President Muhammadu Buhari, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders yesterday joined South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa mourning Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Ramaphosa announced the passing of the outspoken Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid veteran. He was 90.
He described his demise as another chapter “of bereavement in the nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans, who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa”.
President Buhari and Chief Obasanjo the late archbishop as a famous cleric, who never shied away from confronting global and South Africa’s shortcomings and injustices.
The African National Congress (ANC) Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, former U.S. President and Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama are among the world leaders who mourned Tutu’s passage.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari commiserated with his South African counterpart, the Tutu family, especially his spouse, Mrs. Leah Tutu, and South Africans over the passage of the global hero.
President Buhari assured that the contributions of the late archbishop’s contributions to humanity, recorded through his voice, writings and activities would resonate over generations.
The statement reads: “On behalf of government and people of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari condoles with President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africans and the global Christian body, particularly Anglican Communion, over passing of Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, 90, on Sunday, December 26, 2021.
“President Buhari believes the death of the iconic teacher, human rights activist, leader of thought, scholar and philanthropist, further creates a void in a world in dire need of wisdom, integrity, courage and sound reasoning, which were qualities that the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1984, typified and exemplified in words and actions.
“As a South African, global citizen and renowned world leader, the President affirms that the historic role Archbishop Tutu played in the fight against apartheid, enduring physical assaults, jail terms and prolonged exile, took him beyond the pulpit to global, political relevance, and his position, under President Nelson Mandela, in heading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission provided healing and direction for his country and the world.”
In a condolence letter to Ramaphosa, Obasanjo recalled the role played by the late Tutu in getting Nigeria’s debt cancelled.
Chief Obasanjo said: “Over the years, Reverend Tutu had shown focused, credible, bold, sensitive and purposeful leadership not just to members of the Anglican Church, but to all Christians.”
The letter, which was released to the media by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, added: “Tutu had been part of building and strengthening the Anglican Church, and its eminent place in the Church system in South Africa today is not unrelated to his selfless service and leadership”.
On Nigeria’s debt cancellation, Obasanjo said he acknowledged late Tutu’s “uncommon solidarity and the deep passion with which he had argued Nigeria’s case for full debt cancellation by the contents of his letter to Mr. Gordon Brown, the then UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, during my administration as the President of Nigeria.
“This heroic advocacy effort of his with respect to Nigeria’s indebtedness to the Paris Club on behalf of Nigeria was very much in his character.”
Also, Governor Dapo Abiodun expressed grief over the death of the South African anti-apartheid hero.
Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, said he was shocked by the death of the anti-apartheid hero.
To Obama, the late archbishop was a towering figure and “moral compass”, who fought against injustice in South Africa and elsewhere”.
Obama, in a statement, said the Nobel Peace laureate “was a mentor, a friend and a moral compass for me and so many others.
“A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere,” Obama said, adding that Tutu sought to “find humanity in his adversaries.”
“Michelle and I will miss him dearly,” he said.
Obama in 2009 presented Tutu with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Carter, in his condolence, described him as a friend whose ministry he said exemplified “love, freedom and compassion”.
“He lived his values in the long struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, in his leadership of the national campaign for truth and reconciliation, and in his role as a global citizen,” Carter, age 97, said in a statement.
