Staging comeback

Hello, after such a long time of silence and inadverted break, yours sincerely is hoping to to re-launch this blog. Watch, therefore, for my muse as it flows untamed like Thame.

Letter To President Jonathan

Dear Dr Goodluck,
Before delving into the letter, permit me to explain something unusual here. If you notice the salutation in the opening of this letter, I address you as ‘dear’ and even call you by your first name. I am not unmindful of my letter writing lessons. My teachers had taught me that in addressing somebody in official capacity, one should not use words of familiarity like ‘my dear’ in the salutation. Again, addressing you by your first name is none of the teachers’ failure, they have taught me to write to any officeholder, even my school principal, using his surname.

However, methinks addressing one with his parent’s name is one of the uncharitable cultures bequeathed to us by the colonialists – in traditional African societies, parents and everything that has to do with them are sacred. One does not feel at ease in company of parents or their friends, or even age mate. One is not expected to be mouthing his parents’ names in marketplaces or even where necessary like hospitals and schools that is why some resorted to using their village’s names as their surnames and for social purposes, the parents get sobriquet from the kids to cover up for the real names.

This, Mr President, is what informed my decision to address you as Goodluck. Yet, aren’t most Nigerians prefer to call you Goodluck? O, yes they do perhaps owing to the good omen with the name and of course, being anesthetic nihilists, in the Nietzscheian model, most Nigerians believe in the power of luck, rather than hard work. Therefore, I choose to address you with your first name and as a ‘dear’, indeed one’s leader should be dear to him – at least one has no choice but to take it to be.

Mr President, even now that I press my fingers on the keyboard to type this letter, I have no slightest hope that it would get to you. I am an optimist, but not a senseless one. I weigh optimistic possibilities with reality. I don’t know how a common letter like this can reach you. I don’t see my voice crossing all the fences and barricades of your villa, to reach your office. Even if it did, what hope do I have that you will read it? You may read the subject and name of the sender and drop it.

Mr President, as I was saying, I have no iota of hope that if I have packaged this letter it will reach you, hence my decision to make it open, in spite of its sacred contents. Yes, sacred! Because it contains views and opinions directly from my heart, unadulterated; meant only for your ears. How I wish no one will read these musings of a youthful mind but you. The pleas, the rage, the questions, are all made for you alone; no one else. However, since I have no alternative, I have to make it open.

Let me say this Mr President, I envy you. I envy your uncommon accomplishments achieved within a very short time. Just within a decade, God has elevated you from near-obscurity to the ultimate height of fame in the country. You have every reason to thank your God. There are multiple people out there struggling to attain a slight position but they are yet to get God’s nod. Yet, several others are still scampering to keep body and soul together – you passed all those stages. Indeed remember your friends; former colleagues that you left in the teaching profession on your nomination as deputy governor of your state. I don’t know if you still keep in contact with them but as you may be aware, for them, it is the same old life – nothing much has changed.

Permit me to repeat the oft-stated fact that you rose from deputy governor, to vice president, acting president and culminated as president without winning any election yourself. Some of your critics want us to interpret this fact to mean that you are unelectable personality who rose to the pinnacle through divine luck, not dint of worship. In your early days in the presidency as vice president and later acting president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I had an impressive impression of you. I took you as a fine gentleman – one who talks when necessary, meek and one who is calm, allowing things to go as they should without been desperate.

However, immediately the health condition of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua took the turn for the worse, your otherwise polished behaviour, which I admired, nosedived with it. I watched with amazement how a sort of Mr Hyde took over you as you desperately aimed for the number one seat.

That overt polished character of yours immediately gave way for a rather grotesque one. I still remember the agitation, the desperation and the cunning with which you struggled to get yourself confirmed as the acting president. The controversial deal with governors and senators is still fresh in our minds. All that, as they say, is history. The expectation, at least from a faint optimist like me, is that you would put everything behind you and work for the progress of the country. I thought you would cover up the snail’s pace progress recorded during the presidency of your boss, Umaru Yar’Adua. Alas, you have spent all these months in office form groping in the dark to aimless pursuit of the presidency again.

For me, your ascension to the exalted position of the presidency is a lifetime opportunity to stamp yourself and write your name in gold in the history books. However, you proved to be extravagant extraordinaire who squandered goodwill and public confidence reposed on him. The opportunity you have gotten, Mr President, on the death of President Yar’Adua was to exhibit exemplary leadership trait, execute some projects (you can do without them!) and then organise a free and fair election to handover to anybody from whatever part of the country. How, regrettably, you plundered that chance with your blind quest for power. Close your eyes to masticate the bitter words. As I wrote in the first part of this letter, these are words of fury straight from mind. No insult meant, I just intend to let you know what I think about you.

You are the first holder of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree to lead this country. However, some said you studied a doctorate without philosophy. However hard I attempt to dissuade my mind from believing those busybodies, you betray my psyche by falling short of my expectation of anybody with a PhD. Some points to your illogical comments, uncalculated utterances and rather unpresidential postures to buttress this point.

The fury of yesterday fans the violence of today. Your unguarded comments on the October 1 bombings have thickened opposition against you. Many Nigerians, equally, have lost confidence in your readiness to preside over a free election, going by your personal ambition which you avidly pursue. The curtain is not yet drawn, you still have the time to reconsider your stand.

Love, Politics and Scheming

This review was published in the last Friday (12/3/2010) edition of LEADERSHIP Newspapers. As with any other thing on this blog, PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE (for use elsewhere) WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Thanks

Book: Tenants of the House
Author: Wale Okediran
Publisher: Nelson Publishers5
Year of Publication: 2009
Pages: 306
Price: Not stated
Reviewer: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz

Nigerian literature, nay African, has had a long tradition of political satirisation perhaps owing to experiences of dictatorship, nepotism and such other vices inherent in the leadership of various African countries. This explains the theory of writing as social responsibility. Thus, from anti-colonial struggle to the vicious neo-colonialism we have had writers that pursued this course with uncommon virtuosity. A roll call of these writers include almost all the first generation South African Writers (the Dennis Brutus), Leopard Sedar Senghor, Okot ‘P bitek, Kenneth Kaunda, Kofi Awonor, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Niyi Osundare and the likes. It is within this context that one situates Wale Okediran’s Tenants of the House.

In Tenants of the House, Wale Okediran presented a vivid picture, a critique, even if not an expose of contemporary Nigerian politics. Though the setting of the 306-page novel is the Nigeria’s lower chamber of the National Assembly; the House of Representatives, it dramatises the polity with courage and artistic bravura. Indeed, the first person narration endears reader to the book and gives chance for details; fortunately, both the writer and the narrator were members of the House (insiders) hence the excellent account. Tenants of the House is not all about politics as it embedded equally powerful themes, notable among which is the love theme.

Through the events around the principal character, Honourable Samuel Bakura representing Kaduna State in the parliament, the book unfolds to reveal the dirty linens of the Nigerian politics from party politics to the ‘symbiotic’ relationship between the legislature and the presidency. Samuel Bakura was a greenhorn politician but he would soon to learn the power tricks and intrigues.

The story begins at the House of Representatives with a newcomer, Hon Bakura making a first discovery that shattered him. For Bakura smuggling a gun into the hallowed chambers of the House by a lady member was something beyond comprehension. However, to his surprise, Elizabeth Bello (Lizzy), the owner of the gun expresses no remorse as she explains the importance of a gun to a politician because according to Lizzy, “To kill is a crime: to kill at the right time is politics.” (p.3).

Samuel finds himself in a world of contrasts. He was caught in a web of intricacies. He falls in love with Lizzy but their irreconcilable ideologies were to constitute hitch to the relationship. Moreover, a near-saint Sam – who claimed to be a “clean man” (P.4) – is an oddity among drinkers and promiscuous cartel that were his colleagues. However, through Lizzy, Sam became an arrowhead in the parliament and a livewire in subsequent moves in the House.

Three main episodes were used to depict the political theatrics at the House. The first scenario was an attempt to impeach the Speaker of the House, Hon Yaya Suleiman engineered and sponsored by President Ambrose Oneya. The President, acting through his front in the person of Senator Kayode Smollet known as PLO (President Liaison Officer), and other members such as Honourable Wenike and Kasali. The House splitted into two with members in the Speaker’s camp fighting to save their man’s head while the anti-speaker group fought to oust him. In the word of a Member, it was “naira for naira, dollar for dollar.” Though the speaker was under persecution as the result of heinous attempt to impeach him, he too has his dirty linens as seen in his attempt to equally bribe members to his side by soliciting for money from “the banks and corporate organisations that normally did business with the House” (p.48).

At the long run, the move to impeach the Speaker hit the rock due to a sustained campaign by the speaker’s group. Samuel who starts off in the Anti-Speaker camp ends up as an active member in the pro-speaker group after he was visited by the Speaker with a wad of dollars and intimidating information gadget. This confirms Lizzy’s statement that “there are no permanent friends in politics, only permanent interests” (p.10). President was defeated hands down and therefore had to broker peace with the speaker. The amicable relationship that ensued between the two was similarly pre-planned as the President wanted to take hold of the opportunity in order to pull the string in the affairs of the House.

This manifested when President Oneya tabled his demand for constitution review for the purpose of extending his stay before the speaker. How correct was Lizzy, the tenure elongation fiasco witnessed a regrouping of members as former foes became friends. Members like Elizabeth Bello (Lizzy) and Muktar Yinusa who sided with the Presidency to battle the speaker now turned out to oppose the President’s ambition to elongate his tenure. Similarly others who were fighting the Presidency notably the Speaker and the Deputy speaker were now supporting the tenure elongation bill. This goes to show how inconsistent politicians can be. The tenure elongation debacle almost tore the house apart as money kept exchanging hands. Members who were opposed to the bill led by Hon. Abdul Kalkulus “a radical and articulate Honourable Member from Katsina.” (161)

The third episode along this line with which the book closes is what can be called a revenge mission on the President as some forces from the outside insisted that the National Assembly should impeach the President. The pressure for the impeachment of the President was mounted by the leadership of the Northern Nigerian Group who wanted to tackle a fear that President Oneya was going to deal with Northerners who mainly constituted a threat to his aborted ambition to elongate his term. (p.268)

The intrigues in the National Assembly too, were punctuated with sub-themes about politics itself and lawmaking. We have seen how a “responsible” member strives to come up with a qualitative bill that would add value to the lives of his people and bring solution to the lingering problem of farmer/Fulani clashes innate in many parts of Nigeria. On another hand, we are presented with a politician gripping with “the dirty game” whose rule is “money, not merit” (p.4).

However, as noted earlier, apart from this powerful political message, there are other subtle thematic preoccupations entrenched in Tenants of the House. A readily remembered theme in this moving story is that of love. Aside the politicking and lawmaking, Sam is also engrossed in the intimate relationships. There are basically three of such episodes also. The first is the platonic love Sam has for Lizzy, who he always hopes to have not necessarily but to at least display his ‘Adamness’ to her.

There is also Sam’s parental love for his son, Mark for whom he leaves the heated polity amidst scheming and uncertainty in the House to travel to faraway United Kingdom to cheer up the ailing Mark.

The mother of all in the line of romance in the novel, and even competing with the political message is the epic affection between Samuel and a quasi-heroine of the story, the Fulani girl named Batejo. The Batejo portion is particularly interesting that it deserves an exploration on its own. Okediran has taken fiction to the next level by showing how a parliamentarian (a Nigerian for that matter) would forgets about all his privileges and fall for a Fulani bush girl. Though the ending of the relationship was not sparking (reads; expected) it indeed added substance to the book as an aside and rather comic relief from the intrigues and deceit of political game. After renouncing his Christian faith for Islam and getting a beat of his life from his rivals, it was only pathetic (some would say injustice by the writer!) that Samuel lost his heartthrob to a ‘miserable’ Fulani herdsman.

Tenants of the House has many strong points one of which is the obviously manifested meticulous research conducted by the author. There are many instnacs to prove this point. One of these is the Fulani culture he deeply explored as if he is a Fulani himself. The trip to Canterbury and Kampala by Sam also showcase research/experience of the writer at work. There is also an appreciative power of description that availed the writer a chance to visualise events and places vividly as they are depicted.

This paragraph suffices as an example: “The National Assembly is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is on the left wing; the House of Representatives on the right and has been nicknamed “White House” after the colour of its paint. The building has three floors housing the legislative chambers and office (sic). In the basement are banks, the clinic and offices for support staff.” (p. 13)

Particularly interesting is the use of Hausa language in the book. This is remarkable feature of this remarkable book that really added credit and flavour to it. One wonders if Abubakar Gimba or Zaynab Alkali can succeed to do such experiment with Yoruba or Ibo language. The expertise in the use of the Hausa is so expertly that there are only few mistakes (mostly spellings) that can even go under the nose of a native speaker. These should however be taken cared of in case of new edition: “Kare ne shi sanye da fatar rago…he is a fox in sheep’s skin.” (p 133), the apt Hausa proverb here should have been akuya da kan kura not this transmutation from English. Spelling errors in Hausa include; brutali (148), (burtali, correct), Seriki Fulani (150) (sarkin Fulani, correct), koise (165), (kosai, correct) nunu (206), (nono, correct), galabiya (218), (jallabiyya, correct).

Tenants of the House is a near perfection and for that the publisher and the author must be commended. By the recent trend of poor standard of publishing (both content and finishing), Tenants of the House is actually not a mediocre. One main observation I have is on the way Samuel Bakura who is said to be from Kaduna State and has had experience with the Fulanis (when the invaded his father’s farm) will be that nonplussed at the sight of Fulanis at Batejo’s village, Nabardo thus; “Young men – to my intense surprise – wore braided hair, lipstick, earrings and arm bangles.” (p.145). I think metamorphosis of somebody from Ogun into a Kaduna man accounted for this!

Another thing is a little confusing in naming a character on page 223 where contemplation was developed in naming a member of the House of Representatives. Is he Honourable Aminu or Ahmed?

There are minimal typographical and grammatical errors unlike most books we read these days. Some of these that I figured include “In short, they were leaving on a borrowed land for a borrowed period of time.” (p142-143), I wonder if we borrow period, that is apart from the land. On page 269, the Speaker was said to have picked a collection of poem from his shelf and “selected another poem” since no immediate mention of him reading was made at that episode, the word “another” should be substituted with “a”. On page 282, there is a typographical error in this sentence: “My advice therefore is to for us to abort the whole process of impeachment even before it takes off.” The “to” between “is” and “for” shouldn’t have been there.

On a final note, Tenants of the House, no doubt, is a fresh and valuable to the Nigerian literature. Wale Okediran has further stamped his place in the Nigerian literary scene with this interesting and moving political satire. His commendable use of satire, flashback, humour, allusion among other devices has empowered this otherwise “normal” story. But the question begging for answer is; will Tenants of the House change the ‘business-as-usual’ in our parliaments?

How This Man Brought Honour To Nigeria

LEADERSHIP’s ABDULAZIZ ABDULAZIZ encountered a man who portrayed a good image of Nigeria during the last Hajj exercise in Saudi Arabia by his singular act of returning lost money to the owner. Though not compensated in monetary value he says he is happy and contented.

Amidst chaos and want of hope, there could always be a ray of the light. This could aptly capture the story of Alhaji Idris Ginsau Ibrahim who amidst the rampant cases of dishonesty, fraud and lure of lucre, found himself in a position to be richer by some wards of Rupee but he chose to return them to the rightful owner. The action of this exceptional gentleman from Jigawa State has generated applause for the country before relevant international bodies.

Alhaji Ibrahim, 53, was a Jigawa State pilgrim for the 2009 Hajj. He is director, publication and information at the state House of Assembly. The man exhibited rare type of behaviour when he found and returned back hundreds thousands rupees approximated to 50, 000 Saudi Riyads which in turn equals to over two million and two hundred thousand Naira.

How it happened

Narrating how it happened to LEADERSHIP, Alhaji Ibrahim who appeared sober, calm and contented said it was shock and disbelief for him when he suddenly discovered something heavy swinging in his side pocket after concluding circumvention of the Muslim sacred side of Ka’aba in the Holy Mosque of Mecca. Ibrahim quickly dipped his hand in the pocket to find out what the burden was. To his chagrin, it was wards of currency notes of a foreign country.

“I brought out the money and noticed that it was rupees of high denomination. I quickly put it back because if anybody saw that money or the owner saw it, they will assume that I stole it. So I quickly put it back and face the direction of the ka’aba to pray for Allah to see me through the trial. I said; O Allah it is you that brings this money into my pocket and you know better than I do. May Allah, by your wish, by your guidance, guide me on this issue.” Ibrahim explained.

Far from praying not to be noticed by anybody so that he will go away with the money, this exemplary Nigerian said “My prayer was that; O Allah with your kind assistance let me see the owner of this money so that I can give it back to him in good time.” This was because, according to him, “This can equally happen to me. If it happens to me how would I feel? I am sure it would be a very terrible experience so that is why I insisted that I must make sure that this money has gone back to the owner.”

Driven by piety and the need to protect the image of the country as well as his own image, Ibrahim immediately went to see hajj officials from his state of Jigawa to intimate them of the development. “I quickly went to see the secretary of Jigawa State hajj commission who assigned some of his staff to me with whom I wrote a letter and took it to the national hajj commission together with the money.” He recalled.
Officials at the National Hajj commission, Ibrahim said, collected the money and took down the details including the specification number on each note. And because of some documents that were with the money, it was discovered that is should be from somebody from Pakistan hence the hajj official got in touch with Pakistani official and hand them the money back.

A Hero
Nigerians resident in Saudi Arabia were also swift in identifying with this man of integrity. The Nigerian community there organised a special prayer session for him where they also presented him sundry Saudi items from clothing to prayer mats and beads.

The National Hajj Commission, after handing the rupees to Pakistani official, organised a press briefing in conjunction with the Jigawa State Pilgrims Board in Mecca where they hailed the action of Alhaji Ibrahim for being a worthy ambassador of Nigeria abroad.

A day after, a group called the Eagle Eye Hajj Monitors sought for Ibrahim again. “They prayed for me and presented me with a certificate of excellence, we snapped pictures and departed.” He said.

Asked what he feels now that he took the money back, Ibrahim said “I feel happy and contented for doing the right thing.” He said though he did not receive any worldly compensation for what he did, the commendation from people and later his state, were in a way compensating. “People from everywhere would come to me to salute what I did and pray for me. I am happy for that.” Said Ibrahim.

On what motivated him to take that stand especially in the face of needs and greed that defines life these days, Ibrahim said apart from religious teachings, he also heeds to the call for honesty and righteousness made by leaders. “Our leader in Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido is always calling on us to be honest and straight forward and I should say that it has made impact on me.”

Gladden by exemplary behaviour exhibited by Ibrahim, Governor Sule Lamido during his 2010 budget presentation speech before the state assembly, where he normally make important announcement concerning the administration of the state, announced Alhaji Idris Ginsau Ibrahim as the “Moral Face of Jigawa State.” This was in furtherance of the governor’s determination to encourage key values in the common man as seen in nominating a driver for the national honours in 2007 for the driver’s commitment to duty.

However, while Ibrahim has admitted his contentment by returning the money to the original honour and the praises he got in return, praises, some would argue, is not enough to compensate this act of bravery and honesty which, unarguably, would give a boost to the image of the country worldwide.

Kano Govt Should Produce Killer Of Sheikh Ja’afar – Ado Mohammed

For the first time since his arrest, and subsequent release, for an alleged complicity in the murder of Kano based cleric, Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam, Alhaji Ado Mohammed, the executive vice chairman of the Kano-based independent radio station, Freedom Radio opens up on his ordeals. He tells LEADERSHIP correspondent, ABDULAZIZ A. ABDULAZIZ his own side of the story as he responds to questions on criticism of the programmes of his radio station and his hitherto cordial relationship with Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

Can you tell us what prompted the idea of establishing Freedom Radio?

A friend of mine who was, and still is, working with the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission drew my attention to the fact that private licensing were being granted, but even before then, I have been buying second hand equipments and I have been working with Engr. Dahiru Ibrahim, as my adviser, in my aspiration to establish a television station. Then came this employee of NBC who guided me on how to apply for the private broadcasting license.

We applied for the radio broadcasting license and six months later we applied for a television broadcasting license and it took us six and a half years pursuing it before we were granted the radio broadcasting license. This was how we came to be the first indigenous private broadcasting organisation up in the northern states.

Of course, even before we establish, Ray Power had been here but this (Freedom) is the first radio station by somebody from the north of the river Niger other than probably the Elwa, belonging to the Christian Association of Nigeria broadcasting from somewhere.

What of the TV license which you also applied for?

We are still pursuing the TV license. Any day the NBC give us, we will accept it. It is like extending our coverage to Abuja, we are still pursuing the license to go to Abuja being the national capital, and we have seen so many other stations especially those operating from the south. From the north we are not many so little wonder if none of the others have been trying but we have been pursuing this Abuja license for almost four years now but is still not with us but we hope we will get it soon so we will extend our presence to Abuja.

To what extent did you record success for the past five years that you have been in existence?

O, Alhamdulillah, with all sense of humility, being the first we made it such that we would be able to hit as many locations as possible. We bought a 10 kilowatts transmitter and a 400 foot mass that could cover about 200 kilometers in leno site. This made it possible to reach up to Damagaram and Maradi in Niger republic as well as Katsina. I traveled to Sokoto and monitored it up to Talatar Mafara, in fact, through Niger I was monitoring from Maradi until we got near Konni which is like overhead Sokoto, we were monitoring it in a car which is different from the normal small radio set people use.

Also, we were reaching somewhere around Potiskum, Yobe State. Our signals reach up to Hadejia in Jigawa State but because Hadejia is in a depression, about 130 below the altitude of Kano, the signals reach Hadejia but because they are FMsignals that do not bend, you may not get it until you use an aerial.

We reached Zaria in fact up to now during the rainy season or harmattan when the signals travel very far we are monitored in Kaduna. and there was time, I was monitoring I heard some people participating in a phone-in programme from Minna in Niger State and another person, though not audibly clear, calling in from Abuja.

Beside that we broadcast in about eleven languages; English, French, Arabic being the foreign languages. The rest are local Nigerian languages; Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Kanuri, Fulfulde, Ebra, Igala, etcetera.

We have touched the lives of so many people. We were projected to start with about 40 people when we were on the drawing board, now we have over 260 employees.

About 60 per cent of our airtime is dedicated to Hausa language that is because our listeners are predominantly in the Hausa territory. For the private outfits that monitor our transmission for advert agencies, we were told that we commend 80 per cent of the listenership in our area of coverage. We must have been doing reasonably well to the expectation of our listeners for them to keep listening to our station. We thank God for that, it is not our making, is the help of Almighty Allah and we thanked him for that.

Your station has often comes under criticism for what some people see as its anti-government policies. Why is it so?

There is nothing anti-government. We carry out programmes for anybody. By our licensing we are suppose to give fair hearing to everybody, we have to balance. We are not like the state government stations where they can decide to go one way and nobody can bring them back. We are a private station subjected to various kind of sanctions if we default and the condition of our license is that we have to fair hearing, a fair view and fair representation of all parties.

Therefore, if you have to talk about this one, you have to talk about the other. It is there on record we carry programmes and jingles of all the tiers of government; federal, states and local governments who are from different parties.

We carry so many of Kano State government activities which is ANPP and we carry several programmes and jingles for federal government and its agencies here. Bauchi State patronises us, and if you have been monitoring our Ramadan programmes, the governor of Sokoto State and that of Zamfara are sponsoring programmes here. Kano State government officials are sponsoring programmes so there is nothing like being anti-government but of course if somebody hear us talking he would say we are anti-federal government and when we come to play federal government programmes it is like we are anti Kano state government which is in the opposite camp of the federal government. There is nothing like anti-government in our policies.

Can we have a glimpse into your relationship with late Sheikh Ja’afar Adam?

Sheikh Ja’afar was a friend and my malam. I drew inspirations from him, we were involved in the Shari’a advocacy deeply. The team of the malams were our guide. I was the leader of the independent hisbah group so I interacted with almost all the malams there. I was at home with all of them.

We fought for Shekarau to become the governor of Kano State. I am sure, I will be in the upper 20 people who painstakingly put whatever we had to fight and alhamdulillah, Allah gave us success he became the governor because we wanted him to implement the Sharia.

You explained how through the pro-sharia groups you sponsored the candidacy of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau but people would wonder how your relationship deteriorates to sour one?

Well, really, there is only one issue. First of all, I am older than Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, we were not born in the same location, we did not go to the same school, we did not live in the same area therefore whatever kind of relationship that can emanate between two people never connected me with him. In fact, it was only when the sharia movement started that I come to know Shekarau personally.

I have been hearing his name but there was nothing that brought us together; he was a teacher while I have been a banker and a businessman, so even in the business world, we were far apart. Therefore, there was nothing that could bring me and him.

It was only the issue of the sharia. When we found he was not really keen in implementing the Sharia this was what made us to withdraw from the government, but I was in the Sharia implementation advisory committee which the government appointed in the first place. However, when we realise he wasn’t really keen on implementing the Sharia as he promised in his campaigns, we decided to withdraw. This was the only reason.

But voices from the side of the government say you drew line between you and the governor when he kicked against your choice to be the leader of the government-constituted, Hisbah Board.

No. there was nothing like that. In fact, one evening my deputy in the independent Hisbah called me, I had even retired to bed. He said there was an emergency meeting at Malam Umar Sani Fagge’s house. I asked what the meeting was about, he said he (Fagge) being the chairman of the Shar’a movement said there was need for us to meet that night and he said I should inform three other people with whom we were in the board of independent hisbah. We had just parted about an hour so I tried their telephones but I could not reach them so I just went to Malam Umar Sani Fagge’s house.

When we gathered; Umar Sani Fagge, Rabo was there, then Malam Yahaya Faruk came. The four of us waited but nobody came so we started the meeting. Malam Umar Sani said the governor wanted us to advice him on who and who would be members of the Sharia commission, the Zakat commission and Hisbah board.

He gave us the criteria for the position of the secretary to the Hisbah board; he must be a lawyer with at least five years post-call experience and he must have some knowledge of the Sharia law and Arabic. Unanimously, we agreed that that should be Mahboub.

Then it comes to the commander of the Hisbah, I said, no, if he wants to be fair to us, like he gave us this criteria, then we should also get criteria for the commander, I don’t want to look stupid to name somebody and they later say he is not qualified. If the committee is really taken serious, we should have some criteria also so that from the rank and file we would be able to determine who became what in the hisbah because Rabo and myself operated the hisbah more than anybody else in the Sharia movement so we knew who should go where. They insisted and a number of names where juggled but at the end of the day they decided who they want to appoint.

At the meeting, Malam Umar Sani particularly said if we should be realistic, you should be the commander. I declined. He said why, I told him “look, I have not organised my office to appoint a successor, I can not do it.” Simple as that. Then they brought in one person. I said “no, lets not look ridiculous. If there is anybody after me, if I want to be selfish, see Rabo here. He should be the commander general. Don’t bring selfish interest that will destroy all the good work we have done so far.”

At the end of the day, they conveyed the information, I don’t know what they took to him (the governor) but some days later it was announced that I was going to be the second in command in the hisbah. By then the Freedom Radio has been established and I had the first meeting with the editorial board that same day. I did not know they were going to swear in any other person. They kept calling me, I said “look, I told them I didn’t want so there was no point calling me to say come. I am not coming because I have some other serious business too.” Eventually, they decided to appoint Rabo as the second in command in the Hisbah. This was how it all went.

Sir, recently, out of the blues there emerged a petition that led to your arrest and detention by the police in connection with an alleged forgery which was linked to the assassination of Sheikh Ja’afar Adam. May we have your own side of the story?

It was one Friday morning around the hours of 7:30, some police officers came to my house with their car parked outside and my house is the dead-end of a street; it is a close. My son who was leaving next door saw this car, he was a bit security conscious, and he came to find out because he saw somebody entering my house and the car was parked outside. He asked the man, I was then having a shave, the man said he was not with the car people so he went out and started making trouble.

By then they have finished shaving me, the man came to say he was a police and they were together with his boss. I questioned him on why he concealed his identity knowing well the security implication. I said “if these guys shout and people out there came and started attacking you, are you going to shoot them?” anyway, the matter was settled then they said they came to invite me to the police station, there was a complaint. I doubted them. I said are you sure is me? They said yes.

I said all right, are you here to arrest me or are you here to invite me. They said we are here to invite you. I said ‘are you going with me or am I going alone’ they said ‘we are going with you.’ I said then this is an arrest. Where is your arrest warrant?’ they said there was none. I agreed to go with them nonetheless. Then I asked, ‘are you allowing me to change my cloth?’ they said ‘yes, go and change’. I went in and changed my gown and told my family that I have been invited to the police station they said there was some complaints against me. Nobody sought it was that magnitude of a complaint, so I went.

When we reached their office they brought a letter, handed it to me, and said this is the compliant, read. There is a covering letter and there is an attachment of a photocopy of a cheque. In the letter which is bearing the office of the secretary to the Kano State government and signed by an officer, permanent secretary, REPA (Research, Evaluation and Political Affairs), the letter started; ‘I am directed…’

There were two issues to inform the police, this letter was addressed to the police. “I am directed to report that some unknown persons went in to the office of the permanent secretary, REPA and stole a letterhead and forged a letter addressed to the commissioner that N100 million be released on the instruction of the governor to be paid to MESSRS NAIS BK.” (copy attached).” This is one complain.

The second issue is also “here attached is a photocopy of a cheque of N100 million”. The two have no relationship. This was paid to AK BAT; the last letter I could not fill it even in my statement to the police because it was blunt whether it is BATA, or BATO or BATI or whatever, but BAT was definitely there and eligible. They said, “you are expected to answer this”, “I said what is it about?” they said “the cheque is from your company”.

So I called my office manager, Nasiru, and directed him to go to the office and crosscheck the cheque book of the FILAPS account on which the complaint was based. I said “I want you to confirm, here is a photocopy of a cheque, with this account number and cheque number, can you confirm whether it is from our stock and it is our account?” He confirmed in the positive.

The cheque has N100 million on it so I asked what was the last cheque we issued. He said “it is ending with 7 and it was issued on April 6, 2007”. So I said do you know of any deposit of N100 million into our account?” he said “no”. I then directed him to go to the bank to request for our statement and bring it to me at the police station.

The two of us, Nasiru and myself, sign on our cheque. This cheque has only one signature and it did not correspond to either mine or Nasiru’s, so even from there the police knew all these was ruse. The total credit turnover was below N4 million and we have stopped using this account two years earlier.

This particular cheque was issued one year after we have stopped using the account; it was dated April 3, 2008. even from then the police knew it was all a ruse but probably because this is a government and the government wants me punished, that is why the police decided to go ahead pressing they are charging us.

I inferred in my statement that the BK NAIS has nothing to do with me, I don’t know what is it. So the forgery of N100 million has nothing to do with me. This cheque might have been stolen from our chequebook and I don’t know anything about it. The signatures does not correspond to that of any of us. We operate on a dual signature so since this is a forged cheque, under the banking laws, a forged cheque is not the mandate of a customer. As such, it will not be debited to his account. Besides, we stopped using this account one year ago, so it could not have been there and this cheque has still not gone to the bank until that day, that cheque has never been presented to the bank.

I made my statement and called my lawyer who went through it and okayed it. The police here in Kano started going from one office to another without telling me what was the next action. The next thing, they called my lawyer and said “this is more than just a forgery issue. The payee of this cheque is the man who killed Mallam Ja’afar and because the case of Malam Ja’afar has been transferred to Abuja that is why we are taking him to Abuja now.”

There is nothing in my statement relating me to the issue of Malam Ja’afar, this was just a verbal information from the police and before I am given any chance to defend myself, I was conveyed to Abuja. Before we even leave this town, according to the information I got later, the Kano State Radio has started airing that the killer of Sheikh Ja’afar has been caught, in my person. This was put on air intermittently trying to incite the public to come and destroy Freedom Radio and our family members; alhamdulillah none these happened. People didn’t even believe them. In fact there was a counter effect on the government. Nothing has happened. I thank God for putting me on trial and making it easy.

Considering that you were taken to Abuja and later released. What is the status of the case now?

The police said they are still investigating, that’s all.

Are you ready to take any action in order to clear your name and claim damages?

(silent)

It was reported that your company actually lost three cheque leaves of the same account one of which was used in the said petition. How comes you missed those cheque leaves?

We later traced that three of our cheque leaves were torn. We did not know because we are no longer using the account. Until that day the police arrested me, we did not know that they have been stolen because we have stopped using the account, we are not using the cheque.

But a government official later came out to say that they got all those documents from somebody in Kaduna.

As far as I am concerned, our cheque leaves were stolen and the government took the cheque to the police. And since the police told me that this cheque was paid to the killer of Malam Ja’afar, this cheque can only be available from one of three sources: the issuer of the cheque, the person to whom it is issued or the bank in the event the cheque has been cashed; the bank became the custodian of the cheque.

Obviously, the cheque never went to the bank so it couldn’t have been from the bank neither it is from us. Since the government brought the issue of this cheque, they know where the killer is. They should produce the killer because the government official on behalf of the Kano State government, and, I insist, on behalf of the Kano State government because the letterhead of the office of the secretary to the state government was used to say “I am directed” and signed by permanent secretary, REPA.

So, it must have been an official compliant. Whoever says it is unofficial is deceiving himself may be he does not know the content but the letter is there with the police if you can, go and check it out. If they wish, they can even give you a photocopy to publish.

What they are saying is that it was a kind of a move to blackmail the government that later bounces back…

(cuts in…) it bounces back to the government! The government should produce the killer of Malam Ja’afar. All these, like I narrated the story, the two things do not even tally. N100 million was forged from the government made payable to BK NAIS, our cheque was stolen and N100 million payable to AK BATU or BATA was written. Where is the conformity? None! Only at the last minute, the police came to say, “O, this BATA man is the one who killed Malam Ja’afar so we are taking you to Abuja”.

So if I am being accused, like Radio Kano and some dallies they invited to connive with them confirmed that I am the killer even before I am tried, then they should bring out the killer because the cheque is from the government. If the police will do justice to me, those people; the person who signed the letter and the person who directed him should have been arrested because they should have been the first suspects.

Kano Clerics In Seccret Talks Over Ja'afar's Murder

My hands are clean – Shekarau

Following the controversy that greeted the sudden arrest of a senior radio station director in Kano last week in connection with the murder of a prominent Islamic cleric, top Islamic scholars in the state have held secret talks at the weekend.

The situation virtually forced the Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, to go on live radio yesterday and took an hour to exonerate his government from any blame in the matter.

Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam, a very influential cleric with a huge following, was gunned down two years ago as he led the dawn prayer inside his mosque in the Dorayi quarters of Kano metropolis.

Ever since then, accusing fingers have continued to be pointed at various directions, with the police failing to find the killers. A recent posting on the Saharareporters website accused the state government of complicity in the killing, a charge hotly denied by the government.

Last week, the police in Kano arrested the Executive Vice Chairman of the Kano-based Freedom Radio, Alhaji Ado Mohammed, in connection with Ja’afar’s assassination. He has not been released.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP, the force public relations officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed the arrest, adding that the police were investigating the circumstances relating to the death of Sheikh Ja'afar and promised that they would leave no stone unturned on the issue.

Mohammed’s arrest has caused further recriminations.

The police were reportedly petitioned by a Kano State government official, who accused Mohammed, a close confidante of the late cleric, of withdrawing vast sums of money allegedly in order to help fund the assassination. The 60-year-old Mohammed was a leader of the Sharia vigilante group known as Hisba during the days of voluntary Hisba committee in the state prior to its incorporation as an official agency by the Shekarau administration.

LEADERSHIP

gathered yesterday that some clerics have been in consultation over his arrest. Our correspondent reports that special prayers beseeching God to expose those behind the murder were held on Friday night during the usual Islamic class session at the Usman Bin Affan Islamic Centre, which used to be chaired by Ja'afar.

The meetings, attended by the scholars mostly of the deceased’s creed of orthodox Sunni, were held in secret and no details were made available for journalists. But LEADERSHIP gathered that the arrest of Mohammed and the turn of events in the investigation of the murder were in the forefront of the discussions.

On Saturday, the management of Freedom Radio had said it planned to take legal action against the Kano State government, alleging that its findings showed that the office of the Secretary to the State Government authored the petition to the police that named Muhammad as being involved in a transaction that led to the death of Ja'afar.

Disclosing this during a press conference, the Executive Director of Freedom Radio, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, said that in the letter, the government official had stated that the government’s letterheaded paper was stolen and his signature forged to withdraw the sum of N100 million from the account of the Research and Documentation Directorate of the government, which they claimed had been allegedly traced to the account of FILAPS, the mother company of Freedom Radio, in which Mohammed was also vice-chairman.

Dalhatu said the claim that the said money was traced to FILAPS' account was "false, malicious and irresponsible."

He explained that the account, which was domiciled in Bank PHB at No.17/18 Bello Road, Kano, with No. 0091020000216, was opened on August 21, 2006 with N2,280,000. The last transaction on the account, he said, was a withdrawal of N7,000 on April 19, 2007 vide cheque No.10196587, while the total turnover throughout the duration of the account was N3.9 million before the account became dormant.

Dalhatu, who holds the traditional title of Walin Dutse, added that there had neither been a deposit nor withdrawal of any amount above N3 million from the account.

He added that he was aware that in the last two weeks the police had visited the bank but had not found anything wrong or suspicious. He said after the commencement of the police investigation, FILAPS had discovered that three cheque leaves, nos. 10196588, 10196589 and 10196590 of the said account, were missing, presumably stolen, one of which was used to pretend to have been used in the alleged transaction leading to the death of Ja'afar.

The executive director described the allegation as a "crude, clumsy and utterly despicable attempt to smear the good name of FILAPS, Freedom Radio and Ado Mohammed," adding that this showed how far their enemies were willing to go in order to set them up against their teaming listeners and the general public.

He said it was up to the state government to come out and clearly confirm whether or not their account was actually debited with the sum of N100 million and name the beneficiary of the withdrawal. "It is also up to them to explain how one of the three missing cheques whose photocopy was attached to their petition came in their possession", he noted.

He explained that "this official high-handedness started since 2004 when Freedom Radio did the most basic journalistic work by reporting the fertilizer scandal in which the Kano State government was embroiled."

He assured that the radio station would not relent in its effort of discharging its professional duties to the society responsibly, despite all the odds.

In an apparent response to Dalhatu’s comments, which were aired on the usually vocal Freedom Radio, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau went live on the Kano State Radio yesterday and explained that his government had no connection whatsoever with the arrest of Ado Mohammed.

He said his government only learnt about the matter from the media, saying the issue of the arrest started when a civil servant in the government personally petitioned the police complaining that a letter was posted on the Saharareporters website in which he was alleged to have instructed the office of the state Ministry of Finance to release the sum of N100 million to someone, while a cheque in the like sum was attached.

Malam Shekarau stated that the civil servant told the police in the petition that he was alleged to have issued a cheque of N100 million to someone who confessed to have undertaken the assassination.

According to the governor, the government official, who never wrote such a letter or directed anyone to do so, discovered that his signature was forged, adding that he never had an account in the bank in question.

Shekarau said the man had asked the police to investigate the matter.

The governor said the police were now investigating the issue, saying the government was not at war with Mohammed or Freedom Radio.

The police, he said, were not directly under the state government. "Three years ago, the police arrested and detained some officials of the State Hisbah Board for three months. If they were under our control, I might have directed their release, but it did not happen. The issue, then, had to be thrashed out in the court of law", he said.

Shekarau regretted that many people lacked knowledge on the way government worked and therefore damaged the reputation of its officials, including that of the governor.

"I swear by Allah that neither the governor nor the government has a hand in this matter of Alhaji Ado," Shekarau said. "It was an allegation made against somebody, who then petitioned the police in the pursuit of his rights. It is up to the police to question Alhaji Ado and see if he could assist them in their investigation; if he is innocent, then, they would release him."

The governor said that inviting people to answer questions by the police during investigations was not a new thing, adding that many people in the state were questioned over Ja'afar's assassination. "I know them. Some are very influential, some even spend a day or two and go back home," he added.

Shekarau said, "Even our brother Bashir Dalhatu has said that he would never forget about his arrest during the era of Nuhu Ribadu for about fourteen days or fourteen weeks - I cannot remember - but he was later released after the police and the EFCC were satisfied with his explanations. So in view of Alhaji Ado's case, to me it is a simple matter. By tomorrow if the police are satisfied with his comment, he will be released."

Also clarifying the matter further yesterday, the Director of Press and Public Relations to the state governor, Malam Sule Ya'u Sule, said, "Somebody posted a letter purportedly from the office of the Secretary to the State Government that he is instructing finance ministry to release the sum of N100 million to someone and a cheque of N100 million was attached. The person that was said to have written this letter is the Permanent Secretary, Research, Evaluation and Political Affairs Department in the Cabinet Office, Malam Bello Shehu Usman.

"Again, a cheque was said to have been issued of N100 million to someone who allegedly or who confessed to have undertaken the killing of late Sheikh Ja'afar. That letter and the cheque were posted on the Saharareporters website. Having seen the letter and the cheque, Malam Bello Shehu, the permanent secretary, denied that he never instructed, he never wrote, such a letter, he never directed such a letter to be written, and the signature was forged; it wasn't his signature and he never had an account in Bank PHB because the cheque that was said to have been issued is a cheque of Bank PHB of the sum of N100 million. The account of Kano State government is with Unity Bank, not Bank PHB. He was said to have directed that N100 million be paid from the account of the state government in Bank PHB with a cheque posted on the Sahara website.

"It was said to have been this permanent secretary who instructed that money on the instruction of the governor that a person whose name was written on the cheque be paid that amount so that he will go and carry out that act. Based on that, Malam Bello Shehu, having seen that, wrote a petition letter to the police commissioner, saying that his signature was forged and that he has never written such a letter and he has never known such an account. Government has never operated an account with Bank PHB, government has never issued such a cheque because it doesn't, and therefore asked the police to investigate.

"It was Malam Bello Shehu in his person as Malam Bello Shehu that has written the letter, not Kano State government because he was said to have done that. Based on this letter police embarked on investigation. They sought for legal clarification, they went to the said bank and requested for detailed information of that account and discovered the identity of the owner of that account and discovered the identity of the cheque issued and the police briefed the press about their discovery, not Kano State government.

"I am not here to respond to anybody or join issues with anyone but rather I am here to tell you the actual fact as it is. I know many of you are confused."

Meanwhile, the family of Ado Mohammed has raised alarm over what they called the detainee’s old age and deteriorating health condition.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP last night, Alhaji Faruk Dalhatu, who spoke on behalf of the family, said Mohammed was suffering from backache, hence he was placed on permanent medication.

He said: "Alhaji Ado Mohammed is very sick. We are very much concerned about the state of his health because when they arrested him they did not allow him to take his medications along. He was supposed to fly out for surgery on his back last week but it was postponed, and now we don't even know when he can go. He has a very bad back for which he had a surgery a few months ago."

Dalhatu also debunked a claim made by the state government that the said petition for which Mohammed was arrested was written by a permanent secretary in the government in his personal capacity. He said the fact that the said petition was written on the government's letterheaded paper meant that it was official.

Written by me and my colleague, Mansur Sani Malam published on page 1, 4 & 6 of today's LEADERSHIP (29/6/09).

The Death and the Writer

In this picture snapped late 2008 in red and cap is Abdullahi Yaron Malam (one of the writers that died recently) with me in t-shirt on the Kwatarkwasi inselberg Zamfara State during the last (2008) convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

Death, my grandfather once told me, detests the hubbub and hullabaloo around its prey when it comes calling. He said, death does not come amidst clattering and chatting by what he called sinful occupants of this earth and it always shies from the eyes of close relatives. “mutuwa na jin kunyar idon mahaifi” he told me in Hausa, typical of his wit-laden conversation.

The angel of death, or so I thought, has his device of keeping people mute and sending away those relatives on whose eyes he could not pick his target. Perhaps he has some agents whom he sends to clear the way for him – to send away all the unwanted persons and circumstances. They whisk away talks and suspend the mind for some time, and make the relatives leave willy-nilly or, at worst, get their attention off the terminal corpse.

As I am grow, I hear of many confessions that only vindicate grandpa. Many a people would come to lament how they vacate the bedside of an ill person only to come back to see corpse in her substitute. The bereaved relatives normally make these confessions when one goes to condole with them.

‘He just insisted that I go and call the doctor for him but as I came back, he is no more’

‘She asked me pressingly to come back home and take one more wrapper for her but when I went back I met her corpse’ you would hear this again and again.

Therefore, as a child, whenever I went to makarantar allo, the local Qur’anic school, or when playing with my peers, I developed a habit of enmity towards silence. I hate silence, hence, I always cherish murmurs of some defiant pupils when our teacher – an old bearded learned Fulani man asked us to keep quite for one announcement or the other or for sacrificial or closing prayers.

“It passes!” we would say when we observed some silence in our group and that instinctively arouse thunderous noise. This was a device to block the death’s chances.

But how does the death picks a writer? Writer, at least he who merits the tag, is a symbol of engagements. Does the writer stay idle? Many writers enter toilet with books to capture some aroma away from the defecation. Others say their muse is at best when taking shower or on transit. And for many writers detention in prison or hospital means solitary compartment to ponder on issues and, if possible, write.

If she is alone, a writer is either pondering over a plot of a new story or how best should rhyme and rhythm of a poem be. Therefore, writer, you could say, gives no chance to death. However, when it comes calling, death has many tricks and devices to wrap away its target: it stops the mind, momentarily, to enable it snatch away the soul.

When it intended to pick Malama Binta, it followed her to the airport, to the aircraft and afraid not to meet Binta’s relatives, it gripped her in the plane. It was at that time when everybody is tired and awaiting landing; probably in an innate state of mind. The same with Yaron Malam. The executioner dragged him to where it wanted to take him away – the state library and the agents of the angel of death detained him there until the angel came for his soul. He could not be picked when he was speaking, when he was drafting something in the laptop until the time he was glaringly glancing at the screen absentmindedly.

Death too has extraordinary task in bringing a writer to book.

However, I have a solace. Malama Binta is here with us! Yaron Malam is very much alive! After all, does a writer die? Look at Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristotle, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazzali, Malik bin Anas, Einstein, Nicolo Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Arab, Abubakar Imam, Sa’adu Zungur, name them, are they not living still in our midst? Death only takes away the body and the breath. Writers live to eternity.

If I want to see Binta or Yaron Malam, I can see them in between these black inscriptions of their works. In the same way that I can still see Abubakar Imam in Magana Jari Ce, Okigbo in Labyrinth, or Shakespeare in As You Like It. English metaphysical poet, Dr. John Donne could not be more apt in his “Holy Sonnet 10” in describing the relationship between the death and man – writer especially when he writes with artistic bravura:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

That is the virtue of writing. Writers are special creatures. Don’t we say/write; “He writes”, “He observes” while quoting Plato or Bala Usman but “He said”, “She observed” in the case of others? That’s writing! Writers do not expire they live to eternity with their words quoted in perfect (eternal) tense always! Therefore, write and write what you think is right you will get the right rite even in deathly hallucination.
6:05pm 6/6/09, Kano
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*Soliloquy in memoriam of Malama Binta S. Mohammed and Abdullahi Mukhtar (Yaron Malam) presented at a special reading in memory of the two writers at Murtala Mohammed Library, Ahmadu Bello way, Kano organised by ANA Kano. Sunday, June 7, 2009.