British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) yesterday published 16 powerful quotes from Africans which it
considered the best in the year 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari’s "I
belong to everybody and I belong to nobody" topped the list. See full list
below:
1. "I belong to
everybody and I belong to nobody"
Nigeria's President
Muhammadu Buhari on the day of his historic inauguration in May
2. "We must change
our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust. We must
change our unruly behaviour in schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks,
on the roads, in homes and offices… “To bring about change, we must change
ourselves by being law-abiding citizens"
President Buhari said
four months later on Nigeria's independence day.
3. "The time for
vision has come. I request our South African government to help us clean our
land of lice. We need to remove all itching bedbugs and lay them bare in the
sun. “We request that all foreigners should take their baggage and be sent
back"
South Africa's Zulu
King Goodwill Zwelithini, who denied that his comments in March fuelled xenophobic
violence
4. "If I had
known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study
obviously I wouldn't have taken it. Nobody in our hunting party knew before or
after the name of this lion."
US dentist Walter
Palmer, who killed Zimbabwe's famous Cecil the lion in July
5. "Dear white
people in the fashion world!... Why do I have to bring my own make-up to a
professional show when all the other white girls don't have to do anything but
show up. "Don't try to make me feel bad because I am
blue-black - it's 2015"
South Sudanese model
Nykhor Paul, who got more than 20,000 likes on Instagram after she posted the
comment in July
6. "I have seen
more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don't think it can get
worse. It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it
doesn't fear the knife because it is dead already. I have a dead-goat
syndrome"
Ghana's President
John Mahama, being dismissive in March of the protests against his government.
The quote has earned him the nickname "The Goat"
7. "This is
surreal for me, I'm not going to lie, growing up in the dusty streets of South
Africa, I never dreamed that I would one day have two things really: An indoor
toilet and a job as host of the Daily Show.
"And now I have both, and I'm quite comfortable with one of
them".
South African
comedian Trevor Noah as he made his debut hosting Comedy Central's satirical
news show in September
8. "I've just
concluded - since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates
homosexual people and enjoys an attractive countenance - thus if it becomes
necessary, I shall travel to Washington DC, get down on my knee and ask his
hand"
Zimbabwe's leader
Robert Mugabe, mocking a US Supreme Court decision in June to legalise gay
marriage
9. "I love my
work. But under our constitution, I cannot run again... I actually think I'm a
pretty good president - I think if I ran I could win. But I can't. “When a
leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in
office, it risks instability and strife - as we've seen in Burundi. Nobody
should be president for life"
US President Barack
Obama on his visit to Ethiopia in July
10. "We are
going to create a special wheelchair for President Mugabe until he rules to 100
years because that is what we want. That is the people's choice. We want a
leader that respects us"
Zimbabwe's first lady
Grace Mugabe in November, after her 91-year-old husband was caught on camera
struggling to walk
11. "The way to
treat a boil is to squeeze it out, and I have made it my responsibility to do
that. I know squeezing out a boil hurts but unfortunately there are no two ways
about it"
Tanzania's newly
elected President John Magufuli, telling parliament in November about his drive
to root out corruption and lazy workers
12. "I organised
a meeting in 2005 to solve our family issues. When I asked them about their
opinion, they said I should build each family member a house and give each of
them a monthly wage... I just want other African families to learn from
this"
Togo football star
Emmanuel Adebayor, denying in a Facebook post in May claims that he failed to
support his family financially
13. "Christians
and Muslims are brothers and sisters. "Together, we must say no to hatred,
no to revenge and no to violence, particularly that violence which is
perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself. God is peace, God
salaam."
Pope Francis on his
visit to a mosque in the Central African Republic in November
14. "Relaxing
your hair was a rite of passage. My hair suffered a lot with those chemicals
and I cut it all off and my hair grew and I realised it wasn't that bad after
all"
Kenya's Oscar-winning
actress Lupita Nyong'o told the BBC
15. "A court is
the guardian of justice, the cornerstone of a democratic system based on the
rule of law. If the state does not abide by
court orders, the democratic edifice will crumble stone-by-stone until it
collapses and chaos ensues"
Judge Dunstan Mlambo,
who criticised the South African government for letting Sudan's President Omar
al-Bashir leave the country in June despite an International Criminal Court
arrest warrant
16. "It's not
about unmasking Anas. It's about all of us putting our hands together and
ensuring we have a better continent. I think that anonymity has always been my
secret weapon and I have always used it to the benefit of society"
Undercover journalist
Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose documentary this year exposed corruption in Ghana's
judiciary
No comments:
Post a Comment