Management experts would tell us that power is the ability to do something, while authority is the right to do so. Therefore, use of power without authority is an abuse of power. Sources of authority include constitutional, legal or bureaucratic one, while others are traditional or monarchical, charismatic, paternalistic and sapiental authorities. There are situations where individuals and groups, using the advantage of brute force and superior armament, impose themselves upon other weaker groups of people.
Slavery and colonialism remain classical examples of foreign forces imposing themselves upon weaker groups and causing irreparable damages both physically and psychologically to peaceful local communities. With an overwhelming technological superiority, the colonial powers embarked upon military invasion and occupation of West African territories between 1885 and 1906. They subjected the people to an administration which they did not bargain for, but resisted fiercely, resulting in the death of many local heroes and the invading intruders. Things began to fall apart.
The invasion and occupation of African communities by military conquest depict how the might of power can claim unmerited right and how power can become a bestial instrument. One success emboldens a conquering tyrant, and subsequent acts of brigandage became forms of missionary exploits. The invasion of communities in West Africa by European powers from 1885 was not the first time of such ruthless exploits. For about two centuries, West Africa had been the theatre of Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and after its abolition, another phase of the bestiality of power began. It was called colonialism.
Christian Europe which did not see anything bestial in slave trade, assumed a superior moral ground to convert heathen, inferior Africans to embrace the Christian faith. European scholars had propounded theories of racial classification which placed the Whiteman at the top and the Blackman at the bottom. Thus, what became known as the “Whiteman’s burden” was a mission statement of fulfilling a “sacred trust” of saving inferior human stock from state of depravity.
The scramble for Africa became the focus of European powers after the abolition of slave trade, with a sacred duty of executing the Whiteman’s burden of saving the race of inferior people. Such mission of forceful entry and occupation of other people’s territories and ruling over the people became a “sacred trust” for the benefit of the Africans. Pure hypocrisy!
European colonial powers would hardly admit that they knew little about Africa and its communities. The assertion that Africa had no history spoke eloquently about the Whiteman’s ignorance about Africa. Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper gave the following verdict: “Perhaps, in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But at the present, there is none; there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness… and darkness is not the subject of history”.
Among some African elite who felt bitter about the marauding activities of European powers in Africa and their misrepresentation of the reality of Africa, was Late MKO Abiola. He initiated the pursuit of reparation by African nations, requiring European powers to make some payment to African nations for the damage, loss and injuries which colonialism had inflicted on African communities. Being a rich and powerful business man, Abiola’s project made European powers jittery. Expectedly, they kept quiet.
Without going into a security report that enjoys the protection of the statute of limitation, the Abiola reparation project became an issue which brought about a gang-up to deny him the chance of becoming a president. There may be more to the factors which brought about the annulment of the “freest and fairest election in Nigeria” than Abiola’s dream of reparation. But obviously, such prospect would have jolted our colonial masters into some underground actions to nip a possible danger on the bud. So, let it be with MKO Abiola and reparation!
A statement by a postgraduate student from Papua New Guinea in a conference hall in a British University long ago, brought an ominous silence. That statement was that “the coming of the Whiteman to Africa was not because of love or concern for the Africans, but because of selfish economic interests”. Such a statement coming from a Blackman in a predominantly white environment obviously caused some embarrassment to some people, even though it was true.
When some international authority considered fit and right that the Bakasi Penisula be ceded to the Cameroon, with Nigeria having no option for an appeal, some issues came to light. It is to be expected that the glory and reputation of past heroes and macho-men are not meant to be tarnished, even when evidence of some atrocities come to light. Human vanity and ego can cause wars.
Highly placed individuals and great nations that had abused power and treated human beings as animals in the past have a way of asking for the sympathy of history. Atrocities that the Whiteman had committed in Africa can be presented as “sacred trust” of having to bear the burden of saving Africans from their state of depravity. Same culture or mindset prevails currently in various guises whereby winning emboldens tyranny and turns injustice into justice. Humanity has much to atone for, individually and collectively!

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