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His name was not a usual headliner. He neither craved for the limelight nor wanted his lion’s den sacrifice to be publicized. His place of abode had no trappings of modernity as to gain media mapping for generation of hot news. It was also unthinkable that such a rural community would produce a statesman with no nobility. Yet, the moral force of one man, a Muslim cleric, Abubakar Abdullahi, the Chief Imam of Yelwa, Gindin-Akwati in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, with exceptional act of courage, pulled off international recognition and global spotlight. Delightfully, the United States government conferred on him the 2019 International Religious Freedom Award. He would later receive the National Honours Award of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) in 2022.
Imam Abdullahi passed at the age of 92 on January 15, 2026, but his heroic deeds live on. The June 2018 orgy of killings perpetrated against Christians in parts of Plateau State stood him out. It was a merciless bloodletting. Arson and deadly attacks left charred remains of human bodies. Mud houses were turned to bonfires by AK-47-wielding renegades who stormed about 15 Christian-dominated communities in Barkin Ladi LGA. The communities were marked for total annihilation. And at a great personal risk and outstanding show of humanity, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi opened the mosque in his domain and protected the fleeing 262-300 Christians who were pursued by the armed assailants. He reportedly opened the adjoining mosque and his house of five rooms and shielded the overflow from the merchants of death. He refused to hand them over to the rampaging brigands intoxicated by ethnic and religious extremism.
A different account noted that the Imam used subterfuge by feigning that they were all Muslims and dissuaded the killers from forcefully opening the door of the mosque. He reportedly went out of his way to mobilize local youths to guard the mosques until the merchants of terror retreated. Daily Trust reported that the “Imam said he told the attackers at some point that they had to kill him first before harming his ‘guests’.” It was that statement and his age (he was 83 then) that reportedly gave the assailants cold feet. That was how the unknown cleric booked a golden place in the global hall of fame of interfaith solidarity.
Whether near or in far-flung locations, legends have a way of endearing visitations of researchers and admirers who treasure their footprints. The 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in May 2024, shared a story of how he visited the Ardfoyle Convent in Cork, Ireland, to pay his respects to the fallen Catholic nun, Sister Katherine Devane, who died in 2021 at the age of 95. He recalled that as an 8-year-old pupil at St. Anne’s Primary School in Kakuri, Kaduna State, in 1971, the Catholic nun clothed him when he took ill, drove him to a hospital, and made sure he received appropriate treatment till he recovered. Sanusi noted that the little show of care and love meant a lot to him. It shaped his worldview phenomenally. For him, the quiet tenderness transcended religious boundaries and instilled in him the love for peoples of other faiths. He summarized the impact on him this way: “I learnt from an early age that there are wonderful people in every religion. After Sr. Katherine no one could ever tell me all Christians were bad people and only Muslims were good. No one could teach me hatred or enmity for someone simply because they were of a different faith, or stop me from loving those who love me and being kind to those who are kind to me simply because they are not Muslims.” This is a lesson for ethnic and religious chauvinists.
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In a similar vein, the heroic character of Imam Abdullahi attracted the visit of Sam Omatseye, a frontline newspaper columnist. He dared and interfaced with the Muslim cleric who shook the nation with his bravery. Omatseye was in Yelwa, Gindi-Akwati, where the Imam relocated and settled in the early 1950s – a common practice among Hausa-Fulani nomads. It was an expedition to discover what made the cleric tick; to authentic the inspiring story from the horse’s mouth. Hence, it was from Omatseye’s encounter with the Imam that we understood that the land where the cleric and other Muslims settled was donated by the indigenous people who were of Christian faith, and they lived peacefully with them for decades. More so, “the Christians gave them the land where the mosque was built and they even contributed about N60,000 to build it”, he wrote. The moral of the story is that it was the generosity of spirit and accommodating mien of the original land owners who were Christians that fostered religious harmony in the community. Decades later, the Imam reciprocated the kind gesture with a supreme sacrifice that preserved hundreds of lives.
Another lesson learned from the life of Imam Abdullahi is that despite the handicap of formal education, he was knowledgeable. Like the biblical Daniel, he understood by books. He confessed to reading the Hausa versions of the Bible and the Qur’an, and established agreeable principles in both faiths, especially from the biblical Old Testament. Omatseye noted that the Imam was of the view that there was no need for quarrels between the two faiths as according to him, “Jesus was mentioned about 25 times in the Qur’an and Mohammed five times.”
Instructively, the Imam’s heroism was not a happenstance. He was a natural defender of sorts. Though he wanted to be a soldier during the Nigeria civil war, he stayed back to nurse his aged father. Nevertheless, he eventually turned up as a defender of faith by becoming Imam when his father died. And with the goodwill of the 1950s deeply ingrained, his fighting spirit was at its element in 2018. He put his life on the line, and saved innocent, defenceless Christians from cold bloodied slaughter. In more profound ways, Imam Abdullahi has shown that goodwill is a timeless asset.
