Political Odyssey of Chief Madu Ndigba- (a belief in totems by an african leader ) An Allegory

Chapter v
Totem of Felix Houphet Boigny
Chief Madu was not only aware of the totem of General Ironsi, but was conversant with other stories and folklore concerning totem beliefs in the Congo, formerly Zaire as well as the totem of the president of Cote’ D’ivoire referred to above. The chief acknowledged that the Zairian leader was a contemporary of another ageing African Statesman Felix Biogny who ruled Cote D’ivoire for many years before it was engulfed in crisis. Unlike the Nigerian General that was introduced earlier on in relation to the totem belief, the veteran politician narrated to chief Madu that Felix Boigny had a colony of crocs in the pool of his garden at Yamoussoukro. One of such crocodile was known as ‘ ‘Caiman’, specie of crocodile with extraordinary poisonous bile- one of such is believed to have represented him, as such his living, health, prosperity as well as his success were linked to this creature. There were no tales of whether political enemies were dumped into this pool. But there was the strong belief that the activities of the crocs where closely connected to his wellbeing. Felix Houphet Boigny ruled Cote D’ivoire from independence in 1960 till his death in1993. It rumoured that two prominent Ivorians, Alhassan Quatra and Bedie kept virgil by watching the unique croc at the eve of Houphet Boigny’s death.
However, Houphet Boigny’s success in creating an economically viable and politically stable state in West Africa was due to the fact that it was the largest cocoa producer in the World according to well documented research at that time. Its ties with France assured massive capital investment into her economy from French businesses. Houphet Boigny presided over a patronage system in which the entire state machinery revolved around his personality. There was no xenophobia in his time because his political tolerance enabled many people whose identity were later questioned, were co-opted in his government. The economy also boomed . Unfortunately, this was wrongly attributed to the myth of crocodile totem.
As far as his religious leanings are concerned, he converted to Catholicism as adult. Historically, prior to the late 1800’s, French political elites were unsympathetic to priests and nuns whose mission was to spread the gospel to the uncivilized. These pervading influences influenced latter political/religious development in Houphet Boigny’s Cote D’ivoire. The construction in Houphet’s home town of Yamoussukro, of the largest catholic cathedral outside Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome calls to question his judgment as a political leader. The extent to which Houphet chose lavishly to invest state funds in building a cathedral, as opposed to addressing the social needs of the citizenry is indicative of insensitive leadership. The catholic church opposed the taking over of this edifice as suggested even though the Holy see has had an embassy there. The Church also opposed his being buried there according to his wish. The church might have been aware of his fetish practice of totemism and had to keep him at arms length, by the foregoing measures. Also at the eve of his death some old women were said to have carried his body to a secret location and performed certain tribal rituals.
At the end of the narration, chief Ndigba was not convinced of following the footsteps of Houphet Boigny because the totem mythology did not protect him from demise. His rule was long but much more would have been done to evenly spread the wealth acquired among the population
Regrettably, the patronage system led to the contention as to who was to succeed him and hence the political crisis that led to instability after 2001.