The National Industrial Court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, and the Force Secretary, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Hafiz Inuwa, for contempt of court.

The Court ordered the arrest of the IGP and the Force Secretary for disobeying the court order, which was regarded as contempt over the failure to reinstate some police officers who are graduates of Courses 33, 34, and 35 of the police academy, who were alleged to have been forcefully retired by the force.

The court has earlier ordered the IGP to reinstate the officers who were alleged to have been forcefully retired by the force, but the order of the court was allegedly not obeyed by the IGP.

It will be recalled that the aggrieved officers approached the court and sought an order to nullify their compulsory retirement from the service by the IGP.

The court presided over by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi, however, ordered the IGP, the Police Service Commission, and the Force Secretary of the Police to reinstate the forcefully retired officers.

But the Police boss and others have failed to obey the judgment of the court delivered on April 19, 2022

However, the Court in a fresh order on June 8, 2023, a copy that was made available to journalists on Tuesday, Justice Oyewumi berated the IGP for the latter’s refusal to obey the court despite advice from the relevant stakeholders in the police force.

The court order read, ” It is on record of this court that the court delivered a judgment in this case on 19/4/2022 and ordered that the judgment creditors/applicants should be reinstated forthwith.

” It is on record of this court also that the Police Service Commission, the statutory body that is vested with the power to appoint, promote and discipline the judgment creditors/applicants, had ordered the Inspector General of Police to comply with the judgment of this court.

“It is equally noteworthy that the CP, Legal, the Head of Department of the Nigerian Police Force had also issued a piece of legal advice urging the Inspector General of Police to comply with the order of this court vide a letter dated, and the Inspector General of Police received it on 27/7/2022 yet he has refused to obey or comply with the judgment of this court.

“This is an officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who swore on oath to uphold the rule of law and the same law he has now failed or refused to obey.

“It is also of importance to state that this court has given ample opportunities to him and the Force Secretary to appear before this court and show cause why they are not to be held to be in contempt of this court, the record of the court evinces that they have both been served the enrolment of the order of this court severally yet they both deem it fit to flout the order of this court and desecrated this hallowed chamber and the temple of justice.

“Justice is not only for the affluent, it is indeed for the poor and vulnerable also. I pause to say that I wonder what type of head of an enforcement agency like the police, the Inspector General of Police is, if he finds it so difficult or so difficult it seems for him to obey a simple order of the court.

”I also wonder the type of example he is laying for his officers if he, as the head of the Nigerian Police Force, has chosen/ elected to flagrantly take the law into his advice by the Police Service Commission and his own officer, the CP, Legal to comply. This, I must say, is preposterous and appalling.

“It is in the light of all stated, which are in sync with the record of this court, that I hold the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and the Force Secretary, AIG Hafeez Inuwa, for being in contempt of this court, they are to be arrested and be produced before this Court for necessary action.”

The court, however, adjourned the case till October 9, 2023.

Nigeria has been ranked fourth among top ten African countries whose citizens spend a huge amount of money to obtain Schengen visas but later got rejected.

A recent analysis of visa expenditures by SchengenVisaInfo revealed the substantial financial burden African countries face in obtaining Schengen visas.

According to the findings, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia spent the most on Schengen visas in 2022 and are ahead of Nigeria in the African Continent. 

Algeria leads with an expenditure of $15,787,992 and a 45.76% rejection of 392,053 applicants, followed closely by Morocco with $10,502,448 with a 28.20% rejection of 423,201 applicants. 3rd is ranked Tunisia with a total of 166,346 applicants where 29.05% of them got a rejection making a total of 48,909 refused applicants and $430,399,2 spent. 

Nigeria is ranked 4th with a 45.14% rejection rate of 86,815 applicants, amounting to 39,189 being rejected, leading to the spending of $430,399,2. Egypt made fifth on the ranking with an 18.61% rejection rate of 167,995 applicants leading to 31,271 of them being refused and a total of $275,184,8 on expenditure.

According to the report, the ranking is based on latest available data received by the EU Commission, adding that “Many African travellers face complex procedures, lengthy waiting times, and also high rates of visa denials.”

These are the top 10 African countries with the highest expenditure on Schengen Visas:

Hon. Justice Nelson Ogbuanya sitting in Portharcourt Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has granted an Order of Mandamus, directing the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd to furnish police pensioners led by Rtd DSP Benoni Amon, and 4 others as representatives of the 142 aggrieved members of the Retired Police Officers Association, Rivers State Branch, the detailed Template in use for calculating and payment of their Pension category being retirees of the Nigerian Police Force, within one month.

The Court further ordered the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd, being a Pension Fund Administrator, licensed and operating under the Pension Reform Act upon receipt of the said Template from the National Pension Commission, to use the said Template and work out the detailed percentage of the Applicants’ accrued gratuity and pension benefits; indicating the formulae of how each of the retired police officers’ pension and gratuity benefits were calculated with payments made or due, and furnish same to them through their Solicitors, within 3 months, and Copies of the said Template and Calculations shall be filed in the casefile for record of compliance.

The Court held that the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) guarantees the retired officers’ entitlement to pension and gratuity, and they can lawfully demand for the template used in calculating their pension and gratuity, particularly when there are complaints of discrepancies and errors; and awarded the sum of N1m each against the National Pension Commission and the Nigeria Police Force Pension Ltd, in favour of the Retired Police Officers Association as cost of action.

From facts, the Applicants- Rtd DSP Benoni Amon and 4 others who are retired police officers and members of the Retired Police Officers Association, Rivers State Branch, instituted the case for themselves and as representatives of the 142 aggrieved members of the Retired Police Officers Association, Rivers State Branch, against the National Pension Commission and the Nigeria Police Force Pension Ltd, for failure to provide them with template and details of calculation of their gratuity and pension payments, which they alleged to be inaccurate and marred with observable anomalies and shrouded in secrecy.

They averred that they had pleaded with the Pencom and Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd to address the issue as they live in abject poverty as a result of the underpayment of their terminal benefits, but all were to no avail.

In defence, the National Pension Commission challenged the jurisdiction of the Court on the ground of alleged incompetence of the suit for being filed outside 3 months statutory period stipulated under the Public Officers Protection Act (POPA), and being academic as the Applicants have been paid their terminal benefits, and an explanation was earlier made to them as they requested.

The Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd contended that an Order of Mandamus cannot be made against her, not being a public body, and urged the court to strike out its name and award a punitive cost of N50m against the Applicants.

In opposition, the Retired Police Personnel counsel Ola Faro Esq. averred that the suit is not academic, but meritorious and appropriate for judicial review, being a suit bordering on issues of accurate payment of pension, and the responses made by the Respondents were unsatisfactory as the template they requested were not released to them.

In a well-considered Judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Nelson Ogbuanya after careful evaluation affirmed the jurisdiction of the Court and dismissed the objection for lacking merit, and held that the date of commencement of the suit was just barely one month of the cause of action, and certainly far within the 3 month-period provided for by both the POPA and Judicial Review Rules of the Court, more so, as POPA is not applicable to employment- related claims.

The Court further held that the National Pension Commission who is laced with the statutory authority to take charge and render effective service in supervision of the use of appropriate Template for calculating pensioners’ terminal benefits cannot shy away by shifting the responsibility to the Police Force Pensions Ltd who apparently is not much trusted by the Applicants.

Justice Ogbuanya ruled that the failure of the National Pension Commission to attach the pension and gratuity template and formulae in their response letters entitles the Applicants to seek legal redress in this Court, by way of judicial review for an Order of Mandamus directing them to furnish them with the said template to aid their enquiry over the acute shortfall and discrepancies in the payment of their pension and gratuity earnings.

Justice Ogbuanya while agreeing with the stance taken by the Police Force Pensions Ltd that it cannot be issued with an Order of Mandamus, not being a public body, however, held that the Police Force Pensions Ltd performs statutory duty under the Pension Reform Act, and therefore a necessary party to this suit, and appropriate orders can be made against it.

A woman, Mrs Taiwo Ahmed, has narrated how armed robbers invaded her home in Iwo, Osun State, in August last year, spent more than 12 hours with her before carting away her vehicle, a Toyota Sienna, clothes and many household tools.

Mrs Ahmed said she had almost given up on the recovery of the vehicle until she got a call from police operatives telling her that her car had been recovered and some of the suspects apprehended.

She gave the narration while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune at a press briefing held by the Osun State Police Command recently.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, who represented the Commissioner of Police, Kehinde Longe, had told journalists how police operatives arrested 14 suspected armed robbers, receivers of stolen property and other conspirators.

He gave their names as Rasaki Bakare a.k.a Ari, Emmanuel Tayo, Oluwasanmi Adebanjo, Julius Olalekan, Kehinde Afeez, among others. Recovered from the suspects were eight vehicles, including Lexus RX350, Toyota Sienna, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix and Toyota Dyna.

The PPRO disclosed that the suspects carried out robbery operation in different towns including Iwo, Ikirun and Inisa, adding that they abducted one of their victims from Ikirun at gun point before they dispossessed him of his Lexus RX350 SUV, phones and other valuable items worth over N7 million.

“Immediately the case was referred for discreet investigation, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad recovered the Toyota Lexus RX350 in Akure, Ondo State.”

She added that intelligence led the operatives to Iwo/Ikirun axis where other vehicles were also recovered. Opalola stated further that anti-kidnapping detectives recovered a Toyota Corolla (big daddy) and arrested three suspects – Tayo, Rasaki a.k.a Aro, and Oluwasanmi – at Olodo area in Ibadan, Oyo State.

“Further investigation led to the arrest of Femi Adeniran, Ogunremi Adeyemi, Ayobami Azeez and Lawal Omotayo for aiding the registration and computer production of fake number plates and documents for the stolen vehicles,” she added.

The image maker listed the buyers of the stolen vehicles as Safianu Abubakar, Mohammed Abdullahi, Adewale Abiodun a.k.a Dudu, Kazeem Ayandelea.k.a Cowbell and AdebisiKabiru, saying that all the suspects would be charged to court after investigation must have been completed.

Narrating her experience, Mrs Ahmed said: “On October 12 last year, the armed robbers woke me up by using the flat side of a machete to hit me. It was only my eight-year-old daughter and I that were at home. I saw the one I later knew as Tayo picking my phone beside my bed. He also took my purse and picked another phone from it. He was the one that also picked my car key.

“One of them started barking: ‘lie down!’ I complied immediately. One of them went out, remaining two others. They started asking questions: ‘Where is your husband? Where are others? Where are you working?’ I told them it was just I and my daughter. I said I was a teacher and they asked me to call my boss that I would not be able to come to school because I was bereaved and had travelled to Sagamu in Ogun State. They dialled the number from my phone and put it on speaker.

“One of them asked for my phone code and I gave him. He checked my bank accounts and discovered I had N79,000 in one of them. I had initially told them that I didn’t have any money. They came to me and said that they would punish me for telling a lie. I started crying, asking them of what I did. I told them I just opened the account about a month before they came. They asked for details of the account and I told them. When they checked and saw what I told them was true, they decided not to hurt me with the cutlass that one of them had raised. They were with me from the early hours of the day till evening of the same day.

“They went out to check my vehicle, Toyota Sienna, and discovered it was not functioning. They asked me what was wrong with it and I told them it was the battery. They told me that one of them would go to buy a new battery, asking me to cooperate with them. One of them left, one was with me and the third one stood outside.

“When my daughter was pressed and needed to go to the toilet, they did not allow her. I had to tell her to pee on the bed. They checked my luggage and removed my clothes. They took my two new blenders, two new electric kettles, a microwave machine, an alkaline pot, pressure cooker, among other items. They ate the bread I had at home with stew. They also consumed the fried fish I had. They drank malt drink, juice and water.

“When my former boss heard of it, she told the Commissioner of Police and the case was transferred to Osogbo. I was happy when I heard that the vehicle had been found.”

Some of the vehicles recovered from the suspects and buyers of stolen vehicles
One of the suspects, Rasaki Bakare a.k.a Aro, 31, from Ikirun, confessed thus during an interview: “I was arrested for invading a house at Inisa with my gang members. We went to the residence of our victim at midnight with cutlass and iron rod. We opened the door forcefully and took the victim’s vehicle, a Toyota Camry (big daddy) and phones. We were taking it to our buyer, one Sunday Ogbemudia, in Ibadan, unknown to us that he had been arrested.

“We got different vehicles from our three operations. We had sold two to Ogbemudia and wanted to sell the third one when we were apprehended. The police have recovered them. I got N55,000 from the first stolen car, and N45,000 from the second one.”

Another suspect, 31-year-old Tayo who also hails from Ikirun and is married with four children, told the Nigerian Tribune about his involvement in armed robbery: “I’m a mechanic but started armed robbery last year. It was Yusuf (at large) who introduced me to it. We met in Ilesa Prison when I was serving a two-year sentence for stealing phones. Later, my people were able to pay the fine option after I had served for nine months and I was released from prison.”

How we carried out operation

“I was at home in Ikirun when Yusuf called me. He told me to go to a residence to take a vehicle. He said his area brothers would show me the house. Three of us went to the targeted house in the early hours of the day. We removed the window burglar-proof grills and got inside the house. It is true that Yusuf and the third gang member, Ajanaku, used cutlass to beat the woman in the house for her to wake up.

“It was Yusuf who went to collect money from the woman’s account. He used it to buy car battery. Three of us sold the car to Ogbemudia.”

What led to my arrest

“The last robbery operation was in a Pastor’s house and that led to my arrest. In the early hours of May 11, Aro, Tunde and I went to the pastor’s house along Inisa road. We forcefully entered the house and took the Pastor’s vehicle to Ibadan. We called Ogbemudia, unknown to us that he had been arrested.”

Oluwasanmi, aged 25, also from Ikirun, explained his involvement: “I met Aro and he told me of his intention to rob in a house. He asked me to follow him and I joined him and Tayo, making three of us. Tayo held a cutlass, Aro held a rod while I held a gun that was not functioning well.”He admitted being a hemp smoker, saying that he started two years ago.

Afeez Kehinde, from Iwo, admitted being the one who pointed out Mrs Ahmed’s house to those who went to rob her. “It is true that Yusuf slept in my room. I knew him as an area brother. What happened was that my friend, Julius, and I met Yusuf on our way from railway station. We picked him on our bike. While on the way, he told us to take a route as he wanted to say hello to someone. We got to a spot and he pointed at a house, telling us that it was his boss’s residence. When we got to our residence, Yusuf told us that he would come to stay with us the following week. Two days after, he told us to show his boss’s house to Tayo. We did and left the neighbourhood.”

The lawmaker representing Zaria Federal Constituency, Tajudeen Abbas, has emerged as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Abbas, who was elected in an “openly declare” ballot system was elected by members of the House on Tuesday.

The anointed candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated Idris Wase and Aminu Jaji in a voice vote on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.

Abbas scored 352 votes of the total 359 votes cast while Jaji and Wase polled three votes each.

Former Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase and Ahmed Sani Jaji scored three votes each.

One member-elect, who died immediately after the general elections, was the only member that did not vote.

Immediate past Speaker and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila took part in the election.

Abia Lawmaker, Benjamin Kalu on Tuesday emerged deputy speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10th Assembly.

He would deputise Tajudeen Abbas who had earlier emerged as the speaker.

Kalu, who was the spokesman of the 9th Assembly, was not opposed when nominated.

Kalu secured his position before the voting began as Imo lawmaker, Princess Miriam Onuoha, stepped down for him.

A candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Senate presidency, Godswill Akpabio has emerged the 10th President of the Senate after defeating Senator Abdulaziz Yari.

Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa-Ibom State and lawmaker from Akwa Ibom North West emerged winner after polling 63 votes to defeat his opponent, Abdulaziz Yari, former Zamfara State governor, who got 46 votes.

The result was announced by the clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tambuwal.

He said 107 senators voted.

Akpabio was the anointed candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the seat of number 3 citizen, but was challenged by Yari, who is also of the APC.

Senator Jibrin Barau has emerged as the Deputy President of the 10th Nigerian Senate after his nomination was the only one put forward by former governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi.

A member-elect, Salisu Mustapha supported the nomination

The Chief Justice of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has on Wednesday the 24th day of May, 2023 decongested the Nigerian Correctional Service Center.

Among the prisoners he released was one Hon. Chuma Nzeribe who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment without option of fine in the matter of Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Hon. Chuma Nzeribe. Charge No FCT/HC/791/2020 which was filed by the EFCC. Presided by Court 14 Hon. Justice Yusuf Halilu.

The convict earlier on filed an application for his bail pending appeal and the EFCC also responded that the FCT High Court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain any application by the Applicant since there’s a pending Appeal before the Court of Appeal and all parties have filed their briefs of argument and issues were joined. While parties were waiting for a date to argue the application for the bail pending Appeal before the Court, the CJ went to the prison and released the Convict. It’s pertinent to note that, the Convict was convicted since May 23rd, 2022 in absentia.

Justice Yusuf made an order after the conviction for the Convict to appear before the Court for sentencing. After thorough surveillance, the Convict was subsequently arrested by the EFCC sometime this year and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine among others. The Convict was sent to the Nigerian Correctional Service barely 3 Months back.

Justice Halilu Yusuf of the FCT High Court, Abuja, has convicted, Chuma Nzeribe, a former member of the House of Representatives for impersonation, possession of Federal Government documents and using same to fraudulently acquire land.

Nzeribe, who contested the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was convicted on Monday on four-count criminal charges brought against him by the federal government.

The convict could not be sentenced to prison, however, because of his absence in court on Monday when the judgment was delivered.

Justice Yusuf while delivering the judgment said he would reserve the sentence till the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives and police arrest the convict and bring him before the court.

The Judge ordered that the land in Maitama acquired with the forged documents taken over by the owner, Ishaya Madi, with immediate effect.

Nzeribe had shunned the court for the third time without any cogent reason.

EFCC had told the court that Nzeribe wrote the commission a Memorandum of Understanding MoU surrendering the land he fraudulently acquired to the real owner, Ishaya Madi.

I recently visited the site of the birth of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa. The legendary “Africa Hall” located within the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) secretariat, is now under reconstruction. A Tower of Babel, it is a massive building site with giant iron scaffoldings reaching to the sky: an apt metaphor for the unfinished efforts to build African unity 60 years after the historic meeting at which the OAU was born in May 1963. As Africa commemorates the diamond jubilee of the institutionalisation of African unity, it is worth recalling the “Grand Debate” at its creation to assess whether its lofty aspirations for unity have been fulfilled.

Not since the notorious Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 at which European imperial powers set the rules to carve up Africa, had a gathering on the continent been more significant than the 1963 summit in Addis at which the competing Brazzaville, Monrovia, and Casablanca groups were dissolved, and the OAU was born. 32 African leaders met for four gruelling days in the imperial capital of Addis Ababa to craft the organisation’s Charter. The contributions of six important “Founding Fathers” – Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Senegal’s Léopold Sédar Senghor, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Algeria’s Ahmed Ben Bella – essentially encapsulated these fierce debates. These six “Wise Men” – an Emperor, a visionary, a poet, a sage, and two revolutionaries - were mostly charismatic Philosopher-Kings, and, among their ranks, were some of the continent’s leading intellectuals.

The Emperor: Haile Selassie

The opening speech by Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, called for the unity of Africa’s then 250 million people, noting that: “An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.” The Ethiopian monarch reflected the euphoria of the epoch, rousingly calling on the continent with the stirring words: “Our Armageddon is past. Africa has been reborn as a free continent and Africans have been reborn as free men. The blood that was shed and the sufferings that were endured are today Africa’s advocates of freedom and unity.” Echoing Kwame Nkrumah’s famous injunction about Ghana’s independence, Selassie exhorted that “Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free.”

Appropriately, but without naming them, the Emperor acknowledged the struggles of heroes in the Diaspora – Edward Blyden, W.E.B. du Bois, Marcus and Amy Garvey, and George Padmore – who had contributed to African liberation. Selassie himself had belatedly embraced a Pan-African identity, with Ethiopia having been largely independent and suffering only a five-year Italian colonization (1936-1941). But, even before South Africa’s great reconciliatory Prophet, Nelson Mandela, the Emperor noted:”Memories of past injustice should not divert us from the more pressing business at hand. We must live in peace with our former colonizers, shunning recrimination and bitterness and forswearing the luxury of vengeance and retaliation, lest the acid of hatred erode our souls and poison our hearts.”   

Selassie then urged his fellow African leaders that: “It is our duty and privilege to rouse the slumbering giant of Africa, not to the nationalism of Europe of the Nineteenth Century, not to regional consciousness, but to the vision of a single African brotherhood.” The monarch used the ongoing Congo civil war as an example of the type of ethnic-fuelled crises to avoid. As the host, Selassie tried to steer a careful path between radical Casablanca “federalists” such as Ghana, Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Libya, Mali, and Morocco and the more gradualist Monrovia Group to which most African states belonged. While speaking of Nkrumah’s political union as the final destination of African unity, the Emperor eventually embraced the gradualism of the majority Monrovia bloc of first removing the enormous political, economic, and socio-cultural obstacles from the path of continental integration.   

Selassie, like Nkrumah, regarded the United States and Soviet Union as models of continental integration to which Africa should aspire. This was ironic given that both superpowers were, at the time, already conducting proxy wars in Africa that were fuelling conflicts such as that in the Congo. The monarch, however, reminded Africa about how long it had taken America and Russia to consolidate their unions, noting that: “When a solid foundation is laid, if the mason is able and his materials good, a strong house can be built.” He thus called on conferees in Addis to build a common African home by ending divisions and creating a single continental organisation with its own Charter, secretariat, specialised organisations, a development bank, and a defence system that would enable the continent’s armies to protect members from external aggression. With Ethiopia having been a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920, many of these ideas were based on four solid decades of multilateral diplomatic practice. The monarch thus urged the OAU to embrace the ideals of the Charter of the League’s successor – the United Nations – which he regarded as a protector of Africa’s sovereignty, urging Africans also to complement the UN’s efforts. The Emperor ended his speech by calling on African states to embrace the non-alignment principles of the 1955 Bandung Conference, including ensuring a nuclear-free continent.  

The Visionary: Kwame Nkrumah

No figure is more intimately associated with Pan-African unity and a federalist vision of a “Union of African States” than Kwame Nkrumah. The Ghanaian leader was a widely-read and genuine intellectual, and not just a statesman. He was thus more grounded in theory than many of his contemporaries, and was impatient to fulfil his federalist vision. His speech in Addis Ababa did not disappoint. As he noted: “In the task which is before us of unifying our continent we must fall in with that pace or be left behind…. A whole continent has imposed a mandate upon us to lay the foundations of our Union at this Conference, it is our responsibility to execute this mandate by creating here and now the formula upon which the requisite superstructure may be erected.”

Nkrumah enthusiastically called for independence to serve as the prelude to constructing new societies and vanquishing neo-colonialism. He particularly singled out France, Portugal, and apartheid South Africa for criticism, while highlighting the Congo as a classic case of neo-colonialism. In support of non-alignment, the Ghanaian leader was particularly critical of unnamed francophone countries whom he accused of furnishing military assistance to their former colonial master - France - through military bases. He cautioned his fellow African leaders about avoiding the experience of Latin American states which, though independent for 150 years, had fallen prey to US imperialism as a result of a failure to create a strong Union. He then reiterated his consistent belief that Africans must seek first the political kingdom, and the economic and social kingdoms would subsequently follow. He thus called for a borderless Africa, a Common Market, and a Union Government with common Pan-African institutions in defence (an African High Command), foreign policy, common citizenship, a common communications system and currency, an African Monetary Zone, and a continental Central Bank. Nkrumah further argued for joint institutions in the areas of industries, agriculture, and hydro-electric power, insisting that a united Africa would not only attract greater foreign investment, but also create more of its own capital to facilitate industrialisation. For the Ghanaian dreamer, delaying the continental government would lead to fragmentation and strengthen the forces of neo-colonialism: words that would prove prophetic.

The Poet: Léopold Senghor

Senegalese poet-president, Léopold Senghor, was an intellectual Prophet of the concept of Negritude which sought to restore African dignity through glorifying its cultural past. As a politician, Senghor was the very anti-thesis of Nkrumah’s federalism, instead championing African cooperation in the economic, financial, cultural, technical and scientific spheres, while pursuing minimalist political cooperation in which African states harmonised their foreign policies. In Addis, the Senegalese poet lyrically pushed his ideas on cultural decolonization, arguing: “The consciousness of our community of culture, our African-ness, is a necessary preliminary to any progress along the road to unity….it is on spiritual energy that we must call. We must forge together a common soul.” Senghor directly challenged Nkrumah’s federation as a recipe for disaster, instead arguing the case for gradualist integration, using subregional organisations as building blocs for eventual continental unity. He criticised the Ghanaian leader’s idea of a Common Market as a limited customs union, pushing instead for an Economic Community that harmonised planning and promoted the free movement of goods and persons. Senghor ended by stressing the need to acknowledge that a Common Market would result in the loss of customs duties which helped protect infant industries and were vital to government revenues in every African country.

The Sage: Julius Nyerere

Tanzanian (then Tanganyika) president, Julius Nyerere, was a Philosopher-King who had translated Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, into Swahili in 1963. He often sought to steer a middle path between Nkrumah’s federalist Union and Senghor’s functional cooperation. Nevertheless, Nyerere often sounded as radical as Nkrumah in denouncing imperialism – “the slave raids organised all over Africa by those powers whose prestige was built upon the humiliation of Africa” - and in advocating for a “United States of Africa.” However, his vision recognised the realities of recently independent African states that were not yet prepared to cede their newly-won sovereignty to a supranational Union Government.

In Addis, Nyerere urged African leaders to find a “common denominator” that would enable the continent to speak with one voice. Arguing that since “none of us is prepared in the name of unity to invite a Napoleon to come and bring about such unity by conquest,” the only option was to build consensus through consent. In a subtle dig at Nkrumah, he praised Senghor as embodying his “common denominator”, while noting that the OAU Charter could not be revolutionary, as African integration had to be a gradual process based on what the political traffic could bear. Indirectly chiding Nkrumah, the Tanzanian Sage noted: “A true revolutionary is one who analyses any given situation with scientific objectivity and acts accordingly.” Nyerere concluded his contribution by backing Guinean leader, Sékou Touré’s idea that African states should contribute 1% of their national budgets to the liberation of Africa.

 The Revolutionaries: Gamal Abdel Nasser and Ahmed Ben Bella

Two North African revolutionaries round out our survey of the 1963 Addis summit: Egypt’s Abdel Nasser and Algeria’s Ben Bella. Nasser strongly supported Algeria in the savage war of independence waged by imperial France in which one million Algerians perished. In Addis, he cautioned that “the continent faces the most dangerous stage of its struggle and following the miracle of birth it faces responsibility of life, growth and strong survival.“ As one of the foremost Prophets of non-alignment, the Egyptian revolutionary criticised foreign military bases in Africa. He condemned the UN as an imperialist tool for US-led Western powers, citing the case of the Congo and the martyrdom of Patrice Lumumba. Nasser was also critical of the declining terms of trade of African raw materials compared to the ever-rising prices for Western manufactured goods, consistently urging that Africa employ an “organising mind and dynamic nerves” to take initiatives such as creating a Common Market to tackle the ravages of under-development.

Ben Bella’s Algeria had gained independence barely a year before the Addis Ababa summit. His speech thus reflected the revolutionary fervour of a blood-soaked birth following eight years of selfless struggle against unspeakable French colonial crimes. For Ben Bella, the main task of conferees drafting the OAU Charter in Addis was clear: ”this Charter will remain a dead letter unless we take concrete decisions, unless we lend unconditional support to the peoples of Angola, of South Africa, of Mozambique and others.” Instead of a development bank, the Algerian leader called for a blood bank to support the revolutionary martyrs engaged in Africa’s liberation struggles. He then closed with his famous paradoxically immortal words: “So, let us agree to die a little, or even completely, so that the peoples still under colonial domination may be freed and African unity may not be a vain word.”

The Diamond Jubilee: Feast or Funeral?

Emperor Selassie ended his speech in Addis Ababa by asking whether history would remember the conference as a bold one at which African leaders had “bent events to their will and shaped the future destinies of the African peoples,” or be “recalled for its failures, for the inability of African leaders to transcend local prejudices and individual differences, for the disappointment and disillusionment which followed in its train?” Nkrumah’s hopes of continental government suffered a crushing defeat in Addis with the emergence of an OAU Charter that entrenched the gradualism of the majority of African states. The Ghanaian leader cut a lonely and distraught figure in Africa Hall, as he sat slumped with his hands in his face at the realisation that his lofty ambitions had been soundly defeated by pragmatic reality. Diallo Telli, the Guinean first OAU Secretary-General, would soon eloquently capture the atmosphere into which the continental body had been born, as one of “complete alienation, physical exploitation and spiritual torment.”

Six decades later, as the African Union (AU) struggles to fulfil the ambitions of its predecessor’s “Founding Fathers” for a united Africa, the jury is still out on the Ethiopian Emperor’s fundamental question on how history will judge the Addis Ababa summit. Both hope and disappointment continue to characterise Africa’s continuing quest for unity. It is appropriate to end this journey back to the painful birth of African unity, with a 1999 quote by then South African president, Thabo Mbeki, a key architect and host of the creation of the AU, and a Philosopher-King heir to Nkrumah: “We were mere schoolboys when we saw the black star rise on our firmament, as the colonial Gold Coast crowned itself with the ancient African name of Ghana. We knew then that the promise we had inherited would be honoured. The African giant was awakening! But it came to pass that the march of African time snatched away that promise. Very little seemed to remain along its path except the footprints of despair.”

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.