₦airaland Forum

Africa: I Tried to Get Nkomo and Mugabe to Kill Each Other, Says Obasanjo


29 March 2018

New Zimbabwe (London)

By Staff Reporter


Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to get Zimbabwe's nationalist leaders Robert Mugabe and the late Joshua Nkomo into a gun fight during the liberation struggle.

Obasanjo revealed this during a panel discussion with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Cote d'Ivoire early this week. The two were attending the just ended African CEOs Forum in Abidjan.

Obasanjo said Mugabe and Nkomo had abused military arsenal supplied to their guerrilla movements to "kill each other".

"At some stage, Nkomo and Mugabe began using the guns we were supplying them to kill each other.

"I tried to bring them to Nigeria for talks but they avoided each other and came at different times. However they were to later meet and I had them sitting beside me. I had two pistols loaded so I said to them, 'I will give you each a gun so you can fight. The one who dies we will bury him here while the one who wins will go and fight the struggle," said Obasanjo.

He added, "They were surprised and argued it was too drastic a way to resolve their differences. I must say it seemed to have worked because just after that they went and formed the Patriotic Front and won independence for Zimbabwe".



Mnangagwa, in his opening remarks, told the African CEOs Forum that he knew Obasanjo during the liberation struggle.

"President Obasanjo supported our struggle. I accompanied President Mugabe to Nigeria. I was a young man then I don't know if he remembers but he asked me about a red book I was holding on Mao Tse Tung's thoughts," said Mnangagwa.

Obasanjo, in response, then narrated his hair raising solution to the power struggles between Zanu and Zapu's military wings Zanla and Zipra during the bush war against racist Rhodesia.

"I don't know if the President (Mnangagwa) is aware of this story that is part of the decolonisation of Zimbabwe. We supported the struggle not based on any ideological standpoint but on the conviction that blacks are equal to any people anywhere in the world," the former military leader said.

"For me as a leader then, it did not matter who I was if a black man anywhere in the world was regarded a second class citizen because of the colour of his skin. It diminished me as a human being".

Obasanjo took power through a coup in 1979 but was later to hand over to a civilian government. He returned to power in the late 80s as a civilian President of Nigeria.




Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.

Monday, July 5th 1976.

Footage of a press conference at which Brigadier Joseph Garba, Nigeria's Minister for External Affairs, presented a cheque to Senhor Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique's Foreign Minister as Nigeria's contribution towards financing the liberation struggle in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe).

The press conference was held in Port Louis, Mauritius, where both men were attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Garba was very critical of the two rival factions of the African National Council (ANC) led respectively by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, leader of the external African National Council and Mr. Joshua Nkomo, leader of the internal ANC.

Garba:

"My dear colleagues, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mozambique, ladies and gentlemen of the press, we in Nigeria believe that whatever we are able to do is only an assistance, a token of our commitment. The fighting must of necessity be done by the liberation movements themselves. This is the only way that true independence can be won. It is for this reason that the government of Nigeria has decided to make a quarter of a million dollars available to help the freedom fighters. In normal circumstances this cheque should have been delivered to an undisputed leader of the Zimbabwean movement and I am sure that would have been a pleasant duty. Unfortunately there is no such person, as the political leaders of the liberation movements are too busy bickering among themselves. We have therefore decided to hand the cheque over to the government of Mozambique and I have great pleasure in handing the cheque to my friend and colleague Mr. Chissano, who himself is a dedicated, tireless and dynamic crusader for freedom, independence and justice in Africa. Ladies and gentlemen I thank you very much."

"We are receiving these funds on behalf of the fighting people of Zimbabwe and Mozambique is not going to use this money for other things, but only for that purpose. So whether they are satisfied or not maybe this will be proved by the results."

Former South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela, on Saturday night in Abuja dedicated his Pan African Broadcast Heritage Award (PABHA) to the memory of the acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election Chief M.K.O. Abiola, whom he described as a great Nigerian.

Mandela, who was represented by the South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, currently on a visit to Nigeria, described how he first came into contact with the Abiola.

He said President Ibrahim Babangida sent Abiola to mediate and talk to Mandela to reconcile with a sworn enemy of the African National Congress (ANC), who then was working against the interest of the party’s success at the poll.

Mbeki did not name the “sworn enemy” of the ANC, but said the late politician had since become their friend. He said when Abiola arrived, he (Mbeki) tried to get the message from Babangida, but refused, insisting that he must deliver the message to Mandela personally. Mbeki said he then took Abiola to Mandela to personally deliver Babangida’s message.

Mbeki said Abiola later told a story of the black ant to describe how dangerous the “sworn enemy” was to the ANC.

He said though the black ant was small, it could wreak much havoc if it had access to one’s clothing. He quoted Abiola as saying that it was easier to take care of the black ant than to allow it to wreak havoc.

The South African President explained that the message from Abiola made the ANC reconcile with the “sworn enemy”.

After Mandela’s release from jail in 1990, he visited Nigeria, and received a $10 million campaign contribution for the ANC. There were great expectations that these developments would mark the birth of a strong alliance between Africa’s two powerhouses.

Lithiumite:
Its tiday 15th of may and everyone is looking forward to it.