A long verse for ‘The Mandarin’ (I)

By Haruna Penni

One can only agree more when Abubakar Gimba is referred to as the ‘Mandarin’ of the Civil Service to the extent that first born writers like Denja Abdullahi, BM Dzukogi etc are also christened after their work as Mairogo and Kindirmo in that vein order based on their magnus opus.

It is this functional mismatch soubriquet that needed to be delineated from the iconic man’s life and times to where he actually belonged – technocrat of Nasir El Rufai hue even though self-effacing and amorphous to the former’s ubiquitous and gregarious architecture. However, the fact still remains, to me, that anytime I attempt a piece on him, it is as if I didn’t even know him well enough to do him a deserved justice by way of informed commentary. For this writer’s blockage, I wish to tender the apology of my guardian muse to the Gimba’s Committee at 50 who had requested for my literary imprimatur for an anthology designed as part of the celebration package.

I rather think that it is Gimba’s ‘Trial of Sacrifice’ that may be regarded as his best work even though understandably the title is not positive to sound bite, which explains its usurpation by other lesser works. It may also be that in the Mandarin, Gimba wrote the autobiography of his role in the Civil Service. And this interaction was not effective to him with all its intrigues, subterfuges and alibis hence the empathy that he attracted by his readers, critics, enemies and friends who may have merely either heard or ventured into this ‘maligned’ service.

Albeit, Gimba has that essential integrity of heart and purity of purpose no matter what may be alleged of him by this hallowed Service. On the other hand, had it been providence did not design another calling for him I see no reason that he can’t survive in this vineyard of service to the people.

And even to attain the crescendo of its continuum because the Service cherishes meek but competent characters like him who could be relied with the courage of conviction in the face of odds against their conscience and the public good.
Those who have had the privilege of constructive engagement with Gimba in and outside the Civil Service where he merely had a working spell before other endeavors spanning a lifetime of contributions across all strata would just as readily agree that he made the most impact outside the bureaucracy which had succeeded only to stymie his free spirit.

I want to believe that his stint with the Service merely provided him with materials for the expression of the muse in which he was nevertheless hamstrung by that ‘Big Brother’ clause of omerta – civil service oath of secrecy, confidentiality, control of information and other repugnant neo-colonial regulations and extant rules stifling creativity, inventivity and whistle blowing.

And as if double talking, you are still informed that the Service requires reform-minded and high flying graduates, who would take-over from a decadent and ageing cadre to inject dynamism. But sooner you are betrayed by the ‘wait-for-your-turn’ sadists in its ranks who post-dated your journey through the public service. But, you are also duly informed that you are not encumbered from writing on issues in the ‘open source’ and data authorized due to the enactment of Freedom of Information Act.

From the above mentioned leading thrust of this verse on Gimba which rests, though not mainly on the Civil Service, but his multi layered engagement helix, I want to respectfully crave the indulgence of his gate-keepers to undertake a voyage with my former boss. Need I reveal that he was already a Chief Planning Officer on GL 13 in the state Ministry of Economic Planning by 1978 when I enlisted into the Niger State Civil Service as a Grade Level 03 Clerical Assistant Awaiting WASC Results in the James Kolo-led Cabinet Office Minna.

Before my entry into the Gimba’s service I must say I was an impressionable guy from Port Harcourt where I had a fulfilling youth development which was sharpened by odyssey. It is therefore necessary to set the climate and also narrow the scope of a work on Gimba as he was a part and parcel of several endevours as a banker, writer, family man, community leader, patron, educationist, imam, NGO activist, adviser, civil servant, and above all a friend to both David and Goliath.

After Gimba had cut my teeth as a rookie in the vaulting laboratory of the Civil Service I was headhunted by soccer scouts and left in 1979 to join the Smart Adeyemi’s defunct Catharine Umoh-led Posts & Telecommunications Department and thence to the Ghanaian-dominated Aerostat FC in the inside left position on jersey No 10 (just like Pele my soccer idol then, and Tornadoes FC was our only close rival). Coincidentally, Adeyemi had to leave shortly to hook-up Cyril Stober in Nigeria Television Authority, Minna even though he was already freelancing for Niger Radio with Samuel Sambo. And as television then was the in-thing career, I also attempted an audition, but for what was doubly evaluated later as photogenic and microphonic failures I was saved the day. I then left football to join the Hassan Kolos’ information services and later moved on to a chequered career involving creative writing.

Although, I value the textbooks I wrote, it is however the works in the fiction category that are uppermost after my heart and as it is often said – the creative writer is the most important person in the world. And it was my involvement in this hallowed literary chamber that I came to interact with these VIPs and became one of their acolytes.
But so much for this Gimba that I had not even known then, except by reputation. It was years later that I met him at several levels that made sense. The first time was in 1997 ANA election convention in Abuja. I and the ANA president Odia Ofeimun had had an eventful time running round the clock to organize the convention. This had culminated to my attempt at reconciling the county’s literary community and the Presidency represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Special Services Office and Ofeimun.

The relationship had been on a no love lost especially after the ANA strong man in FCT Mamman Vatsa’s alleged coup attempt. The rapprochement took place in the Federal Secretariat Abuja and at the end the Permanent Secretary confessed that after speaking with Odia Ofeimun he was in no doubt that creative writers were patriots despite wearing several hats – to use his words. Bukar Usman was later to retire and become a creative writer of the serious type as well.
For the Local Organising Committee and Odia there were these triple problems of logistics, sponsorship and the enthronement of a credible election even though then there were no Permanent Voters’ Cards and Card Readers to ensure fidelity.

Of course, Gimba could be insulated of these happenings as he was oblivious of the struggles, even though the congress may have been rooting for him, but we had to first raise the funds to organize the election. I then led Ofeimun to late Abidina Coommassie, publisher of the defunct Abuja Mirror/Today, and the chapter’s local patron. He graciously donated the sum of N1million towards the successful prosecution of the 1997 ANA AGM/Election in Abuja.  Although, there was another offer later of N1million from the Government with condition of a preferred candidate in Uche Ezechukwu who was a reputable creative writer, in fact, a bilingual novelist and publisher of The Economist magazine.

Nevertheless, there was apprehension that the mere consideration of this candidate would make ANA an NGO without its ‘N’. It was also felt that the latter had not been an ANA foot soldier that made his bone in the literary struggles of the writer’s body. There was also issues of the secretary general’s incarceration by the junta (Nnimmo Bassey) which added to the body’s disgusting reminiscence of its murdered past leaders Ken Saro Wiwa and Mamman Vatsa. Consequently, the offer was turned down, and all along, the name Gimba was ringing a bell as the game changer in the impending election.

His candidacy was special (he had just retired from UBA as executive director unlike us the wretched) and well-connected author who was more prone to leveraging ANA than the other local in-house aspirants. This was later confirmed because he bailed out ANA from its several financial quagmires.
Now having overcome the challenge of conducting the election which was eventually staged at the Women Development Centre, Abuja in 1997, the lovable Gimba was elected by all of us. I aligned the Abuja school with Minna school (the former being our precursor and Gimba’s literary constituency).

I took side with BM Dzukogi, Ezekiel Fajenyo, Yahaya Dangana, late Eddie Ayo Ojo (Author of Foaming Poison) even though his fearless compatriot late Asaph Zadok (later Bachama king, a first born poet and literary activist) pitched tent with Ezechukwu. The duo (Ojo and Zadok) had earlier sought my assistance to launch a Mac Amarere co-edited poetry anthology titled Gems out of Africa. The FCT ANA actually blazed the trail of integrated marketing communications through a combination of media planning like author-parties and book launches.

The election was also a good compromise to establishment who chose whom to do business with. Gimba was later to move office to Aso Rock as adviser to the presidency.
I must say that during my heydays at recreating and repositioning ANA in the FCT, I must have ruffled some feathers. I believe Gimba may not have concurred with all my policy positions but he nevertheless gave me, by default, the benefit of the doubt. For instance, I had and still maintained that the avalanche of governmental regulatory bodies in  education and culture  sectors, which are designed by the Presidency to act as referees, have no justification to exploit the hard working and impoverished writers through the formulation and implementation of obnoxious policies and programmes against them.

I had questioned the rationale for the establishment of Abuja Poetry Society by the National Council for Arts and Culture, submission of dozen books and additional huge cash payment required for processing copyright notification by National Copyright Commission, legal depositing by National Library of Nigeria, assessment by Nigeria Educational Research & Development Council, Federal Ministry of Education and Education Resources Centre and now the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for an ostensibly book fair and library supplies. I just wonder why these bodies can’t simply patronize the authors by purchasing their works rather than requesting for ‘forceful complementary’ copies.

To push further my vision, I had rightly or otherwise virtually colonized ANA into both a professional and industrial union. I assumed a situational father figure by intervening even into informal affairs of members by invoking the powers of the Executive Council for and on-behalf of the teeming members of the Association.

This extant doctrine of necessity enbolded me, for instance, to respectfully request a Honorable Minister why a hard working young qualified author should not be given opportunity to serve his fatherland. I also introduced qualified members to the Presidency for appointments into Boards of Federal Government establishments, higher institutions for admissions, to UNESCO-ASCHBERG fellowship programmes, subsidy publishing houses; intervened in industrial relations matters over queries to members by their Ministries. And above all, I had dragged the Association into alternative dispute resolution in a domestic squabble where a step mother cornered the father to marginalized his only son who was our member. Even though some of my actions may be challengeable I did not brook any resentment from Gimba’s Presidency. When we met he knowingly simply only asked ‘’how is the struggles?’’ At that we both simply smiled.

I am further to add that I am well aware of the intrigues between committees and their parent bodies where the former became more vibrant and over-shadowed the central committee culminating to the committees’ imminent dissolution. Luckily for me, there was not the slightest worry from Gimba when I sought collaboration for the chapter’s programmes with the World Bank, UNESCO, National Copyright Commission, National Council Arts and Culture, Federal Capital Territory-SUBEC, Universal Basic Education Commission, Federal Capital Territory-Education Resources Centre, The Presidency, British Council, French Cultural Centre, etc
Interacting with Gimba at the level of ANA corporate further confirmed to me the estimation of well-meaning members and cross section of the ANA stakeholders.

He was a gentleman through and thorough, who could not even hurt a fly except in his hallowed literary world where he is licensed to play the role of a small god with his characters. It was evident during his tenure that he had brought his bureaucratic experiences, however unedifying to him, to bear positively on the organizational structure of ANA and its rules and procedures of engagement.

Thus ANA smarting from persecution was now no longer administered as an underground guerilla outfit with belligerent posturing. He calmed down the nerves of the writers. This indeed enabled them to concentrate on the primary business of writing which was what they knew best. One can only attest to this with the bountiful harvest of books and manuscripts during the following year’s convention. His tenure also witnessed financial buoyancy with the able assistance of his indefatigable secretary Dr Wale Okediran, who was later elected ANA president and Honorable Member of NASS. I and Wale together with Salisu Na’inna networked to source donation from the Presidency for Gimba to run the Association.

There was also robust effort during his presidency to recover the Mpape Writers Village secured for the Association by his country man Mamman Vatsa (both of Nupe Extraction). This assignment I must say had always been dear to Odia. He had earlier formulated a strategic document on the writers’ Village to educate new members and chart a direction for the in-coming Executive Council.

Unknown to me, towards this he had enlisted the support of the PDP national chairman Audu Ogbe, also a creative writer of serious repute. As one of the biggest ANA native man, I envisioned he had promised to square up things with the authority using his official ‘long leg’. I recalled I was kind of ambushed and conscripted from retirement (I was an out-gone Chairman for long) by Denja Abdullahi, another inexorable ANA tribesman to lead the search for the identification of what remains of the Writers Village which was lost to land speculators, prowling FCT administrators and malefactors.

I also recall that it was at the convention in Oshogbo Concorde Hotel and Farm Resort that (This was when Ibrahim Sheme as the chief writer of the Shehu Yar’adua biography requested me to get involved in the research and introduced me to Ms Jamila Jacqueline W. Farris in Kaduna. And this assignment later took me to military and civilian establishments in Lagos and Abuja on Yar’dua’s antecedent), that I reported to Congress that the village was being plundered. But I was ruled out of order by Rueben Abati, pointing-out that the Village was at least giving value to some needy scamps since ANA didn’t have the funds to even erect a perimeter fence.

I showed the search party the remains of the Village (part of it had been allocated for police senior officer’s residential accommodation). This information was duly communicated to Gimba who set in motion an executive action towards recovering the land and securing its title. As it turned out to be, after Gimba several other ANA presidents took cue (Wole Okediran, Olu Obafemi and Remi Raji) and each added a block in the incremental stride of the development vortex.

My chapter had a tough time and was on the brink of disintegration during the 2005 ANA AGM held in Kano. Emman Shehu, an apparently new but nevertheless full and vibrant FCT member decided to challenge the Egwugwu’s anointed, for the presidency that was ‘reserved’ (by an unspoken and unwritten code) for him (Okediran). This broke the ranks of the Abuja ANA membership at the convention.

It was however due mainly to an initial endorsement by the chapter during its meeting at Abuja prior to the convention. This followed the cadidate’s introduction by Denja Abdullahi and his declaration of interest as a presidential candidate which he contested with other aspirants at a primary selection to enable the chapter present a single candidate. But the same sponsor later changed his mind and decamped to Gimba’s camp.

Those Abuja members who stood by the chapter‘s candidate especially Law Mefor where later to be disappointed with the turn of events. Gimba’s secretary won the re-election bid and the Abuja candidate felt beaten, a development which affected his camp and crept into the chapter’s post AGM. This was attested by the way and manner the chapter’s election 2006 AGM was prosecuted to pave way for his election as FCT ANA Chairman which led to post election disputation. Gimba then requested his former secretary to try and settle the case. And this was later done in Shehu’s favour by the combined efforts of Usman Bugaje, Olu Obafemi, Wole Okediran etc.

The next level when my path crossed Gimba’s was at the keenly contested 2001 ANA AGM/International Convention of Writers at Port Harcourt. It was to be Gimba’s valedictory meeting as president of the largest authors’ body in Africa. He had successfully steered the affairs of the Association for the statutory two terms of four years. The battle royal for Gimba’s big shoes was between Elechi Amadi and Olu Obafemi. Even though the latter eventually won, it was clearly evident that if the rule had permitted, Gimba would have been retained as life president like CAF’s Hayatudeen.

However, to the utter empathy of the congress when it was time to hand over and move on to other higher pursuits (he was also saddle with other national assignment like the presidency of Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association) Gimba could not hold back tears for the good relationship he enjoyed with the body. He was assisted in this show of emotion by other members, no less than the famous Ghanaian-born author Ayi Kwei Armah whom Gimba invited from Gambia as a special guest of honour. After the convention, I observed that Gimba so graciously decided to assist the hitchhiking members to their various destinations along the route of his passage and also gave lift to those going direct to Minna like him.

Indeed, Gimba was never one you hash-tag weak or supercilious. Even though, he lacks verbal erudite asperity, this is amply compensated for by a mayeanic imagination and writing skills. He also does not have that presence of person like most other renowned authors like Armah. But is it not said that a famous animal does not always full the hunter’s bag. He was also a thorough breed democrat by nature and nurture.

I recall that during his reign as ANA president he brook several separatist literary groups inside ANA such as the Confluence of Doctors in Literature, Igbo Presidency Movement in ANA, Northern Nigeria Literature Conference, Arewa ANA, Parapo Literary Fraternity and countless parallel chapters, associations, networks by and amongst ANA Executive officers and members negating the conflicting interests dictum. Under his mentoring leadership, the Odian tradition of positioning literature and the literati for good press was given a large fillip when literary journalism developed to its level of plasticity and converse boisterousness. Arts journalists flourished beyond their local boundaries like Maik Nwosu, Nduka Otiono, Olayiwola Adeniyi, Obi Nwakanma, Ibrahim Sheme, Samaila Umaisha, Jim Pressman, Helon Abila, Ismaila Garba, Jare Ajayi, Abdullahi Ahmed etc.

Gimba was never tired of attempting to be assistance. I recall the day my kid sister virtually exhausted his complementary cards. After her youth service in 1999 she had requested me to introduce her to him in his Okada road residence in Zarumai Quarters, Minna for any possible job opening. He showed so much understanding and was not in the least perturbed of what occured had.

As an economist, he expressed deep concern for youth unemployment and living wage for the not so gainfully employed. This concern must have had expression in the quality of advice his presidential committee churned-out that led to the seamless and fastest transition from military regime to civil rule in 1999. He had also privileged me severally with visits to his then NICON NOGA suite when he was an adviser to the President. We did discuss a number of issues and his eternal concern for ANA was on the front burner.

Lest I forget, he did as well honoured me by entertaining some introductions I made to him as a pro chancellor at the Ibrahim Babangida University Lapai. It was this same sister of mine in Minna whom I had introduced to him almost two decades ago that first broke the information on the painful demise of  that your  good Oga as she put it. This is hoping that God in his infinite mercy will grant him the rest he so much deserved after such a productive life on earth.

Haruna Penni, an Emeritus FCT ANA Secretary/Registrar and Chairman is on 08034599585 and [email protected]