By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE Neo Black Movement of Africa popularly called NBM has mourned the death of South African cleric and anti- apartheid activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu describing him as model for the emancipation of Africa from colonial manipulation.

 A statement by the spokesperson of NBM Oluwatosin Dixon made available to journalists in Benin Sunday night said the association received the death “with shock but with total submission to the will of God.

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 “He was the Bishop of Johannesburg for a year from1985 and the Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse black African nationalist ideas and Christian liberation theology.

“The world cannot forget in a hurry when he appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by President Mandela and publicly shed tears while remembering the horrors of apartheid. “Tutu was fearless and spoke against the discriminatory policies of the former apartheid enclave which were anchored on institutional racism. It was at a time that South Africans were afraid to speak against the brutal White supremacist Pretoria regime which regarded black Africans inferior.

 “Tutu’s political soulmate was the late iconic liberation figure, Dr. Nelson Mandela, who came out of decades in jail to be the country’s first president democratically elected under universal suffrage. 

 “Both liberation icons got the Nobel Peace Prize. Expectedly, eulogies by leaders and others were still pouring in from all parts of the world for Tutu who lived a selfless life among the ordinary people, stood up for them and the country while preaching racial harmony and