Abdulkarim Albashir: Communicator par excellence
Scores of topflight journalists and hundreds of their colleagues from over a dozen media outfits in Kaduna turned-out at Bachama Road cemetery on Tuesday morning with heavy hearts, drawn faces and subdued heads to pay their last respect to Abdulkarim Lawal Bashir, also known as Albashir, who died at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, […]
Scores of topflight journalists and hundreds of their colleagues from over a dozen media outfits in Kaduna turned-out at Bachama Road cemetery on Tuesday morning with heavy hearts, drawn faces and subdued heads to pay their last respect to Abdulkarim Lawal Bashir, also known as Albashir, who died at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, near Zaria on Monday afternoon at the ripe age of 68.
By all standards, late Albashir was a popular and well-liked personality. This was signified by a lengthy and overstretched motorcade that escorted the mortuary transport vehicle that conveyed the body to its final resting place, while a long retinue of mourners snaked around the multitudes of graves that dotted the burial ground, swarming around the spot that signified his final destination. He was interned amidst sobs and exhalations of immense grief and incredulous dispossession. The burial ceremony supervised by his eldest son, Ghaddafi Bashir, assisted by his disconsolate bothers, was brief and significant, conducted in strict Islamic rites. A week-long mourning period soon followed at his Kinkinau residence where hordes of grief-stricken visitors overcrowded all the available rooms and spaces within the vicinity, tearfully expressing their sorrows to the bereaved members of the family whom they consoled vigorously.
As fate would have it, Albashir, who hailed from Michika in Adamawa State, had his final resting place in Kaduna, a town where he had lived for more than 40 years since he assumed duty after graduating from the Bayero University, Kano where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in English Language. He was employed by the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria, (BCNN), now Radio Nigeria Kaduna, as News Editor, a position he held for a few years until he was made an outside correspondent, distinguishing himself as a very effective and prolific reporter, having served meritoriously and diligently in Sokoto and Borno-two strikingly dissimilar states in the extreme locations of Northern Nigeria.
Albashir was also a trade union activist who had delved into the murky waters of unionism, becoming a chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in October 1978 where he proved his mettle as an astute leader and a highly proficient and skillful administrator. With the establishment of FRCN’s new radio stations in some selected states preparatory to the 1983 general elections, Albashir was made a General Manager in the old Gongola State. While there, he really demonstrated the actual stuff with which excellent broadcasters are made, he transformed the fledgling station into a full radio station that actually served the purpose for which it was set up.
However, the prohibitive cost of running the stations soon after the change in government in 1984 necessitated the closure of the new radio stations and Albashir reverted to his former position at Radio Nigeria Kaduna. In the middle of 1985, Albashir was seconded by the FRCN to the publishers of Democrat Newspapers in Kaduna where he assisted in setting it up and consequently became its first Editor-in-Chief. He did not return to the FRCN after the Democrat was rested because he had ventured into private entrepreneurship.
Albashir’s expertise and immense experience in the field of journalism threw him up as a hot material sought after by all and sundry. He had a stunt with the Weekly Trust (now Daily Trust on Saturday) as a hard-hitting columnist and also wrote for many other newspapers and periodicals across the country. His latest port of call was Atar Communications, owners of Liberty TV and Radio, where he held sway for several years as a scintillating writer of compelling and revealing articles entitled Viewpoint that dwelt on contemporary economic as well as socio-political issues. In fact, that was his hallmark back in his days with FRCN Kaduna. His brilliant, courageous and exceedingly engrossing write-ups had always attracted the attention of those at the helm of affairs, often arousing them into taking appropriate actions.
The name Albashir is revered in journalistic circles where he commanded enviable respect of his peers and minions. It is also a household name especially among the radio-listening communities where people listened to the broadcasts of his reports, articles, reviews and critique with rapt attention and immense interest. Undoubtedly, Albashir had during his lifetime stood as a journalistic giant that protected and defended the interest of the North and also promoted the ideals and the culture of its people. He was also known a staunch defender of Northern leaders, always ready to reply their critics in a persuasive and convincing manner.
Indeed, Albashir had cut a niche for himself in the media industry where his position and activities had particularly suited his talents and personality. He was truly a newspaper reader’s delight while his audience had high regard for his remarkable ability to educate and enlighten them. Albashir had unvaryingly been a communicator who had actually revealed his feelings and thoughts through his lucid writings. His death has really created a vast vacuum that can hardly be filled. As the nation prays for the repose of his gentle soul, May Almighty Allah in his infinite mercy give his family, friends and well-wishers the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.