I mourn the four Aishas

It all began late in February when I heard the sad news of the death of Aisha Nana Sa’ad. An amiable young lady whom I got to know well, Nana Sa’ad, as she was more popularly known lost a two-year battle with cancer at an Egyptian hospital in Cairo. She left behind her husband, three young children and her parents.
About a month later, on March 25th another bad news spread that we had lost Hajiya Aisha Yakaa Abbas. A good friend of my sister Yaya Binta, Anti Yakaa has been known to me for over two decades. A kind and fashionable lady, Anti Yakaa died after a brief illness in Jos, leaving behind her husband, AVM Abbas, five children and her mother.
Then on Thursday April 10th, death came calling closer home again. This time it was my good friend and former colleague Hajiya Aisha Badamasi Alhassan. She was a senior accountant at Media Trust Ltd. But unlike most accountants, Hajiya Nana, as she was known among Trust staffers, was particularly nice and humane. She was always available to serve whoever needed her. At her funeral at the National Mosque in Abuja, I could not help noticing how almost everyone in the company, from top management to the lowest staffers, was there to pray for her. Her death literally brought the company’s activities to a halt that day. Such was Aisha Alhasan’s special place in our hearts. She is survived by her husband, Alhaji Alhasan Yusuf, Media Trust’s human resources manager, four children and her mother.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I put on my phone at 7am on the morning of Saturday April 12th and by 7.30 a single message came in that shattered my weekend. Another Aisha, this time the young daughter of our family friend, Malam Aminu Modibbo had passed away at dawn. I have known Aisha Modibbo since she was less than ten years old. When I spent a weekend with them at their Pretoria home in October 2002, I had marveled at how someone so young could be so sensible and organized. She was so efficient at minding their home and her younger siblings whenever we went out with her mother, Hajiya Maryam, that I got totally impressed.
When I saw her receiving a prize for best Quran recitation, in addition to other prizes, at the Nurul Bayan Islamic academy, after their return from South Africa, I had to wonder when children of diplomats ever had the time to study the Holy Book so well. At the time of her death, she was a 300-level student at the Bayero University in Kano. She left behind her parents and five siblings. I certainly wish my four namesakes Almighty Allah’s mercies and a place in Aljannat Firdaus. Farewell dear Aishas.