A Tribute to Abdul Raufu Mustapha: Living A Constructive Life

Abdul Raufu Mustapha, who died on 8 August 2017, was a Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford. He will be remembered as a sterling scholar and a committed comrade who devoted his life to leaving the world better than he found it. For Raufu, the purpose of life was the construction of a better society and he had a clear idea of what a better society meant – more equality, more opportunities for all, access to qualitative and critical education and, above all, catering for the needs of all members of society. What was important about his life was that he always believed that a better society was possible and we all have a role in bringing it about.

Raufu was a true Nigerian born in Aba in 1954; he was the ninth of nineteen siblings, all of whom are still alive. His father, who is also still alive, is Ishola Mustapha from Ilorin, a retired foreman and mechanic at Niger Motors and United Africa Company, while his mother, Rabia Mustapha, was a trader. He had his primary education in Aba and Kano, secondary education in Sokoto and Ilorin, and went to university in Zaria and Oxford. He was very fluent in Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba languages and felt at home in all parts of the country.

Raufu had the good fortune of being married to a friend and intellectual soulmate, Kate Meagher, originally from Canada and currently an Associate Professor in the Department of International Development of the London School of Economics. They are blessed with two children, Asma'u and Oluseyi. Raufu had exceptional social skills that enabled him to maintain and sustain a vast array of friends, many from his days in primary and secondary schools. He devoted a lot of the one resource he had very little of – time – to contact his friends, visit them, socialize, stay in touch with the evolution of their lives and families, and to generally sustain his network of friends.

Raufu was best known for his scholarship. After his master's at Ahmadu Bello University, he did his PhD in Politics at Oxford. After his long sojourn as a lecturer in Ahmadu Bello University, he transferred his services to the University of Oxford, where he worked for the rest of his life. He was a committed scholar and was well versed in multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies. He was a towering presence in African academic networks and a valuable member of CODESRIA, the organization that hosts the African social science community. Over the past two years, he invested time and resources to seek the support of the Dangote Foundation to establish a scholarship scheme that would bring more African students to benefit from the academic excellence available at Oxford.

For Raufu, scholarship was the scientific expression of the political values of the researcher. This approach characterized the key themes he engaged with: the promotion of social change on the basis of scientific and critical thought through the pursuit of a progressive agenda that prioritizes the interests of ordinary people; addressing the challenges to social cohesion posed by identity politics – ethnicity and religion in particular; and promoting democratic culture, its values, principles and practices.

Raufu was very much the product of the radical politics that characterized Ahmadu Bello University during the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a leading cadre of the radical movement, and two examples of the role he played are worth citing – in the Movement for a Progressive Nigeria (MPN) and the Zaria Group. Throughout his undergraduate days in Ahmadu Bello University (1974–77), Raufu was one of the leaders of the MPN, the incarnation of the radical Marxist philosophy and praxis that marked the period. Radicalism for Raufu meant breaking the bond between imperialism and the Nigerian (African) state as a precondition for emancipating the people from oppression and exploitation. Central to this approach was an understanding of imperialism as a world system with tentacles in the economy, trade, ideology and politics of affected societies. Throughout the period, he worked tirelessly organizing Marxist study cells, identifying comrades who could be...