The hangover from the infamous Berlin conference of 1884 when Africa was carved up like a Christmas turkey still lives with us till date.
It’s devastating impact on the psyche of the continent and her Diaspora lingers on - economic, cultural, political and social - are evident everywhere you look.
Like a mad tailor, the Europeans set out to tear up families, ethnicities, and cultural boundaries with no recourse to rhyme or reason.
Over rounds of rum, gin and whiskey and other spirits, these drunken buccaneers sat behind the shiny oak tables in the quaint German city of Berlin and decided to make a mess of a people they hardly knew, and whose civilization they did not know predated the history of the entire Europe.
All this for the sake of economic gains and power. Raw power.
More than 100 years after, the Europeans and their allies are still unsatisfied. Their appetite for Africa’s vast natural resources seems insatiable.
Ask France. Ask the English. Ask the Germans. And ask...
During the Cold War era, the former Soviet Union had jumped into the fray - a fight for a piece of the continent - under the banner of supporting African freedom fighters.
And now as Russia, they are back with an economic agenda. And for global influence.
During the struggle for self-determination and independence, the Soviets conveniently offered a pre-colonial Africa a place from where to fight.
Then came the Chinese. With bag loads of money, they were willing and eager to buy everything African.
Latest arrivals - the Americans - apprehensive of growing Russian and Chinese influence came with strong-arm tactics.
They demanded political reforms, human rights protections, and economic subservience. They wanted control. Absolute control.
They pressurized the continent for a place for the US Africa High Command.
They were however roundly rebuffed. But the Americans persisted.
Under the current administration in Washington DC, the original goal of the United States for a military presence on the continent has taken a slightly different tact.
With an already tiny toehold in Accra, Ghana where it maintains a ‘logistical and cooperative’ hub, the Americans have surreptitiously found their way into Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria. Boots on the ground.
The Americans who have always had a fascination for Nigeria seized on the opportunity presented by the widely reported cases of genocide against her Christian population to intervene. On moral grounds. Presumably. So they said.
Not many of us believe the Americans. We sincerely believe that the agenda is far from moral.
Today, as I write, there are about 200 US combatant troops on the ground in Nigeria. We are told they are there for training purposes.
Preposterous. To say the least.
Down south, the United States’ first power move at asserting her influence in the continent was to intimidate South Africa, the second medium power country in the continent apart from Egypt.
It accused Pretoria of targeting her White Afrikaans population for physical elimination.
Under this patently spurious guise, President Donald Trump invited and literally humiliated his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa at a White House meeting before the whole world.
Then came another opportunity for the Americans to announce their intention to engage in yet another power play in Africa - the DRC/Rwanda debacle.
For the gluttonous Americans, the military skirmish in the mineral-rich Eastern DRC was a fortuitous opening to sink their teeth into the pie.
Quick on his feet and smelling blood, President Trump wasted no time in dispatching his daughter’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos to the Congo.
Up until now, the fragile peace process between the DRC and Rwanda is still up in the air.
Back to West Africa.
The sudden emergence in West Africa of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) known in French as Alliance des Etats du Sahel - a political union between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger upturned the geopolitical calculus.
They kicked out France and distanced themselves from the regional bloc - ECOWAS - and aligned with Russia.
Sensing and preempting a Russian plot, the Americans piled pressure on Nigeria whose current leader is rumored to be a compromised American asset.
What you now have is a US Africa High Command through the back door.
Though denied, facts on the ground and intelligence sources confirm that the Americans now have a functional military base in Nigeria.
With an initial tiny number of US troops in the northernmost part of the country, the base has been strategically positioned to give coverage to the entire Sahel region.
And if I am to believe the fable that once they arrive, American troops never leave - they metastasize - and that exceedingly troubles me.
Sixth sense tells me that a US military base is also inevitable in the DRC or somewhere near if lasting peace continues to prove elusive in the Eastern Congo.
Add to this that the Chinese who are heavily invested in the continent. France is still licking her wounds. And most likely plotting a comeback.
Bugged down by the Ukraine war, Russia still has its eyes set on Africa.
Meanwhile, the other European powers are circling around the carcass that is Africa.
Given the paucity of quality leadership in and around the continent, I sincerely believe Africa could be on the path to re-colonization. Economically and politically speaking.
I hope I am wrong. But sincerely wrong.