18 AFRICAWORLD DEC 16 - 31 2013
COLUMN
By Dunstan Ukaga
MANDELA DISAPPOINTED NIGERIANS
I
grew up as a child praying for the release of late Nelson Mandela. As a Nigerian and like most Nigerian kids of my time, we prayed for, loved and even fought for Mandela. Funny enough, whom we were fighting, we never saw nor know. But as we entered into primary schools, the worth apartheid became clearer to me. Then I knew why we were asked to pray for, fight for Mandela and even love him. Most Nigerian kids then saw new found strength, courage and boldness learned from Mandela to ask for and fight for their rights either in the right way or the wrong way. Among my classmates in the primary school then, anyone who was very bold and fearless was named Nelson Mandela. We were asked to contribute money for Mandela and for the struggles. We did. Most Nigerian musicians of the early seventies and eighties sang for the release of Nelson Mandela. They sang against the apartheid. Nigerians from the top, to the lowest, from the government to the ordinary citizen, loved Mandela, wanted a free South Africa and committed their time, energies and raised financial and material vibrations for the death of apartheid, the release of Mandela and the freedom of all Africa. In this quest for African freedom, in the struggles to set Mandela free and to right the wrongs done by the apartheid government Nigeria was number one. Nigerians saw and took South Africans especially Nelson Mandela like their very own. As Mandela walked out of the Victor Verster prison at 4.14 pm on February 11, 1990, after spending 27 years in detention under the apartheid regime in South Africa we that loved him, fought for and even contributed thought it would be a stepping stone to a life of gratitude from the man we had almost given our lives to. Would I be wrong to say that most
Nigerians also died for Nelson Mandela? Mandela walked out of Victor Verster prison and bite the fingers that fed him too. Yes, Nigerians fed him. He came out from prison without repaying the Nigerian peoples with kindness. Even if the actions of the Nigerian government affected his reactions towards
Nigerians, would the stupidity of a few be used against the general? I have always heard it said that “one cannot bite the fingers that fed oneself’’. Yes, the Nigerians before us and the Nigerians of my time feel Madiba did not recognize our efforts nor repaid us in the right kindness we deserve. The present governor of Lagos state, Mr. Fashola was way back before me. A statement attributed to him that echoes my points states:”...Nigeria deserved respect for the leading role it played in ending the apartheid regime in South Africa. Addressing newsmen on the death of Nelson Mandela in Ikeja, Fashola said the country made huge sacrifices to free South Africa from the pangs of apartheid.
He said it was ironical that Nigerians faced daily harassment in South Africa, while those who enthroned apartheid got more respect in that country. Fashola also wondered why those who promoted the suppression of black South Africans through the policy were the same people now celebrating Mandela the more.
“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 reversed. “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 remembered visiting Johannesburg a few years ago with nostalgia, even with all the security apparatuses around me, I did not feel welcomed in that country as a Nigerian. My brother was not so lucky, South Africans beat him up and took all his belongings because he told them he is a Nigerian. Even though we Nigerians feel Mandela failed us, South African loved him until death. As reported by the New York Times of December 12, 2013,”The sheer number of South Africans hoping to catch a glimpse of the body appeared to have overwhelmed the authorities, with thousands lined up at screening sites around the city to board buses to the Union Buildings. At the University of Pretoria sports facilities, a single white tent the
size of a cottage was intended to serve a line that wound for hundreds of yards around the campus. Kyle Garth, 39, from Cincinnati, said he held out little hope that the people at the back of the line would be able to see Mr. Mandela. He, his South African wife and their two children had already been waiting for over five hours and still had not made it into the tent. But his spirits remained high. “The wait is definitely worth it to me,” Mr. Garth said. Without Mr. Mandela and the end of apartheid restrictions, he said, his wife never could have left South Africa and they never would have met. While the day’s transportation might be disorganized, he added, inching forward as the line shuffled on a bit, “this is a once-in-a-lifetime
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opportunity.” For most Nigerians, Madiba let us down. Governor Fashola concludes it thus:”“I remember we did not go to the Commonwealth Games because of South Africa. I remember we took drastic measures against the foreign collaborators of the apartheid regime and nationalized their assets. There is no home that the anti-apartheid campaign was not then. Our university halls were named after Mozambique and all of these places. We funded all of these organisations in Angola and Zimbabwe among others. Apart from scholarship to South Africans, I remember when South Africans used to come for exchange programme then. We are now the ones being driven out of South Africa. The British can enter South Africa visa free. We have to take a visa. These are deep questions because they hurt me. People like Fela nearly lost their voices, singing about freedom. I hope that as our president is going for Mandela’s burial, I hope that it would be to go and take the leadership roles that we deserve or we should ask ourselves if we have really lost it, what is the way back. As I said, history has been revised and our voices are not heard on the international stage. This is our glory because we contributed so much to this course, and perhaps we ask ourselves what the investment payoff has been” How much could I vent my anger on Madiba? He is dead. May he rest in peace. But Nigerians must rise up now to lead Africa to a glorious end. Unfortunately the things going on in my Nigeria show we are not ready to grow. Rest in peace Madiba, even though I feel like seeing you and asking you why you failed Nigerians, I still know you are the greatest African if not the greatest man that gave your life for the good of the whole. Madiba, as you walk to the land of the dead, if you meet late Nigerian leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Belewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Odumegwu Ojukwu, could you slap and beat them up for us? Slap them very hard and tell them the child they bore which is called Nigeria is still crawling. If you also meet Lord Lugard and Flaura Shaw, beat them up and ask them why they as British nationals foisted Boko Haram on Nigerians