The world is mourning the passage of ‘the Black King’. I cannot help but add my humble voice to the outpouring of tributes. My friend Idy calls me up this morning from the United States.
He wants to know if flags will be flown at half mast in Nigeria today in mournful acknowledgment of the passage of a great Black man whose place in Black history is in the category of Muhammed Ali, Nelson Mandela and Patrice Lumumba.
Afterall, Uyoe reminds me, Pele, at a time in Nigeria’s history, temporarily halted the civil war between soldiers of the armies of Nigeria and Biafra to enable them follow the commentaries of a football match that held in Lagos.
He thinks that for that feat alone, Pele deserves more than mere pedestrian tributes, and must be accorded the highest respect, recognition and honour by Nigeria at his death.So, I am thinking.