Deplorable! A Response to Adalat and Ishaq Modibbo


      

      

      By

      

        

      

      

      Dr Muhammad Shakir

      

        

      

      

      London

      

        

      

      

      Muhammad_s@hotmail.com

      
 

      
       
      It was with so much horror that I read the article  'The Collapse of Daily Trust's Health Interactive Column: Our Triumph' by one Adalat Yusuf that, with so much childish, gloating, gleefully celebrated the demise of Dr.Magashi's Health Interactive column in Daily Trust. Apart from the fact that the language was unbecoming for a person making a show of his BSc & MSc .The article rang so hollow that I was groping for its substance. I read the article hoping to come across some sound rationale for the action taken by the Editorial board of the newspaper but couldn't help screaming at the end of the appalling stuff 'where is the beef?’
       
      The clumsily composed article was replete with the most blatant expression of philistinism. The ethno-centric chauvinist unashamedly declared his hatred for the enterprising young doctor who was simply trying to better the lot of the teeming millions of the northern populace wallowing in abject poverty, diseases and lack of education; through advocacy and newspaper articles. He even declared that the scary word 'hatred' did not suffice to convey theintensity of the loathing he had for the youthful visionary person .
       
      The uncouth Adalat assaulted our sensibilities as readers at the onset by categorically declaring that he was proud to don the vulgar garb of tribal irredentism and still believed he had something serious to say-imagine! When will the process of formal schooling and accumulation of degrees be able to protect people from descending to such an abyss of senselessness? 
       
      When I read the article ,like Adalat's I wonder when writers from  South-West will have enough education to spare us the shibbolethic cliché of 'the cattle-rearing' Fulani man who has no business writing on the pages of newspapers. The barbarian Fulani man should simply go back to his cattle and stop raising the hackles of Adalat and people of his ilk who cannot countenance such cheekiness from the 'Tutsis' of Nigeria. Daily Trust has simply helped those who wish Magashi silenced by all means to realize their wish.
       
      The pluck and verve with which Magashi presented his advocacy was too much for a conceited tribalists like Adalat that he couldn't help rolling out the drums as his wish of banishing the Kano doctor from the pages of Daily Trust was realised in the ill-informed action taken by the editor who should have known better. I must say at this point that I was disappointed with Modibbo Kawu - the very flimsy excuse he came up with actually brought him down from the pedestal on which his erstwhile journalistic achievement had placed him.
       
      It is a fact that no well-informed person doubts the transparency of Magashi's NGO,not even Adalat does, nor his determination to improve the lot of his brothers in the North. Despite this, Modibbo still went on to cook up such a patently false allegation... talk of giving a dog a bad name. We are still waiting fo the real reason, sir.
       
      In any case I don't need to expend a word to make a case for the importance of Magashi's column-the most cursory perusals of his past articles bear out this fact. My reason for writing this article, apart from voicing my disappointment with Mallam Kawu, is to put appalling characters like Adalat in their proper place. The editorial board of Daily Trust should hearken to the voice of reason and bring back a hugely important and emancipating endeavor.
       
      Dr Mohammad Shakir is undergoing residency programme in London.