Mandela day: Africa needs incorruptible leaders, says Ishola-Williams

African needs more incorruptible leaders in the mould of former South African President the late Nelson Mandela, according to Major-General Olasehinde Ishola-Williams (rtd).

He said the late Mandela was unique as a leader, and that Africa lacks his type.

“Our African leaders are not only corruptible, but they are greedy,” he said.

Ishola-Williams, former Transparency International (TI) Nigerian chapter president, spoke at the Freedom Park in Lagos at an event to mark the Nelson Mandela International Day.

The Mandela Day is celebrated every July 18, Mandela’s birthday. The day was officially declared by the United Nations (UN) in November 2009, with the first UN Mandela Day held in 2010.

The year’s event marks the centenary (100 years) of Mandela’s birth.

Ishola-Williams, who chaired the event, said Mandela set an example for African leaders by not seeking tenure elongation.

“It’s difficult to copy Mandela. I’ve not seen any African leader able to do that, to leave when the ovation is loudest,” he said.

He said Mandela never forgot the role Nigeria played in the apartheid struggle, adding that he truly sacrificed himself for his people.

Ishola-Williams regretted that not enough was being done to stop the endless killing of Nigerians in South Africa.

“Nigerians are being killed in South Africa intermittently. We need to so something about that.

“Nigeria and South Africa need to work together, and create regular dialogue so that we can understand each other.

“We’ve got to think innovatively and find solutions. South Africa and Nigeria need to provide leadership to Africa,” he said.

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The former military chief called for equity and stability in Africa, saying that peace and equality would be unrealistic.

“Let us replace peace with stability, and equality with equity,” he said.

He urged the new generation of South Africans to build on Mandela’s legacy.

A member of the Nigerian Fact Finding Team to South Africa in 1991, Dr Femi Badejo, said the late Mandela was very humble.

He recalled that he first met the former South African president in a general restroom in his office.

“Mandela didn’t have a special toilet attached to his office. He used the general toilet,” recalled Badejo.

The former diplomat, academic and lawyer added that Africa needed more “Mandela-type leaders”.

Former Nigerian ambassador to Ethiopia, Olusegun Akinsanya, said the late Mandela stood for peace and social justice.

He urged leaders and youths to emulate the late Mandela’s anti-corruption stance.

United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Lagos Director Donald Ronald Kayanja, who represented UN Secretary-General António Guterres, hailed the late Mandela who he said spent his life fighting for his country’s freedom.

“We may be few here, but we’re joining millions of people who are marking this day,” he said.

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