Opinion

Dr. Ahmad Bamba:The Lost Of An African Scholar-Jibia

Published

3 years ago

January 16, 2022

Abdussamad Ahmad Jibia

It was a Friday, specifically the seventh of January 2022 in the official salary calendar of Nigeria. Even if you are not Gregorian in your personal timings once you are a salary worker in Nigeria you cannot afford to ignore the Gregorian calendar. Even Islamic schools use it to pay their workers. Traders are always conscious of it because their sales are higher at the end of the month. Employers feel relieved when they are able to pay their staff before or on the last day of a Gregorian month. Nigerian politicians list payment of monthly salaries as one of their achievements.

But this piece is not about salary payment or the Gregorian calendar.

In one of the Whatsapp groups I belong, someone had just posted that Dr. Ahmad Bamba was dead. Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim was, until sometime in the late 1990s, a tenure staff of the Department of Islamic Studies Bayero University Kano. After some misunderstandings with the then administration of Bayero University Kano, which he narrated when he was alive, he voluntarily withdrew his services from the university only to be to be reabsorbed, voluntarily retire and reabsorbed many years later when Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed assumed the Vice Chancellorship of the University.

Before I could react to the news of Sheikh Ahmad BUK as many people called him, I must verify its correctness. In 2020, I went to the extent of calling the Deputy National Chairman of the Izala group to condole him about the death of Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau announced by an online newspaper and it turned out to be a fake news. Before he died, fake news reporters had once killed Alhaji Bashir Tofa, the erstwhile Presidential candidate of the defunct NRC and publisher of the first Nigerian Islamic newspaper, The Pen. Much earlier, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was killed many times before his death, even without social media at that time. With all these in my mind, I decided to verify, and I thought the best person to ask was my neighbor and one the most senior students of the Sheikh, Professor Ahmad Murtala. After the confirmation, I began to pray for Dr. Ahmad.

Dantata Shed Tears Over Insecurity

I do not personally know any of Dr. Ahmad’s children except for one of his daughters who is a classmate and a close friend of one of my two wives. But my wife was in Bauchi for the marriage ceremony of a cousin in her mother’s family. So she could only immediately phone. Of course, she visited Insaaf Bamba after her return. As for me, the best thing I could do was to pray. As an ordinary person, I have always avoided gatherings of people who matter in the society. Allah answers prayers from whichever location and even from ordinary people like me. So, in sha Allah we shall continue to pray for Islamic scholars like Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim. Of course, the best way to remember a scholar is first, to practice the message he propagated and to continue to spread his teachings. The Messenger of Allah (May blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) listed a knowledge taught by a Muslim as one of the acts of virtue that continue to fetch them rewards after their death as long as the knowledge continues to be practiced.

But who is Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim?

Baby Ahmad was born in 1940 in Kumasi, Ghana to a migrant family of Islamic scholars. Migration from Northern Nigeria to Ghana is age long and Dr. Ahmad’s family is one of those Nigerian families who migrated to join the Hausa community of Ghana. The child of Fatima and Muhammad began his early Islamic education from home and at the age of 14 he was taken to a tailor to learn the art of making clothes while still attending his Islamic lessons.

The turning point in Sheikh Ahmad’s life came with his journey to Saudi Arabia to study. I heard him confess several times that before he made it to Madina where he met world class Islamic scholars he had begun to see himself as a leading Islamic scholar. That was understandable given the environment in which Sheikh Ahmad was brought up. However, according to him when he arrived Madinah he was reduced to a beginner struggling to learn.

And he learnt well. Soon after collecting his letter of admission and registering as an undergraduate in the prestigious International Islamic University of Medina, Ahmad Bamba excelled to become one of the best students of Hadith. That was the time when the University was headed by the famous Sheikh AbdulAzeez Bn Baaz, and had lecturers like Sheikh Hammad Al-Ansariy. These are some of the best Islamic scholars of their generation and it is a pride for any student of Islam to come in contact with them even if they didn’t teach him. They directly taught Sheikh Ahmad.

Ahmad’s scholastic aptitude earned him a good degree in Hadith before he left the Prophetic city of Madina. He assumed duty as a lecturer in the well respected Department of Islamic studies of Bayero University in 1981.

For the first one decade of his sojourn in Bayero University, the people who mostly benefitted from his vast knowledge of Islam were the students of his Department. For the rest of us in other faculties of the same University, we only heard about him when we discussed with his students. This is not to say that other people did not discover him early enough. In addition to teaching at the Aminuddeen’s Da’wah Islamiyya School many people, including some influential businessmen, privately visited the Sheikh’s house for Islamic lessons.

After the death in 1992 of Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gummi who served as the de facto leader of the Salafis in Nigeria, the private students of Sheikh Ahmad Bamba thought that there was the need to raise their not well-known teacher to serve as a replacement. And it worked perfectly well. The first open lessons of Hadith by the Sheikh began at a location provided by one of his students in Gandun Albasa Quarters, Kano.

The lessons in Gandun Albasa did not last long. The promoters of the Hadith lessons thought further that better results could be achieved if the lessons were moved to the University, after all Dr. Ahmad was a staff of the only University in Kano at that time. That is how Dr. Ahmad began his Hadith lessons in the Bayero University Old campus Jumuah mosque. And because the lessons were holding in BUK and Dr. Ahmad was a staff of BUK, he came to be known in many circles as Dr. Ahmad BUK.

As planned by his students and with Allah’s permission, Dr. Ahmad within the blink of an eye became the scholar everyone respected in Northern Nigeria. Many people from all over Kano state and the neighbouring Katsina and Jigawa states made special arrangements to attend his weekly lessons in Kano. Those who could not attend would not miss the cassettes. He was teaching the Nigerian public a knowledge that was hitherto restricted to the circle of select Islamic scholars. He was questioning unIslamic traditions of Sheikh-worshipping. He openly exposed disbeliefs packaged and given to Muslims as Islam. Naturally, this would not go down well with those who benefitted from the status quo; hence the many enemies of Dr. Ahmad.

Younger Sunni scholars accepted Dr. Ahmad as their leader and respected his interventions. For example, he prevailed on the Late Sheikh Ja’afar Adam to rescind his decision to impose niqab as part of the compulsory uniform for girls in Uthman bn Affan College. For those of us who attended various lessons of different Salafi scholars in Kano, we noticed that salient issues raised by Dr. Ahmad were always amplified by other scholars as a mark of respect for the late leader scholar.

Books of Hadith are categorized. The best are the collections of Bukhari and Muslim. Any hadith reported by both scholars is considered as unquestionably authentic. The next set of books are the Sunan. These are the collections of Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i and Ibn Majah. The six books put together are known as “The Six Collections (Al Kutubus Sitta)”. The six collections plus the collections of Imam Ahmad (Musnad), Imam Malik (Muwatta) and Imam Addarimiy (Sunan) are known as “The nine collections (Al Kutubut tis’ah)”.

In case you don’t know the level of Dr. Ahmad’s contribution, he is the only African scholar known to have read, translated and interpreted the nine collections to public.

Dr. Ahmad was charismatic. Perharps that was what made many people feared approaching him thinking that he would be too tough to deal with. They were always surprised when the Sheikh received them with smiles and an open mind.

Like the Late Sheikh Abubakar Gummi, Dr. Ahmad was generous. As donations kept coming, he kept giving. This has been attested to by people very close to him. At a point when someone spoke to him about it, he said, “keeping this one will prevent another one from coming”. This is a statement that could only be discerned by a person who understands the saying of Allah, “Whatever you spend (for Allah’s sake), Allah will provide its replacement” (Q34:39)

If your habit is to carry gossip from one point to another, Dr. Ahmad would never welcome you. His time was for teaching and learning. He encouraged productivity and urged youth to be focused until they excelled in the one thing they choose to do in life.

When some people began to question his nationality, Dr. Ahmad stated in his characteristic smile that he had a “productive nationality”. And it is so. After he temporarily withdrew his services from Bayero University in the 1990s Sheikh Ahmad accepted to teach in the Islamic University of Niamey. Soon after, his Nigerian students arranged for him to come back and continue with the work he started. There was a mild rejection, by his Nigerien students. The Nigerians had their way and our neighbours gave up when they understood that more people stood to benefit from his knowledge in Nigeria.

May Allah have mercy on His servant Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim. May He forgive his shortcomings and admit him into the highest level of Firdaus. May Allah give this Ummah more of his kind. Amin.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia is a Public affairs commentator and a University Lecturer.
14/01/2022

Opinion

Let President Tinubu Rename University of Lagos After Gowon, Not Abuja

Published

5 days ago

December 18, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

Adnan Mukhtar Tudun Wada

I was not happy when Northwest University Kano was renamed to Yusuf Maitama Sule University, as student leaders of that University then, we followed the interest of the students who were also not happy with the renaming at that time for one reason; the renaming was politically motivated, to hurt the founder of the institution Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. I was busy mobilising students to protest, the next day I was invited to the DSS for questions where I spent hours and all the people we were mobilising the protest together ran and dissociated themselves from it. I have no option but to plead with the DSS to release me, assuring them that not a single student would protest the government’s action.

The renaming has affected many students who are seeking admission abroad; it’s Northwest University on my transcript and Yusuf Maitama Sule University on my certificate. This is kinda confusing and not good at all.

Politicians should immortalise individuals in their new projects not existing ones. The renaming of the University of Abuja to Yakubu Gowon University is not good for the university’s alumni.

The President should have found a new project or built a new University by naming it after the former Head of State.

I don’t support the idea of playing politics by renaming our universities and this happens mostly in Nigeria.

Imagine waking up renaming the University of Maiduguri to Mohammed Goni University, Yobe State University to Ibrahim Geidam University, the University of Ibadan to Abiola Ajimobi University, the University of Lagos to Lateef Jakande University.

It will be bad for the alumni of the aforementioned universities to come across this.

Why is this only happening in Africa? Look at Makerere University in Uganda, it was established in 1920 but despite Yoweri Mosevenni’s long reign; he didn’t for once attempt to change it to even his name for selfish reasons.

He didn’t think of renaming the Entebbe International Airport after him but in Nigeria, we have this culture of renaming everything after individuals.

If you want to be immortalised, leave a lasting legacy as Gowon did in establishing NYSC. That enough is Okay and better than naming an institution after him.

President Tinubu should have renamed the University of Lagos after Gowon, not Abuja. I’m sure his people will reject this not for any reason but because of the large number of people that will be affected by it.

The University of Abuja Alumni were all crying over this painful decision.

Opinion

Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya: Champion of Civil Society and Good Governance in Northern Nigeria

Published

6 days ago

December 16, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, is an influential Civil Society figure in Kano State and Northern Nigeria. He is currently serving as the Executive Director, Citizens for Development and Education (CDE), he has dedicated many years of his civil society activism as advocate for the promotion of democracy, good governance, anti-corruption, peace building and women empowerment

Amb. Waiya, holds number of academic qualifications, including a Higher National Diploma in Public Administration from Kano State Polytechnic, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, Master’s in Public International Law at Maryam Abacha, American University, Maradi, and he is currently pursuing a doctor of philosophy at Skyline University, Kano in International Relations

In the course of his career, he held several positions and managed a number of projects. He served as the Director, Alhilal Foundation, from 2003 to 2007, an organization which focused on women empowerment, through basic literacy and skills acquisition. He later coordinated the North West Zonal Office of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Foundation. Amb. Ibrahim Waiya, led and coordinated a number of Local Government Councils Elections Observation missions across 19 Northern states.

In 2011, Waiya managed the Campaign against Drug Abuse under the auspices of Northern Youth Assembly, a youth driven platform with leadership structures in the Nineteen Northern States. He served as Secretary, for both, Kano State Stakeholders Committee on Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign and Kano State Stakeholders Committee on Anti-Child Abuse, a project which was coordinated by the office of the Special Adviser, Child Welfare and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. His involvement in election observation coordination missions and various public engagements, highlights his commitment to civic engagement towards community development, democracy and good governance

Waiya’s extensive experience includes free consultancy support services to numerous Government Ministries and Agencies such as: Kano State Ministry for Women Affairs and Social Development, Kano State Ministry for Community and Rural Development, office of the Special Adviser to the Governor of Kano State on Child Welfare, Ministry for Special duties, office of the special adviser, joint security services. He has facilitated numerous training workshops and seminars, impacting his knowledge, skills, experience on the community, particularly for community based organizations

In recognition of his contributions, he was appointed to several key positions, such as the President, of the Kano Civil Society Forum, Chairman of the Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks, Convener, Nigeria for Peace Project, Managing partner, United Nigeria Project, Head of Secretariat, Kano Peace Committee, Secretary General, National Action for Women Agenda,(NAWA), chairman, Board of Trustees, Northern Youth Assembly, (Majalisar Matasan Arewa) Fellow, Institute of Security and Strategic Studies, Fellow, Institute of International Peace and Secure Society, Fellow, Institute of Business Diplomacy and Financial Management, member, Commission of Inquiry on Missing persons, member, Implementation Committee, on the Recommendations of the Report of the Commission of inquiry on missing persons, member, Commission of Inquiry to investigate, various political violence and cases of missing persons, that occurred in the State from 2015 – 2023, member, Commission of inquiry to investigate protest, arson and destruction of public and private properties that occurred from 1st – 10th August, 2024 Amb. Waiya, served as Consultant on various government projects, such as: Kano State Security Trust Fund, Safe Corridor, Campaign against Drug Abuse, across the 44 Local Government Council Areas. Amb. Waiya”s active participation in peace building, policy advocacy and legislative reform has continued to impact positive change in Kano State, the North and Nigeria at large.

Opinion

“I Transition to PR and Digital Marketing to Transform Brands Globally” – Ibrahim Ayyuba Isah

Published

1 week ago

December 15, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

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As 2024 comes to a close, Ibrahim Ayyuba Isah reflects on his journey from journalism to public relations (PR) and digital marketing. With over a decade of experience in media and communications, Ibrahim’s transition was fueled by a desire to empower businesses—starting with Northern Nigeria but extending globally—to build impactful narratives and achieve sustainable growth.

“Every brand, regardless of location, deserves access to the tools and expertise needed to thrive in today’s fast-paced world,” Ibrahim says. “My goal has always been to bridge the gap in strategic communication, ensuring that no business is left behind.”

From Journalism to Strategic Communication

Ibrahim’s illustrious journalism career spans over a decade, during which he served as a Senior Reporter at TVC News, covering critical developments, including the Kano State Government House for three successive administrations. His work involved breaking major news stories, producing multimedia content, and engaging audiences through digital platforms.

“I’ve always been passionate about communication, but I realized I wanted to do more than report stories—I wanted to help brands craft their own,” Ibrahim shares. “That’s what led me to pivot into PR and digital marketing.”

To equip himself for this new journey, Ibrahim pursued advanced studies, earning a Master’s in Communication Studies and a Master’s in Public Relations from Bayero University, Kano. He further honed his expertise with a Professional Certificate in Digital Marketing from the London School of Business Administration and a Master Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Skills Institute. These credentials underscore his commitment to mastering the art of strategic communication.

Empowering Brands Through Ayrah Media Concept

As the CEO of Ayrah Media Concept (AMC), Ibrahim leads a PR and creative agency that provides businesses with tailored solutions, including PR consulting, social media management, corporate campaigns, and digital marketing.

“My vision is to empower brands to connect with their audiences, tell compelling stories, and achieve global relevance,” Ibrahim explains. “Through AMC, we’re showing businesses—whether in Northern Nigeria or beyond—that they can reach new heights with the right strategies.”

In 2024, AMC worked on several impactful campaigns, including Ibrahim’s role as a Lead Consultant for the WOFAN-ICON2 project in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, where he developed and executed PR and communication strategies to amplify the project’s impact.

Changing Perceptions and Building Bridges

Transitioning into PR and digital marketing came with challenges, including shifting perceptions about its value.

“Many businesses see PR and digital marketing as optional rather than essential,” Ibrahim says. “But the results are transformative. Strategic communication is not just about visibility; it’s about building trust, credibility, and lasting connections with your audience.”

This philosophy drives Ibrahim’s approach, ensuring that businesses of all sizes—whether local startups or established corporations—can access high-quality PR and marketing services.

Looking Ahead

Ibrahim’s vision for the future extends far beyond regional boundaries. While his roots and passion lie in Northern Nigeria, his focus is on creating strategies that resonate globally.

“Brands in Kano, Lagos, Abuja, or even New York share a common goal: to connect with people and make an impact,” he says. “My mission is to ensure that every business, regardless of size or location, has the tools and strategies to achieve that.”

In 2025, Ibrahim plans to document his professional journey in a book that will explore his experiences as a journalist and PR expert, offering insights into the evolving landscape of communication and its role in business success.

A Message of Gratitude

As he reflects on the year, Ibrahim expresses his gratitude to those who have supported his journey. “I’m incredibly thankful to my mentors, collaborators, and clients who have believed in my vision. Together, we’ve shown that impactful communication has the power to transform lives and businesses.”

With a clear vision and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Ibrahim Ayyuba Isah is poised to lead the way in redefining PR and digital marketing, not just in Nigeria but across the globe.