By Abubakar Imam( Late)
On a day like this 19 November,1970 exactly 50 years ago we lost a great icon and seasoned administrator, Alhaji Isah Koto, father of HRM The Ohimege Igu of Koton Karfe Kingdom,Alhaji Abdulrasaq Gambo Isah Koto
In his memoir,late Dr Abubakar Imam described late Isah Koto as an epitomy of trust and hardwork.
The famous Northern Nigeria Author(Imam) has this to say;
A week later the result list was displayed on the notice board.I found myself and malam ladan of Zaria later the chairman of the Northern Nigerian development corporation and also the Dan iyan zazzau bracketted in second position in a class of sixteen.The first was malam Isa koto.This was in 1932, when the country was experiencing a serious economic depression.
The salary arrangement of Northern Nigeria for the products of that college was that anybody who failed to obtain a certificate was paid an initial salary of four pounds a month.A third grade certificate entitled the owner an initial salary of five pounds a month and a second grade certificate seven pounds ten shillings per month.A first grade which no student ever obtained carried an initial salary of twelve pounds ten shillings a month.
The native Authorities had already declared that they could not pay the salaries of second grade teachers.The college then decided to reduce the marks of every student by ten.This brought my marks and that of malam ladan to 68% instead of 78% which would have given us second certificates and an initial salary of seven pounds ten shillings a month.In the case of malam Isa koto it was written undecided yet he occupied the first position.what happened was that even when the result were reviewed he still scored above 75% which was the minimum point for a second grade certificate.His Native Authority wrote bluntly to say that it had no money with which to pay him his entitled salary of seven pounds ten shillings a month.Malam Isa koto therefore had reason to start his life as a disgruntled person.But as he was a highly intelligent and hardworking man he rose up to the position of a Federal permanent Secretary later becoming a Nigerian Ambassador to Ivory coast.He retired in 1968.I was very happy for Malam Isa koto’s successful end,because I have never seen a student so intelligent.
He was a year behind us but he got an accelerated promotion to our class and became easily the best of the class.He was an all rounder.
The only place where I used to beat him was in Islamic religious knowledge because of my home background and regular evening lessons from my brother.
Culled from Late Dr Abubakar Imam Memoirs; pages 18 &19.
