Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Secretary-General Prof Ishaq Oloyede yesterday described the death of his deputy, Prof Tijani Abubakar El-Miskin in Thursday’s stampede in Saudi Arabia, as painful and a great loss for the country.
Prof Oloyede said he spoke with the late El-Miskin two weeks ago when he was asked to represent NSCIA at an international conference. He said: “He was at the international conference two weeks ago representing the supreme council and had a good outing. He was such a nice man.”
The Kaduna State government, Waziri of Gujba Emirate and long-time friend of Prof Tijani Abubakar El-Miskin, Ali Gaji, as well as friends and former colleagues also mourned the death of the first female editor of New Nigerian Newspaper, Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf, and Professor Tijjani El-Miskin who was the Deputy Secretary-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA.
Gaji relieved his last moment with the distinguished academician. “I picked my phone to call him but I look at the time and changed my mind, then the news of his death came to me, it was a shock,” he said.
“We really missed an intellectual of very high standard and he was not only vast in his field, but one can say that he had virtually an encyclopedic knowledge of world events and current affairs. Whenever you want to know some developments, particularly of African event, nationally, or internationally, you need to meet Prof. Tijani for in-depth and highly intellectual analysis that you can hardly get from any other person. This is one specialty that he had.
“He was very eloquent in about four to five languages like French, English, Arabic and Spanish, Hausa, not to talk of his own native Kanuri language. When the king of Spain visited Borno in the mid-80s, he was conversing fluently and translating the speech of the King of Spain to the Shehu of Borno. Tijani was officially co-opted to do that job and he did it very well.”
Their friendship dates back to the 70s when both were graduate assistants at the University of Maiduguri with strong unionism ties.
“Our friendship started from University of Maiduguri and what actually brought us together were union activities because we were both very active in unionism. That is how we came together. When NTA Maiduguri launched in preparation for FESTAC then, we (would) normally go to NTA Maiduguri then he presented programs and commentary on current affairs and world events, and our friendship continued to develop because of his interest in intellectual pursuit as both of us were in academics. Since then, we became very close doing things together like marriage events. He helped me in some of the events and the same way I do for him, and in some other social activities, both in his family and my family. It has been like that up to the time he died. Even before he left for this hajj, he was here in my house and he told me he was involved in the Amirul Hajj team of Borno.
“Yesterday in the evening before I went for prayers, I had it in my mind to call him. I even took my phone, but I said ‘oh, this is the time they are likely to be stoning Satan’, so I decided I would call him after magariba hoping that they must have finished by that time and returned to base.
Just all of a sudden I was sitting in my parlour and around 11:00 m, I got a call from Mecca that my friend was dead. Ah! I was shocked and I couldn’t even tell any of my family members. The calls kept coming in and one even called me from Sudan, and all over the country people were calling me.
“His death is a great loss not just to our society but to the entire humankind because even this year alone, he was invited to Turkey, Morocco, USA and Senegal to present papers on one topic or the other. So that shows you how he was an internationally-accepted scholar. Anywhere that Prof Tijani spoke on any topic, the people would continue to follow up to get more from him.
“In the North East and particularly northern Nigeria, he was regarded as one star that was always hunted to tap from his wealth of knowledge. He presented issues and the needs of his people and anytime he did that it was always in-depth. He had a vast knowledge of the Borno Empire, vast knowledge of the Sokoto Caliphate and the good knowledge of Islam, maybe because of his comparative Literature background.”
Prof Oloyede lamented the death of Hajia Balikisu Yusuf and Hafsat Shittu, saying their loss was too much for the country to bear.
The NSCIA scribe confirmed that more casualties were recorded from the Nigerian camp. “We know that the figure of Nigerian casualties is more than the three people mentioned so far; we are trying to reach out to their families to break the news to them.”
Asked to mention some of them, Oloyede said it would not be proper for the affected families to read the news on the pages of newspapers. “Once we informed the affected families, be rest assured that the appropriate authority will notify the media.”
He pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) on information about their people, saying that NAHCON needs to be properly briefed by various states pilgrims’ board and carry out its own investigations before releasing information about the Nigerian casualties.
He enjoined the Saudi Arabia authorities to ensure that thorough investigation is carried out to forestall future occurrence. The world needed to know whether negligence on the part of the Saudi Arabia authoritities or failure by the pilgrims to yield to instructions was responsible.
“If the fault is from the Saudi Arabia authority, then the world needs to let their government know that they must be up and doing in organising the pilgrimage.
“The quality of lives lost in the stampede is worrisome. No country would be happy sending her illustrious citizens for pilgrimage where their security can’t be guaranteed,” he said.
He warned pilgrims to always adhere to instructions in the holy land. “I learnt the pilgrims faced one another at the Jamrah site which shouldn’t be so. If they had followed the Saudi Government instructions, maybe we wouldn’t have this disaster.”
With shock and grief, prominent Nigerians yesterday trooped to the house of Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf to sympathise with the family over her demise in Jamrat, Mecca during the stampede that claimed over 700 lives.
Among them were the new Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Ibrahim Hammeed Ali, former Military Administrator of Kano state, Colonel Aminu Kontagora Rtd., Alhaji Ismaila Isa Funtua, former Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Adamu Bello, former NBTE Executive Secretary, Eng. Nurudeen Yakubu, former Governorship candidate in Borno State, Alhaji Maina Waziri, Malam Mohammed Haruna, Alhaji Mohammed Dewu and Sheilk Hassan Idris of the Yahaya Road Central Mosque, Kaduna.
While taking one prayer session after the other for the repose of the souls of victims of the stampede at the family’s house at No. 6B, Kabiru Street, Malali GRA, they expressed shock at the death of Hajiya Yusuf whom they described as selfless, brilliant and exceptionally religious.
Sighted among sympathisers holding prayers, Hajiya Bilkisu’s husband, Alhaji Mustapha Bintike directed The Nation’s correspondent to his son, Moshood who described his mother as someone who could give all she had to another person.
Speaking with The Nation on behalf of the family, Hajiya Bilkisu’s son, Moshood Yusuf described his mother as humane, very religious, a disciplinarian, an activist, a role model and a committed mother.
“We were shocked by the news,” he said. “We will miss her because she is everything to us. But we are consoled by the fact that she died performing religious obligation, she died a blessed death.”
His late mother associated with many humanitarian organisations and NGOs, especially those involved in advocacy for peace, unity, development and progress of the society, he added. Apart from being a strong member of the Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, (FORMAN) and Interfaith Religious Group, his mother devoted her live to the cause of the downtrodden, especially among women and children.
Through his media aide, Samuel Aruwa, Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasril el-Rufai described the death of Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf as shocking. He said she was very close to the state government and had forged a close working relationship with the governor.
She said: “Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf was a well respected activist, a hardworking woman who devoted her life to the ordinary people. She had been involved in activities that helped to solve problems of society apart from being a journalist of repute. The governor of Kaduna State holds her in high esteem. She said we should never go combative in our approach to governance especially from the media perspective.
“She insisted that our politics should be issue-based and she was very close to the governor. Her death at this point was shocking to us. In fact, she had been involved in religious advocacy for the consolidation of peace in Kaduna State. She worked in the Interfaith Group with the wife of Bishop Idowu Faron.”
Special Adviser to former governor of Kaduna State on Media, Malam Muktar Sirajo, described Hajiya Bilkisu as extremely brilliant, forthright and exceptionally nice, apart from being a professional journalist.
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