Mallam Mamman: A model in modesty, meekness and moderation-Bala Ibrahim

Every time I come across modest people, I always ask myself whether I was genetically modified because unlike them, I don’t have the quality of being less showy, less ostentatious, or simply unassuming. I belong to the other side of pompous people, that deceive themselves as being self-important, I suppose.

Nature has been so kind to some people, such that it gave them the ability for the humble presentation of themselves, and their enviable achievements or accomplishments. Such people are never too proud or confident about themselves or their amplified abilities.

They conduct themselves with proper propriety. Propriety in dress, propriety in speech and propriety in comportment, regardless of whatever provocation or public prodding.

At the risk of sounding like a sycophant, who may be seeking attention to secure some advantages, I make bold to say, I see and admire these excellent qualities of gentleness in Mallam Mamman Daura, the over-exaggerated nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari.

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Few days ago, precisely on Wednesday, 19th August 2020, the news went viral on the social media, that Mallam Mamman Daura, President Muhammad Buhari’s influential nephew, has been flown to the United Kingdom under critical condition, for urgent medical attention.

Different sources have different versions of the tale to tell, but the general consensus was that the man was airlifted in an air ambulance, presumably under life-supporting facilities.

The journalist in me instructed me to make enquiries. Not because I have anything to do with Mallam Mamman, or because I think he is infallible or immune from falling ill, but because I wanted to check on the contrariness and perversity of our mischief-makers, whose deliberate desire for misbehaviour, seems to be growing daily with undiminishing intensity.

Yes, When it comes to attacking the credibility of those perceived to be credible, Nigeria has a ready-made reservoir of hired hands, that is not only unreasonable but robustly ready to do dirty jobs, no matter how wicked or unacceptable it may be to the society.

After some contacts, I was made to understand that the man simply travelled for his regular medical check-up, and he was neither flown in an air ambulance nor under any life-threatening condition. At the age of 81, with an unbroken history of visiting the same hospital for upwards of 60 years, and after loosing about three close associates in a row, within weeks, it is only natural that any mortal would feel psychologically nervous if he fails to keep to a medical routine.

Typical of the Nigerian cynics, who believe that people like Mallam Mamman are hanging around the President purely for self-interest and not for honourable reasons, and even the trip was Government sponsored at the expense of the public treasury, rude reactions began to circulate with offensive potentials.

While some were saying, Mamman Daura, the 81-year-old nephew of Buhari, who is believed to be a member of the alleged “cabal” in the Presidency, was flown out because he was experiencing respiratory difficulties with COVID-19 related symptoms, some were alleging that the scenario is similar to that of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. That Daura was dead, and the cabal in the Presidency is just trying to recycle the coffin.

Particularly poignant is a Tweet from someone that is as insignificant as he is inconsequential, saying those close to power suffering medical issues should not be sympathized with, “As long as they refuse to do the needful, none of them deserves our sympathy! Why fly Mamman Daura?.”

While nothing can be done to change the thinking of People with such myopic mindset, I am of the opinion that the society has a duty to dare them, by exposing their indecency, through the showcasing of the slammed, in order to shame the slanderer.

Alas, in a video currently trending on the social media, friends and associates of Mallam Mamman Daura, have debunked the detractors, by showing the man walking freely and talking on the phone in his London apartment, evidently in high spirits.

In the conversation, Mallam Mamman can be clearly heard admitting their arrival in London peacefully. He also accepted condolence over the death of Mallam Wada Maida, the late chairman of NAN, who died about a week ago, and acknowledged not speaking to the person at the other end, since the demise of Alhaji Samaila Isa Funtua, also a deceased close friend.

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This has not only contradicted the reports that he was flown to the UK on life support but put to shame those advancing the argument that he is dead. He was not speaking with any signs of COVID 19.

My initial suggestion was that the man should grant interviews to the media, particularly foreign and electronic media, like the BBC did with late Yar’adua, but in his characteristic humbleness, Mallam Mamman was said to have turned down the offer, saying to do that, would amount to glorifying the trifling or the trivial.

And that would violate his principles of humility, quietness, meekness and moderation. Yes, some people were born modest, one of them is Mallam Mamman.