Michelle Obama And The Nigeria Connection Plus The Alele Love
Written By Sunday Njokede
Her name was Suzzane Alele, a native of Nigeria and a closed-knitted girlfriend to Michelle Obama. Both were roommates as well, while studying at Princeton university in the USA. "She was always a carefree spirit and didn't take life too seriously. Her parents were doctors and she didn't want to be a doctor. She wanted to travel. She never took things seriously - unlike me." Michelle Obama told the story of her dead Nigerian friend to Richard Wolffe a writer and journalist who covered Obama's presidential election.
The double jeopardy of death struck when few months after Mrs. Obama's father died of complication from kidney operation, her Nigerian friend Miss Alele, died as well in 1989 of lymphoma at the age of twenty-five. Michelle was with Suzzane in her last moment when she passed on to Earth Beyond. Mrs.Obama's life was torn apart from the death of her father and Nigerian girlfriend with such quick succession.
After her friend's death, Michelle began to take stock of her personal life. Without much probing she came to the conclusion that she had been on the wrong track derailing like a runaway trail. There was the need do amends and pump her break. "I just thought if I died in four months, is this how I would have wanted to spend this time?" She lampooned herself in desperation. Her Nigerian girlfriend was an easygoing, freewheeling person who had travelled through Asia before she died. Sazzane Alele gave Mrs. Obama a sense of relaxation, taking life easy as best as one could enjoy the short time we all have on this earth before on dies.
Michelle's father was a hardliner and an apostle of hard work, a gospel he preached continually to his family. But Michelle fancied the hip hop attitude of 'don't take it personal, easy come easy go' philosophy to life. That was how her Nigerian girlfriend did it right before she died. Michelle Obama concluded that the 'all work and no play make Jack a dull boy' episode would no longer be an option and her station in life. She was henceforward going to loosen up from her tight schedule towards hard work and study and take time out to enjoy herself while she is young. Conclusively, her friend was right and her father wrong on the old-school philosophy of all-work-and-no-play. Luckily, Barack Obama had dated Michelle for months before her father and Nigerian friend died. The presence of this relationship beforehand, soothed her pains from the sorrow of two painful deaths that struck her fast and furious. Barack was himself examining his personal life likewise. He gave himself a red-card for abandoning local politics that humanly touched the lives of lower cadre people.
My Reasons For Pointing Out Michelle Obama's Friendship With A Nigeria:
My aims are buoyed out of a sense of patriotism to our motherland plus, a duty to tell Nigerians en masse that there once existed such amity of love between the US first lady and a Nigerian. Only if Jonathan Goodluck's minders and coaches are abreast of this closeness of the Obama's to Nigeria since way back, he could've used this relationship to strengthen our ties with the USA when our president first visited in his first leg. Now that the awareness is out, our president will do good to tap into this friendship and up Nigeria's stake therefrom. Nigeria don't need to pay large sums of money this time to influence-peddlers in Washington to whip up popularity for us 'a la re-branding. Our country wasted handsome chunk of money during Obasajo's presidency to Washington image-makers, a design by OBJ to better his battered image and cover up the nastiness he was doling out.
I do know with certainty that the Obamas love Africa and more so, Nigeria with positive passion. The thing that has stifled that relationship is the corrupt behaviour of Nigerian rulers. But Barack Obama is inventing new ways to bypass the stonewall erected by our ruler to attune to Nigerians probably in the spirit of Suzanne Alele. I know if she were to be alive today, she'd have impressed on Michelle to tell her husband to help her country out.
Recently, the US president in his new attempt to extend that somewhat 'Alele' love to the suffering masses has banned Mike Aondokaa and family from the US. More big time crooks would be disallowed from entering the United States in future time. In addition, Washington has warned Jonathan Goodluck to try and jail Halliburton criminals and suchlike or face US sanctions. The big stick from Washington also await Jonathan and PDP if they let 2011 election go the way of the 2003 do or die selection.
It's now left to Jonathan Goodluck whether he'd jail those named in the Siemens, Daimler, Halliburton and co. Te me why Farida Waziri is still acing INEC if Jonathans is serious about arresting corruption.
If Obasanjo, Atiku, IBB and co. are still knocking-about freely in Nigeria, Jonathan has no reason to come to Nigerians to vote for him in 2011. The have-nots in Nigeria look up to Michelle and Obama to come to their aids. By extending further, the once booming friendship between Mrs.Obama and her Nigerian friend Suzzane Alele to freeing the masses from the Satanism of our rulers. Jonathan Goodluck has the Central Bank of Nigeria, the military, all paraphernalia of statecraft - would you blame the powerless and moneyless citizens as followers for complacency?
Sunday Njokede writes from The European Union
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