During a visit to Lagos this month, I witnessed strong reaction from Nigerians to the erection of a R19m, 25m bronze statue of President Jacob Zuma.
The flamboyant, eccentric governor of Nigeria’s south-eastern Imo state, Owelle "Rochas" Okorocha, had conferred this honour on Zuma in the state capital of Owerri, as well as naming a street after him, giving him the state merit award and honouring the South African leader with a traditional chieftaincy title of Ochiagha ("great warrior"), with Zuma resplendent in colourful royal regalia, a red cap, beads and a staff of office.
Unfortunately, the ceremony coincided with SA’s Supreme Court of Appeal decision to reinstate 783 counts of corruption against Zuma, leading to loud protest from Nigerians at what many saw as the honouring of an ethically challenged figure.
Nigerian pundit Reuben Abati complained that Zuma’s presidency "has been scandal-ridden, from allegations of abuse of office to a personal life characterised by much burlesque". Nigeria’s Civil Society Network Against Corruption asked: "Is Governor Okorocha not aware that Mr Zuma has been found guilty of corruption by the courts in SA and ordered to refund the $500,000 stolen from the public treasury to expand his private home to accommodate his many wives?"
Human rights activist Chidi Odinkalu complained: "It desecrates our people and our state and it will be pulled down." Pundit Jiti Ogunye opined: "Heroes, and not a villain, can be celebrated in Nigeria." Community activist Truelove Njoku said it was a "gross betrayal of Nigerians … the height of executive callousness and administrative naivety … this brutal assault on our sensibilities".
Rochas, a narcissistic, self-styled "professor of philanthropy" suffering from delusions of grandeur, has become notorious among Nigerians for grandiloquent gestures. Having taken a photo with then US president Barack Obama in 2015, he emblazoned it on a billboard in his state capital with the words: "Behold the New Faces of Change."
The governor also celebrated his 55th birthday for two weeks, with 27 women – each representing a local government area in the state – presenting the profligate governor with a cake.
The announced reason for honouring Zuma was the signing of a partnership agreement between the Rochas Foundation (which funds the education of underprivileged children from 15 African countries at five colleges in Nigeria) and the Jacob Zuma Educational Foundation.
Rochas's allies have noted that no other Igbo leader has attracted such a high-level personality to the southeast, dismissing critics as jealous, selfish 'enemies of the people'
Since these are, however, private foundations, the use of public funds to build such a grandiose statue was bound to elicit angry reaction in a state in which salaries and pensions had not been paid for months.
The incident also rekindled historical rivalry between Nigeria and SA, bringing to the surface recent tensions in bilateral relations. Many Nigerians complained that Zuma has overseen an administration in which 116 Nigerians have been murdered in the past two years (a figure disputed by the South African government), including bouts of xenophobic violence earlier in 2017 during which arsonist mobs destroyed Nigerian homes and businesses in Gauteng. Critics further noted that many victims of these attacks were from the south-east, with several from Rochas’s own Imo state.
South African communications company MTN had its office in Abuja vandalised in retaliation for these attacks and there is widespread anger in Nigeria at what is often perceived as mercantilist South African firms profiting from Nigeria’s 180-million-strong market, while many believe Nigerian firms are denied reciprocal access to the South African market.
Flying between Johannesburg and Lagos on South African Airways (SAA), the tension is palpable between angry Nigerian customers and an often disrespectful and indifferent SAA cabin crew.
Rochas has been defiant about criticism of Zuma’s statue, arguing that he is trying to attract foreign investment to his state. His allies have noted that no other Igbo leader has attracted such a high-level personality to the southeast, dismissing critics as jealous, selfish "enemies of the people".
Angry residents of Owerri have, however, threatened to pull down Zuma’s statue, which is now being guarded by armed police.
It is likely that, like Cecil Rhodes, Zuma will eventually fall. He may fall in Nigeria before he falls in SA.
• Dr Adebajo is director of the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg.
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