LEE KUAN YEW, A LEADER DIES AND A GRATEFUL NATION MOURNS!

"It takes a long time to make a nation out of a multi cultural and multi ethnic society" -  Lee Kuan Yew; and he went fort to put his money where his mouth is -  clobbered a motley, disparate peoples, into citizens of a thriving first world country, the Island nation of Singapore. Today the man who is revered as the founder and father of Singapore is no more and his grateful nation is still in deep mourning, mourning for the man who placed them among the comity of civilized and well functioning first world countries. Lee Kuan Yew, aged 91 years, who died in a Singapore hospital surrounded by his family few days ago, was finally laid to rest today.  He would be greatly missed by the people he engineered a functioning country and society out of, as well as the entire world who knew him as the man who put Singapore on the world map. Adieu LKY.

The challenge of building Singapore was entrusted into his lap, a daunting task indeed. But instead of shying away, he meticulously went to work and engineered a first world country from it and practically from nothing. He articulated what needs to be done, he created a road map to get it done and then with a motivated citizenry, he got it done. The result, today the Island city nation, which had nothing at inception, is a well-oiled functioning country, with a well secured and anchored economic hub which is the envy of so many countries in the world. Singapore has near to zero crimes with the second lowest crime rates in the world;  is super clean, is very business friendly; has nearly a flawless functioning society; and someone made these possible and that someone is no more, the reason the nation is thrown into mourning for that someone's loss.

Icheoku says if indeed there is heaven where meritorious persons are rewarded according to their deeds while they sojourned here on earth, surely Lee Kuan Yew would be readily recommended by his people for a prominent seat therein. Lee Kuan Yew came, Lee Kuan Yew saw and Lee Kuan Yew conquered for his people of Singapore and they are grateful that Lee Kuan Yew happened on their society, turning it into a society worth dying for. Like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King as well as other leaders of nations and personalities who rose up to the challenge to do the needful when duty called and while they lasted but are now gone, Lee Kuan Yew has now joined that pantheon of such great men. His people of Singapore are in deep shock and sincerely mourning the loss of their shining star and the man whose image represented everything good about Singapore.

Unfortunately, Nigeria is not yet blessed with such people as above as none of Nigeria's leaders would be so missed when eventually they are gone. Not Olusegun Obasanjo, who most Nigerians will celebrate his departure whenever he kicks the bucket; not Sani Abacha whose death Nigerians prayed was not soon enough in coming; not Ibrahim Babangida whose happenstance on the Nigeria political landscape left so much to be desired including the annulment of the freest election of June 12; and of course not Muhammad Buhari who is yet to apologize for those three innocent Nigerians he murdered. No Nigerian leader thus far has displayed the audacity of courage and vision needed to pursue great things which make great leaders out of great nations. So because of this incapacity, they will not be so missed nor so mourned at their departure since they failed to lead Nigeria to greatness. Except for regional leaders like Obafemi Awolowo and Odimegwu Ojukwu, who both provided that type of leadership to their Yoruba and Igbo people of Biafra and may be Ahmadu Bello for his Northern people, no Nigerian leader ever had what it takes to join this class of leaders. Anyway, Icheoku condoles with the people of Singapore on their loss and says rest in peace LKY, Adieu!