Nigeria, mandela and apartheid south africa

When nelson mandela gave up the ghost at 8.50pm south african time on thursday the 5th of december it was the end of an era. A light that shone through the darkness of this world went out. The exemplary life madiba lived is a challenge to us all to live a life worthy of emulation. A man who spent 27years in prison came out withour bitterness extending the olive branch to his oppressors. He became the first democratically elected president of south africa and he didnt purge his oppressors. He spent a term in office and left when the ovasion was loudest. This singular act has earned him world wide recognition around the world with awards to numerous to mention. In a continent filled with power drunk politicians like robert mugabe of zimbabwe who has been in power since 1980, paul biya of cameroon since 1982 and a host of other sit tight politicians it is no coincidence that madiba is widely regarded as the greatest african of all time. But in the background of mandela's struggle against apartheid lies the spirited effort nigeria played in bringing down that evil regime even though we seem to get little credit for it. Because of nigeria's vociferous criticism of the apartheid regime the country became a founding member of the african liberation committee and served as chairman of the UN's anti-apartheid committee. Nigeria went further to establish the national committee against apartheid[NACAP]and the southern africa relief fund[SARF] in 1976 to provide relief materials to south african refugees and also scholarships to black south african students. Obasanjo's decision to nationalize the british owned barclays bank in 1978 was to punish britain for supporting the brutal, repressive apartheid regime. Nigeria equally led the boycott of the 1978 and 1986 commonwealth games over britain's support of the apartheid. Nelson Mandela was in prison, but nigeria was relentless in her struggle to bring down apartheid and free south africa. It breaks my heart that nobody seems to remember all of these,the south african government is not giving us due credit for standing with mandela during their darkest hour. It is equally pitiable that when mandela is buried nigeria and indeed africa will take a backstage leaving apartheid apologists at the centre stage. Forget the speeches from the obama's and cameron's of this world. America and britain supported the apartheid regime the former doing so tacitly while britain's support was open. margaret thatcher and other conservatives branded nelson mandela a terrorist . They never identified with mandela but when his greatness couldnt be denied they sought to be identified with the "mandela brand". As early as 1974 there was a motion passed to eject South Africa from the united nations but this was discarded by France, Britain and the United States of America, all of them key trade associates of South Africa. If they had supported the move apartheid would have ended earlier and maybe mandela wouldnt have spent up to 27 years in prison. So when our white friends tell us how much they love and respect mandela i hope south africans ask the white hypocrites where they were during mandela's struggle for freedom and why mandela up until 2008 was on the terrorist list of the united states. Akegbejo mofesola @mofesola_