“It is for Allah what He takes, and what He gives, and everything before His sight has a limited and specific period.”
“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one from another.” – Ernest Hemingway.
Dr. Ibrahim Datti meant different things to people, depending on the type of relationship they enjoyed. To his extended family, he was Abba Datti and to his children, he was simply Baba. His grandchildren called him Baba aboki. Baba Datti was born in Dogarai quarters of Kano municipality and attended Gidan Makama primary school before proceeding to the prestigious Barewa College for his post-primary education. He obtained his MBBS from the University of Ibadan, becoming the second Northern Nigerian to attain such a feat.
Baba served as a Medical Officer under the Northern Nigerian Civil Services before he ventured into private medical practice. He established a hospital and named it after his beloved mother (my grandmother), Asma’u. The hospital is known today as Abubakar Imam Urology hospital. Between 1976 and 1979, Dr. Ahmad was Pro-Chancellor of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife).
Politically, Dr. Ahmad was a progressive and a disciple of Late Malam Aminu Kano. But his political views were fluid. In 1983, for example, he supported the presidential candidature of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, due to the latter’s advocacy of free and compulsory education for all as was the case when he led the Western region. Baba traces the triumph of Southwestern Nigeria in national endeavors to such a policy.
In 1992, Dr. Ahmad contested for the position of Presidency on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). He later resigned from medical practice and active politics and devoted his life to the promotion of Islam. Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmad answered the call of Allah on the 29th December 2021 at the Dala Orthopedic Hospital, Kano, after a protracted illness. His funeral prayer was observed by 10:00 am on the 30th December 2021 at Al Furqan mosque Alu Avenue.
An article is no adequate avenue to mourn this great personality. Nonetheless, I feel duty-bound to write this tribute for two major reasons. First, I was one of the closest people to him at the closing years of his life. Second, to help preserve in writing some of his good deeds that relate to the public, which I could write a book on.
The encomiums that greeted his death reminds me of a Prophetic Hadith that stressed the centrality of people’s assessment of man’s eternal destiny. One day, some companions of the Prophet were together with Him when a funeral procession filed past, some people were showering the dead person with encomiums. The Prophet (PBUH) instantly said: “it is his right.” After a while, another funeral procession passed, and the same people made ugly comments about the second deceased. The Prophet (PBUH) subsequently said, “It is his right.” The companions demanded clarification, then the Prophet said in the case of the first dead person, it is his right to enter paradise, and in the case of the second dead person, hellfire is his right. The Prophet (PBUH) said, “You are Allah’s witnesses on earth.” (Agreed upon by Bukhari and Muslim). The inspiring message from this Hadith is that it is highly commendable to articulate and broadcast the virtues and qualities of a dead person.
More so, Baba and I shared a unique history in our family, being the only two people to attend the prestigious Barewa College. His registration number was 906, (he once fondly told me that anyhow I write his Barewa number will remain his number) while mine is 14794 (what a gap between a father and his son).
Baba’s comment, when I was admitted to Barewa, is still fresh in my mind. He asked that I believe I was going to the best school in the north, a school that produced great and prominent Nigerian personalities.
Baba’s uncompromising principles made him different and unique. He was honest with his views, particularly on national and religious issues. He loved his relatives with passion, and the love he showed me, was a manifestation of the love he had for my father. Whenever he reminisced the familial love they enjoyed with my father, his brother, I could feel the love, admiration, and respect they had for each other. I learned a great deal about my dad who passed away eight months after I was born from such sessions. Baba was a man of truth in words and actions. He tried to be truthful in whatever decision he took during his life.
Baba’s love for congregational prayers earned him the name “Sahibul Masjid”. As long as he was in town, safe and sound, he unavoidably attended all five daily prayers. People close to the Da’awah mosque in Sulaimanu Cresent, Aliyu bn Abi Talib in Dangi roundabout, and later Al Furqan mosque, can testify to this. It is not an understatement to say Baba always looks happier when he came back from the mosques. If one mistakenly visited him on prayer time, that person has two options, either go to the mosque with him to have an audience later, or come back another time. The saddest days in Baba’s closing years were perhaps the lockdown period when people were not allowed to hold congregational prayers in mosques.
Baba was an audacious and unflinching servant of Allah whose life revolved around religion. He spent his money in religious endeavors, like offering donations to build mosques and Islamiyya schools. He donated plots to the people of Dorayi Chiranci to construct islamiyya schools in the area. One of the fascinating generosities of Baba was sponsoring clerics to propagate Islam to the maguzawa communities in Kano state. beyond that, he visited the converts.
I remember when we visited a village in Sumaila local government, called Gidan Kogo, Baba built a school and a mosque for them and recruited a teacher to teach them both religious and Western education. When they complained of water shortage, Baba ordered the construction of three boreholes for them instantly. That single act of charity made almost the entire village accept Islam. For his contribution to the propagation of Islam, Baba was until his death the Chairman Board of Trustees of Usman bn Affan Islamic foundation.
Baba’s generosity extended to the delinquents. For almost 20 years, he fed and clothed inmates in the Gwauron Dutse correctional center every Friday. I can not recall the exact number of inmates whose freedom he facilitated by paying their fines. Baba’s services were extended to his constituent, where he was known to help the needy and less privileged especially on education and entrepreneurship. Baba dedicated a plot of land at Dogarai for the youth to learn carpentry, and Alhamdulillah, we now have first-class carpenters, some are even graduates courtesy of the skills they learned in the plot.
He was constructing a male staff room at Gidan Makama Primary School when we lost him. Baba never agreed to meet anyone he helped. His response was always: “ Isa just asked them to pray for me to get jannatul Firdaus,”
In sha Allah you are already there Baba!
Without you, a lot is lost
Fatherly love is what we lack
The love and care we used to have is now absent
Oh Allah accept Dr. I.D Ahmad into Your Jannah
Give him a high rank, keep him close to the Prophet,
Ya Rabbil Alameen.
