Lukman had passed on at the age of 75 following a brief illness in his Vienna, Austria home on Monday. The sixth of seven brothers, he is survived by his widow and three children. When Saturday Sun visited the Lukman’s family house at number 34, Ungwan Alkali (Sharia Judges Quarters) in Zaria, Kaduna State, pictures of the Rilwan’s siblings who had equally died hung on the wall of the large sitting room in the main building. They include Ahmad Tijjani Lukman, a former staffer of Northern Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) which later transformed to Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Shehu Lukman (the last born of the seven brothers), a pharmacist, who was a Deputy Director, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH); Ibrahim Lukman, an educationist; Yusuf Lukman, a retired Sharia Court judge; Mohammed Inuwa Lukman, also a retired Sharia Court judge; Musa Lukman, a civil servant with Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), and Rilwanu Lukman, who died a month to his 76th birthday.
On hand to receive guests and sympathizers in the compound was Rilwanu’s nephew, Sani Musa Lukman, 58, a lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He opened up on some details so far hidden from the public on the life and last moments of the former minister. Excerpts:
Can you recall some of Rilwanu’s traits while growing up?
He was very inquisitive and he quickly developed quest for knowledge of western education. Any time he came across something, he would want to know why and how such thing happened. He was born on August 2, 1938, he was my uncle, I could remember then we were children when he was in Barewa College, Zaria alongside his friend, the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and the relationship extended to both families level. He also attended the Nigerian College of Arts and Science and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He was among the rare people in Nigeria to have the opportunity to travel abroad for studies at Cambridge University to study Mining Engineering.
What’s the Lukman’s family connection with Gen. Gowon?
There is a very strong family tie between Lukman’s family and General Gowon’s family, and they were very close. I could remember that they were very good family friends.
Did he ever show interest in politics?
He never showed or talked of anything politics in his life because to be a politician you must be something different which includes being insincere, you become a liar and you must have stolen public fund as Nigerian politics is a dirty game.
Was that why he kept away from his birthplace?
My own father, Musa, who was Rilwanu’s elder brother, was born here in Zaria city. But due to the nature of Rilwanu’s job with government, he was always outside Zaria. He had his elementary school up to university education in Zaria. Let me tell you that the quest for education always take most of us outside Zaria. It was in 2012 when he came to receive an award in Zaria that he came here last. He has a house each in Jos, Abuja, Lagos and in Vienna.
Are you saying he did not own any property in Zaria?
He did not accumulate wealth, so he had a brick house in Zaria GRA which he built about 40 years ago. He had not even stayed in that house for a week because of his official commitment.
He has served several Nigerian governments, why did he not serve in Jonathan’s government?
President Jonathan’s government tried to bring him back to Nigeria to serve, but we, the family members refused, saying that there is time to work, there is time to retire, there is time to relax, and he heeded our advice, and he went and settled in Vienna. I could remember that in the last days of Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration, Rilwanu was travelling overseas for some medical treatment, so the purpose of him retiring was to safeguard his health until few days that he died in Vienna according to Allah’s wish.
People believe he’s tight-fisted. Is that true?
It was a wrong perception of him because he was just being a principled man who did not believe in wasting public funds. And because he is an international figure, people thought he is a politician who could afford to spend people’s money carelessly. He was such a kind man who believed that you must have to work before you earn your wages. He was not an employer to give jobs to people; he was an employee on government payroll. Neighbours around here couldn’t have mingled around him whenever he was at home because he was not an elected politician.
How was his relationship with Zazzau emirate?
In most Hausa society, you have the people from the ruling family, and you have the scholars. Rilwanu is one of the greatest scholars we have in Zaria. And if you look at the ward where the family house is situated, it is called Ungwan Alkali, meaning, quarters of Sharia Court judges. In Lukman’s family, we have up to three judges, and in the extended family, we have over 20 judges. So, this is a family of teachers and judges. There is always a collaboration between the emirate council and ulamas, the ulamas are the advisers. So, the relationship is very cordial. I can tell you that the emirate council is monitoring the burial arrangement as much as the family is monitoring it. The death of Rilwanu is a greater loss to the entire emirate. You can see that it is not up to one month, we have lost two of our greatest sons; Umaru Dikko died, and then Rilwanu Lukman died. Rilwanu is not only a local figure, but an international figure.
As a muslim, why did he marry only one wife?
Islamically, there are conditions for one to become polygamous, people misunderstood the concept of marrying four wives, there must be a reason for you to get one wife; you can take care of one wife comfortably, secondly, if you are taking a second wife, you must show them equal treatment of love, thirdly, you must prepare to shoulder all the burden of responsibility as a husband. So, the issue is that, I am sorry to say, if he had had more than one wife, would he have had time for them? Even the only wife he had, did he have enough time for her? He was always on the move, and is not every woman that could endure this. He did not only have one wife, he has only three children, a daughter and two sons, which is very rare in our society.
Are you aware of the cause of his death?
Actually, I can’t tell you the cause of his death because the issue is, there are a lot of speculations which are not good but all I can say is that in the last two months he was hospitalized and he was in and out of the hospital and as such we can’t say exactly what caused his death but as Muslims we believe that death is inevitable, when the time comes you cannot escape it, we can’t say the sickness that caused his death, it is the desire of Allah to take him away.
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