Dr. Sagir Balarabe Musa, the son of the late Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa has disclosed that he was once a taxi driver in Lagos State, in spite of the fact that his father was the sitting governor of Kaduna State. He said he was driving a taxi as part-time work when he went for the one-year mandatory National Youth Service in Ogun State when his father was then governor of Kaduna in early 1981.
The former governor died on November 11, 2020, in his residence in Kaduna, the state capital. Sagir, in an exclusive chat in Kaduna on Friday, recounted that being “independent” was part of the values instilled in him by his late father whom he described as “my good friend.”
According to him, one of the values his late father taught him was for him to be independent wherever he finds himself. Sagir Balarabe Musa also disclosed that one of his wishes in life is to meet his father again because “I know just the way I am missing him, he too is also missing me there.”
The late governor’s son also recounted how he was a frequent visitor to the late Afrobeat Legend, Fela Anikulapo’s Shrine in Lagos. Sagir, a Permanent Secretary before he was relieved of his job six months ahead of his statutory retirement age by ex-governor Nasir El-Rufai, explained that in order to make the late Afrobeat Legend truly believe he (Sagir) was Balarabe Musa’s son, he personally took the responsibility of taking Fela to meet the Lagos State Governor then, late Lateef Jakande.
When asked how he felt being the first son to the former late governor, he said, “How do I feel? I feel as when he was even nothing. It is the same thing that I am feeling. It is people who take themselves as ‘son of governor’, ‘son of that’ that will feel otherwise. Even when he was a governor, I was driving a taxi. I was a taxi driver in Lagos.
“When I went for my National Youths Service in Abeokuta, I had a friend; a very good friend from Oyo State. He was in the Customs office then. After his official duties, he would remove his uniform and come over with his taxi (cab) and ask me to escort him.
“From Abeokuta, he would travel to Ota, and we would go to Agege as well as Surulere and come back. I was just observing him. He then convinced me to join him. He asked me to get my own taxi. You know, we were young then – very rascals. So, I didn’t take myself as governor’s son or whatever.
“My father trained not to look at myself as anything. I was as ordinary as anybody. I go anywhere I feel like going
“My father knew I was a taxi driver. He knew everything about me just as I knew everything about him. He was not only my father but a good friend,” Sagir reminisced.
Narrating his experience during his visit to Fela’s Shrine in Lagos, he remarked, “When I was in Lagos, I went to Fela’s Shrine. When he heard that Balarabe Musa’s son was around and that he even came in a taxi, he came to see me. We sat down together.
“He (Fela) wanted to confirm if really I was Balarabe Musa’s son. I told him yes. I told him (Fela), ‘Do you know how I will prove to you that I am Balarabe Musa’s son?’ I told him that I would take him to go and visit Governor Lateef Jakande. He couldn’t believe it.
“The day I was to take him to Jakande, he dressed well. So, I took him there and I asked him (Fela) if he was convinced. I had access to Jakande. I even told the late Jakande that I brought him (Fela) for him to be sure that I was Balarabe Musa’s son. I proved to him (Fela) and we became very good friends,” he added.
On his last conversation with his late father, Sagir recalled that their discussion centred on the “ordinary Nigerians,” noting that the way things were going, “governance was getting poorer and poorer and trust, values are no longer there,” he lamented.
Sagir, who was also a university lecturer before switching to the civil service added that, “We also discussed the troubling insecurity. He told me about the major causes of insecurity and how the government was doing nothing to halt the ugly trend.
“Stealing of public funds were major issues he was emphasising on before he died,” he pointed out.
Credit | The PUNCH
