The Passage of a Giant: Tribute to the Late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman

By 

Yasir Muhammad Adamu

medhistorian@yahoo.com

 

 

Although I don’t know much about the early life of the late eminent respected scholar, the very little I know is that his life time was devoted to the service of mankind and humanity. His scholarly works are not only academic masterpieces but varied and many. His doctoral thesis on The Transformation of Katsina 1400 – 1883 was a seminal work in Nigerian history. He has edited numerous books including  Studies in the History of the Sokoto caliphate, and (with Abdullahi Augie)  Cities of the Savannah, as well as Studies in the History of Bornu (with Professor Nur-Alkali). Beside, these are books h e authored like The Liberation of Nigeria and many more.

 

Dr. Bala Usman as he is popularly known is a good writer, his writings are easy to read and are beautifully crafted. For example the opening of his 1999 paper on the History of Kano  titled Nations, Nation-States and the Future of Mankind: Some Observations on the Historical Experience of the Formation of the Kanawa in the 2nd Millennium A.D. reads as follows:

 

The end, and the beginning, of the day and of the night, of the seasons, of the solar and lunar years, of decades, of centuries and of millennia, regularly pose to mankind the question of its future. In tackling that question; mankind comes face to face with the reality of the primacy of motion in the natural world and in human society. For millennia, the primacy of motion in the existence of the heavenly bodies has been recognised and accepted. It is even used by astrologers to seek for answers to questions about the future”

 

A part from scholarship, but on the flat form of scholarship, the late scholar has been active in Nigerian and African affairs since the 1970s, he was a member of the committee for the review of Nigerian Foreign Policy, Constitution Drafting Committee, Nigerian delegation to the peoples republic of Angola. He was also special adviser to the Nigerian delegation to the 31st session of the UN General Assembly. Dr. Bala Usman is a trustee of the Nigerian Labour Congress. That is the little I know about him and many more. This at least I read about him.

 

However, I first know him face to face rather late, that was in 2003 at Arewa House Kaduna. That was at the occasion of an International Conference on the Transformation of Northern Nigeria (1903-2003). He was at the opening ceremony, his address was about the conquest its evils and how the transformation come to be. It was from his speech that I began to understand his honesty, frankness and truthfulness. I heard,  how truth was spoken in truth and how truth is differentiated from falsehood.

 

Dr. Bala Usman challenged northerners who also talk about Sardauna’s virtue and greatness arguing that “you Northerners every time Sardauna, Sardauna why can’t you be like Sardauna.” His words penetrated my mind, and at that time I haven’t started my University education and before then if I were to be admitted to read history I would have prepared Political Science, that was what I applied for. But seeing how Dr. Bala was speaking with authority without fear or favour in differentiating between the truth and the falsehood, I was won by History. I began to like History. So when my elder brother (Dr. Yusuf Adamu) said to me “Yasir, I am not sure if you can get Pol. Science, if you don’t mind I will try History for you” I just jump at the opportunity without hesitation. He is ‘mad’ about history even though he is a Geographer. Today, History is my fiel d of study at the University and never regretting to be a History student. That was how much a person of Dr Bala’s caliber can influence people, I know, I am not the only one been inspired by him. May Allah reward him abundantly for that.

 

The last time I physically saw him was at the Bicentenary Conference of the Sokoto Caliphate (1804–2004) which was held at Abuja.  Seeing him again was a kind of injection as aspiration of becoming some one as great as him. I and one Khadija Hanga happened to be the youngest persons (from Kano) at the conference. We were in the company of Professors Dahiru Yahaya, Philip Shea, MD Sulaiman, Ahmed Rufa’i Asma’u Garba Sa’id of the History Department of BUK and off course my elder brother Dr. Yusuf Adamu and Hadiza Hanga’s mother whom I latter learn is also a Biology lecturer at BUK. It was a great experience, and I used it always.

 

After I returned home Dr. Bala become my subject of discussion and all I do was to devote all my time in reading about him, his books, presentation and any of his contributions be it on cassettes or on TV. There, I come to realize his importance to the whole society. Most interestingly, I learnt about the people who made Bala, his contributions in A Giant of A Man showed how he was motivated by the late Professor Abdullahi.

 

Even though I saw equally great scholars at the two conferences like Professors Ade Ajayi, John Paden, Njuma, Mahmud Tukur e.t.c., Bala Usman has always been my hero. I even used the fact that I saw dr. Bala Usman to ‘harass’ my colleague during group discussion. If the debate is too much I simple ask ‘have you even seen Bala Usman’ if my co-debater says ‘no’ I simply dismiss him as not fit to debate history. This is how much I ado the late scholar.

 

Dr. Bala Usman devoted all his life time in scholarship and struggle to make this country better, he never falters. Today, we that are alive will surely judge the late eminent scholar as some one who say no to oppression of the masses, no to Western imperialism, and as some one who devoted all his life time and committed himself to the service of humanity. He will also be missed as a person of great personality who speak out always towards the progress and the development of the entire country, but also as a man who seclude himself from the powers that be without keeping mute. Dr. Bala Usman was always against oppression, tribalism, sectionalism and regionalism. He was a man who spent his time in fighting for the freedom of the masses.

 

In conclusion I want to believe that even though Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman is dead physically, his spirit remains immortal because his legacy and writings will forever be there as a guide and light to the coming generations of all the entire true blooded Africans and Nigerians and especially Historians. We deeply missed him as a person, and will continue to pray for Allah’s mercy upon him and forever commemorate his value. Dr.Yusufu Bala Usman’s life, is a life well spent. From Allah we come and to him shall we return.


 

 

Yasir Muhammad Adamu

Bayero Univeristy, Kano