Nigerians Mourn Nelson Mandela

Residents of Lagos expressed their sadness on Friday (December 6) over the death of former president Nelson Mandela who broke racial barriers in a post-apartheid South Africa.

​South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela died peacefully at home at the age of 95 on Thursday (December 5) after months fighting a lung infection, leaving his nation and the world in mourning for a man revered as a moral giant.

​The former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate had been frail and ailing for nearly a year with a recurring lung illness that dated back to the 27 years he spent in apartheid jails, including the notorious Robben Island penal colony.

“So many things we’ll miss from him, so many things. He is a leader, he fought for the right of his people, he got in for this, he paid his full price and at the end of the day, he came out of it in a good health and he got as far as ruling his people for only one tenure.

“For him to stay one tenure alone, shows how leadership is,” said Mac-Anthony Ibeabuchi, a journalist based in Lagos.

​President Jacob Zuma’s announcement late on Thursday of the death of a man who was a symbol of struggle against injustice and of racial reconciliation reverberated through South Africa and around the world. It triggered an avalanche of tributes.

“He did a lot for the whole world not in Africa alone, for the whole world. The man is just a great man,” said Thomas Ogunlola, a Lagos resident.

​Mandela’s passing, while long expected, left Africa’s biggest economy still distant from being the “Rainbow Nation” ideal of social peace and shared prosperity that he had proclaimed on his triumphant release from prison in 1990.