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Alhaji Alasan Abdallah, a well-known Kano Businessman died in hospital in a Cairo, Egypt at the ripe age of 89 on the April 10, 2008 after a protracted illness. His body couldn’t be conveyed to Kano immediately, as the next available flight to Kano was scheduled for the following Saturday.

All the same, members of his family, relations and friends converged at his Kofar Mazugal residence in Kano for mourning as soon as the sad news was received. Naturally, in such a grim situation many people were hiding their faces so as not to be seen shedding tears openly, while others were doing their utmost to stop the tears from flowing.

But when Mohammed Bajin, a father of many children and a close associate of the deceased arrived from nearby Ungogo Local Government Area, he couldn’t control his emotion. He started wailing and many others followed suit before they were eventually calmed down by the elderly among the mourners.

Almost at the same time, the young “Tsangaya” pupils who use to go to “Puloti” or groundnut purchasing outlet, where late Alasan’s office was situated along Murtala Mohammed Way, have also gathered there.

Almost all of them were shedding tears as they heard about the death of their benefactor. Eventually, they too rushed to the deceased residence to pay their condolence.

His body finally arrived Kano on Saturday, April 12, 2008 just before midnight and was buried the following morning (Sunday). May Allah grant him Aljanna Firdausi amin.

The point being made here is that, Alasan was actually a man of the people. His friends cut across the stratum of the society and he was missed by all.

Alasan (a Hausanised version of Alhassan) was the oldest of the fourteen children of Alhaji Abdallah Yakubu Dunu, a wealthy groundnut buying agent who later ventured into transportation, an area in which he also excelled. Young Alasan had always been close and loyal to his father. He was the one travelling to all the nooks and corners of Northern provinces to purchase groundnut on his father’s behalf during the good old days of groundnut, pyramids. Like father, like son, as the saying goes, Alasan also ventured into transportation. He eventually learnt how to drive by himself. As a professional driver of heavy trucks he started haulage between long distances especially the trans-African routes.

When his father died, many years ago Alasan, as the head of the family started modernizing the family business. He ventured into building. Because he believed in excellence like his father he made sure that his workers including the engineers were highly experienced. Consequently, all the edifices he built as a contractor were of the highest standards.

Despite his being neck deep into business, Alasan felt enticed to team up with the Late Mallam Aminu Kano in his crusade to save the “Talakawa” from the shackles of imperialism and colonialism. His love for the common man was unquantifiable. He therefore joined NEPU as one of its founding members in 1954. In the year 1955, he composed a song exposing the evils of colonialism which became very popular with the entire membership of NEPU. The colonial administrators did not see it that way. Eventually, he was arrested by the Native Authority (N.A) Police as ordered by a British Colonial District Officer (DO). He was charged with Sedition and sentenced to six months imprisonment with no option of fine.

After serving the prison term, Alasan came out and continued with his support from NEPU while pursuing his business vigorously.

He established a branch of his business in Kaduna where he won contracts to erect some buildings. As his business continued to grow, he started developing interest in large scale farming. Consequently, he acquired a large farm at Mile-9 along KanoDanbatta Road. It happens to be one of the largest farms in that area.

As old age continued to catch up with good old Alasan, he sensibly restricted his activities to farming mainly. He therefore formed the habit of going to the farm for a short period on daily basis to supervise workers and watch his farm produce and cattle grow. “This is where I derive my pleasure”, he would say, while smiling.

Alasan had many children and he made sure that all of them were exposed to Western as well as Islamic education. “Education is the greatest legacy he bequeathed to us”, said Sani Alasan one of his children.

Yar’Adua: A rare gem

_{By YAZID IBRAHIM |}
Perhaps, the most cherished attribute of a true nationalist is one who renounces the world and dedicates oneself to duties of love and service to humanity. He, who is truthful in thought and fearless in action, and above all meek as a lamb, but a lion in spirit. These, by no means, were the qualities that made late Geneneral Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua, an elder brother to the incumbent President, a rare gem and a political icon worthy of emulation.
This period, marks 10 years since the demise of Shehu in Abakaliki prison over a trump up coup. His inglorious exit that December 8 came like a bolt from the blue, shattering the dreams of many Nigerians, especially his close associates and family who knew he had no traces of sickness that would have sniffed life out of him.
For many who tasted the milk of human kindness of late General Yar’ Adua, nothing could be more devastating than the loss of this master political strategist. This is one man who has touched the lives of many Nigerians. He was indeed a friend to many, a father to some and a brother and benefactor to a considerable number of people across the Niger.
As a man, he was the symbol of tolerance and epitome of humane and liberal personality required of a nationalist. Wherever he was, he radiated geniality and peace. If there is any thing that ever provoked the General to the point of public outburst, I have never witnessed since I began to associate closely with him. I never knew him to be angry even once, or speak ill of any man.
Yar’Adua was a hero cherished and admired by many across ethnic and religious divides. Considering his profound, worthy and abiding contributions to the welfare and happiness of his fellow man, and the greatness of his fatherland, he could simply be described as a symbol of national pride, a patriot and an idealist.
A study of General Yar’Adua’s career reads like a novel. He was a man so daring, so adventurous, so unperturbed by whatever circumstances, and yet so intensely practical in his approach to private and public issues. Yet, a cursory look into his life will show that the ‘elements’ were so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and applaud his courage. Even in death, his name still sends chill down the spines of political actors in Nigeria today.
One date that will ever remain a significant memorial for General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the one time Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, is March 9. It was on this date in 1995 during the National Constitutional Conference that he was arrested on the orders of then Head of State General Sani Abacha on the allegation of a phantom coup, along with the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Yar’adua’s main offence was not unconnected with the motion he and his associates sponsored at the conference that Abacha’s administration should not stay in office later than October 1, 1995. Since then, he became a symbol of hate and a marked-man that should no longer co-habit with the despots. He was eventually arrested, tried and sentenced to death. A judgment that was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was first taken to Enugu Prison and later sent to Abakaliki Prison in Ebonyi State, where he died.
Though a General in the Nigerian Army, Yar’ Adua was a refined soldier who abhorred violence. He held the view that anything obtained through violence or bloodshed would not endure. He was trained to be a soldier, but his upbringing afforded him the instincts of a democrat and a politician. His distaste for the two coups of 1966 led him to conclude that no organised or disciplined regime could easily emerge from a takeover that was either bloody or contested. Hence, the perfect execution of the 1975 coup which he partook was widely praised and held up as an indication of the new maturity of the Nigerian Army and its emerging officer corps.
The meticulous planning and extraordinary personal risks associated with that coup, Yar’ Adua realized, could only be justified by a clearly determined purpose and plan for the new government. To restore the honour of the army and put the country back on the path to genuine peace and political stability, Yar’ Adua had believed would depend on two elements.
First, a clear and unambiguous commitment to a deadline by which it would hand over power to civilians, indicating precisely the programme and time-table according to which the transition would take place. Second, in tacit recognition of fears of the political class, it should adopt a “corrective strategy,” which would leave an effective incoming civilian administration well placed to consolidate democracy.
Yar’ Adua was a true democrat, as such he detested the term ‘socialism’ though he passionately believed in equal opportunity for all. He never lost a chance in championing or actively participating in anything that would bring this about for the people. In ensuring his dreams for a democratic Nigeria came true, Yar’Adua did not allow the assassination of the leader of the Supreme Military Command, Murtala Muhammed to deflect him from the political process begun under his direction. The target of October 1979 set for the return to civilian rule was adhered to; so was the time table for preparing the new constitution, the establishment of a new system of states, and the holding of local government elections.
After his retirement, General Yar’Adua ventured into many spheres of human endeavour, where he played leading roles. He was a newspaper publisher; a farmer and above all a politician of repute, known to many people as a master strategist and a bridge builder. It was to his credit that he nurtured the formation of several political structures, some of which still exist.
As a politician who believed in democratic principles, Shehu as he was popularly called formed the Peoples Front (PF), which was later submerged within the Social Democratic Party (SDP). When military President General Ibrahim Babangida banned all political associaijons, PF consisting of Yar’adua’s political associates also known as the “Yar’Adua Boys,” joined the SDP en masse and from where they called the shots.
As a result of this, the PF dominated SDP affairs, that it culminating in Yar’ Adua’s overwhelming victory in the party’s presidential primaries of 1992, which however was eventually annulled. As a democrat, he and other presidential aspirants from the National Republic Convention (NRC ) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) accepted their fate and still continued in the process of democratizing Nigeria from the stranglehold of military dictatorship.
He participated actively in the subsequent presidential primaries of his party, SDP, which saw the election of Chief Moshood Abiola as the party’s presidential flag bearer. The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar came third, while the running mate to Abiola, now Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe was second. All is now history on the circumstances that befell the June 12, 1993 presidential election. But suffice it to say that, he resolved to continue the work to democratize Nigeria using the framework of the constitutional conference that eventually led to his arrest, detention and death.
He described his incarceration and ordeal in the hands of General Abacha in a letter he wrote to the former American President Jimmy Carter from prison shortly before his death, “as the sacrifice some of us must make for our country to be free”. In the letter, he appealed to Carter and other civil rights leaders to help ensure that Nigeria was democratized. Unfortunately, Nigeria is now democratized, but he is not alive to see the fruits of his labour.
General Yar’adua today would be happy that the Peoples Democratic Movement (PM) which was formed after the ban on SDP and NRC latter became a formidable political force to reckon with. He and his associates formed the PDM with the hope of wresting power from then military government. Obasanjo, no doubt, rode to power on the crest of the PDM in the PDP. PDM was the main organizational plank for the emergence of PDP, the largest political party in Africa today.
His wife Binta, in the documentary “A life of service” described her late husband as a loving and caring father and husband”. General Yar’Adua married Binta in 1969. He was a former minister of transport in the government of General Murtala Muhammed, where he distinguished himself and gave a sense of direction to the sector. It is important to note that it was during his tenure as Minister of Transport that the famous port congestion of the 1970s was addressed.
Yar’ Adua was appointed the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters and subsequently promoted to the rank of major general after the death of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976. His historic promotion, catapulting him from lieutenant colonel to brigadier, was to enable him to gain authority over colleagues previously senior to him in rank; thus making him the youngest two star general at 36 years in the historv of the country. General Yar’Adua held that position until October 1, 1979, when he and General Obasanjo handed over the reins of government to Alhaji Shehu Shagari, as elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Major General Shehu Musa Yar’adua though born with a proverbial silver spoon in his mouth was a professional soldier. Thus the history of the Nigerian civil war will be incomplete without a mention of the role he played. He was the sector commander that captured the commercial city of Onitsha and this led the federal troops into the hinterland of Biafra. The capture of Onitsha contributed to ending the war. On retirement, Yar’ Adua went into farming and publishing. He established the Reporter Newspapers but the newspaper was later banned in 1993. Yar’Adua, a son of one time minister of Lagos Affairs, was turbaned the Tafidan Katsina in 1989.
Since he passed to the great beyond, a lot of water has passed under the Widge. If Geneneral Yar’ Adua were to come back today he would certainly be shocked to see that all that he toiled and stood for had been jettisoned. But one thing that will sure gladden the soul of Yar’ Adua is that his younger brother has mounted the seat of the nation’s leadership and by all indications he is desirous to perform much as his late brother had wont to the glory of Allah the most Magnificent.
December 8 therefore, stands as a reminder of the need to continue the struggle for fairness and social harmony in the country to which Yar’ Adua lived and died for. Rest in peace, Tafidan Katsma.
IBRAHIM is a close associate of Late General Shehu Yar’Adua and wrote in from Kaduna