Marwa: Celebrating a living legend @ 70

NDLEA Chairman, Buba Marwa

Sina Ogunbambo

On the day that God was making baby Mohamed Buba Marwa, three Angels were on hand to give a helping hand. They were the Angels of beauty, which endows him with handsomeness, that of luck, which makes good luck follow him wherever he goes and ensures he has the Midas touch, the third was that of intelligence which made the scholar, author, the soldier, the administrator and diplomat, an intelligent and hardworking achiever.”

THESE words were that of the former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Late Justice Omotunde Ilori (an accomplished Jurist not known for flattery) at the handing over of 40 stenographic recording system by the then Colonel Marwa’s administration for the use of the judiciary in the state in 1998.

This computerisation method which makes retrieval of information easy and gives Judges less of long hard writing was the first of its kind in Nigeria and it was the type of equipment used for the celebrated case of the O. J. Simpson trial in the United States. Marwa who also scored Lagos State Government as the first state to have a website in Nigeria, also built courts within the prison premises and appointed an appreciable number of Judges for the judiciary.

Outstanding legal luminary and Pro–democracy activist, Mr Femi Falana (now SAN) in Wednesday, September 3, 1997 (page 8) publication in The Diet newspaper, cautioned Nigerians and Lagosians in particular, to be wary of the Federal Government antics to sell General Sani Abacha (former Head of State, now late) to the electorate through spectacular outing of Lagos State Administrator, Colonel Mohamed Marwa.

In his column “Crossroads” in The Guardian newspaper of Sunday, May 17, 1998, the renowned intellectual, critic and journalist, Dr Reuben Abati, published an article “Marwa and Abacha “.
He did an appraisal of the administration of Abacha, the then Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with that of Marwa whom Abacha posted to Lagos as one of his 36 Military Administrators, employing what he called the transactional (deal-cutting, wheeler-dealer form of public service) and extreme transformational leadership approach.

Abati in summary wants General Abacha to learn from his junior officer, Colonel Marwa through exemplary performance, stating that Abacha does not know how to cut deals, build bridges and reach out to constituencies.

Such were the views freely given by moderates, critics and even hardliners to measure the performance of Marwa in his nearly three years sojourn at the seat of power in Lagos State.

With his extraordinary performance, I have made an acronym out of his name MARWA, translating it as ‘Meaningful Actions Reinforced With Authority’.

An international scholar and diplomat who also had a column in This Day newspaper at that time, Professor Bola Akinteriwa, gave MARWA another meaning ‘Moving Along Radiantly With All’ by publishing this as the headline to his article on page 10 of This Day newspaper of January 19, 1988.

The King of tabloid journalism in Nigeria and media icon, Mr Mike Awoyinfa called his era in Lagos State that of “Marwamania” due to the love of the people and his soaring popularity till he left that office.

The unforgettable human dynamo and Senior Advocate of the Masses, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, once rejected two rams sent to him as a Sallah gift, calling it a Greek gift from Lagos State Government, promising he would return them to Alausa seat of government.

When Marwa got his response through the media, he explained to him that the gift was from Marwa as a person and a Muslim to his fellow Muslim Brother.

He further explained that as a Fulani man, he has cows and rams in his “gado” as inheritance and it is from these that he has reached out to fellow Muslims at the top, middle and lower levels of the society and that he will receive the rams back in good faith, wishing Chief Fawehinmi a happy Sallah.

Chief Fawehinmi did return the Rams as he promised but remarked that he did not know that such refined officers still existed in the Nigerian Military.

The courageous Marwa who during his term in office publicly disowned a pro-Abacha group called YEAA (Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha) wanting General Sani Abacha to transform from a Military Head of State to an elected civilian President, would have paid a tragic price for his popularity through hard work and milk of human kindness.

There were two separate bomb attacks within a month, targeted at him, but by God’s grace, he escaped death by whiskers.

Marwa did not just endear himself to Lagosians by luck, he worked and sweated for it. During his tenure, he fought armed robbery to a standstill with his reinvigorated Operation Sweep outfit (a combination of soldiers and policemen). It got to a point when the robbers sent a letter to him, pleading he should give them a few days to operate, to celebrate Christmas. More firepower to silence these men of the underworld was his response. The Cable Network News (CNN) was so impressed with his performance that the organisation did a positive feature on his administration.

He fixed the reconstruction of 100 roads as the first phase of tackling horrible roads in Lagos, moving to another 250 roads as phase two and continuing others to infinity. This included the dualisation of Lagos to Ikorodu road.

All the roads were fixed by engineers and other workers in the Lagos State Government employment under the Direct Labour Agency (DLA) led by Engr Kehinde Osikoya, a Permanent Secretary.

Over 1000 Area boys and girls were rehabilitated, trained to acquire skills and employed.

His administration employed a lot of other workers, especially Doctors and Nurses, established the Lagos State College of Medicine and upgraded Ikeja General Hospital to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) status.

Housing projects embarked on by his predecessors were completed and named after them.
His administration’s housing projects came out in torrents, the climax being Marwa Gardens, renamed by his successor as MKO Abiola Garden, but which today is still more known as Marwa Gardens by Lagosians.

He provided a fleet of buses for public transportation and the civil service too. He introduced the use of tricycles in Lagos State and made it affordable for the masses to purchase. The tricycles today are referred to as Keke Marwa or simply Marwa and they serve the needs of the masses.
It is for the records that there is no single day that Marwa’s name is not mentioned after leaving office for over 24 years, as passengers ride in “Keke Marwa” every day.

When there was a bean scare in Lagos State due to a rumoured beans poison, he did not only allay the fears of the people by issuing statements that there was nothing of such but moved out to demonstrate publicly that the beans scare was a mirage, buying “akara” (beans cake) from a roadside seller at Ketu in Lagos, eating it at the spot along with his officials. He invited members of the public to join him, which they did with enthusiasm. He paid the bills on the spot.

At moments of crisis such as fuel shortage or protests when Chief Moshood Abiola died whilst in detention by the Federal Government, he employed the use of dialogue and persuasion.

There was a time he had to step on broken bottles at Idi Araba in Lagos to calm down demonstrators.

During fuel shortages, Marwa would go to filling stations to ensure that fuel was not hoarded.
At one time when University of Lagos students were on peaceful protest at MKO Abiola's residence in Ikeja to mourn his demise, they ran into his convoy. Marwa sympathised with them, asked them to be peaceful and directed one of his top aides, Major Abayomi Opeolu (retd) to provide escort for them and ensure their safety. Though, a Military Lord with officers and men at his beck and call, he was amiable, approachable and simple.

A goldfish they say has no hiding place, it is the same zeal and dynamism that he has brought into the National Drugs Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). He has fought to nearly a standstill the drug couriers and barons, while also introducing a lot of measures to rehabilitate drug addicts and educate our youths on the dangers inherent in adhering to the usage of drugs.

Marwa indeed is God’s gift to our nation, Nigeria and humanity at large.
Born in Kaduna on September 9, 1953, this native of Michika in Adamawa State, had his education at Nigeria Military School, Zaria, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, University of Pittsburgh and then the University of Harvard, both in the United States of America, where he has two Masters degrees in International Relations and then Public Administration. He also had a series of Military training in other countries.

Once a Defence Attache for Nigeria in Washington DC in America, he was one time, Chairman of the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) in Kaduna, and also, a High Commissioner in South Africa.

A loving husband of a well-loved epitome of beauty and intelligence, Mrs Munira Marwa, father and grandfather, here is wishing my boss for life, big brother and mentor, Brigadier–General Mohamed Buba Marwa rtd, a happy 70th birthday anniversary and triumphant entry into the seventh floor.

• SINA OGUNBAMBO, a media consultant and public affairs analyst was Marwa’s Chief Press Secretary (August 21, 1996 to May 29, 1999) in Lagos State.

The Guardian Nigeria Ltd