When you sit any honest and life-witness of the regime and tenure of President Gnassingbe Eyadema down, and he will not think twice to swear with his life that the people of Togo can not win the present battle against military strongholds, the deceased president has left behind.
I am a Togolese from the southern part of the country. I grew up in Togo and escaped the bullets of the past president into Nigeria in 1992 when the opposition leaders who were spearheading the journey to democracy, were suddenly divided over the meat and the cake, Eyadema offered to remain in power after the country's most terrifying and revealing National Sovereign Conference.
First, it was the betrayal of the premier minister Kokou Kofigoh, elected by the constitution and the love of the majority of Togelese. One after the other, the opposition leaders began to give in for the millions offered by the frightening dictator. The leader of CAR (Comité d'Action pour le Renouveau), Dr. Yaovi Agboyibor, who was the homefront strong man in the opposition, the man who was not afraid of the bullets of Eyadema, sold out his resistance and his passion for a new Togo. Perhaps because the populace lost her trust in him, I don't know. Antoine Foli, my village brother, and others, who earned the respect, the attention and the support of the people of Togo during the National Sovereign Conference, also threw in the towel. During the death and burial of Antoine's father who was one of the elders of our community (Anfoin), the military men of Eyadema played lead roles.
I was in Togo in 2003 to start my movie production business. But when I was told what I should do, say and manipulate to get it started and what I stand to get from the president, if I go through the dirty process, I ran back to Nigeria and refused to eat the free meat of the president. Before the dead of Eyedama, nothing works in Togo except it had the selfish interest and participation of Eyadema and his government. To live in Togo, you need to lie, belong to RPT, the ruling party. You need to praise Eyadema and his government. You need to form a group of well-wishers to exalt the name of the tyrant. Then, you will get millions of FCFA free. I mean free. Tell Eyadema that your blood brother is talking bad about him. He will give you millions of CFA and send soldiers to kill your brother. People were forced to join RPT to survive. Teachers, civil servants, graduates are forced to do Okoda riding business locally called “Zemijan”.
Now Eyadema who we were all fighting is dead. Now my questions are – WHO WILL BIRTH THE NEW TOGO? WHO DID NOT JOIN EYADEMA IN DESTROYING TOGO? CAN WE POUR A NEW WINE IN AN OLD BOTTLE? DOES TOGO HAVE ANY TRUE AND UNDEFILED OPPOSITION? WHO WILL FIGHT FOR US?
Before now, the people of Togo knew it, understood it and accepted it that only death could remove Eyadema. If the movement of the opposition, the unity of the poor people of Togo, the fight of the armless frustrated citizens of Togo could not remove Eyadema between 1991 – 1994, then nothing and absolutely nothing could have removed him. So they have been waiting for death to act. And this was taking too long, so they began to eat from the dark pot of the president.
Eyadema, who did not finish his primary education, joined the army and succeeded in a coup d'état and began to run Togo with the support of some selfish southern brainy politicians like Tevi Kpotivi Djijogbe LaClé, Edem Kodjo, etc., crippled the destiny and life of one of the biggest producers of phosphate in the world.
The people of Togo, who knew nothing and still yet struggling to know the true God, enthroned Eyadema as their ‘god', their saviour, their everything and their best. I believe, very soon, videotapes of who Eyadema was to Togo and what Togo was to Eyadema and his family, will soon be available to the world. There is no reputable, terrible and renowned shrine in Togo that Eyadema had not been to. Our southern fathers and brothers took Eyadema round the most powerful and terrible dark powerhouses of the country, to empower him, to encourage him, to equip him for the evil things he had done through his lifetime. I hope there is still a living statesman, an honest man, a living ancestor, a repented partner of the rule of Eyadema, that will tell the world one day, who Eyadema really was.
People of the world! The sickness that eventually drove Eyadema to the bottomless pit, has been his co-tenant since 1995. Before and after then, three of his deadly children have started ruling along with their father. Ernest Gnassingbe, Emmanuel Gnassingbe and Faure Gnassingbe. I will not exaggerate if I say, these children are deadlier than their father. Especially, Ernest and Emmanuel. Somebody somewhere must help Togo out the hands of these young power-drunk princes of the monarch Eyadema.
I don't blame the group of hungry, blind and selfish Togolese that rallied to invite Faure Gnassingbe to join the presidential race. What will you do if you have sold our birthright? What happens to man when he sells what he values most, in the market of threat, humiliation and survival? What happens to man when the beasts of the harlot you once hated, become your pillows? That's where the corrupted ‘changers' of the tiny West Africa country stand now! They cannot make any serious positive change! The helpless and weary citizens of Togo don't even know whom to trust anymore. They don't know who is truly ready to lead them not even to the promise land yet but out of the soul-torturing trauma of Eyadema's days to a place where they can take a fresh breath.
Honestly, I am not as crazy about who becomes the next president of Togo as I am passionate about knowing who wants to help Mother-Togo to push the New Togo out. The destiny of Togo is crying in the wilderness again. Where are the doctors? Where are the midwives? Can the midwives of the Mother-Togo fear God enough to reject the instructions of Pharaoh, so that Moses could see the light of the day? (Exo. 1:15-20). I call all the big nations of this world, democratic organizations and freedom voices to help Togo. You who have given birth before, help this weary pregnant nation which has just lost her uncaring, narrow-minded, self-centered and selfish husband.
On behalf of the millions of Togolese at home, in Nigeria and scared all over the world, I cry for help. PLEASE, HELP TOGO TO BEGIN A NEW LIFE. There are though very few people in the country who did not defile their stand, their integrity, their body, their confessions with the portion of the tyrant's meat. Arise and fight for the new Togo. Arise and birth the new Togo!
The people of Togo cannot fight this battle. They were suppressed, humiliated, enslaved, deprived, bruised, retrenched and abused. They've got no strength to fight. They've lost their integrity in the place of their assignment. Some were forced to eat the meat. The crumbs of the cake they ate yesterday are still on their lips. The fat of yesterday meat is still fertilizing the womb. The shame of yesterday's compromise is taller than the boldness for tomorrow's battle. They can't fight. The few fighters need you, the AU, EU, UN and me. Please come to our aid.
Vive la nation Togolaise! Vive La Democratie en Afrique!
USA, march 4, 2005
John-Mawudem Micheals Dossou, USA
President, The Word Films,
Email: trusthim100@yahoo.com
