Opinion

Bello Sharada: A Great Writer, A Bookish Soul, Gone Too Soon

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;5 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"5925NAL5" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Abba Anwar<&sol;p><div class&equals;"kMmqHmTk" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>I received the information about the sad and peaceful passing of a great writer and one of the bookish minds amongst his peers&comma; whose writings&comma; as a commentator&comma; cut across our culture&comma; governance&comma; politics&comma; geography and religious thought&comma; as very shocking and unbearable&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Before the few paragraphs coming below&comma; let me express my condolences to his immediate family first&comma; then the former Governor of Kano State&comma; Malam Ibrahim Shekarau&comma; Malam Aminu Gusau&comma; Malam Abubakar Mujahid&comma; Malam Aminu Inuwa Muhammad&comma; Malam Nura Adam Galadanchi&comma; Malam Nafi&&num;8217&semi;u Zangon Barebari&comma; Malam Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa&comma; Malam Ahmad Shu&&num;8217&semi;aibu&comma; Malam Muhammad Bakari Mika&&num;8217&semi;il&comma; all workers and volunteers of Al-Tajdid Hausa newspaper and all workers of Al-Tajdid Pharmacy&comma; Sabon Titi&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A great loss of this magnitude is heartbreaking and very difficult to cope with&period; I first came to know Bello Sharada for close to three decades now&period; When struggle was the order of the day&period; Our youthful exuberance was glaringly visible and energizing&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"VE3n3XRm" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>From day one I understood that Malam Bello had a flair for writing&period; Especially on Islamic revivalism and struggle&period; Since then I knew he loved reading&comma; reading and more reading&period; At later days&comma; apart from comments on Islamic development&comma; he also resorted to further engage in social and political commentary&period; Especially after the return of democracy in the country&comma; in 1999&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;5 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>As calmed and reserved as he was&comma; he still liked discussions on politics&comma; economy and governance&period; He didn&&num;8217&semi;t hide his feelings about our nation&comma; at the level of leadership and followers&period; Not minding whose ox was gored&period; So long as he believed with an opinion&comma; after thorough research and discussions&comma; he wrote his inner feeling for the public&period; Go and check some of his writings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He did not hold back in amplifying what his conscience was clear on&period; As typical writers behave&comma; they highlight certain traits that go down well with you today&period; And tomorrow they articulate what may not be palatable for your table&period; You know why&quest; They don&&num;8217&semi;t look at personalities&comma; but other abstract realities&period; They observe attitudes&comma; behaviors and realities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;5 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Malam Bello was an embodiment of simplicity&comma; good human relations&comma; upright&comma; and open discussions around many issues&period; The way he talked to other people gave insight of the kind of person he was&period; Very polite and selectively reserved&period; He related with people with respect and embracing engagement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The way he handled Al-Tajdid newspaper was amazing and appealing&period; The editorial contents were catchy and convincing&period; As a religious source for information around us&comma; then&comma; amongst Hausa readers&comma; there was semblance&comma; to a higher degree&comma; of objectivity and fairness in its reportage and other analyses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was glued to Al-Tajdid newspaper&comma; that came to newsstand to offer an alternative to Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky&&num;8217&semi;s Al-Mizan&comma; that was managed by a good friend of mine Malam Danjuma Katsina&period; Whether Al-Tajdid was able to counter Al-Mizan to size&comma; was a different story for another day&period; But today we are mourning the demise of our good friend of great substance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As quintessential as he was&comma; Malam Bello&comma; was always in the social media and in the air via radio stations&comma; creating awareness on many issues affecting our society&period; Be it from the lens of our religion or our culture&comma; governance and leaders&comma; followers and other societal settings&period; His major and particular interest was to see that our people are informed and wise enough to understand realities of life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There was a scenario between the two of us when he once met me in my office&comma; when I was the Features Editor of Triumph Newspaper&comma; around 2005 and 2006&comma; that time Al-Tajdid Islamic movement was&comma; I think 10 years of 15 years at the time&comma; I can&&num;8217&semi;t remember the years vividly&comma; he brought literature on how the movement started up to the time he met me in the office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For younger readers&comma; Al-Tajdid was a splinter group&comma; exited from Sheikh Zakzaky&&num;8217&semi;s movement many decades ago&period; The group then was led by people like Malam Abubakar Mujahid Zaria&comma; Malam Aminu Gusau&comma; Malam Ahmad Shu&&num;8217&semi;aibu&comma; Malam Aminu Inuwa Muhammad&comma; Malam Nura Adam&comma; Malam Nafi&&num;8217&semi;u Zangon Barebari&comma; amongst others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Back to my office&period; When Malam Bello met me he put all the papers about Al-Tajdid history and said &&num;8220&semi;Malam Abba we are celebrating the birth of Al-Tajdid&period; We need an article to be written by you&comma; the Editor&comma; and published in tomorrow&&num;8217&semi;s or next tomorrow&&num;8217&semi;s Triumph Newspaper please&period; I know you can do it&period; So I will tell my people that I gave you&period; So that they can expect it probably tomorrow&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We laughed and he left&period; To Allah be the glory I worked hard and made sure it was published the following day&period; The very time he came calling I was busy editing four pages of articles for the following day publication&period; Because I always edited four pages daily&period; For the Daily paper and sometimes&comma; but in rare cases&comma; one or two pages for the Sunday Triumph&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But Allah Helped&comma; I went through the literature brought by Malam Bello&comma; I was able to finish the write &&num;8211&semi; up and went back to three out of the four articles&period; Because Malam Bello&&num;8217&semi;s work replaced the fourth page&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>May Allah forgive all his shortcomings and accept all his good deeds&period; May Allah reward him with Jannatul-Fiddaus&period; May Allah guide his family as he exited from this world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To the family specifically&comma; please don&&num;8217&semi;t let his library&comma; his study room die a natural death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Allah Ya jikan Malam Bello Sharada&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Anwar writes from Kano<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sunday&comma; 30th August&comma; 2026<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;5 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;5 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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