The Misinterpretation of African Thought and an Illegitimate Appeal to "African Culture"

Abstract

Gani Fawehinmi, a respected Nigerian activist-lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, used the death of Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, the wife of the Nigerian head of state, as an occasion to evaluate the political health of Nigeria. He drew an important connection between the circumstances of the death of Mrs, Obasanjo and the immorality and irresponsibility of the Nigerian ruling elite and the middle class. My understanding of Fawehinmi’s position is that it is morally unacceptable for the wife of a head of state to die in a foreign hospital after 46 years of independence. In his view, such a death is not only a damning judgment on the country's medical infrastructure, the sad state of its hospitals, and the pathetic state of the country's medical policies, it is also an indictment on the Nigerian ruling class.