February 6 was unarguably a special day for Abubakar (a.k.a Abba) because he was born on that day in 1984 and died on the same day in 2013.
Abba, as he was fondly called, was one of those rare kinds who come along in a long while. He died not having any property as whatever he got he gave them out to people, including house helps and anybody who requested from his assistances. Abubakar had a lot of friends and he tried to be good to them, always wanting to make people happy; he hated to see people in misery.
Abubakar attended noble schools, which included Military School, Zaria, Oxford Brooks University and Manchester University, but he couldn’t finish in those universities, because he wanted to change his course to study mass communication in Nigeria.
He returned to Nigeria and enrolled into Baze University to study his choice course, where he continued making friends and soon became popular in the university. He also maintained contact with family members calling them quite often to greet them.
Abba was widely read and very current with world affairs and could discuss intelligently on varying topics affecting the world. One of his ambitions was to become a politician so that he could bring about positive changes in governance to improve on the wellbeing of Nigerians. In fact, this was one of the reasons he wanted to come back to Nigeria to complete his studies.
On that fateful day when his life was snuffed out, he had woken up early in the morning to pray in the Mosque before me and later came into my bedroom to see me before leaving for school.
Inside my room, he looked at me for a while and said: “Daddy, you haven’t said anything”.
Surprised, I asked him what he wanted me to tell him and he replied,” I had clocked 29 years today.”
Jokingly, my response was that if someone was getting older and almost reaching 30 years, he should be saying happy birthday to his children. This made him laugh saying he was just beginning life.
It never occurred to me that, that will be the last time I would be speaking with my first son and that the beginning of life he spoke of will be somewhere else, and not in this world.
After leaving my room, Abubakar hugged his mother and said, ‘Mama I’m gone’. He later entered his car and drove off to Baze University.
I waited for him to return so that he would go and buy PHCN scratch card, because he liked doing that, but when I waited up until Asr prayer, I was wondering what had happened.
Later, I overheard people talking to my security man at the gate and learnt they were policemen wanting to see me.
The policemen showed me my son’s identity card and said he was at the National Hospital, Abuja where he was taken after being involved in an accident. They later told me the bitter truth: that Abubakar was dead and his body was at the mortuary. It was sad, my youthful Abubakar gone forever! But Allah gives life and Allah takes it back when it pleases Him. “Alhamdu lillahi ala kulli halin”
His mother and I drove to the mortuary to see the corpse late in the evening. The next morning, the corpse was taken to National Mosque, washed according to Islamic rites and later laid to rest at Gudu Cemetery, Abuja.
I learnt from one of his friends later that he left the lecture hall halfway and was on his way back home when a commercial bus hit his car, making him lose control and plunged into a ditch.
But one month before he departed this world, Abubakar had told his mother that he wanted to look for a wife as he did not want to die without leaving a child behind. He even discussed it in school that he had gotten someone to marry and was waiting for the right time to tie up the knot.
A week before his death, he asked me to give him money to call his intended wife and when I asked him why he was telling me directly, he asked me who else should he ask apart from me, his father.
Abba called his brother and sisters a night before his death and advised them on many things about life and told them to face their studies. He advised them not to make the mistakes he might have made. Abubakar was also particularly fond of one of his younger brothers, who is still a baby, because they looked alike.
One very interesting thing that happened was that Abba changed the ring tone of his mobile to the last sermon of Prophet Mohammad (SAW). In that message, the Holy Prophet stated that he had a short time to live amongst his people as death will soon be visiting him. When I asked him one day why he chose that ringtone, he simply said he liked it and he wanted to be reminded always that life is short and one should always be close to his Creator.
Abba was very close to me and kept me company in the last few years after I retired. He was my adviser, who will always tell me what he thinks about anything. And he was always willing to do house chores.
The sad thing about his death by accident was that he was always conscious of vehicle safety and will tell me whenever I want to travel to check the car tyres before any journey. I can remember one day when he told my driver, as I was about to travel, to change a tyre in the car and I didn’t know. As they were travelling, that particular tyre burst.
We thank Allah for the life he lived and take solace in the fact that anything that happens to anyone is ordained by the Almighty Allah. We also believe that whoever comes into this world must make exit, and we do not know when, where or how it will happen.
The family prays that Allah pardons and admits him to Al Janah Firdausi.
It is a testimony to his kind of person that one month after Abubakar’s death; his family is still receiving troops of sympathizers in Abuja and Daura in Katsina State.
May Allah bless all those who have shared this trying moment with the family; we really appreciate and pray that Allah reward them abundantly.
Engineer Bukar is Madawakin Daura and Chairman Bukar Educational Foundation.
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