Salihu Muhammad Bappa: Tribute to a Cultural Ambassador

Yesterday, friends, relations and colleagues of Salihu Bappa met at the Pavilion in Abuja in remembrance of his contributions to society, his commitment to progress and in recognition of the role he played as an anchor of networking across generations, disciplines and numerous associations. The memorial event was chaired by his friend and schoolmate Ahmadu Muazu, former governor of Bauchi State who emphasised Bappa’s role as a bridge builder across communities and networks since their childhood days in Gindiri where they grew up in a very mixed convivial Plateau State.

Bappa and I started our careers together as graduate assistants in Ahmadu Bello University in 1978. I called him O. C. Drama because of the way he always infused his professional training in theatre arts into his personal behaviour and conduct. There was no dull moment for him as he was always acting out the happenings of the moment and providing dramatic effect to instil happenstance into historical memory. He always appeared to be on a mission of playing out mundane happenings into memorable drama.

The theme of the memorial event was “Service and Humanness in Perpetuity” in recognition of what he lived and worked for. The lecture was delivered by Prof Oga Steve Abah, his departmental colleague who emphasised Bappa’s life-long commitment to theatre as a tool for emancipation and development. Bappa was very much part of the Ahmadu Bello University tradition of radical scholarship for liberation and the methodology he was inducted into in the drama department was theatre for development. Three young British lecturers in the late 1970s worked hard to create symbiosis between radical scholarship in the history and social sciences departments of the university and English and Drama Department. Michael Etherton, Tony Humphreys and Brian Crow groomed students and the young lecturers they were training on engaging with poor communities around the Samaru campus on the lived reality of ambient poverty and repression communicating techniques of amplifying the voices of the oppressed and seeking collective routes to liberation. Bappa maintained life-long engagement with such communities, especially Bomo where he had many friends. 

The linkage that was created was that radicalism in theory was of no value if it was not transmitted to and adopted by ordinary people who suffered the most from capitalist exploitation and military authoritarianism. The idea was that what the radical literature students and lecturers were reading should be transmitted to ordinary people using techniques of popular theatre. With this transmission, transformation would remain an unfulfilled dream. When the history of radicalism in Ahmadu Bello University is written, one of its highlights would be the insufficient buy-in of the radical left of the importance of ordinary people playing the role of an enlightened vanguard in the struggle for emancipation.

Bappa played his part in bridging the divides in society. He was a man that was always vibrant and full of energy, motion and speed. He was once told that some people had gone off to look for him at a place they were told he was discussing with some people. His legendary response was that it was a mistake, don’t roam about looking for me. Stay where you are and you will see me come there. After all, I am the wind that goes everywhere, recalled his colleague Prof Steve Abah.

A Muslim who attended a missionary school made Bappa at ease with both religious communities. He had lots of friends across the religious and ethnic divides in the country and was well respected by all who came to know him. He was someone who was also blessed with social skills and knew lots of people all over the country but also maintained contact with them. It was for this reason that Ahmadu Bello University appointed him as Liaison Officer for their Alumnae Association and he travelled all over the country to activate branches and network them. Bappa’s school mates from primary school through to the university, generations of his former students all turned up for the event to respect his memory.

A lot of the discussion at the event was about the terrible way Nigeria was tearing at the seams of its ethnic, religious, cultural and regional divides and the dearth of bridge builders such as Salihu Muhammad Bappa who have the commitment, zeal and skills to build a common culture of belongingness. For this reason, his friends and colleagues miss him a lot. We also miss him for his kindness, willingness to help others, his empathy and his commitment to play his part in moving the dial forward in pushing Nigeria towards progress and better understanding.

Finally, his family pillar and wife, Aisha and children have always provided refuge and accommodation to numerous visiting friends, acquaintances and comrades. May God continue to protect them and make them prosper while he continues to rest in perfect peace.