Prof Abu Momoh in life
It used to be that certain pictures were not permitted in the media. That was before the emergence of the social media and citizen journalism. While waiting for the confusion to clear, Intervention serves the final moment of late Professor Abubakar Momoh, the Director of The Electoral Institute of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC). That was last Monday in Auchi, Edo State.
The equally late Prof Chinua Achebe said tragedy is tragedy because it is individually experienced. Professor Momoh who was called “Abu, the people” was buried without comrades, activists, acdemics, civil society elements and students surrounding his corpse, those being the theatres he had such a powerful presence. The Muslim burial regime which frowns at keeping the dead was such that comrades were advised to schedule the visit because they would have been arriving after the burial. Abu Momoh would be joining those who preceded him such as Prof Eskor Toyo, Claude Ake, Yusuf Bala Usman, Festus Iyayi, Bala Mohammed, Jibrin Bala, Reuben Ziri, Olaiton Oyerinde, Hassana Garba and all members of that ‘tribe’ in Nigerian politics. Who knows, their own conversation over there might be our saving grace over here!
