RE: UME, ETC…
Salam Dear Readers. This week we present a sample of your responses to some of the recent pieces on this page. Your Columnist apologises on inability to reply individually to each email – and this apology is most especially for the elder statesmen among the respondents, and they are many. The young ones among them […]
Salam Dear Readers. This week we present a sample of your responses to some of the recent pieces on this page. Your Columnist apologises on inability to reply individually to each email – and this apology is most especially for the elder statesmen among the respondents, and they are many. The young ones among them (like me, wide grin,) can understand the hustle and bustle of life and this life’s schedule. Thank you all. Allah kara zumunci.
RE: UME SEASON:
IDRIS HABIB ([email protected]: Thank you very much for “TO PARENTS, IN THIS SEASON OF UME”. I found it very educative, informative and enlightening, and hope other readers did too. I learnt a lot from the lessons contained therein. I again thank you most sincerely and pray that may Allah reward you in what you do on this page. More, please.
IBRAHIM ABDULLAHI, NIGERIAN GAS COMPANY, PORT HARCOURT: ([email protected]): Allah Ya saka da alkhairi! Many parents are indeed making their children have low self-esteem and lack of confidence in their personality. Six years ago, I had to seek the intervention of [your colleague] Dr. Ibraheem Dooba whom I wrote for advice on a similar matter. His advice on exactly the direction of this your article was what made my family to agree and understand my take on the learning curve development of our child. With this your intervention, I hope other parents will understand things from this perspective, and continue encouraging their children. And praying for them.
DR. ABDUL AZIZ LABO MAHUTA, CONSULTANT UROLOGIST ([email protected]): I must say you made my day after reading this article. It is probably the most interestingly realistic article I’ve ever read and this is probably because it has been a subject I kept secretly in mind and think about very often due to the personal experience I have regarding the relationship between hard-work and success. This experience made me come to the conclusion that success, in many if not most instances, has nothing to do with hard-work. For I know many below-average individuals who have become great successes in life while many hard-working ones did not become so successful. Its pure luck or chance or destiny or fate, depending on one’s belief or orientation. President Obama called it “FLUKE” in his book AUDACITY OF HOPE. I’m sure glad to know that I am not the only one with this thinking or belief. I only hope that understanding this will make our children work hard but with consciousness towards and increase in their IMAN.
ABDULLAHI IBRAHIM ([email protected]: Why not take your child outside the hospital environment to engineering, computer sciences, IT, architecture, geology and mining, pure sciences such as physics and mathematics, etc., etc., where many more opportunities abound. Some of my friends who had wanted to become doctors in the mid-90s but were admitted into courses other than medicine (such as engineering, geology, etc.) are today happily working in different fields of endeavour, and even doing better than most doctors. They rarely remember that they wanted to be doctors except on a few occasions. But those that study medicine-related courses and stay around the hospital environment are the ones that will have a life-long memory of what they ought to have been, or wanted to be. WALLAHU AALAM.
SISTER AMINATU ALI ([email protected]): I happen to have read the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell; that is the book the psychologist you quoted referred to. Since then I have become a great admirer of Gladwell’s books. Please try to get hold of any one of his books and read; I’m sure you will enjoy it. More ink to your pen!
SISTER ZUBAYDA IMAM ([email protected]: I wish your son all the best in whatever field he finds himself. [AMIN, SISTER – Columnist]
RE: VOA OBAMA
ABBATI DANKANTI GUMEL ([email protected] ): I have been a regular listener of foreign radio Hausa stations for the last 40 to 45 years. There is never a day that would pass without me listening to the foreign radio stations broadcasting in Hausa. What Audu Gagara said on VOA Hausa was his own observation and imaginary views. One cannot quarrel against someone else’s wishes and aspirations for, as they say, one man’s food is another man’s poison. I commend VOA Hausa Service for a job well done. It has been a tremendous success and provides excellent radio services like any other international radio station to the Hausa community worldwide. Gagara cannot expect VOA Hausa to make a round clock noise on the Chibok girls as they do not belong to the government of Nigeria. It is the duty and responsibility of this country to protect and defend the fundamental rights of its citizens. Nigerian media are excellent in promoting and orchestrating tribal, religious and sectional sentiments than working for the country. The case of young girl, Ese, and her lover boy friend, Yunusa, is another way towards that objective. President Muhammadu Buhari’s case during electioneering presidential campaign was a clear testimony illustrating the direction of Nigerian media disuniting the Nigerian people. VOA Hausa is not like that!
RE: DUSE ALI
ENGR IBRAHIM KHALEEL INUWA OFR : I never miss your Saturday column on Daily Trust every Saturday, I want to congratulate you for all the efforts and in particular on this piece. It has refreshened me and strengthened my mind on Nigeria-Egypto relationship.
SHA’AIBU MAIGARI ([email protected]: This is the first time I learned about this wonderful guy as well, in spite of his immense contributions to African – and particularly Nigerian – journalism; thanks to you. If you remember those who wrote the history of Nigerian journalism you can guess why no mention was made of Duse Muhammad Ali. I think the reason is obvious. Did you say he founded The Comet newspaper in 1933? You should also have found out and told us how the newspaper later became owned by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and his party, the NCNC. Thanks, any way.
PROFESSOR SULE BELLO, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA (BY PHONE): Salam My Brother Bala. Duse Mohamed’s issue is way beyond what Wikipedia or any contemporary historical document may tell you. In fact, Duse is grossly under-reported, if reported at all. Because the British Colonial Enterprise feared him so much, Duse was not allowed to be mentioned in any significant way in historical books and documents. His legacy was obliterated. Not only did Duse start several anti-colonial movements in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, he also did a lot in establishing political parties and media in all these areas. Apart from The Comet which you mentioned he founded in Lagos almost a century ago and which was “awarded” by colonial historians to Zik, history records that he founded and named NCNC as the first Nigerian political party, an organization the colonial historical allocators later awarded to Herbert Macaulay. This is only the tip of the iceberg, and more needs to be done for the memory and legacy of Duse Mohamed Ali to endure.
AMB MAHMOUD YAHYA, 3 KANTA ROAD, KADUNA ([email protected]: Thank you very much for the beautiful write-up on that forgotten icon of Pre-independence Pan African nationalism, Duse Mohamed Ali. May his soul rest in peace, amen. Have you by any chance managed to find out the actual reason why he added “DUSE” to his names and what it means? May God bless you for writing this very important piece of African history. [WE SHALL HAVE TO WAIT ON PROF SULE BELLO AND SIMILAR HISTORIANS TO TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS GREAT AFRICAN HERO. THE COLUMN IS AVAILABLE, AND WAITING – Columnist]