Sir: It is heartwarming to celebrate and congratulate Dr. Rueben Abati’s daughter, Elizabeth Eyitayo, who just graduated with a first class from one of the prestigious universities in the United Kingdom.

Kudos to Elizabeth Eyitayo Abati and other Nigerians who make us proud in the diaspora. The joy of all parents is to see their children triumph in all areas of human endeavour. Eyitayo just did that for us and for her parents.

The achievement of Abati’s daughter is what all Nigerians should celebrate with enthusiasm. Our eyes should be closed to the antecedents of the father in Abati.
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Sadly, Rueben Abati wined and dined with the Nigerian political vultures. He hurtled into a government whose motive was to loot the country red. We yelled; we cried for Abati to “Come back to us,…” (in my Guardian publication of Monday, August 6, 2012). Abati nauseatingly ignored and fenced us against the establishment. He traumatised our collective memory.

Sadly, some of his avowed die-hard-fans in those days have resolved never to read his work of art again. I still admonish some of us, the disgruntled admirers of Rueben Abati to reconsider our avowed decision. We will be doing ourselves intellectual disservice not to read Abati’s publications again. As a worshipper of the Muse, this writer still believes in Abati’s exceptional natural capacity of intellect, as shown in his creative and original works in art.

Abati was also a First Class graduate from the University of Calabar about 30 years ago. I lost my respect for his decision (not his intellectual
prowess) not to quit a government of looting. An exit or resignation he should have considered when the ovation was loudest. But I respect his artful gymnastic and skillfulness in literature and scholarship.

• Yahaya Balogun wrote from Arizona, USA.