In the early hours of today, I was held spell-bound by a
special BBC radio program on the reading of Nelson Mandela’s diary, written
while on trips to other African nations.
In January 1962, at the age of 43, Nelson Mandela secretly
left South Africa in a bid to explain the objectives of the ANC to the rest of
the continent. He was also mandated to seek the supports of African leaders
politically, financially and in the area of military training for its proposed
arms struggle.
Incidentally, that was the period that newly-independent
African nations were rapidly emerging, full of ambitions for a pan-African role
in the world. Mandela’s African trip, from one country to another however, was
filled with several unexpected surprises---both pleasant and very unpleasant.
One major example was the “divide and rule” tactic the
ruthless South African Intelligence agency tried to employ. It once persuaded
North African nations such as Morocco, Egypt and Algeria that in view of their
almost Caucasian skin colors, they should have nothing to do with the ANC.
When Mandela and his group approached those countries
therefore, they were very skeptical. But according to the diary, the man was
stunned when the same “light-skinned” North Africans embraced them as soon as
they landed on their lands, referring to them as brothers and sisters. The
Algerian and Moroccan governments did not just give the ANC large amounts of
money and other gifts, they also provided intelligence supports and made
arrangements for military weapons and trainings.
Tangayika (now Tanzania) and the other countries in East
Africa were very supportive. President Julius Nyerere was especially eulogized.
And then, Mandela came to West Africa. As at that time,
President Kwame Nkrumah was well known across the world as an influential
20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism. So, Mandela was full of hope in their
trip to Ghana. But was he grossly disappointed!
First of all, Mandela and his companions were treated like a
bunch of irritating fellows by the so-called Pan-Africanist. Secondly, Nkrumah
sent a message to the men that, unlike the other African nations they earlier
visited, Ghana would not pay a “dime” out of their hotel bills. While Mandela
said that aspect did not really bother him, he and his people felt greatly
disturbed when Nkrumah delivered the final blow---he refused to meet with the
ANC guys as other African leaders did.
Then Mandela arrived in Nigeria.
Now, I held my breath as the diary got to this particular
point. Finally, I beamed proudly with smiles as the man (in a very thick
accent) narrated how the Nigerians treated them like royalties. In Mandela’s
words, they were practically “spoiled”.
And then came another surprise: Earlier, as they embarked on
the trip to Nigeria, the delegation was warned to watch out for a man called
Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, a topmost Nigerian politician, and
the first premier of the Northern Nigeria.
“Can you imagine…” Mandela narrated. “Even Nkrumah was among
those who considered the Sardauna to be too conservative and too friendly with
the British Imperialist. But as words got to the great man (Sardauna of Sokoto)
he quickly sent for us. And when we met, he addressed us as brothers and gave
us a cash sum of ten thousand pounds…a lot of money in those days. We were
shocked beyond words. He admitted to being close to the British but stated
emphatically that ‘blood is thicker than water’…that he would do anything to
make the Nigerian federal government stand by the ANC at all times. This was a
major lesson for us about the human nature. In comparison to Nkrumah who was
very popular across the world just for being a Rhetoric, an unpopular man such
as the Sardauna was more humane as a pragmatist…”
