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OpinionViews

Ango has paid his dues

Prof. Ango Abdullahi is about 84 years if I am not mistaken. He was my Vice Chancellor at Ahmadu Bello University in the late 70s and early 80s.

Since then he has been the Pro Chancellor of many university councils. We are now serving together on the Council of Bauchi State University, Gadau.

He continues to contribute to the education of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians.

Ango, as he is popularly known in Northern Nigeria, has never declined to speak on problems when they arise in this country.

He is one person that can speak truth to power any time. I cannot think of an administration since the late 1980s that Ango has not told the truth.

He also worked for it. He has supported courses which to the best of his judgement will help to improve on situations.

To me, a typical product of Ango, I can say that he has paid his dues. That he continues to speak out even at 84 is really commendable.

More so when we see that he does not suffer from the inferiority complex that pushes people to corruption when in power.

I cannot even tell the name of any of his sons or daughters. He never brought any of them to limelight or work out for any of them to join the gangs that our leaders form.

One thing with Ango is that he is too informed and old to become a puppet for anyone in power.

We do not expect him to condescend to hero-worship people way damn below him in age and brain, no matter their position.

Many may think he is arrogant but he is not. He is just an independent person. He once told us, in a bid to assert his independence before us, that he never sought for any appointment in his life.

Those abusing Ango because he condemned the present government over its glaring ineptitude to solve the security issues in the North are free to do so.

They should however know that the tide has turned against them. The game of deceit is over in the eyes of many. If they cannot see that there is a problem that they have failed to solve, they should know that others – the victims and other Nigerians – do.

Abusing Ango will not solve the problem which stems from their incapacity to give our law enforcement agencies and armed forces the befitting leadership they deserve.

I am not sure if people who failed to keep their promise to Nigerians – the promise of protection, of prosperity and of corrupt free government – will be treated so kindly by providence.

At the end of their journey, they have destroyed all they pretended to build in the past. What a tragedy!

As for Ango, I have no doubt that providence will judge him kindly. It will ascertain that he has paid his dues.

Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
18 JUNE 2020

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