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Today in 2013, Nelson Mandela died aged 95. - On 0

Today in 2013, Nelson Mandela died aged 95.
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On 05 December 2013, Nelson Mandela, South African president from 1994-1999 and anti-apartheid revolutionary, died in his home in Johannesburg, surrounded by his family.
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Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand, and began working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. He became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the African National Congress (ANC) party in 1943. When South Africa's white-only ruling party, the National Party (NP), established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, Mandela and the ANC committed to overthrowing it.
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After the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960, where South African police killed 69 and injured more than 100 black protesters at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally, Mandela helped create a militant group called ‘uMkhonto we Sizwe' to rebel against the government. He was arrested in 1962, and later sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state. From 1962 to 1990, Mandela remained in prison.
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In 1990, South African president Frederik de Klerk released Mandela from prison. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, resulting in the 1994 multiracial general election, when Mandela led the ANC to victory and became South Africa's first black president. Mandela's government focused on fixing the chasms left behind by apartheid, and after the end of his first term, Mandela refused another term as president and stepped down.
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Widely regarded as an icon of democracy, and deeply respected worldwide, Mandela received more than 100 honours during his life, including the Nobel Peace Prize. South Africa observed a 10-day national mourning period after his death, and more than 100 foreign dignitaries, presidents, and prime ministers were in attendance at his state funeral. The ‘International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination' is held on 21 March every year, in remembrance of the Sharpeville massacre.
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📝: Wemimo x Abdul-Azeez, Editorial Interns
📷: Nelson Mandela visits Hlengiwe School. Louise Gubb / Corbis

Nigerian Government says they don't plan to shut d

Nigerian Government says they don't plan to shut down the Internet.
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According to Punch, the Nigerian minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has stated that the Federal Government has no plan to shut down the Internet or stifle the press and free speech .
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The minister, speaking on 4 December, said the government acknowledged that social media has come to stay. However, he did stress that the government would not sit by and allow a 'reckless use of social media to throw the country into turmoil', explaining that fake news and disinformation aggravated the violence that followed the end of the #EndSARS protests.
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He said the violence has ‘strengthened our resolve to work with stakeholders to stop the abuse of social media. It has also rekindled the debate on the need to regulate social media content, a debate that is not limited to Nigeria.'
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Mohammed continues to claim that there was no massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate on 20 October, adding that it was ‘surprising that less attention was paid to the barbaric and gruesome murder of security agents during the crisis', some of whom were ‘dismembered and cannibalized.'
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📝: Wemimo x Abdul-Azeez, Editorial Assistants⠀⠀⠀
📷: The Nigerian minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed. FIMCNigeria / Twitter

‘Music has always been a part of my process.' — Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ in our latest First Draft.
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First Draft is our newest column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.
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While Adébáyọ̀ worked on her debut novel, ‘Stay with Me', she said she ‘listened to every version of Leonard Cohen's ‘Hallelujah' I could find.' She finds it ‘impossible to pick one piece as sole inspiration.' For her new book, she's been ‘trolling YouTube for renderings of Enoch Sontonga's "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika"', while she finds a live performance of Aṣa's 'Bamidele' indispensable to her writing. She's had these songs on repeat at different times.
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When asked what her writing process was like, Adébáyọ̀ said ‘I write. Then I edit and edit and edit and edit and edit.' She is currently working on another novel, and on developing an exhibition in ‘an attempt to negotiate the interface between literature and immersive technology.'
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She prefers to read writers' body of work rather ‘reading by topics'. She said ‘one of my goals for the year is to catch up with Elizabeth Strout's.' Adébáyọ̀ wishes she'd discovered author, Cheik Hamidou Bamba's work earlier, and that she could ‘read him in French'.
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What's a big part of your writing process? Let us know in the comments. For more from this author, click the link in our bio.
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📝: Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
📷: Ojima Abalaka

#EndSARS: Nigerian Police withdraws suit against J

#EndSARS: Nigerian Police withdraws suit against Judicial Panels of Inquiry.⠀
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According to Channels, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has applied to withdraw the suit filed against the judicial panels of inquiry in various states in Nigeria. The NPF had earlier argued that the establishment of the panels of inquiry by state governors was illegal and unconstitutional, calling on the court to restrain the attorneys-general of the 36 states and their various panels of inquiry from going ahead with investigations.⠀
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According to The Guardian, the suit seeking a halt to the panel investigations had been filed on 9 November. However, a notice of discontinuance filed by Festus Ibude, legal counsel to the NPF, has stated that they wish to completely withdraw the suit against all defendants.⠀
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The Nigerian inspector-general of police, Mohammed Adamu, expressed his disapproval of the suit in a statement and called for an investigation. Adamu insisted that the force is committed to fulfilling all its obligations concerning the disbandment of the SARS unit, adding that the officer responsible for the suit has been queried and may be sanctioned if found guilty of neglect of duty.⠀
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The inauguration of the panels was directed by the National Executive Council (NEC), headed by vice president Yemi Osinbajo, during the heat of the #EndSARS protests in October. Public uproar against the police followed news of the NPF's attempts to close the judicial panels, and may have played a factor in their decision to withdraw the suit.⠀
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📝: Wemimo x Abdul-Azeez, Editorial Assistants⠀⠀⠀⠀
📷: The Nigerian inspector-general of police, Mohammed Adamu, speaks during a press conference. Getty

Today in 1977, 'The Diary of Anne Frank' opened in

Today in 1977, 'The Diary of Anne Frank' opened in New York.⠀
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Anne Frank was a Jewish girl whose family hid from Nazi officials during Germany's occupation of The Netherlands in the Second World War. Anne's diary, written during the war, was later turned into a book and made her one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust.⠀
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Anne was born in Germany on 12 June 1929. Early in Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, her father, Otto Frank, took Anne, her sister, and mother to live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. German forces eventually invaded The Netherlands during the Second World War, and when Nazis began to persecute Jews in Amsterdam, Anne and her family went into hiding in July 1942, living in secret rooms in a house in Amsterdam for two years, where they were smuggled food and supplies by their family's friends. ⠀
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During this time in hiding, Anne wrote faithfully in her diary, documenting her day-to-day experiences. She wrote about her annoyances, fear of being taken or shot by the Nazis, and what she wanted to do after the war. Her last diary entry was on 01 August 1944, three days before her family was discovered by the Nazi police. Anne and her family were separated and taken away to Germany, where Anne died aged-15, along with her sister and mother at concentration camps in Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz early in 1945.⠀
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Her family's friends searched the secret rooms after their capture and found Anne's diary, which they gave to her father after Germany surrendered in May 1945. According to The Guardian, her diary was published by her father as ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl' in 1947 and later made into an award-winning play.⠀
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📝: Wemimo x Abdul-Azeez, Editorial Assistants⠀⠀⠀
📷: Anne Frank in 1940. Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam Photo Collection

UN removes cannabis from the ‘most dangerous dru

UN removes cannabis from the ‘most dangerous drugs' list.⠀
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According to CNN, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has voted to remove cannabis from the ‘Schedule IV' list that categorized it, alongside heroin and other opioids, as one of the most dangerous drugs — in a move that recognizes the plant's medicinal value.⠀
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Substances on the list are considered to be ‘highly addictive and highly liable for abuse,' and labeled as being very harmful and of limited medical or therapeutic value.
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The move has been described as ‘largely symbolic' by CNN, and may not have an immediate impact on how governments control scheduled substances. But it could give a boost to medical cannabis legalization efforts in countries that look to the United Nations for guidance.⠀
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The CND voted 27-25 to recategorize cannabis. South Africa, the USA, UK, and Germany, were among the countries voting in favor, while Brazil, China, Russia, and Pakistan voted to keep cannabis on the dangerous substances list.⠀
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📝: Wemimo x Abdul-Azeez, Editorial Assistants⠀⠀⠀
📷: The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs during a vote in Austria. 2018. US Mission to Vienna

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