"He is now resting… he is now at peace," said South African President Jacob Zuma about the death of Nelson Mandela, the towering moral giant of the 20th and 21st centuries, who has died aged 50. "Our nation has lost its greatest son." As soon as the news about his death started spreading in the media and via social networks, thousands of tributes emerged.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan also mourns the loss of one of history's 'greatest liberators' in his condolence message to South Africa.
"Mandela
will always be remembered and honoured by all mankind as one of its
greatest liberators, a wise, courageous and compassionate leader, and an
icon of true democracy," Jonathan said, describing the former South
African president as a "source of inspiration to the oppressed peoples
all over the world."
His passing will "create a huge vacuum that will be difficult to fill in our continent," Mr. President concluded.
Meanwhile, first black president of the United States of America Barack Obama, too,
decried the loss of the "profoundly good" man who "took history in his
hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
President
Obama remembers Nelson Mandela: "A man who took history in his hands
and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 5, 2013
"Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived." —President Obama
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 5, 2013
"We
will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again," Obama said in a
televised statement, hailing his political hero for his "fierce dignity
and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of
others."
Obama said Mandela, in his
journey from a "prisoner to a president," transformed South Africa and
"moved all of us," as "he achieved more than could be expected of any
man.
"Today he's gone home, and we've
lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human
beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth.
"He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages."
"The
day that he was released from prison gave me a sense of what human
beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their
fears," Obama said.
Mandela's fragile health overshadowed Obama's
2006 trip to South Africa, and there had been fears that the former
South African leader would pass away while Obama was in the country. The
President decided against visiting Mandela in hospital, reasoning he
would be a distraction, and met with members of his family instead.The president took his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha to Robben Island, where Mandela was held in spartan conditions by the racist apartheid regime. In one wrenching shot taken by his official photographer, Obama was pictured in the tiny cell where Mandela once lived, with his emotional daughter in his arms.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/53743.html
No comments:
Post a Comment