Happy birthday, Dr Goje

He who read a book written by Dale Carnegie, named “How to win friends and influence people”. He may find lots of Carnegie’s commendation and eulogies to Lincoln, where he referred and saluted Lincoln with admiration.
The dithyramb of Carnegie to Lincoln is because of Carnegie’s real genre to the people. Mr. Carnegie wrote a book on human relations which he named “Lincoln the unknown”. In this book he described Lincoln’s attitude as a manual of human relations.

Last week, after I wrote an article on the recent flood in Yobe state, I honoured the invitation of the Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Dr. Mohammed Goje, where we had a symposium on flood and its malady. Afterwards, Dr. Goje took me to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, where I surprisingly bagged a bundle of knowledge on how to deal with people.

After we arrived, along the ministry’s corridors, Dr. Goje greeted everyone he met on the way and each responded with a smiling face, except one person who appeared to be a ministry peon. After we spent about an hour in the commissioner’s office, we decided to get back to the governor’s office, where SEMA’s office is located.


On our way back, Dr. Goje bade goodbye with a benevolent smile to the people he met on the way, but that one person again refused to respond. When we got into the car, Dr. Goje took a deep breathe and asked his friend, “did you notice that man refused to respond to my greeting?”


His friend replied, “may be he is not well or not in the mood”. But Dr. Goje insisted that something must be beyond his bizarre face. Consequently, Dr. Goje called that peon and said to him genially, ‘Oh my brother what is wrong with you today?’
But the peon said ‘Sir, all is well!’
Dr. Goje asked him again ‘but you look quite strange to me?’ The peon said, “Sir when I was sent to your office by Hajiya you didn’t attend to me with all ears”


Dr. Goje took a deep breathe again and said, ‘Sorry, as you know, that our office is an emergency and highly committed place. Sometimes, I don’t even notice it’s you. But in sha Allah this wouldn’t happen again. All I need from you is to comprehend the condition you find me in.’
Dr. Goje said thank you to him, then they shared some jokes as they usually do.

The genre’s response of Dr. Goje and the application of Carnegie’s principle, won my heart and inspired me to think of how he treats the people he meets on a daily basis.

Happy Birthday Sir
I wish, I could meet Darle Carnegie to tell him that his Lincoln was born again.

Ali Tijjani Hassan,
Potiskum. Yobe state
[email protected]