Nigeria, June 20 -- Three events made Monday, June16, 2025, a sobering moment for me. On that day, back in 1976, news filtered that the killer Apartheid security forces which had been terrorising African countries like Zambia, Botswana and Lesotho, had turned on unarmed school children in South Africa.

The Nigerian society was so conscious then that I recall adults in Lagos, explaining to us that school children like us were being gunned down. This is what became known as the Soweto Massacre. Then, the iconic photograph by Sam Nzima surfaced. It was the image of the lifeless body of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried by the youngster, Mbuyisa Makhubo, with Hector's 17-year-old sister, Antoinette Sithole, running along-side. Hecto...