An Atlanta organization forged in the fires of the civil rights movement has honored former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in January for his contributions to human rights and freedom.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference hosted Mr. Jonathan Jan. 14, the week before annual celebrations around Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. The former president had just been defeated after one term in a landmark election, the first in which a Nigerian incumbent was knocked out after four years.
According to a copy of remarks set to be given at the center on Auburn Avenue downtown, Mr. Jonathan praised the organization’s efforts and said Dr. King’s legacy had affected independence movements in Nigeria and across Africa during the mid-20th century. Nigeria’s position on apartheid in the 1950s was supported by Dr. King, he said.
“Speaking for my foundation, the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, I must say that I have been inspired by this great man and the worthy institutions and legacies he left behind and I am further inspired to continuing doing good and advancing human freedoms just by being present here today,” Mr. Jonathan said.
Mr. Jonathan’s more recent legacy, however, is harder to decipher. Some say he failed the bring the military to heel when soldiers abused the rights of Muslim detainees during the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. That has left many in the country “ambivalent” about his overall rights record, said Amaka Megwalu Anku, a fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington and director of Africa-focused consultancy Dilikam Advisors.
“No one thinks he took an active part in any abuses, but he didn’t particularly crack down on abuses either. The most well known military abuses in the North (that led in part to the emergence of Boko Haram) happened under his predecessor, Yar’Adua,” Ms. Anku said.
She was quick to add, however, that his decision to concede defeat early in the presidential elections likely saved a lot of lives.
“I believe that was the focus of the honor, and that is entirely appropriate,” she said.
Though some say that knowledge of Dr. King’s legacy in today’s Africa is limited, the civil rights leader has been used as a touchstone in discussions between the city and the continent. Ghanaian officials have called Atlanta the “African American capital of the world,” for instance.
The award was given to Mr. Jonathan by Charles Steele Jr., the current SCLC leader.
Geoffrey Teneilabe, the recently departed Nigerian consul general in Atlanta, was on hand for the honor.
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