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Tribute To Late Wada Nas

Samuel Peter Aruwan

This life is so complex and mysterious, one is happy sometimes hoping that all days will be so, but along the path, things still get bad and sour. What is life? And what is it that constitute life? How does one go about life and then have a better end? There is one word that scares me and makes me irrational, that is “death”.

I have been running away, from writing and commenting about it. It is not because one is afraid and scared, but because of the trauma one has gone through as a result of loosing so many kind people to death, from parents to grannies, uncles and friends.

As a Christian I was taught that death is inevitable, but that there is life after it. Meaning that there is an everlasting resting place for all that strictly adhere to God’s laid downs ethics of living. Since death is inevitable, it does not show discrimination, I think what mortals should do is to live well accordingly, so that when one dies, his legacies should serve as a positive beacon to the society. However we should all live to the standard of our creator in order to get a better life hereafter.

It is not how long one lives on earth that matters but how well. This write-up is about the demise of the Trojan, Alhaji Wada Nas.

The first time I heard of the man Alhaji. Hamisu Mohamed Wada Nas was during the later years of Babangida’s government.

Then I was a Junior Secondary School Student, but was current on social and political issues. Wada Nas was always on Radio Nigeria Kaduna, as the then Katsina State chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC).

Latter on during General Sani Abacha’s, government, he served as a minister and special adviser respectively, it was at that time that he became a regular feature of Nigerian media headlines; the political pot of Nigeria at that time was so hot and smoking with such issues as the June 12 elections, Human rights abuses, Abacha’s self succession bid among other issues.

He was always ready to take on debate to defend the government’s policies and approach to challenging situations facing Abacha’s regime.

The opportunity to see Alhaji Wada Nas presented itself at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1999 where I was pursuing admissions, I saw him from afar and did not recognise him immediately, until some one pointed him out saying “the man standing, is Wada Nas”.

At this time he had started writing and commenting on national issues, on the way and manner Obasanjo’s government were managing the Nigerian State .

The second time I met him was in 2001, at the seminar organized by Northern Youths Associations where he presented a paper. In the cause of discussing the paper, I was privileged to speak about ethno-religious crises in the north.

At the end he called me and said he liked my contributions and encouraged me. He latter on asked if I was the Samuel Peter Aruwan that do write articles on peace and so on, and I said yes. That was the end of the first meeting. Since then I occasionally wrote him e-mails to comment on his Weekly Trust pieces.

The other things Alhaji Wada Nas did that surprised and convinced me that he really loves seeing young minds coming up was, when Adamu Yusuf, the Kaduna BBC Hausa reporter Interviewed me, the interview was aired on the 29th of March 2004, Wada Nas wrote me and commended the factual nature of the interview which touched on religious and ethnic issues.

Subsequently, we kept meeting each other at the public seminars where issues concerning democracy, peaceful co-existence and so on were discussed in Kaduna , we always exchanged pleasantries.

Wada Nas, was consistent in his criticisms Obasanjo’s policies, he talked about the different judicial trials taking place in the country, i.e. The Al- Mustapha and Bamaiyi case. He condemned the privatisations of our public corporations; he bitterly made it clear that Obasanjo’s government has failed to provide Nigerians with welfare and security.

He also wrote about the mismanagement of public funds, the northern Nigerian Almajiri system and the danger it posed for the region and how to avert it.

Other issues Wada Nas preached about was the need to breed a comprehensive democracy, of which there would be absolute adherence to the constitution, unlike what obtains now, the need to re-design the edifice called Nigerian, his position was of course the restructuring of the nation, through the National conference to determine the fate of Nigeria since the National Assembly has shown no seriousness interest in resolving the enormous problems facing the nation.

In the Northern Nigeria of today, where the so-called leaders have betrayed the good legacies of the Sardauna, I wonder who would fill the vacuum left by Wada Nas, judging by our current leaders, who do not have the plights of the people at heart, choosing instead to go the way of backbiting, greed and betrayal of the collective cause, all in the name of becoming relevant in government to the detriment of masses.

Wada Nas has showed a lot of zeal and passion for the north. In his life time, he always made sure that the interest of the North is safe-guarded and protected.

Another thing I learnt from his many virtues was loyalty and trust. When all that fed fat on Abacha deserted him in death and abandoned his family, Wada Nas kept the trust and loyalty.

Nothing fascinated me more than seeing people keeping to their words. Wada Nas might have short-comings, but his death has vindicated him. For it is said, “The ending should be better than the beginning” and that was his legacy.

May his soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

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This page was last updated on 10/27/07.