How Nigeria attained Independence – Isyaku Ibrahim
Story from Ibraheem Hamza MUHAMMAD, Lafiya
Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim is an 85-year-old politician, successful businessman and philanthropist popularly called Patron by politicians. He hails from the Wamba Local Government Area of the Plateau, now Nasarawa State. He and his elder brother were the first to be enrolled in a western missionary school. He has an excellent recollection of events with dates as he was with Azikiwe during the struggle for independence. He is a friend to many Presidents. He speaks English, French, German and Russian among local languages.
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In commemoration of Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim takes us down memory lane, disclosing how he was denied accommodation which made him sleep in an open town square.
According to him, some of the founding fathers of our independence include; Dr Herbert Macauley, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Malam Aminu Kano, Sa’adu Zungur, Aliyu Makaman Bida, Malam Aminu Kano, J.S. Tarka, David Lot, Patrick Dokot, Abubakar Zugoji, Inuwa Wada, Muhammadu Ribadu, Zanna Bukar Dipcharima, Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Maitama Sule, Waziri Ibrahim, among many others.
As a member of NEPU of Mallam Aminu Kano, Zikist movement, founding father of National Party of Nigeria, (NPN), Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and lately, All Progressives Congress (APC) he said that in politics, there are four cardinal principles, namely: Belief, Conviction, Commitment and Loyalty (BCCL). “If you don’t have these or do and deviate from them, then you are not a politician.”
He was the first among very few Nigerians who went to the highest body of the communist party established by Lenin in 1964. “There must be orientation, you must believe in something. Nigerians talk about politics, the politicians don’t believe in anything more than to acquire wealth.”
Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim said that the motive for the demand for independence from the British colonial masters then was for the people of Nigeria to be free people and not as subjects of the colonial imperialists. The zeal then, was for the Nigerians to have a better and improved economy, reduce poverty, improve the only public education sector, and improve the way of life for all.
Recalling a drama that happened in the 1949 constitutional conference, he said, “Our elders went to the conference and they rejected the proposals that the colonialists wanted to impose on us as the conditions to be met before we achieve independence. When they came back, NCNC under Herbert Macauley and others started going around Nigeria and mobilising people saying that they are not happy with the colonialists. He said that was why they want to raise funds to either go to court or to go to England and said they rejected the proposals.
“In that process, we went to Kano and Sir Herbert Macauley, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and other party faithful were returning from the awareness campaign for Nigerians to unite for self-independence when Sir Herbert died in the return trip in a train. The death led to the emergence of Nnamdi Azikiwe from Secretary-General to the chairman.”
Dr Nmandi Azikiwe was Nigeria’s first President, he was one of the founding fathers’ that fought and won independence for Nigeria from the British colonial masters. But his protégé, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim said that “I was made the Secretary Ibadan and later the Secretary of NEPU in the Western region. In 1959, Secretary-General of NCNC, Mac Kunle sent me to Lagos and gave me a letter to Chief Azikiwe in Warri saying Zik will commence a campaign in his bid to be Prime Minister. Zik took me to Sapele and told Dr M.I. Okpara, who was the Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of his campaign that he should include me in his camping team.
On why Azikiwe’s NCNC gave him cars to share while he was a card-carrying member of NEPU, he said that there was an alliance between his party, NEPU and Zik’s party, NCNC it was called the NCNC-NEPU alliance. “We were in Kaduna heading to Zaria when Zik said I would not follow them but should join a train to Enugu to carry out an assignment. Mbazulike Ameachi was the Organising Secretary of South East and he welcomed me at the railway station, took me to his house and gave me water to bath and another for ablution as a Muslim. In the morning, he took me to NCNC Secretariat and handed me six cars with 350 pounds. He told me to use one and share the other five to the five towns under Benue Province like Makurdi, Oturkpo, Wukari, Lafia. He said I should use my initiative in sharing the money as some are more populous than others. I shared the Volkswagen Beetle cars along with the money. And when I returned 17 pounds, he laughed and told me to use it.
I took some of my supporters to pay homage and solicited permission to campaign even though I learnt that he had placed an embargo. I then told him that we have come to campaign and we were seeking a permit. He asked me why, and I told him that he is well-respected and he has a large number of people and that we have to enlighten our people on the need to vote for us so that we would be independent through either NEPU, NPC or UBMC and he responded that your master Aminu Kano did not teach you anything more than talking like a parrot. He said he would grant the permit, but if I deviate, he would order for me to be tied to the horse stable. I told him that I come from royalty and I was not trained to be a lawbreaker. After the campaign, I gave one car and 45 pounds.”
Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim disclosed how a northerner from Sokoto became the Mayor of Enugu two consecutive times; Nigeria was the constituency of late Chief Azikiwe so, he nominated Malam Umaru Altine, who was educated and from Sokoto to contest under NCNC as the Mayor of Enugu and won on the first and second time consecutively.
Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim said, “Something happened with Zik about ten months before he became President of Nigeria. In 1959, we went on a campaign tour of the country under the political party.
Many people did not know that our founding fathers were real elder statesmen who have a vision and do not allow anything to make them derail from it no matter what. They are selfless and not selfish as we are presently witnessing; they put the country first and their personal interest second while the reverse is the case with the present dispensation.
In Nguru town, now in Jigawa State, the District Head, Mai Galadima Kyari, denied us accommodation after our campaign because he was a supporter of another party. Zik lay down on a camp bed, we on a mat and that was how we passed the night in the open.
In the morning, we left Nguru town and campaigned in Gaidam, Maiduguri, Mubi, Jimeta. We used a ferry to cross to Yola, Numan, Gombe, Bauchi, Jos and boarded a train to Enugu and ended the campaign in Abakaliki respectively.
Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim said that “It was unfortunate that the military seized power and destabilised the democratic process and that has been the beginning of the backwardness of the country.
“I was a founding father of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, (NPN, later the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and then the All Progressive Congress ( APC ).”
The elder statesman called on those in power to be selfless and work towards the development of the country by empowering the millions of unemployed youths to enhance and sustain the insecurity bedevilling the country.
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