Mandela’s 1962 Refuge in Nigeria Recalled as Cleric Compares His Sacrifice to Nnamdi Kanu’s Struggle

_Secular Advocacy TV News Desk _

On 22nd May 1962, Nelson Mandela sought refuge in Nigeria while fleeing the apartheid government in South Africa, according to accounts shared by Nigerian cleric Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu.

Mandela was sheltered by Mbazulike Amaechi, then Minister of Aviation in Nigeria’s First Republic, in Amaechi’s home. At the time, Nnamdi Azikiwe was President of Nigeria and Michael Okpara was Premier of the Eastern Region.

Unegbu disclosed that Azikiwe, a leader of Nigeria’s nationalist movement, consulted with Okpara and agreed that Mandela should be protected. They entrusted Amaechi with the responsibility, and Mandela stayed with him for about six months.

During his stay, Mandela reportedly told Amaechi: “My stay here—how long will it last? I think I had better return to South Africa. They will either kill me or send me to prison, and that will spur the remaining nationalists to continue with the struggle.”

Mandela returned to South Africa, where he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned for 27 years. From prison, he wrote Amaechi a letter on 18th February 1964, signing it “Nelson Mandela, Prisoner No. 116570/63.”

After his release in 1990, Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president, and ending apartheid regime in South Africa.

Unegbu concluded by referencing the role of courage in the struggle for freedom and extending solidarity to “all freedom fighters.” He compared Nelson Mandela’s freedom struggle to that of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra who is now facing a life jail for seeking the self-determination of the old eastern part of Nigeria. Eastern Nigeria declared independence in 1967 and fought a Civil War that ended in 1970. The civil war was in an attempt to defend their sovereignty.