” Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind it doesn’t matter” – Dan Ingrams
I missed the merriment on Sunday, 29th of November, the 60th birthday of Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim which I gathered paraded notable friends like Professor Attahiru Jega,chairman ,Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi,editor in chief Premium times, Mr Danlami Nmodu,publisher/ editor in chief Newsdiaryonline.com ,Dr Kole Shettima,,Comrade John Odah former General Secretary ,Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC and Professor Abubakar Momoh among other civil society activists. However I was at the intellectual manifestation of the 1st of December Monday evening , at the YarAdua Centre ,Abuja that paraded great human capital that included former Chief Justice of the Federation,Justice Muhammed Uwais and his wife Maryam were present. Equally present were Professors Jega and Ibrahim Gambari,ex minister ,ex Nigerian ambassador to the United Nations(etc) .Dr Abubakar Siddique,Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, chairman/ceo ,Media Trust Ltd,Femi Falana ,SAN ,Comrades Odah, yours comradely (Issa Aremu and my wife, Hamdalat), Hadiza Bala Usman and her husband, my dear friend, Yakubu Tanimu, Ekanem Bassey and other civil society activists including YZ Yau,CDD director Idayat Hassan,Auwal Musa Rafsanjani of CISLAC,Samson Itodo , and Kunle Fagbemi among others.
Monday’s event featured intellectual fireworks by a panel which included the celebrant himself, Dr Jibo ,Professsor Adele Jinadu and Professor Okey Ibeano. Incidentally the three of them share the same birthday but certainly not by accident, they made up the panel which robustly interrogated the critical question; is political science in Nigeria dead , alive or in comatose in Nigeria? The moderator was Funmi Olanisekan of Kings College, Oxford, UK.
Those who spoke earlier extolling the virtues of Dr. jibo included “Mrs Uwais ,co-chair ,Jibo’s wife ,Dr Charmaine Pereira, Falana, SAN,YZ Yau, Hadiza,Odah ,Chris Kwajah,Yunusa Tanko of IPAC and Professor Gambari”. Of particular significance was the reminiscence by Professor Gambari who as a former teacher to Dr Jibo gave testimony about his track record of “humility , intellectual acuity, commitment to truth, principle and the struggle for a better Nigeria”. There was a nostalgia about the old great Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Samaru Zaria from where Jibo studied, in early 70s, graduated, taught in the 80s and retired in 1990s. Many thanks to professor Gambari who reminded us that there was once a Nigeria where universities were centres of principled discourse along illuminating ideological lines without personal animosities.
Almost by accident (or was it by design? ) the moderator, Funmi Olanisekan of the evening session denied me recognition for an intervention on the thought provoking contributions of the three wonderful African political science scholars. I had wanted to point out that our gathering that night answered it all; political science is alive in Nigeria!. Where else can a 60th birthday be observed with such social-scientific star-words about the state, nation, government, politics and policies of government as we witnessed on that historic night in honour of Dr Jibo? Where else can a celebrant be a discussant canvassing unorthodox radical view according to which political science was long dead when political scientists joined IBB political contraptions of the 80s?
Certainly political science was alive that night when, Dr Jibo true to principled type and Leninist tradition of the old said it as he felt even with the presence of the co-panelist Professsor Adele Jinadu, who was a notable political scientist in IBB’s political kitchen cabinet of the 80s/ 90s. However the most provocative and intriguing was Professor Okey Ibeano’s whose intervention further shows that political science is alive in Nigeria. According to him, the challenge of today’s Nigeria is how to bridge the widening gap between what he said to be politics of “affluence” and politics of “affliction”. His concluding suggestion was certainly reassuring; we must use the affluence of the few to cure the affliction of the majority poor failing which the affliction of the many poses danger to all.
As a representative of the “afflicted” I bear witness that the poor do not just want to struggle against the “affluence” but significantly desire to get out of poverty through wealth redistribution. The motto of. Nigeria. Labour congress (NLC) reads; Labour creates wealth, in the knowledge that labour serves what it creates. The life and times of Dr Jibo show that it is possible that we promote common wealth in place of personal aggrandizement. It is possible to promote well-being of the majority without undermining the well-having and well-deserving of the few. I recall the friendship and brotherhood Dr Jibo and Dr Rauf Mustapha extended to my young family in early 80s. We were not as intellectually endowed then. But through their encouragement and support, me, Chom Bagu Deme and late Dr BALA Muhammed completed our studies notwithstanding the short set backs inflicted by Ango Abdullahi dictatorship in ABU in early 80s. The way Dr Jibo and his wife generously opened their doors to us taught the lesson in hospitality. Certainly Jibo’s pedigree ( a former Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria!) is intimidatingly political enough but the other Jibo is more than politics. He does exhibit comradeship, friendship and capacity to cook good fish pepper and Isiewu.
Happy 60th birthday to Jibrin Ibrahim, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democracy & Development, a regional research, advocacy and training non-governmental organisation for West Africa and weekly regular columnist in Newsdiaryonline.com and Daily Trust newspapers.
ISSA AREMU mni
