 Welcome back to the breakfast. It's time for Today in History, the 19th of April, 2011 is where I'm going to. And I'm going to be sharing with you something about Fidel Castro. And this is actually interesting because two days ago, his brother, Raul Castro, announced that he was going to be stepping down now also as a leader of the Cuban government. Why didn't he just wait to make history today? Exactly. So he announced that he was going to be stepping down and he wanted to let a younger generation take over. But this is after decades of Fidel and Raul holding onto presidents in leadership of Cuba. But I'll just, you know, give a timeline of what we're talking about today. Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959. This is before my mom was born, to 1976 and then was president from 1976 to 2008. Castro underwent surgery at some point because he started having health challenges for intestinal bleeding, 31st of July in 2006. In 2008, in February, he announced that he would not accept a position of president of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief at that month's National Assembly meetings. He, according to him, said it would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion that I am not in fiscal condition to offer. Imagine. Also, moving on in July 2010, he made his first public appearance since Fall in A.O. He was still leader of the country, but as at that time, you know, had very, very minimal appearances, you know, to his people. His brother most of the time was running the affairs of government. And then on this day in 2011, Castro resigned from the Communist Party Central Committee, stepping down as first secretary. Raul, his brother, was selected as a successor. He eventually died on 25th of November 2016 and was accremated on the 26th, I believe, of November also 2016. The first secretary is what they call the leader of the country in Cuba. It is the highest office within the Communist Party of Cuba and it's also the highest ranking seat in Cuba, highest decision making body in Cuba also. And so that's the story of Fidel Castro. And on this day, after decades of being the leader of Cuba, decided that he was not going to be running and it was stepping down and nominated his brother Raul Castro to take over. And also to just quickly throw in two days ago, Raul Castro confirmed that he is also stepping down as the head of the Communist Party of Cuba, which is the most powerful position on the island. He said that he would hand over power to a younger generation that is full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit. Beautiful story. Fantastic. So just a bit of shade there. You know, Fidel Castro mentioned he didn't want to continue a position where he felt he didn't have the fiscal capacity. Yes. I would just leave it at that. You know, I mean, it was left to him. You know, I'm sure that we've had two of those moments here in Nigeria. We've had the year at that moment where even when there was controversy whether he was, you know, still alive or not, there were two people in his government that were holding on to power, back then his wife mostly, were holding on to power and saying, you know, and still trying to figure out how they can, you know, keep him there even when he wasn't, you know, everyone wasn't sure that he was still alive. So there is that part. But when nature really knocks on your door and tells you that your body can no longer do it, there's really not much that you can, you know, say to argue. Presidents across the world have access to the best medical care. Medical care. They have the absolute best. They can afford the absolute best medical care. But when it gets to a point where even the amount of money, no matter how rich you are, cannot afford you to stay alive longer, you have to let go of power. You know, unfortunately for your country, you have to let go of power. It's happened across, you know, many, many African countries and even across the world. But like you said earlier, people outside Africa are more eager to resign, you know, with the slightest controversy, with the slightest, you know, question about their health status. But we want to hold on to it. Yeah, but we hold on to power too long. You know, it's one of the curses of Africa. All right. The power curse. Anyway, so something lights up for your Monday morning. Today in history, April 19th, the year 2020, there was a musical concert organized to unite humanity as most of the world was locked down and isolated in their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions that came with it. So Lady Gaga basically, you know, put this together in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Global Citizen Movement. So some of the biggest names in music, you know, joint forces came together to celebrate healthcare workers, you know, saying these are the people who have been putting their lives on the line, literally on the front line trying to battle, you know, the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic and save as much lives as they could. So we had, we had singers like Lady Gaga, Paul McCarthy, Billie Eilish, you know, there was a rolling stone, so many big artists, you know, came together to perform, you know, virtual performances and the event raised almost $128 million. Lady Gaga made it clear to say this is not a fundraising event. You know, this basically is, you know, what she called a love letter to the world saying we're offering our music. You know, to give hope and to give light and to give life to people who are isolated at home, you know, due to the pandemic. And the show was split into two parts. There was a six hour pre-show that held on the 18th of April 2020. You know, that streamed across all social media platforms. And really, you need to check out the album because eventually they compiled this into one world together at home album where you can just listen and see people trying to, you know, inspire and ask you to just hold on. And this would come to an end. Yeah. You know, and it's one of the most beautiful parts of the whole pandemic. This is the first one that, you know, people in our generation have ever experienced. You know, but for the whole of 2020, there was so much that was done by celebrities, by governments, by even random people to just inspire hope and to keep people going and keep people grateful for the life that they have. Those who also had lost family members, there are people who lost their parents, lost siblings and, you know, uncles and aunties and all of that. The world needed to step up, you know, and there are certain people that needed to step up to ensure that, you know, we've had something to cling on to, something to hope for. And so some of all these things happened. Instagram Live became more popular, Zoom became more popular, you know, and then there were so many inspirational videos. This guy is named Captain Tom Moore, I believe, in the UK, who passed on a few weeks ago, who also raised more than $30 million for the NHS, you know, just by walking as a war veteran, by using this, you know, walking thing, you know, and walking around his garden a couple of times. They raised more than 30 million pounds, I believe. I hope I'm not mistaken for that. But there's so much of all of this. But something else I'm going to say is, the proceeds from this concert were donated to charity. And because I like to always look for trouble, I'm also just going to drag or bring in the book launch by the president, Waifasha Buhari, you know, sometimes a week or two weeks ago. That was also one day that we saw 15, 20 million, 20 million, 10 million, 15 million donated to that book launch. All of that money. And I thought about this a couple of days ago that it would have been great if all of that money was put in as a donation to charity, or as a donation to healthcare, a donation to something that she will be remembered for. That she will be absolutely remembered for. You don't, you know, use that position as a wife of the president. There's no office, actual office of the First Lady is not, you know, a government appointment. But you don't use that position and take in all those millions and millions and millions of Naira for nothing that we can actually point fingers to for personal gain. I really feel you. I was watching, you know, an episode of a program just yesterday, and we had you all over the UK talking about how they benefited from the Duke of Edinburgh's, you know, scholarship, you know, talking about the prince that just passed on and just how much they benefited from scholarship programs. And I thought to myself, is there a president Muhammad Buhari scholarship program? I'm not aware of it. So these are things that we should be putting and challenging resources into, not just for, you know, for you to have a great legacy, but to actually make impact in the lives of people. So when those monies are raised at charities and events like that, they should be directed. It's not like you are compelled, but when you're in a position of leadership, you should know that you're there to serve, you're not there for yourself. Absolutely. Everything you do should be dedicated to helping other people. Absolutely. And those monies could be better, you know, channeled into things like that. The platform, you know, that she has as the wife of the president is a platform that should not be in any way taking advantage of, you know, to raise funds. But let's hope, you know, that she still has as advisors who would say, Madam, I think you should do this with all these money that was donated. Let's also hope that maybe, you know, they have donated it to charity, but we're not aware. I doubt that. I'm just saying. In the middle of the PR people they have. Of course, you know, this is also a great moment to say to everyone who's watching us this morning, you've lived through a year of a pandemic. You know, we're still dealing with it, but there's a lot to be grateful for. There's a lot to celebrate as we take further steps into, of course, our lives journey and where we're headed. So thanks for joining us until we can up with us this morning once again. Yes, we'll be right back to stay with us.