By Kan Onuche.
A more experienced fellow once told me that the Igala name “Aduku” or “Adukwu” (so spelt depending on choice and or dialect) losely means one that is committed to death or one that has been surrendered to death. In a private conversation with him, Professor A.O Aduku threw more light on the meaning of his name. I will now talk about him and another Aduku.
The Adukus that I am writing about today lived to see their 80th birthdays. They are Alfred Omale Aduku and Gabriel Yakubu Aduku. The duo are highly educated: the former being a Professor and the latter, an Architect.
I met Professor Aduku in the faculty of Agriculture, Kogi state University in 2007 when I assumed duty as the first Graduate Assistant. We later fellowshipped together in two chapel auditoriums designed by the other Aduku.
A.O. Aduku was a Professor of Animal science, but was appointed to head the department of Food Science and Technology due to paucity of Senior man power. Aduku was not just an administrative head in Food science and tech. He ventured into that domain. The professor had attempted packaging cashew juice: but for obvious reasons of poor storage facilities and the fact that cashew juice soon ferments to become alcoholic, this was not sustained. But Aduku made inroads with cashew wine. He also initiated the cashew bread factory in KSU, and was also making biscuits using cassava and sweet potatoes flours, alongside soybeans. My kids and I used to enjoy the biscuits anytime we ran into him. Why the Igala couldn’t leverage on the content of Aduku’s skull remains a heartache to me.
The Professor also ventured into loving younger men. I am one of them. In showing me love, he taught me something: the power of herbs.
One day he drove me and a colleague to his house after church service. Then we were single; Uchele Okpanachi and Me. When we go to his house me made us eat something an unusual combination of food materials it was, though .. I can’t describe the content here.
But Aduku experimented with plant materials. In his book “food is medicine” Aduku shows how our common food and herbs could serve as medicine. He had simple home remedies for many common ailments. He would teach native Igala the forgotten power of certain herbs any time was allowed at evangelical outings. In can witness tomone of such outings in Agada about 13 years ago.
Aduku, a Professor also ventured into herbal medicine. And I was lucky to have learnt so much from him. By the time I made to learn more, Yahaya Bello of Kogi state had caused so much trouble in KSU, and scattered many abroad. I was still visiting Aduku anytime I had the chance, though. How that that the Igala had not learnt more about herbs with Aduku… Most of our people felt bad anytime they saw him going about herbs. They felt that a Professor should be in necktie and suits, and not about herbs. But as many as got close to him got helped… We have lost a gem…
Professor Aduku and his wife, also of blessed memory, used to give my first kid cash gifts. Anytime we go to greet them after church service, they always sort out my first child, Choko, whom according to them looked so much like one of their grandchildren… Then cash gifts would follow. We cherish Those cash gifts and the Igala biscuits. The Igala will rise faster if they had the Aduku kind of love and ingenuity. Aduku was also enterprising.
We were told of how he operated cold rooms, where he sold animal protein sources. He also made some money from his biscuits and herbs.
Aduku was a decent man. And such men will have issues. He trained in the US and bending rules was strange to him. I know a few times when he had issues with some of his subordinates over promotion issues because he didn’t want to “help”… Help in this case was the Nigerian type of help, and not just providing assistance… It was difficult to find him at fault in any such cases.
The other Aduku, an architect, was a former minister of the federal republic who had the reputation of one of the finest architects in the land. He is credited with the designs of notable structures across the country. This Aduku was a staunch supporter of quality education in Igalaland. I only met him on a few occasions and didn’t get close enough. But he was a member of the board of trustees of the Chapel of Restoration, KSU Anyigba, and had helped design the two chapel auditoriums for free.
These two men who cheated death to see 80 were viable arrows in the quiver of the Igala. Definitely, the Igala couldn’t use up to 10% of their cranial contents and abilities. This is all for now. But wether the Igala will rise to harness their resources before they fade, or continue in the trajectory of focusing on the immediate, is a story for another day.
My Pa Aduku as we fondly called the Professor and, Architect Aduku as he was known across the land find peace with their maker, and be allowed without let, permission to partake in the joyful activities of the great beyond. Amen.
*Kan Onuche is of the Igala extraction, and a teacher in the University of Africa*
