Obama, Trump And The lessons For Africa, By Prof. Akinterinwa

Trump and Obama

Following the swearing in of United States president Donald Trump, a former Director-General of the  Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, in this piece, speaks on the legacy of the immediate past President Barack Obama of the United States and the Trump presidency.


Obama approval rating

Obama started well and ended well. He started well because his approval rating at the time he emerged United States President was 84%. Now that rating was the highest anybody can lay claim to when compared with other presidents in the Unites States. If we are to think back, we will discover we have Bush, Clinton; when you compare them, you will discover that Bill Clinton in 1992 was 67%, it was 61% for George Bush when he took over in 2001. But in 2009 when Obama took over, it sky-rocketed to 84%; so it went beyond the 67% of Bill Clinton.
His legacy becomes very important when we reckon with the fact that, as at today, Donald Trump’s approval rating is just about 40%, which is less than half of Barack Obama’s rating of 84%. It means that at the time Obama left, we can  ask the question, how much support did he have in terms of what he had done. I think it is as high as 84% as well. But there is no scientific research to ascertain all he did at the end of his tenure.

All that he did during his tenure was that the tension globally in which the United States was involved was drastically reduced! For instance, it is on record that Obama was able to deal with the number one international terrorist that was killed. Even though the problem of international terrorism is yet to curtailed finally, the issue is that terrorism within America appears to become a thing of the past. So nobody can dispute that, regardless of the controversy surrounding Obamacare.  He put the care in place. Donald Trump may be talking about a better healthcare policy that is going to replace it. Before Obama became US president there was none. It was because Obama put in place what was named Obamacare that anybody can talk about improving it. It is a legacy.

His legacy is more inspirational

More importantly, legacy should be understood in the context of continuity. The progress of American interest is constant. On the continuum of the protected national interest, Barack Obama is on record to have managed both the terror of error as well as error of terror under his administration. There was a time terror was carried to the door steps of countries suspected to be aiding terrorism. The issue then was that at the end of the day countries suspected to be aiding terrorism; like Moamah Ghadafi of Libya, accused of maltreating his people, committing crime against humanity and all sorts. Also the case of Iraq, where it was alleged that they had nuclear weapons in their arsenal, but was later found to be untrue. The problem was left for Obama’s administration to manage, and he was able to make America acceptable and respected by the rest of the world. This is why many believes his legacy is more inspirational than transformational. His speeches and management style of administration inspired and was able to transform institutions.

Inferiority complex charge unfounded

In terms of racial discrimination, Obama is more of African than American, and the factor of being the first black President of the United States is also a legacy itself. In other words the Black factor is an expression of legacy because nobody expected an African American to perform in such an enviable  capacity for two terms successfully in the most powerful country in the world. That he did without any blemish. Which means that as a black man the factor of inferiority complex could not arise. So his case falls within the category of high class leaders in the world. When we put everything together, I strongly believe he started well and ended well.

A legacy African leaders should emulate

The factor of hacking election processes by Russians is an attempt to rubbish Obama’s legacy. If Hillary Clinton had been elected on the basis of popular vote, because it was established she had the majority votes, but the hacking itself distorted the entire election result through the electoral college. The result showed Donald Trump does not have majority support. He is an assisted Russian President, elected by the American electorates. Either Trump intend to run the American affairs the Russian way or the American way, this is yet to be determined, because, he once said he is unpredictable. If we link that up with the factor of Obama’s legacy, it would have been complete, if there had not been any hacking and Hillary Clinton was elected to continue from where Obama left off. But it is hard because of the factor of the scientific fraud brought in, so it won’t allow people to appreciate the legacy he left behind.

However, he left a memorable and inspiring legacy African leaders can also emulate: That is objectivity of purpose, honesty, impact-ism, and selflessness.

When he was newly elected, his hair were rich, black and attractive but after leaving office, he suddenly turned old and grey-haired.  To me, that is an expression of hard-work in his administration.

So leaders parading themselves in Africa and Nigeria in particular giving reasons, why Africa and Nigeria is not moving forward is not statesmanship. I once said, Nigeria is the only country in the world where honesty, patriotism and hard work are discouraged. People that are put in government in whatever capacity either as governing councils  or supervisors are supposed to ensure good governance and nationalism but they device means of cutting corners and  when you checkmate them, they write false reports against you. And unfortunately, most Nigeria leaders never investigate petitions but they take decisions blindly.  Barack Obama did not do such. Whenever there are issues, he investigates. Nigerian governments don’t investigate, they just listen to false gossips. That is the reason Nigeria will hardly move forward as a nation and hardly do we learn from legacies of leaders like Barack Obama because our system is very fraudulent and dishonest.