EP 12 Erased, Trump's Pastor, Books and more ... I African News Review

In this episode of African News Review, host Adesoji Iginla engages with guests Aya Fubara and Milton Allimadi to discuss the representation of Africa in Western media, the impact of colonialism, and the importance of cultural preservation. 

They explore personal sacrifices made by diaspora Africans, the role of elders in society, and the need for youth empowerment. 

The conversation also touches on media accountability, the contributions of African soldiers in World War I and World War II, and the significance of education in fostering change. 

The episode concludes with a call to action for the youth to take charge of their future and preserve their cultural heritage.

Takeaways

*Western media often misrepresents Africa, leading to harmful stereotypes.
*Diaspora Africans face personal sacrifices in their fight against oppressive regimes.
*Respect for elders is crucial in African culture, but it must be earned and demonstrated.
*Media accountability is essential, as seen in the BBC controversy.
*The contributions of African soldiers in World War I and World War II are often overlooked.
*Colonialism has lasting effects on African nations and their identities.
*Cultural preservation is vital for future generations.
*Youth empowerment is necessary for societal change in Africa.
*Education plays a key role in combating ignorance and fostering growth.
*Political leadership must be held accountable to the youth.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to African Media Representation
02:40 Milton Allimadi's Journey and Activism
05:42 The Impact of Western Media on Africa
08:13 Respecting Elders and Their Contributions
10:54 Media Ethics and Accountability
14:46 Remembrance of African Soldiers in World Wars
23:48 The Psychological Impact of Loss
26:26 Historical Injustices and Ongoing Trauma
29:02 The Need for Historical Awareness
31:47 The Dangers of European Worship
38:19 Spiritual Manipulation and Exploitation
45:16 Decolonising the Mind: A Call to Action
47:53 Transforming African Leadership and Mentality
50:52 Political Dynamics in Djibouti: A Case Study
54:26 Youth Empowerment and the Future of Africa
58:25 Cultural Preservation: The Role of Libraries
01:06:58 Taking Action: Community Engagement and Responsibility

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:06.892)
Yes, welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of African News Review. I am your host, Adesuji Iginla. I hope you're a lovely week so far. And as is usual, we come together to have this conversation regarding Africa's depiction in Western media. And with me, starting with the sister first, we have Aya Fubera, NLAI Square, author, Yourself Love Revolution, host, Rethinking Freedom.

which is available on 98.5 FM Killeen, co-host of Women and Resistance. And the gentleman needs no introduction, but introduced we shall. He is an explorer extraordinaire, one who's been going. He is Comrade Milton Almadi, host of Black Star News on WBAI 99.5 FM, New York radio.

Milton Allimadi (00:52.984)
to it.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03.212)
author of Manufacturing Hate, How the West Demonized Africa. Welcome to both of you.

Milton Allimadi (01:09.793)
Asante en du. Thank you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10.227)
Thank you. Thank you. Brother, I want to say, I'm wondering if your listeners actually know who we have the pleasure of sitting with and listening to. I mean, you give a brief introduction of Brother Alamadi, but brother, can you just tell us just, no, just a little bit about, yes, just a little bit about.

Adesoji Iginla (01:12.813)
I-

Adesoji Iginla (01:25.07)
You

Milton Allimadi (01:27.854)
Thank

We every week. We meet every week.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:36.519)
your path how you came to be in this western part and whether you can actually go home and you know We're talking about how we fight back, but they're real Consequences and people are paying a lot of sacrifices. So can you just just take a few minutes if you don't mind?

Milton Allimadi (01:45.763)
right.

Adesoji Iginla (01:45.828)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:54.382)
course, no problem. I like many diaspora Africans, I personally cannot go back to Uganda at the moment. I've been engaged in opposing Uganda's dictator of 40 years now, General Museveni. And I'm glad that many people have caught up to the facts now. You know how the West like covering up for their

favorite dictator, like they covered up for Mobutu for a very long time. So you don't get the sense of how useless he is to the country, but very useful to the West, you see? And that is also one of the main reasons why I engage in a critique of Western media propaganda. I mean, they dismiss African media as tools of propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (02:24.761)
Mm-hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (02:24.967)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (02:36.452)
Mm, mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (02:37.319)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (02:52.235)
They're the biggest propagandists in the world. But they do it in a very clever way. They preach objectivity and the way they write it, it does sound objective, right? But I'm sure our comrades who have joined us in conversation on a weekly basis have now learned how to decipher the propaganda that's embedded in messages that seem very neutral, very objective, when in fact,

Adesoji Iginla (03:03.31)
Hm. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (03:21.139)
is the complete opposite. That's the most dangerous type of propaganda because the one that's so explicitly open, people can easily dismiss it. So my siblings, and I like it that way, they're not engaged in politics the way I am. So they're free to go in and out of our beloved country, Uganda. But this to me is a sacrifice that is worth it because we're trying to build

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:27.725)
Mm. Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:39.272)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (03:48.934)
not only our individual countries, but the entire continent. We want the next generation to have a much better opportunity to really, as Mali Mujula used to say, so that each and every individual can become their very best. And of course, that's not possible right now in many African countries when we have individual rulers who treat the country as if it's private

That's how they treat these countries. So yeah, I don't really feel too much hurt by the fact that I can't go to Uganda right now because I engage with Ugandans in other spaces. I engage with other Africans and I feel actually very African. I believe in confining myself to...

Adesoji Iginla (04:18.366)
state.

Adesoji Iginla (04:44.459)
Hahaha

Aya Fubara Eneli (04:44.732)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (04:47.459)
Uganda, which was historically a British creation anyway, you see? So since I'm not tied like that mentally, I don't feel it the same way a person who would have been tied that, this is my Uganda, my Uganda. I don't feel the same type of pain a person like that could have felt. I feel comfortable and Pan-African in every African setting. And when I say African setting, of course, I'm talking about my

Adesoji Iginla (04:52.036)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (05:14.915)
sisters and brothers, aka African Americans as well, talking about my comrades from the Caribbean, from South America. So, you know, that is who I am. I teach, of course, at John Jay as well. I'm also finished doing the PhD in history at Howard University. I just already mentioned my book, Manufacturing Hate, How Africa was Demonized in Western Media. And I'm advising people for now, please don't buy the book.

I was engaged in struggle with my publisher. The book was doing so well, then I think the publisher probably read it more carefully and realized, wait a minute, the establishment does not like this book. This is a book the New York Times will not like, for example, because I have memos exposing the racism of some of the reporters and editors of the New York Times. So at some point, the publisher stopped promoting my book.

When in fact, he was making money and I was making money. And how did I find out? For my students. My students could not find my book. I told them, you're going to the wrong location. I went to the website. It was then that I discovered my publisher, without telling me, had stopped producing the hard version, the printed copy. It was only digital now, even though the contract called for both. That's how I found out.

Adesoji Iginla (06:39.896)
Yeah. Wow.

Milton Allimadi (06:40.837)
So I started engaging in battle. I won back my copyright a few months ago. So obviously it's going to come out probably with a little variation, a change in the title a little bit so that when people buy the book now, they'll be dealing with me. I don't want the publisher to benefit accidentally. So obviously I have to change the title. So that's why I'm recommending for now, please don't buy the book. The new version will be out probably by Black History Month.

Adesoji Iginla (07:00.248)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (07:10.183)
in 2026.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:12.741)
Awesome. Awesome.

Adesoji Iginla (07:12.81)
Okay, so thank you very much. Thank you. And yes, I mean, what else can be said? met a good comrade on the Facebook streets and we met in person in New York, you know, so and what else is there can say we took the journey forward. And here we are a couple of years in. And so yeah, we continue.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:26.288)
Thank

Milton Allimadi (07:42.894)
Let me add one thing though. I would like to see more gatherings like this, like the space that we've created here. Sisters and brothers, please, we have to create multiple of these types of gatherings. That's how we can really push back against this attack. The attack is not only military. The attack is not only intellectual. The attack is also the media demonization, which softens the resistance, and then they pile the heavy stuff on us.

Adesoji Iginla (07:42.941)
and go on

Adesoji Iginla (07:49.081)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (08:02.624)
is psychological.

Milton Allimadi (08:12.111)
So please create spaces similar to it.

Adesoji Iginla (08:15.554)
Yeah, yeah. And what can I say? And so with that in mind, we go for a bit of remembrance. so as it's customary, news where you're at. So let's start with the sister first now. News where you're at,

Aya Fubara Eneli (08:33.351)
Well, the only only news I wanted to share today was for people to get a better understanding of the stature of the man that we get to sit with because we have a saying that I'm going to say to the way we say okay, familiarity need with them, which is a combination of evil and English and pigeon and all of that. But essentially what it translates to is that

Milton Allimadi (08:42.212)
you

Aya Fubara Eneli (08:57.319)
When you have easy access to someone, when you feel like you're very familiar with someone, it actually breeds disrespect. And what I never want to do is to disrespect a man of your stature, the sacrifices you've made, the way that you've paved for the rest of us. And we should bear that in mind as we're dealing with our elders. And it doesn't even have to be elders in age, but just when you see someone has.

Adesoji Iginla (09:04.749)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (09:23.105)
wisdom.

Aya Fubara Eneli (09:24.399)
Achieved something has done something on our behalf. Even if you later have an issue with them There's a way as African people we should conduct ourselves But don't be because I have access to this person I see them in the end on the internet or I run into them at a bookstore now we are

I'm not talking about a hierarchy, but it's about respect. Now we're equals. Now I can just disregard you. And so I'm just very grateful to be in your presence and to be able to say that I was actually ever in conversation with you. So thank you, sir. Any other news I would share about Texas is bull crap right now.

Milton Allimadi (09:55.747)
Thank you

Asante, you know, I feel so honored and blessed because I've been around people like that, that also I wanted them to know, appreciating being in their circle, you know? And of course, one of them was a mentor and I aspired for just 10 % of his achievements and I'll be happy. And that of course was Ngugi Wathiong'o.

Adesoji Iginla (10:30.062)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (10:30.132)
I told you the story already, how I visited him at NYU, and I told him I loved all his books, and he said, which one was your favorite? And I couldn't remember a single one.

I had a mental freeze and I loved the way he really just switched off. He started talking about football instead, soccer. So he put me at ease, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (10:52.964)
You

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:53.671)
Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (10:57.732)
Yes, I mean, what more can I say to what the good sister have said? I mean, you impact wisdom here and wisdom, which in itself is some sort of seed. And they will say the wisdom of the elders is planting a seed, knowing that the tree it will be will create a shade and they might never sit in such shade. So the idea that you want to create an Africa ahead of time.

knowing fully well you might not be around to see the Africa is truly commendable. And yes, we thank you for it. We thank you.

Milton Allimadi (11:35.018)
Santendu.

Adesoji Iginla (11:36.984)
So yes, I mean, news from where I am is that the BBC has apologized to Donnie Trumpet. Yes, but he's still saying he's gonna take forward a possible legal challenge and we see where that falls.

Milton Allimadi (11:58.561)
I think he said he was going to sue for one billion this week, this coming week. So now, comrade, for listeners not familiar, very briefly, could you tell what the issue was and why the BBC have to apologize?

Adesoji Iginla (12:13.442)
OK, so the issue was the January 6 speech was used in a documentary panorama and it was spliced in such a way that it seemed it portrayed that Trump was the one that actually edged them on. Even though we know if you listen to the entire speech, that was what, by the way, it was caught. It was suggesting that Trump actually asked them to go now and do what happened on January 6th. So.

Aya Fubara Eneli (12:42.449)
He did!

Adesoji Iginla (12:44.284)
Yes, he did. You and I know he did. Again, this is we're playing media semantics, you know, basically saying, well, he did exactly say that way, but it was portrayed that way. So it's the portrayal that BBC is apologizing for as opposed to what was actually said. So what can I say?

Milton Allimadi (13:06.213)
amazing and probably they fear that because of the diplomatic relations between the US administration and and the British government right now they probably fear a jury might actually find in his favor.

Adesoji Iginla (13:25.976)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (13:27.079)
Yeah, but apologizing actually makes it worse for them. Because if I wasn't a jury and I hear that you apologize, that actually makes you feel more guilty.

Milton Allimadi (13:30.975)
Absolutely. No, actually, I agree. You're right. Because now, in fact, and now you're going to actually elevate your obligation financially.

Adesoji Iginla (13:44.988)
good. Yeah, but the flip side of that is the public are saying they are not going to support because the BBC is publicly funded. So we're not going to pay. We're not going to pay the money. So you can bankrupt the BBC for what it wants.

Aya Fubara Eneli (14:01.945)
You know you guys have insurance already is already insurance for just those purposes So it doesn't matter what the public says What's crazy is that we've all been on schoolyards and we understand how bullies function and apologizing and acquiescing and trying to reason with the bully is just never the way and so There's no this there's at this point Looking at the history of this man. There is no reason to feel if I give this up, then he will play nice. He's never going

Milton Allimadi (14:30.632)
Absolutely.

Aya Fubara Eneli (14:31.952)
He's just going to want more and more and more. So shame on all these cowards. If the Trump administration has shown me anything for sure is that we have a plethora of cowards. And some of us need to look in the mirror as well, because there many of us who cannot speak up. know, Brother Milton, when you were talking about, some of your family members go in and out and it's not a problem. People choose what they want to take a stand for.

Adesoji Iginla (15:00.676)
sure.

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:01.116)
For different reasons, I'm not casting aspersions on anybody. The same is true in my family. I'm the most outspoken, and I'm the one that people are like, you're hurting your earning potential. You're hurting your so on and so forth. But we really are, globally, a bunch of cowards. Because there's no reason why a handful of people should have this stronghold on the rest of us, except that we are so quick to

Milton Allimadi (15:19.783)
here.

Adesoji Iginla (15:26.532)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:29.84)
be pacified and I know that there are different ways that they are indoctrinating us to get us pacified but my goodness shame on BBC shame on them.

Milton Allimadi (15:38.843)
Yes. I mean, I like what the Wall Street Journal did. The Wall Street Journal was sued for what? $10 billion. The Wall Street Journal just waited a little bit and the actual, that doodle that he drew came when the documents were released and they published that. And he's still denying that that is him. But I don't think it's case. I don't think it's case when the journal is solid anymore. So the BBC

Adesoji Iginla (15:53.956)
Yeah, yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (16:01.444)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (16:05.667)
Yeah, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (16:07.375)
should not be forgiven for this capitulation because they actually harm not only the BBC but all other media and all other people that he's bullied.

Aya Fubara Eneli (16:15.827)
Absolutely. If he can't stand up, everybody else is going to cave or feel they need a cave. Ridiculous.

Adesoji Iginla (16:23.466)
well, it's the BBC. Yes, they will say the BBC World Service. Okay. So that said, we go to the first news of the day and it actually comes from the BBC as well. So. And it's time to remember Sunday.

So it reads, uh, remembers Sunday, uh, troves of record reveals Kenyans forgotten war, world war soldiers. And it goes, uh, thousands of Kenyan soldiers fought in the British army during the, during the world war. So there's a short story here. One day, 85 years ago, Motoko Ngati left his home in Southern Kenya and was never seen again.

And it transpired that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which works to commemorate those who died in the two world wars, contacted Mr. Ngati's nephew, Benjamin Mutuku, about mining, after mining old documents. So the short of it is to say the UK recruited millions from its empire to fight in both century, global conflicts in theatres across the world. And there are other parts of here that are

you know, pertinent to conversation, says like thousands of Kenyans who fought in the British army, he died without his family being notified and was buried in a location unknown to this day. That gets on as the UK marked Remembrance Sunday to honor those who contributed to the war effort. The sacrifices of many Kenyan soldiers like Mr. Ogati remains unrecognized. The world knows little of their service and they're not formally commemorated in the way their white counterparts are. Should we be surprised?

Sister. No, it's the question. So we can move on. Brother, go on.

Milton Allimadi (18:13.476)
No.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:18.385)
Go ahead brother. Go ahead brother.

Milton Allimadi (18:20.41)
No, we should not be surprised. I only have maybe two or three observations about this story. I don't know how many colonies the British have, whether it was, you know, 50, I don't know. So maybe you can look that up rather. But if Kenya alone, they're talking about, what, 3,000, right?

Adesoji Iginla (18:27.256)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (18:43.896)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (18:45.466)
Let's say they had like, what, 50 colonies. We're talking about 150,000 people. And some colonies were much larger and provided more soldiers. So let's just double that, 300K. So that's just a guesstimate, right? But realistically, the number who are missing could be anywhere from 100K to 400K.

Adesoji Iginla (18:57.646)
right?

Adesoji Iginla (19:04.761)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (19:12.63)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (19:14.745)
100,000, 400,000, missing. When soldiers serve and they provide their ultimate sacrifice, which is their life, the armed forces are supposed to compensate the families. So I'm willing to hazard a few things. Number one, they knew how to get in touch with the families of some of these individuals who died.

and they did not do it because obviously they would have to pay. Number one. Number two, they say this particular individual went missing, just traveled hundreds of miles and signed up.

Adesoji Iginla (19:45.282)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (19:50.137)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (20:00.068)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (20:01.49)
Signed up implies willingness, correct? I'm willing to hazard that many of these young Africans or young Asians, if it was an Asian British colony, were kidnapped.

Adesoji Iginla (20:05.092)
Willing, yeah, volunteering.

Milton Allimadi (20:17.611)
were kidnapped. And once you're in the service, you're under their command, it's not like you can escape and just run back to your village once you've already been chipped, in some cases overseas, correct? So that's the second thing I hazard. And then of course, the final point I'd to make is that now that we know the names, we can trace the families. Now we should start talking compensation. And that's the part that I didn't hear a lot about.

Adesoji Iginla (20:24.996)
That would be deserved. Yeah, correct. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (20:38.009)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (20:43.842)
Hmm

Okay sister.

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:50.771)
I'm so glad that you made the points that you made. If we go and study the history, we know that...

The World War I and II, the reason that there was even fighting and we had to be involved in Africa was because they were also fighting over control over quote unquote their territories in Africa, right? Reminding our business. So if you're thinking about this and you haven't really studied this, you're like, okay, well World War I, World War II, was white on white violence. What do we have to do with this?

Adesoji Iginla (21:12.004)
Correct? Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (21:12.095)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (21:21.834)
Yep. Yep.

Aya Fubara Eneli (21:23.889)
But the way we got pulled in was because whether it was Africa or Asia, they were also fighting for these territories, right? And so we also know from another story that we did, and now I'm conflating some of the stories we do on African-Nigeria and some of the stories we do with women and resistance, but when we covered Nehanda.

Adesoji Iginla (21:32.109)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (21:48.194)
Any go? Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (21:50.204)
We know that, we know that the indigenous Africans were required to pay their taxes, right, in the currency of their oppressors after they had taken all the produce and the animals and so on and so forth. The only way to make that money was to work for them.

Adesoji Iginla (22:13.812)
Mm. Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:16.509)
They often required chiefs. They would tell whoever the leader of a village or an area, you must provide these number of people to fight. If you don't, there are consequences. So this idea of he walked hundreds of miles to voluntarily sign his life away to fight a war that did not concern him where he was living is a fallacy.

And I'm so glad that you brought that point up so we can debunk this. You know, similarly to in the United States, you know, I know we have a lot of viewers in the United States. Think of the draft, all your family members who served, not necessarily because they couldn't just, I'm so excited to go and lay my life down for this country that disrespects me. But it was either, yeah, you were drafted, you were forced, you didn't have a choice, or sometimes the economic situation.

Adesoji Iginla (22:41.38)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:08.753)
You looked around and you said, okay, well, at least if I'm serving, I'm going to get paid. I'm going to have some benefits and things like that. And the history's littered even here in the United States in ways that they try to ensure they would dishonorably discharge people and things of that nature so that they could short them on their money. Now what happens to that money? That's not first of all, they were paid at a lower rate than white people because black lives don't matter.

Milton Allimadi (23:15.284)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (23:35.837)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:36.023)
Right? That slogan could have been used centuries ago. So, so first of all, you even quote unquote contracted them at a much lower rate. And then even that rate, what happens when it's not paid out? Like comrade brought up. It initially sits in their coffers that eventually if someone makes a claim, but how do you make a claim when you didn't even know that your loved one ever worked for them? You don't have any paperwork, nothing, right?

Adesoji Iginla (23:38.986)
Is y- correct?

Adesoji Iginla (23:46.158)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (24:05.508)
Choo choo choo.

Aya Fubara Eneli (24:06.165)
But and when those claims are not made it eventually reverts back to the state So it keep them and so it was a different kind of slavery you all We gotta get very clear on these things But let's talk about the numbers according to them because they have these figures not even us right some of the numbers world war one won 1914 to 1918 there's an estimate that says

Adesoji Iginla (24:16.451)
Mmm.

Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (24:24.963)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (24:32.478)
There were 2.35 million Africans mobilized across all these different countries, right? These territories, these colonies, right? That did not include some of them who weren't necessarily like, okay, you are a soldier, but it's your carrier, you're a porter, you were supporting their war efforts in other ways. According to their research, they're saying, which you always know this number is downplayed,

Adesoji Iginla (24:39.236)
continent.

Milton Allimadi (24:50.823)
Great.

Adesoji Iginla (24:50.884)
They are porters.

Aya Fubara Eneli (25:02.536)
that over 250,000 soldiers, porters, and some 750,000 civilians in Africa lost their lives in connection to that war. Now, let's think back to this. Any of you who are children of veterans, if your family did not have your father or your mother alive and working and providing

How did that affect you? Psychologically and every other way economically. Now, for those of you who have been able to get benefits, maybe to go to college or spousal benefits, to be able to keep roof over your head and food on your table as a result of the sacrifice of your loved one, at least you can see where that economic value, you know, the value that it added to you. So imagine when you lose the person.

Adesoji Iginla (25:55.224)
Coming in, yep.

Aya Fubara Eneli (25:59.721)
You didn't even know where the person was. So that ever ending grief, never ending grief. If you as a parent today, we see missing children bulletins everywhere, don't even know what happened to your child. You can't even come to some kind of finality of, they're buried. You just don't know, right? So think of that grief and what that does to you psychologically. But then also think of their children, their family members who never benefited financially.

Milton Allimadi (26:10.639)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (26:24.206)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (26:29.352)
from the sacrifice of their loved ones, forced sacrifice no less. So the ways that Africa has been raped and impoverished and stolen from and every Sunday we come and every time I'm reading through the articles you send us and other articles that I read, it's a wonder that we can even all still eat and smile and live and attempt to thrive because the burden of what has been done to us.

Adesoji Iginla (26:31.65)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (26:39.885)
.

Aya Fubara Eneli (26:58.258)
that we keep on covering, it's a heavy burden. So I'll definitely recommend to everyone, know, after any of these sessions or whatever books you're reading, you need to have a practice as well of wellness, spiritually cleanse. Otherwise these things can so depress you. You know, we talk about PTSD for soldiers and I say for African people, we haven't even gotten to the post-traumatic part of it, cause the trauma is ongoing.

Adesoji Iginla (27:11.908)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (27:13.9)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (27:27.652)
correct.

Aya Fubara Eneli (27:28.306)
You can't even get to the part of, let me heal because the trauma is ongoing and I feel traumatized every time we do things. Do we do African youth review? Seriously? yeah. So let me stop there. But of course, you know, you can tie this to the theory, massacre that we talked about. So when, when they finally, when we finally stand up and say, no, enough is enough pay us. wait a second. We're stripping you off your, your weapons. And then we're just going to slaughter you.

Milton Allimadi (27:36.585)
Yeah, no, no, that's true.

Adesoji Iginla (27:45.988)
in Senegal yeah yeah

Aya Fubara Eneli (27:57.703)
worse than we do chicken because we actually have animal rights in this country. It's like Africans have less rights than the dogs and cats and animals that we domesticate and keep in our homes around here. Let me stop there.

Milton Allimadi (28:12.191)
Yeah, all right. So it's traumatic, but it's important to know because we don't teach our history. We don't teach our history here, and we don't teach our history in the African continent. And that's part of the problem. And without that history,

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:18.899)
Yes.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:23.091)
No, we don't.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:27.749)
Growing up in Nigeria, I did not know that we were involved in World War one or World War two I thought that was their issue over there But when you now start to get all of this information Imagine that this young man. Well, he's not even young the man that they're interviewing who was named after This soldier that they're now uncovering is 67 years old himself

Adesoji Iginla (28:39.278)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:54.375)
So his own brothers and sisters, his parents, they're gone. Never got to know what happened to their child. And now it's like, we don't know where we buried them because here's the other thing they did. White soldiers got individually buried, markers, all of that. are all kinds of ways that they're commemorated. A lot of African soldiers and others who contributed to this war, forced to contribute, were thrown into mass graves because you don't matter. You don't count.

Milton Allimadi (29:24.7)
Yeah, but they know where the mass graves are. They know where they're buried. This is just part of the continued cover up, of course. So, you know, I actually think we need to have these traumatic moments. We need to have more of it. And that's the only way we can create the type of Africans who will liberate the continent. Otherwise, from each generation will be producing

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:24.775)
And we must remember that.

They do. They do.

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:34.303)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (29:49.412)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (29:53.539)
enslaved Africans, and we will never be able to change the dynamics of the relationship that we have with the Western world. To a great extent, a lot of this is because there's still the European and white worshiping. And I would not be surprised if the number of Africans who engage in too much white European worshiping might be

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:56.053)
That's right.

Adesoji Iginla (30:02.276)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:02.655)
Let us.

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:11.155)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (30:22.567)
90%, perhaps even higher, perhaps 99%, sadly, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (30:24.761)
Whoa.

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:26.709)
Why to Arab worshipping, yes.

Milton Allimadi (30:31.308)
Exactly. And that all qualifies as right European worshiping. You know, so and that's where we have to start with. We have to start with that particular issues. So in fact, in the near future, I strongly recommend we engage one of the entire shows on dealing with that issue. And to be honest, that was one of the motivations that inspired me to end up writing that book. Because as a 12 year old,

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:36.339)
Yes. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (30:58.35)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (31:01.495)
in Tanzania. I mean, my family's from Uganda, but we had had to, we let's say we had to visit Tanzania to get away from Iribene. So when I was a 12 year old in Tanzania, I was a reader, Holic, always in the library, always in the, what they call the United States Information Center, the British Library, the German, they call it the Guta Center, think, reading all these

Adesoji Iginla (31:30.021)
Yeah, go to Institute.

Milton Allimadi (31:31.438)
Western media and how Africa and Africans and African descendants globally were projected, were covered. And even as a 12-year-old, I was horrified. I said, there's something wrong with this. But obviously as a 12-year-old, how do you intervene? You can't engage. know, it took me a long time. remember I'm sitting in a freshman English class at Syracuse University, the professor's reading passages.

Adesoji Iginla (31:50.36)
Yep, yep, yep.

Milton Allimadi (31:59.981)
from Joseph Conrad, the most humiliating demonizing attacks comparing Africans to organisms as the boat is streaming down the river looking at Africans. They looked as if they'd escaped from a mental asylum and you feel horrified that you as a European, you are somehow related to them. And the professor's reading this with a huge smile and saying,

Adesoji Iginla (32:02.404)
Heart of darkness.

Milton Allimadi (32:28.353)
These are some of the best passages ever written in the English language. So of course, the European students are very impressionable there, nodding and following his sense of elation as well. I'm the only one probably sitting there with my skin really like, you know, the hairs are standing up. And the worst thing about that experience was I could not say, Professor, you're wrong, because then he would have asked me why, and I would not have been able.

Adesoji Iginla (32:54.478)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (32:58.167)
I was not yet equipped to intervene at that time. So I made it a mission to do the type of research that I engaged in, which ended up in that type of book. And I say this to encourage our people, whatever stage of life you're in, stop European worshipping. Be yourself. Always remember the basics. All humanity started in East and Central Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (33:00.11)
Yeah, to answer the

Adesoji Iginla (33:26.68)
Africa. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (33:28.064)
human beings not spread around the world to populate other parts of the world. Every human being like Luke would look today like the three of us on this program right now. You see? So once you know that, how can you worship anybody else? Worship yourself because everybody else worship themselves. Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (33:51.108)
Okay, I would just like to add, okay, so the news is based in the UK and majority of the soldiers fought for the British. It should not surprise you that here in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom did not recognize the efforts of the African and Caribbean soldiers until 2017.

at his 72 years after the guns fell silent in 1945. What's still the only commemorative plaque they have is at Windrush Square, which is in Brixton, a far cry from the central of London, where they have, hold your breath, they have a massive monument on one of the most expensive roads in London.

two horses that died in WWI and WWII. Yes, you can make…

Milton Allimadi (34:49.183)
Thank

Milton Allimadi (34:52.627)
All right. So listen, I spoke about being willing to accept trauma, something you should leave out. We didn't need to hear that about the others.

Adesoji Iginla (35:01.732)
You can't make this stuff up. It's... I mean, it's mind-boggling but hey, again, we're talking... Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (35:09.719)
Let me add one more thing. Let me add one more thing. The Europeans are always on the same page when it comes to certain issues. So let me give you one example. I'm doing research many years ago and I came upon an article in the New York Times from back in the World War I era. A German war veterans organization sent an official letter of protest to the British government.

Adesoji Iginla (35:17.348)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (35:29.336)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (35:36.772)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (35:36.926)
for allowing African soldiers in Africa to take German soldiers, prisoners of war and march them ahead of them. At the very least, they should have been taken captives by European soldiers. Think about this.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:43.582)
Yes. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (35:50.852)
And so, yes. And one.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:54.934)
because we don't want to give those Africans any ideas that they could ever.

Milton Allimadi (35:57.841)
Precisely. Precisely.

Adesoji Iginla (35:58.269)
Yes. Yeah, one. Yeah, two, two.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:02.435)
So so so so the Supreme Court ruling in the United States of a black man has no rights that a white man ever has to respect that is a global perspective for White nationalists they People really need to go back and study on My room by an easy because she speaks to their psyche

Milton Allimadi (36:09.596)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (36:13.015)
Absolutely. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

Adesoji Iginla (36:13.282)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (36:21.479)
Yep.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:28.514)
And that we are waiting to see, was there a conspiracy where they all met in one place and agreed to act towards us in a certain way? And if we don't see that, then it's not a conspiracy. But no, actually, there is a mindset. And wherever they are, this is how they show up.

Milton Allimadi (36:39.003)
Right, right.

Adesoji Iginla (36:43.363)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (36:44.061)
Sister, I'm sorry. Sister, I'm sorry. I have to interrupt you for a second. I'm sorry. Because I had the same conversation in my class and my PhD program a few weeks ago with three comrades. I said exactly what you said. They don't need to conspire because there are some things that they pre-agree on. They don't need to discuss it anymore. And the three comrades were arguing that no, no, no.

Adesoji Iginla (37:04.216)
It's

Adesoji Iginla (37:08.868)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (37:12.316)
I said, no, they don't conspire. Thank you. And you were not even there. Please continue. That was great.

Adesoji Iginla (37:19.524)
The, so I was actually, when you said this, gone.

Milton Allimadi (37:22.96)
No, she hasn't finished the song yet.

Aya Fubara Eneli (37:24.502)
No, no, I'm done just people need to go and study my rain Bonnie and what she wrote about you Rugu She said it's a thick book. I don't have it close enough to pull but it's a thick book But if you study that book, she is explaining their psyche the dispiritualization and that that they go through and how that they affect that into everything and pretty much

Listen, I'm willing to argue this one with you. Everything they touch dies. The water is polluted. The environment is polluted. The animals die. I mean, in their own museums, the Museum of National History, I believe it is in DC, they talk about the greatest predator, the greatest threat to all the animals in the world.

They say human beings, but I'm like, no, no, no, let's get it. Let's be specific here. It ain't human beings. It's you all. And if you don't like it, argue with your mamas and your papas and your foreparents and what, and actually argue with yourselves because you're still doing it right now. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (38:20.068)
These Europeans.

Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (38:34.306)
Right. And of course, part of the problem is that when you, and that's the difference, right? We have that essence of spirituality. But once you make capital your God and you worship capital, that's the end of you. Because now you don't care about the environment, as you just mentioned. You don't care about any other living things. You don't care about other human beings as well. Because that's how you manufacture that.

Adesoji Iginla (38:34.403)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:50.155)
Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (39:01.699)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (39:04.343)
white supremacy ideology to justify not treating them like human beings. Because if you elevate them to human status, how do you exterminate the indigenous people in the United States? In what is now the United States? How do you exterminate indigenous people in the Caribbean? How do you exterminate Africans? know, Herrero.

Adesoji Iginla (39:07.115)
it.

Adesoji Iginla (39:17.805)
Mmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (39:26.615)
How do you blow up boats in the Caribbean with no proof of anything? You just, and just take people's lives willy-nilly. And the rest of the world stays silent and actually keeps acquiescing to you.

Milton Allimadi (39:36.825)
Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (39:38.115)
I mean to-

to Yurugu, I will also.

Milton Allimadi (39:43.961)
Right, right. How do you exterminate the Palestinians and you have articles in the New York Times debating whether this should qualify as a genocide or not? Think about that.

Adesoji Iginla (39:54.54)
I mean, you use the word exterminate. would enjoy people to actually read this book, Exterminate All Brutes by Sven Lindqvist. Again, it talks into the mindset of the European. So we've done the first story for those who want to read more about Africa's and the Caribbean and Black people's contribution to the World War effort.

You can read David Oluy-Sogaz's book, The World's War. And in fact, I mean, there are some painful bits that I just left out that's just not necessary for broadcast. It's crazy. So we go to the next story. Speaking about spirituality, we go with a French story which says... Yes.

Paula White-Kane, Trump's spiritual advisor, embarks on a tour of Africa. The televangelist and head of White House, fate of his while visiting Great Lake region, has backed the US administration push for peace treaty between Rwanda and the Republic of Congo. This piece comes from Le Mans. It's a French newspaper, so we're reading the English version of it. So.

As you can see, Donald Trump has deployed his personal brand of Christian diplomacy. For the first time to Africa, the face of this initiative was America's president's spiritual advisor, Paula White-Kane, who on Tuesday, November 4, officiated in a church before several hundred worshippers on the outskirts of Libreville, Gabon, in the first of her stops on the continent. There is one key part here that I wanted us to touch on.

and it's here. Behind the scene, White House team has worked diligently in early November to organize this African tour. The date has also carefully been chosen. It comes one week before Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame and Congolese president, Felis Tisikedi were scheduled to visit the U.S. on November 15. The two rivals were expected to sign the final peace treaty between the two countries, which has been at odds with the North and South Kivu

Adesoji Iginla (42:17.902)
province located in DRC's east. There is one part here. The two rivals, they're not rivals, one has invaded another one's space. Finally, the agreement was also a way for Washington to outmaneuver China in the race for critical minerals in the Great Lake regions. So, what say you?

Milton Allimadi (42:40.382)
Sister, you go first. I'll take care of the loose ends.

Adesoji Iginla (42:41.933)
you

Hahaha

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:45.812)
Okay, first of all, y'all, it's so important to remember. Do you remember Paula White? Do you remember Paula White and Randy White in their church in Florida that was largely funded by Black old people, pension funds, retirement, all of that coming in to get the word of God because you know, religion is like a panacea to the opium of the people, all of that. You know, we're just hoping that yes, we

Adesoji Iginla (43:11.598)
Amen.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:12.504)
We give our bodies here on earth and we might be hell here, but if we act right and pray to the right white God, we will go to heaven later. And she, I guess, actually I believe if I'm recalling correctly, her husband then, because she's been divorced, I two times, two or three times. Three times. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (43:22.712)
Amen.

Adesoji Iginla (43:31.726)
Three times. Yeah, twice. Twice. Now she's on to the third version.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:36.012)
The third person, okay. That doesn't include Benny Hinn that she supposedly had an illicit relationship with. I said supposedly, allegedly, I'm covering my tracks. Okay, they were pictures, but you know, who knows? But I believe her husband was sick. Randy White was sick at the time when she was just like, hey, everything is about to blow up.

Adesoji Iginla (43:42.08)
Anosh.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:59.149)
They're about to find out that we've been siphoning money out and everything and she just walks the next thing she's Tacked herself on to to Donald Trump. She's living in the Trump Tower and so on and so forth And this is his spiritual advisor. She's this amazing.

Pastor that has been propped up by enlarged by black pastors because we went you know She's calling this Archbishop Archbishop in quotations Nicholas Duncan Williams her spiritual father But I also have videos of her calling TD Jake's her spiritual father and her cadence and how she preaches and all of that is absolutely copied

Adesoji Iginla (44:28.708)
and GANIEN

Aya Fubara Eneli (44:39.404)
from what we stereotypically see as how black pastors preach. But we're just always so enamored when white people do what we do. So you see the videos of a white person doing an African dance and we're all just like, my God, look at that. Makes me feel so much better. So this enamorments that we have again with whiteness. So anyway, she's the Christian spiritual advisor to a man who does not, his shadow does not cross a church.

Adesoji Iginla (44:40.14)
See you D-Jex.

Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (44:52.942)
You

Milton Allimadi (44:57.443)
Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (45:00.814)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:09.42)
who did not know he was holding the Bible upside down. So I don't even know if he reads it all, who called the thing to Corinthians. Anyone who's been to church even one day in their life, you know it's second Corinthians. But anyway, she's his spiritual advisor and she brought this William Duncan man to, or Duncan Williams man, to the U.S. to pray for Donald Trump during his inauguration, the first term in 2017.

Milton Allimadi (45:21.999)
you

Adesoji Iginla (45:27.428)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:38.659)
Who is this man? Yeah, pray. He prayed over Donald Trump while he's P-R-E-Y praying on Africans. Let's just be clear. Have we seen this before? Yes. First, they come with the missionaries.

Milton Allimadi (45:45.697)
Yep, yep, yep.

Adesoji Iginla (45:46.872)
Yep, yep.

Milton Allimadi (45:51.459)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (45:51.522)
There is, yep.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:52.535)
No, no, no, actually sometimes they come first with the traders and you think you're trading equally. Then they bring the missionaries and as Desmond Tutu said, they say, come together because they know we are a spiritual people. If we get them spiritually, we got them. The Arabs knew this with Islam and these white nationalists know it with Christianity.

Adesoji Iginla (46:04.452)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (46:12.288)
So they came that's what to to said. They said let's pray close your eye. Let's pray We closed our eyes because we're spiritual people we're seeking god if you say you're going to help us draw closer to god We're all for it. We open our eyes. We had The bible And they had Our land and all our resources. So here is this man now

Milton Allimadi (46:29.539)
Goodbye.

Adesoji Iginla (46:33.764)
I learned. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (46:39.67)
Again, this simply

Aya Fubara Eneli (46:40.3)
We need these resources. Let's send the Christians in and let's find the damn accomplices in Africa again who will sell us out so that they get a few more gold chains because you go to Google that man. He always got some gold chains hanging down around him. I think he too is on his third wife.

These are our spiritual leaders whatever you think of the Bible and whatever I'm not casting a perspersions I'm just going by what they say we're supposed to be living and he's open the doors and Usher in the millions of people who believe him and say hey Trust me. This woman is our friend and whoever else she brings in with her and Whatever else they offer you just trust it's the will of God and we stupidly

Adesoji Iginla (47:09.828)
And he says he lives by the scriptures.

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:33.026)
foolishly allow ourselves to be manipulated because we are a spiritual people but you gotta know who you're worshipping and that there was a video that I watched where this young woman said, wow Africans, we import everything including our gods. And so white black people Africans, please wake up. They've used these same tactics before.

Adesoji Iginla (47:40.644)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (47:40.705)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (47:51.904)
Mmm, powerful.

Aya Fubara Eneli (48:00.854)
It worked for them. Why would they stop? But we've got to learn the tactics and we've got to stop it. I'll stop there.

Milton Allimadi (48:07.411)
Yeah, very good. Now I love that. In fact, as I'm listening to you, I know the essay that I'm going to write maybe later tonight. I know I have a lot of like, no, no, no, I have a lot of projects ahead of me, but I'm going to try to find time just for a short essay saying, Decolonize the Mind Again. Because everything we are talking about today, all these weeks, about decolonizing the mind.

Aya Fubara Eneli (48:29.206)
again.

Milton Allimadi (48:37.896)
And it's sad because now you realize that the governments we have in place are not capable of rising to the challenges that we face. You know, the economic trade challenge, that is a major challenge, but it's only one of the many challenges. If we cannot transform the mentality of the Africans who lead, the Africans who are led, you know,

Adesoji Iginla (48:56.964)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (49:08.01)
We are talking a few decades before we can engage in real battle. So when we talk, we realize the magnitude of the challenge.

Adesoji Iginla (49:16.708)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (49:25.15)
But it all evolves back, comes back to the type of Africans that we are producing. Because unless you are intellectually, mentally reoriented and prepared to engage in these battles, you're always going to be a victim. was a helpless victim when I sat in that classroom. Listened to a professor insult me to my face.

Adesoji Iginla (49:39.818)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (49:54.254)
to your face.

Milton Allimadi (49:54.992)
and my people, right? Today, that would not be possible. I would tell him, down. You know, let me walk you through, you see? And that's in just one realm. So in all the other realms that we are trying to, you know, to compete in or elevate our position, we have to have that type of preparation, really. Otherwise, it's going to be futility upon futility upon futility.

Adesoji Iginla (50:04.333)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (50:19.556)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (50:23.578)
I like the way Rodney put it in, you held that book, I think a few minutes ago. And no, actually he has it in his lecture. He has it in his lecture. In his lecture, he has it in, I think in either crisis in the periphery or race and class in Guyanese politics. No, it's in crisis in the periphery. He said Europeans always come up with an answer.

We need to come up with our answers preemptively, not be reactive. You you don't wait to be killed and then you're trying to deal with it, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (50:55.523)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (51:07.414)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (51:08.89)
And let me add, so imagine.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:10.201)
And what they've convinced us to do is you're incapable of thinking and we are more advanced than you. So when you have problems, don't think through the solutions yourself. We've already, you know, cut off your trajectory. You know, we don't know what Africa could have been, would have been.

Adesoji Iginla (51:24.472)
We'll think for you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:33.155)
had these people left us alone. So listen, don't bother your little heads to think, because it will give you a headache. We have already done the thinking for you. We're going to bring the solutions, and just shut up and implement them the way we're telling you to. And it will be OK. Well, wait a second. This is going to affect the environment. Shut up and then you are not capable of thinking. Who called us a nation of children? Was it Marcus Garvey?

Milton Allimadi (51:47.364)
Thank

Adesoji Iginla (51:52.462)
Uh-uh.

Milton Allimadi (51:56.132)
Thank

Adesoji Iginla (51:58.532)
Marcos Gavias.

Aya Fubara Eneli (52:01.569)
And we act like a nation of children, too many of us too often, and they treat us as such. And we got to get out of that. We have to solve our own problems. We have to think through our own solutions. Like you said, Brother Milton.

Milton Allimadi (52:07.694)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (52:14.474)
One thing I like is that I've seen transformation within a few months. My students at John Jay are not the same human beings by the end of the semester. are not. The first week, they're young, there's that disinterest. By the third class, you notice the level of attentiveness. You can see in the eyes, you can see in the focus.

You can see when at the end of the class, they're not rushing to run out of class. They come to engage you in further conversation, even after the class is over. Or when they tell you that they go home and they teach their parents what they just learned. So that gives me much hope. It means that if we provide our youth the right guidance and education, they can do the right thing.

Adesoji Iginla (53:06.468)
Yes, yes. Speaking of leaders, since I did point, our leaders sometimes are, we go to Djibouti, which is not a country we've really covered on here in a while. And again, the story comes from Le Monde, the French newspaper. Le Monde is the world in French. So Djibouti, Djibouti's president Gillette.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:08.729)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (53:36.004)
announced candidacy for sixth term. Ismail Omar Ghali 77 has been in power since 1999. 26 years, young him. Djibouti's president Ismail Omar Ghali in power since 1999 confirmed Saturday, November 8 that he would run for a sixth term in elections next year after parliament removed a constitutional barrier that prevented him from running.

And he did the respectable thing. He accepted the nomination from his party to do so. But there is one part here that I think is part of the conversation we should have is that this country is host to, yes, the Horn of Africa nation is a stable state in an often troubled region operating a major port.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:23.331)
Yep.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:26.87)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (54:30.702)
that host military bases for the United States, France, China, Japan, and Italy. Gulley promised to reaffirm his commitment to unity, stability, and development amidst global challenges ahead of a presidential election set for April 2026. Yes.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:34.2)
Mm-hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:38.114)
Imagine.

Milton Allimadi (54:51.264)
Yeah, you know. So that generation that's declared war on the youth of Africa, that's what they're doing. And in this case, it mirrored 100 % what happened in Uganda with Museveni. First, he had parliament remove the two term limits. And then a few years later, he had parliament remove the age 75 term limit.

Adesoji Iginla (54:59.927)
Wow.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:12.258)
Yes, in 2010.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:19.404)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (55:20.671)
The year before he removed it, heading two years prior to the last election, he was interviewed on Al Jazeera. He said, the constitution has a 75 age limit, and by the next election, you would have been above 75. So, and there is talk that you might have to, you're actually thinking of changing that and removing that. What is your response?

Adesoji Iginla (55:38.168)
well over. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (55:50.963)
He said, I will abide by the constitution. And of course, and of course he removed the the aid limit. So, but now what we have is we have as the epicenter of youth resistance, at least right now, is Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. And my only hope is that the youth of Djibouti and other parts of Africa

Adesoji Iginla (55:54.468)
To be fair to him, he was nominated by his party.

Adesoji Iginla (56:03.203)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (56:20.497)
will be engaged intellectually with them in social media. Because these things cannot be confined. And I see it reverberating around the continent. It's only a question of time. But the trajectory is in that direction. So who knows? Of course, he's going to appoint his election commission. They'll declare him the winner and all that stuff. But

Adesoji Iginla (56:34.253)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (56:49.904)
who knows how long he will survive. The trend right now is trending against people like him, people like Paul Beer, people like Katara, people like Museveni, who was also 82 and is running in January. So that's my assessment of the article. And the most important part, as far as the West is concerned, is the part that you read about Djibouti being a

a piece of haven of stability in an otherwise turbulent region.

Adesoji Iginla (57:21.345)
Yep.

region yeah yeah sister

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:29.975)
Someone in the chat says when people tell Africans to respect their elders, are these the ones we're supposed to respect? And that is an issue, right? Because we're largely raised, you you don't talk back, you don't question and all of that, but I'm glad to see that the youth are saying, nah, you've got to act in a way that demands, commands that respect.

Milton Allimadi (57:51.364)
Absolutely. Okay. And that's the key part. The elders, they command the respect because the elders back in the day, at some point, they would transition from active participation, even in political affairs, and they become the council of elders, providing guidance, leadership, and advice to those who are now the new governors and rulers. So thank you for making that qualification.

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:19.309)
So again, we can't study any news article for any of the African countries or really anywhere in the world without looking at the history. So what is the history of Djibouti and understanding that this country only quote unquote, and I put that in big quotes, got its independence in 1977.

Ask me how independent that is because if someone right now posted on social media that you are going to have all five foreign countries have military bases Anywhere that you currently live right now and still call yourself sovereign that would be a joke and of course it's tied to the port and that port is also the only access for goods for Ethiopia that is landlocked as well

Milton Allimadi (58:47.931)
Thank

Adesoji Iginla (59:01.73)
Ethiopia, correct, correct.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:03.255)
So a lot is going on there, but it's totally being commanded, if you will, by foreigners. And so the price of living in Djibouti is actually very high because you have all these external forces and what they're doing and the resources that they have as opposed to the people. So again,

Adesoji Iginla (59:12.985)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (59:17.22)
Correct.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:25.755)
You know, when I look at the issues of democracy and so on and so forth and what these constitutional changes, I'm looking at what has this leader done for their people? So this man was the chief of staff of the first president of Djibouti. Djibouti has only had two presidents. The first one was in power from 1977 to 1999. I think he died in power, something like that. Along those lines, he did hand over. And then this man who was the chief of staff,

Adesoji Iginla (59:39.502)
Resident. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (59:48.162)
I need, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:55.58)
has stayed in power now from 1999 and it gets, again, he's planning to stay until the ancestors call him home. This idea of treating Africa again, you're basically, you're, gosh, his name just left my head. Rhodes, looking at Cecil Rhodes, looking at,

Milton Allimadi (01:00:02.937)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:16.942)
Yeah, Sesame Roots.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:21.325)
Leopold's Loper Loper singer, you know way it's like these are my territories and they are beholding to me It's kind of the mindset that some of these African leaders have taken on but when you look at what's happening in with the people the people of Djibouti they're looking at a 50 % unemployment rate across the board for the for the for the Youth it's even higher than that. So you're not even doing anything really

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:39.78)
50 %

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:48.718)
Hmm. Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:49.807)
to provide for the educational or healthcare needs or the financial needs of your people while you are letting all these other people stay and demand and command what happens with your resources and you just stay in power and you're doing well personally. And so that's all that matters. And so the last election, I think he won it by 97 % according to him. What now that he's declared that he's running again, there's no opposition.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:05.187)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:13.742)
Correct, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:14.903)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:19.341)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:01:19.803)
So he's gonna win this time by I guess 99.97%. The question is, what are we going to do? And unfortunately, the burden is gonna be on our youth to truly overwhelm these African elites. Absolutely overwhelm them. And I'm not advocating violence. Having said that, these people are not going to go away willingly. Frederick Douglass said, power concedes nothing without a demand. Our young people...

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:34.18)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:01:48.353)
you're going to have to save yourselves because our elders apparently are not going to save you.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:53.472)
without a doubt. It's much better to take that risk than to drown trying to cross the Mediterranean to end up in Europe cleaning somebody's toilet, working in some kitchen. You have all the wealth on the continent. You have to seize the day. This is your moment.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:10.79)
Did you see that story of the three young men who rode on the bow of a ship 11 days across the ocean, I guess with whatever food they had in their pockets or whatever, just to make it into Spain?

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:16.684)
on the, on the, on the, of a ship to Ghana. Yeah, yeah, sorry.

Milton Allimadi (01:02:30.186)
No, that's uncanny. That's uncanny. That's just, they just affirms what I just said. Why take that type of risk when everything is right there at home? We cannot allow these petty individuals who only care about their stomach and that of their family and their acolytes and sycophants, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:35.36)
and dangerous.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:45.432)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:03:00.052)
We need to really instill in our youth the value of their lives. Once they value their lives, they won't allow that kind of abuse to happen. I never heard of that story, but it's not surprising. It's horrific.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:16.206)
mean, it's a system of, it's a symptom of the kind of problem the African societies are in at the moment. The youth are really, really desperate, but this is just falling on deaf ears with regards to these leaders. And sorry, our final story, it's one about which will bring probably...

make the sister smile because she's got a project like that and I would like her to speak about the project as well. So it's the man on a mission to save Mauritania city of libraries from encroaching deserts, deserts, deserts, um, settlement of Chigweti faces rising sands, dwindling tourism and insecurity due to conflict in neighboring Mali on a recent afternoon, 67 year old Saif Islam.

made his way into the courtyard of a library in Chigwechi, a tiny desert settlement nestled in the Sahara in Mauritania. And the essence of this story is, he says, it is this book that gave it this history, the importance, he said, pointing to a 10th century Quran. Its pages brown with age. Without these dusty old books, Chigwechi would have been forgotten like any other abandoned town. And you can see it.

I mean, it's basically been overrun with sand. Tugwe Tugwe rose to prominence in the 13th century as a type of fortified settlement called the Kisar that served as a stopping off point for caravans plying the Trans-Sahara trade routes. It then became a gathering place for Maghwe pilgrims on their way to Mecca and over time a center for Islamic and scientific scholarship.

referred to variously as the city of libraries, the suborn of the desert, and the seven holy city of Islam. Its manuscript libraries play host to scientific and Quranic texts dating from the later Middle Ages. And so the first story goes to sister. How does this sit with you?

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:25.016)
being that you have a library as well and you might want to talk about it.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:30.972)
So actually this is a very real threat to these libraries. When we were in Chemitz, when I traveled in 2023 and also again in August of this year, we saw areas where they had initially been completely swallowed by the sand.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:54.692)
percent.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:56.304)
that they didn't even realize that these temples were underneath and then they had built things on top of it. And then later it was excavated, exposed, and so on and so forth. it's like you see the ancient temples on the bottom and then there's a mosque that was built on top. And people were actually living in homes on top. So like,

This is real in terms of the desertification and what sand dunes and how sand can absolutely bury a place. And there's so much of our knowledge and history that's buried both by sand and by water. Because the other thing we saw in Kemet was that in creating that dam, that there were a lot of temples and other cultural areas that house cultural information that are under the water, maybe, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:26.542)
Florida. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:38.551)
I was flooded.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:06:41.821)
We will never be able to access or get that information. So this is a real very real issue I'm glad that there's an article bringing this to to prominence. I'm glad that there are some

entities that are working towards cultural preservation. My issue, because I'm not looking for white folk to save me, my issue is always what should we be doing for ourselves? And so what you see with Africans not being as invested in maintaining our own culture, our own history, our own quote unquote artifacts, which is not a term that I would use, but the things that show who we are and what we've been and that

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:02.788)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:07:20.641)
give us like a service compass as to what we could be again is first of all colonial erasure right that colonial powers dismantled our African knowledge systems promoted European superiority and so we do not take we do not find value we're not even bothered to see if there's value in what we had

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:24.857)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:41.315)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:07:41.886)
It's just, they said it's darkness, it's the heart of darkness. So that all of that can be done away with. We're not actually even thinking about it. And certainly we know through our educational system, like comrade Alamati was saying earlier, there's so much we're not being taught. So we don't even know to look and say, you have all these students who are looking for PhD topics, their master's thesis and their PhD thesis. Go over there.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:08.653)
Hello?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:10.095)
before someone from the Sorbonne comes and then writes the book and becomes the expert or whatever. Looking at post-colonial state priorities, the fact that we have inherited these very fragile economies that were already so indebted to the colonizers that we don't really have extra funds the way we're set up right now to say, let's go preserve some culture. Like people don't have food on their table. So.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:36.227)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:37.393)
Folk are thinking about, can I eat, not can I preserve some books and things of that nature? So all the unemployment, the climate threats, the food insecurity, and then of course the fact that we even have the insecurity with them bringing in these mercenaries and all these guns, and so you don't even have peace where you can really sit down and think. One of the things that being so insecure causes is that

Milton Allimadi (01:08:42.708)
ready.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:09:04.593)
You're constantly in this fight or flight or freeze that the ability to even sit down and think and say, okay, what do we need to be working on? Let's go retrieve this. It's not happening. And then of course, the psychological displacement, these narratives that devalue African culture.

And so there are probably some people who have the resources to help out with this. Some of our celebrities and other folk who, you know, will think nothing of dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on a car, who might get, see this information and it's of no use to them. Like, cause it doesn't matter. So, you know, how to turn this around. Definitely looking at our educational system, rewriting our curricula, because there could be.

Field trips, there could be other ways even now with technology that we are broadcasting this information to schools widely across Africa and preserving it in such a way. Digitization efforts, we have the resources and we have the young people who are unemployed, who would gladly be employed in this kind of capacity. And then of course, community economic investment and then training the youth custodians because here again,

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:05.689)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:12.964)
correct.

Milton Allimadi (01:10:12.986)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10:20.252)
Who is it that they're interviewing about this? He's 67 years old. Who has been trained? Who is going to follow up? Who is going to preserve these things? And of course, here in the United States too, we see the dying libraries. Books are just being thrown out. That's why I buy what I can. I'm keeping what I can because we're going to wake up one day and look around and, yeah, it used to exist, but no one can find a copy anymore.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:22.18)
was 67 years old. Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10:46.514)
And then of course our governments have to recommit because there's really no true sovereignty, no true independence if we don't go back and connect to our history. and then.

Milton Allimadi (01:10:58.116)
No, no, very good. think.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:11:00.802)
Really quickly, yes, we opened the first public library in Opobo in Nigeria. This is my ancestral homeland. We had over 3,000 youth with no access to a library. It's just a two-room library for now because we're fighting internal structures to even, we're saying we'll find the money, just give us the approval to have a space or to build a space, have land to build a space. But the library is very well utilized by the young people

course, can we have more? Yes, but it's also changing the narrative, changing the culture in the place. And I'm very grateful. Some of you who are watching, can tell have donated in the past to the efforts to keep that library open five days a week. So we have two librarians, full-time librarians that we pay. We also have a school that we've now taken on and we have about 25 teachers and other people, staff members who we are paying every single month in addition to trying to help show

the infrastructure. So for all of you who've assisted in any way, thank you. But listen, this is the work that we all must be doing. And whether it's $5, $10, if a mass number of us are doing that consistently, there's no issue we have in Africa or in the African diaspora that we cannot address ourselves. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:12:27.268)
Okay, can you tell them how they can reach out to you?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:12:32.726)
you know at this point just send me an email at aya at aya and nelly e n e l i dot com And tell me what you're interested in and I can I can take it from there So I don't take up more more time and i'll put that in the chats as well for those who are interested

Adesoji Iginla (01:12:49.476)
Okay, Brother Milton, your thoughts as we come to a close.

Milton Allimadi (01:12:51.971)
Yeah, so I think this is a project that you should undertake yourself probably. Adeswajee, since you introduced this, I think you should undertake this project. think you should devote, invite people to participate in maybe the first 10 minutes of your next show and discuss the project and launch the project. I think you can get

Adesoji Iginla (01:13:02.094)
token.

Milton Allimadi (01:13:20.887)
young people involved in rescuing. So it would be something like a rescue knowledge or rescue library projects. And this can be your first engagement. And then you can jump to other locations. But this one is a very interesting story. I can see young people relating to it and wanting to engage and take this as a project and adopt this situation.

And then after that, you look for another one. There are many. And eventually it will grow and it could have significant impact. It's such a good opportunity that I think you should not miss it. I think you should launch something related to this.

Adesoji Iginla (01:14:09.472)
Okay, we'll give it a...

Milton Allimadi (01:14:10.414)
Give it thought. I know you're juggling like a million projects.

Adesoji Iginla (01:14:13.86)
Exactly. So yeah, you have your matching orders. OK. OK, OK, we'll do that. And yes, so on that very inspiring note, we've come to the end of another African News Review. It's been one.

Brilliant episode and I hope people have found value in it. And if you have, do help the channel by subscribing. We're hoping to get to 2000 subscribers by the end of the year. And so we're nearly there, but yes, every other thumb helps. So subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. Ask everybody else to subscribe as well. So like, share and do all the necessary stuff. Brother Milton, thoughts?

Milton Allimadi (01:15:09.351)
Asante sana. See you next week.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:12.578)
And sister?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:14.568)
There's truly nothing impossible for us. So no matter how heavy some of the news is, we've got to believe in our power to change things. But it starts with each and every one of us. So I appreciate comrade Alamadi actually giving us assignments. Like if not us, who? And he gave himself an assignment as well. He's like, I'm going to go write this article. So everybody has a role to play. And if you're not playing a role, you're part of problem.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:32.226)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (01:15:35.519)
Yeah, for sure.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:42.372)
Well, and I'll just use the title of Kwame Nkrumah's last book, which is African Unites. so Unite We Shall. And so until next week, it's good night and God bless.

Milton Allimadi (01:15:43.305)
Well put, well put.

Milton Allimadi (01:16:01.575)
Santa Sana.