TRIBUTE TO DR. OBADIAH MAILAFIA. I was a Marxist but he had a soft spot for the socialist ideology but was decidedly anti Marxist. I looked up to him because of his intellectual versatility. BY, EDWARD. G. PWAJOK, SAN

OBADIAH MAILAFIA: A TRIBUTE

I am yet to recover from the shock of Mailafia’s death. Collecting my thoughts to write this tribute has been very challenging and I feel diminished that I cannot pull myself together to write a befitting tribute.

I got to know Dr Mailafia sometime in 1983 when he was a research fellow at NIPSS Kuru. I was then an undergraduate student in the University of Jos. Though much younger (he was my late elder brother’s classmate in ABU Zaria), we got along well. In those days, he fondly referred to me as his “baby brother”.

He was an omnivorous reader, but took interest in me when he discovered that I also had intellectual inclinations. We discussed and debated a lot and often disagreed on some issues. Like many starry-eyed undergraduates of the 80’s, I was a Marxist but he had a soft spot for the socialist ideology but was decidedly anti Marxist. I looked up to him because of his intellectual versatility.

It was in Kuru that he met his wife, Margaret, (also an elder sister) and they got married soon after. He later left Kuru to France for further studies along with his family.

A left-handed amiable and affable gentleman he got along with people of all classes and ages.

He was never satisfied with the situation of our country and continent. He often criticized those of us that were Politicians and later in life, I was happy when he threw his hat into the political ring as I always told him that arm chair criticism would never get us out of the woods.

He introduced me to some of the great intellectual giants such as Chaikh Anta Diop, Walter Rodney, Herodotus, Arnold Toynbee, Rousseau, Bertrand Russell, Abdul Rahman Babu, Claude Ake, Bala Usman, Patrick Wilmot etc. He was passionate about history and later traced his family genealogy through 14 generations. I followed suit using my late Dad to trace mine through 15 generations.

He was deeply spiritual with an abiding faith in our lord and savior Jesus Christ. It is this faith that sustained him and made him not give up on Nigeria. He however, believed that the country should be restructured or changed in order to realize its potential. After loosing the 2019 presidential election, he didn’t give in to maudlin lamentations in despair. He rather engaged Nigerians using the talents the Almighty bestowed upon him: his prodigious intellect. His interventions in the print media apart from immortalizing him, became must-read articles which enlightened many and captivated the country. They were didactic, well- researched and resonated with the people. He now had a national audience but that did not sit well with a section of the ruling class, which unleashed its official goons to hound him. To his eternal credit, he never chickened out.

The first time I met him was in my village, Kuru. The last time I saw him was also in the same Kuru and also at NIPSS. It was when the security agencies were persecuting him. That was when he told me he would be leaving NIPSS due to the threats on even the authorities of the institute on account of him.

Like many of the legends before him, though he was a towering academic giant in the country, he never became a professor. This did not diminish his academic stature, particularly in a country where such ranks are given in dubious circumstances.

I shall miss you, sir. The down trodden for whom you fought shall miss you. You left a deep void which will be difficult to fill. But the fire you lit shall not be extinguished until victory is achieved. Like the brave Saint Paul, you ran the race, finished the course and the crown of righteousness will be put on you. You had to transit this earthly realm to the ethereal home which all mortals aspire to go to.

May the lord bless the family you left behind and May your soul rest in peace.

Edward .G. Pwajok, SAN