Emulate Mandela, Odumakin tells Nigerian leaders

[Punch]

The President, Campaign for Democracy and Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, on Thursday urged Nigerian leaders to learn from the life of former South African President, Nelson Mandela.

In a statement,  Odumakin said, the lessons of the celebration of the life of Mandela was  that "we need leaders who will sacrifice themselves for the people and earn immortality in the hearts of their people."

She said, "South Africans are praying that Mandela should not die while Nigerians jubilate when bad things happen to their leaders.

"There is also the need for our leaders in Nigeria to appreciate the role that history has to play in the future of any leader.

"Dr. Mandela is of course not the oldest living African today, but he has remained one person whose history of encounter with humanity has remained indelible.

"For our leaders in Nigeria, they must begin to look at the future gains of life after Office which is indicated in the manner that Nelson Mandela has been globally celebrated after serving a single term as the President of a post apartheid South Africa."

Okei-Odumakin added, "Every generation of African today many of whom were unborn during the struggle of Dr. Mandela and his reign as the President of south Africa have continued to celebrate him on the basis of what History has recorded for him."



The Punch