I cannot conclude this rendition without acknowledging the candour and humility of the Sudanese intelligentsia who facilitated many interviews for me. Professor Babikr Gadrimari, Dean, Faculty of Arts at IUA opened doors for me to Professor Altayib Muhammad Othman, Professor Hassan Said Sulaiman of the Department of Political Science, his personal library, the Central Library […]
Another view of (old) Sudan
I cannot conclude this rendition without acknowledging the candour and humility of the Sudanese intelligentsia who facilitated many interviews for me. Professor Babikr Gadrimari, Dean, Faculty of Arts at IUA opened doors for me to Professor Altayib Muhammad Othman, Professor Hassan Said Sulaiman of the Department of Political Science, his personal library, the Central Library as well as the Centre for Research and African Studies all at IUA. Gadrimari abandoned official work and personally drove me in his car on two different dates for my appointments with Justice Adbel Magged Idris Ali of the Supreme National Court and Dr Ahmad Ali Abdullahi of the Central Bank of Sudan. I left Sudan with solid assurances that he would administer my interview schedule on a certain superior police officer and feed me back through e-mail. Professor Yusuf Khalifa also at IUA, worked his phones to facilitate my meeting with Dr. Farouk Al-Bushra (all of them former Ministers) of Sudan Inter Religious Council. Even though Al-Bushra’s link-up efforts failed to secure audience for me with Reverend Sameer of the defuct Sudanese Non- Muslims Commission, Sameer substituted himself with Rev. Yagoub Musa, Northern Regional Chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches. Dr Abdullahi Makki Sadig of the Non-Sudanese Students Welfare Organisation, initiated my successful meetings with Dr Hassan Muhammad of the African House for Printing The Qur’an and the erudite Professor Abdulrahim Ali, Rector of the Arabic Institute and Chairman of Al Bashir’s (Shura) National Consultative Council. Dr Hassan Al-Turabi was simply too busy but he arranged for me to interview his fiery lawyer, Abubakr Abd Elrazig, advocate and commissioner of oath. I will forever owe them debts of gratitute for contributing towards my academic quest for a terminal degree in political science at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
It was Rev. Musa who depleted my Khartoum enthusiasm somewhat with admonitions of ominous time bombs in the state and society of North Sudan. Development projects are centred in the city, he said. “Just drive a few kilometers into the rural areas, you will see nothing”. Wilma Wina, a journalist I met at Khartoum Monitor, said Christians would not migrate but stay put in Khartoum after the July 9th separation of the North and South Sudan. “It is our national capital, and therefore home”. Both Rev. Musa and Wilma believe Al Bashir’s full blast Shari’a implementation would not change anything. “Sudan would still remain multi religious. More discrimination and social inequities would be perpetrated. Non committed Christians caught drinking would be lashed. Church officials would not have permits to engage in open air preachments nor build churches”. The belief that God would not forsake them fortifies Musa and Wilma with solace and courage for challenges ahead.
Dalhatu Sani Yola writes from the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.
