When I listen to Brenda’s music (Late
South African Musician), I reflect on the level of sacrifice Mandela made for
South Africans freedom. It leaves me not to wonder the kind of passion and love
his people have for him. Yes… when Brenda said in her song that ‘I will die for
my president’, I know that she was saying the truth because since Christians can
die for the sake of the gospel because God first loved the world and gave his
only begotten son; therefore I knew she was not lying because Mandela first
gave his life for her freedom.
We are now paying tribute and
thanking God for giving us the grace to live in the time of this Hero and Icon
of freedom, but the questions now are: what can we do to extend his legacy to
people that are still in slavery of poverty, insecurity, prison (mentally and
physically), unemployed, powerless etc? What type of politicians do we have in
this country? Are they the type that lives up to their political campaign
promises or do they jettison their promises as soon as that get into power? Can
their Yes be Yes etc? These and more questions are what we need to ask and learn
from the life of this epoch specie called MADIBA.
Who can die for Nigeria
president? Absolutely ‘No one’ because what we have is only politicians that
think only about themselves and their families. This is the difference between
Mandela and Nigeria politicians. He was not only a politician but also have
extra qualities (freedom fighter, peacemaker, lover and defender of the
powerless etc). No wonder Nigeria Universities have been on strike since five
months ago because they said that the president himself should sign their
agreement with ASUU. Not that this will guarantee the implementation of the
agreement because past experiences have proved otherwise, but it serves to show
that Nigerians has lost trust and faith in the word of the government.
Why will you die for the
president? when the powerless are being oppressed and exploited to the extent government
make billions out of the unemployed when it is supposed to be the other way,
when government is in-active about corruption and those in authority are
looting money from all sides, when contractors are not paid when they finish
their job, when law enforcement agent oppress and neglect the rights of the
citizens etc.
In the spirit of Madiba and as my
people say ‘whenever you wake up from sleep becomes your morning’, if we can
turn a new leave today and emulate the life and legacy of Mandela to give
meaning to the lives of Nigerians; his vision for the world would have been
achieved.
God help us.
