The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mandela

  • Okon bids Mandela goodbye

    It was early morning. Snooper had been groggy with sleep. The wild carousal in the village was finally taking its belated toll. A historic hangover ruled the cranial roost. As a freak rain clattered and pounded the aluminium roof, Snooper coiled up in bed like a mamba, waiting for whoever would be foolish enough to knock the door. Suddenly, all hell was let loose as Okon barged in, frantic and panting with excitement.

    “Oga, oga, where you dey? Baba don die oooo”, the crazy boy chanted breathlessly.

    “It’s about time”, Snooper moaned, cursing the mad boy’s ancestors.

    “I no dey talk about dat wuruwuru Baba. Dat one dey do two fighting with dem Jonathan. Na dem go kaput each other. Hausaman kill Fulaniman no be case for court. Na crazy man go carry him crazy pikin or as dem Yoruba people dey say na baba’s goat dey chop baba’s corn.. But as I dey say na Mandela who come quench ooo” Okon sang.

    “What?” Snooper screamed and jumped out of bed to switch on the television. There indeed an iconic cameo of humanity was unfolding. A million dancing feet were converging on Mandela’s residence. It was a modern epic of grief and celebration of a life lived truly and totally at the behest of the people. Snooper was close to tears. A few days after, Okon came in again, this time dressed like a traditional chieftain from the South South with resource control cap to match.

    “And where is Etubom Okon coming from this time?” Snooper sneered.

    “Oga I dey come from dem South African Embarrassy” the crazy one retorted.

    “To do what?” Snooper demanded.

    “I go sign dem condomless register for Baba Madiba.” The mad boy intoned.

    “I see. Is it riffraff like you that they want there?” Snooper asked trying to suppress his mirth.

    “Oga, dis one no be time for big grammar. Dem Rufai dey there and dem Rafiu boku for dem place. He get one old Yoruba politician who dey cry say him papa don die, so I tell am say if him no clear for Okon, I go beat am silly. Dem Naija leaders no get shame at all. If dem Mandela be Naija man dem for don kill am for Kirikiri long time. You no see how dem Mandela people come put Jonathan for dem small corner? Na African proverb be dat”, the boy ranted.

    “Okon, so what did you put in the register?” Snooper cautiously enquired.

    “Ha, ha, I tell Baba Mandela, make him go well. He don try him best, But I tell am say if suffer no whack am enough, when he dey come back make him come back as dem black man. Dis time suffer go whack am well well. Dem Oyinbo people go jail am again and dis time him go kaput for jail..”

    It was on this note that Snooper waved away the mad boy.

  • Association celebrates Mandela

    The chamber of all churches, World Christian Council Association has bemoaned the death of ex-President and anti-apartheid hero, Dr. Nelson Mandela.

    The chairman of the association, Primate Ayoola Omonigbehin, during his speech honored the late icon, eulogise his life and achievement.

    Omonigbehin noted that no matter what resentment incitement giving to Madiba, “Great this – Great that” by the world leaders is not incentive rather to bring economic equality of social living to all to show the fear of god is his advocating.

    “Mandela, the African’s greatest leader, he is example of services of light, wise with blessed spiritual wisdom is gone but not dead!” he remarked

    Omonigbehin disclosed that Mandela did not sell-out all the Public properties he inherited from the “whites” he said.

    Omonigbehin enjoined Prominent Nigerians and opinion leaders to tackled corruption with great measures in every facet of the nation’s life, especially in the economic as a lesson learnt in the life of Mandela.

    “High level of corruption in the economy looks a clog in the wheel of national progress” he said

    The world Christian council advised churches, missionary, religion organization to reduce the act of malfeasance particularly in religion churches and encourage the church leaders who had been sold to the world, to repent and practice the religion according to the teaching of Jesus Christ.

  • The Mandela gravy train

    The Mandela gravy train

    Since the death of Dr. Nelson Mandela on December 5, many tributes have been paid to his memory. Those that are of interest to me here are from three eminent Nigerians – former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida as well as Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

    According to Obasanjo, “Nelson Mandela modestly refused to seek re-election after his first term in office as his presidency elapsed. I still recall his pragmatic words when he said to me ‘Olu, show me a place in the world where a man of 80 years is running the affairs of his country.

    “This, to me, reflects an unequalled sense of modesty for a man who spent 27 of the prime years of his life in prison for a just cause and still kept a calm and peaceful disposition to those who took away his freedom for all those years of his life.”

    He added this clincher, “As the whole world pays tribute to Madiba, I join them in celebrating the life of a man who raised the beacon of human struggle to lofty heights of nobility and whose life is an example of what we should all aspire for. His struggle and our struggles remain the same and as we all seek for answers to deal with today’s challenges. Let us bear in mind that we all have the opportunity to act nobly in whatever position we find ourselves. When we teach our children the lessons for tomorrow, let us be reminded of the lessons Mandela gave the world.”

    My question: Did Obasanjo himself imbibe any of these?

    And now Babangida, after all the usual platitudes, he said, “The other thing that Mandela displayed which is un-African was that he stayed in power for one term and decided to leave the stage, which he thought was noble as he decided to allow the younger generations like his former Vice President, Mr. Thambo Mbeki, to take over from him. It was not easy and he was a very, very rare human being. In fact, we would not have another Nelson Mandela for the next 100 years. That is as far as I am concerned. We just have to keep on learning from some of the things he believed in and some of the things he did and copying him so that we can measure up to certain standards.”

    Do these two men have any moral ground or feel no shame in saying what they said taking into cognisance the role they have played in Nigeria’s tortuous journey?

    For me, the most ennobling comment of them all came from Fashola who said, it was ironical that Nigerians faced daily harassment in South Africa, while those who supported and enthroned apartheid got more respect in South Africa.

    He said, “Tribute to Mandela, either during his life or after his death, cannot really be too much. We are privileged to share this planet with him. But then, there are more questions than answers.

    “When you look at the part of the world where ovation is now the loudest, it was the part the pain was the most vicious. In a very cruel irony, history is being revised. The people, who collaborated with the government that enthroned apartheid at that time, are the people that are paying the biggest tribute now.

    “But I ask myself: is this not the time for deep reflection? I doubt if any African country expended as much time, as much money and as much commitment as the Nigerian government.”

    I am myself a living witness to all the atrocities of Apartheid. I participated in protests on university campuses and on the streets, calling for the end of the obnoxious system. Many students lost or nearly lost their lives fighting for the end of Apartheid and many of those who were driven out of their country came to Nigeria for refuge or to study. Now that they are independent they have turned their backs against us. So much so that not even the President of Nigeria was put on the list of leaders who spoke at the memorial service.

    Have we fallen so low? On all fronts, Fashola spoke for many of us while Obasanjo and Babangida only joined the gravy train to say something.

    God bless Fashola.

  • What would Mandela do?

    What would Mandela do?

    The event had been expected all along.

    The icon was advanced in age. His health had deteriorated dismally. He had even been on life support for some time. But when Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s long and eventful journey through life reached its final terminus, the world received the news with shock and sadness. Yes, death is perhaps the most ubiquitous of human phenomena. It is the inevitable end of all sentient beings. But its occurrence never ceases to surprise. Every mortal harbours the illusion of endless longevity. But at the end of the day, the bell that tolls for one peals for all.

    But of course, Mandela had been different. He had come to terms with the ephemerality of human life decades earlier in his youth. He had thus averred his readiness to die if necessary for the cause of freedom for his people. He was sentenced to a living death; a prison sentence that wasted the best and most productive years of his life. But he emerged from captivity after 27 years triumphant and unbowed, a symbol of the resilience and amazing generosity of the human spirit.

    His jailers showed what depths of depravity and degeneracy man is capable of descending to. By repaying unspeakable wickedness with forgiveness and love, Mandela demonstrated what heights of grace and nobility man can soar to. Man can be vulture and feed on rotting flesh. Man can be Eagle and roam the skies in kingly majesty. Mandela chose the latter. Is it any wonder that mourning him has been a universal celebration; his death some sort of resurrection?

    Presidents and peasants, potentates and prisoners, saints and sinners, all were one in the canonisation of this secular puritan. Remember the words of Jesus: Unless a seed first of all dies, it cannot sprout and live. In life, Mandela died to self. In death he lives for the ages. What glory!

    Here in Nigeria, of course we have not been left out of the euphoric ‘Mandelamania’ of the moment. President Goodluck Jonathan did the right and proper thing. He organized a memorial service for Dr Nelson Mandela at the Presidential Villa chapel. Yes, in many ways Mandela was a Nigerian. This was one of the first countries he visited on his release from incarceration. This was an act of gratitude by the great man for the invaluable role Nigeria played in the struggle to liberate his country from apartheid. But, then trust Nigerians, we ended up doing the right thing in the wrong way.

    In his tribute at the Aso chapel service, President Jonathan spoke glowingly about Mandela’s humility, forgiving spirit and ability to unite people. Shouldn’t the President have stopped there? No sir. Apparently unable to forgive his critics and opponents or like Mandela offer any gesture of reconciliation on such a solemn occasion, Dr Jonathan went on the offensive. It was operation no mercy from the apostle of humility. He berated those unspecified Nigerian politicians who speak “as if Nigeria is their bedroom from where they make proclamations and intimidate others”.

    Jonathan said these Nigerian politicians (he certainly did not have Jonah Jang, Godswill Akpabio, Peter Obi or Seriake Dickson in mind) could not compare with Mandela as they threaten, boast and play little gods. It is not unlikely that his poisoned arrows were directed at a certain Owu farmer (no less vindictive himself!) when he described the still unmentioned politicians as tiny men who lack good character of leadership. The occasion was to honour Mandela. The President’s words sadly did not reflect that spirit.

    But then, Dr. Jonathan was right in a way. Our politics is tiny. Our leadership is puny. Our institutions, not least the presidency, are so terribly diminished. This was vividly demonstrated by the embarrassing anonymity of the Nigerian President at the state memorial service held for Mandela in South Africa. There is absolutely no reason on earth why Dr Jonathan should not have been listed to join the likes of President Barack Obama, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Vice President Li Yuanchio of China, President Hifepune Pohamba of Namibia, President Pranab Mukherjee of India or President Raul Castro of Cuba to pay public tribute to Mandela. The South African authorities could not treat Nigeria that way if we got our acts right.

    In his book, ‘Nigeria: A Nightmare Scenario’, Professor Patrick Wilmot writes of how the Northern region government of Sir Ahmadu Bello gave Nelson Mandela a donation of 10,000 pounds to support the liberation struggle when he visited Nigeria in the first republic before his eventual arrest, trial and incarceration in South Africa. Mark you, this was in the 60s! So committed was Nigeria to the liberation struggle in the Southern Africa region that she was recognised as one of the frontline states of the region. General Murtala Mohammed’s famous ‘Africa has come of age’ speech at the OAU Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa in January 1976 played a decisive role in shifting the balance of forces in support of the progressive movements for the emancipation of the region.

    In the conclusion of that historic oration, Murtala thundered: “Africa has come of age. It is no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or mar. For too long have we been kicked around: for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly. For too long has it been presumed that the African needs outside ‘experts’ to tell him who are his friends and who are his enemies…” Ah! Those were the days.

    One can therefore understand the anguished words of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) when he said “In a very cruel irony, history is being revised. The people who collaborated with the government that enthroned apartheid at that time are the people that are paying the greatest tribute now. But I ask myself: Is this not the time for reflection? I doubt if any African country expended as much time, as much money and as much commitment as the Nigerian government”. This is the sad truth.

    Yes, the peculiar circumstances of Nigeria may have precluded the emergence of a national leader with the towering stature of a Nelson Mandela. But Nigeria has produced great politicians of no mean intellect, vision and character. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s example inspired many African nationalists to fight for the liberation of their countries from colonial bondage. Ahmadu Bello by the force of his personal vision and charisma forged a remarkable commonality of interest among the disparate peoples of the north. Obafemi Awolowo led a government in western Nigeria which is still unrivalled in Africa in terms of its developmental attainments and administrative dexterity. Aminu Kano in terms of his ideological clarity and revolutionary fervour was surpassed in Africa perhaps only by Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. Olusegun Obasanjo in his first incarnation as military Head of State was venerated as a global statesman for voluntarily relinquishing power to a democratically elected government in 1979.  One can go on and on.

    It is true that the quality of leadership in the country has steadily deteriorated over time. We have had a succession of hopelessly corrupt and venal leaders. They have annulled elections. They have sought to perpetuate themselves in office unconstitutionally. They have been administratively inept and famished of vision. They have subverted state institutions to intimidate and harass their opponents. They have been intellectual and moral Lilliputians. But Dr Jonathan has absolutely no reason to follow in the footsteps of such leaders. After all, he has the advantage of being able to learn from and avoiding the mistakes of his predecessors.

    One test Jonathan should always give himself is simple: would Mandela do this? Would a Mandela seek a second term at all costs even if at the expense of the unity of his country? Would a Mandela manipulate state institutions to undermine a legitimate government as is currently happening in Rivers State? Would a Mandela immorally support a minority faction of the Nigerian Governors Forum to declare itself the majority? If he honestly asks himself this question and acts as Mandela would, Jonathan may yet confound his critics, snatch victory from the jaws of imminent defeat and attain greatness.

  • South African tourism without Mandela

    South African tourism without Mandela

    SOUTH Africa, the Rainbow Nation, has enthralled the world with her vast tourist endowments-beautiful and alluring landscape, surreal beaches and coastline and exciting and safari experience.

    Little wonder that every year, looking at the numbers on the performance chart, the country’s tourism fortune continues to rise. Virtually everyone in the world wants to visit the country. But it was not these endowments that sold the country to the world. The world had already become enamoured with the country before it started unveiling its vast tourism assets for all to the see.

    The reason for that was one person-the late Dr Nelson Mandela. The world fell in love with the man before the country. Outside religious tourism, there hardly had been any singular person in history that has caused large number of in-bound tourists to flock to a particular destination. Although Mandela is dead and will be buried tomorrow, the enigmatic nature of the man would continue to be a major attraction for tourists coming to South Africa. This is the reason every day a large number of tourists troop to these sites that are associated with Mandela. They are the Robben Island, Vilakazi Street in Soweto and the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

     

    Vilakazi Street, Soweto

    Soweto is an urban area of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa. The town derived its name from an abbreviation of South West Townships. It was a black township under the defunct South Africa’s apartheid government. The town was built for those who worked there, but were not allowed to live inside the town during the apartheid regime.

    The population has historically been overwhelmingly black. Some of the events in the struggle against apartheid occurred in the township.

    Even in Soweto, initially, blacks were not allowed to own houses, but in the 80s, the law was repealed. Blacks started to own houses, but in Soweto only.

    With this, Soweto was officially divided into three areas. They are referred to as the good, the bad and the ugly. The area for the affluent (the good) is known as the millionaires’ side of Soweto. To buy a house in the good area, one must have about 1.5million Rands (about N30m) to about 2.5m rands (N45m) . The bad and the ugly areas are mostly for the middle class and the poor.

    Touring Soweto, one sees houses along the way which were once hostels for black workers.

    The most popular part of Soweto is the Orlando West where the famous Vilakazi Street is located. The street is almost synonymous with the struggle to liberate South Africa from the shackles of apartheid. The struggle came to an end in 1994 when apartheid was replaced by a democratic regime headed by Dr. Nelson Mandela. Due to the roles that personalities from Vilakazi Street played in the struggle, hardly is there a tourist on a visit to South Africa that would not take time out to go to the street.

    The street has two noble laureates in the late Dr. Nelson Mandela and Arch-bishop Desmond Tutu. Their houses are less than 50 metres apart on opposite sides of the street. Tutu still leaves there, while the late Mandela was living in the highbrow area of Pretoria. However, Mandela’s old home on Vilakazi is the biggest tourist attraction.

    Vilakazi Street is less than a kilometre. The road is tarred, but most of the houses have been taken for one commercial activity or the other. The history of the street has added value to it, as a lot of tourist related commercial activities take place. There are different eateries and joints along the street. Some use the front of their houses to sell souvenirs ranging from South African beads to simple tops for men popularized by the late Nelson Mandela.

    House number 8015 used to be the abode of Mandelas. It is now a kind of museum with some personal effects of the Mandelas on display. By paying some rands, a tourist could go in, see some of these personalized effects and take pictures in front of the house.

    Cape Town in South Africa is regarded as one of the most beautiful places in the world. But part from its allure for tourists to South Africa, it offers visitors opportunity to go on a trip to Robben Island. The island houses the prison where Mandela spent a large chunk of his 27 years’ incarceration.

    The island was used at various times between the 17th and 20th centuries as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups and a military base. Its buildings, in particular those of the late 20th century maximum security prison for political prisoners, are still in tact.

    Although Mandela spent his prison years in different places, the most popular is Robben Island where he was kept from 1964 to 1982. His prison number was 46664.

     

    Apartheid Museum Johannesburg

    Apartheid Museum Johannesburg is another must-visit for tourists interested in the story of Mandela. Some of the personal effects of Mandela like his Mercedes Benz made for him by the South Africa workers could be seen there.

    The museum captures the rise and fall of South Africa’s era of segregation and oppression. The museum uses film, text, audio and live accounts to provide a chilling insight into the architecture and implementation of the apartheid system, as well as inspiring accounts of the struggle towards democracy.

    It’s invaluable in understanding the inequalities and tensions that still exist today. It’s an overwhelming experience, particularly distressing is a small chamber which hangs 131 nooses, representative of the 131 government opponents who were executed under antiterrorism laws.

    Although the South African icon, Mandela, has completed his sojourn on earth, his legacy will continue to fuel the multi-billion dollar tourism industry he helped to build.

     

  • All for Mandela

    All for Mandela

    Students from three universities in South Africa were at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) last week for the Pan African Universities Debate when the anti-apartheid hero and former South Africa President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela died. They held a candlelight procession on the campus to mourn him. EMMANUEL SHEBBS (Political Science) reports.

    The news of the death of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, last week sparked a rally at the University of Calabar (UNICAL). Over 200 students from 23 African universities, who were in the institution for the Pan African Universities Debate, left their hotel rooms to hold a procession for him.

    They were preparing for the grand finale of the contest when the news of Mandela’s death broke. Shocked, those from the University of South Africa in Johannesburg, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria and University of Cape Coast in Southwestern Region of South Africa left their colleagues and gathered for prayers.

    The following day, the South African debaters cancelled their morning engagements to mourn their former president. They were joined by students from other participating countries including Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, Cameroun, Tunisia and Tanzania.

    By noon, the South African students started preparing for a procession to celebrate the life and times of their hero. They went to a shopping mall in the city to get South African flags and packets of candle for the rally.

    By 7pm, the candlelight procession started at the university’s Satellite Town gate, and ended at UNICAL Hotel, where the students were lodged. The procession was divided according to the number of the countries present, but each of the group displayed South African flags and placards, some of which read: “Pan African students celebrate Mandela”, “We never mourn Madiba; we celebrate his values” “Adieu the freedom fighter”and “Mandela, the saviour of black race lives in our hearts”.

    A TUT student, Tom Bisi, who led the procession, said: “We are sad at this moment. We have lost a father and an icon of the freedom we enjoy in our fatherland. We received the news of Mandela’s death with shock. Although we are in Nigeria for another business, everything can stop because a tragedy has befallen our people back home with the death of Tata Madiba and we have to share in the grief wherever we may be. May his soul rest in peace.”

    The students formed different columns of mourners, clutching lit candles. The inscription on the South African flags they displayed reads: “In remembrance of Madiba Mandela and presented by Tshwane University of Technology to the University of Calabar, Nigeria.”

    The students sang dirges in their local dialects, while their colleagues from other countries did the same in various languages.

    Their Nigerian counterparts took over the procession with songs like: Papa no dey o, mama no dey o, if you want to kill me, kill me make I die, I will never follow you to that station. Other participants burst into laughter after the rendition.

    “Madiba’s life story has taught me that freedom is a product of sacrifice and if we must be liberated from economic bondage masterminded by the West, we must pay a sacrifice for it,” said Thosi Mbawa, a post-graduate student of TUT.

    To Chuki Mbossakiya, Mandela’s death has left a vacuum African leaders may not fill in decades. “We are mourning Tata Madiba with grief in our hearts because we have lost a father whose courage liberated us from imperialism,” he said.

    A Nigerian student, Madiwe Chikadibia, said: “The late Madiba was a man of the people. We have come together as African youths with one spirit, voice and oration to pay a unified respect to this greatest African of our time.”

    Cossy Chief from Botswana said African youths had a duty to continue the legacy of the anti-apartheid hero, adding: “Madiba’s life submissions have impacted greatly on Africa and Africans. We took it upon ourselves as a duty to honour this great man because we are youths who have generally benefited from his activism.”

    After the procession, the participants gathered at the entrance of UNICAL Hotel to pay tributes to the late Mandela.

     

     

     

  • A song for Mandela

    A song for Mandela

    My forebears probably did not dream of their own freedom when Rolihlahla was born on the 18th day of July, 1918. The black race could not have imagined the how blessed it was when Madiba first cried as a baby. Nelson Mandela was not only a restless wave that traversed our universe, but he was an unyielding freedom fighter with fierce conviction that Africans must be free.

    Now, he is dead; a litany of tributes and encomiums pour in from around the world about the life and times of this great man. African leaders are not left out; they have continued to issue press statements to remind us who Mandela was. But how many of them share in the Madiba’s ideology or would want to take the opportunity of his death to offer people-oriented leadership?

    Mandela lived and died for a cause, which is to remove shackles from the wrists of Africans. How many of our leaders have shown these traits in recent times? None, alas. But we are used to fooling ourselves. What values would those fine words of African leaders add to the struggle of a respected man, who just proceeded on a journey to the great beyond?

    However, a whole lot of good could come from making positive use of his ideals, drive and passion. Who among the citizens of Aso Rock, government houses and central banks will care far beyond the fame, the money and immediate comfort to project the indestructible legacy Madiba left behind? Who among our leaders will quit the lucrative government job to engage in acts that will free the humanity on the black continent from untold suffering?

    The young people have been frustrated by lack of opportunities for them. Many have taken to rebellion and all manners of vices to demand good leadership, recoiled when they face the reality of their extent of decay in the system. Mandela showed us the way through his struggle, but how many of us want to travel the same path he toed?

    It is high time we told our leaders the truth about their ways. Like Mandela, let the match for freedom begin now, as any minute wasted could cost us our very souls.

    As I reminisce about the life and times of this great man, a great agony overtook me in my sleep and I began touring the world of the unknown.

    In that dream, I saw the man himself. The following conversation ensued:

    Me: Tata Madiba, my country has espoused mediocrity for too long, please can you help us?

    Mandela: How do you mean, my daughter?

    Me: We lack true representatives in government. We still fool ourselves that Nigeria is indivisible but there is a crack. There is high level of complacency among the people. No one seems to care. The youths have exchanged their future for a plate of meal. We have enthroned rogues and entrusted them with power. Daddy Mandela, everybody talks and no one is really listening. The leaders have sold our conscience for filthy lucre. Our faith in our nation has diluted. Patriotism is dead sir.

    Mandela: What has been done to salvage the situation?

    Me: Nothing. No one dares do a thing. Anyone who dares to challenge the status quo becomes the target of state attack.

    Mandela: Hmmm (He waxes in deep thought)… so what have you personally done?

    Me: Me? What can a tot from an unknown village do to help the situation? Well, I simply write to criticise these wrongs. My race looks up to me for their survival but my eyes are only fixed on where my next meal comes.

    Mandela: What? (His querying eyes shot up in shock). You have done poorly indeed! What happened to the rest of your sisters?

    Me: It is painful Daddy Mandela. Many of them have been sold into marriage, the rest wash pants and underwear for the Whiteman in foreign lands. Some of them struggle to earn their keep while others trade cheap sex on the streets of Rotterdam and Spain.

    Mandela: Is the situation this pathetic?

    Me: Yes, daddy Mandela. I cannot tell it all.

    Mandela: What have the power brokers done?

    Me: Not as much. Any effort wasted on change could mean great naira lost

    Mandela: Really? But their praise and heroics reach up to me here. Now, you go and tell them to stop mourning for me. I don’t need their eulogies. Let those who live on the Rock in Abuja fight only for the state, and not personal interests. Let them find an ideal and then die for it. Tell them it is much worthy to live for the state than self. Tell the judges to discharge their duties in the light of posterity. Tell your academics to be true to the noble profession and forsake those things that perish. Tell your statesmen to leave their comfort zones, gird themselves and match to the battle field. Tell your young men not to save their own lives, because he who loves his life shall lose it. Tell your young women to shun offensive dressing. Tell your state to get set for war, a form of change. If they don’t, everything may fall apart and the centre will not hold anymore. Go now, you young poet. You can sort through the mess!

    I left his presence enchanted and open-mouthed. I have never been held in time or eternity before. As I woke then, I began this song, a song for Mandela:

    Hear the lawful felon

    The warlock who braced against cons

    The fires in his soul burns through in death

    All of himself for Africa had let

    In the world I visited, nothing of him remains that hadn’t been let

    Don’t you gather his lessons in a barn Run with it now

    Chase change, go challenge the courts all that our doom may spell we’ll cut for in the world I visited, Nothing of him remains that hadn’t been let.

    It’s high time now, we stopped the encomiums and return to the salt mines!

    •Ngozi is a graduate of UNIZIK

     

     

     

  • FEC pays tribute to Mandela

    FEC pays tribute to Mandela

    Vice President Namadi Sambo, who presided over Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, led other council members to pay tributes to late Nelson Mandela.

    Before they went into the proper business of the day, each of the 21 ministers present and other government officials were given opportunity to make a comment.

    They exhorted the good qualities and legacies which Mandela left behind.

    Some of them specifically called on leaders not to hang on to power by emulating Mandela who went for only one term in office.

    Vice President said: “Nelson Mandela was a great revolutionary leader, philanthropist, politician and anti-apartheid crusader. He dedicated his entire life to the service of humanity.

    “After 23 years of solitary confinement, the apartheid government shifted its stance and bowed to the will of the people.

    “At the end of apartheid, Mandela left no one in doubt that his struggle was for mankind, the struggle was for all races.

    “After just spending one term in office and despite of the many successes he attained, Mandela did not rest on his oars. He continued with his struggle and activism both at home and abroad, despite his advanced age.”

    Sambo condoled the members of his family for the great loss.

    “They should ever take solace in the fact that Madiba lived an exemplary life worthy of emulation by all. Nelson Mandela will forever remain a source of inspiration to the younger generation.”

    “He has become a reference point for the younger people. We should continue with his good legacies and always try to replicate his good life,” the vice president added.

     

     

  • PHOTO: FEC meeting tribute to Mandela

    PHOTO: FEC meeting tribute to Mandela

  • Mandela’s body lying in state in Pretoria

    Mandela’s body lying in state in Pretoria

    The body of Nelson Mandela has arrived at the main government building in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, where it will lie in state for three days.

    His remains were taken in procession from a hospital mortuary to the Union Buildings.

    Members of the public lined the route to form a “guard of honour.”

    The public, invited heads of state and international guests will be able to view the body of the former president who died last Thursday, aged 95.

    He will be buried in his home village of Qunu in Eastern Cape Province on Sunday.

    Tens of thousands of South Africans joined scores of world leaders for a national memorial service on Tuesday as part of a series of commemorations.

    The procession left the city’s 1 Military Hospital shortly after 07:00 (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday. The coffin could be seen inside a black hearse, draped in a South African flag.

    It travelled along Kgosi Mampuru Street and Madiba Street on the way to the Union Buildings.

    The hearse was in a long convoy with military outriders and military ambulances.

    BBC reports that the convoy sped quickly through the streets, with some people running alongside the military guard.