His death is a huge blow to the leftist movement in Nigeria and the world over; the academic community, particularly in Oxford University where he has distinguished himself as an exceptional scholar; the fighters for the cause of the down trodden and underprivileged people; his friends and associates; and all men of goodwill.
I received the news of the death of our comrade and revolutionary icon, Professor AbdulRaufu Mustapha, a foremost scholar of African politics at Oxford University, with shock but submission to the will of Allah.
It came on the heels of the passage of my own mother. I was actually gradually coming to the acceptance of my mother’s demise when Mustapha’s death occurred and I therefore find it difficult to live with the fact that our dear comrade is gone.
However, I have not come here to mourn him but to celebrate the passage of this great African fighter for human freedom and justice.
Prof. Mustapha had a stellar academic pedigree, beginning with his bachelor’s degree at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and later post graduate degrees, including a doctorate, at Oxford University, in England. He had taught at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Ado Bayero University, Kano, and had a tenured appointment at Oxford University before his demise.
Prof. Mustapha has conducted extensive research into religion and politics in Nigeria, the politics of rural societies, democratisation, and identity politics in Africa. He has written seminal papers on these subjects which brought illumination and uncanny insight. In the recent past, he has worked on ethnic minorities, and before his demise, he was the lead researcher on the Islam Research Project (IRP-Abuja), funded by the Dutch Foreign Ministry. The project is a policy-oriented study of interfaith relations in Northern Nigeria.
But beyond his brilliant academic engagement, he was a dogged fighter of the ideological left. He was a keen student of dialectical materialism. However, ideology, for him, was not for its own sake. It consisted in how it could be used to lift the human condition. It was on how it could bring emancipation to those in the bondage of neo-colonialism, economic exploitation, religious bigotry, ethnic chauvinism, ignorance, disease, and political subjugation of any form.
He lived this with passion, his entire being and all his resources. He was a kindred soul and this passion drew us together. AbdulRaufu Mustapha was an ideological acquaintance of mine in the 1980s. He was a great humanist and a committed fighter for the oppressed and marginalised classes in the society. He was a believer in the social organisation of production for the benefit of all and not the exploitative relations of production for the benefit of a tiny few. He believed, rightly, that there are enough materials on the earth for all humans to live comfortably, with the rich having enough and the not-so-rich not lacking anything, but having the good life as well. More importantly, he was of the opinion that every human is endowed with enough intellectual and physical capabilities to contribute meaningfully to the development of the society, if their latent talents are well tapped and developed.
For the period that our relationship lasted, he exhibited the best in human relationships. He was caring and showed deep understanding and sensitivity to human complexity, graces, frailties and challenges. But he was a great believer in human goodness and capacity for greatness.
He related well with every one who came across his path, such that it became difficult to pin him down to a particular ethnicity, religion or other dividing social identities.
His death is a huge blow to the leftist movement in Nigeria and the world over; the academic community, particularly in Oxford University where he has distinguished himself as an exceptional scholar; the fighters for the cause of the down trodden and underprivileged people; his friends and associates; and all men of goodwill.
On behalf of my family, the government and the good people of Osun, I offer condolences to his family (near and extended), particularly his wife, Kate, and his children, Asmau and Seyi, his colleagues at Oxford and the government and the good people of Kwara State.
May he find peace in his new station. Amen.
Rauf Aregbesola is governor of the State of Osun.
