By God’s perfect design, some of us have happened to be close associates of Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and are therefore reasonably conversant with a lot of issues about his public life. His perceptions of issues, situations and personalities as well as capacity for the discharge of responsibilities and commitment to preferred advocacies are known to all those with whom he is, in one way or another, connected.
He is a public figure who enjoys maximum visibility and exposure for which he therefore continuously pays a huge price. Having made bold marks in academia and public service, both of which he capped up with participation in partisan politics, he has, unarguably, become a subject of study by a lot of enlightened minds.
Additionally, he is one of the founders of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) who persistently raised his voice in defense of the interests of the North. This is an endeavour that has made him a prominent personality in the North where numerous constraints that affect human dignity obviously abound and which he still considers as a challenge that must be confronted by governments and people of the region.
Dr Hakeem, as a former university lecturer, retired federal permanent secretary and pioneer Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, has gained enough knowledge and experience which he readily utilizes in the course of his engagements with peoples and authorities. It is even in recognition of his substance that a lot of individuals and groups within and outside the North respond, in varying ways, to every of his words and deeds.
In recent times and even up till now there has been a clear attempt to denigrate the man by those who have arrogated to themselves the right to determine what he should say or do. The manner in which they have continued to condemn his decision to serve in the present government as a Special Adviser to the Vice President Kashim Shettima on Political Matters is an indication of a belief, on their part, that they have a monopoly of wisdom and must therefore be allowed to decide for everyone.
It is out of either ignorance or mischief that the man is being accused of either insensitivity to the concerns of Northerners or opportunism simply because he has chosen to, once again, serve his country rather than just remain a wailer. By disregarding both his right to choose for himself and the reason for the choice, which he unhesitatingly advanced, such attackers of Dr Hakeem have manifested tendency for either a condemnable self-righteousness or intolerable mischief.
Contrary to all the lies being peddled about him, the man is full of concerns for the North/Northerners, Nigeria/Nigerians and humanity as his approach to public issues continuously indicates. His family background as well as training as an academic and public servant have moulded him into a giant personality on whose shoulders many other people can stand.
Dr Hakeem enjoys a lot of God’s blessings, which he has not only thankfully recognized but been always trying to share with others as evident in the clear anxiety with which he deploys his resources and resourcefulness in the service of the people. He is always eager to stick out his neck for the under-privileged Northerners and even all other Nigerians at a time when some other individuals who have been equally blessed will be in their comfort zones within or even outside the country.
It is, for example, easy to recall how, as the Director of Mobilization, Advocacy and Publicity of NEF, he became the most consistent defender of Northern interests to the extent that, most often, his submissions on issues determined the pattern of public discourse on the region and its peoples. His views or, more appropriately, positions of the Forum on issues approximated to those fundamental demands of the whole North that would have, otherwise, been neglected.
While in NEF, his perennial activism on the political front was far more than an equivalent of a coordinated gallantry of several military officers on the war front; after all, war is always just an extension of politics. He impressively matched and even, in several cases, beat all those loquacious guys in the other parts of Nigeria who earlier erroneously believed that they were the best materials for debate on national issues.
This basic truth about him is the reason for the anger in some of us over the clear contempt and disrespect to which he is being subjected by those who are either too mischievous to give honour to whom it is due, too ignorant to appreciate facts or too young to understand what is good for them and all other people. These are the only groups that can be so shameless and consistent in the criticism of a man whose full vocation is the delivery of services to humanity.
* Shuaibu Gimi is a journalist based in Kaduna. Email: shuaibugimi1966@gmail.com
