Bibi Farouk: A principled political icon passes on
The death on Monday of Malam Ibrahim Bibi Farouk, a former deputy governor of Kano State, ended an era of a principled political icon who served as a bridge between the old and new generation of politicians in the state and even beyond.
Bibi Farouk succumbed to death at the age of 82 after a long battle spanning over a decade with paralysis.
He left behind two wives and 32 children.
Even while he was on his sick bed, he was mentoring modern day politicians in an apparent move to reorient and impart the politics of ideology now lacking in the country.
His politics of ideology, simplicity, honesty and generosity distinguished him among the few surviving first or second generation politicians in the country.
Bibi Farouk shot to limelight when he aligned himself with the doyen of Kano politics, Malam Aminu Kano, against his boss, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, who was then the governor of the state. He was deputy to Rimi, elected on the platform of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
Shortly after the 1979 general elections, crisis rocked the PRP and the party was fragmented into two factions, with the one known as ‘Tabo’ staying with Malam Aminu and the other, which was known as ‘Santsi’ led by Abubakar Rimi.
Bibi Farouk stood by Malam Aminu, a posture that cost him his seat as the deputy governor of the state. He was impeached in May 1981 by the members of the Kano State House Assembly majority of who were with the Rimi wing of the PRP. He was succeeded by Audu Dawakin Tofa as the deputy governor of the state.
Following his stance on the political impasse in the PRP, famous Hausa musician, Alhaji Mamman Shata, sang a song for him tagged ‘Bibi Farouk Na Allah’, meaning Bibi Farouk a man of God. Perhaps, no other person aptly described the personality of the late deputy governor as was done by the oracle of Hausa music, the late Mamman Shata, in that song. Bibi was a principle personified.
After he was impeached, the deceased who studied Islamic Studies in Sudan with the late Malam Abubakar Gumi, quit active politics for the propagation of Islam. At many occasions, he mounted the podium preaching the teachings of Islam.
Before delving into the murky waters of politics, the late political icon was a teacher - he taught at many schools including the famous Kano Middle School now known as Rumfa College.
Extolling the virtues of the late former deputy governor, one of his students, Alhaji Isyaku Umar Tofa, who is now the Dan Adalan Kano, District Head of Tofa, said the deceased’s love for the country made him to compose a song in Arabic for the country on the day of independence.
“Until his death, he preferred to be referred to as a teacher. If you go around Kano, you will see many of his students who are doing well. He was a very brilliant teacher. When Nigeria got independence in 1960, he composed a song in Arabic and that was what we sang at the Assembly.
“He was great man who lived for the people. He was a very courageous person who didn’t fear standing by the truth no matter what it is. Whatever he said or did, he always backed it with his religious knowledge.
“I think it was Malam Aminu that convinced him to join politics because he was very close to Malam. But he was not fundamentally a politician because he was too honest to be a politician and that was what led to his impeachment as deputy governor,” the Dan Adalan Kano said.
He urged present-day politicians to be honest even while playing politics, saying politicians should learn to be principled.
One of his sons, Dr. Farouk Bibi Farouk, described their late father as one of the rare disciples of the late Malam Aminu Kano who shared both Islamic and Western knowledge with him.
Explaining the name Bibi, he says; “It is not an abbreviation; it is a name on its own written as BB. Our late father wrote it as BB. It started at home when his grandmother called him ‘Abibi’, my beloved one because he was an only child of her only child. When he got to school, because he was always cleaning the blackboard, his classmates named him BB, meaning blackboard boy. Some of us use Bibi while others use BB but to be fair to him, he uses BB.”
On the lessons they learnt from their late father he said; “His famous saying was, ‘whatever God does is right’ and even on his sick bed he re-echoed it. He was a very jovial person who loved people especially the women; he was more concerned about their welfare. In the family, he was more concerned about the female children and the wives as he said they needed to be taken care of.
“He was not materialistic at all; he was more concerned about welfare of the downtrodden. He was a detribalised person as he has brought up people among us who are from different parts of the country. In fact, his closest person was from Delta State, he has been with him in the last 15 years,” he said.
For his part, the deceased’s Personal Assistant, Alex Mbah who is from Delta State said he has been working with the deceased for over two decades.
“I was a car mechanic and he was my best customer right from the time I was an apprentice. Following our cordial relationship, he asked me to leave the mechanic job to become his aide and I agreed. Since then we have been together,” he said.
He said the deceased had never discriminated against him either on the basis of religion or tribe, describing him as a true patriotic Nigerian.
Also extolling the virtues of Bibi Farouk, the former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, said the deceased was a very learned person, in both Western and Islamic education.
“I know he was very loyal to late Abubakar Rimi up to the time he was impeached. He was impeached as revenge to my impeachment because late Rimi and I rebelled against the party leadership. So as we discovered the ploy to impeach Rimi, we conspired with members of the Michael Imoudu’s faction at the Kano House of Assembly to impeach him,” Musa who was elected under PRP as governor of Kaduna State in 1979, said.
In his tribute, former governor of Kano State, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, described his death as a national loss. Gaya who is the Senator representing Kano South Senatorial District at the Senate, said that the former Kano number two citizen died at a time the people of Kano needed his fatherly advice.
Gaya in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Strategy, Prince Idris Afegbua, said that late deputy governor was known for his principled doggedness and non-compromising posture in the face of all odds.
“He was an astute politician and a detribalised Nigerian who treated all as equal without recourse to religion or political affiliation. He was father of Kano politics and bridge builder who related with all regardless of age. He will be greatly missed especially as the country moves closer to another election year,” Gaya said.
In the early 70s, the deceased worked in the Kano State civil service where he rose to the position of deputy permanent secretary before venturing into politics. Earlier, he was in the Foreign Service as Head of Chancery in Sudan.