David S. Parradang: ‘Mutumin Kirki’ (A good person)-Abdulaziz Abdulaziz

By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz

With the news flash trooping in, I rushed to my WhatsApp icon to look up “Parradang”. It was like a reality check to cross-check my dizzying disbelief. Only the messages we exchanged–largely from him–were there. His last was a Friday message he sent on January 10 this year. Though not a Muslim, Mr David Parradang had normalised sending beautiful supplications and commemorative messages on Fridays. This is in addition to similar messages during Eid and the New Year. He never bothered that his messages may go unanswered from my end.

I am numbed by the news of his death. It is a sad loss for humanity.

For me, he was as not a retired Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). He was a senior friend and minder. Mr David Shifku Parradang had touched me with his beautiful heart through humbling interactions, near-embarrassing respect and that welcoming dotting smile on his face, every time I visited.

I made acquaintance of Mr Parradang around 2009 while working as LEADERSHIP Newspaper correspondent in Kano. His relative and my line editor at the paper, Mr Timothy Golu, linked us up. “My brother is posted as Immigration Comptroller in Kano. Please help him,” Mr Timothy had said by phone. From our first meeting, Mr Parradang came across as a warm, humble and kind gentleman.

It was the beginning of years of a strong relationship between a zealous reporter and an official in haste to make a mark. He put Immigration back in the news through many operations against illegal aliens and stakeholder sensitisation. Through me, and on account of his warmth, he made friends with nearly all journalists that mattered in Kano. He was a reporter’s delight who left his doors open at all times. It was not surprising that he made it to the zenith of his career.

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Though he left Kano before I did in 2012, we remained in touch. Coincidentally, he was appointed the Comptroller-General of the service in 2013, about a year after I had moved my trade to Abuja as well. Our relationship picked up from the old time in Kano. My first time in his office as the CG was when I went to renew my passport a few months after his appointment. He didn’t only gave me VIP treatment with an official detailed to ensure I was carried through the process earnestly, he also footed the bill for me.

Mr Parradang was a true definition of officer gentleman who could hardly hurt a fly. He was thorough, friendly and respectful. Whatever shortcomings he may have had with his hands, he paid more than it with his radiating heart and beautiful manners.

Through my sparring visits to his office, I made acquaintance with a few of his staff who replicated the courtesy they saw their boss extended to me.

Mr Parradang became entangled in the controversial recruitment exercise which claimed the lives of applicants. He was a victim of his obedience to her higher authorities. The scandal consumed him first through a suspension in 2015 and–despite his exoneration–eventual retirement in, 2016.

Mr Parradang took things in their strides and moved into a quite retirement. He tried to connect with people back home and was persuaded to join politics. In 2019, he aspired but lost the chance to represent Plateau Central in the Senate under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Unperturbed, he threw his heart in the ring for the PDP governorship ticket in the 2023 election, which he lost to incumbent Caleb Mutfwang.

When President Bola Tinubu won the election, defeating his candidate of the PDP, he didn’t hesitate to send me a congratulatory message. He sent another when he heard of my appointment as a senior special assistant to the President. He was a friend of all times!

Good night, mutumin kirki.