Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has described last leader of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, as “courageous reformer who will be remembered for years to come because of his immeasurable contributions to world peace and openness in his own once rigidly closed society.”
Reacting to the death of Gorbachev at age 91 on Tuesday, the President said “late Gorbachev was a remarkable gentleman whose reformist agenda had fundamentally changed the Soviet society through his policy of Perestroika and Glasnost, both of which set the stage for economic and political transformation of his own country and that of others in the defunct Soviet Union.”
Contained in a statement released by his aide, Buhari explained that, “although Gorbachev’s political career was consumed by those reforms, history and posterity will be kind to him for placing the interests of the Soviet people above his own ambition.”
According to Nigerian leader, “the impact of Gorbachev’s legacy was not limited to the former Soviet Union, but it also affected the wider world, such as his voluntary dissolution of the Warsaw Pact military alliance in pursuit of permanent peace in the world.”
The President said “we cannot forget in a hurry how Gorbachev advocated for the destruction of nuclear weapons by both the former Soviet Union and the United States during his meeting with Ronald Reagan.”
He added that, “although Gorbachev died without achieving his dream of a nuclear-free world, his genuine commitment to durable international peace and security would never be forgotten.”
Report has it that Gorbachev’s death is being mourned by the U.S. and its allies Wednesday as the loss of a champion of freedom who helped end the Cold War.
But his legacy is very different at home, where many view him as the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of global status and economic security that followed, according to NBC news.
Gorbachev aged 91, died Tuesday in Moscow at time when his legacy of domestic reform and reconciliation with the West has been left in tatters in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine or what the Kremlin insists on calling its “special military operation.”
Putin’s rule is widely seen as aimed at reversing the trends Gorbachev initiated and restoring Moscow’s power and pride at the expense of peace in Europe.
United State President, Joe Biden called the last Soviet leader, who was often referred to as “Gorby” in the West, “a man of remarkable vision.”
Also, United Nations Secretary- General, António Guterres said he was “a tireless advocate for peace.”
The head of NATO, whose expansion the Kremlin considers an existential threat to Russia, said Wednesday that Gorbachev’s historic reforms led to the “possibility of a partnership” between Moscow and the military alliance, among other things. “His vision of a better world remains an example,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Russia’s Putin took until Wednesday to express his “deep condolences” in a telegram to Gorbachev’s family, acknowledging his status as “a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of world history.”
He said “realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions to the acute problems”.
