Thread by @RealOlaudah

One thing I've observed about the debate on the effects or defects of the Trump presidency, is that majority of Nigerians in the diaspora, and a huge chunk of the African American population, have heavy anti Trump sentiments.
Thread.

They view him, rightly or otherwise, as a racist and white supremacist. On the other hand, majority of 'concerned' Nigerians at home, view him in an entirely different light, using an entirely different barometer of judgement.

Nigerians at home aren't as concerned about Trump's racist or white supremacist tendencies. They're more drawn to him by his unconventional type of politics, which is fascinating to them. His bluntness, lack of political correctness and more importantly, his apparent 'distaste'

for the Buhari administration. His rhetorics on the victimization and or persecution of northern Nigeria Christian minorities, has won him a lot of support here.
There's a school of thought that believes that without this, the murderous Fula herdsmen would've been more brazen...

in their genocide, and the government as usual, would've been silent to these atrocities.
Another reason of support for the GOP and President Trump by Nigerians, (when I say Nigerians here, I mean majority of southerners), is the Obama administration's tacit support for the...

current president. Available facts show that the Obama presidency in no small measure, facilitated the APC campaign, even recommended a PR consultancy firm for their use and engagement, emasculated the Jonathan presidency by refusing military cooperation, in terms of...

sales of ammunition to combat the Boko Haram menace, was against his anti gay legislation, and went short of outright condemnation of his government, and support for Buhari.
Years down the road, with the brazen failure of the Buhari administration to address it's campaign...

promises, greatly weakened economy and attendant general poverty and economic downturn, Nigerians put the blame squarely on those that catalysed the coming to power of Buhari.
Again, Nigerians naively or otherwise, had great hopes of better African policies and positive...

engagement with the US, on the inception of the Obama presidency. All those hopes came to nought. This again is one of the reasons for the Trump affinity.
Lastly, there's no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria as a country, is fraught with a lot of entrenched injustices.

Some people feel marginalised in our political space. These marginalised groups naturally, again rightly or wrongly, oscillate towards Mr Trump. They feel they can, by supporting this man that is not too cozy with the powers that be here, at least move his hand to assist in...

their agitations for a more level playing field in our political space.
All said and done, these feelings may just be wishful thinking as it is, but there's no denying the fact that the Buhari presidency is very sensitive to western opinions about it.

I'm also very convinced in the fact that if not for the Trump presidency's cold stance to it, the political space would've been more draconian, tense and uncomfortable for the opposition,..

and the marginalisation of the infamous 5% would've been more brazen and real. Therein lies the differences between both groups.

End.
#USPolitics #NigerianDiaspora #Nigeria

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