It was an evening of 1987 and I stood alone at Kabuga junction on my way to Bayero University’s new campus (New site as it has always been called). The number of students living on that campus then was very small as there were only two faculties and a department housed there. There was a single male hostel and female students in the Faculty of Law and Department of Mass Communication who wanted to live on campus had to stay in the old campus and transport themselves every morning to the new site. There was no female student in my own Faculty of Technology. In sum, there were not so many students running up and down between the two campuses as we have it now.
Thus students like me who went to town and could not catch the last bus from the old campus had to come to Kabuga and join the Rimin Gado bus to alight at the new site. Janguza and Rijiyar zaki were not popular at the time and Jan bulo was just a set of some isolated red houses on one side of the road. As I waited patiently for a bus, a car stopped and the man inside bent his head enough to look at my face and ask me where I was going. I told him and he asked me to come. There was no fear of kidnapping at that time and every person seemed to trust every other person. I thus entered the car. I was twenty years old and the man inside must be either in his late twenties or early thirties, I thought after looking at him very well.
The journey to the new site did not take long as there was no traffic as we have it now. During that time he asked me where I came from and what I was studying. He asked a few other questions I cannot remember now. On arrival at the BUK main gate he introduced himself as Musa Danladi. He lived in Funtua, he told me. He then gave me five Naira and his card. “You can see me when you have any problem” he said. I thanked him and he drove off to Funtua as I struggled to reach the hostel from the main gate.
I examined his card. His full name was Musa Danladi Abubakar. He worked in the court as a Registrar. I then thought over his two offers. Five Naira was not a large sum of money but it was not too small for a student. Five Naira could buy for me five square meals in a student standard restaurant. It could also pay for ten taxi drops in Kano. A taxi fare was between 40 and 50 Kobo then. But what kind of problem could I see him for? The concern of a student in most cases is the little money that will keep him going. But I could not see anyone on that except my parents. If I could avoid a wealthy uncle so as not to be mistaken for a beggar how can I go to an unknown person to request for a financial favour?
Later someone told me that a court staff could also assist you when you are in trouble. But many years later after a very unpleasant experience of a friend of mine who signed as a bank account referee for an unknown person I resolved to, insha Allah never takes anyone to court or even a Police station unless it is absolutely necessary. It doesn’t matter whether the court is a Shariah court or an unIslamic one. On reaching the hostel I told the story to my friend who was from Bakori. “Musa Danladi is very popular in Funtua. He is a very nice person”, he said.
That was the end of my story with my new found senior friend. I was not from the Funtua area in which case I could pay a visit to greet him and I did not take up an appointment with Katsina state civil service after my graduation in which case we might have had some accidental meetings, at least. The next time I set Musa Danladi in my eyes was nineteen years later.
In 2006 I accompanied a friend to see a very senior member of Governor Yaradua’s administration in Katsina. With him we met two other persons who were not part of the discussion that took us there and so there was no need to introduce them. After we came out my friend told me that the two other people were a relation of the governor’s wife and Justice Musa Danladi. My mind immediately went back to the ‘lift’ I got from Kabuga to a new site nearly two decades before. It was exactly him, I thought. He must have forgotten that moment but I did not. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said it all. Hearts have been created to like those who are kind to them and dislike those who are unkind to them. I still liked Justice Danladi for that little kindness in our only meeting in the lives of both of us.
Things have drastically changed since then. The trust that characterized our relationship in this part of the country especially in Katsina state is gone. The story is that of killings and disappointments. One of those people who disappointed me most in the whole saga is Mr. President himself. It was because of Buhari, for example, that I decided to obtain permanent voters cards for myself and my family after my long term decision not to take part in voting. One of those things we liked and elected Buhari for was the security of our lives and property. As at 2015 when he won election the number of bandits in Katsina state was so small that they could be arrested by local police. But both he and his governor who won election on the goodwill of the masses turned a blind eye and allowed it to become what it is today.
Our disappointment reached its peak last year when Governor Masari told Nigerians that it was Mr. President who asked him to negotiate with the criminals. May Allah save this country. So who else could be trusted? Is it the executive arm of the Katsina state government under Masari or the judiciary now being led by my own Musa Danladi?
It thus did not come to me as a surprise when a friend of mine told me some weeks ago that the criminals who kidnapped Mallam Ahmad Sulaiman last year have been released. The details of their release however came later. It was based on a forged bail document signed by the Katsina state chief judge. Haba! How can a very experienced person like Justice Danladi not be able to distinguish between a genuine and a forged document? Will he be able to convict anyone tomorrow for signing a similar document? Those were my thoughts. But another untold reason might be a high pressure from above. There are unconfirmed rumours that some of the leaders of the bandits who signed the peace deal with Katsina state government have a direct contact with Abuja. Could it be an instruction from Abuja to the chief judge to sign the document but he was only being smarter than the governor by not announcing it? Allah knows best.
I, however, kept listening and reading comments from people. So far, as far as I know, no one has pointed an accusing finger at the chief judge. People have incredible confidence in him due to his track record of honesty and trust. Mistakes are human and everyone both within and outside Katsina state believes that the signing of that document by Justice Abubakar is a mistake. And he has acted swiftly too by setting up a committee of investigation. My candid advice to the chief judge and, indeed, Katsina state governor is that maximum punishment should be meted on the culprits. This is even more so as it has been reported that the released criminals have committed other very serious acts of crime after their release.
Prof Jibia writes from Department Mechatronics EngineeringBayero University Kano,
Kano, Nigeria
