Thread by @cchukudebelu

Early last century, there was a young lad from the British colony of Nigeria, who just finished secondary school. He wanted to be more than a clerk or a policeman, so he wrote to a historically Black college in the US. He was accepted, but he had to find his way to the US.

There was a snag, he didn't know how to get there - so he first tried to get there as stow away. Short story, he succeeded. His name was Nnamdi Azikiwe, he attended Lincoln University and he was instrumental to bringing other heavy weights like Kwame Nkrumah there.

Zik wasn't the only African who attended a HBCU, others like members of the Ethiopian Royal family did. The bonds between Africa's intellectual elite and the African Diaspora were strong - and the Civil Rights and the Independence Struggle were considered the same struggle

When Burna Boy's mother talked about "Africa" and origins - many people, especially the spreadsheet types, with no appreciation of history, made fun of her.

She was speaking a deeper truth.

The concept of the "West" and "Anglosphere" is driven by group identity.

People like Cecil Rhodes worked extremely hard to bring the English speaking word or "Anglosphere" closer together. True there was the common language and culture , but a lot of work was done to integrate the Anglo-Saxon world. That was why Rhodes established Rhodes Scholarships.

The only people who "get it" seem to be the Ghanaian Government. They are building on what Africans and the African Diaspora have in common. Meanwhile, many of us in Nigeria are basically fooling around - with no understanding of how we can take advantage of common bonds.

The African versus African Diaspora Twitter fights are silly. It is a symptom of a lack of leadership; on the African American side, since the death of Martin Luther King, and on the African side - since the 1st generation of Pan-Africanists were booted out of office in the 1960s

If you have spare time - consider how the Chinese and the Chinese diaspora interact; from Mainland China, to Taiwan, to Singapore, to Malaysia and beyond.

You build on what you have in common, to your advantage.

Do we have nothing in common with African Americans?