Angels Depart
A Tribute to Sir Chimmin
Dear Fellow,
This week has been crazy busy and demanding for me. It was full of deadlines by the hours. But life is characterised by interruptions, too. Like the interruption on 14th February 2022 by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) due to the announcement of the fifteenth academic strike by the union, work was interrupted at the office on Monday, 19th February 2024. The interruption on Monday was the Sevice of Songs for Sir Gideon Mbaakaan Chimmin (1961-2024). He was the Angel I discussed in the despatch titled “Angels Around: They are Mostly Not Seen”.
The first time I saw Sir Chimmin was on Wednesday, 21st July 2021 at Influence Mentoring Connect, where he was the keynote speaker at the event. Though I cannot recall the details of his speech, I remember clearly that he talked about books. We didn’t talk that day; I didn’t reach out to him, even though I wanted to. The next time I saw him was on Valentine’s Day 2022, at a bookstore here in Jos. I reminded him of his keynote speech, which was the connection point. In that meeting which lasted barely thirty minutes, he urged me to write a book titled “Surviving Youth-hood” and added:
Just relate points from your personal experiences, in simple style and language. Worry not about researching fancy and quotable works. Stress not over constructing grand sentences and all. Leave such fine expressions for the philosophers and poets. People no longer want to be flattered with grandiose tenses. That was the distinction between Jesus’ teachings and the other books in the Bible. Do you struggle to read and understand Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? People want something real and relatable. So, write something simple. It doesn’t have to be a 200-page piece. It should be so little that I can read through the entire book on a few miles trip, say from Terminus here to Bukuru. Think about it. You can send it to me when it’s done.
Certainly, The University Library was not it. The best I could do about his request was to write a 700+ word document on Monday, 7th March 2022—a tentative Preface for the book. Like my father, I am learning to celebrate people and give them their flowers while they are alive. It appears I would have to break the streak of dedicating my writings to people who are still alive—pending if I eventually write this book about “youth-hood”.
Testimonies at the service of songs revealed a lot about the kind of man Sir Chimmin was. Of his literary life, Sir Hankuri Tawus Gaya continues to say that he always purchased books in at least a dozen—that is, it is rare to find him walking out of the bookstore with just one book as his purchase. The testimonies at the funeral heralded a passion for books. I mean, consider his service: of his 43 years in service, he was a classroom teacher at the beginning of his career for about four years; a staff of the literature department at the FCS National Headquarters for three years; executive staff of the Christian Booksellers Association of Nigeria (CBAN) for two years; aside other roles and positions he held until his departure as the National Director of the FCS Headquarters in Jos.1
Certainly, his life wasn’t just about having startling collections of books at home and in his office respectively. His family and colleagues call him blessed. Reverend Pirfa Mamven of COCIN Headquarters Church, one of his students, wrote:
I remember vividly how you used to visit us when we were in Secondary School in the early 90s to teach and disciple us in FCS. Last year September you kept talking to me consistently for days about the need to start writing down something in a book form for continuity in ministry. I thank God for your sacrifice and dedication towards development of men for kingdom services. Hmmm . . . your library is something else but it did not make you just philosiphical, you were very spiritual indeed. We will miss you, gaskiya. Rest in the LORD.2
Of his passing on, his wife wrote: “You woke up strong; refreshed yourself and knelt to pray after giving me the ₦500 I asked you for. You opened the Daily Guide to read that morning! You were praying when I left the room to the kitchen to make your breakfast which you never ate.”3
Indeed his life was one large book itself—consider his body size. Likewise, Sir Chimmin was robust in his compassion, affection, and leadership. You must have seen the pattern of his urging men to leave a legacy behind, especially through books. He left me with an assignment I would never submit to him for assessment, or give to him as a token of appreciation and a means to honour his gracefulness. If I eventually write a book for adolescents, the seeds were sown at the bookstore in that meeting with Sir Gideon Mbaakaan Chimmin. His legacy lives on in my story!
Good Fellow, kindly pray for the comfort of the bereaved. Let Sir Chimmin’s family be a contact point.
Have a blessed and restful weekend. Amen.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
The Chimmin Family, “The Exit of a Legend: Funeral Programme,” (Jos: Fellowship of Christian Students Nigeria, 2024), 3-4, accessed 24th February 2024, https://www.fcsnigeria.org/tributes-to-gideon-chimmin/.
The Chimmin Family, “The Exit of a Legend: Funeral Programme,” 7.
The Chimmin Family, “The Exit of a Legend: Funeral Programme,” 5.
May the great comforter visit this family in their time of grief.🙏