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Tribute To Professor Ali Al’amin Mwalimu Mazrui(24 February 1933-13 October 2014). By Jibo Nura It was early morning of 13 October 2014 that Adamu Ladan; the Station Manager of Freedom Radio Kaduna sent me a text message that broke the news of the passing away of Prof. Ali Al’amin Mwalimu Mazrui. When I read the text, two things came to my mind. First, was the loss of my excellent teacher, mentor and highly inspirational person. Second, was the disappointment that I suffered from His Excellency, Governor Sule Lamido on inviting Prof. Mazrui to “Jigawa international African leadership summit 2014”, which I was trying to organize. After discussing the idea of the Jigawa leadership summit several times with His Excellency, Governor Lamido in his office, he gave me the go ahead to make a proposition on the people that I wanted to invite to the occasion. Part of my propositions was that Prof. Mazrui would be invited to come on board and shed more light on Nigerian leadership and Africanity. I then decided to write an introductory letter to Prof. Mazrui via his administrative assistant, Ravenna Narizzano. This happened in April of 2013. When I wrote that introductory letter to Prof. Mazrui through Ravenna, I had to anxiously wait for his response. The very day I received a reply on my letter from the learned Prof., I was very happy and overwhelmed, because I never thought my learned Prof. would have my time to discuss the matter of Nigeria and Jigawa with me. Surprisingly, he was ever ready to grace the occasion. I printed his reply and scheduled another appointment with His Excellency, Governor Lamido to brief him about the Prof’s readiness to come to Jigawa and make presentations on conditions that we would take care of all his needs. Lamido listened to me attentively in admiration of my effort, zeal, commitment and energy. He encouraged me to move-on with the idea, but I know that he surreptitiously seemed not to be in tandem with my ideas of convening an international summit in Jigawa on leadership and governance for reasons best known to His Excellency. But I was hell-bent on doing it! Sometimes, I would spend an hour or so arguing my points with His Excellency, Governor Lamido on the necessity of constituting a global gathering on leadership and governance problems in Nigeria, and by extension Africa. I had to stress my points to His Excellency on the importance of bringing an erudite professor of global acclaim like Ali. A. Mazrui. I tried all I could to convince his Excellency on the imperative of fulfilling our obligations to bring Mazrui to Nigerian home and listen to his professorial words of wisdom. Unfortunately, all my efforts went in vain even when he agreed to come. I was turned and weighed down by my Boss(Governor Sule Lamido) whom I had wanted to support my bid for salvaging Nigeria’s leadership quagmire via our learned Prof. Ali. A. Mazrui and other world’s renowned personalities that I was busy contacting on phone and via emails.. Now that death has “robbed” me of one of my mentors without fulfilling my intellectual ambition that might have inspired and sprouted a debate on Nigeria and Africa, I feel completely bemused. In fact, these days I begin to lose interest in engaging myself in any public debate or discussing Nigeria’s politics, leadership and economy. Friends, people and well-wishers have been complaining of not seeing my write-ups online or on pages of Newspapers the way they used to. I had to make them understand that there’s time for everything. I was regular, because I thought I could change the status quo. But now I realized that I need to bid farewell to public debate on Nigeria, because it’s wasting my precious time that I supposed to have utilized in pursuing my professional career as Quantity Surveyor. Many people do not know that I took interest in journalism and writing, because part of my hobbies is to fight injustice by telling truth to power. I have done this for over 10 years now, and I believe I need to tarry and concentrate fully on my career so that I come back and fight for my people another day. One of the things that made me take this decision is to bend down, bury my head and acquire the best professional qualification in knowledge that would allow me excel like my well-read Prof. Mwalimu Mazrui. He wrote 30 books in his lifetime while I wrote 3 and I still feel I did not do anything, yet. Prof. taught one of Nigeria’s best political scientists, the eminent emeritus Professor Isawa J. Elaigwu. I learnt so many things from Mazrui and his ideological school of thought ( Mazruiana), and I still memorize some of his speeches, lecture series and documentaries, especially the Africans: A Triple Heritage. I will live to remember and pray for him, particularly where he was explaining his findings on Ivory Coast by saying that “…one of the most startling sites I have ever encountered anywhere in Africa, is this approach to Yamoussoukro – the birth place of the founder president of Ivory Coast…” He found Yamoussoukro as an oasis of luxury amidst deprivation. When he visited former Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), he concluded thus: “If necessity is the mother of invention, abundance is the mother of inertia”. He was seriously touched by the failure of Africans and Africa to correct the distortions of underdevelopment. Prof. Ali Mazrui believed that “All over Africa development is distorted, priorities violated and the continent has mortgaged its soul”. He made the whole world know that “Africa is the most tropical of all continents. Yet, that’s precisely why tropical Africa would be the last to launch its own spacecraft”. While explaining Africanity, and Africa’s problems and its revolutionary proposal, Mazrui outlined three things as factors that retarded its growth and development. First, was climate, which was the course of Africa’s technological slowness. Second, was foreign invasion. The third is independent Africa’s failure to correct the distortion of underdevelopment. The main theme of his well documented Triple Heritage on Africa that was sponsored by BBC and the Public Broadcasting Service, WETA (Washington DC) are three: Climate, colonization and our own poor judgment have retarded Africa’s economic take-off, frustrating our own attempts at development. In my life, I became so close and very much at home with the works of two prominent professors of political science (late Sabo Bako and late Ali Mazrui), because of my high affinity to social science and what it offers to humanity and nation building. I share with you my correspondence with Prof. Ali A. Mazrui, especially during this period of global mourning of his passing away. “Dear Ravenna Narizzano, How is work Ma? Hope fine. My name is Nura Jibo, quantity surveyor and writer for 11 years from Jigawa State, northern Nigeria. I am one of the technical committee members for African leadership international conference, which is presently being organized by the Jigawa State Government, Nigeria. I write to seek for information about inviting our learned Prof Emeritus, Ali Al’amin Mazrui to grace the occasion here in Nigeria, which we dubbed as “Jigawa international African Leadership Summit 2014”. It is being organized under the Office of His Excellency, Jigawa State Governor, Dr. Sule Lamido (former foreign affairs minister during president Obasanjo’s political regime). Ma, the event is, hopefully, going to come up early next year – either in January, February or March, 2014; depending on the final time scheduled by the technical/ secretarial committees. We will be glad if our learned Prof. could kindly agree to come and talk on “Nigerian Leadership, africanity and Africa’s revolutionary proposal and the triumph of facts through the ages”. The Prof can as well decide to choose the topic that he deems fit. If we arrive at an agreement, then we will send a formal invitation through the Office of the Governor, which will shoulder all the expenses in bringing you to Nigeria vis-a-vis airfare (return), accommodation, feeding and honourarium. I personally brought the idea of inviting Prof. Ali A. Mazrui to His Excellency, Governor Lamido, because I am one of his ardent readers and follower of his intellectual engagement(s) with academic community since childhood. I started watching /listening to him on video in 1987 when my Dad went for a postgraduate training at University of Reading, UK. On his return from the UK, he bought us Dr. Ali Mazrui’s documentary – the Africans: A triple heritage. I was barely12 years old then. I could remember, I never got tired of listening to his eloquent and convincing tongue, even though I was not making a head or tail out of it. Laughs! But nonetheless, I was able to read most of his debates and academic works, especially the ones he had with Prof. Wole Soyinka. I read virtually the whole lot of it in admiration. I was also able to lay my hands on his only novel “The trial of Christopher Okigbo” that he published in 1971 when I was not even born! Laughs! In fact, right now, I have the novel under lock and key in my bookshelf. I hardly borrow it out, because it is scarce here. Very recently, I read his address to the United Nations General Assembly on International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade where he made a remarkable presentation that he titled “Comparative Anniversaries of Emancipation: From Wilberforce and Lincoln to Toussaint L’Ouverture and Mandela”. It made an interesting reading sir. Ma, in an attempt to follow Prof. Ali A. Mazrui’s intellectual footsteps, I ventured into writing on Nigeria’s politics, leadership and governance. I was able to produce my 1st book “Redefining Moments for Project Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century”. The book is a compendium of my Newspaper writings as a freelance columnist for 10 years (2001-2010). I published it in 2010 in the UK. Please find attached a complimentary electronic copy of my book and its peer review(s) for you and Prof’s Center for Global Cultural Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton. My dear Ravenna, I will be glad if you could kindly share it with the Library and all that are interested in helping Nigerian leadership, politics and governance. I hope to one day visit the centre and undertake some studies on Africa Ma. Best regards, Jibo Nura (Q.S). Due Process and Project Monitoring Bureau, Office of the Executive Governor, Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Phone: +2348063234772”.
And then;
Prof Mazrui’s Reply to me:
“Jibo Nura (Q.S.) Due Process and Project Monitoring Bureau, Office of the Executive Governor, Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Dear Jibo: I do apologise for the delay in responding to your e-mail of the end of April, inviting me to the Jigawa International Leadership Summit of 2014. I am intrigued by the assignment you have in mind for me. I am also impressed by how much you already know about my work. Please note that these days I have to travel with my dear wife as a health escort. International invitations therefore require TWO either First Class or at least Business Class, roundtrip airfares. In addition, the limo service between Binghamton and the New York airport would cost approximately $1000, which we could pay, and be refunded by you. Please let me know if these minimum conditions are acceptable to you. If you want to be formal in how you address my Assistant Ravenna Narizzano, please address her “Dear Madam”, rather than “Dear Ma”!! But normally she does not mind reciprocally being addressed by her first name [Dear Ravenna]. With best wishes. Yours warmly, Ali A. Mazrui Ali A. Mazrui, D.Phil., (Oxon), CBS Binghamton University P.O. 6000 Binghamton, New York 13902 Phone: (607)777-4494 Fax: (607)777-2642 Email: amazrui@binghamton.edu Office Website: http://igcs.binghamton.edu”. Ali A. Mazrui was instrumental to provoking discussion on the most topical issues on world politics, which is recognized in Africa, the United States, Britain and the world over. He was a professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He died while he was the Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, United States. Mazrui obtained his first degree before the birth of Nigerian nation i.e. in 1960. He left a mark at the University of Manchester with distinction. He had his MA from Columbia University, New York in 1961 and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) from Oxford University (Nuffield College) in 1966. He had his primary and secondary schools education in Mombasa, Kenya. During his long tenure of the chair of Political Science at the University of Makerere his influence was important not just on a whole generation of students but also on the national politics of Uganda under President Obote and on the regional policies of the East African Community. His professorial endeavour and areas of scholarship had to do with African politics, international political culture and political Islam. Mazrui was voted as the world’s number 73 top 100 global thinkers by Prospect and Foreign Policy Magazines in UK and USA respectively. Born in Mombasa on 24 February 1933, he died as a devout Muslim May Allah forgive Professor Ali Al’amin Mazrui (Mwalimu) and give his wife, Mrs. Pauline Uti Mazrui and her children the fortitude to bear the loss of this knowledge colossus and an oasis of knowledge. Ameen.
Jibo Nura, Senior Q.S., Building Department, Due Process and Project Monitoring Bureau, Office of the Executive Governor, Jigawa State, Nigeria. E-mail: jibonura@yahoo.com
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