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Reconciling Exiles and their Tormentors: Appraisal of Selected Medieval-Contemporary African Peace Building Paradigms

Ayandiji D. Aina, PhD, Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Science, Babcock University, Nigeria
dijiaina@yahoo.com

Medieval and contemporary Africa had been through torrents of multiple crises-social, economic, political and psychological. In relative terms, it has been observed that the political crisis is valorised to have priority and significance for the peoples over the other crises because, in Africa power is over priced and it has become the arena of contestation in a most vicious or anarchical manner. From the great battles fought by medieval leaders like Mansa Kankan Musa, Sundita of Mali and Shongai empires, through the tribal conquests of the old Oyo, Benin and Igbo-Ukwu Kingdoms to the present-day crises under dictators like the late Generals Sani Abacha of Nigeria, Idi-Amin of Uganda and the tyrant of Gbadolite, late Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, the history of Africa could be said to have been replete with crises of immense magnitude.
A common product of the various types of crises is the generation of exiles- political as in the case of people displaced for sharing ideologies or beliefs that are regarded as different from the ones commonly taken as dominant paradigms; economic as in people displaced from genuine access to means of livelihood; social and psychological replicated by cultural displacement/alienation and value manipulation/restructuring.
This study will be empire/kingdom/country specific and situation realistic. It will attempt a survey of few medieval cum contemporary paradigms in Nigeria. In doing this, it will interest us to visit the origins, government, interaction and kinship societies of the people. We shall bear in mind the underlying principle which enjoins us to conduct our exploration in the light of the legacies of late medieval European activities in Africa.
The contexts of this exercise are the reverberations of political activities in Nigeria and the idea that the medieval period set in motion some of the contemporary problems.We intend to use all of these to examine the strategies adopted in pursuit of peace and reconciliation of exiles.