When we first met, young Abdullahi was living with an uncle in Gusau (the present capital of Zamfara State), but his family was based in Sokoto. On my part, my family had in 1961 moved to Sokoto from Zaria were we originate; and had started living some two houses away from the family house of Abdullahi.
When I arrived the area, I started hearing about a certain ‘Maikano’ (Abdullahi’s pet name) whom my playmates spoke about with admiration. They often reminiscenced about things he used to say and do. One night while we were whiling away the night in a near-by football pitch, one other boy came running to announce that arrival of the much talked about Maikano and was in his family house. All my playmates ran to the house to welcome their cherished friend, leaving me alone on the pitch. I therefore quietly walked to my own family house. Up till today, I cannot explain why at that tender age I did not find it necessary to tag along with my playmates to go and see the popular Maikano.
The next morning as early as 8.00 am we the children in the area had all came out, gathered together talking (God knows what?) under the whistling cold winds of that December morning. It was while we were there that the newly arrived Maikano joined us and he instantly got attracted to me because it was obvious that as the only “foreigner” from Zaria, I must have looked and sounded different from all others! As it was common among children of our age, it did not take time before we started relating. From that day, we began to see every day for about two weeks before Abdullahi returned to Gusau and that terminated our regular visits to each other. Occasionally, a certain Muntari, who used to visit Gusau from Sokoto would deliver my letter to Abdullahi and brought back his reply to me. Two years later, as was the practice in those days, all children in primary four would sit for an examination to be admitted into senior boarding primary school. I sat for the examination in Sokoto while Abdullahi sat for it in Gusau. At that time there were two of such senior boarding primary schools in the then Sokoto province, Farfaru in Sokoto town and Kotorkoshi some 12 miles away from Gusau on the way to Funtua.
As fate would have it, both Abdullahi and I were admitted into Kotorkorshi senior boarding primary school. We only found out this when we reported to the school on the same day as other new in-takes. One could imagine how happy the two of us were to be re-united after two long years! Our friendship became intimate as we got to know better and understand each other for the next three years. At the end of our primary school education, we again sat for the common entrance examination to qualify us for admission into either secondary school, teachers college or craft school depending on one’s age, performance and other criteria of the admission policy. This time again, the same fate was at play as both I and Abdullahi were admitted into the same secondary school! And the two of us were registered in form one “A”. In less than six months, everybody in the school came to identify us as “Q&U”.
We were always together, belonging to the school clubs and indeed doing everything together. Whenever we were on holidays, we shared the same room in a new house built by Abdullahi’s father. Therefore for the five years of our secondary education we were never separated. We were together in the school as well as while on holidays and I am sure we were the only two who shared such a rare kind of relationship. The same fate played out again, as Abdullahi and I got admitted into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria immediately after our West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE).
From January 1973 to June 1977 when we graduated from the ABU, Abdullahi and I had become inseparable. We were friends, confidants and indeed “brothers” known together by everybody we came across.
Indeed until Abdullahi passed on, whenever any of those who knew of our intimate relationship meet any one of us alone, the first natural question is either ‘how is Abdullahi or Ismaila? depending on who is being asked the question. The National Youth Service was the only time Abdullahi and I were separated for a whole year! He served in the old Gongola State and I in the old Cross River State. We did not meet within that year July 1977 to July 1978 but we exchanged letters as frequently as was possible.
We both returned to Sokoto after the service year and started work, I with the NTA and he with the state government. As workers, we continued living together in the same house for about six months after which I moved to an official flat allocated to me by the NTA. The state government equally allocated a flat to Abdullahi. The separate houses meant that we only slept apart but spent most of the day and more than half of every night together! To further solidify my blooming relationship with Abdullahi, nature made me to fall in love with his younger sister – he did not know of it. With his full support, I married her in January 1982. She is to date my only wife and the mother of my children! Thus, the friendship, which started casually in 1963, has now become a blood relation as Abdullahi’s children and mine are now first cousins, Alhamdu Lillahi!
What I tried to do all along was to tell how my friendship with the late Abdullahi started and how nature kept watering, until it became what it was destined to be – one family built on trust.
Character Trait
The late Abdullahi Yusufu Jega was a very intelligent person, kind hearted and generous. He was a committed and loyal friend. His records in all the stages of his educational career confirmed his intelligence including his ability to complete his masters degree barely a month after surviving a three-month comma as a result of an auto-accident.
Abdullahi was sympathetic to people’s plight and always willing to give without discrimination. Once he accepted you as a friend, be assured that he would always be there for you under every circumstance. For the 47 years I spent close to him, I only remember seeing him losing his temper only once under an extreme provocation.
Wisdom is one special attribute, which the late Abdullahi possessed. He was special in forecasting events before they happen and his ability to analyze them and proffer a befitting solution. People who worked with him in the governments of both old Sokoto and Kebbi States attested to this rare endowment. He was also an expert in planning and working out strategies towards achieving results. I remain indebted to him for working out solutions to many challenges that confronted me in the course of life and helped me to plan vital milestones along the journey of life.
Indeed all those who knew and interacted with the late Abdullahi would readily accept that they benefitted from the relationship much more than he did. He was one excellent friend anybody could desire to have. As an introvert of some sort the late Abdullahi was not given to frequent talking, but on the rare occasions he spoke, his few words were always loaded with intelligence, wisdom and a slight humour. Abdullahi Yusufu Jega is gone and gone forever; leaving me behind to brood with nostalgia over those 47 beautiful years I shared with him. While I engage in this task, I pray to the Almighty Allah (SWT) to repose his soul, cover him with His Rahma and admit him into Aljanna Firdausi which is the final abode of all Mumineen and Saliheen (amin). And as I wait for my turn, Abdullahi’s final exit has made me orphaned a second time! Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihim Rajiuun!
Alhaji Umar is the Zonal Director (South West) at the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Headquarters, Abuja.
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