Imam Abubakar, hero of our time

For weeks after the report of his heroism broke, his picture lay in the rubble of papers on my bedside table. No one dares touch that rubble of seeming trash. In many years of living with a journalist, my minders know that the rubble is not trash but in truth, notes and reminders of ideas […]

For weeks after the report of his heroism broke, his picture lay in the rubble of papers on my bedside table. No one dares touch that rubble of seeming trash. In many years of living with a journalist, my minders know that the rubble is not trash but in truth, notes and reminders of ideas and plots deserving exposition.  Imam’s picture lay atop that rubble, eliciting praise, and prayer all the time, that Nigerians grow to see love of one another as love of self and love of our creator and his humanity. There was goodness etched in the natural contours of Imam’s face. That fatherly look, that smile of assurance, that grey beard that spoke wisdom, all put together, the type of face many a film maker would cherish for a role in a movie of Prophet Abraham or Prophet Moses. Imam triumph of reason and courage over sentiment, and against a background of moral decadence and degradation hitherto unimaginable has made him a hero, moral beacon and a global celebrity.

Typical of all happenstances Nigerian, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi became a forgotten issue until last week. As if behind our backs, the 83-year-old Nigerian Imam turned up among four other nationals (from Sudan, Brazil, Iraq and Cyprus) to receive the first-ever International Religious Freedom Award of the United States Government. It then dawned on us many Nigerians that a simple man had undertaken an extraordinary act of faith and courage. We have not celebrated him enough.

Abubakar Abdullahi was the Imam of Nghar village where in June 2018, amidst deadly faith based communal clashes that engulfed 10 villages in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, Nigeria, hetook and hid 262 Berom Christians in a mosque and in his house until the conflict was over, and thus saved them from annihilation.

The Americans wrote this profile:-

“Imam Abubakar Abdullahi selflessly risked his own life to save members of another religious community, who would have likely been killed without his intervention. On June 23, 2018, ethnic Fulani herdsmen, who are predominantly Muslim, launched coordinated attacks on 10 villages in Barkin Ladi, killing hundreds of ethnic Berom farmers, who are predominantly Christian. As Imam Abdullahi was finishing midday prayers, he and his congregation heard gunshots and went outside to see members of the town’s Christian community fleeing.  Instinctively, the Imam ushered 262 Christians into the mosque and his home next to the mosque. The Imam then went outside to confront the gunmen and he refused to allow them to enter, pleading with them to spare the Christians inside, even offering to sacrifice his life for theirs. Although the gunmen killed 84 people in Nghar village that day, Imam Abdullahi’s actions saved the lives of hundreds more. Born in Bauchi State around 1936, the Imam has lived in Nghar for 60 years and led the Muslim community through the mosque, which was built on land provided by the Christian community. Imam Abdullahi’s courage in the face of imminent danger and his history of outreach across religious divides demonstrates his lifelong commitment to promoting interfaith understanding and peace.”

This development regarding Imam Abubakar happened amidst heightened herder farmer clashes nationwide, together with random acts of killings, assassinations, kidnappings and debilitating insecurity. They were times that brought out the worst in our elite whose education and privileges Imam Abubakar could not ever boast of. Not for him, the lofty heights of former twice President Olusegun Obasanjo who in an open letter to President Buhari would want nothing short of abdication of power given the impossible ultimatum of bringing the killings to a stop. Not for Imam Abubakar a house on high brow Aso Hill of Abuja as occupied by Femi Fani Kayode, born of a Minister of the First Republic and having served as Minister in Obasanjo’s republic on those only credentials of blue blood. What does Imam Abubakar have in comparison to Professor Ango Abdullahi, a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, a beneficiary of the grace and power of detribalised Sardauna of Sokoto, yet whose panacea for the prevailing atmosphere of ethno-religious intolerance in the country is for the the Fulani cattle herders roaming after green grazing fields to return to the North already ravaged by an invading desert and bloodletting bandits and cattle rustlers. The difference is in the prism through which life is reflected on us. In the prism through which Imam Abubakar sees life, there is no reflection of politics, the wanton opportunities this confers in access to crass wealth and power. His prism reflects piety, holiness, fear of God Almighty, his creator, the value and sanctity of human life and selfless love, a future for generations even yet unborn that is reflective of the past through which Muslims and Christians could live side by side in peace and harmony. Were any of our elite confronted with the traumatic choices that lay before Imam Abubakar and his family on that day, we would not have been singing this accolade today. By the fruits of counsel they give today daily, we know them.

The times have brought out the worst in our elite, particularly in the North. Should it not concern us that even as we providing the nation leadership the challenges of the insurgency, poverty, street begging, out of school children, banditry, kidnapping, ethno-religious intolerance and conflict are all Northern? Rather than confronting the clearly known predicament of a depleting land resource against a growing population with informed solutions, we act selfishly to propose unworkable antidotes that we know will worsen the malady. Each one of us is endowed with a heart like Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, and should even be better disposed presumably given our education and exposure. Sadly we fail when the opportunity to display the goodness is offered. We must have a rethink in Northern Nigeria or else get washed down the soak-away of eternal decadence, to await our offspring.