RISQUA: My Father Was Selfless, He Never Owned A House

Alhaji Abba Risqua Murtala Ramat Mohammed is the son of the late General Murtala Mohammed. He holds a B.Sc. honours degree in finance and banking from the University of Lagos and a post graduate diploma in business administration (Marketing) from the prestigious Cardiff Business School, University of Wales. He was a special adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on International Relations from 2003 to May 2007. He spoke to MURTALA MUHAMMED on his father and the legacies he left behind.

• He Had Only N13,000 In His Account

• He Had No Property In Kano

• His Friends Built A House For Him, Which He Didn’t See

• Fight Against Corruption Long Overdue
What was it like, growing up without the breadwinner?

WELL, growing up was a mixed bag of feelings; in the sense that, on one hand, I felt I did not have the breadwinner and leader of the family, who one would have looked up to, someone, who would have made sure that needs are met, especially, in terms of education and upkeep, is no longer around. It was even worse, because when the late general died, I was just six years old. I still have memories of the time well spent with him. I remember the late general, out of his tight schedule, would take us out for recreation during weekends. We will go to swimming pool and other places, but all of that were cut short when he was assassinated. At that point, growing up wasn’t easy and quite difficult for our mother to take care of us, the six of us, providing for our education, feeding and general needs.

On the other hand, when I became a teenager, I felt privileged, in the sense that whenever I walked into an office or place, and people ask me my name, and I introduced myself as the son of General Murtala Muhammed, their countenance always changed to more admiration and friendliness, after which they will pray for the repose of his soul. So, as I said, the feeling is mixed, such that I felt under-privileged at a point, and very privileged, at another.

Considering the vision and passion of the late General to the development of Nigeria, what is yours, especially, now that you have ventured into politics?

Considering the vision and passion of the late General to the development of Nigeria, what is yours, especially, now that you have ventured into politics?

You see, everybody is different. My father was what he was, and I am myself. Of course, my father built a very strong legacy before he died, and he felt that Nigeria could progress and develop like any other country in the world without external influence and without being telemarked or exploited. He felt that Nigeria had what it took — the resources — to survive and stand on its own. But our most valuable asset is human resource. General Murtala felt there was no basis for us to rely on external influence to attain any success. For me, I don’t know how far I will go in terms of achievement, but one particular thing that I know is that I truly share the same value and legacy of the late general. I so much believe that Nigerian people don’t need to depend on others to develop or enjoy the best. We have resources both human and material, so, we don’t need to suffer in Nigeria, but the only thing we need now is good leadership to help us achieve our potentials. Just like everybody wants a better life, we can’t just sit down and expect miracle to happen. And don’t forget, the leadership I am talking about is you and I. Everybody needs to contribute to make the country great. We all need to participate, and of course, all of us need a better life, but we need to go out there to make change, and essentially, we must be active both economically and politically to ensure good leadership. We must also be active to have that all-inclusive governance, where everybody does have a say on how we should be governed. I have the confidence that we will get to where we should be, where every Nigerian will have good accommodation, car, children attend functional schools, access to good health care, good road network, security and at the end of the year, we would be able to save for the future. Unfortunately, today that is not the story. Today, it is lopsided. Money is in the hands of few, while majority are poor. You cannot have ultimate peace and progress if majority are suffering.

Our motor is progress, peace and unity, but you cannot have peace without unity, and if there were no peace, there would be no progress. We need to be united, which the late general stands for. We need unity first, then peace and progress.

How do you see the fight against corruption by President Muhammadu Buhari?

I don’t want to qualify the fight against corruption the way you see it, but all I can say is, that we need to get rid of corruption in this country, even if we cannot get rid of it, we should be able to reduce it to barest minimum. And like in the words of the President that “if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will definitely kill us,” which is true. I feel all those found guilty of corruption should be dealt with honestly, because people need to have repercussion for their bad action. However, we want to also believe the fight against corruption would be objective to all people irrespective of political affiliation. President Obama once said when he visited Ghana that Africans must build strong institutions not strong leaders. We need institutions that will discharge their duties without fear or favour, irrespective of political party of the persons in power. If you do what is wrong, wherever you are, and whoever, you are should be dealt wit. So, I feel the fight against corruption is long overdue and government coming out now to fight the scourge should be done to the letter.

You intend to pursue political leadership in Kano State, what would you do differently given the opportunity?

I believe one of the reasons I decided to join politics was not to satisfy personal interest or to acquire wealth, but it’s about self-preservation and that is the first law of nature. If I don’t see that there is fairness and equity, then whatever I have, is in danger. Today, you will see that whatever good thing you have, you don’t enjoy it. You walk around with your nice car or clothes, you are scared somebody may attack or rob you. You are sleeping in your house in Kano you are scared some robbers will attack, it is bad. Accumulating large wealth that many people will not be able to benefit does not really give comfort or satisfaction, because at the end of the day, you don’t even enjoy it.

Hence, I joined politics to add my quota and contribute towards the development of my people and human development. I don’t want to come into this world and go without impacting or without having anything to show for it and is not about how much you were able to acquire; the number of houses, cars or wealth you have. They are all material things, and the day you die, you will leave them behind. But what are you going to die with that would enable people remember you and pray for you is what is important.

Today, when you mention my late dad, some will burst into tears and many pray for the repose of his soul. I’m sure you know it was not because of how much wealth he was able to acquire before he died. In fact, when my father died he never had more than N13,000 in his account. And he had a house someone built for him without his knowledge and which he never saw when he was alive. Whenever he visited Kano, he always stayed in a hotel, then one of his friends gave him a land and another friend converted the piece of land into boys’ quarters, but he never saw the house.