NATION LEADERS PAY TRIBUTE TO MANDELA

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan also mourns the loss of one of history's 'greatest liberators' in his condolence message to South Africa.

"Mandela will always be remembered and honoured by all mankind as one of its greatest liberators, a wise, courageous and compassionate leader, and an icon of true democracy," Jonathan said, describing the former South African president as a "source of inspiration to the oppressed peoples all over the world."

His passing will "create a huge vacuum that will be difficult to fill in our continent," Mr. President concluded.

Meanwhile, first black president of the United States of America Barack Obama, too, decried the loss of the "profoundly good" man who "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

 

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"Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived." —President Obama

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President Obama remembers Nelson Mandela: "A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

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"We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again," Obama said in a televised statement, hailing his political hero for his "fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of others."

Obama said Mandela, in his journey from a "prisoner to a president," transformed South Africa and "moved all of us," as "he achieved more than could be expected of any man.

"Today he's gone home, and we've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth.

"He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages."

"The day that he was released from prison gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears," Obama said.

Mandela's fragile health overshadowed Obama's 2006 trip to South Africa, and there had been fears that the former South African leader would pass away while Obama was in the country. The President decided against visiting Mandela in hospital, reasoning he would be a distraction, and met with members of his family instead.

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