Nigeria Unveils Zuma Statue and Road Named After South Africa’s President
It seems to be Zuma Statue/Monument Season… as less than a fortnight after the unveiling of a Zuma Monument (the questionably named ‘Jacob Zuma’s Capture Site‘) in South Africa, Nigeria has unveiled a large statue in the SA President’s honour! And not just a statue. Nigeria has also named a road after Zuma – the […]
It seems to be Zuma Statue/Monument Season… as less than a fortnight after the unveiling of a Zuma Monument (the questionably named ‘Jacob Zuma’s Capture Site‘) in South Africa, Nigeria has unveiled a large statue in the SA President’s honour!
And not just a statue. Nigeria has also named a road after Zuma – the Jacob Zuma Road…
And that’s not all. The Governor of Imo State, Owelle Okorocha, also conferred on President Zuma the Imo Merit Award, which happens to be the highest award in the State conferred on distinguished personalities who have “made a difference in the development of their communities”.
President Zuma visited Owerri City in the Imo State of Nigeria, as well as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a trip to strengthen socio-economic relations. The Presidency said Zuma’s trip to Nigeria was also to “further deepen existing cooperation in the field of education”.
Not everyone was as ecstatic as President Zuma.
Twitter users slated both the SA and Nigerian leaders while the Guild of Nigerian Professionals group issued a statement saying it was unnecessary.
The Group’s representative Adetunuji Omotolo said: “We don’t even have a statue of Nelson Mandela, we don’t have a statue of Barack Obama, we don’t have a statue of Martin Luther King, all the great black icons. We don’t have them anywhere in Nigeria and now we have the statue of President Jacob Zuma. It’s not the best PR exercise, if you ask me.”
Whilst in Zambia, Zuma launched the OR Tambo Heritage Site House in Lusaka, which will provide a “great opportunity for research and the writing of own African stories”. The house in Chelston became one of the many houses where OR spent his time, particularly in the garden, where he apparently found the vegetation as soothing companionship, allowing him time to both think and pray as OR a devout Christian and a teetotaller.
The house was his favourite of the many safe houses he lived in. – SAnews.gov.za
https://twitter.com/sire_liljosh/status/919576096223432704
https://twitter.com/UrbanCulture06/status/919618631901818883
The anger in Owerri over that Zuma statue is palpable. Folks are going bonkers.
— Chidi H. Lemchi (@CHLemchi) October 15, 2017