Aminu Kano: 31 years after

May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace!Thank God that the late MalamAminu Kano of blessed memory was a Nigerian.Thank God that for a moment he did not breach the purity of politics.He was such a nice person universally acclaimed to have possessed unquestionable attributes.

I remember this illustrious son of Africa who inspired and improved the quality of democracy to the level of a messianic proportion.He is remembered not simply because he passed away on that fateful day of Sunday, April 17, 1983 in the morning but more significantly due to the tremendous sacrifices he rendered to uplift the banner of social justice.

I remember Malam who,as an embattled political gladiator,allowed politics to painstakingly pass through him.He was neither ambitious nor arrogant.He was neither an opportunist nor a power broker.His soft heart was vulnerable to the untold suffering of the downtrodden.He was very stubborn tothe established order.His life was ruled by a prolonged struggle and very rich in vast and sharp vision.

Thirty one years after,we remember the African Revolutionary,the Gandhi of Nigeria,the Friend of Talakawa whose politics was popularly tagged politics of freedom.

Remembering Aminu Kano goes with diverse dimensions,perceptions and lessons drawn from his aged long political tribulations and experiences.
Nigerians should remember Aminu Kano for his class of politics which created excitement,imagination and desire for the masses to follow.It stood for the promotion of cohesion and injection of hope and sense of belonging.It was based on innovation and the encouragement of initiatives,stressing that we must produce leaders who will justify their leadership instead of the followers justifying their loyalty to them.

The teeming and energetic youths must remember Aminu Kano because hetrained them on developing an ideology that must be based on the desire to eliminate monopolies, privileges and poverty.He also reiterated that democracy was null and void without the youths having adequate living,food,good health,education,capacity to rule.

Talakawa enmasse should never forget Malam due to the fact that he did not relegate their class to the background when he declared that he hated the word ‘masses’ because it was a bit insulting.He preferred ‘people’ because it involved everybody regardless of position,status,age,ethnicity or nationality.

The womenfolk will not do justice to Aminu Kano if they boycott his remembrance.His choice of a female presidential running mate in the Second Republic was and is still the first in the country’s political development.Aminu Kano was a lesser male chauvinist.
Our contemporary democrats have to extol Aminu Kano not because they aregeniuses in the long narration of his life and politics.

Remembering him is a necessity not because he was the celebrated champion of the downtrodden.They have to remember him with a view to translating into practice one of Aminu’s political teachings with this thematic concern, “In my attempt to practicalise politics my life style seems to indicate some self-denial.I feel that the needs of the body are simple and that devoting time and emotional energies on opulent life style wastes the human spirit thus distracting the self from realising full potential. So, pleasures of the flesh and self-indulgence are unimportant to me.”

Will the political prostitutes ever remember Aminu Kano for taking them to task?Nevertheless,they stand a good chance of gaining by capitalizing on his submission that we must believe in party supremacy.We must suffer for our philosophy and stand by it. We must not come into the corridors of power by all means.

History remembers Aminu Kano for his accurate analysis that in the colonial era,poverty,diseases,ignorance and hunger for the vast majority of our people was a cruel fate.Today, they have become unnecessary evils that must be eliminated.But tomorrow, the maintenance of these evils for the majority of our people will be a crime.

Posterity is remembering Aminu Kano for speaking the truth that a nation cannot take delight in pretending to be as rich as America.Its people should not speak as if they are Americans and put up building as if they are New Yorkers while the bulk of the people continue to eat diseased food, drink dirty water and sleep under rain and wind.

Nigeria needs not be told to remember MalamAminu Kano.He was born in Nigeria.He led a fruitful life in such a way that he did not dent the image of Nigeria.The country is proud of him for a life well spent.

Thisremembrance piece is incomplete without quoting Malam once again that, “Nigeria is in ferment.Roaring winds are razing in the minds of the quiet and simple people of Nigeria.”

Abdullahi wrote from GovernmentUnity Secondary School,Ringim, Jigawa state