{"id":8084,"date":"2013-08-10T11:40:05","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T11:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/unforgettable-pa-fashola\/"},"modified":"2013-08-10T11:40:05","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T11:40:05","slug":"unforgettable-pa-fashola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/unforgettable-pa-fashola\/","title":{"rendered":"Unforgettable Pa Fashola"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE first time we met was the last time.\u00a0 As if we knew this was going to be the last time, we took a group photograph.\u00a0 I can still remember his infectious smile.\u00a0 One look at him and you are convinced that Governor Babatunde Fashola is indeed a chip off the old block, a true son of his father.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a long time, he had remained in obscurity, far from the glare of the media.\u00a0 But luckily, he spoke to Dimgba Igwe and I.\u00a0 For hours, he spoke about his life and times, about his son, about everything.\u00a0 He spoke with candour, with honesty.\u00a0 He was that blunt.\u00a0 He had nothing to hide.\u00a0 Any question you asked, he answered forthrightly.\u00a0 He never saw himself as a saint.\u00a0 He never wanted to be.\u00a0 He even laughed at himself as he recalled his past and all his youthful escapades and foibles.\u00a0 In the end, he was a good man who loved to make people around him feel good.\u00a0 He was a unique father, a well-travelled man who believed in educating his children through travelling.\u00a0 He took them around the world for their own education.\u00a0 He told us: \u201cI wanted my children too to be exposed to Europe and to the world which is one education in itself as opposed to staying in Nigeria.\u00a0 There is a world of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was through this early exposure to the world that informed Governor Fashola\u2019s determination to stay in Nigeria, school in Nigeria and strive to make it here in Nigeria, rather than schooling abroad which he rejected.\u00a0 In his grave, Pa Fashola would die a happy man.\u00a0 At least, he lived to see what his son has achieved in his lifetime.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this the prayer of every father?\u00a0 Adieu, Pa Fashola.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

My guest columnist today is the journalist Alade Odunewu (Allah-de), also dead.\u00a0 Ironically I had called Allah-de on phone to interview him on Pa Ademola Fashola who was his colleague in the Daily Times<\/em> where Fashola was the Advert Manager.\u00a0 Odunewu told me he was willing to talk on Fashola, but he was travelling.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I come back, I would grant you an interview,\u201d he said.\u00a0 But Odunewu never came back.\u00a0 I was sad to hear the news of his death.\u00a0 Just as Pa Fashola\u2019s death saddened me.\u00a0\u00a0 Today, I bring you an Allah-de classic which reminds me of Ernest Hemmingway, style-wise:<\/p>\n

This is the Hour!<\/p>\n

Greetings to you this day from the sun-drenched mountain of Arafat near the sacred, forbidden city of Mecca.\u00a0 Good day from Islam\u2019s holiest city, the city through which the monotheistic religion breathes.<\/p>\n

Today is the day.\u00a0 This is the supreme moment.\u00a0 As I write, the minds of one-seventh of mankind, who turn their eyes daily in prayer towards Kaaba<\/em>, the Holy Shrine in Mecca, are humming with anticipation.\u00a0 We who are privileged to be here today are fervently praying.\u00a0 Praying for ourselves, praying for forgiveness.\u00a0 And we are praying for you, too\u2014you who are not yet privileged to join in this rare gathering.<\/p>\n

I know you are praying for us in return.\u00a0 Prayers are being said in various places throughout the world for the pilgrims who today stand in reverence before Mount Arafat.<\/p>\n

I have never seen a scene like the one which I watch in all humility here today.\u00a0 There is another gathering to equal this mammoth family reunion of devotees to a man who lived this earth a very long time ago; the Holy Prophet who came into the world during the dark ages, at a time when Arabia was ruled by terrorists.<\/p>\n

What is this that I behold?\u00a0 A sea of heads!\u00a0 What a terrific stream of strange folks!\u00a0 The horde comes in from several corners of the globe, using every possible means to get here.\u00a0 They came in plane loads; by sea; by land; they rode in on the backs of camels; some even made it by \u201css foot\u201d!\u00a0 Just to be present at the solemn, moving rites, here on Mount Arafat.<\/p>\n

Look at the faces, I can see all the colours of the rainbow; from the light auburn coloured to dark-skinned brethren from my own part of the world.\u00a0 But I cannot recognize faces in this ocean of heads.\u00a0 By my arithmetic, there are well over a million heads shinning in the sun here today.<\/p>\n

This, in a way, is a picnic but a picnic with a difference.\u00a0 Right now, the atmosphere is calm.\u00a0 I am full of inspiration; I can feel the presence of the Creator right on the naked, 150-foot high mountain in this extensive valley.\u00a0 The message of Arafat is the message of unity, the unity of God, the brotherhood of mankind, the equality of man before God.\u00a0 Here, we know not the rich, nor the ennobled.\u00a0 The wealthy potentate and the poor from slum mix freely.<\/p>\n

Legend says that the desert mountain from where I dispatch this piece was the very place Adam and Eve first met each other after their expulsion from Paradise and a separation of well over a century.<\/p>\n

We too are reunited here today, and even though there is no Angel Jubril around to introduce one pilgrim to the other we sojourn happily and in true brotherhood, in the hundreds of thousands of tents that have been put up for the occasion.<\/p>\n

Why, brother, why can\u2019t we live the life on Arafat the mountain?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t we live back home?<\/p>\n

A few minutes before this cablegram was despatched, the great multitude on Mount Arafat had spoken to their Creator.\u00a0 It really is a moving scene, this Arafat ceremony; the kind I like to witness over and over again.\u00a0 The Arafat rites are the climax of the holy pilgrimage.\u00a0 We all remained standing.\u00a0 Suddenly, words began to flow in several tongues.<\/p>\n

That was the hour; that was the period throughout the pilgrimage which no pilgrim could afford to miss.\u00a0 For this particular time is regarded as the most sublime hours of a pilgrim\u2019s life.\u00a0 It is said by learned Moslems that these hours on Mount Arafat are the hours of forgiveness and mercy.\u00a0 What is important, it is the Hajj?<\/p>\n

As these words sputter through to the Daily Times<\/em> in Lagos, pilgrims are still on their feet waiting for the post meridian sun to pass the horizon.<\/p>\n

Earlier, I had joined the mighty river of pilgrims in making the seven circuits round the sacred black stone called the Kaaba<\/em>, said to be the work of Prophet Abraham and his son, Ishmael.<\/p>\n

We are told that in paradise too, angels give praise to God by going round a similar construction.\u00a0 I have also joined in drinking from the well of Zemzem, said to be one from which Hagar obtained water for Ishmael.<\/p>\n

And what after Arafat? By the time this story reaches Lagos, I should be on my way to Mina, stopping for a brief period at Muzdalifah.\u00a0 Mina is the place where Abraham\u2019s faith and that of his son was tested.\u00a0 It is the place where Abraham tried to offer his son as sacrifice to God and where the devil was stoned by Ishmael.<\/p>\n

There I am joining in Jarat ritual, that is the ceremony of stoning the three pillars which stand for Satan and temptation.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: The Sun Newspaper<\/p>\n

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