Dr Tajudeen will always be remembered for his charm and great smile
TRIBUTE
By Ahmed Rajab
Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, who died in a tragic car accident on his way to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi, Kenya in the early hours of Monday, was a pleasant, colourful and larger-than-life figure. Many will remember his smile and great charm and the gap in his front teeth, which gave his smile a special quality.
He was more than one thing — a consummate conversationalist, thoroughbred intellectual, dedicated father, comrade and a fighter for people’s rights — but above all, he was the frontline carrier of the pan-African banner.
History has a way of throwing up ironies. And Taju’s death — on Africa Day — is one of them. It has left a huge gap in the ranks of pan-Africanists, for Taju took it upon himself to bring together pan-Africanists from across the continent and beyond.
Whenever he was in London, we used to meet almost every Friday evening at Tandi’s, a Cameroonian-owned joint, in the city’s underbelly to dissect African and world politics with a motley of pan-Africanists, including the Liberian Thomas Jaye, the Ghanaians Napolean Abdulai and Zaya Yeebo, the Angolan writer Sousa Jamba and the Kenyan Yusuf Hassan.
The centre of attraction was always Taju — witty, jovial, full of life and with endless stories about the stupidities of the West, of their non-governmental organisations working in Africa and also about the frivolities and criminal activities of some of Africa’s leaders.
He would also be the one to give us the latest news on fellow pan-Africanists, including Horace Campbell in the US, Gamal Nkrumah in Cairo, Jenerali Ulimwengu, Issa Shivji in Dar-es-Salaam and Thomas Dewe in Zimbabwe.
He was always articulate in marshalling his views, usually buttressed with facts, to criticise injustice and highlight the agonies of mankind with fingers pointed directly at the culprits. His only concern was for humanity and whose singular purpose was to make the world a better place, starting from Africa.
“Who would bring us together now?” asked Dede-Esi Amanor Wilks, a fellow dedicated pan-Africanist, when she called me from Nairobi in the early hours to give me the sad news.
Taju was born in Funtua, Katsina State in northern Nigeria on January 6, 1956. I shall never forget his birthday since we shared it and one of my joys of January 6 was to hear his booming voice saying: “Hi, Big Brother happy birthday…”
In Katsina, he attended the madrassa for his Islamic education and it was there too that he attended primary and secondary schools. It was no surprise when he gained entry into Bayero University, Kano, graduating with a first class degree in political science.
Something happened to Taju at Bayero which progressively turned him from a quiet, introspective child into a bubbling, extrovert and radical leftist.
Among his associates in the Nigerian academic circle were A. Sani Indabawa and a fellow classmate Dr Attahiru Jega, former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in the 1980s and now vice-chancellor of Bayero University.
Other associates are Ali Saudi Birnin Kudu, a one-time governor of Jigawa state and Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, the economic adviser of the incumbent government of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The late radical historian from the Katsina ruling house, Dr Yusuf Bala Usman, was definitely a source of early inspiration to Taju as he was for other radicals of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Another lasting influence on him from those early days has been the Jamaican-born Prof. Patrick Wilmot, who taught sociology at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) for 18 years before he was unceremoniously deported from the country in 1988 for his critique of military rule.
Bala Usman was also a lecturer at ABU — at a time when the institution was the hub of Nigerian political radicalism and various trends of Marxism in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mallam Aminu Kano, the renowned Hausa politician in the 1950s and 1960s, who led the radical northern political party, Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) from which the Peoples’ Redemption Party of the 1980s emerged, was also a source of inspiration for Tajudeen. Later, he was to inspire others with his lectures, broadcasts and writings, including his syndicated Thursday Postcard which had become essential reading to those who wanted to feel the pulse of Africa.
Taju came to international prominence when he went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar for his PhD on the military in Nigeria. Whenever he came to London from Oxford, he would pass by my house or visit my editorial offices at Africa Events and later at Africa Analysis.
Mid-1980s was an interesting time for Nigerian radicals fighting military rule in their country and Taju rose to the occasion when he launched various campaigns against military rule and Gen. Sani Abacha’s human rights abuses in Nigeria. As a result of his activities, he was arrested on December 3, 2002 at the Murtala Mohammed Airport on his way to London and his passport confiscated.
In London, he was the founding coordinator of the Africa Research Information Bureau and editor of its journal, Africa World Review. He was also the founding chairman of the Centre for Democracy and Development and with Alex de Waal, he founded Justice Africa. He was also a close collaborator of the Zanzibari Marxist ideologue Abdulrahman Babu, who recommended him as interim general- secretary of the revived Kampala-based Global Pan-African Movement.
He was subsequently elected to the post and served for many years, before taking up appointment as the deputy director for the Nairobi-based UN Millenium Campaign in Africa.
His sojourn in Kampala enabled him to be a key player in East African politics on first name terms with presidents Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame who he was to visit next Saturday, and Meles Zenawi as well as Tanzania’s Salim Ahmed Salim, amongst others.
The writer is the former editor of the London-based Africa Analysis, outgoing Dubai-based Head of Newsroom, Middle East/Asia Bureau of IRIN and
UN humanitarian news agency
SEE ALSO:
1. http://www.endpoverty2015.org/about/people/tajudeen
