By Mohammed Nuru Yakubu
In traversing the vast stretches of life in our mortal journey here on earth – aside the comparatively superior number of pleasant experiences which achievements and successes push on our way, there are occasional moments of unpleasant experiences that inflict deep painful reflection.
Such unpleasant moments, though numerically brief but their impact is profound, deep and enduring. Negotiating this difficult passage of life is best achieved through the comforting warmth of empathy and support provided by true friends and dear ones – they help you absorb the severity and impact of painful moments when they come, as they sure would , because they are integral components of life experiences.
Of notable prominence in the spectre of painful moments is when it involves a close one – its attendant implacable severity of pain-inflicting venom which rattles our human composition and melts our composure and resilience- particularly the type that comes with a bang of shocking spontaneity.
The late Ismaila Isa Funtua
To all those in his close cycle of influence, bonds and ties, the death of Isa Funtua was one such moment. At such times even normal human thought- process freezes up –it could even extend its grip to temporary cessation of sequence of daily chores and official engagements – all in the trail of addressing a spontaneous sprout of unpleasant moment.
Our emotional reflexes and reactions to painful moments -by no means an expression of weakness, rather evince a deep portion of our humanity which is needed to advance and strengthen the bonds of human engagement at organisational and interpersonal levels.
For a man of such immense iconic stature who has straddled the nation’s active space for over thirty years- wielding significant clout of influence, his death would most certainly thunder a pattern of shocking reactions- cutting through the façade of national mass expression of shock to sincere and deep heart-felt strands of velvety melancholy at individual level.
Dr Bala Bello –the current Executive Director, Corporate Services of Nexim Bank – is one such individual who was deeply shocked by the incidence. This should not be too difficult to connect! As a profound success story of precocity in the shape and model of the proverbial young Turks of the northern extraction, Bello had already shot his way to the dizzying and dazzling galaxy of career excellence in the private sector from where he was noticed by the Buhari administration.
Thereon he was plucked by the Buhari regime to enrich the stock of professionals in the stream of the nation’s financial system. Knowing how close and dear Isa Funtua is to president Buhari, it is expected that Bello would be touched by the sad event.
Within a brief moment before it was made public, his sudden demise sent deep shocking waves across his close cycle and network of acquaintances – provoking melancholic feeling in strategic sectors and corridors of power.
Unknown to me, it was in this controversial moment that I sent a controversial text to Bello on an issue we had disagreed on. However, in response, he put a call through and with subdued graceful calmness asked why I was disturbing his private hour of mourning and meditation with a question: “aren’t you aware that we lost somebody”? I said to him: “no I am not aware” and he replied, “but it is already in the social media”.
Before I could reply back the line went dead at his end. I immediately put a call through to another great friend of ours and classmate –Mohammed Amana, he also said he knew nothing of it neither has Bello informed him.
All these while, I was absorbed in my private space -oblivious and inattentive to the rumblings in the nation’s charged political space of late.
It was much later that I got to hear of it when the news hit the traditional news channels. By the time I logged in to our classmate whatsapp group in ABU Zaria, a deluge of condolence messages had already flown in because Funtua‘s son Abubakar Ismaila was also our classmate in ABU Zaria.
It was then I knew that all along Bello, my trusted friend had been in deep solitary doldrums of shock which reveals a deep portion of his humanity and also significantly shows his close connect with the Buhari administration and his fascination for Funtua’s successful business strides across various sectors; Bello himself being a lover of excellent giant strides .
We have often heard of several sizzling waves of superfluous truism fetched to enrich the moral lesson of ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’. Bello was in effect, drawing inspiration from this philosophical truism by mourning the loss to the Buhari regime which he is part of.
However, the deeper human and moral value in Bello’s moment of grief is tied to the fact that he is deeply affectionate to people around his area of activities – at private and official levels, whilst for his friends he could go to any length.
I was a beneficiary of his deep affectionate heart during my desperate low moments. Life atimes demonstrates its capacity to spring forth, in a jiffy, many-sided sponge of cracking vicissitudes with spontaneous deft, strong enough to create a disconcerting disequilibrium. It was in this period that Bello’s high -level content of unimpeachable humanity and elevating metaphors of a true and compassionate friend were laid bare and cascaded to the aid of a friend in need.
He deserted and disembarked from his Abuja throne and embarked on a long journey with its treacherous road network to visit a friend in need. A heart that overflows with compassion elevates and sermonizes the virtues of bonds, values and beauty of our common humanity, a receding treasure in today’s world overtaken by greed and blazing insularity.
Our woes actually started when we abandoned the creed of common humanity which ought to be shared and expressed through idiosyncratic charms of high –worth embodiment of human values organized and dispensed in social relations in human day to -day affairs in our homes, offices and other private engagements.
So, what truly connects effective human content capacity with the sanity observed in our homes, offices and outdoor settings? I am aware that at every layer of his sojourn across several areas of interesting human undertakings publicly and privately –despite obvious puzzling challenges , Bello has managed to maintain a score line of exceptional and interesting outing . What keeps my good friend steadily on the line and by which he has managed to secure- through painstaking commitment to the virtues of hard work, a brilliant career trajectory with a human face, is his attraction for exceptional track records.
Dr. Bala Bello
Loyalty alone could not fathom the reason for such depth of grief; rather deep high brand humanity, purity of heart and admiration for excellence and capacity.
This much was evident when in May 2, 2019, ESAE University Cotonou, Republic of Benin conferred on him Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in Leadership and Management in recognition of his impressive academic and professional credentials.
Thereon the representative of the university at the investiture ceremony which took place at the head office of NEXIM Bank went on to say “ Bello, You are a man who is honest, God-fearing, straight forward and sincere”. That he mourned Isa Funtua the way he did are all a reflection of those ideals.
Mohammed Nuru Yakubu is of [email protected]