TRIBUTE TO LATE GENERAL NUHU BAMALLI
“From God we came, to Him we shall all return”
The above Quranic verse, (Surah 2, verse 156) explains the
rationale of all deaths. Further in the Holy Quran, (Surah 3,
verse 185) Allah (SWA) Has told us that every life must taste
the bitterness of death. By implications therefore, we all are
one way or the other just waiting for the inevitable time. Our
prayer is that when the time comes, let it be that we die in
peace and be blessed.
Alhaji Soja, the name we fondly called late General Nuhu Bamalli
at home, met with his death on 17th September 2006. He was
called Alhaji, as a mark of respect, because he was named Nuhu
after our Grand father, late Mallam Nuhu Idris and much later in
his life the addition “soja” featured after he chose to enroll
in the military profession.
It was like yesterday in December 1992 when our father died and
amongst the many visitors to our family was General Ibrahim B.
Babangida, then President of the country. I was sitting very
close to Alhaji when IBB asked him how many children did our
father left behind. “Thirty”, Alhaji responded, “15 boys and 15
girls”. Since then we had lost two females in the family, with
Alhaji been the third and the first male victim!
I recall my last talk with him on the 4th September 2006, when
my MD asked me, as the HR Director of the Company, to represent
him at some functions organized by 1 Brigade, Sokoto, one of
them as the Special Guest of Honor. I immediately called Alhaji
and asked for his guidance on what to do, especially as the
visiting guest was the GOC 1 Div. He laughed and advised that
normally I would not do anything, but in case I was asked to
talk, I should speak on the observed cordial relationship
between the civilians and military across the country, the
effort the military high command was making in restoring
professionalism; as well as the loyalty of the military to
democratic system. He told me that the GOC was his close friend
and a classmate and should discuss so with him. During the
event, the late Brigade Commander, Brig Gen J. Braimah, a
gentleman-officer, (who also lost his life in the plane crash)
introduced me to the COG, who held me and asked me to tell my
brother “West Point”, was a nick name they called themselves.
After the above contact, I only received Alhaji’s last text
message, at 21:13:25 on the 15th September 2006, thus:
S’Alaikum, sorry for not hearing from me till now. We were with
the COAS on his maiden visit to 2 Div formations since Monday
and just finished today. We were in Ilorin, Benin and Abeokuta
apart from Ibadan….”
Another of Alhaji’s last memorable communication occurred on 7th
September 2006 when the wife of his second son put to bed a baby
boy. When contacted on the development, Alhaji was so pleased
and, in his usual liberal way, asked his son what name he
intended for the baby. And in a twist of fate, and history
repeating itself, Naziru, the father, chose the name Nuhu for
his son! Alhaji was so happy that he decided to absolve Naziru
from any expenditure on the naming ceremony. The saddest part,
however, was that Alhaji never saw his name-sake, as he died
only 3 days after the naming ceremony!
At the time of Alhaji’s posting as GOC 2 Div in December last
year, he called me in Sokoto and told me. While I congratulated
and wished him success, I categorically reminded him of the
“Wild, Wild West” clause, especially against 2007 coming
elections. He reflected on my statement, to which he agreed. He
promised to do his best under the circumstance; however, fate
had other plans for him! On the fateful day of his demise, I was
at our CCNN camp house in Sokoto, the state I visited the first
time in my life nearly 30 years ago, in 1977/78, when Alhaji was
on posting as Lt. That was the time his first son, Lasmar, now a
Capt in the Nigerian Army, was borne. The striking co-incidence
was that on the 17th September 2006, I had barely sent Alhaji an
e-mail at about 3.00pm, in respect of my impending medical visit
to Germany, when a close friend of mine, the Chairman of the
Board of Directors, Media Trust Nigeria Ltd called to ask me for
details of the aircraft crash! Since that minute I had not
rested my oars until around 11.00pm when I got the final
confirmation of Alhaji’s death from a former Governor of Kaduna
State and former DMI respectively. My first attempted contact in
obtaining information on the incident was ironically to General
Lemu, whom I had known very closely as a bosom friend of Alhaji.
All efforts to get his line through had failed, only to discover
shortly that he was also a victim. Alone in my house (after
Yusuf, my friend, had left me) the next task I faced was how to
break the information to our mother and the family of Alhaji! As
God would have it, the Brigade Commander in Kano had stormed our
family house, at about the same time, with the sad news before I
could decide my next line of action. I, however, had courage
only to mention to my younger brothers, Hannafi and Sunusi. The
rest is now history!
By the next day I had arrived Kano in preparation for the
arrival of Alhaji’s corpse, which we had planned to bury in Kano.
Already Idris, one of our younger brothers had concluded
arrangement for the grave, next to our late father. I recall at
the time the space was preserved in 1992, we all wondered which
of us in the family would join the ancestors first. Every one of
us rejected the possibility, except Alhaji, who simply smiled.
All contacts with Abuja did not provide any in-road until on
Tuesday, 19th September, 2006, when some military delegates came
to Kano and confirmed on the State burial arrangement and that
our presence was required in Abuja. Up to the morning of 20th
September, I had maintained the firm deceptive belief, in my
mind, that Alhaji was still alive, until at around 7.00am when
we saw him. There he was as if in deep slumber, with peace and
tranquility all over his slightly bruised face! It was indeed a
very sad moment for us!!!
Alhaji had been a very rare gem in his life-time, which equally
manifested in his death as well. First and foremost, he had
recited the Holy Quran before he completed his primary school
and was a Head boy during his time. He had led all extra
curricular activities in his school and came out with one of the
best results. His decision to join the military was purely his
choice and was duly supported by the family, albeit the initial
resentment from our mother. I recall the first day we took him
to Military School, Zaria in 1968, our father strenuously
identified one RSM to hand Alhaji over to him for guidance. From
that time I noticed it had become the habit of our father to
always establish contacts with every school/organization where
his children were. We thought he was doing it for fun, until we
discovered much later that he was closely monitoring our actions
through those contacts!
I still remember when Alhaji was in class 1 at NMS, General
Gowon, then Head of State, paid a visit to the school. Alhaji
and one other student happened to be the smallest in size and
were assigned as stick boys to the visitor. I still have the
picture in which Gen Gowon was talking to him and proclaimed
that he would one day become a General in the Nigerian Army. At
a later time, sometime in 1992, I had cause to cross check the
above statement from Gen Gowon, when he called Dodan Barracks to
talk to Alhaji, who was not available at the time. When Gen
Gowon identified himself I reminded him of that statement, which
he easily recalled and still affirmed that Alhaji had a very
bright future in the army and would surely rise to the peak of
his career.
The level of seriousness and commitment Alhaji had had on every
of his actions made him to stand out at all times. At NDA he
took the silver medal for being the best army cadet, which
ushered in a number of other medals in his career, culminating
with the C-in-C Award for being the best graduating participant
of the NWC, course 9. I was there during the passing out
ceremony and witnessed one of the special displayed gifts of
Alhaji. We all happened to reside in Abuja during the time,
where I was the Branch Manager in a Bank, Hannafi at the Foreign
Affairs Ministry and Alhaji at the NWC. He had told us earlier
that he might receive the best award in the course, but in his
usual way did not elaborate that the awards were as many as
three! We invited all the family members, with our mother and
his two wives and all the children and relations. When the
moment of pride came, the first price of the Inspector General
of Police was awarded to him. He collected and came straight to
where we were sitting with our mother and handed the price to
her. The next was the COAS Award, which he collected and went to
his first wife and handed it over to her. Again he was called
for the C-in-C Award, which he collected and handed over to his
second wife, thus making a complete circle and balance.
The career of Alhaji in the army had been worthwhile, because he
had devoted all his time and energy to his chosen profession. He
had taken the top most positions and grades at all times. I
remember he told me about his experience at Staff College, Ghana
in 1986. He had just completed his assignment as ADC to Gen MG
Nasko, then Commander Corps of Arty as a Capt. He said to me
when he reported for the course he discovered all the
participants were Majors. Those of our readers who know the
hierarchy structure of the military would appreciate the
situation better. Almost all of the others resented his
presence, wondering if he had made a mistake! Alhaji kept his
cool, as usual, and the course began. Soon his qualities began
to manifest and within no time the fellow participants accepted
him, not only as equal, but also a reference point for details
throughout the duration. He recalled how they teased him as a
“Wonder Capt” after the discovery of his capabilities. Alhaji
had always subjected his fate to God, without much struggle to
seek for favors. He had strong believe that God’s choice was the
best for him. Soon after Ghana he was sent to India and again to
Pakistan, each for a year. On his return in 1988, he called me
one night and said he was to be posted back to the Arty H/Q. By
the next few days he called again to tell me that the posting
was changed to MA of Gen Bali, then Minister of Defence. A few
hours later he called once more to say that a former ADC of IBB
had just called him from US, that he was posted to Dodan
Barracks as Staff Officer to C-in-C. The last posting eventually
prevailed. In this capacity, he told me how one day (I was by
then also working in Lagos) the late ADC, Col UK Bello had
proposed to him an opportunity to accompany one of the
presidential planes to Saudi Arabia, on official assignment, for
Umrah sometime in 1990, having also benefited from the same
privilege earlier. Alhaji took permission and off they went. The
following day Orkar and his colleagues stroke and the ADC lost
his life. May his soul rest in peace. That was my first time of
experiencing the effect of military coup, which also nearly
claimed my life and that of my family.
As ADC, Alhaji had gone through many experiences, which helped
to shape both his career and social life. His cordial working
relationship with his boss was quite memorable and had
tremendously changed his focus in life. I remember one evening,
Alhaji asked me to accompany him to see the President. I
remained in the car outside the presidential mansion, while he
went in. Momentarily he came out completely a changed man. His
happy face had become gloomy and was in deep thoughts and
worries. One look at him told me all was not well. But in his
usual way, he only would want you to know what he wanted you to
know, so I ignored his condition and we moved on. It was like he
finally came to terms with whatever bothered him before he
offered explanations. The Military Secretary (a former Military
Governor) had proposed him for accelerated promotion to Lt Col,
but the President had called him to advise against it, insisting
that he should grow normally to avoid any future victimization
and enmity from colleagues. Apparently Alhaji had wanted the new
rank, but soon accepted the guidance. We prayed over the issue
and he put the matter behind. Much later in his life, he
recalled and thanked the good advise, especially after the
series of retirements at different regimes.
It was, however, not all rosy for Alhaji in his position as ADC,
because he told me his ordeal during one of the independence
ceremonies in Abuja. By sheer human error they forgot the
pick-up cap of the President. He said somehow he did not know
what happened, but he just took with him one of the berets of
the President to Abuja. The error was only discovered when the
President was dressed to go out for review of parade and no
pick-up cap! In the atmosphere no one could explain anything, so
Alhaji brought out the beret from nowhere and offered to his
master to use. He told me that IBB snatched it and threw it back
at him without any word. In the end the President had to use it
like that and after the activity all returned to normal. I came
to know this story because of my inquisitive questions to Alhaji
at all times, on their military affairs. After the ceremony,
which we all saw live on TV, I asked Alhaji what was that new
style of using beret on ceremonial dress. He laughed and told me
the whole story.
Alhaji was a dutiful husband and a good father to his children.
He cared about them and ensured they had the basic needs in
life, without excesses. He was a brother and a father to his
relations and a true friend to others. He respected all and
sundry and lived a very simple life. He was unassuming and down
to earth in all his dealings. One great quality he had was his
ability to control his mouth with regards to what he said. He
could keep his opinion to himself for as long as it was safe for
him to express and could also be trusted with anything in this
world. He was generous, loyal and obedient. I can still remember
as part of his care for his own, in 1980, I was then a part 2
student at ABU Zaria, when I had an operation on my foot and the
Doctor advised me to walk less around the campus. By then Alhaji
was a Capt and SO-CBC at the NDA and had come to see me in the
hostel on his way from Kano. Immediately I told him about the
Doctor’s recommendation, he arranged and bought for me a Chopper
bicycle, which I used throughout my university days. In his
enduring nature all you needed to do was to pass your problems
to Alhaji and you would be off the load. His life had positively
impacted the lives of so many people. But I do not know if it is
true that the military gives injections to its men, so that they
could be wild once in a while. Sometimes Alhaji could be as wild
as a lion.
While we have lost a son, a brother, a husband and a father, his
colleagues have lost a friend indeed and the nation has lost a
General, popularly described as “a soldiers’ soldier” in his
constituency. May the soul of Major General Nuhu Bamalli rest in
perfect peace, amen.
On behalf of our entirely family, we thank every Nigerian and
foreigners who have condoled us over Alhaji’s death and pray to
God to reward each and everyone in abundance.
MUHAMMAD NOURAH BAMALLI
Abuja Road, Sokoto
nourah_bamalli@yahoo.co.uk
October 20th, 2006
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