Death in the Fullness of Life: On Razaq Olanrewaju Yussuf (1976-2017)

Whenever the heart weeps for what it has lost, so says the Sufis, the soul rejoices in what it has found. I expound upon this by saying whenever the living mourns the departure of the lover, the angels celebrate the arrival of the beloved; whenever we grieve over the loss of what never was ours […]

Whenever the heart weeps for what it has lost, so says the Sufis, the soul rejoices in what it has found. I expound upon this by saying whenever the living mourns the departure of the lover, the angels celebrate the arrival of the beloved; whenever we grieve over the loss of what never was ours ab initio, the Almighty reminds us of what awaits us behind the veil. These were the words that flooded my world when the news of the death of a prominent and highly energetic young officer of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Mr Razaq Lanre Yussuf (aged 41) was broken to me last week Wednesday.

Time was Maghreb, location was the university campus. I had just finished my conversation” with the Most High when the number of the Director of Admissions in JAMB appeared on my phone. I picked his call only to hear a very terse voice from Abuja. It was short and sharp; it was straight from the source- Inna Lillaah wa Inna Ilayhi Rajiun (To Him we belong and unto Him shall be our return). Mr Lanre was hospitalized the weekend before. He never knew he had only five days left on terrestrial earth. On Wednesday the 13th of December, 2017, he went back to the Source, the Almighty, the same way he came. He went back to eternity all alone; he went back in silence. 

But exactly how does it feel to die? I guess only the dead could offer a response. The same way only the living could account for life; the same way only the sleeping could explain how it feels to sleep. Whenever it is time for humans to expire, all intercessions become null and void; there is no delay in the divine call; our departure from these abodes of illusion shall be like our arrival: ON TIME.

Now who was Mr Lanre? There lies the pain and the tragedy of life- we are entities with dual identities: one transient, the other permanent; the one immanent, the other ranscendental. Every entity which is “IS” today is only waiting to become “WAS” tomorrow. Mr Lanre joined JAMB in 2001 and rose to become the deputy Director (Head of Protocol) only last year. Like other “invisible” and “unsung” officers of JAMB who have continued to assist Professor Is-haq Oloyede do the “wonders” he has done so far, Mr Lanre was on top of his game. Cool and calm; young and energetic, he knew that walking with Professor Oloyede was like walking with a lion. Talk of a man with a sense of duty, Mr Lanre was; talk of a man with humility, Mr Lanre was one.

Why have I bothered to do this threnody in his memory? Why this requiem on this page at a time the living is held in the jugular by matters that are as urgent as death and life? It is simply because death only functions in ending a life, not a relationship; it closes a chapter not a book. I once asked him about how life has been during the past year in JAMB. His response was swift and straight-forward. “Though some might find it difficult keeping pace with Oga’s drive and style, I guess the past year has been the most memorable for me since I joined this organization…” In other words, Mr Lanre was touched by the artistry of leadership brought into JAMB by Professor Oloyede; he never knew that people like me were equally taken in by his humility and sense of service.  

Lanre lived life fully. “A man who lived life fully”, Mark Twain posits, “is (and should be) prepared to die at any time”. But was Lanre prepared to die last week? Probably not. None of us is ever prepared to die. We still believe we have not lived life fully. At thirty, we desire to be forty; at forty we desire to be fifty; at fifty we desire to be sixty etc. Except for the sage amongst us; those who have succeeded in freeing themselves of the foibles and illusions of this life, it is they who are prepared to die the next moment; not those who have booked their flights to the US for June 2018 nor those who are busy planning for the elections of 2019. Ali b. Abi Talib says: the soul (craves and) weeps for the pleasures of this life; though it has been well informed that success here and there lies only in forsaking the allurements of this world. There shall be no abode for man in the heavens/except the one he built while he was on earth before death overtakes him…”

Remember Lanre and others who have all gone ahead of us to the great beyond; remember his mother, his wife, his daughter and his former colleagues in JAMB. Remember them all in your prayers. Remember the faces which are presently held hostage by grief; faces of agony, of despair and melancholy. Remember how Lanre was plucked from the tree of life at the prime of his youth; remember that in the reckoning of the Almighty no death is untimely; the child is old enough to die the moment it is born.

Oladosu is a Professor at the University of Ibadan.