It’s been a dramatic year of African news, from the elections in Nigeria to the momentous visits of the Pope and the US president.
In summation of the the last 12 months, here are the best quotes:
1. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”
This was said by the Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on the day of his inauguration in May
2. “To bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law abiding citizens”
Also by President Buhari on Nigeria’s independence day in October.
3. “The time for vision has come. I request our South African government to help us clean our land of lice. We need to remove all itching bedbugs and lay them bare in the sun. We request that all foreigners should take their baggage and be sent back”
This was said by the South Africa’s Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini
4. “If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn’t have taken it. Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.” – A dentist in US, Walter Palmer, the person that killed Zimbabwe’s famous Cecil the lion in July
5. “Don’t try to make me feel bad because I am blue-black, it’s 2015” – by a model in South Sudanese, Nykhor Paul.
6. “I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don’t think it can get worse. It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn’t fear the knife because it is dead already. I have a dead-goat syndrome – Ghana’s President, John Mahama, being dismissive in March of the protests against his government. The quote earned him “The Goat” nickname.
7. “This is surreal for me, I’m not going to lie, growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa, I never dreamed that I would one day have two things really: An indoor toilet and a job as host of the Daily Show.
“And now I have both, and I’m quite comfortable with one of them” – by South African comedian Trevor Noah
8. “I’ve just concluded – since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people and enjoys an attractive countenance – thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington DC, get down on my knee and ask his hand” – Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe, as sarcasm to the US Supreme Court decision in June to legalise gay marriage
9. “When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife – as we’ve seen in Burundi. Nobody should be president for life”- The US President Barack Obama on his visit to Ethiopia in July
10. “We are going to create a special wheelchair for President Mugabe until he rules to 100 years because that is what we want. That is the people’s choice. We want a leader that respects us” -Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe in November, after her 91-year-old husband was caught on camera while he was struggling to walk
11. “The way to treat a boil is to squeeze it out, and I have made it my responsibility to do that. I know squeezing out a boil hurts but unfortunately there are no two ways about it”- Tanzania’s elected President John Magufuli
12. “I organised a meeting in 2005 to solve our family issues. When I asked them about their opinion, they said I should build each family member a house and give each of them a monthly wage… I just want other African families to learn from this”- Togo football star Emmanuel Adebayor.
13. “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.
“Together, we must say no to hatred, no to revenge and no to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself. God is peace, God salaam.”- Pope Francis on his visit to a mosque in the Central African Republic in November
14. “Relaxing your hair was a rite of passage. My hair suffered a lot with those chemicals and I cut it all off and my hair grew and I realised it wasn’t that bad after all”- Kenya’s Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong
15. “A court is the guardian of justice, the cornerstone of a democratic system based on the rule of law. If the state does not abide by court orders, the democratic edifice will crumble stone-by-stone until it collapses and chaos ensues”- Judge Dunstan Mlambo, who criticised the South African government for letting Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir leave the country in June despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant
16. “It’s not about unmasking Anas. It’s about all of us putting our hands together and ensuring we have a better continent. I think that anonymity has always been my secret weapon and I have always used it to the benefit of society” – the undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose documentary exposed corruption in Ghana’s judiciary this year.
