I SEE A BIG CLOUD HANGING OVER NIGERIA – ELDER STATESMAN MBAZULIKE AMAECHI (PART SEVEN)

Who are they?

Myself in southern Nigeria (east and west) Only myself. Then in the North, Shehu Shagari, Inua Wada, Maitama Sule and Shettima Ali Monguno. Shettima Ali Monguno is from the North-East. He was kidnapped by the Boko Haram people recently. Shagari is the only one involved in consultation because he was a former president. In the far North, the North West particularly, the entire

 governments there recognize Maitama Sule, Outside Igbo land, I am very highly respected by the governors. There was a time I went on a private visit to Niger State.  I checked into a hotel. At 8:00pm, some people came and said that the governor was informed by the security men that there was a guest like me in the hotel and that they had orders from him to bring me to the government house. The present governor of Niger State. They took me to him and he put me in the presidential guest house. He said people like you are the founding fathers of this country and that if I had told him that I was coming he would have made other arrangements. That was in Niger State. But here in my own state, my former governor here did not even take my telephone calls. I have not been invited to any official function in Nigeria, even for independence anniversary. That is Igbo land. But that is where I come from and there is nothing I can do about it.

What do you think is responsible for that?

It is because the people have no nationalistic background. They are not nationalists. Some opportunists used certain circumstances and indications to get into power. Therefore, they are myopic. Look at what happened last December. Nelson Mandela died. When he was being chased around in South Africa, he ran to Nigeria and took refuge. Zik assigned him to me. And Mandela lived with me for six months. Then eventually, it was agreed that he should go back and face whatever fate was awaiting him. He went back to South Africa. Three or four of weeks of his return, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. From prison he wrote to me. There was a time the authorities in South Africa wanted to arrest one Dr. Garange or some name like that. Somebody who studied Geology, his father was a lawyer who defended him. So, he wrote me from prison asking me to help the man; to give him some protection. The man ran to Nigeria, and I was able to secure him lectureship in one of the universities .When Mandela died, I approached the Federal Government requesting to attend the funeral. And you know what my Federal Government told me? The secretary to the government told me? The secretary to the government told me the president minuted. He said, “I know what the president minuted. You don’t have to go to South Africa. The way they bury their own people is not the way we bury our own people. They will just carry them from town to town. We don’t want to go there and stand in the sun waving hand. The president said you should not go”. I said to him, “the president is leaving for South Africa tomorrow. Can I take a ride in his own plane?’ He said, “oh no, the president is not coming back to Nigeria immediately. From there he will go to Kenya or somewhere”. The drama continued until the former deputy speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly phoned the governor. A lot of pressure from several quarters was put on Peter Obi. Peter Obi then phoned me and said come back. We will sponsor your trip to South Africa. I was bent on going to give my last respect to a man who I lived with for over six months. A statesman and nationalist. So, the government of Anambra State sponsored my trip to South Africa. Even though, the paltry allowance they gave me was not capable of sustaining me on the journey, but it was okay. It paid my fare and so forth. So I went with my personal Assistant, (PA) and a member of my family (my son). Okay when we got there, it was my trip to South Africa that placed Nigeria on the world map, in connection with Mandela’s funeral. The president of Nigeria arrived a day or two before me. He was there at the place when the US president spoke, the president of Malawi spoke for Africa. So, my own president did not speak. He left. Nigerians were aghast. He went in the capacity of he also was there. (laughter) When I arrived, the Nigerian embassy officials were very happy and very much relieved. They made protocol arrangements for me right from the airport. They picked me from the “mouth” of the plane. They gave me all the diplomatic niceties. They booked appointments for me, arranged for me to go to Pretoria where Mandela was laid in state. And they picked me and covered my visit. And then I was accorded respects as the special representative of Nigeria. They arranged for me to go to Mandela’s residence to lay a wreath on behalf of myself and on behalf of Nigeria. Then, they arranged for me to go to Soweto, the slum where Mandela lived before he became prominent in the South African struggle. Eventually, they arranged a world press conference. BBC, CNN, and all the leading global media houses were there, and I told them about the Mandela I knew. Luckily, when we were about starting the press conference, the president of Tanzania had made a statement that Mandela had wanted to stay in their country when they were looking for him, but because of the size of their country, he flew to Nigeria, from their country. I then took over from there. I showed them evidence of Mandela staying with me for six months. Even when he came out from prison, and visited Nigeria, the only two people he requested the military government to allow him see was Zik and I. We were the people who gave him refuge. But the present government, there is no nationalism in them. They don’t understand what I am talking about. When you talk about nationalism, they are so ignorant. They don’t understand anything. Colonel Akonobi was the military governor of old Anambra State then. They sent for me. And when I got there, like typical Mandela, he never recognized the military governor as a ruler. “Col, please wait outside, I’m having a discussion with my colleague and co-nationalist” he told Akonobi. And the governor walked out.

Culled from Sunday sun