Wale Adebanwi

President Thabo Mbeki may have to work the phones if the struggle for the Nigerian presidency degenerates, as many fear it will, into a nation-threatening crisis. For many well-placed Nigerians, the crucial intervention of Mbeki and the patriarch, Nelson Mandela, in Nigeria’s crises over the past decade has been a form of repayment for the country’s long commitment to ending apartheid.