the country on their TVs and be

happy to visit if they want to but to go and give your money to Europeans as a way of selling yourselves on the world stage defeats the purpose. There is no reason whatsoever that this idea should even have crossed the mind of anyone, not least any responsible leader.

within Africa that you would go and advertise your country on the shirt of a football club, on the training shirt, not the football jersey that they'll be wearing in the course of a match. you know, literally they'll come in, it's at the back, most of the time they come in, the camera is facing them. So the only time anyone will probably see

that DRC is when they go and shake hands with the team they're about to play. And that doesn't take more than a minute.

Adesoji Iginla (32:07.864)
So literally, beggars belief. It beggars belief. And this is the kind of nonsense that countries in Africa have to put up with when you elect leaders that have lost their marbles with regards to their order of priorities.

Some would argue that... I mean, there is no argument in its favour as far as Congo is concerned.

And I can't blame Barcelona. And the reason why I can't blame Barcelona is it's running a business.

Lawyers out there would say simply because it's a bad deal doesn't mean it's illegal. It's a bad deal because you place yourself in such a situation for you to be able to be exploited. Because this is exploitation. This is you taking yourself to Europe to be exploited not by one company.

Not by one football club. By three football clubs. Three football clubs.

Adesoji Iginla (33:37.474)
biggest belief but we go on.

Adesoji Iginla (33:42.627)
So.

Adesoji Iginla (33:48.824)
Go to Uganda and to the Guardian for our next story, which is...

and it reads

Adesoji Iginla (34:11.48)
Controversy is always a good father. Ugandan cartoonists turn their pens on the president's provocative son, General Muhusi Kaleru Gaba. Inflammatory social media posts provide rich pickings for satirists in the country where freedom of expression is usually curtailed.

The first of the cartoon. I would read the cartoon. I have never seen such beautiful Susu. Susu, apparently in Swahili, means urine.

A supreme leader, have you been told that your mustache looks like the Garden of Eden? Do you know that you are wiser than King Solomon? Your teeth are the kind every leader wants, every lady wants. Wow! Your belch smells like the best meal ever. And this story is filed by Carlos Moretti in Kampala.

A bulky man wearing a baggy green army uniform, enraged on the ground, another man wearing sandals, stands in the podo, looks down and says, I've never seen such beautiful Susu. You're in inverted commas. In this scatological cartoon. Scatological meaning, human excrement, for want of a better word.

which appears on Facebook. The psychophatic man with wet feet is supposed to be Balem Antey, a Ugandan government minister. The man relieving himself is General Mujozi, head of the military. The provocative social media poster and the presumptive hair to his father, President Yoweri Museveni. Apparently,

Adesoji Iginla (36:19.936)
Ateni, the minister, has a habit of praising everything Gerard Mujovi, Mujozi, does even when he tweets all that nonsense, said cartoonist creator Jimmy's fire, Setongo. So I drew a cartoon depicting the infantile nature of his praise. Some would say in this neck of the woods, they will call such a person the bootlega, a bootleka.

And for the Americans with us, probably will be familiar with such satirical cartoons, especially when it comes to the recent episode of South Park, the, your, sorry, your emperor, sorry.

probably playing with words, your king, no, sorry, your elected president was satirized by the cartoonist of South Park. So this story essentially is saying the freedom of expression, although curtailed, cartoon have now become the tool to critique the authoritarian Museveni

administration. And this is not the first time that satire has been used to highlight injustices, incompetence of politicians on the African continent. Many will be aware that a couple of years ago, a series of Nigerian heads of state shut down Twitter, shut down Facebook,

because apparently they were depicted or stories that were being carried or opinions that were being shared on those respective platforms were not doing justice to the fragile egos of those in power. And now that, for some reason,

Adesoji Iginla (38:43.906)
the fragile egos of this heads of states have been exposed for what they are, it is important that we actually double down. The notion of using caricatures to satirize even the mini Mussolini in the United States should be doubled down.

Because as we've read and have seen, he has a very, very fragile ego. He loves being eulogized, but the moment you criticize him is going to probably cost people their livelihood, as Mr. Colbert found out to his detriment.

it remains to be seen as to how

This little tyrant in Uganda would respond because so far he's gone after the leader of the opposition, Bobby Wine, who many would consider to be the rightful president simply because Djeramu Hose's father refuses to cede power. The same man who in 1992 wrote a book

that the problem with African leaders is they stay too long. Yes, he wrote that book himself in 1992. And in 2025, the man is seeking to run for another term of office. Let that sink in. And so the question remains.

Adesoji Iginla (40:45.292)
What do we make of this story? One is the fact that the story itself was filed in Kampala, which means the journalist is on the ground. The coverage within the article is well balanced because it's talking about the power of observation. Someone has observed that there is a minister within the country.

who has taken it upon himself to worship or kiss the boots of General Muhovi. Why he has chosen to do that is left best to his thoughts. But that is one thing we should let's marinate in terms of how we view

the article. There is one other theme that I want to leave us with and it's the fact that

Africans have always had a way of satirizing their leaders.

Adesoji Iginla (42:02.952)
In Eurobars, within the Eurobars, have people who will beat drums and go around and basically, obviously they would have been paid or their palm would have been greased to call out someone. And they will do it to the point where they might not exactly call your name, but

description will match you to a T that you're left with no everyone around you understands who is being called out and although your name has not been you've not been referred to in by name you're left with possible the scar of public ridicule for a very long time and so this

satirical work is just following in line with what has always been. And so I commend the journalists for doing a diluting job of also showing to others across the continent that you do have

an outlet, which regards to if you want to critique your leaders, if you don't want to write a long piece, you can simply draw caricatures and, you know, add little words of what you consider to be the most egregious part of their characters. And that becomes an order of the day. And so I would enjoy people to go.

read the paper or the article as it were filed in by Carlos Moretti in Kampala and it's titled controversy is always a good father.

Adesoji Iginla (44:07.37)
Uganda's Khartunis turn their pens on the president's provocative son.

I would go for our final story. We return to the BBC.

And this time, it's a story closer to home. And it's about his majesty's leader of the opposition, Mrs. Kemmy Bardenok. And the story from the BBC is titled, I No Longer Identify as Nigerian, Bardenok says.

And the story is filed by Otili Michel and it reads, conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch has said she no longer identifies as Nigerian and has not renewed her passport since the early 2000s. Badenoch, who was born in the UK, grew up in both Nigeria and the US. She returned to England.

age 16 because of Nigerian worsening political economic climate and economic climate and continued her education. Speaking on former MP and member of parliament and television presenter Giles Brandeis Roseboard podcast, she said she was Nigerian by ancestry, though by identity I am not really.

Adesoji Iginla (45:52.354)
She goes on. Badinox said she visited the country when her father died. She had to get a visa. which was a big fund and go. She said her early experiences in Nigeria shaped her political outlook, including why I don't like socialism. As a child, I remember not quite feeling that I belong there.

She went on saying she recall coming back to the UK in 1996 thinking this is home. Hmm, interesting. First things first.

Adesoji Iginla (46:41.016)
There is a great deal to be unpicked, to be picked from the story. One is...

I respect her choice to no longer identify as Nigerian.

Adesoji Iginla (47:03.242)
I also respect the fact that you could criticize the country, Nigeria, which is anyone with

with a faculty can do. But when she says our early experiences in Nigeria shaped her political outlook, including why I don't like socialism, Nigerians will be the first to tell you that we take care of our own and that's the very meaning of socialism. I repeat, we take care of our own from the old,

the less financially able, which is why...

The Nigeria two years ago ranked as the highest in terms of remittances to the African continent, sending in excess of over 5 billion.

to the continent, to Nigeria. So that is the very definition of socialism. So the fact that you don't like socialism tells us a lot about you. And the fact that you now said, what did she say? When she said, I want to quote her properly. When she said, speaking to

Adesoji Iginla (48:37.294)
She was Nigerian, ancestry. by identity, though by identity, I am not really. Okay. I know the country very well. I have a lot of people very well. I'm very interested in what happens there. But my home is where my family is. On not renewing the passport, I don't identify with it anymore. Most of my life has been in the UK. I've just never felt the need to.

There is a Frantz Fanon's Black Skin White Mask. If you allow me to read a particular, I will stop sharing. There is a particular piece in Fanon's classic, Black Skin White Mask, and it reads, all colonized people,

In other words, people whom an inferiority complex has taken root, whose local cultural originality has been committed to the grave, position themselves in relation to the civilizing language, the metropolitan culture. The more the colonized has assimilated the cultural values of the metropolis, the more he or she

would have escaped the bush. The more he rejects his blackness and the bush, the whiter he will become. He goes on. They serve to convey to their fellow the master's orders, and they themselves, as they themselves, enjoy a certain status. Now.

One would ask whether has that got to do with Miss Badenoch. For one, as a Yoruba person, there's an old adage that every Yoruba person would know. They would say, kin fi owosi, ju we le. And I repeat, kin fi owosi, ju we le. Which is, you do not say eo of wherever you come from.

Adesoji Iginla (51:04.086)
Whatever you be or whatever you become, that's on you. That's fine. But the denigration of your roots, your ancestry, is on becoming of anybody that is considered.

a Yoruba person. Which also leads me to read from another classic, although this is probably hard to come by now. It's titled, African's Cultural Revolution by Okot Bitek. The book was written in 1974. And it reads,

Adesoji Iginla (51:49.314)
She, a peasant, is talking to the Okos, members of a native ruling class that have been nurtured in colonial schools and universities, imbibing, often without knowing it, all the colonial middle class values. This class tends to mold itself in the image of Western bourgeoisie in dress, behavior, and in general conduct in the affairs of state.

The occurs of the neo-colonial Africa are not interested in reconstructing, developing the broken end and bruised roots of the African civilization and institutions through the only path that will make this possible, but a total immersion and involvement in the Western civilization. So again, we see examples of this

kind of rhetoric that goes through black faces in high places. Be it in the United States, in the UK here, we have our own class of this sort of people.

Again, as if I'm preaching to the converted, you've heard in Bob Marley's classic, emancipate yourself from mental slavery. You could complete the end. And it goes without saying that if you continue in this path, if you continue in this path, you're not doing anybody a disservice other than yourself and your kids.

Because at some point, your kids will want to know what those roots are. Because when they look in the mirror, you're not going to be around your kids most of the time. And so if you don't give them the anchoring rods of culture, they would hold it against you.

Adesoji Iginla (54:04.672)
I would just say in the lyrics of another great of ours who we're actually celebrating the anniversary of his passing today, Fela Anikula Kpokuti, when he sang, performed this classic,

You see, all of this is just around you and you begin to wonder like to what end, to what end, to what end, to what end Ms. Clark, Ms. Badunok, to what end. The people you are trying to ingratiate yourself with, I can, I can tell you.

wholeheartedly.

Adesoji Iginla (54:59.426)
The guy you replaced did not have to do this to become the prime minister. Rishi Sunak. Rishi Sunak performed an Indian rights before he went into

Number 10 Downing Street. And for those who don't know, number 10 Downing Street is the address of the prime minister's office and residence in the United Kingdom. He didn't have to do this. He didn't have to debase himself in order for him to become prime minister of Britain. But for some reason, she feels the need to. But one thing is clear.

The UK have a way of using people as placeholders. And you can be rest assured that you're a placeholder. If and when they decide they have somebody credible that can become the leader of the opposition, that can subsequently become the prime minister of this country, you'll be discarded just like the placeholder that you are. And so...

it's beggars believe that people still grovel to be accepted by

the masters, as a good doctor would say, because you love your master. You do anything to ingratiate yourself with it. I mean, it goes back to the cartoon we were looking at earlier. When you try as much as possible to denigrate,

Adesoji Iginla (56:47.062)
your culture in the interest of imperialism. It's Ibega's belief. That said, we have come to the end of this episode of African News Review. Hopefully, Comrade Milton Alimadi will be able to join us next week. He has been under the weather. There's a slight cold.

Sister Aya Fibera Eneli is in Egypt on a study tour. So she'll be away for the next three weeks. And hopefully, she'll be able to bring us some inspiring thoughts of what she gathered in Egypt. And hopefully, Comrade Milton Alimadi will also be able to join us next week. But from me.

I would say thank you all for coming through. Do remember to like, share, subscribe, and all the other good stuff. I also be mindful that the audio version of this episode will be available on all audio podcast platforms. First thing Monday morning, so you can download it and reference.

any part of it that you find informative. But from me, Adesuji Genla, it's good night and God bless.