Professor HARUNA WAKILI: A TRIBUTE By Nadir Nasidi

Just as I am about to finish my doctoral research in the Department of Fine Art of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the sad news of the passing away of Professor Haruna Wakili was posted in our WhatsApp group, which transported me back, eleven years ago.

As everything in life has a beginning, my intellectual journey in the field of history begins with Professor Haruna Wakili’s course entitled ‘Introduction to the Study of History’, a core-course taught at level one in the Department of History, Bayero University, Kano.

The aim of the course as the title suggests is to introduce new students into the historical scholarship laying emphasis on the various definitions of history, its sources, types, as well as historiography, which is the solid foundation on top of which the historical knowledge is based.

Though I have read history at both secondary and tertiary levels, Wakili’s class was so challenging not only for his impromptu questions but for the fact that history as a discipline, demands a lot of readings.

Wakili was the teacher who introduced me to the types of history such as political, economic, business, social, military, and intellectual. Though he specialized in social history with an M.A and PhD on conflict studies, his interest in Intellectual history was enormous.

It was for that reason I decided to venture into Intellectual history, which deals with the rise and fall of ideas.

The fact that Wakili’s manly outlook was no doubt intimidating, many people think that he was not approachable. On the contrary, I experimented that assertion by knocking the door to his office. ‘Come in’, he said. Before I could utter a word, he asked for the reason of my coming.

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‘I am one of your level one students. During your class, you mentioned a book titled “What is History?” by one ahhhh E.H. Carr, which I couldn’t find in the market. Can you please, borrow me your own so that I can make a photocopy?’.

He told me that the essence of his presence in the department was to teach and guide his students, which include giving them literature. He did not only lend me the book but also spend about thirty minutes explaining to me the major arguments of the author.

I will confidently say that Wakili was a true teacher because he treated his students like his children.

Unfortunately, my ‘friendship’ with Wakili was brought to an end when he was appointed a commissioner for education in Jigawa State. Since that time, I have never met him again until after my graduation, when I attended a conference at Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training (Mambayya House).

The second time was during my M.A proposal defense which he attended and made constructive criticism on the vagrancy of my sources.

As Ann Morrow Lindberg observes, ‘I thought I could describe a state, make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state, but a process’.

This statement was strengthened, deepened and lengthened by Abraham Lincoln when he argues that ‘in this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time’.

Thus, I am expressing my hearty condolence to Wakili’s family, his colleagues in the Department of History, Bayero University, Kano, his students, and to the world of scholarship. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

Nasidi is from the Department of Fine Art, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

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