THAT NELSON MANDELA (1918-2013) MESSAGE TO SOME INEPT NIGERIA LEADERS
The world communities constantly plead to God to grant them good leaders that would rock the voyage of progress for their respective communities for the citizens.
Unfortunately, Nigeria has been drowning in the sins of their leaders and has not been lucky to have dignified leaders who are committed to the needs of their citizens, besides enriching themselves, to the fullest, until their cups runneth over at the expense of the suffering masses. Their quest in turning their environment into personal empire as if they would take whatever they have acquired on earth to where ever place they go, either heaven, or hell.
Apparently, most Nigerian leaders would possibly end up in hell, based on
what most of them are doing today (2013), and the ways and manners they treat their less opportune human beings. Most Nigerian leaders have no iota of respect for their citizens; definitely, no part of the world would respect the country.
Even most Nigerian clerics, upon who most Nigerian rely, are not better; as
earthly materials have blinded against their callings.
Until Nigerian leaders start respecting the less privileged Nigerians;
Nigerians start respecting their follow human beings, and each other; no one, no country would respect Nigeria as “Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”
The body of the most acclaimed world leader, the Anti-apartheid hero, the
civil rights activist, the linchpin who ended the South Africa’s notorious
apartheid regime, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s casket was finally
committed into the mother earth, Sunday, December 15, 2013, at his private home, in his home town, where he grew up, among the rolling hills of Qunu, a village in eastern South Africa; respecting Mandela’s wish. Military jets and helicopters with South African flags displayed flew over the pallbearers.
Mandela, a man who freed the people of South Africa, united his country, a world historical figure; has gone to rest peacefully in the Lord. Life is like a moving storm that continues until such a time when the speed of the storm is naturally reduced to a point of being immobilized, which is always diverse, each time another storm develops. At that point, all sorts of particles from the environment are assembled at the location of its termination.
Absolutely, the entire world felt the impact of the loss of Mandela who
departed this world at the ripe age of 95 which was full of personal, local,
national, and international events. His death is a strong message to some world, African, especially Nigerian Leaders. According to US President, Obama, “We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with.”
In his message to Nigerian leaders, instead of running some deceptive,
vengeful, inhuman race as if they own their communities, Nigeria or even Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, to his death, was highly disappointed in Nigerian leaders despite the country’s role to dismantle Apartheid in South Africa. That is a mammoth challenge to the Nigerian leaders if Mandela’s 27 years in prison would not spread on them and their generations, especially those who refuse to work for, and with their people, instead working for their empire.
Journey to its Resting Place
According to some records, Mandela stated that: “Your leaders have no
respect for their people. They believe that their personal interests are the
interests of the people. They take people’s resources and turn it into personal wealth. There is a level of poverty in Nigeria that should be unacceptable. I cannot understand why Nigerians are not more angry than they are…But what about the corruption and the crimes? Your elections are like wars. Now we hear that you cannot be president in Nigeria unless you are Muslim or Christian. Some people tell me your country may break up. Please don’t let it happen.”
Few leaders have lived fantastic life like late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
Mandela was born in line of royalty on July 18, 1918, in a tiny village in the
former Transkei, Rolihlahla, meaning “troublemaker.” He schooled in the Eastern Cape, moved to the City of Gold in his twenties before joining the ANC at 26, and quickly climbed the ranks.
1948 Caption: Nelson Mandela (3rd from left), leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Patrick Molaoa and Robert Resha charged with treason by the South-African Union walked to the room where their trial was being held, Drill Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa.(API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Images)
Mandela devoted his life to the fight against white domination, leaving Fort
Hare University in the early 1940s before completing his studies. He founded the ANC Youth League with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.
Mandela was among the first to advocate armed resistance toapartheid, going underground in 1961 to form the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation). He was considered a Terrorist initially when fighting against the oppression of his people, not for his personal gain. He rightly believed that “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become
an outlaw.”
On Jan. 11, 1962, using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Mandela left South Africa secretly. He travelled the continent and abroad to gain support for the armed struggle. Before returning to South Africa in July 1962, Mandela also received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia. Charged with capital offences in the 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony. “During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for. But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
In 1964, alongside eight members of the ANC and its armed wing, Mandela stood trial for plotting to overthrow the government by way of violent. The following year he was sentenced to life in prison. F.W. de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, lifted the ban on the ANC and other liberation movements on February 2, 1990, and Mandela walked free from jail nine days later, Feb. 11, 1990, an event beamed live around the world.
During the trial, on June 14, 1958, Nelson Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, a social worker. They had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa.
The couple divorced in 1996. During divorce proceedings, he confided publicly that the woman he loved so deeply, Winnie had not spent a single night with him since his release from prison. An activist, Strini Moodley, who served time on Robben Island, tells how Mandela kept a photograph of Winnie in his cell. Moodley asked to borrow the picture so he could do a sketch. Mandela told him, “You can have her during the day, but at night she comes back to me.”
According to Mandela, “One of the most difficult things is not to
change society – but to change yourself.” Nonetheless, the man
concentrated on his objective in life not against his enemies. He realized and demonstrated that life is about changing oneself. Mandela imbibed in his people that to change the world as an essential ingredient for world peace and progress; you have to change yourself.
Ironically, some Nigerian leaders fail to realize that changing Nigeria
without changing themselves is fruitless. Mandela did not give up; he refused to cave-in, in his fight against discrimination and worked for the united South Africa. Mandela was less worried, after he became South African President, with the rumor of a coup, and continued to work with both white and black with solid support from his people.
Some African leaders, who conceived the fight against Apartheid, whose
countries are not progressing, especially Nigeria, should deep their heads in an awful shame; most especially their vindictiveness, against those who have crossed their political paths. Such leaders refused to borrow a leaf from Mandela big heart who forgave those who maimed him, and wasted most of his adult life, for 27 years. He worked with them peacefully for the sake of his country and South Africans. He set aside his personal soreness, just for the sake of South Africans. Such sense of forgiveness brought South Africa the progress witnessed as of the time he passed on (2013). He would find peace in his heart, with deep smile in his grave for a fulfilled mission for his people.
Excruciatingly, what is witnessed in Nigeria today (2013) are crop of leaders
who established ‘do or die’ venture into the public service, and milk the country dry in their respective assigned responsibilities with nothing left for most Nigerians. How would they be remembered; or their heaven be?
Possibly, most of them would rot in hell.
It is the hope of humanity in Nigeria that its leaders would live up to their
wishes, aspirations, and desires. In his condolence message on Mandela’s death, Olusegun Obasanjo reminded the world that “When we teach our children lessons for tomorrow, let us remember lessons Mandela gave the world in forgiveness and forbearance.”
What an interesting message from Chief Obasanjo to teach our children
“Forgiveness” and “forbearance” as if he knows how to forgive and tolerate anyone who dare challenge, or cross his political path. Mandela wasted most of his adult life in prison, courtesy of his detractors as they could be regretting for the rest of their life. Mandela demonstrated to the entire world how to keep our friends close and our enemies closer. “Ifyou
want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.” Mandela forgave his enemies, and went on to state that “We recall our terrible past so that we can deal with it, to forgive where forgiveness is necessary, without forgetting; to ensure that never again will such inhumanity tear us apart; and to move ourselves to eradicate a legacy that lurks dangerously as a threat to our democracy.”
Mandela “… was devoid of bitterness or anger against anybody except the
hated apartheid system.” How could African leaders, most especially
Nigerian leaders, expunge bitterness in their public services? Once they lost an opportunity, it is dawn on them to turn that into an eternal enemy. It has been difficult for them not displaying “bitterness” and “anger” in their public life against anyone.
Tribute to the Great Man of Africa
Mandela stepped down after just one term as president, unlike some leaders who, once given a whiff of power, they cling to it until it destroys them or they destroy the nation they are leading. What an honorable man to his Heaven, sleeping peacefully in the Lord. Bless His Heart in eternity in the blossom of Almighty God, our creator; some resorted into ‘do or die’ tactics, shedding innocent blood, to usurp power by all means necessary; while some continue to run for elections after three failed attempts, and ignite the violence fire for some poor Nigerians by slaughtering their fellow human beings.
Mandela’s message for some world leaders, most especially Nigerian Leaders, are to remember that, “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Ironically, most
Nigerian leaders who have lived and had the opportunity to lead the country are seriously guilty of this need for their country to survive. They love to live in this world as if they own all resources within their communities. We may ask them what difference they have made in their communities, except the legacy for people to continue worshipping them as they continue grabbing available resources within their vicinity, uncommonly acceptable to humanity.
Mandela humbled and encouraged those he worked with, to always thrive to be better human beings, most especially, to embrace reconciliation at a time when all South Africans, black and white, were still bearing the scars of Apartheid.
In his practical approach on reconciliation, during one of his campaign trips in a very tense political campaign rally in Alexandra township, on the edge of Johannesburg, when anti-white sentiment was thrashing through the crowd, after yet another massacre of black people reportedly by a white “third force”, Mandela stopped mid-speech and fixed his attention on a white woman standing somewhere towards the back. Mandela recollected with a broad smile, “That woman over there, saved my life. She nursed me back to health when I had TB.” He called and embraced her warmly on stage, recounting how in 1988, while in Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison, he had contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to hospital where he had been under her professional nursing care. The mood in the crowd changed. Large roars of approval drowned out the snarled demands for revenge. Mohammed Ali echoed that Mandela “taught us forgiveness on a grand scale…one of the greatest humanists of our time…a great friend and a hero of humanity.”
Distantly from the fact that Mandela emerged from 27 years in Apartheid
prisons, bore so little malice, he insisted on “reconciliation”
being central to a truth commission in order to heal wounds caused by years of bitter racial hatred.
How could Nigerian leaders emulate such humanitarian gesture to calm down all sorts of bitterness in their political programs for Nigeria to be a better place to live, not setting up a group against humanity, just for losing political power?
We need to remind Nigerian leaders, in the words of Mandela that “No
one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his
background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Assessing most Nigerian leaders, especially at the helms of Nigeria affairs, in their respective responsibilities, would always work hating anyone, everyone, individuals, or groups that go against their heartless programs. It is pertinent for some world leaders to emulate Mandela and stop shedding innocent blood.
Mandela would remind such leaders that “Religion is one of the most important forces in the world. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Hindu, religion is a great force, and it can help one have command of one’s own morality, one’s own behavior, and one’s own attitude.” Instead of setting the country on the progressive path, Boko Haram is on the offensive against the country.
The moral level of an average Nigerian leader, in their public services,
after turning the country into a hopeless country, is very low. How would they match Mandela’s statement that; “I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”
We all realize that a man of God, who fears God, with humility, would not
touch what does not belong to him. He or she would utilize the public resources to the benefit of the people. Lack of fear of God, in Nigeria, is accounting for the terminal cancer, corruption, which has become endemic within Nigeria society. The way and manner of controlling it, has become obsolete, as its fight is at stand still. Some of the ‘scapegoats’ under trial have been subjected to double trial, witch-hunting as the government bull dog is failing to prove their cases beyond any reasonable doubt.
Ironically, the guiltiest ones are blatantly walking on the streets with
their heads raised above their shoulders, still originating some damages in the system, as expected from their awkward life style. Mandela advised those leaders who do not fear God in their public dealings that a leader ” is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”
We agree with Mandela that “Death is something inevitable. When a man
has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.” Would most Nigerian leaders rest in peace
with the atrocities most of them subject their people into, creating the social
ills making life unbearable for an average Nigerian.
Mandela has this for the followerships of ‘do or die’ leaders that:
“You should encourage leaders to emerge who will not confuse public office
with sources of making personal wealth. Corrupt people do not make good
leaders.”
In addition, to the Nigerian Leaders, who care to listen, should; “…
spend a lot of your resources for education. Educate children of the poor, so
that they can get out of poverty. Poverty does not breed confidence. Only
confident people can bring changes. Poor, uneducated people can also bring
change, but it will be hijacked by the educated and the wealthy”.
An Indian couple places flowers on a sand sculpture in tribute to Mandela, made by sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, at the Golden Sea Beach in Puri.
Mandela was celebrated for his unwavering dedication to human rights,
humility, equality, and respect across the world.
Mandela’s New Year, 2014 message to Nigeria leaders is that: “The world
will not respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect.” They should
swallow their pride and economically empower their citizens delivering them from the crunches of poverty.
In the words of Mandela: “Living isn’t just about doing for yourself,
but what you do for others as well.”
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Madiba, Anti-Apartheid Icon, Father of Modern
South Africa, Great man of humanity, Sleep On!!!!!!!!
Femi Ajayi is a Professor of Policy,
Management & Conflict Resolution, at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State