Bello Shagari, the Yariman Shagari and former president Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari’s grandson, speaks about his grandfather’s love for books and much more.
Daily Trust on Saturday: Can you describe your grandfather in three words?
Bello Shagari: It’s a bit difficult to do that because he is a man of many characters. I would say he is extremely patient, very thoughtful and very stubborn as well. He could be stubborn in the sense that if he makes up his mind about something, nobody can change it except of course if you are ready for a debate and go beyond reasonable doubt in proving your point. Therefore, it is false to believe that somebody can control him because he is highly principled.
DT: Was he a sports person, if yes what was his favorite sport?
Shagari: My grandfather actually isn’t a sports person, I know when he was much younger he played hockey in his secondary school days and I think that is the only game he has ever played. The only thing he does to keep fit is to go to his farm and supervise some of the work, but he does not do any kind of sports.
DT: What kind of personality would you say your granddad has?
Shagari: He is somebody that God has ordained; he is not really a person who had planned to become who he is, right from the start because he is always reluctant to do something. When he was admitted into secondary school, he was supposed to go to Barewa College but he refused to go because he wanted to remain home but Sultan Abubakar III, who is the father of the present Sultan insisted because he was among the best students in primary school; he insisted that he must continue with his studies. At that time, my granddad was more interested in veterinary studies, he wanted to go back to Shagari and look after his cattle, but Sultan Abubakar insisted that he must further his studies and took him personally to school.
Secondly, when he was called to teach, he didn’t like that line of career but preferred journalism because he wanted to work with Gaskiya Ta Fi Kobo, a newspaper then in Kaduna. He kept being rejected when he applied for a job there unknown to him that his being rejected was being influenced by Sokoto elders because they wanted him to remain in the state so that he could teach. And eventually when he went into politics he had to be persuaded. He has a humble personality.
DT: How does he relax?
Shagari: He relaxes on his farm because I don’t think there is anything he loves like going to his farm, even when he travels abroad; he is always worried about his farm, so the best place you can even catch him up and have a chat with him is on his farm.
DT: What is his relationship with his grandchildren like?
Shagari: Well, because he is a former president, he had his tight schedules and that has always been there ever since he was a president, but he had always had that time for his family, more especially his grandchildren, who always wanted to be with him and have words of advice, encouragement, inspirations which he has been willing to do as he was once a teacher. He has always been close to us and we always go to him for suggestions on whatever we are doing.
DT: What story of his while growing up has an impact on you today?
Shagari: I would say his achievement because for him to have come from a little village like Shagari and from nowhere there is no way one can excel if you are not any useful to the society because looking at the way he got up the ladder.
DT: What other job do you think your grandfather would have excelled in?
Shagari: That is a tough one, but I think he would have made a good teacher because for somebody with the kind of knowledge he has, he loves reading and he learns very fast. One of the reasons he went into poetry was because he wanted to find the most suitable way to interact with his students and it did work well for him; so I think he would have made a very good teacher with a very big impact on his students. He has taught people like Maitama Sule, Shehu Kangiwa and so many others.
DT: Tell us one positive thing people don’t know about your grandfather.
Shagari: He is a very private person and he has a lot of things that are still left untold, although, he has written a book but the book is not very accessible and it is only through that book that you would know a lot of things about him because he is a very private person which very much explains why he has decided to take a break from the public domain.
DT: What is his favourite food?
Shagari: He loves to take fura every morning and most of us competed to take his remaining fura.
DT: What is the one advice he gave to you that has stuck forever?
Shagari: He has always encouraged me to be serious in whatever I do; he has always told us that anything we do shouldn’t always be about money. He made us to understand that there is more to what you have to give to your country than money, that by the time you do something for the society will definitely pay you back, so you don’t have to go for the pay, go for the service rather.
DT: Have you ever made your grandfather angry? What was it you did and how did he react?
Shagari: There was a time I got him angry and that is the only time I ever saw him angry. I wanted a support letter from him which he does not easily give. I drafted a letter and I took it to him and said this is the letter I want him to write for me so that I can get something with it, he read it and asked if he asked me to write the letter, and I explained to him that it was just a draft that I wanted him to write it that way for me. He then asked what made me think he would do that saying he may be old but wise, then I kept quiet and he gave me back my paper and continued what he was doing. Well, I believe that was when I saw that he wasn’t happy, because I won’t say anger but he was not happy with me because he showed that he was disappointed because he wasn’t expecting that I would draft a letter without consulting him.
DT: What did you miss doing with him as a child?
Shagari: The best moment I had with him when I was a child was when we would travel to Shagari, he used to spend the weekend in Shagari, and most of the time when I was a child we went together. If I am on holidays and every morning at about 9-10 am we normally went to his farm and on reaching there, he would ask me to pluck whatever kind of fruits I wanted to eat. So most times, I returned home with a bag of oranges and shared with my friends and sometimes, I would even invite them to come over with me to the farm so that we could pluck as many fruits as we could. I also miss horse riding with him, something that I also did on the farm. He also told us stories whenever we went to the farm with him. For me those were the best moments I had with him.
DT: What kind of books does he read and what TV programmes does he love to watch?
Shagari: He never misses the (NTA) network news at 9 pm. Somehow, I used to wonder if he ever watches any other programme than the network news because he seats down and sees what is happening in the country so he can be in touch. As for books, most of the books in his little library at home are historical, and I believe these are books that have influenced his philosophical thoughts. Some are Islamic related, some are political and he reads Shakespearean books as well. As an average reader, he has a rich library which consists of books of every kind. He is an avid reader; he feeds on them like food. There was a time he read the whole books in the library in a school and when he told the white principal he had read all the books in the library, he didn’t believe him. The principal had to test him by asking him a question on different pages from every book of which he answered all. He was quite young then, the librarian even had to confirm to the principal that there was no book in the library that my grandfather had not borrowed. The principal then gave him the key to his personal library and after two weeks he told his principal that he was done with the books in his library and it was said the principal just exclaimed: “You are impossible!”
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