A reporter’s Iast moments with Senator Wakili

Should I call it premonition or what ? Senator Malam Ali Wakili told me on Thursday in his office at the National Assembly that, “ I will die but not now”. Shortly after the commencement of the plenary session on Thursday, he phoned me with a strange GSM number and said, ‘where are you ? […]

Should I call it premonition or what ? Senator Malam Ali Wakili told me on Thursday in his office at the National Assembly that, “ I will die but not now”.

Shortly after the commencement of the plenary session on Thursday, he phoned me with a strange GSM number and said, ‘where are you ? I responded by saying, ‘ please who am I speaking with? He laughed and said ‘ Wakili’ and I responded by saying,’ Distinguished, I’m sorry I don’t have this number’.  

Sounding in a hurry, Senator Wakili said ‘please come to my office now. I’m going to Jos’. I rushed from the Press Centre to his office. When I got there, Afodia his secretary, without wasting time opened the door and led me in.

He told me “the number I called you with was my old number that got missing. I did a welcome back recently”.  Straightforward as he was, he engaged me in a discussion on an interview I did that was published same day.

It was while we were discussing that he called his orderly into the office. When the policeman came in, he asked him to locate where the vehicle for their trip to Jos, Plateau State was parked. He was among the delegation of the Senate to condole the family of late John Shagaya.

After about 15 minutes,  one Ibrahim Hassan came in. Senator Wakili asked him (Hassan) how far about the trip to Jos? The man told him that they were all set, waiting for the senators to come out from the chamber.

Wakili said to the man: “Hope you people don’t go beyond 120 in your convoy?  I know, I will die but not now.”  Hassan responded with a smile. 

The late lawmaker then narrated his experience in a convoy of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, during a trip outside Abuja for an assignment.

Wakili said before the commencement of the trip, they had  an agreement with the Speaker that the convoy will not go beyond 120.  He said throughout the trip, Reps on the convoy complained of the slow pace.

Also, the deceased lawmaker told us of how Hassan’s father, Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan, was made a minister by former President Shehu Shagari. 

Born in 1960, Wakili, a retired controller of Customs, endeared himself to many at the Senate with his bluntness.

Fondly called by his colleagues as ‘MNI’,  he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Arts in 1982 from the Bayero University Kano. 

Wakili was one of the senators against the reordered election sequence. Aside that, when the issue of the N70m swallowed by monkey came up, he raised a point of order and protested it on the floor of the Senate.

At the beginning of the eight senate, when I approached him on what was discussed at the end of one of their executive sessions, he simply said, fear Allah.

He said:  “ I won’t tell you. Whatever that was discussed in the session was for the consumption of those who were there( Senators). For those who are in the habit of revealing what transpired at executive session to the Press, Allah will ask them.” 

Despite my closeness with him, Wakili maintained that position until his death. In fact on that same Thursday, I reminded him of his position on executive sessions. He said his position remains unshaken and that one of my colleagues came to him on Tuesday. “I told him what I said earlier to you.”

Similarly, at end of a budget defence, I approached Senator Wakili for a document that was presented during the session. He declined, saying the document was not for public consumption. On many occasions, I repeated my plea but he stood his ground.

Wakili is the second Senator to die in this Senate. The first was a former governor of Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adeleke (APC, Osun) who died last year.

Distinguished, you told me ‘you will die but not now’, I never knew that your death was already around the corner. It was less than 48 hours after our discussion that you passed on.

When we were departing on Thursday, I told you “ sai ka dawo”, from the planned trip to a neighbouring country on an official assignment.  I never knew you will not live to embark on that trip and that we will never meet again. Adieu, Mallam Ali Wakili, till hereafter.

May Allah SWT grant you Aljanatu fridaus and  give your family the strength to bear your passage.