President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to the late South African anti-apartheid hero, Desmond Tutu, describing him as one whose life was a message on love and happiness.
According to Buhari, the legacies of Archbishop Tutu who died at 90 on Sunday, “will resonate through generations, bringing more light and clarity to religious diversity, democracy, and good governance.
“The President prays for the repose of the soul of Archbishop Tutu, whose life and times sent an unforgettable message on love and forgiveness.”
Buhari in a statement issued by a presidential aide, Femi Adesina, condoled with the late cleric’s wife, Leah Tutu, the Christian community globally; the people, and the Government of South Africa over Tutu’s demise.
“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,” the statement added.
He recalled Tutu’s historic role in the fight against apartheid, noting that the late preacher endured “physical assaults, jail terms, and prolonged exile.”
He argued for Nigeria’s debt cancellation – Obasanjo
Meanwhile, former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has recalled the role played by late Desmond Tutu in getting the country’s debt canceled, declaring that his death was a personal loss to him.
The late anti-apartheid scion, pro-democracy guru, and human rights crusader died on Sunday morning at age 90.
Obasanjo in a condolence letter to the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, stated that “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 that 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 the country’s debt cancellation role, Obasanjo said that 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 United Kingdom’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.”
Obasanjo told Ramaphosa that “Reverend Tutu was a patriotic and highly respected Teacher, Preacher, Intercessor and Field Commander of the Lord’s Army. He symbolized one of our finest examples of how a life truly dedicated to our Saviour Jesus Christ can make a difference. He had been a difference-maker for his family, his friends, his flock, his community, the Church, the Republic of South Africa, and, indeed, the world.
Find below, Obasanjo’s letter to South Africa’s President over Desmond Tutu’s death
December 26, 2021
H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa,
President of the Republic of South Africa,
Union Buildings,
Government Ave, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
LETTER OF CONDOLENCE
The news of the demise of our very dear and beloved The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu got to me with the feeling of a sense of personal loss. It is with this same feeling that I write to commiserate with you, his family members and the entire good people of South Africa on the passing of this great son of Africa.
Reverend Tutu was a patriotic and highly respected Teacher, Preacher, Intercessor and Field Commander of the Lord’s Army. He symbolized one of our finest examples of how a life truly dedicated to our Saviour Jesus Christ can make a difference. He had been a difference-maker for his family, his friends, his flock, his community, the Church, the Republic of South Africa and, indeed, the world.
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. He 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. Reverend Tutu was acknowledged as a leader among his peers and contemporaries. The Lord was with him and used him mightily to support and supplement his flock.
Reverend Tutu was an unparalleled visionary leader within the Church with profound knowledge of the Bible and the Word with an admirable, grasp and appreciation of history. He was also a tele-evangelist and a strong believer in the unity of believers worldwide as a transformational tool for development.
He had very impressive pro-democracy credentials, and was always ready to partner with forces of justice, equity, and fairness universally. I had a personal experience of the way God used him through my relationship and association with him as a man of God. He worked very closely with us in the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group. His insights, understanding and pieces of advice and suggestions on the way forward ending apartheid in South Africa were extremely valuable. He, by himself, was a consummate leader, fearless and quite daring. When most of the political leaders in South Africa were in jail, he was almost a one-man riot using both religion and Holy Bible against apartheid. He was simply like a thorn in the flesh of the white-ruled South Africa’s Nationalist Party.
At the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, he was made the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which laid the groundwork for an enduring and sustainable peace and development in the country, founded on the concepts and principles of human rights, equality, justice and reconciliation.
Again, I must acknowledge his 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 United Kingdom’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.
Though we are saddened by the inevitable finality of his passage, as we will miss his fiery sermons, writings and fatherly counsel, we should be comforted by the fact that he left a good legacy behind and his memory will linger on for very long time in the minds of his admirers, friends, protégés, immediate community, congregants and, indeed, Christendom.
He will also be remembered for his forthrightness, doggedness, dynamism, welfarism, anti-corruption, estachological discourses, courage, commitment to ethical values, uprightness, unwavering Christian testimony and purposeful leadership. He died with his head lifted high; his ministry untainted; and his integrity uncompromised.
May the gentle soul of Reverend Tutu rest in perfect peace.
Desmond Tutu was a moral compass, towering figure – Obama
Former US president Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black leader, on Sunday hailed late Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a towering figure and “moral compass” who fought against injustice in South Africa and elsewhere.
Tutu, a fellow Nobel Peace laureate, “was a mentor, a friend, and a moral compass for me and so many others,” Obama said in a statement.
“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.
Another former US president and Nobel Peace laureate, Jimmy Carter, issued condolences on the death of the 90-year-old Tutu, 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.
“His warmth and compassion offered us a spiritual message that is eternal.”
When Tutu visited the White House in 2009, then-president Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for preaching amid teargas and “rallying a people against apartheid.”
“Tribune of the downtrodden, voice of the oppressed, cantor of our conscience, Desmond Tutu possesses that sense of generosity, that spirit of unity, that essence of humanity that South Africans know simply as ‘Ubuntu’,” Obama said at the time.
