Sir Ahmadu Bello is to Hausas what
Obafemi Awolowo is to the Yorubas. Similarly, Emeka Ojukwu is to the
Igbos what J.S Tarka is to the Tiv people, and what Joseph Gomwalk is to
the Plateau people. All these people are considered as heroes of their
own people and even the nation at large. If these people were books to
be placed on eternal library shelves, then there ought to be a row too
for unsung heroes; people who were not praised publicly but venerated in
the souls of men who have come across them and have witnessed indelible
legacies cultivated by these men which can stand the course of time. On
my mental shelf of heroes, within the row of unsung heroes, lies the
voluminous book of Jika Langkuk; a common man with an uncommon
difference.
To many, Jika Langkuk is a name they are
hearing for the first time. I guess that is why he is an unsung hero.
While to others, it is just a mere name. However, one cannot capture the
complete story of the Pyem people in Plateau state without mentioning
Jika langkuk even though most Plateau people can readily recall Alhaji
Nasiru Mantu, Mr. Danko Makama, late Ezekiel Washik, late Evangelist
Paul Gindiri and late Isa Washik among many other notable sons of the
Pyem nation. To most people that have heard about Jika langkuk, the
first erroneous impression they get is that Jika Langkuk was the first
man to ever climb the famous Wase rock of Plateau state and come down
alive. I used to hold that belief too until he humbly and candidly told
me that he was not the first man to climb the rock, it may surprise you
that he is not even the second, but he was the first to climb the rock
again after a ten year ban prohibiting the climbing of Wase rock was
lifted. Prior to the Ban, Mr. Wilkinson of the Man'o War was killed by
some wild bees as he almost reached the peak and that necessitated the
ban on climbing the Wase rock. According to Jika, one Mr. Wallace, a
British soldier and district officer of Pankshin as at then was the
first person to climb Wase rock in May 1957, after him were two other
white men before Wilkinson who died in 1971. After two years of seeking
permission to climb Wase rock, Jika Langkuk was finally granted
permission to climb the rock in 1981 along with his former student in
Kuru, Melchizedek Iliya Gwaivanmin. What is so spectacular about
climbing Wase rock? You may ask. It may interest you to know that Wase
rock is a massive dome inselberg found near Wase town in Wase L.G.A of
Plateau state. It achieves a remarkable height of 1150 feet above the
surface of neighboring surroundings and is visible within a radius of 40
Kilometers. It is also a breeding ground for the rare Rosy-white
pelicans. Wase rock is one of only five of its kind in the world.
The Inhabitants of Wase have always
surrounded the rock with superstitious beliefs and that had probably
informed their not attempting to climb the rock. Jika Langkuk defied all
beliefs including the white man's belief that the rock could only be
climbed by the whites and climbed it once, then severally, even
including girls in the adventure.
It was the same courage, zeal and
assiduousness that Jika Langkuk employed to work; he tacitly detests the
words 'impossible' and 'give up'. Jika Langkuk was a teacher by
profession but his passion for adventure saw him climbing the perilous
mountains of Kebbi and other difficult terrains around northern Nigeria.
He has worked efficiently with the Man' o War and was later consulted,
along with some other white men, in the design of rock/mountain climbing
courses training for men of the Nigeria police, army and man'o war
club.
Any dress-sensitive person would want to
score him below 'F' in fashion because his darling sneakers footwear
never departs his feet except when he is asleep. He wears his sneakers
with anything, an active sportsman.
Jika Langkuk wears a thick beard that
instantly reminds you of the uncompromising, never relenting Ojukwu.
Perhaps they share similar traits in that regards. Jika's 'yes' is 'yes'
and 'no' is 'no'. He has mentally inscribed the word 'Integrity' on his
forehead and has since been unable to betray himself by swallowing his
words or perpetrating evil. He has taught in Provincial secondary
school, now Nagarta College, Sokoto, Government Science School Kuru,
Government Secondary School Wase, Government Secondary School Shendam
(as Principal) and in Mangu Area Office as Inspector for Science and
Technology until his voluntary retirement in 1993. Throughout his 31
years of civil service, Jika langkuk has been credited with outstanding
performance among his colleagues. During the 11 years he spent in Kuru,
he taught Metal work, Wood work, Hausa, English, Technical Drawing
(which he introduced) and Bible Knowledge. While in Kuru, he was
transferred five times by the ministry but his principal then, a white
man refused to release him because he was indispensable to the school.
In Wase too, his performance was outstanding that the Commissioner of
Education made a special recommendation that he takes over as the
principal of G.S.S Shendam, a school which he instilled discipline, hard
work and commitment among teachers and especially students. Like many
achievers, his success didn't come without a price; while in Wase, there
were ten petitions against him and another five petitions against him
in Shendam and all of them couldn't count as much as a basket could hold
water so the allegations were all dismissed.
Jika Langkuk could have been a wealthy
man in Plateau State today but he traded such opportunities for nice and
neatly wrapped packages of 'integrity'. At one time, he was in charge
of the first ever Benue-Plateau sports festival in 1974. He was not
directly appointed but Mr. Taylor who was in charge had an accident and
died. Among other reputable people of his time, Jika Langkuk was
appointed to take over the mantle of leadership and ensure the success
of the first-ever Benue-Plateau sports festival, a competition that
hosted 1200 sportsmen. 240 000 Pounds was earmarked for the whole
festival and Jika Langkuk accounted for the money even to the last
Shilling. The unspent money was returned to the state treasury. At
another time, Jika Langkuk was in charge of another committee that would
build the NYSC camp in Plateau State in the late 70's. The Federal
Government gave N250 000 but the state could not give its own share of
the N250 000. Langkuk sought permission to build a school in Wase with
the money since the State Government could not provide their own share.
His request was granted and that gave birth to a Citizenship and
Leadership Training Centre, cum School of Relevant Technology Wase in
which Jika Langkuk insisted that it must be coeducational (that is a
mixed school) because the community wanted it to become a school for
boys alone.
In 1983, Plateau state witnessed a
series of demonstrations from secondary schools across the state and
that prompted the Governor, Chief Solomon Lar, to call for a meeting of
all principals and stakeholders of Government Secondary Schools. In that
meeting, Jika Langkuk made five useful suggestions that almost cost him
his life and even his job. Three of the suggestions were accepted and
implemented. They were;- Secondary Schools should have the autonomy to
draft their feeding system (That is, every school's food timetable
should be localized). The available food of every community should be
reflected in the school within that community.- That supply of food
should not be handled by contractors but by the schools themselves-
Schools should be given the right to supply firewood, writing materials
and some other things by themselves and not through gullible
contractors.When his suggestions were implemented, a mob of contractors
almost lynched him at Langtang on his way back to Wase. They accused him
of taking food out of their mouths. His salaries and allowances were
unjustly delayed by staffs of the sub treasury who were enjoying
kickbacks from the greedy contractors. The Climax of it was when he was
sent out of a meeting chaired by Aliyu Akwe Doma, who was the deputy
Governor and acting Commissioner for Education. He recognized him as the
man who spoilt the market for his contractor friends and immediately
sent him out. While plans were being made to fire him, the heavens
smiled at him as he was given admission to study for an MSc at Norfolk
University, Virginia, U.S.A. On graduation he was given three Job offers
there in U.S.A. One of the offers included a flat already rented for
two years in his name but he declined the offers with the hope to come
and support the Buhari/Idiagbon War Against Indiscipline and Corruption
(WAIC) agenda, only to be disappointed by IBB who set precedence for
worsening the Nigerian nightmare of corruption.
In all the places in which Jika Langkuk
served, he left a crystal clear record of all his activities and when he
was strongly tempted to play the typical Nigerian civil service game,
he did the noble thing, he voluntarily retired from civil service
because he believes that if you can't beat them, leave them alone. While
at his last post, he was expected to make monthly reports of all the
schools he had visited within his area but was impeded by lack of
vehicles and financial resources (allowances) to travel around the
schools and he couldn't afford to concoct lies as his monthly report so
he humbly resigned.
He established his own private school in
1993, unlike private secondary schools of nowadays, with aim to prove
that education could be cheap and available for everybody. He also holds
late Professor Thai Solarin's notion that Nigeria has the capacity to
educate all her citizens without charging them money for school fees.
Though his school was not completely a charity school, Jika ran the most
affordable school in the whole of Mangu L.G.A, with Government schools
inclusive for thirteen years (1993-2006). Students outstanding fees for
ten years was about 1,654 000, an amount which may just be about half or
a quarter of what most schools obtain every term. Jika was paying his
staff from his pockets and his school was not grant aid. He stopped
admitting students in 2003 and closed down the school in 2006 after the
last set had completed their Junior Secondary School.
Jika Langkuk was not one that could
afford to buy a national Honors award; he most likely wouldn't, even if
he could. He has declined two offers to be titled as a chief, one as the
Tsarkin Dutsen Wase (King of Wase rock). The other title was at his
Pyem Chiefdom which he declined before knowing what the title was. To
Jika, then common 'Mr.' is also too great a title so he simply wishes to
be addressed as Jika Langkuk, whether in writing or verbally.
One's definition of a hero would most
times boil to his perception of values, ideals and notions about other
individuals. Jika Langkuk has met my standards of an ideal hero although
he is still not widely celebrated; I would not want to partake in the
posthumous celebration of a person that could have been told of or
declared a hero while still alive.
Jika Langkuk still lives in his home in
Kasuwan Ali, Gindiri in Mangu L.G.A of Plateau State with his mother. He
is a lover of plants, pets and wild animals. If Jika were emulated,
Plateau and even Nigeria as a whole would be a better place. If everyone
would stick to his words and do the right thing, Nigeria would be
better. Jika Langkuk is just an example of the very rare heroes we come
across, once in a very long while.
Reaching the shores of age seventy, Jika
still jogs in most mornings and reads the Bible without glasses. Maybe i
should add that Jika is a voracious reader because he still reads a
lot. He has become to me, an epitome of a good Christian and a good
citizen that is truthful, honest, faithful, fearless, courageous,
incorruptible and unrelenting.
by Bizum Yadok
source: viewpointnigeria.com
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