Dear Yaudu
You left this sinful world without warning
Exact replica of how you lived in it.
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Always the one to give and offer support,
Never the type to burden siblings and friends with own issues.
I have wondered on your recent almost-daily sharing of your pictures on Facebook.
And your almost never-failing to respond to comments on your posts,
Never imagined it was your way to engage the world before you depart.
Thank you for sharing those beautiful pictures in your last days! A gift we will cherish for long before our time.
Since your demise, I have spent hours going through your pictures on your Facebook page, looking at your rounded, amiable face telling us something that we were too shallow-minded to comprehend.
You were a gift to Usman Sarki family. To the world
And to me! And to my family!
As teenagers growing up in Bida, Niger State, in the late 80s and 90s,
Myself and other siblings always looked forward to your visits from Lagos.
Yaudu of Lagos is back!!! We will chorus on your return. While we rushed to help carry your baggage,
Your sense of fashion and usage of the latest designs were inspiring. I wish I lived in Lagos, I once told myself.
Your sense of cleanliness is exemplary. We will gather in your room in the family house enjoying the Lagos gifts and the freshness of your room, competing among ourselves to run errands for you.
We all wanted to be like you. Education, you once told me is the surest path to great living.
I remember my first visit to Lagos in 1992 when I got admission at University of Ibadan. Your words of encouragements and cash gifts still resonates. We got very close.
Your frank, wise and blunt counselling always marveled me.
A gift no one can compete with.
We got close again, when I was transferred to PH in 2014. You were there showing me the city. I always looked forward to our weekend meetings as it was never a dull moment. Your sense of humor was legendary.
You encouraged me to accept my posting to PH. You did your part to leave me with incredible memories.
When my mother Woyinna visited PH, you were there. You made her feel at home and encouraged her to stay longer than she wanted.
She was always looking forward to seeing you at the weekends.
When she was leaving, you wanted to escort her to the airport, but had other engagement, yet you gave her the biggest gift of the visit. A gift so big that she still reminds me of it till date.
Your support when my family had an accident, your visits to both Abuja Cedacrest hospital and PH Shell clinic still resonate.
Your departure is our loss. But we have no choice than to bear the loss. Hoping we can learn from you to bridge the loss.
Your uncanny ability to unite the family in difficult situations will be missed.
The family unifier gone too soon.
Your humility and sense of loyalty to the family elders will be missed.
You were a shining example of what loyalty should be.
The undisputable confidant of our family leaders. Yamagana and Yamama have lost a gem. A big hole that will be difficult to fill.
A life of inspiration well lived. It is not how long but how well and how many lives touched. You no doubt touched many Yaudu.
All the siblings you left behind will miss you. Our hearts are broken.
All the mothers you left behind will miss you. Their hearts are broken.
Uncommon work ethics and loyalty to work and country,
You gave your life to work and country. Having just returned from training in South Africa despite health challenges.
You gave your life to Nigeria.
Our late father will be proud.
An irreplaceable loss to Nigerian Ports Authority. Your loyalty, commitment and sense of purpose to NPA should not go in vain.
Your wife and beautiful children deserve to be taken care of. NPA should do the needful.
No doubt your eldest child Nma, named after our late father, and his siblings will miss their daddy.
You were there for them like an Iroko tree. You gave them the best life can offer.
Maryam, your lovely wife, has lost a confidant and loyal husband.
The hole you have left in their lives will be impossible to fill.
An incredible family man, you were!
They lived with you everywhere you were posted to – Lagos, Port-Harcourt. Despite the challenges of raising young families in these places.
A trait that is worthy of emulation. You once told me “Wherever I go, they go”. A saying that you kept till you left to return no more.
Inna lillah wa inna ilaihin Rajiun. Every soul shall taste death! is our consolation. That your time has come, and ours is on its way. A message to those that reflect.
I shall miss you terribly. I am comforted by your humble wife and beautiful kids you left behind to carry your legacy. We are lucky to have them to remind us of your legacies, until our time comes!
The crowd at your Friday Janaizzah at Bida was a testimony of Allah’s favor on you. A befitting burial to a trail blazer and prince like yourself. A people’s person.
To pull such a crowd for person that did not live or die in Bida, only you can. A well-deserved farewell from the people that you love so much.
As you reunite with our departed father and mothers, I wish you blessed reunion with father and Nnma.
The favorite son re-uniting with much loved mother as angels watch with love and affection.
What a beautiful sight to behold.
May Allah Subhana Wata Allah grant you highest level of paradise.
May Allah Subhana Wata Allah unite us in Aljanna Firdausi.
May He grant us and all your loved ones the fortitude to bear this painful and irreplaceable loss.
May your children grow up in Islam and be the best you want them to be.
Adieu Brother! Till we come.
Ismail Usman Sarki sent in this tribute from Brunei Darussalam
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