Assalamu Alaikum Baba, I believe this update meets you in the continued hereafter blessings of the Most High; for we are never doubtful of, nor despair on the blessings of Allah on His true servants, dead or alive.
It is three years now since I wrote you my first letter (Daily Trust, 14/04/2016) to intimate you on family and other developments ten years after you departed. It is therefore worthwhile to update you after this lengthy period of silence.
As regards your immediate family, the three companions you left behind are still very much together, ageing of course. As you can vividly recall, your first companion was five and a half years ahead of you in your new abode.
Three years after my initial letter, the 26 of us are still very healthy and hearty, with positive developments: Tijjani, PhD, is now the Dean of Students’ Affairs of the FCE (T) Gombe; Hadi, who at your death was an Assistant Chief Registrar with the State Shari’a Court of Appeal, has risen to the position of Qaadi of the court; Fa’izu is now an international businessman – to the UAE and China, and at the same time undergoing his master degree program; Nasiru is through with his second degree, and a lecturer with the FCE (T) Gombe; Dahiru and Shamsuddeen are also pursuing their second degrees at the Gombe State University; Ibrahim still works with the state high court, while Mukhtaru, Muntaqa and Mas’ud have taken to the path of business, and are not doing badly.
For my humble self, I retired from service one and a half years ago and now heading a private school – Nurul Huda International Academy Gombe, owned by a lady whose relations call ‘Yar Aljannah (resident of the paradise) because of her magnanimity. All our fourteen (14) female siblings are peacefully in their matrimonial homes.
The number of your grandchildren has grown from the last count of 181, ten years ago, to 198. Your great grandchildren now number 95, 11 of which are my grandchildren.
In my last letter, I brought to your knowledge that courtesy of Dr Abubakar Ali Gombe, the whole vicinity of the residences has been inter-locked with cement bricks. Additional information on the environment is the complete restructuring of the house you left behind. The frontage now wears a modern look, a one-storey building. The work was done and owned by Qaadi Hadi.
Of your bosom friends, Grand Qadi Yahya Ahmad (rtd) and Alhaji Buba Turaki Jamnati are very much alive, grappling with normal old-age situations. Every now and then, the former sends monetary gifts to our mothers; and the latter’s son was recently named as Kano State Commissioner of Police. The other, Alhaji Jibir Halilu Dukku waxes stronger, always with volumes of Islamic books making academic research. But sadly, Alhaji Ali Walin Kaltungo recently passed on after a protracted illness.
When I visited him last year and introduced myself as he was not recognizing people, he shed tears and offered prayers in the situation he was! The Ubandoman Gombe, Alhaji Magaji Mua’azu, also passed on recently. Allah ya gafarta masu.
Baba, your darling institution – the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, is doing its best but certainly not as when you lived. There is no gain-saying the fact that you kept its spirit alive throughout Gombe State.
We continuously pray Allah to reward the training you gave us towards becoming one united front: the family has become exemplary and second to none. Praise is to Allah! I believe you would be elated to learn that a substantial percentage of the needs of our mothers are met by basically few of us, not because the others are being mean with money, but out of brotherliness for being better placed economically. In fact, the day my retirement commenced was the day they refused collecting my monthly contribution for the upkeep of the house. My plea to continue fell on deaf ears. We shall in-shaa Allah sustain this unity, Murshid.
Finally Baba, I implore you to help in extending my appreciation to Sarkin Bai Gombe H.E. Amb. Yerima Abdullahi, and Murshid Usman Baba Liman for their unending moral support in my duties as the assistant Murshid of the JNI in Gombe. Our best wishes also to your siblings: Liman Idris Pindiga, Alh. Hamma’Adama Umar and Alhaji Shehuwa Umar.
I hope to keep you posted on new developments, as long as we are yet to join you in your new spacious abode. Wassalamu Alaikum!
Pindiga wrote in from Arawa Quarters, Gombe.
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