The clatter in the hall went dead. Silence enveloped the gathering. What was now heard was the thud of boots.
It grew louder as a uniform-clad personnel marched in through the door. Stretched before him was a big flag. He marched determinedly to the dais.
Stopped before a solemn-faced Alfredo Miranda, the Mexican Ambassador in Nigeria. He handed over the vertically striped tricolour of green, white and red flag. The event was to mark the Mexican War of Independence which began 214 years ago.
The Mexican national flag, the Bandera de Mexico, was handed over to the Ambassador in Abuja this night of Sunday, 15 September in a gathering of mostly ambassadors accredited to Nigeria. The flag also has a central coat of arms made up of an eagle, a cactus and a serpent. It is the recall of an Aztec legend of a golden eagle sitting on a cactus while devouring a serpent.
Ambassador Miranda made a declaration, handed the flag back to the uniformed personnel who after a number of sharp military turns, marched out of the hall. This ceremony was also performed simultaneously in Mexico by President Andre Lopaz Obrador, all mayors in the country and in all Mexican missions across the universe. It is the dramatisation of the scene on 15 September, 1810 when a priest, Miguel Hildago y Costilla in the poor town of Dolores, rang the parish bell to summon the town flock to mass.
But, rather than the usual service, Father Hildago told his congregation to revolt. He then issued a call to arms, the Gr.