Remembering Sabo Sarki Mohammed

Though we all converged to remember late Alhaji Sabo as President of our Institute, many others came to celebrate him as one-time Commissioner of Information of Kano State; others remember him as Press Secretary to one-time Kano State Governor late Police Commissioner Alhaji Audu Bako; yet others celebrate him as Press Secretary of one-time Chief […]

Though we all converged to remember late Alhaji Sabo as President of our Institute, many others came to celebrate him as one-time Commissioner of Information of Kano State; others remember him as Press Secretary to one-time Kano State Governor late Police Commissioner Alhaji Audu Bako; yet others celebrate him as Press Secretary of one-time Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’adua (elder brother of the late President); still others remember Alhaji Sabo as a well-rounded journalist and broadcaster at the BBC of London, Deutschewelle of Cologne, Germany, and at the New Nigerian newspapers, Kaduna. And indeed many other places besides. The late Alhaji Sabo was so many things to so many people.
But perhaps the greatest compliment that anyone can pay late Alhaji Sabo Sarki Mohammed is that many of the readers of this Column, perhaps most, may never have heard of him. Yes, Alhaji Sabo was exceedingly humble; he was humility personified. Despite all the positions he held during his lifetime, he never made undue and unnecessary noise.
Organised by the Kano State Chapter of the NIPR, this occasion, a maiden memorial lecture, attracted the cream of the Public Relations profession from many states of the North. The keynote was delivered by distinguished fellow of the Institute and veteran PR practitioner and scholar Mallam Abubakar Minjibir of the Mass Communications Department of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and who now doubles as Executive Director of the new Kano Development Journalism Institute. The special guest was appropriately the junior brother of late Alhaji Sabo, retired Justice Rabi’u Danlami Mohammed of the Court of Appeal.
Born in Kano in 1939, late Alhaji Sabo Sarki Mohammed was from a humble background but was well-born as his father was a professional book-keeper at the Native Authority (NA) Treasury. His career and experience in public relations, spanning over forty years, started in 1971 when he was appointed Press Secretary to the first Military Governor of Kano State, and culminated in his election as President of the NIPR, the very first Northerner to be so elected.
After the memorial lecture, many of us paid tributes, in our own words, to celebrate this man who spared no time in encouraging people to do things in excellent ways.
Prince Ajayi Memaiyetan (veteran journalist and PR practitioner): Perhaps more than anyone else, except for the family, I miss Alhaji Sabo the most. Perhaps no one here is a real contemporary of Alhaji Sabo because, as age-mates, he and I come such a long way. He was a close friend, a confidante, a professional colleague.
Auwal Haruna (New Nigerian Development Company): Alhaji Sabo was a father, a mentor and a leader in the practice of Public Relations. I travelled several times with him under the auspices of the NIPR, and there was hardly any state or community where he did not have professional friends whom we have interacted with. He was a complete gentleman who lived and exemplified the tenets of the practice because he was a great bridge builder. Building bridges reduces the problems and issues society is always contending with, especially ethnic bigotry that has almost succeeded in dividing us.
Idris Mohammed (Chairman and CEO Blueprint Newspapers): Even though Kano people gave birth to Alhaji Sabo, he belonged to all of us in the country. We should think of an international event to commemorate him, not only a state or national occasion. I first came in contact with Alhaji Sabo around 2000. He urged me to join the Public Relations Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (PRCAN), an association of which I had no prior knowledge as at that time. Alhaji Sabo made me not only to join the association, but to even immediately proceed to Lagos to contest for a position on the Executive Council. He used his political and public relations sagacity and goodwill to help, encourage and mentor me. Within two years, I had become the National Vice President of PRCAN, the only northerner at such a top level then.
Dr. Mustapha Nasir Mallam (BUK Mass Comm and one-time National Registrar of NIPR): This lecture is actually long overdue; how can we be only celebrating Alhaji Sabo more than two years after his demise? But alhamdu lilLahi better late than never. I will like to call on the National Secretariat through the Vice President who is here with us to organise such a lecture at the national level. One thing I vividly remember about Alhaji Sabo is that he always treated younger ones with such respect and decorum that you would never feel you were younger or inferior. He really applied PR in all his life. I also recall that he never believed in failure, as he always had an alternative plan for anything he would do.
Hajiya Habiba Abubakar (“Mother of Kano PR Practice”): During the June 12 crisis of 1993, it was Alhaji Sabo who gave me a very challenging PR assignment; that I was to go and see the then First Lady Maryam Babangida and the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation in an effort to douse the national tension. I said to him that I could not possibly do it; he looked at me straight and said: “Hajiya, I know you can do it, and you will do it!” So I did! He built my confidence, and I have never looked back.
Mukhtar Surajo (National Vice President of NIPR): My first interaction with Alhaji Sabo was when I was Press Secretary to the Governor of Kaduna State. He got my phone number somehow and called me up and proceeded to upbraid me on a PR matter he said we handled very unprofessionally. He then went on to teach me how to handle such a matter. He earned my respect then, and for ever. Alhaji Sabo deserves more honour than this humble lecture; his hallowed place in NIPR cannot be overemphasised. Honour should be given to whom honour is due. Alhaji Sabo’s record in PR, especially from this part of the country, will be very difficult to match. All northern chapters owe their ascendance to him. Therefore, his celebration should not be confined to Kano; it should be a national celebration of Public Relations.
Late Alhaji Sabo was the face of PR as far as this part of the country is concerned. The profession could not have prospered at the national level and be where it is today without the enabling environment which people like him provided. The NIPR Decree of 1990 was the handiwork of professionals like him who pushed for the establishment of the existing law guiding the practice of public relations in the country.
A lot of lessons can be learnt from the life and works of late Alhaji Sabo; First, he was a very dedicated person who never let challenges deter him; Second, he was such a hard-worker and he was hard-work personified; Third, he was a professional to the core, never leaving anything to chance; Fourth, he was meticulous and thorough, reason why he was able to mentor so many.
An excellent man has passed, Alhaji Sabo Sarki Mohammed. May Allah forgive him. Inna lilLahi wa inna ilaiHi raji’un!