The event I missed
The ink had hardly dried from my pen before I turned in my article last week when I leant that a day of remembrance for the late Isa Wali was to hold on the penultimate Sunday at the Yar’Adua Center, Abuja. I had just referred to him in that article as one of those mentioned by Haroun Adamu along with Sa’adu Zungur, Aminu Kano and Professor S A Galadanchi who lent their voices to agitate for social change in the North particularly for the advancement of women. The event that held last week commemorated the 50th anniversary of Isa Wali’s death.
For me, it would have been a fitting opportunity to pay my respects to the memories of an icon of the struggle for social change in the North. To my dismay I had a scheduled appointment in Kaduna and could not attend the event. However, when I returned from Kaduna I hastened to Yar’Adua Center to rummage in the Obasanjo library (arguably the best library open to the public now in Abuja) to update myself on what I already know about Isa Wali.
I must admit that my connection to Isa Wali is rather tenuous. I just happened to be a new student in the same class, form one, Government College Keffi, with his son Suleiman in 1967 when the father died on active service, as our Ambassador to Ghana. I recall that the Principal of the college, E C Patient, who made the announcement in the Assembly Hall, was a perfect picture of grief as you would ever find. We were just little boys and did not fully understand the ramifications of such momentous happenings. I later understand that Isa Wali’s family thereafter came under the protective wings of his friend Ibrahim Dasuki, whose son Sambo was also in the same class with us. Somehow Suleiman left us at the end of the year for the United Kingdom while Sambo also relocated to Government College Kaduna.
Isa Wali was a remarkable personage, who after all assessments could rank in the same tier as those in his generation who stuck their necks out to write and speak against those social norms that hindered progress in the North. You could count him in the same front seat as Aminu Kano, Sa’adu Zungur and Abubakar Imam.
He had more or less the same background as Aminu Kano his cousin. However his father being the Walin Kano of the time made him closer to the Royal Palace when he was growing up. After Koranic education at the feet of his parents he went to Kwaru elementary school. He had his higher education in the School of Arabic Studies and worked in Gaskiya Corporation. He went on to serve as Deputy Clerk of the Northern Regional House of Representatives before he moved to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They were the pioneers of the Nigerian Foreign Service along with Ciroma Aminu Sanusi (father of the Emir of Kano), Olujimi Jolaoso, Phillip Asiodu, John Mamman Garba, Leslie Harriman and others.
He was less known to the common man because he chose to be a civil servant, while both Aminu Kano and Saadu Zungur were activist in the rough and tumble mould of the times. Isa wali might not have climbed the drum to address citizens on their rights but he wrote a lot particularly on women’s rights in the media available to him then: Gaskiya tafi Kwabo and the Nigerian Citizen.
He wrote a series of articles in the mid-fifties in the Nigerian Citizen on the true position of women in Islam - a subject that was taboo at the time. He was able to set the tone of the debate. It was a challenge to the establishment and he largely got away with it because he was well grounded. Isa Wali was said to possess a fluent knowledge of classical Arabic as well as English and he was able to base his contentions on the Koran and support them with appropriate quotations. He endeavoured to show that the Koran did not require the institution of Purdah for women and he interpreted the words of the Prophet to indicate equality for men and women. He also dealt with questions of divorce, polygamy and possession of concubines, relating these issues to the Prophet’s own life.
The most striking thing about Isa Wali was his strong conviction. Perhaps this is where he towered over most of the social critics of his time. He acted what he believed to be right. He married an educated girl where he had a wedding reception with a difference. It was the first of such parties ever in Kano city. From the pictures I saw it looked like a garden party with the likes of Maitama Sule making speeches at the reception. He allowed his wife an unfettered freedom of movement which was unusual for the times. His wife furthered her education, drove a car and accompanied him wherever he went. He ignored any invitation to a reception that did not explicitly include his wife. Such invitations were routinely returned with a note saying he could not accept unless his wife was included. He is reputed to have turned down such an invitation to a luncheon, even from the Sardauna himself, when he was Premier of the Northern Region. He did more than that. He walked into Sardauna’s office, confronted him and asked politely that the invitation card bearing only ‘Malam Isa Wali’ should be amended to include his wife, if the Sardauna wanted his presence at the luncheon. I will give you Sardauna’s reaction and other anecdotes on the life of Isa Wali if you keep a date with this page next week.
Meanwhile it is commendable that the family has kept the flame of the memory of the great man alive. They can still do more by giving us a more cohesive documentation of his life. There is so much written about him in many publications and these plus some interviews with people who have known him can be turned into a good publication for posterity. His story needs to be told because there are lessons to be learnt from the activism he pursued.
Arewa House, Kaduna, and Mambayya House, Kano, the two research centres I mostly frequent, are uniquely placed to undertake such an assignment if they are adequately supported. Mambayya House has done remarkably well in keeping Aminu Kano’s name alive and when supported has helped to undertake publications on prominent indigenes of Kano. The last publication I saw from Mambayya House was on Mudi Spikin - the famous Kano poet of NEPU acclaim.
Oops: In my article last week on this page I mentioned that Haroun Adamu has already got the licence for the university his group intends to establish in Zaria. It is not true. He is still an applicant. We pray that the university materialises in the nearest future.