Who the cap fits
By Habibu Nuhu Kila
I had an amazing day on the 20th of May 2023 at the Emir’s Palace, Hadejia when some of its illustrious sons were conferred with traditional titles by His Royal Highness, the Emir of Hadejia, Alhaji Adamu Abubakar Maje.
I was so excited when the palace praise singer took his time not only to entertain the guests but also to educate us briefly on who the Emir is.
Interestingly, I observed among the emirs that earned respect at their palaces due to their leadership qualities of the advancement of their subjects towards the development of their region, is certainly the Emir of Hadejia.
I’m compelled to celebrate with those who were turbaned but most importantly I have to be specific on those with whom I have closely worked.
It’s my honour to celebrate with my boss, Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia, who turbaned as Fadaman Hadejia.
I have benefited tremendously in my working carrier through his mentorship and I’m proud of it.
I think I will have to share one moment out of numerous incidences as it relates to the title given to Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia.
Way back during the Second Republic, in the former Kano State under late Muhammad Abubakar Rimi as governor, while we were both staff of Kano State Television (CTV 67), emirates were created by Rimi’s administration and one of them was the Gaya Emirate.
The state television in one of its programmes focused the lives of the then new emirs. While working under Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia who was then the Manager Programme of the station, we were assigned to produce a documentary of the life of the late Emir of Gaya, Alhaji Adamu Gaya.
Our crew, led by Ali Kofar Kudu, was warmly received at the Emir’s palace. We were told to wait for about an hour while the Emir was dressing in his traditional regalia. The stage of the interview was ready.
The Emir was seated.
When we were about commence the interview, we realized that the cassette in which we were to record the interview was left behind at the station in Kano.
Professionally, in a situation like this, in order to save ourselves and our guest from embarrassment, we have a key word to use and that still remains a secret to us as producers and directors of programmes.
We spent almost two hours interviewing the Emir without recording anything. Back to Kano, we directly reported ourselves to Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia and told him our mistake and how we conducted ourselves at Emir’s palace.
Naturally, he became angry and left us in his office to the office of the then Managing Director. He complained to the MD that, “Sir I have severally registered my displeasure of having Tommy Brothers as our supplier of the recording cassettes as we are having issues with their quality.
The Managing Director was then told that we went to Gaya, had an interview with the Emir but unfortunately the cassettes were so bad that nothing was recorded.
That ended our fear of being sanctioned by the management.
That’s Alhaji Ishaq Hadejia who defends his juniors always.
Alhaji Baffa Bura Mohammed, Barwan Hadejia, was my boss both at CTV67 and Radio Jigawa. A professional broadcaster to the core and also a guru in the field of public relations, he is an institution as far as journalism is concerned. We called him the golden voice. He taught us the importance of the first law of journalism; that is the ‘truth’, and that should be our guiding principles in our reportage.
The Barwan Hadejia will surely serve the Emirate through God’s guidance effectively. I have the firm believe that he will deliver.
Dan Amanar Hadejia, Alhaji Muhammad Sheikh Mujaddada, with whom we worked as Special Advisers to the Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, is a sound gentleman who I cherish for his eloquent understanding and commitment in any assignment given to him. I am sure that as Dan Amana, he will be found trustworthy in this additional responsibility.
Let me once again congratulate these are gentlemen.
May Almighty God continue to guide and guard them.
Habibu Kila is the Special Adviser Media and Public Relations to the Jigawa State Governor.
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