What can remind us of death and its finality but the fact that when any mortal is pronounced dead, nothing else can bring him back.
It is with devastation and heavy heart I mourn Sen Buruji Kashamu, an irrepressible strong-willed personality, sure footed fighter, streetwise, intelligent, bold like a tiger; a political gladiator that has left trails of impression everywhere and on all people he met in his rather short 62 years.
Oofo ijo keji oja, a phrase he used often to demonstrate that once life is over, that is it, and all over in deed. I am numbed and sober for I knew him closely; I knew his strength, I knew his generosity, I knew his excesses. Above all, I knew him as my worthy Egbon and leader.
How do I begin to console Sheri and her siblings that a dotting father is no more. Kashamu was not your usual type of guy, learnt to survive on the street and acquired many life skills and intellect that would make a Harvard degree holder jealous. He knew his game and he applied it to both admiration and concern.
He would normally outfox the most cunning of them all that you would wonder how the mastery of the court room became such a play field for one who truly was barely lettered. I guess it was from the numerous experiences in many jurisdictions, across many oceans and borders that created the insight with which he made mincemeat of the high and the mighty.
Kashamu kept his word most of the time, and if he would change it, it was like him to inform you that he had moved from the previous position and why. Buruji was usually the last man standing in other people’s battles. Sometimes, you wondered where he got the stamina for the numerous multidimensional issues he involved himself with.
I have asked myself why, but then I said why not? There is a time and a season for all men, and if the COVID-19 pandemic would take millions of people, unfortunately including Kashamu, perhaps that is how he would have wanted it. A fighter through and through, who fought to the very end and left not in defeat but defeated by death.
Hmmm, the Quran is correct with the saying, “Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion?”
Eso Jinadu Sodipe aka Buruji Kashamu, Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, good night. You outfoxed them all. Now go and face your creator in peace.
-SEGUN SHOWUNMI
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