By Olivia Obijiaku
Very Rev Fr. Joseph Haruna Mamman who has celebrated his 70th birthday and successful retirement from the services of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria on Friday , October 5th, 2024 has disclosed that he is currently building a church as a way of giving back to the society .
The celebrant revealed this at the Mass of Thanksgiving for the milestones he achieved as a priest of the Catholic church . He returned the glory linked to his achievements to God, recounting the many way He has blessed him in Zaria.
He said poetically, “I came here when we were worshipping in the hall. Now I am standing here in a Church that you and I have laboured and built. I came here as Lecturer II. I am leaving here as Professor.”
“Before I continue, God please, take the glory and honour. I am nothing. Take the glory and honour. Take the Thanksgiving of today. And all of you here. I wish I can go round your seats and thank you one by one. What I am today is not by my power. It is you and God. So, thank God and thank you.”
In humility he said, “Imagine me a small boy from one village standing here and so many people coming here, especially to have five bishops – a small boy, born in a very obscure village and given this homage and honour. I do not know what I have done for you. My dear bishops, thank you for honoring this small man. I appreciate the five of you coming here just because of me. I do not deserve it. Thank you for honoring me like this. I appreciate this.”
Though a convert from Cherubim and Seraphim to Catholicism, Fr. Mamman discharged his pastoral duties in such a way that many who left the Church traced their way home as they see in the pastor a reflection of the same Gospel that he preaches.
Parish Priest of Our Lady’s for over two decades, during which period he attended to the needs of students with a high sense of empathy, compassion and generosity, the don has no doubt nurtured many great men and women who are now well established in different fields of endeavour.
Fr. Mamman invested the proceeds from his twenty fifth and fortieth anniversaries in the construction of a Church, St Joseph’s in his hometown – as a way of giving back to his people but the project is yet to be completed. In a bid to complete the Church building, he made what he described as his last appeal to well-meaning individuals and groups inviting them to assist him in actualizing this dream.
