How My Maternal Grandfather Confronted My Witches And Wizards Menace At Government College In Bida—Ibrahim Babangida

<h4>How My Maternal Grandfather Confronted My Witches And Wizards Menace<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the endless story of former military President&comma; General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida stretches to his secondary school experience at Government College&comma; Bida &comma; Niger State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a section of his book &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A Journey In Service&comma;” the General narrated how his maternal grandfather&comma; then&comma; the Chief Imam of Minna&comma; helped him to confront witches and wizard menace in Bida&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The account is reproduced below<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>It was a privilege to have gone to what is today known as <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Government College&comma; Bida&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Although founded by the colonial government in 1912 as a Provincial Middle School&comma; admission to the school&comma; at inception&comma; was problematic&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>With its primary focus on areas around what is today’s Niger state&comma; the British colonial government held back entry into the school until it was sure the institution could <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>be fully equipped with teachers and other facilities&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Therefore&comma; the first set of 60 students&comma; who&comma; incidentally&comma; were beneficiaries of one of <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>the best-equipped schools of its time&comma; did not resume until 1914&comma; two <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>years after the British formally founded the school&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>As the school’s operations expanded&comma; its name changed&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Between 1929 and 1953&comma; it became known as Bida Provincial School&period; It was called the Provincial Secondary School between 1954 and 1966&comma; which included our years in the school&comma; 1957-1962&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>After 1966&comma; the school’s name changed to Government Secondary School&comma; Bida&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>And then&comma; finally&comma; it became Government College&comma; Bida&comma; which has remained its name to date&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>When I arrived in 1957&comma; I was 16&comma; and my school admission number was 211&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>So much has been written about our class&comma; the famous class of ’62&comma; made up initially&comma; if my memory is correct here&comma; of 31 of us&comma; and how that class produced two Nigerian Presidents&comma; four state Governors&comma; two Federal Ministers&comma; three Justices&comma; four Ambassadors&comma; and other <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>influential Nigerians&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The school is also known to have produced a former Chief Justice of the Federation&comma; Hon&period; Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi&period; Both Hon&period; Justice Jibrin Ndajiwo and Hon&period; Justice Abdullahi Mustapha are prominent alumni&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The school has also produced Ambassador James Tsado Kolo&comma; Ambassador Abdulrahman Gara&comma; Professor Jerry Gana&comma; Senator Awaisu Kuta&comma; and the following Emirs <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>of Suleja and Kontagora&comma; Malam Awwal Ibrahim and Alhaji Saidu Namaska&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Admittedly&comma; when my classmates and I came in 1957&comma; we were quite a handful&colon; Abdulsalami Abubakar&comma; Sani Sami&comma; Sani Bello&comma; Garba Duba&comma; Muhammed Gado Nasko&comma; Abdulmumini Keki Manga&comma; Mohammed Mamman Magoro&comma; Paul Babale&comma; Mohammed Buba Ahmed&comma; Samaila Ahmed&comma; Mohammed Ndakotsu Dokotigi&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Dauda Gulu&comma; Mai-Riga Mahuta&comma;<&sol;a> Musa Hassan&comma; Yahuza Makongiji&comma; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Mohammed Makama&comma; Ibrahim Sanda&comma; Usman Maikunkele&comma; Umaru Baban Guyijiyi&comma; Usman Yakubu Nmadako&comma; Muhammed Bare&comma; Yamusa Wali&comma; Samuel Bala Kuta&comma; and Umaru Gbate&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Mamman Jiya Vatsa joined us from Suleja in form three&period; Yet&comma; none of us foresaw what fate had in store for us and how things would play out later in life&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>We were just impressionable <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>young teenagers&comma; acutely conscious of how lucky we were to enter <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>the precincts of what was then the only secondary school in Niger <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Province&comma; a prestigious institution with a reputation that preceded it&excl; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>No more&excl;&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Some of us came with fictitious tales about what Bida looked <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>like&period; Before my departure to Bida&comma; I had picked up stories of <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>ghosts&comma; witches&comma; and wizards that populated Bida at night&excl; I was so <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>frightened that I went to my maternal grandfather&comma; the Chief Imam <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>of Minna&comma; for advice on confronting that menace&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>He promptly wrote <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>a small Arabic text on paper and told me to commit it to memory&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>If I encountered a witch or a ghost&comma; the instant recall of that Arabic <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>text&comma; according to my grandfather&comma; would cause the ghost to vanish&excl;&excl; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Fortunately&comma; I didn’t need to use the text because I never confronted <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>ghosts or wizards throughout my five-year stay in Bida&excl;&excl;&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Instead of ghosts and spooky spirits&comma; what we encountered on <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>arrival at the college was a serene atmosphere that sprawled on an <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>expanse of Sahelian vegetation that was itself an inspiration&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>But even more importantly&comma; we felt and knew&comma; even as 16-year-olds&comma; that <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Bida sat on a terrain with a rich past as the capital of the ancient <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Nupe Kingdom&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>This history preceded even the exploits of Tsoede&comma; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>the first Etsu Nupe&comma; supposedly the son of Attah of Idah&comma; who was <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>said to have founded the Nupe Kingdom in 1531&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>By the time we graduated from Bida in 1962&comma; we had learnt a <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>lot more about Bida’s rich past and imbibed much of its cultural <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>beauty&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;