By Farooq Kperogi Retired Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a rare patriot, brilliant statesman, former Kaduna State governor and social justic...
By Farooq Kperogi
Retired Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a rare patriot, brilliant statesman, former Kaduna State governor and social justice advocate, turned 76 yesterday. I want to share a few reflections about him to mark this special occasion.
As an undergraduate at Bayero University, Kano, in the early 1990s, I voraciously read Col. Umar’s interviews in newsmagazines like Tell and The News, as well as weeklies like Tempo and PM News. I was always in awe of his principles, strength of character, cosmopolitanism, pan-Nigerian passion, and, above all, his bravery.
Although he was very close to IBB (who had enormous respect for him because of his gargantuan intellect and courage) he openly disagreed with his boss over the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election that MKO Abiola had won with a pan-Nigerian mandate.
Like other military officers of his pedigree and educational background, he must have hoped to retire as a general. Yet, as a consequence of his principled stand in defense of Abiola’s mandate, he resigned his commission. That kind of sacrifice is not everyday opposition.
I was inspired by him and longed to emulate him. Learning that he had earned his bachelor’s degree at Bayero University (and later a master’s degree at Harvard) made me feel an even closer connection to him.
Then, in July 1999, as a young reporter, I had the privilege of interviewing him on a wide variety of issues. I was both flattered and intimidated. He turned out to be exactly as I had imagined from his newspaper appearances: articulate, urbane, sophisticated, intellectually fierce, unapologetically patriotic, yet humble and welcoming.
As journalists, we’re trained to play devil’s advocate. When we interview a fire-breathing liberal, we become doddering conservatives. When we interview liberals, we become reactionaries. It’s a technique to elicit information for the reader. My questions to Col. Umar were hard and inquisitorial, but he didn’t flinch, nor did he treat me as an enemy.
(Contrast that with another experience I had in 1999: my devil’s-advocate-style questioning of a Northeast governor got me hunted down. I had to hurriedly leave town after the governor accused me of being sponsored by his political opponents!)
That’s why I never took Col. Umar’s graciousness for granted. Even after being peppered with probing, “rude,” and hostile questions, he remained kind and accommodating, as if he instinctively knew that the young reporter in front of him was secretly an admirer pretending to be antagonistic.
At a time when northern Muslim political elites were protesting President Obasanjo’s preference for northern Christians in political appointments, Col. Umar reminded us that “the same people were alive and in a position to advise … when Abacha appointed his ministers from some geographical zones and people were complaining.”
Instead of whining, he suggested, the Northern Elders Forum should organize a reception “for Isaiah Balat, (Iyiorcha) Ayu and others as the Southerners will do for their own.”
He has not wavered in this attitude since then. In 2020, when the Buhari administration attempted to bypass Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, a Plateau woman, for President of the Court of Appeal, even though she was the most qualified, Col. Umar wrote a strongly worded and widely publicized open letter in her defense. A judge later told me that the letter was the single most important reason the Buhari regime reversed itself at the last minute.
He was also among the few northerners who recognized the legitimacy of IPOB’s grievances before the group degenerated into the bloodthirsty monster it has since become. In a press statement on August 30, 2017, he wrote:
“One of the swiftest ways of destroying a kingdom is to give preference to one particular tribe over another, or to show favour to one group of people rather than another, and to draw near those who should be kept away and keep away those that should be drawn near. Like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, many Igbos genuinely feel marginalized since they belong to the category of those who gave Mr. President only 5% of their votes and appeared to have fallen out of his favour.”
His exemplary, even-handed management of the 1987 religious crisis in Kaduna when he was military governor of the state is still a reference point. He famously said, “If you win a religious war, you cannot win religious peace. Since the killing started how many Christians have been converted to Islam? How many Muslims have been converted to Christianity? It is an exercise in futility.”
Col. Umar’s transcendence of ethnic and religious nationalism does not mean he disowns his identity. On the contrary, he is a proud descendant of Usman Danfodio (his father was Wazirin Gwandu, i.e., second in command to the emir) and a committed Muslim who draws inspiration for his intolerance of injustice from Islam.
I am glad that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration honored him with the Commander of the Federal Republic award this year. I am even gladder that the award did not muzzle him: in accepting the award, he still spoke truth to power and recognized others who deserve honor for their role in the struggle to reclaim the June 12 mandate.
Please join me in wishing this uncommon patriot a happy 76th birthday!
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