Jonathan urges politicians to emulate Mandela's virtues

Abuja - President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday urged politicians to emulate the
Late Dr Nelson Mandela’s politics of humility, peace and reconciliation as against that of bitterness and character assassination.

Jonathan made this call at a Memorial Service in Honour of Mandela, former President of South Africa, held at the Aso
Rock Chapel, Abuja.
He said Mandela was filled with humility, spirit of forgiveness and the ability to unite people.

"This is in contrast with the utterances of Nigerian politicians who speak as if Nigeria is their bedroom from where they
make unguarded utterances and
intimidate others", he said.
He stressed that politicians had been threatening, boasting and attempting to play little gods by virtue of their
positions. "They are no more than tiny men."
According to him, with such attitude, itvwill be easier for the camel to passbthrough the eye of a needle than for a politician to achieve greatness.
The President decried the attitude of such politicians bent on over heating the polity.
He harped on the need for all politicians to always exhibit the virtues of leadership
that Mandela worked for and exhibited.
Jonathan said government declared three days mourning for Mandela because Nigeria played key role in South African
anti-apartheid liberation struggle and to remind everyone of their links with fellow Africans
He, therefore, called on all Nigerians to pray for the repose of the soul of Mandela.

Senate President David Mark enjoinedbAfricans to fight for economic independence and democracy.
He said Mandela lived and died for Africa.
He added that with Mandela’s popularity,vhe would have achieved a united Africa.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, stressed the need to remember those who fought with Mandela.
He urged African leaders to continue to fight social and institutional injusticesbacross the continent as a way of paying tribute to Mandela.

The South African Ambassador to Nigeria, Chris Mamazulu, narrated the history of Mandela during and after the anti-vapartheid liberation struggle in South Africa.

He thanked the people and government of Nigeria for their support to his country during the apartheid era.
Mamazulu expressed delight over the ongoing economic partnership between South African businessmen and their Nigerian counterparts.

In his sermon, the preacher, Bishop David Ibiyomi, who spoke on "Attitude of Gratitude", said "100 percent of whatever happens to us is our attitude."
- NAN

Pics from Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela at Aso Villa Chapel

A memorial service was held for late President Nelson Mandela at the Aso Villa Chapel today.

Meanwhile President
Jonathan will leave Abuja tomorrow
evening Monday December 9th to join other world leaders in South Africa at events leading up to the burial of Dr.
Nelson Mandela. See more photos from the Abuja memorial service after the cut...

SEE What Wole Soyinka Has To Say About Nelson Mandela's Death

he death of former South African
President, Nelson Mandela, seems to have left Nobel Laureate, Wole
Soyinka, world acclaimed wordsmith,
short of words.
Photo He appears to be so shell-shocked and devastated.
In a rare and short tribute to former South African president and anti- apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka had this to say "

"The soul of Africa has departed, and there is nothing miraculous left in the world."

Mr. Mandela passed away Thursday night
at 95, throwing the entire world into unprecedented mourning.
Meanwhile, tributes have continued to pour following the death of the man who is credited for reconciling White and Black South African after the brutal apartheid era that saw the black majority suffering hideous human rights abuses under successive white minority regimes.

Mandela was born in 1918. He was
sentenced to life in imprisonment by the apartheid government for his armed struggle against a government infamous for killing unarmed protesters. He spent 27 years in prison before was released and elected first black South African president in 1993.

Nelson Mandela dies at 95

Freedom fighter, prisoner, moral
compass and South Africa's symbol of the struggle against racial oppression.
That was Nelson Mandela, who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead his country out of decades of apartheid.
He died Thursday night at age 95.

NELSON MANDELA DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL

Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader and former South African president, has been discharged from hospital and has returned home after being treated for a recurring lung infection, according to government sources.

"Madiba's condition remains critical
and is at times unstable," the South
African president's office said on
Sunday, referring to the 95-year-old
Mandela by his clan name.

"His team of doctors are convinced
that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton [in Johannesburg] home that he received in Pretoria," the statement said.
This comes after a weekend statement
by a family member that he had been discharged was denied by Mac Maharaj, the presidential
spokesperson.
Mandela had been receiving medical treatment in a Pretoria hospital for almost three months since June 8.
Al Jazeera's Tania Page, reporting
from Johannesburg, said there are
hopes that there will be some sort of recovery.
"This is a very gravely ill man, but [the presidency] has gone to great pains to explain that he will be receiving full medical support at his home," she said.
She said the president's office had
avoided getting into details out of
respect for Mandela and his family.

culled from Aljazeera

The Only Woman Who Married The president Of two Different Countries

Graça Machel

She is the third wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela and the widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel.

She is the only person in history to have been first spouse of two different African countries, serving as the First Lady of Mozambique from 1975 to 1986 and the First Lady of South Africa from 1998 to 1999.

Nelson Mandela @ 95 Happy Birthday!

South Africans of all ages have been celebrating the 95th birthday of Nelson Mandela, their first black president. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Obama pays tribute as ailing Mandela turns 95

US President Barack Obama paid warm tribute to South African Nelson Mandela for his 95th birthday on Thursday, which the anti-apartheid icon will spend in hospital recovering from a lung infection.

Obama’s message came as Mandela’s youngest daughter Zindzi said her father was making “remarkable” progress, and as admirers around the world prepared to honour the former South African president’s legacy with a wave of charitable acts.

Obama, who visited South Africa last month but was unable to see Mandela because of his illness, was fulsome in his praise of the former statesman, referring to him by his clan name, Madiba.

“Our family was deeply moved by our visit to Madiba’s former cell on Robben Island during our recent trip to South Africa, and we will forever draw strength and inspiration from his extraordinary example of moral courage, kindness, and humility,” Obama said in a statement.

The president called on people to honour the elderly leader by taking part in Nelson Mandela Day on Thursday, when admirers around the world will uphold his legacy with charitable acts.

Biker gangs will clean the streets, volunteers will paint schools and politicians will spend 67 minutes on worthy projects — all to mark Mandela’s 67 years of public service.

“Let us return Madiba’s sacrifices and contributions through our own efforts to build a better society,” said South African President
Jacob Zuma.

Near Pretoria, Zuma himself will try to channel Mandela’s cross-community appeal by delivering government housing to poor whites.

Children in schools around the country will kick off the day by singing “Happy Birthday” to the former prisoner, who also marks 15th anniversary of his marriage to third wife Graca
Machel.

The government will also host a ceremony for the symbolic handing over of Mandela’s new high-tech ID card, which will be received by Zindzi.

The event is laden with symbolism in a country where apartheid was enforced by pass books, which black citizens were forced to carry and which limited movement to certain areas at certain times.

The United Nations declared the Nobel Peace laureate’s birthday Mandela Day in 2010, but for many this year it takes on extra poignancy.

Mandela has spent the last 41 days in a Pretoria hospital in critical but stable condition after being admitted for a recurring lung infection.

Family and friends have said he is now responding to treatment and breathing with the aid of a machine.
Zindzi said her father was making “remarkable” progress in hospital.

“He responds very well… with his eyes, and he nods and sometimes he lifts his hand like to shake your hand,” she told Britain’s Sky News on Wednesday.

Mandela’s successor as president, Thabo Mbeki, has even suggested he might be discharged from hospital soon.

“There was a time that we were all extremely anxious and worried, and we were prepared for the worst,” said Zindzi. “But he continues to amaze us every day.”

– ‘Make the world a better place’ –
Global luminaries, pop stars and ordinary people around the world have joined South Africans in pledging support for Mandela on his birthday.

“I will also be giving my 67 minutes to make the world a better place, one small step at a time,” British business magnate Richard Branson vowed in a recorded message.

In Manila, capital of the Philippines, 50 abandoned street children will get a television studio tour and see performances by local artists.

On Saturday, the Australian city of Melbourne will hold a concert featuring local and African artists, while a music festival later this year in Norway will promote equality in schools.

Born on July 18, 1918, Mandela fought against white rule in South Africa as a young lawyer and was convicted of treason in 1964.

He spent the next 27 years in jail.
It was in part through his willingness to forgive his white jailers that Mandela made his indelible mark on history.

After negotiating an end to apartheid, he became South Africa’s first black president, drawing a line under centuries of colonial and racist suppression.

He then led reconciliation in the deeply divided country.
Mandela’s peace-making spirit has won him worldwide respect.

“Never before in history was one human being so universally acknowledged in his lifetime as the embodiment of magnanimity and reconciliation as Nelson Mandela,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, himself a Nobel Peace laureate.

But the sunset of Mandela’s life has been somewhat eclipsed by bitter infighting among
his relatives.

A row over his final resting place has seen three of his children’s graves dug up and their remains moved amid public brawling and legal action among his children and grandchildren.