We were rather modest regarding our expectation when planning the Colloquium to mark the 90th Anniversary of my grandfather late Dr. J.K. Randle who died on 27th February, 1928. It would have fallen right in the midst of Lent. Hence, we moved the date to 29th March, 2018 and tagged the colloquium “Resurrection, Triumph and Hope” with Health and Education (the areas of special interest to the man whose life we were celebrating) as the sub-theme. The venue was none other than the Chief J.K. Randle Memorial Hall, next door to the Island Club, at Onikan, Lagos. Since 24th September, 2017 the government has been trying to demolish it but it is still standing – Strong, Upright and indestructible!
It has become a tourism destination for all those who are fascinated and beguiled by the victory of faith over wickedness and vindictiveness.
The spontaneous deluge of interest from near and far, well beyond the shores of Nigeria was so overwhelming that we had to extend the Colloquium for an extra day – Good Friday, 30th March, 2018 with the solemn undertaking to put the Good back into Good Friday ahead of April Fool’s Day(1st April).
It was most unfortunate that our Guest of Honour, Professor Stephen Hawking could not join us. He died on 14th March, 2018.
Professor Hawking was an internationally regarded theoretical physicist who made vast contributions to general relativity — our current description of gravity. In 1963, Hawking contracted Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and was given two years to live. Yet he went on to the University of Cambridge to become a brilliant researcher and Professor. Despite having such an affliction that many experts expected to have killed him decades ago, he went on to become a vital and one of the most influential voices in the scientific community till date. The late Hawking is regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein; the German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.
Unknown to the public, Professor Hawking had surpassed himself – far beyond his mega best-selling book: “A Brief History of Time” and his “Black Hole Theory”. Only a few trusted colleagues at Cambridge University were privy to his most profound discovery – “TRANSAUG” {Transpordation and Augmentation). His theoretical concept was that if you could collapse both time and space which are the two elements which act as “re-agents” to distinguish and separate one individual from another, automatically there would be two indistinguishable versions of each individual. Hence, for us to be in two different places millions of miles apart would be as easy as a walk in the park!!
As previously agreed with Professor Hawking the Colloquium provided an excellent opportunity to test the efficacy of TRANSAUG.Mrs.Jane Hawking, who is anauthor and teacher, suggested that it would simplify matters to call it “FIZZING” which is more likely to resonate with the generality of the public, rather than the somewhat insular Cambridge academic community.
Although, we had invited both Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, President of Nigeria and Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, there was no confirmation that they would honour our invitation.
To our utter surprise, both of them turned up but apologised that they were actually on their way to another Colloquium at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island.
In his opening remarks, President Muhammadu Buhari declared for the umpteenth time:
“I belong to everybody; and I belong to nobody.”
Then he dropped a bombshell which took all of us by surprise:
“My second term bid is based on clamour by Nigerians”
In response, I thanked him for his generosity of spirit which he demonstrated by sending me a goodwill message, which has gone viral on the internet, on my 74th birthday on 13th January, 2018.
Unknown to most people, President Buhari values friendship and he is loyal to his friends. Ironically, one of his closest friends was neither Fulani nor Hausa. It was late Adebayo Belo (our mutual friend) who was from Lagos but died in London on 5th December, 2015 after a protracted illness. Till the very end and during the funeral ceremonies General Buhari displayed exceptional caring and concern. May Bayo’s soul rest in peace. Perhaps we should add that General Buhari and late Major-General Shehu Yar’Adua were course mates and when Yar’Adua acquired a substantial piece of land in Kaduna, he gave part of it to his beloved Buhari as a token of friendship. How Buhari who was also very close to late General Sani Abacha was able to manage the tension between his two friends is a subject for another day.
In March 1995, when Abacha was the military Head of State, he arrested both General Olusegun Obasanjo and Major-General Shehu Yar’Adua for treason. They were tried by a military tribunal headed by Gen. P.N. Aziza and were both sentenced to death. General Olusegun Obasanjo’s sentence was later commuted to 30 years imprisonment and that of Major-General Shehu Yar’Adua was commuted to life imprisonment.
Yar’Adua died on 8 December 1997 under suspicious circumstances in Abakaliki prison. It was not until after Abacha died on 8 June, 1998 that General Obasanjo was released. On 29 May, 1999 Obasanjo became the President of Nigeria.
It is instructive that regardless of their differences, both President Buhari and former President Obasanjo have retained the friendship of the Yar’Adua family.
Another huge surprise was the presence of Lt-General T.Y. Danjuma GCON who would neither subtract from nor add to what he said at Taraba State University, Jalingo:
“The armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits that are killing people
You must rise to protect yourselves from these people, if you depend on the Armed Forces to protect you, you will all die
If you are depending on the armed forces to stop the killings, you will die one by one.
This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria. These killers have been protected by the military, they cover them and you must be watchful to guide and protect yourselves because you have no any other place to go
The ethnic cleansing must stop now otherwise Somalia will be a child’s play
I ask all of you to be on your alert and defend your country, defend your state”
Bashorun J.K. Randle
