Segun James
One of the nation’s social activists, who died in May 23 after a brief illness, Mr. Segun Sango was buried amidst eulogies at the Atan Cemetery in Lagos over the weekend.
Before his demise, Sango was a leader of the Movement for a Socialist Alternative, the group that gave birth to the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), one of the nation’s registered political parties, of which he was the founding national chairman.
Born Segun Aderemi, he was a student activist at the university and was detained for his activism by the military government in the 1989s.
In a grave-side eulogy, Director of International Press Centre (IPC), Mr. Lanre Arogundade lamented the loss, saying Sango was a warrior in the struggle for the emancipation of Nigerian people from the shackles of imperialists and capitalist exploitation and the revolutionary socialist transformation of Nigeria so that the peoples’ collectively produced wealth can be used for the benefit of the majority, and not that of a greedy and thieving few.”
Arogundade said such was the struggle to which Sango gave and dedicated his entire life in the classical tradition of renowned revolutionaries such as Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxembourg and Nelson Mandela.
He said Sango was “a great friend, a great comrade, a great class fighter, a great thinker, a great mentor, a great teacher, a great revolutionist, a great organiser, a great orator, a great polemist, a great leader, a great husband and father, a great humanist, a great visioner, a social and personable character and above all a great and outstanding Marxist and Socialist.”
In his tribute yesterday, Ombudsman and Group Executive Director, THISDAY Media Group, Mr. Kayode Komolafe said Sango lived an exemplary life which demonstrates what it means to be human.
He explained that Sango was able to define his purpose in life early and that is what he lived for, adding that he gave meaning to what it means to be a professional in revolution.
Reminiscing on the life of Sango, Prof. Sola Olorunyomi recalled that Sango had a way of making Yoruba proverbial sayings meaningful to none speakers of the language as he speaks in parables.
He urged members of the Movement for a Socialist Alternative not to allow his dreams to die by ensuring that they recruit youth of like minds into the fold as the dream for a better and greater Nigeria continues.
