Isa Wali @ 50
Last week, my piece, ‘The event I missed’ became a write up on the life and times of Isa Wali, a notable social critic who died 50 years ago and whose anniversary was recently marked with a memorial lecture at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. The event was attended by his associates, friends and relations […]
Last week, my piece, ‘The event I missed’ became a write up on the life and times of Isa Wali, a notable social critic who died 50 years ago and whose anniversary was recently marked with a memorial lecture at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. The event was attended by his associates, friends and relations led by General Yakubu Gowon, Maitama Sule, Justice Muhammad Uwais, Ahmed Joda, Ambassador Isaac Sagay, and several others. Nigeria’s acting President, Yemi Osibanjo, graced the occasion in person to deliver a eulogy. It is obvious from the quality of the assemblage of people at the event that Isa Wali is highly regarded even after so many years of his absence.
I had related in that earlier piece that Isa Wali was a remarkable man who confounded his conservative background by being different. His father was Walin Kano and a close associate of the Emir. He attended a Qur’anic school in his parents’ home, then proceeded to Kwaru elementary school and later received higher education in the School of Arabic Studies. He then decided to break away with the norms to pursue an agenda of social change particularly on the position of women in the society. By the mid-fifties when he had become established in the civil service he even went further in his social activism by embarking on writing a series of articles on the social inequities he had observed that were hampering social and economic progress in the North. The series of articles appeared in the Nigerian Citizen of 1956 where he advocated complete freedom for women as a means of freeing over one half of the population from the incapacitation brought about by the practices of purdah, polygamy and keeping of concubines. You have to remember that this was the North of 1950s when women did not have the vote, were hardly sent to school, and were routinely married off even before they reached puberty.
He wrote his articles in English and when he realized that he was missing the attention of the majority of the audience, he translated them into Hausa and got them published in Gaskiya Tafi Kwabo. These articles have been preserved in Arewa House, and are accessible. Expectedly there was an uproar and harsh criticism from here and there but he was able to get away with it because his arguments were well grounded. He was said to possess a fluent knowledge of classical Arabic as well as English and was able to base his contentions on the Qur’an and supported them with appropriate quotations.
What I found most interesting about Isa Wali was his ability to live by his words. He married an educated girl Zainab whose father was a foundation student of the only secondary school in the North, Katsina College, (in fact he was reputed to be Katsina College no. 1). Their wedding ceremony in 1952 was unprecedented in Kano City because it came complete with a garden party which was attended by many of Kano’s important personalities including the Resident. Maitama Sule was a key participant. He was pictured delivering an oration at the party. And when they moved to Kaduna Isa Wali allowed his wife to seek further education. She was also the first Northern lady to drive a car in Kaduna. Residence who kept tabs said that Zainab would drive the car and drop her husband at his office on her way to school, then in the evening she would call for him and drive him home. It was considered to be an unprecedented amount of freedom for a lady of her class in the 1950s.
Perhaps what really stood out in their relationship was the insistence of Isa Wali to attend every social gathering with his wife. Invitations to Isa Wali without the explicit inclusion of his wife were routinely returned unless corrected. It is under these circumstances that he had an interesting encounter with the Sardauna, then Premier of Northern Nigeria. The Sardauna had issued invitations for a luncheon in his house. As a senior civil servant Isa Wali had received his, which bore only his name ‘Malam Isa Wali’, his wife Zainab was not mentioned. Isa Wali who had never lacked courage of conviction, marched off to the Premier’s office invitation in hand.
‘I think you forgot to invite my wife, sir’ he said to the Sardauna pointing to the envelope as evidence. The Sardauna frowned but he was not flustered because he was probably used to the antics of this younger colleague. However it was not customary in the social pecking order to which he and Isa Wali belonged, to invite a wife together with her husband and to have done so was to create a precedent. Isa Wali was asking for a lot. But Isa Wali was firm. If Zainab could not attend then he could not accept also. To him it was an important matter – his principles were at stake. At last the Sardauna took the envelope and amended the invitation. He scratched out the word ‘Malam’ and inserted ‘Mr and Mrs’, instead. ‘You see’, he told Isa Wali, ‘if you insist on bringing your wife you are no more Malam – simply Mister’. But, as it was reported, the Sardauna smiled. Fortunately the Sardauna got to like Zainab and was quite reconciled to her presence at their functions which Isa attended.
Isa Wali moved from Kaduna in 1958 to Lagos to become a foundation member of the new Nigerian Foreign Service, a select group of officers that were specially prepared for diplomatic service after independence. He served in a number of stations before he was appointed Ambassador to Ghana. He was the youngest person ever to be appointed ambassador. Unfortunately he died at the age of 39 in 1967.
Late Ambassador Olujimi Jolaoso, a member of this pioneering group remembered his first meeting with Isa Wali and as recorded in his book, ‘In the Shadows’, he said: ‘We struck up a conversation and discovered that we were two of the new lot of men being recruited for the Foreign Service. He had a very friendly disposition, a winning smile, and more than an ordinary share of self-confidence. Isa was the first colleague of Northern Nigerian origin with whom I had a close encounter and developed a firm friendship. He was most impressive – this man of dynamic character and superb intelligence. He brought such dignity and grace to the Nigerian Foreign Service when it was in its formative stage and represented independent Nigeria very creditably until his premature death in 1967, after he had been High Commissioner in Ghana’.
The recent event at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua centre was an opportunity for associates, friends and relations to reminiscence and pay tribute to the memories of Isa Wali. I missed the event, but from what I gathered he was variously described in superlative terms. Acting President Osibanjo likened him to Nelson Mandela of South Africa, an icon who enjoyed global appeal for his universal values as demonstrated in his nationalistic tendencies, saying that Isa Wali stood for justice.
General Yakubu Gowon recalled his friendship with Isa Wali which started long before he became Head of State in 1966. When he became Head of State, Isa Wali became a close adviser during the early months of his administration and would have become a minister representing Kano. Associates and relations that visited him in the hospital in Lagos where he was spending his last days used to find him engrossed in a map that showed the 12 states structure of Nigeria that would be created four month later in May 1967. After his death Aminu Kano was selected to serve as Minister.
Perhaps the speech that would have gladdened the heart of Isa Wali was the one delivered by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi which was in tandem with his belief in social justice. The Emir intimated the audience that Kano Emirate Council was set to challenge the social injustice done to the womenfolk by working on a legislation that would outlaw forced marriage, make domestic violence illegal, and set out modalities before a second wife is taken. It has taken 50 years to reach this pass. It is never late.