Floyd’s killing has sparked global outrage and protests across cities with many presidents condemning the situation.
South Africa-based civil rights activist and lawyer, Austin Okeke, has said that African presidents cannot confidently condemn the killing of African-American, George Floyd, because terrible police brutality happens under their watch on the continent.
Okeke spoke in an interview with SaharaReporters on Tuesday.
Floyd’s killing has sparked global outrage and protests across cities with many presidents condemning the situation.
Okeke said, “They (African presidents) are worse; the rule of law on the African continent is not something to write about. On the African continent, there are no human rights. Any leader can just wake up anytime any day and just establish a law.
“What would they (African presidents) be saying; would they be condemning what they all do every day? That is why they are not talking. If you look at the case in Nigeria, we have a President who happens to be inept.
“What will Buhari be condemning in America? Nothing. If you look at the case in Uganda, similar story happens; repress of dissent, opposition and rule of law. In South Africa, there was a recent xenophobic attack and the President did nothing. All these things fall within the same bracket of human rights.”
Okeke said many American citizens flooded the streets to protest police brutality because of the enabling environment created in the country for human rights to thrive.
The lawyer said the United States is seen as a beacon of human rights, which made it easy for its citizens to bombard the White House to air their views.
He said, “There is no government stopping them from moving or expressing their anger. The drawing of the line is that on the African continent you might just read the law in the paper but it is not being practised.
“When they rise in opposition to what has happened in America, it will come as an irony; they will come as jokers because they don’t have it in their system.”
Speaking on the way forward for Africa, Okeke added, “Leadership on the African continent needs to be changed from the age bracket of those taking leadership and from the understanding of what they are going there to do.
“You cannot have people like Paul Biya, Buhari and Museveni of Uganda and that of Gabon (in power). That is where we should start. When a fish rots, it starts from the head.
“If we address the age bracket, we should change the people that are there. All these things have to change.”