In my 60 years on this planet, I have witnessed so many deaths of loved ones, but very few shocked me and left me in a state of disbelief like that of my boss and mentor, Professor Sule Bello. Of course, as a Muslim, I believe that death can come at any time, whether one prepares or not, however, that of Professor Bello came like a dream.
We were always in contact, either on Facebook, WhatsApp, email and phone calls throughout the years since he left the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in 2000.
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A visit to his house or office was like a political and cultural pilgrimage. I always went to see him, not just to pay respect to a boss, teacher and mentor, but also with questions and issues of national importance. And he was always ready to attend and engage you. He was always ready to offer fresh perspectives on whatever issues you brought to him. Sometimes you agreed and disagreed, but you always came out more enlightened than you went in.
I first came to know this erudite and engaging scholar when I was admitted into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) to read History in 1983. He was very young, intelligent, vibrant, and of course, a radical scholar in the main tradition of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). When I joined the Movement for Progressive Nigeria (MPN) and the Youth Solidarity on South Africa (YSSA), he was an activist and among our patrons.
When I graduated from the university and finished my service, I was to be offered a position as a graduate assistant by the then head of the History Department, Mahmud Moddibo Tukur. Sule invited me, initially against my will, to join him as a research officer at the newly created History and Culture Bureau (HCB), Kano. On my conditions, he allowed me to proceed to the University of Ibadan for a master’s degree after just a year, against the normal two-year probation period.
Professor Bello left the Kano State History and Cultural Bureau (HCB) and joined the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), purely on merit, having come into contact with the then Minister of Information and Culture, Prince Tony Momoh. Prince Momoh saw in Bello, a talented young man who was intellectually perspercatious, with a nationalistic cultural zeal.
Prior to Bello’s assumption of duty at the NCAC, Iganmu Lagos, the Council was an unknown and obscure government agency, with only one office situated around the National Theatre, Iganmu. However, on assumption of duty in 1989, he breathed life into the almost dead agency. He brought it out, created 10 zonal offices and came up with many intellectually and culturally relevant contents, through research and documentation for the first time in the history of the cultural sector.
Intellectual research and documentation were made paramount, and the business of culture was taken beyond the assumption of cultural expression as the only dance.
His recruitment and mentoring policy was always nationalistic as he identified young graduates and former students, who in his reckoning, were intelligent. He did this without the “normal” Nigerian tradition of ethnic or religion bias. Hence, by the time he left the organisation, the Council had become the most vibrant parastatal in the cultural sector.
Beyond his service in government as a cultural administrator, Professor Bello was humane, intellectually engaging and vibrant. As a political activist, he was always on the side of the people when we were students. He was among the patrons of the MPN and the YSSA. No wonder, until his death he remained the national interim factional chairman of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).
For me, Bello will remain a mentor, teacher and comrade. He gave me my first work after graduating from the ABU, Zaria, at the newly established HCB, Kano. And when he moved to the NCAC, he carried along with him former students and staff, including me. Even after he left the Council for about 21 years, before his demise, we always ran to him for intellectual support and advice. When I was appointed the executive secretary/chief executive officer of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), one of the first experienced cultural administrators I consulted was Professor Bello, who offered his advice and intellectual resources. And when the opportunity presented itself this year, we invited him to present a paper at the NICO’s annual lecture series in March 2021. Although we earlier suggested a topic for the lecture, he requested to deliver his lecture on the topic: “Imperial Cultural Illusions, Delusions and Hallucination: Major Sources of Africa’s Contemporary Development Crisis,” which sounded like a hyperbole. Whenever people read the topic, they wondered what it was about. Subsequently, he delivered the lecture fantastically, explaining what he meant by those high-sounding concepts. Unknown to us, the March 2021 lecture was the last meeting point between him and many of his students, mentees, associates and friends.
At the NICO, we had already set aside some funds to publish the paper. He was editing it, and any time I called him for even something else, he would say,”Ado I am sending the paper, I have almost finished. You know these my political activities …” Alas, he could not finish editing the paper, up to the time Allah took him back.
To his friends, students and comrades, Professor Bello was a kind, caring, supportive and fearless human being, intellectually engaging and original in the tradition of our late teacher and mentor, Dr Yusuf Bala Usman. It was always a delight to listen to him discuss any issue.
As fate would have it, a day before his demise, I was called by his daughter, Habiba, saying that her father was sick and was admitted at the ABU Teaching Hospital, Shika. The following morning, instead of leaving for Abuja, I decided to proceed to Zaria to see him at the hospital. However, having seen his condition, we had to run around to look for a consultant physician, but because medical doctors were on strike, we couldn’t get one, while waiting for the one who promised to come. Before he came, Allah took life of his servant. I was devastated.
As nature would have it, I had the ‘privilege’ of escorting the corpse of my teacher, mentor and boss. While the ambulance was in front of me in a convoy to Kano, I broke down several times as many thoughts of him and his magnanimity, not only to me but to many people and friends I know, enveloped me.
Bello has joined our other teachers and mentors – Yusuf Bala Usman, Mahmud Moddibo Turkur, Sabo Bako, Salihu Bappah, Yaro Gella, A.D Yahaya (incidentally, Yahaya died a day before Bello, but they were buried the same day) etc. May their souls rest in peace. May Allah have mercy on us when our time comes, amin.
By Ado Muhammed Yahuza who is the executive secretary/chief executive officer of the NICO, Wuse Zone 7, Abuja
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