In beginning this article, I have to quote the people of the oil city of Warri inDelta State parable, that is, 'play play, play play turn to eat and go'. In otherwords, al-Gaddafi's administration of 42 years recently came to an end as rebels seized his fortified compound in Tripoli, capital of Libya.In 1997, Gaddafi initiated a plan for a Sahelian-Saharan economic treaty with at least nine African nations. However, many in the West, view Libya's influence in Africa with concern, many poorer African nations welcomed the oil-rich country's largesse being managed by a man of integrity, whose administration has certainly displayed wisdom, maturity, tactics, and concern for the welfare and development of Libyans. Libyan, a large North Africa country is bordered by Tunisia, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.Also in 1997, the then South African President, Nelson Mandela visited Libya and praised its leader, Col. Al-Gaddafi for his unceasing support during South African's struggle against apartheid. Often considered part of the Arab, Libya is in fact one of Africa's largest and wealthiest nations and for centuries, its people have cultivated relations both across North Africa and South of the Sahara. It is on record that since coming to power in 1969, al-Gaddafi has provided both verbal and material support to a variety of African national movements as well as to governments, ranging from Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda to Thomas Sankara's populist socialist state in Burkina Faso.In spite of the above, and in the wake of successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the people of Libya on February 16, 2011 decided to overthrow the 42-year-old dictatorship or the self-acclaimed king of kings, Col. Gaddafi who seized power in a military coup in 1969 when he overthrew King Idris I and declared Libya an Arab republic. Based on the successful coup, he began to scheme and consolidate his power. Consequently, he built his rule on a cult of personality and a network of family and tribal alliances. Having seen himself as an intellectual, he wrote the Green Book. In this book, he espoused an incoherent vision of a socialist Libya. In view of the substantial oil revenue, he quickly called the bluff of the western world.Since there was no opposition, his sons and friends benefited very immensely from Libya's oil largesse. It was clear that 60 per cent of Libyans remain poor and subsist on less than $2 a day. In a bid to remain in office indefinitely, Gaddafi resolved to kill the people of Libya whom he saw as rats and cockroaches. He was ready to burn Libya than surrender. He muzzled opposition, killed democracy and desecrated the constitution. Gaddafi denied his people the God-given right to choose who should rule them. The self-acclaimed king of kings made himself leader for life, he rejected democratisation or allowing Libyans to choose their leaders. Eventually, the people rose against him as Professor Tam David West will say 'enough is more than enough'.Gaddafi is known for sponsoring terrorism in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He was implicated in the horrific Lockerbie plane disaster and the serious sectarian violence in Ireland. It is abundantly clear that in many wars in Africa, he participated actively including that of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Chad, etc. He once called for Nigeria to be divided into Moslem North and Christian South contrary to the views of Dr Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (of blessed memory) popularly referred to as Great Zik of Africa, who sometime openly said that 'the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable', His best friend in Africa is Robert Mugabe, an advanced octogenarian who has remained in power for 31 years and who hopes to continue. Gaddafi was flabbergasted on why he should be asked to relinquish his office when the Queen of England has been in office for 57 years and the king of Thailand for 68 years.Libyans standard of living, including housing, education, social services, and health care, were among the highest in Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. Gaddafi sponsored large infrastructure projects such as railways and the Great Man-Made River project, a $30 billion effort to transport subterranean water in the southern desert to the heavily populated Mediterranean coast. In the late 1990s, Gaddafi experimented liberalization but also arrested 1500 businessmen on charges of corruption. Despite five unsuccessful coup attempts and considerable international animosity, he remained firmly in place as leader of Libya.Whatever the case may be, Gaddafi started well, and initially did well for his people but he should have embraced the wisdom to end well by stepping down, not stepping aside as demanded by the citizenry of Libya. Now that the self-acclaimed 'king of kings' has fallen, a true democracy should be put in place in order to move Libya forward in the right direction. Furthermore, the crisis in Libya, before the fall of Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi is an eye-opener for the sit-tight leaders in Africa who always resist change.Soeze can be reached via charlessoeze@yahoo.ca
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