Ahmad Isah And His Berekete Family

Hembelembeh! Olololo!!
At Suite F9 Sheriff Plaza, Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2 Abuja lies an office that is, based on humble assessment, greater than many houses including those of governments in Nigeria and worldwide. The small but ever busy office uses a medium Crowther Radio 104.5 Love FM at Mpape Hills between 7.30am to 8.30am or thereabout to announce, treat issues of human and national interests and follow up immediately like foot soldiers to the offices and people who refuse to do what they are required to do for the Nigerian downtrodden or any oppressed human being living in Nigeria.

All these things, things that are really uncommon in Nigeria, are controlled by a Nigerian citizen. And they call him ordinary president Ahmad Isah. Nay, ‘ordinary’ cannot be the appropriate epithet. No English word can qualify or quantify the personality called Ahmad Isah of Berekete Family. Maybe in my local language I can manage to find a likely apposite adjective. He is simply ‘Onye Ndu’, one who leads or guides. Ahmad Isah leads the good people to the best for mankind and guides the lacking to goodness and uprightness. He stands for the slogan: ‘Do the right thing’.

The Berekete Family Radio programme which started in 2009 at Kiss FM in Abuja runs on weekdays from Monday to Friday to the glory of God and His prime creature on earth. Ahmad shouts: Hembelembeh! And the Berekete House replies: Olololo!! Both sounds according to ordinary president mean a lot. In short, both sounds capture all what Berekete Family stands for. Hembelembeh means in the dictionary of Berekete Family “the person who has nobody has God, while Olololomeans “the person who has God has everything. Both sounds capture the reality of life for those who understand and reflect. Nothing more can be said of the truth therein. One with God is majority is the common religious proverb. Have people around, you cannot have the assurances of life securities. Have God and trust in Him alone, and all things shall be added onto you.

The programme is conducted purely in Nigerian pidgin English, with a resounding greeting of a prolonged last ‘g’ Good morning, repeated three times. This is done after the recitation of the Nigerian national pledge: I pledge to Nigeria my country…; then follows the daily advice for Nigerians: brother, sister, uncle, aunty to wake and strive for the betterment of the society. Ahmad would say: “Lazy brother…, wake up! Lazy man…, wake up! Take your life do better things!” At the end of the third greeting, the Berekete Family members in the studio would overwhelmingly reply and add these qualities to Ahmad: GCON, Double Doctor, Double Ambassador, Five Star Comrade and Senior Advocate of the masses as well as other traditional tiles. Methink what Ahmad does through this medium deserves more. He is the real vicegerent of God on earth because God is good. And he who is good is assured of God’s happiness and security.

With good sons and daughters of Nigeria such as Akramakallah, Daddy Scaffold, Barr. Paul, Barr. Adams, Barr. Elias, Madam Andra, Consultant Iyke, Positive Temptation and others with their beautiful meaningful alias, Ahmad Isah is succeeding in building a world of innocence and humanity. Usman Liman with the Ray Power is a pillar too. This Family is growing daily all over the world. And the cases resolved on daily basis and with immediate effect supersede what conventional apparatuses can do, if possible at all, in months and years. They are such cases that would linger in the police or in courts for years. But with Ahmad Isah’s family, only days are counted for results.

This programme has exposed many good and bad people, government and private organs. It has shaped the understanding of many Nigerians towards patriotism, dedication and commitment to duty and humanity. Many of the individuals and organizations and institutions have sat up. Many have dedicated desk officers to monitor what concerns them from the programme. Those of like visions and missions have gone into partnership with the programme and many persons have volunteered to render different humanitarian services free of charge. I cannot recall anything better.

Berekete Family has resolved many complicated societal matters. It has reconciled broken marriages, broken families, warring societal groups and faceoff between individual Nigerian citizens/organizations and governments (federal, state and local) and their agencies. Some parents who procreate and abandon without caring, children who fall out of control of their parents due to bad influences, people who have met injustices in their surroundings or workplaces, citizens who gloat over the misfortunes of other citizens, public officers who do not play by the rules and any person whose voice or action is not heard are all taken care of by the programme either by tutoring or enforcement through relevant organs empowered by the nation’s constitution to carry out such duties. Summarily, maltreatment from different quarters, including wrongful dismissal from office or school, pension matters or other unpaid entitlements, brutalization in the hands of some armed security operatives, wrong treatment in hospitals and other public institutions, landlord/tenant and similar disputes as well as other human right violations are effectively handled. Ahmad is the voice of the voiceless and the action of the actionless.

I was gradually captivated by the belief that every human being in general and Nigerian in particular is physically challenged. Mere diagnosis of the abnormal ways Nigerians think or do things reveals enough evidence of their physical/mental deficiencies. In politics in Nigeria, things are handled nonpolitically. Every action marred by individualist interests is linked to politics which is supposed to be associated with governance, especially the debate between parties having power. Nigerian politics can best be defined today as politicking – mere engagement in politics or politricking – the concocted tricks in swindling the governed in the name of politics.

In the manufacturing sector, substandard things and even dangerous products are produced in the country and brought into the markets or smuggled into the country for our consumption. The prevalence of untold new diseases ravaging the citizens is frightening. In the markets, every person is a master swindling the populace of their scare monthly earnings from government and stingy private sector. In the civil service, complaints of corruption and lucre luster attitude towards national duties are uncountable. Contractors have cases; teachers perform lowly; students are left to the wide world and religious preachers/instructors have lost focus. Politicians are uniting to pull the country down. Overzealous agents of governments take laws into their hands and some like some politicians act like demigods. Electricity supply is at zero level in many places but citizens are forced to pay heavily. It was just reported that Nigeria has imported over 70 million generators. Police and illegal agents continue to extort money from road user. Many have been killed for trying to defend their rights against these agents. Berekete Family is out fight these wrongs, strengthen the weak/sick/physically/mentally challenged, stand for the oppressed and encourage the positive patriots and creative citizens through any humanly and divinely possible means.

To further his cause for humanity, Ahmad launched on Friday, February 17, 2017 a Human Rights Radio & Television (HRR&TV) stations,dedicated to matters of human rights violation. The station, known as Human Rights Radio 101.1, is situated around the Games Village Abuja. The Berekete Family programme is to be aired in the new establishment. The complex was commissioned by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed who while promoting human rights protection averred that government has the interest of the citizens’ rights because fighting corruption was an integral part of protecting them.

Lai noted that there can be no better assault on human rights than the mindless corruption and wanton looting because the monies meant for basic human needs, security and social amenities were all stolen by a few individuals. According to him, massive looting of commonwealth in itself was a blow on the right of humans as the corrupt elements are the people who have assaulted the collective human rights and humiliated the country. “This is why this government’s anti-corruption war must be supported by all and sundry.” He said his ministry would encourage the radio station to project government’s whistle-blower initiative.

The chief executive officer of the stations, Ahmed Isah, said it was a dream come true. He assured of doing more in the areas of mediation, justice seeking and dispute resolution and promised to aim the next level for the sake of the common man. He said that the programme which was one hour at Love FM will be run 24 hours on a daily basis, adding that history has become of the first and only radio station in the world wholly dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights and championing the cause of the oppressed.

The ordinary president said that Christian and Islamic programmes would be aired on Sundays and Fridays while culture-related matters would take place other days. “There will also be music, news bulletins and other radio programmes.” However, there are reports that the new radio complex was made possible through the efforts of international donors such as the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Amnesty International and the MacArthur Foundation, though Ahmad said he was careful in accepting support from organizations.

Wonderfully, Ahmad does not take money from complainants. Although 90 per cent of the programme and projects are unpaid for, he uses the remaining 10 per cent from sponsorship or advertisements to pay salaries and tax and also run the station. To him “We are prudent with resources.” Good people with the sole intention of helping humanity should support this family as it is expected to have physical branches all over Nigeria for people to feel its direct and immediate impact. Kudos to the common man’s president Dr. Ahmad Isah and his Berekete Family! God bless you all.

In the light of the above, it is clear that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari needs the Berekete Family programme to advance its war on corruption and the push for good governance. The President should therefore direct the Minister of Information, Lai Muhammad and Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mallam Ishaq Modibo Kawu to do the needful to ensure that the Human Rights Radio/Television station 101.1 start operating in earnest. The station as at today only plays Malian music, while the programme is being frustrated even on Love FM 104.5. The conspiracies against this programme will be defeated for the Nigerian people.

Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good governance in Abuja. E-mail [email protected].