THE CAPITALIST NIGER
they needed to loot from Africa. The leaders of Africa who benefited from the handout of independence
to African countries had no concept of the ideals of rulership they were inheriting other than their desire
to displace the Europeans in their oppression of masses of the people and their opulent lifestyles with
the resources of the people.
These leaders’ vision was in stark contrast to that of Nelson Mandela and Kenyatta, the Mau Mau
leader, Kwame Nkrumah, Mwalimu Nyerere, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, all of whom were ready to give up
their lives in pursuit of the freedom of their people. They understood what it was to be independent and
free and were ready to give their lives to attain that goal. The lack of commitment to the real meaning of
freedom and independence by those African leaders who “won” independence for their respective
countries from their former colonial masters has done more to impugn the intelligence of the Blackman