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The Man,The Scholar And The Activist :A Tribute To Professor Dahiru Yahaya (1947-2021)

Published

3 years ago

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Professor Dahiru YAhaya

 

 

Huzaifa Dokaji

Although my grand uncle, I first met Professor Dahiru Yahya in 2011, when I joined Bayero University’s Department of History as a fresh History Major. In a short space of time, my relationship with him metamorphosed into many things: becoming his Majidadi, personal assistant to a point, his mentee, and also his research assistant. I was always in his office with questions about points he made in papers that he agreed to let me accompany him to his lectures both within and without the university. Impliedly, I spent five years (3 during my undergrad years and 2 after) attending both his Sokoto Caliphate, The Mediterranean World and the History of Political Ideas in the 19th Century lecture sessions. Establishing an intellectual rapport was easy because we shared interest in Ideas, which he was uniquely excellent with, and revolution, in which he was actively engaged. This familial and intellectual bond offered me the privilege of considerable access to many papers he wrote but did not publish, and even book manuscripts he was working on. When he started a project on the Intellectual biography of Malam, his father, which he tentatively named Gold in the Garbage: Reminisces of my Father, He nominated me as the Secretary of what was supposed to be the Project’s Committee.
A few months before his death, he engaged me in other projects including what would’ve been a commissioned Intellectual biography of former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. He asked me to draft a proposal he would flesh out and forward to the titan. The last time I met him was on 8th January, when he informed me of his desire to involve me in another book project on the Historiography of Islam in Hausaland (which would be in the Hausa Language). We discussed and, as usual, argue on some of the key claims the work envisages on the history of Islam in Northern Nigeria. Like the humble intellectual he was, Professor Dahiru Yahya insists that I should accept his invitation to join the project, least to help find answers to what he called the “cogent issues” I raised against some of his key claims. As fate would have it, none of the projects would materialize. Perhaps, someday, someone capable will take up the gauntlet.

Nigeria’s Professor Of History ,Dahiru Yahaya Passes On At 75

If there was anybody who taught me to believe in my potential, it was Professor Dahiru Yahya. When I complained to him of a recurring feeling of inadequacy whenever I write, He called me the next day and asked me to pen a draft speech the Governor of Kano would read at the coronation of Emir Muhammad Sanusi II (2013-2020). When I submitted it to him, he made some corrections and asked that I deliver it myself to the person who asked for it. He was that kind of Mentor at his best.

 

DAHIRU YAHYA THE SCHOLAR

Once, at an event on the Sokoto Caliphate, a participant intimated that the Fulani are the only courageous people in Hausaland and it was thus wrong to consider Sarkin Gobir Bawa Jan Gwarzo as a gwarzo. Professor Dahiru Yahya disagreed with the speaker on grounds that not only did Bawa patronized scholars (which is an attribute of gwarazan masu mulki), but was courageous enough to grant Dan Fodio and his Jama’a Freedom of speech, conscience, despite knowing well they seek to upset the status quo ante with such freedom. Later in a private conversation, Professor Dahiru Yahya asked the Sultan of Sokoto if it was fair to refuse to recognize Bawa Jan Gwarzo as a gwarzo considering his conduct towards the jama’a. The Sultan refused to, and wisely so, commit himself by not answering the question. That was Dahiru Yahya, an intellectual who said it as he saw it.

 

Dahiru Yahya’s appreciation of Bawa Jan Gwarzo’s courage to grant his opponents freedom may have its origin in ‘lessons from history and politics’, since both his grandfather Muhammad and his father, Malam Yahya, were, like the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) he sympathized with, victims of repressive regimes. Muhammad was a legitimist who was unjustly imprisoned by the Yusufawa rebels for identifying himself with the Tukurawa. It took a petition to the Colonial government (to Mr Palmer actually) by his son, Malam Yahya, to secure his release. Malam himself did not have it good with Emir Sanusi I (1953-1963) at some point. Allegedly, the Emir felt threatened that with Malam’s guidance, the ascetic Galadima Inuwa stood a better chance to succeed karagar Dabo. Malam had to resign from his job as district scribe. Events like these might have prompted him to admit, in a poem he called Tabrīyah, his secret appeal before God:

I have come to you with many demands,
The best of all demands is to demand Freedom.

 

Professor Dahiru was an honest academic “who”, as Dr. Tijjani Naniya, his first Ph.D. candidate, told BBC Hausa, “said his mind without mincing words and appreciated scholarship wherever it came from”. For example, in 2017, I approached him with a list of topics I wanted to work on for my MA thesis for guidance. Two of the topics, one on the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and the other on Opposition Politics in Kano, were proposed to me by some faculty in the department. I expected him to weigh in on the first topic since his romance with the IMN was well known. But he didn’t. He instead advised that I work on the second topic as it was “promising & would build my scholarly credentials more than the topic on IMN which was relevant largely because it was contemporary”.

 

Dahiru Yahya sees history as an unbreakable process that binds the Past, the Present, and the Future in a unity. As indigenous to traditional Historiography, his scope of the past dates as far back to Adam’s life of Innocence in heaven and the Present can be as long or as short as a lifetime spiritual anguish or bliss due to the Fall of Man.

The Future is not limited to life on Earth as agreed in Secular Historiographies, but to eternity & resurrection where man will return to his state of Innocence. The historical process, he often told me, was the link between the Past, the Present, and the Future. It is human efforts within the supervising Sunnatullah (scientific cause and effect) and mashi’ah, accidents, as Jacob Bronowski extrapolated it, that determine, mold and shape this process.

This historical progression is apparent in what al-Kindi recognized as the “universality of truth” or in a more generic sense, reality. It is the philosophical kith of Aristotle’s postulation that “the truth is universal and has neither ethnicity, nationality nor tribe”. It is hence safe to accept there is the element “truth” in every religion and philosophy, the bases of spiritual and secular civilizations respectively.
Nonetheless, Dahiru Yahya appreciated the achievements of Western Civilization and accepted its feats. He saw solutions in some of its approaches to social and political issues since knowledge is universal. But primary sources of inspiration were rather Islam, History and personal experience. He sees the social and political ideal in Islamic exoteric dimension and human ability to roam its esoteric propensities with divine guidance and personal effort. The Koran, the life of the Prophet (SAS) the struggles of the ahl bait, the Prophet’s noble progeny, the intellectual legacy of the Sokoto Jihadists especially the Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio & his son, the cosmopolitan Muhammad Bell; and the poems of his father, Malam Yahya (published as Nahyl Bughya), influenced and shaped his thought on, and approach to, the Philosophy of history and intellectual activism. Dahiru Yahya’s “stridently bullish account” of the potential capability, achievement and future of Islam won him the recognition of the Times Literary Supplement, in its Centenary issues in 2004.

 

Outside this class of social and political philosophers, the individual with the most influence on him as a Professor of the History of Ideas is the Swiss-born Perennial Philosopher and Sufi Master, Frithjof Schuon, founder of the Maryamiyya order.

 

Professor Dahiru’s romance with philosophia perennis shouldn’t be a surprise since Malam, his father, who had great influence on his scholarship, appreciated and accepted, like the Perennials, the universality of knowledge in both its exoteric and esoteric dimensions. Malam considered the separation of the two dimensions as an “ideological amputation” ostensibly because the diversity of human thought goes back to the unity of God’s knowledge

. The truth therefore is and should be, a manifestation of both divine and human presence. Other Muslim scholars with remarkable influence on him include Ibn Khaldun, the Austrian-Jewish scholar Muhammad Asad, the Iranian Islamic Philosopher, Sayyed Hussein Nasr, and Ahmad Ghulam of the Ahmadiyya.
As a product of, and a Professor in Western scholarship, the influence of Western intellectuals is evident in his approaches. French Historian Fernand Braudel certainly makes it to the list through his magnum opus, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. The work provides the theoretical formula that guides Professor Dahiru’s analysis of how geography shaped the movement of history in pre-colonial and even contemporary Northern Nigeria.

This is more so ostensible in his analytical studies of the social, economic and political relations between the lowland and highland communities that constitute the region. Polish-British Mathematician, Historian and Humanist Scientist, Jacob Bronowski; and French Historian, Maxim Rodinson, are other key influences.
One thing that has always stumped me about Dahiru Yahya was how he was able to maintain a genial relationship with the nation’s shady political elites and its rebellious clerical class as a scholar-activist.

He was a one-time secretary of the Kano branch of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the nation’s ruling party in the Second Republic, and later the voice of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. Like his father, Professor Dahiru personally never identified himself as part of Nigeria’s elites despite serving at least, and among others, as a Consultant on National Security to the Babangida Regime.

Consequently, this led to many conspiracy theories about his role on issues of national significance. A late Kano leader allegedly cautioned a former Military Head of State against appointing him as Vice Chancellor for fears that he could stir a rebellion from the comfort of his office.

His father, Malam, shared a similar dilemma, except that Malam was not controversial at least in the court of public opinion. On the one hand, Malam was the moral guardian and a favorite of the Galadima Inuwa, (1939-1963), and an employee of the Kano palace which he accused of replacing the wisdom of governance with the arrogance of past glory. In a Colonial report on the Dawaki ta Kudu district, a European inspection Officer described Malam as “unusually intelligent and keen”.

All his career as a District Scribe, Malam refused to accept accommodation and salary from the Colonial regime on grounds that it was contaminative. On the other hand, Malam accused the clerical class of substituting the humility of knowledge with the stupidity of ignorance. The elites handled both father and son with caution as did some of the clerics who considered him as a Malum Fada, the unpopular ulama-as-su that Dan Fodio condemned in his Kitab al-Farq. Many of such clerics later became his disciples and saw him as he truly was- an anti-Colonialist who sought to liberate his society from the anchor the “triumph of absurdity” has tied it to. Dahiru Yahya on the other hand was an anti-imperialist who aimed to push his society towards Islamic resurgence.

Dahiru Yahya received wide recognition for his academic feats. His Ph.D. at Birmingham University had neither a Masters degree before it nor a viva after it. The Ph.D. which was published in 1981 as Morocco in the 16th Century: Problems and Patterns in African Foreign Policy was the last book published in the Ibadan History Series and is to date one of the leading works on Sa’adi diplomacy, in English, and by a foreigner. It qualified him as the first Nigerian to publish a work on diplomacy. The research saw him cultivate Arabic, Osmanli Turkish, Spanish and French as research languages.

He established himself as the leading authority on Intellectual History and the History of Ideas in Northern Nigeria. For his outstanding contribution to scholarship, Dahiru Yahya became the first academic to be honored with a festschrift at Bayero University, Kano.

He was indeed a great scholar. Many may disagree with his conclusions and approach especially at the closing decade of his life, but none could honestly fault the exclusivity of his intellect, the precision of his approach and the profundity of his scholarship.
Rest well, Mentor.

Huzaifa Dokaji.
14th February, 2021

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Tribute To Late Justice Ahmad Belgore

Published

2 weeks ago

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April 13, 2024

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By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo

Death is an inevitable
visitor. When it strikes its victims it’s usually the end of an era. It was in the morning of Eid-l-Fitri, which was 10th April, 2024 I read the news of the demise of Justice Ahmad Olanrewaju Belgore, who died the previous night. He was a star in the judiciary because of his piety, consistency and fairness.

Many prominent Nigerians have sent their condolences to his family, Ilorin Emirate and Nigeria judiciary. One significant thing about late Justice was the fact that his life as a judge was filled with face of humanity.

Emir of Ilorin Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari and Chairman of Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council in his condolence message described the demise of Justice Belgore as a big loss to the Ilorin Emirate and the Nation at large.

According to the Emir “Belgore was one of the finest justices that the Ilorin Emirate had ever produced, who contributed in no small measures to the growth and development of the judiciary in particular and humanity in general.He prayed that Almighty Allah accept his good deeds, forgive his shortcomings and admit
him into aljannah firdaus.

The Turaki of Ilorin Emirate, Senator Saliu Mustapha has also expressed grief over the death of the legal luminary, described him as a renowned jurist who lived and served the country with his knowledge of the law as an examplary member of the bench.

Senator Mustapha while commiserating with the Nigerian Bar Association on the death of Justice Ahmad Belgore noted that the late jurist contributed immensely to the development of his community and the state in general. Recalling his years of service in the judiciary where he worked with utmost dedication and bowed out in glory last year.

The Senate Committee Chairman on Agric production and Services condoled the Belgore family, The Emir of Ilorin, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union, the people of Balogun Fulani Constituency, Associates and friends of the deceased over the demise of illustrious son of the Ilorin Emirate.He prayed Allah to overlook Justice Belgore misdeeds and grant him eternal rest.

Meanwhile, Kwara state Governor,AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq equally expressed sadness over the death of Justice Belgore who passed on Tuesday night.The Governor sent his heartfelt condolences to the entire Ilorin Emirate, and to the Belgores who have lost a rare gem.His Excellency prayed to Allah to forgive justice Belgore of his shortcomings, and admit him to aljannah firdaus.

The Nigerian Bar Association,The Lagos Lawyers and other prominent Nigerians have also mourned the late Ilorin born jurist, but mentioning all of them may not be necessary.

It is imperative to say that late Justice Ahmad Belgore was an incorruptible judge as he retired meritoriously last year.This was aptly captured by the words of Shehu Bashir,Esq “Justice Ahmad Belgore was a jurist with decency of conscience.He journeyed the delicate profession of adjudication with distinction and came out unblemished.

He was an incredibly tolerant, calm, generous, religious and extremely patient man.His propensity to generosity would almost make you think he had more than he was giving,yet he was undoubtedly incorruptible. And he would never make public his generosity to a third party.He was such a responsible gentleman.”

According to a retired judiciary staff who craved for anonymity, disclosed that in 2015 when his benefit has not been paid,he reached out to late Justice Ahmad Belgore and he gave him 120,000 naira as at that time.

Significantly,the late Justice has been described by many as an embodiment of humility, generosity and accessibility. In the words of Pharm Munirat Bello “He was a great icon of peace and beacon of hope to the less privileged, reliably a dependable pillar of support. His act of kindness could be likened to the scent of the natural musk, very calming yet so impactful. No life hardly gets in contact with him and fail to progress. He was gifted with a divine heart of generosity. An upright jurist to the core, an impeccable symbol of Islam. I have never for once seen him angry to the point of passing derogatory words, he could be stern but in a loving way”

Sheikh Saidu Ibrahim Maimasa is a close associate of late Justice Ahmad Belgore and he is also the Public Relations Officer of Markaz, recounted how helpful he was to him and other friends.He said describing his magnanimity and generosity would be inexhaustible.

He cited a case of a person whose house was forcefully taken and he approached Late Justice for possible redress at the Court of law.He explained that the justice told the man not to go to court, because there was no point going to court and win, and thereafter he lost his life.He later ensured that another house was erected for the man from his personal purse.

Furthermore,A family source disclosed that anything that has to do with Belgore’s family, the late Justice Ahmad Belgore was always at the forefront.Meaning he had imbibed the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in uniting the family.

In unraveling his unwavering support for the less privileged, a young man was said to have gone to his GRA residence and appealed to him that he wanted to go to school but he had no sponsor.The late Justice embraced him and sponsored his education throughout.

Parts of the traits of great men are humility and accessibility. If you are the type that cannot render help to people until an influential person in the society recommends them, then you may be far from circle of great men.Your door should be open for help , that is when you would be able to identify those whole truly need succour .

Justice Ahmad Belgore was never a religious bigot,According to Sheikh Saidu Ibrahim Maimasa “He had an open door policy, because he was very accessible.His security orderly was a Christian from Oyo State and he did not only sponsored his wedding but he was also there in person.He did not discriminate”

He was born on April 18,1953, Belgore studied Law at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello university (ABU),Zaria, where he bagged LL.B (Hons.) with specialisation in Islamic Law 1975 to 1978.He attended the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island,Lagos between 1978/1979 session.

He was the presiding Justice of the Ilorin Division of the Court of Appeal before his retirement in April,2023.He was also former Chief Justice of the Gambia.Justice Ahmad was younger brother to former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Alfa Belgore.

There is no doubt about the fact that late Justice Ahmad Belgore had lived a life worthy of emulation.He was a regular reciter of holy Quran and a great scholar in his own class.He was the president of Darul-Uloom Alumni Association.

Perfection, they say, belongs to God. I pray Allah forgive his shortcomings and grant him aljannah firdaus.

abdurraheemsaaddembo@gmail.com

07037813177

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A Tribute to Barrister Sulaiman Ahmed Assayouty

Published

2 weeks ago

on

April 9, 2024

By

Late Barrister Suleiman Ahmad Assayouty

 

By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo

Death is a reminder that this world is fleeting and interim. It has yet corroborated the assertion that we are strangers on this planet called, earth just as Barrister Assayouty has left us unannounced through the inevitable shackles of death

I was shocked because he was a brother that I knew very well as an undergraduate in Bayero University, Kano.He wasn’t a regular student as he was preoccupied with hustling in photography business.He usually stationed at the old site of Bayero University Kano where he carried out his business activities

I was at the new site and we had our regular photographer in person of Hope Photo there but whenever we were at the old site we patronised him.In fact his business point was a regular station for Ilorin Emirate students and other customers whenever they did not have lectures.

Since I left the University I have not heard or seeing him until the day he graduated from Law School and the same was posted on the BUK Alumni WhatsApp Group, Ilorin Emirate chapter.I knew within me that day that he struggled to attain the feat and I rejoiced with him through my comments.

We were all in BUK but Assayouty was an hustler and we patronized him not just because he was one of us but he’s very humble. He had a dream and he pursued it with tenacity, hardwork and prayers so he became a certified lawyer eventually. I was not even aware that he later had a Sayuti Cafe on campus,i got to know through BUK Chat zone on Facebook; an online medium for BUK students and others. I’m sure it was after we have left the school he operated the cafe business

From the Account of my friends and brothers that are resident in Kano, they said he was going to a Police Station in Tofa with his wife and his child yesterday 8th April,2024 before they had an accident that claimed his life and injured his wife and his child who are still in the hospital. I pray to Allah for their speedy recovery.

When a promising young man died it is usually tremendously painful because a dream has been shattered and retrogressed.The demise of Assayouty was one too many as it reinvigorated and rejuvenated the futility of this world.He laboured so hard to become a lawyer. He was studying Law in pari passu with hustling. How great would it have been if He had lived long to enjoy the fruit of his struggle?

According to Mallam Zakariya Bayero “we were staying in an uncompleted building together in 1998, he was running a diploma programme then”.

Barrister Yakubu Abdullahi reacted to my Facebook post about his demise thus “May Allah admit him to Jannat, his death is shocking, I know him as a struggling lawyer, despite his commitment to law practice,he has other struggles he did around Janguza axis. May Allah forgive his shortcomings”.

In Quran 62 Verse 8, Allah says “Say, indeed, the death from which you flee.Indeed it will meet you”. Today it has met our brother but our solace is that Barrister Sulaiman Assayouty died as a Muslim in the holy month of Ramadan, he never tarnished the image of his family and lived a dignified life.May Allah grant him aljannah firdaus and give his immediate family, the Ilorin Emirate BUK Alumni and friends the fortitude to bear the huge loss.

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Kano Water Scarcity: How Long is Governor Abba’s ‘State of Emergency’?

Published

1 month ago

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March 17, 2024

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_By Misbahu El-Hamza_

Kano State makes headlines almost every year, and coincidentally, during Ramadan for water scarcity. The frequent headlines are often attributed to electricity system failures, which disrupt water pumping, or equipment faults at water treatment plants, exacerbating the situation.

About ten months ago, upon taking office, Kano State Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf declared a State of Emergency to address water scarcity across the state, urging for patience and maximum cooperation from residents. Although I haven’t seen or reviewed the governor’s plan during this emergency, I recall that resolving Kano’s water issues was one of his campaign promises.

I remember when the governor inspected the Challawa Water Treatment Plant in May 2023 and expressed dissatisfaction with its condition. It was said that only two of the six pumping machines of the facility were functioning at the time.

Following that, the governor give a one-week ultimatum to the Kano State Water Board to submit its demands in order to end the water shortage in the state. There was a sigh of relief by the public. Personally, I had hoped that we’re finally getting over this hardship.

Unfortunately, nearly a year now, the situation is not only prevalent in urban areas but is even worse in rural communities. We are not only seeing those trending headlines of water scarcity in Kano, we’re experiencing the brunt of it.

Recently, the price of a 25-liter jerrican of borehole water in Kano surged by ₦50 to ₦150. Someone told me that he bought one at ₦200 around Kurmi market. In areas like Hotoro, Nassarawa LGA, where I reside near Kumbotso LGA housing the Challawa water plant, prices rose from ₦40 to ₦70 or higher. The Chalawa water plant is believed to have the capacity of supply the whole of Kano with water, but we rely heavily on individual boreholes for water, with little to no infrastructure connecting us to the water plant.

While I resides in a suburb and can afford buying a jerrican of what seems to be clean water, in the rural areas where I often visit for work, the situation is dire. Many communities lack access to clean water sources, with broken or dried-up boreholes and wells being common. Residents, including young children, often resort to fetching water from stagnant ponds shared with cows, donkeys, camels, and even dogs. This water is what they use for all daily activities, posing serious health risks. It’s evident that both state and local governments have neglected these communities, offering little to no solutions for their water woes. Where you see boreholes or wells in these communities, they are either constructed by individual donors or (charity) organizations and a handful ones by politicians.

Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf must be aware of the current water crisis in both rural and urban Kano. However, the pressing question remains: how long will his State of Emergency address the suffering caused by the persistent water scarcity or total lack of it across the state?

Three days ago, I heard a jingle apologizing for the water scarcity in Kano metropolitant, blaming the repair works at Challawa and Tamburawa treatment plants. It’s said to have been sponsored by Kano State Water Board. To me, the jingle suggests the governor partly fulfilled his pledge, now it’s the board’s turn to restore water supply. Or at least that’s my assumption.

I know this isn’t the first time the the board apologises. In 2022, the then Managing Director of the board was quoted apologizing to Kano residents for failing to supply water during Ramadan. At that time, 25-liters jerrican of borehole water cost between ₦30 – ₦100.

I remain hopeful that before his remaining three years expire, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf will emerge as Kano’s hero by addressing the water scarcity issue, providing relief to the growing population, including those in rural areas.

As the governor continues to address our water problem within this emergency period, I hope the demands the water board submitted to him as requested include: establishing new plants and resaviors or enhancing existing ones, extending mainline pipes to suburbs and rural areas, ensuring independent power supply for the plants, and securing permanent employment for existing and additional staff. If the board manages its expenses independently, perhaps shifting it to the state payroll would improve also efficiency.

With reliable service and effective system in place, the board and the state government should be rest assured that Kano people will be more willing to pay for water, and the board does not need to heavily depend for its revenue from the industries it diverts our little water to.

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