By Okey Anueyiagu 

Many, many years ago, I became acquainted with Alhaji MD YUSUFU long after he had left public service, but still commanded tremendous influence and respect from the people of the country and indeed of the world. 

From being acquainted to being just friends, we became very close, with he acting like a fatherly friend. 

He was a brilliant man who possessed a great sense of calmness filled with warmth and wisdom. He spoke very little, reinforcing that doctrine that nothing speaks louder or more powerfully than a voice filled with love and compassion. His character was indelibly radiant and astutely consistent with integrity and fortitude. 

MD YUSUFU was an upright man who told the truth always. The bedrock of his existence was his adherence to a life filled with good intentions and simplicity. 

He was an uncannily honest and genuine person; a veritable thinker and a principled politician. 

Throughout his life, Mallam MD took deep pride in helping people and delighted in the triumph of others. He never cared about himself, about clothes or cars or houses. All he cared about was how to lend a hand to people regardless of tribe, tongue, religion or any other affinities. 

This man was a true nationalist who believed in a truly progressive, equal, egalitarian, loving and caring One Nigeria where peace and unity reigned supreme. 

After one of those riots in his home State of Katsina, I went to see him and he tearfully told me that he had traveled home to warn his people to never engage in the killing and destruction of properties of strangers. In the course of narrating his intervention in the tribal and religious disturbances in the North, MD’s peacemaking activities were unmistakably strong and stupendous. 

Today, the story of the music Legend Fela and MD Yusufu’s non-tribal characterization calls for a sober reflection of the ethnic tensions in Lagos against “strangers”.

What is the answer to the question of if Fela would have accepted his name substituting Charley Boy on a bus stop?

I have posted a few pictures of MD Yusufu meeting with various people from different tribes at my home in Lagos, and of when he traveled to my village over 20 years ago to honor my father at his 90th birthday. 

He was a great leader who until the day he died, lived out the idea that the ultimate test of a great man was one who is able to see everyone else as he sees himself, and not the kind of our leaders today who are only endeared to their own kind, spreading tribalism and ethnic divisions. 

May his life continue to grow long after he has been long gone. 

DR. OKEY ANUEYIAGU 

Ikoyi, Lagos 

August 7, 2025.