Mandela we celebrate versus Mandela we practise

EVERY July 18, the world celebrates Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. We remember the young lawyer who challenged apartheid, the prisoner who spent 27 years behind bars, the statesman who led South Africa’s transition to democracy, and the global symbol of reconciliation whose name has become almost synonymous with courage and forgiveness. Yet, Mandela’s greatest achievement may not have been surviving prison but resisting the temptation to govern as he had been governed.  That distinction matters. Because nations are not transformed simply by changing who holds the reins; transformation comes when those in power choose to exercise it differently. Yet, every Mandela Day leaves us with a more uncomfortable question. Do we merely celebrate Mandela, or do we practise the values that made him Mandela? Remembering Mandela is easy. Living by the principles he defended is far more difficult. Mandela understood that the true measure of leadership is not how power is acquired but how it is exercised. History has produced many revolutionaries who defeat oppression only to reproduce it in different forms once they assume office. Mandela sought something more enduring: a constitutional order in which institutions, rather than individuals, would safeguard freedoms.

One of the greatest misconceptions about Mandela is that his legacy was forgiveness alone. Perhaps, Mandela’s rarest quality was restraint. After 27 years in prison, he emerged with extraordinary moral authority and immense political influence. Few leaders in modern history have commanded such respect. Yet, he repeatedly chose constitutional limits over personal power, institutions over personality, and national reconciliation over political vengeance. In an age that often celebrates the accumulation of power, Mandela demonstrated the discipline to limit it. Forgiveness mattered, but it was never his only message. Mandela believed equally in constitutional democracy, accountable leadership, independent institutions, equal citizenship, and the rule of law. His vision was never simply about replacing one set of leaders with another. It was about building a society where no citizen would be above the law, and no citizen would be beneath its protection.

That vision remains relevant far beyond South Africa. It remains relevant in Nigeria. The comparison is not an invitation to pretend that South Africa has solved all its problems. No, has not. Like Nigeria, it continues to wrestle with inequality, crime, unemployment, and difficult political questions. Mandela’s relevance lies way beyond. His enduring contribution was to demonstrate that democratic values must continue guiding a nation even when its challenges persist. Indeed, one of the greatest reminders that Mandela’s work remains unfinished is the persistence of Afrophobia — xenophobic violence and discrimination directed at fellow Africans and hostility toward fellow Africans in parts of South Africa. Periodic attacks, intimidation, and discrimination directed at African migrants stand in painful tension with Mandela’s lifelong commitment to human dignity, equality, and Pan-African solidarity. Whatever economic or social pressures communities face, violence or hatred directed at fellow Africans cannot be reconciled with the democratic values Mandela spent his life defending. Remembering Mandela, therefore, requires more than celebrating his achievements; it requires confronting how his ideals continue to be tested, including within South Africa itself. That lesson is not South Africa’s alone. Every nation must ask where its own actions fall short of the principles it publicly celebrates.

READ ALSO: Nelson Mandela: A man we love and hate

For Nigeria, the challenge may take different forms. Still, the question remains: are our institutions, politics, and treatment of one another reflecting the democratic values we profess to admire? When Nigerians ask whether justice is applied equally, whether institutions are independent, whether citizens are treated with equal dignity regardless of status, region, religion, or political affiliation, they are asking the same fundamental questions that Mandela spent much of his life confronting. Mandela understood that democracy is not sustained by elections alone. It is sustained by trust. Citizens trust democracies when courts are impartial, when public officials are accountable, when the law protects the weak as firmly as it restrains the powerful, and when criticism of government is answered through institutions rather than intimidation. Perhaps, one of Mandela’s most overlooked virtues was his relationship with power itself.

After 27 years in prison, he emerged with extraordinary moral authority. Few leaders in modern history have enjoyed such widespread public admiration. Yet, he understood that democracy is strengthened when leaders recognise that public office is temporary and that institutions must always outlast individuals. His legacy reminds us that strong nations cannot rely indefinitely on extraordinary personalities. They require ordinary institutions that function consistently, regardless of who occupies public office. Democracies mature when citizens trust institutions more than individuals. Judges should command confidence because the courts are independent, not because a particular judge is admired.

 Police officers should inspire confidence because the law is applied fairly, not because an individual officer is exceptional. Governments should earn legitimacy through transparent institutions rather than charismatic personalities. Mandela understood that republics become stronger when citizens place their faith in constitutional principles rather than in individual leaders.

That lesson deserves reflection in every democracy, including our own. Nigeria has no shortage of remarkable individuals. We celebrate activists, judges, journalists, teachers, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, and public servants who demonstrate courage every day. But no nation should depend solely on exceptional individuals to compensate for weak institutions. The true measure of democratic progress is whether justice, accountability, and public service continue even when extraordinary people are absent.

Mandela also rejected the dangerous temptation to divide citizenship into categories of greater and lesser worth. Equal citizenship remains one of democracy’s most demanding promises because it requires governments to administer justice consistently rather than selectively. Citizens lose confidence when they believe that influence determines accountability or that some lives receive greater institutional attention than others. Mandela believed that the legitimacy of democratic government rests upon the conviction that every citizen possesses equal dignity before the law. The promise of democracy is not that some citizens matter more than others. It is that every citizen possesses equal dignity before the Constitution. That promise remains one of the highest aspirations of any democratic society and one that every nation must continually strive to fulfil.

Mandela Day, therefore, should be more than a celebration of a remarkable life. It should be an invitation to national self-examination. National holidays often encourage us to look backwards. Mandela Day asks something more difficult. It asks whether we are willing to bear the responsibilities that freedom imposes on both leaders and citizens. Democracies are sustained not by annual commemorations, but by daily commitments to justice, accountability, constitutionalism, and equal citizenship.

Do our institutions inspire public confidence? Do we reward integrity as much as we celebrate success? Do we defend constitutional principles even when they inconvenience those we support politically? Do we value service above power? These are not South African questions. They are democratic questions. They belong wherever people seek justice, accountability, and equal citizenship.

Perhaps, the greatest tribute we can pay Nelson Mandela is not another speech praising his courage or another social media post quoting his words. It is the quieter and more demanding work of building societies in which justice does not depend on personalities, accountability is not selective, and every citizen can trust that the law belongs equally to them. The Mandela we celebrate each July changed history, not simply by what he endured. He changed it by the democratic values he refused to abandon.

The question Mandela Day leaves for every nation, including Nigeria, is not whether we admire Nelson Mandela. It is whether we are willing to practice the principles for which he lived. Every Mandela Day, speeches will be delivered, quotes will be shared, and his extraordinary life will once again be celebrated across the world. Yet, Mandela’s greatest legacy cannot be preserved by admiration alone. It survives only when nations choose institutions over personalities, constitutionalism over convenience, accountability over impunity, and equal citizenship over selective justice.

The Mandela we celebrate changed history, not simply because he endured suffering. He changed history because he refused to abandon democratic principles when power finally came to him. The true question about Mandela Day is not whether we still remember Nelson Mandela, but whether our politics, institutions, and citizenship embody the values we boldly celebrate in his name.

•Ukoh writes in from New York