THE death of Alhaji Mohammed Dikko Yusuf on the first day of this month should have been a silly April Fool’s day prank for me. But alas it wasn’t. For many, the death of MD would have been another attestation of the mortality of man. But to me, MD Yusuf was not just another man who had attained high position in Nigerian governance.

In the time of the most difficult personal challenges that came my way in the seventies, MD sprung up around my children and I like a guardian angel.

There were few one could run to who could provide a bulwark against the torments of the heart and body that became my lot in the midst the abuses I suffered in the seventies when he was Nigeria’s top policeman.

Muhammadu Dikko Yusuf

As the Inspector General of Police, he worked with then Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed to provide succour to us because it was the right thing to do.

MD’s gallant defence of my emotional and human rights was to be further displayed to the surprise of most Nigerians in the nineties when he defied all odds to stand against the political aspirations of the military rulers when he stood for the presidential elections.

Many Nigerians at that time would have asked where MD got his spirit of boldness from? Till today, I still wonder from where this former Police boss got his unusual boldness. I really cannot know. All I can recall now is the recoil and cringe that I saw in him at the first sight of injustice to men and women of all tribes and religions.

At the height of the domestic violence and persecution I suffered, I regularly saw those cringes as he responded to  alleviate our devastating situation.

Devastating situation

His words and acts of encouragement easily dismissed the assumption that some in my position would have believed that all men who attain power abuse it.

MD Yusuf was there for us at the critical time in my life when justice and due process needed to be applied and not power and opportunity.

I hope his family are comforted in the legacy of good works he left behind as a kind hearted and truly detribalized Nigerian. He was a blessing to me and I am sure to many others he came across. His loss to Nigeria is unquantifiable. Heaven has indeed gained an angel while earth has lost a sweet soul. May his soul rest in peace.

Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo lives in Lagos, Nigeria