A great loss! Magaji Dambatta
His death is not only a personal lose of a teacher, model, inspirer but a much greater lose to the people and government of Kano. Not only because somehow he has been my secret admirer or model since I learnt of him over thirty years ago through his younger brother the late Mustapha Dambatta, with […]
His death is not only a personal lose of a teacher, model, inspirer but a much greater lose to the people and government of Kano. Not only because somehow he has been my secret admirer or model since I learnt of him over thirty years ago through his younger brother the late Mustapha Dambatta, with whom I worked as a young Information officer in the Kano State Ministry of Information and Culture, my admiration continued to rise the more I learnt about his antecedents. Of primary significance to me was his life as a young newspaper reporter of Kano DAILY COMET of blessed memory and as witnessed by history, he was one of the 8 founding fathers of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) on the 8TH of August, 1950 (8-8-1950)! Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule should have been the 9th, but strategically abstained. The 8 men that met on the 8th day of August in Kano (8-8-8) at the residence of Bello Ijumu in Sabon Gari, Kano began a movement that has eventually changed the course of the history of Northern Nigeria and the emancipation of the Talakawa from the shackles of colonial domination and feudalism.
He was only 19 years old at the time! Of great interest to me was how these men from different ethnic background met and fashioned out a serious revolutionary movement for the salvation of Nigeria. These great men of ideas and fired by nationalism met at No. 9, Ibadan Road in Sabongari Kano at the one room apartment of the residence of Malam Bello Ijumu, a Yoruba man from Mopa Division of Kabba Province. They were Malam Abba Maikwaru, Bello Ijumu, Baballia Manaja, Musa Kaula, Abdulkadir Danjaji, Garba Bida, Mudi Sipikin and Magaji Dambatta. He is the last to die of these great sons of Nigeria at over 80 years of age. As the secretary of that first meeting and took the minutes, the following objectives were clearly spelt out: To raise the level of consciousness of the Talakawa to recognize their worth and fight for their human dignity and insist on their right to freedom of speech, of association, of movement, of assembly and of action within the law of which all citizens were entitled; to fight against the system of Indirect Rule by bringing about its reform and ensuring the participation of the ordinary people in the decision making process in matters that affect them; To wage a determined war against colonialism and national independence; to pursue the enhancement of democracy as a way of life; and to set out the task of inculcating in the minds of the people the values of honesty, justice, hard work, pursuit of knowledge, team work and devotion to religion.
As one of the first generation of journalists in Kano State, he was rightfully our model as we the younger generations learn about his struggles as a Reporter, Chief Information Officer of the Northern Nigerian government and eventually at the national and international levels. He was someone we had wanted to be like when we grew up. His travails, struggles and radicalism were a great fountain of inspiration and motivation. I therefore had no hesitation to visit his residence and invite him to Chair a public lecture by my Dambatta Old Boys Association {DOBA) last December on the National Dialogue. After exchanging pleasantries, he accepted with no hesitation pleading with us younger ones never to boycott any forum where the destiny of Nigeria would be discussed. We agreed to be meeting to compare notes. As a gentleman, he was there at the Aminu Kano Mumbayya House, Kano with Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, Hajiya Maryam Uwais and Professor Habu Mohammed, to the delight of everyone present.
He received a National Honour in addition to an earlier one of Order of Federal Republic (OFR) thirty years ago, in 1982. Professionally, both the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) have bestowed on him their highest honours in recognition of his outstanding contributions to journalism in Nigeria and service to humanity. My greatest interest in him was in his career and role as a first generation journalist in this side of River Niger. My secondary interest in him is his somehow adventure or misadventure into the muddy waters of politics. We told you earlier dear reader that Malam Magaji was one of the eight nationalists that formed the radical NEPU political party in 1950 to emancipate the Talakawa. As the Chief Information Officer of Northern Nigeria in the 1960s in the late Premier’s office, he was a witness, an observer and if you like, an active or silent participant at the corridors of power and history. Though he chronicled in his book about the last couple of hours to the end of Sardauna’s life as he was in his residence in Kaduna on that fateful night of Friday January 14/15, 1966, the picture is still hazy. Also his presence in Ibadan when General Aguiyi-Ironsi was assassinated and his government toppled in July 1966 is again another mystery begging for clarification. It is, to say the least, mind-boggling. I looked forward to meeting him in Abuja to seek further clarifications, but destiny did not allow this meeting as I travelled out in search of medical attention.
But his subsequent role as an Information Officer during the Civil War in a number of Nigeria’s Embassies’ in London, Washington DC, etc, was the shining light of his carrier. Even when he eventually retired, he did not abandon journalism per se. He was at one time the Chairman of Daily Times of Nigeria, Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria, Triumph Newspapers, Kano Broadcasting Organization, Nagarta Communications, Kaduna, etc. He was a Member, Board of Directors of the New Nigerian Newspapers. He is also very active in others committees and organizations. In Kano, no committee set up by the state government worthy of its name that was not chaired by him! Another unsolved mystery is how he has not picked up any traditional chieftaincy title despite the fact that he was a classmate of the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero as the first set of the students of School of Arabic Studies in Kano!
His death on Wednesday, September 3, 2014, reminded me of the passages of great northern journalists like the late Abubakar Imam, Sa’ad Zungur, Alhaji Muhammadu Ladan, Abubakar El Nafaty, Adamu Salihu, Isa Abdul-mumin, Abubakar Jika, Khalifa Baba Ahmed, Adamu Augie, Adamu Yusuf, Mohammed Sule, Samson Namo, Ibrahim Sulaiman and other with nostalgia. May their souls rest in perfect peace, amin.
Shariff, currently in Mansourah, Egypt, was a former commissioner in Kano State