Death robs Africa of scholar and believer in continent

• A Pan-Africanist, he died in a road crash on the day the OAU was formed in 1963

Death has robbed Africa of one of its most illustrious sons.

Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, a leading Pan-Africanist, died on a very important day in the world calendar — Africa Liberation Day.

This is the day on May 25, 1963, when leaders of 32 independent African States met to form the Organisation of African Unity.

On this day, the world reflects the growth and development of Pan-Africanism to which Dr Abdul-Raheem had dedicated almost all his life.

A prolific writer and an outspoken debater, the Nigerian political scientist was convinced that Africa and its people were capable of solving their own problems.

The United Nations Millenium Campaign deputy director for Africa, died in a road accident on Monday as he drove to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Ms Sylvia Michuli of the Millennium Campaign offices in Nairobi said Dr Abdul-Raheem lost control of his car near General Motors. He died at about 2am as he was being taken to hospital.

He was heading to Rwanda where he was scheduled to attend a conference on maternal health and thereafter meet President Paul Kagame.

Veteran journalist Salim Lone, who worked closely with Dr Abdul-Raheem at the UN, told the Nation that “no one in his generation was as vibrant and impassioned about Africa as Dr Abdul-Raheem.”

“He was Africa. His intellectual depth and knowledge about its place in the world were unmatched,” Mr Lone said.

A leading intellectual and a believer in a united Africa, he made a friend in every president on the continent.

Mr Ezra Mbogori, Dr Abdul-Raheem’s long-term friend, said the political scientist believed in providing information that is useful in making meaningful decisions.

“He believed that Africa will achieve its dreams. His death on the Africa Liberation day makes a statement,” he said.

Laughed off quarrel

Dr Abdul-Raheem laughed off the quarrel between Kenya and Uganda over Migingo Island.

“Why would two countries with very warm relations in recent years, both committed to further regional integration through an expanded East Africa Community, both members of several regional multilateral organisations, go to war or escalate border dispute to this level?” he had posed in a newspaper column.

His body was flown on Monday to Lagos, Nigeria, from where it will be transported to his hometown of Funtua — three hours drive from Abuja — for burial.

According to Mr Wole Olaleye, a member of the funeral organising committee, they are likely arrive in Lagos on Tuesday morning.