By Olasunkanmi Akoni with agency report

IKEJA — Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said that Nigeria deserved respect for the leading role it played in ending the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Addressing newsmen on the death of Nelson Mandela in Ikeja, Fashola said the country made huge sacrifices to free South Africa from the pangs of apartheid.

He said it was ironical that Nigerians faced daily harassment in South Africa, while those who enthroned apartheid got more respect in that country.

Fashola also wondered why those who promoted the suppression of black South Africans through the policy were the same people now celebrating Mandela the more.

“Tribute to Mandela, either during his life or after his death, cannot really be too much.

“We are privileged to share this planet with him. But then, there are more questions than answers.

“When you look at the part of the world where ovation is now the loudest, it was the part the pain was the most vicious. In a very cruel irony, history is being reversed.

“The people, who collaborated with the government that enthroned apartheid at that time, are the people that are paying the biggest tribute now.

“But I ask myself: Is this not the time for deep reflection? I doubt if any African country expended as much time, as much money and as much commitment as the Nigerian government,” Fashola said.