Bago, the choir master, By Emeka Obasi

The way Bago sang, I am sure producers may be heading to Minna to sign him on as a gospel artiste. The man won more souls with his rendition of deep Christian music than some acclaimed General Overseers would have done during Pentecost.

And this governor is a devout Muslim, honoured by various groups, ranging from Anwarudeen Islamic Organisation to Riyahdul Qur’an Islamic Foundation, Muslim Youth Organisation of Nigeria and NASFAT. There has been no shout of Haram, from any quarters.

We need leaders like Bago, a man who rose from banking without baggage, barged on politics and is teaching Nigerians uncommon coexistence. Yes, Idahosa is also a politician and chose to run as deputy to Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections.

It does not sound strange that Christian clergymen team up with Muslim candidates as running mates. Pastor Tunde Bakare did it with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo followed, before Idahosa and Kwankwaso did Kwankwasiyya. I await the day an Alfa or Imam will find good luck in a Christian presidential candidate.

Bago was a member of the House of Representatives for twelve good years, (2011-2023) representing Chanchaga Federal Constituency. He tried to be Speaker in 2019, but lost to Femi Gbajabiamila. It is instructive that the governor was in Lagos to preside over Idahosa’s birthday party.

Give it to the Yoruba, they found a way early enough to accommodate all religions and the results are manifesting. Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo is a Christian who attended Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta. This background does not compel him to throw Ifa into the forest of a thousand demons.

In many Yoruba homes, Christianity romances Islam. President Tinubu’s wife, Oluremi, is a Pastor. Former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola is married to Abimbola, a Christian. Where else can this happen without a Jihad taking place?

Even in my Igbo village, until recently, it was impossible for an Anglican gentleman, to marry a Roman Catholic Lady. Those men who were carried away by blind love were forced to wed in a Catholic Church. That is how some of them began to chant Maria di ya nso (Holy Mary).

I am excited to see people who do not allow religion to blind their reasoning. What tears my insides out is the Gospel Truth that Christianity and Islam were imported. Unfortunately, our ancestors were not strong enough to impose Donald Trump like tariff.

In the South-West, AbdulKarim Shitta – Bey, Seriki Musulumi of Lagos, attended Church Missionary Society (CMS) Grammar School, Lagos. So did Justice Latif Dosunmu, Vice President of Ahmadiyya Movement of Nigeria. Late Alafin of Oyo, Lamidi Aderemi chose St. Gregory’s Obalende, a Roman Catholic school. He was a good footballer and boxer.

Multimillionaire, Saliu Bolaji (SB) Bakare, an ex- serviceman, who hosted Obasanjo in 1976 as Bukar Dimka told us all that we were all together, was at Roman Catholic Mission School, Ilesha. Short-lived Western Region premier, Dauda Adegbenro, Balogun of Owu, spent some years at Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, just like Chief Moshood Abiola.

Like Bago, some Northerners did not discriminate against Christians. The first Resident and Northerner to rise to the level of Permanent Secretary, Ahmadu Coomasie attended Kumasi Catholic School, in Ghana. Col. Musa Usman, first governor of North – Eastern State, was a pupil of St. Michael’s School, Kaduna. Sultan Mohammed Maccido honoured his friend, Charles Egegbara, in death at a Lagos Catholic church. Egegbara, who moved from Shell to the banking industry, was Senior Prefect of Government Secondary School, Owerri in 1965.

This Bago, a Nupe man, I am studying him. They call the governor, Mr. Empowerment. And his father, Muhammadu Mustapha, Barapa Nupe, adopted the alias, ‘Techno’. Maybe, the young musician from Ebonyi borrowed that nickname, since he was born in the North.

The mother, Aisha, is a Princess from Lapai. These are interesting names. The governor’s parents bear the same first names as Gen. Buhari and his wife. I am quite interested in Lapai because of one mystery.

There is something about Niger State governors and names of Nigeria’s past military leaders. Murtala Nyako, the first governor, bore the same first name as Murtala Mohammed. Babangida Aliyu reminds one of Ibrahim Babangida. Bago’s parents, share names with the Buhari family.

Abubakar Sani Bello collected everything. He took Sani from Abacha who was his father’s course mate, got Abubakar from Abdusalami, another of his dad’s course mates and capped it all by marrying Gen. Abubakar’s daughter. By the way, Bago’s wife, like Abubakar’s, is named Fatima.

Bago’s maternal home reminds me of the mystery gunman, Sgt. Bukari Baba Lapai. He was one of those under the command of Garba Dada Paiko during the July 29, 1966 coup. Much later, Paiko claimed, that the sarge could not be traced after the death of Gen. Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi. There are no records of him even in military files. Talk of Ghost soldiers.

On his way to Government House, Minna, Bago used the hashtag #Stronger Together. He proved in Lagos that unity is strength, bringing Christianity and Islam together. And this governor has shown that obtaining post graduate degrees at the University of Calabar and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, respectively, did not end with academic works.

We need more Bagos to emerge from the North. Religion does not preach violence. Those who stone and burn people to death, are clearly something that is beyond One Love and One Nation.