Senator Barak Obama’s campaign slogan for the recently concluded US Presidential election was “Change we can believe in”. This change the whole world came to believe in, came to pass on November 04, 2008 when Senator Barak Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America having being first elected as an Illinois Senator in 1996 and a Federal Senator in 2004. This cataclysmic change process is still on. It is not going to end with Senator Obama as the US President.
Senator Barak Obama’s campaign slogan for the recently concluded US Presidential election was “Change we can believe in”. This change the whole world came to believe in, came to pass on November 04, 2008 when Senator Barak Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America having being first elected as an Illinois Senator in 1996 and a Federal Senator in 2004. This cataclysmic change process is still on. It is not going to end with Senator Obama as the US President.
In the spirit of this change, in the spirit of democracy, in the spirit of choice, Nigerians are being urged to rally behind Senator William Owens as the new US Ambassador to Abuja.
Why Senator William Owens? Before answering this question, let me firstly introduce Bill as he is fondly called (Readers are also invited to remember the other Bill (William Clinton) that served as the 42nd US President that passed the African Growth and Opportunities Act with its attendant benefits to Africa in general and Nigeria in particular). As the saying goes – there is a lot in a name.
Bill was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972 and to the Senate in 1974. As a state senator he held a number of leadership positions, one of which gave him responsibility for oversight of a $7 billion USD budget as Chairman of the Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs.
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For Nigerian’s, Senator Bill Owens led a delegation from the United States and England to Nigeria to meet with late Chief M.K.O. Abiola and President Ibrahim Babangida around the issue of Reparations. This shows the Nigerian friendliness of Bill amongst other acts. Bill has also lived in Nigeria for two years making him one of us.
Academically, Bill is equipped for the office, having earned a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. He has also begun a doctoral program at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
For more information on Bill readers are invited to visit: http://www.nigeriansupportcommittee.org
Now revisiting the question: Why Senator Bill Owens? The answer is plain simple. Bill is a seasoned politician with great understanding of the plight of minorities. Bill is a friend of Nigeria and Nigerians having lived in the country for two years. Bill understands the aspirations, yearnings and frustrations of Nigerians. Bill will be a grassroots diplomat and not a toffee nosed one that will be there to protect the interest of the Nigerian political and business class that has pilloried the country to the ground since independence. They cannot fool Bill. Maurice Iwu and his gang cannot fool Bill. President Yar’Adua cannot fool Bill. For Bill is one of us.
But most importantly my good friend HRH Chinedu Okoye that sold Bill to me has this to answer on the question: Why Senator Bill Owens?
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“………Hi Odenigbo, good question, what our efforts will do is for the first time in US history, it will show that those who originate from a country other the US have an interest in seeing that the right people represent the US in their home country, most of the time those appointed to these posts were businessmen or friends of politicians or campaign donors so the citizens of the country where they are appointed never have a connection to the individual. In that case when decisions and policies are made, no real consideration is given to the host country”.
In a nutshell, what the paragraph above implies is that politics as we all know it is a game to horse-trading and lobbying. Interest groups trading and lobbying for their own particular interest. In this case the interest group are Nigerians trading and lobbying for a candidate that we can reach to be the next US envoy to Nigeria. A candidate that can tell the whole world come 2011 that the Nigerian president should not be recognised for he or she is a product of a fraudulent election. For we Nigerians can access that candidate. Senator Bill Owens is that candidate. We can have a connection with him.
Nigerians are invited to visit this website: http://www.nigeriansupportcommittee.org and follow the instructions on how to lobby for Bill.
Remember the slogan: “Change we can believe in”. This is the time and place for that change to benefit Nigerians.
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