| Late Dr. Ibrahim Tahir |
Nelson Mandela was once imprisoned for life, and as he passed away, it seems ironical that this life will be imprisoned by the memoirs, salutations and adulations for the late freedom fighter. Madiba's death came at about the same time as the 4th year remembrance of the demise of Dr Ibrahim Tahir's. As we all mourned Mandela, the commiserations found ready, a sober and tearful mood in my already grieving heart, realising that time had flown so fast, and it was already 4 years since we lost our own Madiba from Bauchi. Baba Abdullahi Yelwa, in the People’s Daily, described talking to Tahir as "akin to taking a transcendential journey into the intellectual wilderness". He said Tahir had "rare intellectual prowess and an academic grounding in logic and philosophy. He was eloquent and compelling, an intellectual colossus with a huge frame, towering over and above his peers".
Ugar Odey of Findings news magazine referred to Tahir as the intellectual gladiator of his era, a perfect philantrophist, community leader and orator of unparalled eloquence. For a fact, I know late Talba narrowly missed on winning a nobel laureate award over his work with his novel titled Last Imam, as details showed that he was slightly edged out of the award. President Gowon consulted Tahir while he was in school at Cambridge University, according to Lord Dennis Stevenson of the British House of Lords, as he wrote to condole the family. Late Talba himself narrated how the Obasanjo/Shehu Musa Yaradua government of the 70's had held him hostage several times for long spells, maxing his intellect for input on government policies, Nigeria's constitution, and many similar national issues.
Dr Tahir's intellectualism was richly matched with generosity, the type you read about as examplary stories in sermons and teachings of selflessness from religious scriptures. Talba could take a bullet for just about any human being, his life was dedicated to the service of people, tirelessly working himself to solve your problem, or atleast assuage it.
Talba has massive uncompiled contributions to government policy formulations, it's beauraucracy and various other strategic govermental functions as well as the constitution scripting process and it's amendments. From the Gowon era to the late Umar Musa Yar'adua government, Tahir was ready material for any government to pick from Bauchi and rush to Lagos and laterly Abuja, for the sole purpose of surfing his pool of knowledge, philosophy and intellect, which was usually priceless, honest and objective as well as rare. His faculty of thought and vast knowledge was regularly harvested and compiled. Universities, seminars, symposiums, journalists, traditional leaders were ever ready to host Tahir, as he rubs off his god given talent to all. He was always schemed out of the public domain of governance as he was probably too much to manipulate or kept in line with government's thrust of activities. I once told him, Baba, I am going to write a book about you and I would call it, "The man behind the hood". He laughed and said, smart boy, you are not writing any such titles. He was too sincere and opinionated, of course envied and feared, feared that he would dominate the space and make translucent, the many toes seeking relevance and power.
Talba was friends with Russia's Vladimir Putin, and was friends with some farmer somewhere in a remote village whom he gladly visited and dined with. Putin would write Talba, referring some people to him who would be visiting Nigeria, and the farmer would also visit Talba, bringing along dairy milk from his cattle. Talba was as transparent as a sachet of pure water, if he was cold, you could see the vapor, if his mind was clouded, you could see the particles swirling in his countenance, above all, you would hear it from him. Nothing could escape Tahir's generosity, only his kids and wife did, he would give out everything and remain with or without anything for himself. He was in the nearest proximity to richies and could easily have been one of Nigeria's billionaires if he so wished, yet he died without a house he owned, just as he gave out his intellect and knowledge, so he would also give out any possession of his. He was branded wasteful, yet you cannot help but marvel at his generosity and most remarkable of all, his selflessness. He would put the whole world before him, were his strength and brain capable of rescuing the whole world and all its destitution, Tahir would have surely given it a shot! After he died and we put him to the ground, to mother earth, of mud, clay and sand, I reckoned why Talba could just not hold on to anything, afterall he wasn't going anywhere with it. Hoarding worldly things was what he didn't deem proper. In his case, he decided to hand it to the next needy person.
Each day dawns on me, the reality that his shoes are not only too big for me, but that their color and direction just couldn't find a place in this generation, the me me me crowd of egotism, raw selfishness, and mind boggling greed for treasure, public fortune converted to private estate. I guess why Tahir was never allowed to be a governor or president or even senator is probably because if he was, Tahir would make sure that no Nigerian went to bed hungry, especially with the trillions of dollars we hear moving back and forth in our national treasury. The greatest legacy that the late Talba gave me was the name Tahir, because surely his good name lives after him. If I were to scream, begging to be heard in Nigeria's highest quarters, I would surely be recognised as Tahir's son. When I am called Talba, (I was given his traditional title), sometimes I feel like taking to my heels, as I repeat in my head, who are you to answer Talba? May Allah shower your soul Babatalba with his mercies and bliss
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