Premium Times author counters SA minister's drug dealer claim with Nigeria's anti-apartheid history
A Premium Times author rejected South African Minister Tshaveni's alleged accusation that Nigerians are drug dealers, highlighting Nigeria's anti-apartheid leadership under Murtala Mohammed. The author cited Mohammed's 1975 OAU speech 'Africa Has Come of Age' where he told US President Gerald Ford to 'shut up and go to hell' over apartheid interference, and noted Nigeria deployed 13,000 troops to fight apartheid forces using neighboring states as bases. The response listed numerous Nigerian historical firsts: first African lawyer (Christopher Sapara Williams, 1879), first African doctors (including James Africanus Beale Horton, 1859), first African Oxford attendee (Christian Frederick Cole, 1876), and noted Nigerian families with five generations of Oxbridge graduates. The author asserted Nigeria's heritage of 'strong-willed, determined, hard-working, versatile, resourceful, courageous, and resilient' people whose 'head may be bloodied but certainly not bowed.' This opinion piece responds to discrimination accusations with historical evidence of Nigerian leadership and contributions.