Excerpt: Reed made Flint by Hon. Yakubu Dogara

An Excerpt from "Reed made Flint”. An Autobiography of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara

Taking blessings from Baba Gonto and Baba Kyau while they were alive

The face of Zaar struggle for emancipation  was  Balgham (Zauren) Gonto and two notable persons who were unjustly incarcerated over time at the whims and caprices of the powers that be then, were: Baba Peter Gonto and Baba John Kyauta. You cannot begin to talk of the progress our people ( Zaar) have made without reference to these two enigmatic figures who symbolised sacrifiice, abnegation, always ready and more than willing to suffer and deny themselves so others can gain.

I was not a total stranger to issues surrounding the struggle for Zaar emancipation. I know few things my Father did and told me about the struggle. For example events that led to the Gwarangah meeting of 1948. In a certain year my father was forced into a business trip he didn’t plan for. I was very young then but what he told me as the reason for the trip and what I got to know much later after he was back from the trip have remained indelible in my mind. As was the tradition then, he will never skin the monkey to the tail, though. But at least I was smart enough to interpret for myself what was happening. I was never going to forget how personally indebted I felt to heroes of that movement. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to personally help. The real story of Zaar struggle for emancipation has not been told yet. I hope and believe the story would be told one day. We got some Zaar sons to do audio and video recordings with both Baba Gonto and Baba Kyau before they passed on to glory with a view to preserving the legacy for generations but I am at the moment not sure what has happened to those recordings or in whose custody they are.

When I started work, thought of the sacrifices these heroes had made kept hunting me. The realization that although the overwhelming majority of our people were grateful for what they had come to represent, no one had ever formally gone to appreciate them with substance worried me the most. I felt the time to pay that debt I owed them had finally come but I was not in a fantastic financial position to do something very significant for each of them. My pains could only multiply as I felt the urgency to do something no matter how insignificant provided it was from the heart.

As in any leadership role you may find yourself, a fringe of our people were highly critical of them and often subversive. I wonder how they felt about the betrayal and about these profane fellows who were more than willing to sell their birth rights for a pot of porridge. No matter how they felt, they seemed to have handled the matter with great grace. Their eyes were fixed on something greater and higher so they had no time for internal squabbles. They promoted unity regardless and rallied people to the cause of freedom.

Knowing I couldn’t do much on a personal level, I was led to convince a group I belonged to, known as Zaar Elders forum, Abuja. Members included the following: Maj H H Dodo (Rtd) - Chairman, Late Bitrus Mugana, Col J K Kwasba( as he then was),  Bishop S. J. Wakili Power, Adamu S. Gizo, Joshua Luka Kadmi, Prof Saleh Dauda, Danjuma Bulus(Gung Zar, Abuja), Yusuf Ibrahim,  Ayuba Baba and Jang Dogo Kushi. Other prominent Zaar Sons later joined the forum as they moved and settled in Abuja. I served as Secretary of the group until 2007. Having won election to represent a Constituency comprising of so many ethnic groups, I felt it was inappropriate to continue to serve as a Secretary of a group that represented just one of the ethnic groups in the Constituency. I resigned my position as Secretary of the group which position was taken over by Joshua Luka Kadmi. It was through this group that we raised resources and materials meant to show appreciation to the then two living Zaar heroes.

I went in company of Late Bitrus Mugana to deliver the messages to Baba Peter Gonto and Baba John Kyauta on behalf of the group. If my memory doesn’t fail me, I think Mr Adamu Sumi Gizo joined us at Mwari to present the gifts to Baba Gonto. We separately told them our mission in simple plain words. We were not there to pay them for what they have done for the Zaar nation, nor were we there to flatter but that we were there on behalf of a group of Zaar Sons resident in Abuja to honour them as real fathers as instructed in the scriptures  and to show appreciation on behalf of the entire Zaar Nation for their many sacrifices.

I will never forget how these two strongmen who could not be broken down by chains and fetters were moved to tears and the kind of prayers that each of them offered for us who took the message first and the group that sent  us. A lot of people have prayed for me including my parents but I must confess those were the only two moments prayers mixed with tears were said about me in my presence. They were united in the manner in which they poured out blessings on us although they had not spoken or taken a position before we met them separately in their homes, at Mwari and T/Balewa respectively. Those were very humbling moments for me. The scriptures cannot be broken. It's the honour we gave to our parents that has brought us thus far. Those who wonder why some of us have made steady progress in life, must ask themselves whether real Parents like Baba Gonto and Baba Kyau ever prayed for them in the manner I described above. They were our prophets, both of them committed Christians who couldn't afford to live anyhow. Once a prophet has blessed or cursed you, it will take another prophet to reverse that. No subsequent prophet has reversed the blessings those two prophets and every day heroes of Zaar Land poured on us. I carry those blessings with me all the time and everywhere. I often tell myself that I am too blessed and two defended to fail.

I pity a lot of today's young men in our land who think they can insult their way to the top.  Most of them only throw their venom when a leader refuses to fund their greed. Instead of deploying their youthfulness to creativity, they invest it in mischief and threats aimed at forcing a hand to provide for them not for a cause they are pursuing. The unfortunate thing is that a section of the unschooled and uncultured young men in our land who have taken to this path of perdition do not have the logic, grammar and language to even succeed as critics if they want to build a profession out of criticism assuming there is anything like that. They talk of struggles they know nothing about and instead of thinking about what they can do to advance the common good, they busy themselves on things others haven done as if there will ever be a time that someone will solve all our problems.

I don't know where someone has achieved greatness by being very critical of others but I have known that anywhere someone decides to be the difference or make a difference, something gives in or gives way.

As leaders, we can't waste time in petty squabbles, our eyes are fixed on the ultimate goal which is peace, development and progress of our people and we ll take no prisoners in promoting those ideals. Anyone among us who does not support or promote these ideals can never command my respect or support regardless of his political support for me as a person. On account of this, I have had to distance myself from so many people as we reposition our people to face the challenges of the future which is working with others to achieve progress and not working alone in an atmosphere filled with hate,fear and despondency.