By: Inuwa Bwala
Having worked very closely with other bosses besides Mala Kachallah, people often wonder and ask me about what makes Mala Kachallah so unique that I find it difficult to forget him for close to two decades.
I often find it difficult to explain, but I know that there exists an unbroken cord, which not even death could break.
And as the date marking the seventeenth anniversary of his death approached, I knew duty beacons on me to again test my annual fidelity.
But I did not know what new thing I needed to say, seventeen years after the death of Mala Kachallah, different from what I have written before.
The more I tried to forget the events of Wednesday 18th April, 2007, the fresher everything seem to be, reminding me and indeed, many of his disciples of the sad reality of having to live in perpetual nostalgia of the times we shared with Mala Kachallah.
Every anniversary of that day gives me, in particular, cause to reminiscence.
For me, every time I think some events will make me overcome the nostalgia, every year brings with it fresh tears for Mala Kachallah.
While fewer people today remember him, every passing year, comes with fresh questions about leadership and the challenges of today.
from people who still remember him.
I am not surprised that so many people, who hitherto adore him, seldom remember him today, given the existential challenges everyone seems to be facing. But I am afraid that our quest for survival may swallow with it the history of our heroes who are not physically with us today.
Just as the grasses of time seem to overgrow our senses of remembrance, so is the cemetery getting congested, with so many tombs threatening to swallow the exact spot Mala was buried.
For the third year now, I have not been to the Gwange cemetery for the usual homage, but that has not beclouded my sense of fidelity for the man, whose real value, many people did not appreciate untill he was gone.
I woke up this morning not knowing what to write, but I dug up an older piece I wrote and tried to cannibalise some thoughts, even as a fulfilment of my onligation.
Every time I recall my days with the sage, the thought of a few people come to my mind. Some are still around, while others have joined the world beyond.
Every time I think of Mala Kachallah, some people readily come to mind: People like Ali Abubakar Jatau, Dr Shettima Mustapha, Alhaji Ahmed Ashemi, Mala Alamai, Baba Dunoma, Maina Mohamned Tar. Fati Kakeena, Bashir Dungus. Iliya Stephen, Halima Rabassa, Mohammed Monguno, Kolo Warne, Alibe Konduga, Abba Habib, Modu Ngobama, Kabiru Sai Mala, and many more.
Very often, I try to juxtapose events of Mala Kachallah’s regency, against the Birno of today. I conclude that, even if he were physically around today, it is quite possible that he may not be in the right physical frame to do much, but his presence alone could have served as a reference point in political leadership.
Christened as the Captain Of Peace, one is bound to wonder hiw he would have felt, seeing the peace he bequeathed to Borno, fast giving way.
He may not be able to hold court but he could have been the oracle around whom good students of leadership could converge.
Mala Kachallah may not be strong enough to make powerful public speeches, or visit others, but his elderly counsels, his calm and candour, could have been a take away for everyone that visit.
As for me, I still relish the rich tutelage and his fatherly guide. Some of the things he used to tell me have tended to shape and reshape my outlook in life and forever I remain indebted to him even in death.
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