In 418 B.C. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher who is known as the ‘’father of history’’, said "a man who does not know anything about the events that took place before he or she was born will remain forever a child.’’ Not only was he right but one must go a step further by saying that those who refuse to learn from their history are condemned to repeating its mistakes.

Permit me to begin this weeks column with a small aside. One of the things that I learnt from my late father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode and my leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo, is that one must never respond to the ignorant, the uncouth, the uncultured, the unlettered, the unrefined and the accursed.

On the 20th April 1653 Oliver Cromwell, who was the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland and the greatest statesman and revolutionary that England ever knew, stormed the English ''Rump Parliament'' at Westminster and courageously pronounced the following words after which he sacked Parliament and boldly took power.

Sometime last year I watched the Hollywood blockbuster titled ''12 Years A Slave'' starring Brad Pitt and the Nigerian-born actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. After watching the film I was at a loss for words. It was a masterpiece. It was a powerful rendition of a true and heroic story.

One of the greatest and most respected modern historians that ever lived, an Englishman by the name of Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper of Oxford University, once described the history of black Africa as being "darkness, nothing but darkness". As if that were not bad enough there was another even more indicting contribution from a famous and wealthy Arab slave trader (who lived in the 18th century) and whose name was Mehtma Mohammed.