Azuka Onwuka
It
was sad seeing the United Kingdom and the United States – two countries
which supported the vicious apartheid regime of South Africa and the
incarceration of Dr. Nelson Mandela – in the limelight when Mandela died
last week, while Nigeria, which led the African onslaught against
apartheid, played the second fiddle.
Shortly after President Jacob Zuma of
South Africa broke the news of Mandela’s death in the night of Thursday,
December 5, President Barack Obama of the US and Prime Minister David
Cameron of the UK addressed the media. The US, France and other
countries announced that flags would be flown at half-mast. Conversely,
our country issued a statement signed by Dr. Reuben Abati, the media
aide to President Goodluck Jonathan. Because ours was a statement
signed by Abati while those from the US and UK were speeches read by
their chief executives, naturally our TV and radio stations, while
broadcasting the news of Mandela’s death the next day, gave priority to
Obama and Cameron.
To further buttress our unpreparedness,
an announcement came from the Presidency later in the day declaring
three days of national mourning for Mandela with flags flying at half
mast. It looked like an afterthought done because others had done so.
Rather than setting the pace as the acclaimed Giant of Africa on such an
African matter, we allowed others to take the glory and momentum.
Many excuses would be given for this. One
would be that the President was not in the country when Mandela died.
The second would be that Mandela died at night, while it was still day
in the United States, which gave them a head start. But these are what
they are: Excuses. And excuses do not rate highly among those who are
strategy-driven.
Through his illness, Mandela warned the
whole world for many months about his imminent departure. Even a few
days before he passed on, it was announced that he had relapsed and
could not recognise people anymore. That was his final warning.
Therefore, the Presidency had enough time
to prepare for Mandela’s departure: in terms of what to say or do
whenever he died. Even though the President was in Europe when Mandela
died, nothing stopped him from addressing the Nigerian media that
travelled with him and sending the clips to Reuters, AFP, NAN, NTA, etc,
for broadcast.
Such a live broadcast would have given
Jonathan the opportunity to subtly chip in the role Nigeria played in
the life of Mandela and the fight against apartheid. For example, many
of our people do not know that when the apartheid regime was looking for
Mandela to jail him in the early 1960s, that he ran to Nigeria and
Nigeria’s President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, handed him over to Chief
Mbazulike Amaechi – a parliamentarian then – to give him refuge for six
months before he eventually decided to go back, and was arrested in
August 1962, tried and jailed.
Many of our people do not know that
during the Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo regime that a contributory
fund was set up for students, civil servants and other Nigerians to
donate money to support South Africans and the fight against apartheid.
Nigeria was like a home to many African National Congress leaders and
South African students. Many ANC leaders had access to the Nigerian
passports to enable them to travel round the world because the apartheid
regime seized their passports.
Furthermore, Nigeria antagonised many of
the countries that supported the apartheid regime, especially Britain.
For example, Nigeria privatised British companies in Nigeria, notably
the Britain Petroleum, which it converted to National Oil. Nigeria
boycotted some international meets, especially the Commonwealth Games.
All these measures were meant to pressurise the UK to set South Africa
free.
Mandela was very appreciative of
Nigeria’s contributions to the fight against apartheid. For example,
Nigeria was one of the first countries he visited after his release from
prison after 27 years in February 1990. Not only that, when Nigeria and
South Africa had a match to play for the 1994 World Cup qualification,
Mandela was asked which country he would prefer to win. He said South
Africa was his country, while Nigeria was like a country to him. So, he
did not know the country he preferred to win. Nigeria eventually won
that match and qualified for its first World Cup. Mandela was to
reciprocate by rallying Africa and the Commonwealth to sanction the
dictatorship of Gen. Sani Abacha after the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in
November 1995.
Unfortunately, we have allowed our people
to be taught history by the CNN, the BBC and other Western media. And
the Western media would always tell every story from their perspectives,
and not ours. Our people know how George Washington fought the British
for America’s independence but don’t know how Azikiwe fought the British
for Nigeria’s independence. We know how Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa
lived for the downtrodden of India but do not know how Tai Solarin,
Mallam Aminu Kano or Chief Gani Fawehinmi lived and fought for the
downtrodden, or the Talakawas, of Nigeria.
In Christianity, for example, Christ
taught that pure charity is when you give with your right hand without
your left hand knowing. But in relations between a nation and other
nations, it is not counted as vain or arrogant for a nation to draw
attention to its contributions to any country or cause. What it does is
that it guides the nationals of the benefitting country whenever they
are taking any action concerning the other nation. For example, if young
South Africans know the contributions of Nigeria to their nation’s
freedom, whenever any xenophobic statement or sentiments are expressed
by any of them concerning Nigerians, there would be some voices among
them that would sue for caution, pointing out that Nigeria was very
supportive during their time of need, and now that Nigeria is
experiencing its own economic apartheid, caused by years of
military-cum-civilian misrule and corruption, it would not be fair for
South Africans to be hard on Nigerians living in South Africa.
Before his death, Mandela was the
greatest living human being on earth. That cannot be diminished by envy
or anything. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly gave him the
rare honour of declaring his birthday (July 18) Nelson Mandela
International Day. His 27-year incarceration was the pedestal to his
fame, but his pursuit of love and forgiveness, instead of hate and
revenge against those who oppressed and killed his people, made him
stand taller than any of his contemporaries. The Western world had taken
advantage of his fame, naming monuments after him and erecting statues
in his honour even before his death. What have we done to claim Mandela
as our own, being the biggest Black nation in the world? What can we
name after him even before his burial on December 15? If we knew how to
play our cards well, we could have secured an agreement with the South
African Government to have his body lie in state in Nigeria before
burial or have Nigeria make a special presentation at his burial.
Strategic planning is not an accident.
Mandela is indescribable and
irreplaceable. For me, he is the greatest human being of all time. When
he was ill, I had written a eulogy on this page for him on June 18,
entitled “What is the fuss over Mandela’s health?” Since his passing, I
have been short of words about what more to say about him. But I feel
sad seeing our leaders and common people eulogising him, even when we
continue to spread bitterness, hate and vengeance among our compatriots,
causing bloodshed at the least misunderstanding, promoting corruption
in our little spheres of authority, always thinking about ourselves and
family first in all our dealings, and seeking power and clinging to it
as if our life depended on it. Again, that he never got medical
treatment abroad was also part of the South African pride. In our case,
even sprains and headaches make our leaders seek treatment abroad
because of our poor state of health care. We no longer feel embarrassed
when our leaders and private individuals die abroad. It is telling
enough that as he was dying in his South African home, the remains of
Chief Solomon Lar were being brought from the US where he died recently.
Mandela has taught us that the life that
is celebrated is a life of integrity, sacrifice and service to others.
Anyone who lives like that never really dies.
Punch
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