IT was on Wednesday April 1st, 2009. I was in a marathon editorial meeting with Mr. Gbenga Sadare and my able deputy chief press secretary, Jibrin Garba Lamido when a relation, late Lawan Mijinyawa rushed into my office to inform me that my Uncle Gidado Abubakar had been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yola.
Alhaji Gidado was bedridden for some time. I abandoned my meeting ready to leave for Yola when my nephew, Arc. Muktar Chindo entered my office already in tears. It dawned on me that the worst had happened. I lost a father. Bappa, as we fondly addressed him was no more.
Bappa Gidado was a patriot of pedigreed stock, who acted fearlessly with good conscience where others trembled diffidently because of repercussions. To the lowly and the high, Gidado Abubakar lived a life worthy of celebration. He was many things to many people. As husband, father, uncle, brother, son, friend, confidant and benefactor, he did not disappoint.
I took off to Yola in company of Arc. Muktar Chindo and Arose my driver and hoped all through the way that someone was going to call me to say it was April fool. But nobody did.
Tears began to drip down my cheeks as my thoughts flashed back to my early years, specifically about the age of seven when Gidado Abubakar confronted my father to take me with him to Maiduguri where he was working.
As the only son of my parents and the second of the four issues God has blessed my father with (after almost 20 years of marriage), everyone thought it was not possible for him to part with his children except for my twin sister Hussaina that died at infancy. In any case he did.
My journey through life with Gidado Abubakar first began in a white car which we drove in to Yola where we boarded an aircraft to Maiduguri, then headquarters of defunct north eastern state, where he was working.
I found a mother in his wife Salamatu whose kids till date, I refer to not just as cousins but as my brothers and sisters. Bappa Gidado’s interest in me was ineffable.
My thoughts of him were obsessional. I remembered how he would sit with me on a sofa with a text book on my lap and say, ‘Hassan, you must catch up’. It was difficult, but I was able to catch up with the pace of learning at the Holy Trinity Primary school, Maiduguri where I continued my primary education.
Then he would take me to the zoo and supermarket each time I made a good result: These thoughts flooded my brain until my driver Arose interjected: ‘Oga, ka yi hakuri’, which means calm down in Hausa. It then dawned on me that I had sobbed which, to say the least, was ungentlemanly.
I disentangled myself from those thoughts and began to pray and hoped that I was going to catch up with the burial.
The request by His Royal Highness, the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Aliyu Mustapha of blessed memory and his Turaki (now Waziri Adamawa), Atiku Abubakar that the funeral prayer be delayed to enable them to attend helped, because I made it to the house in time before the funeral. I sat in front of my uncle lying in state surrounded by his sons.
Finally, we observed the funeral prayer and buried him at the Wuro Hausa Cemetery in Yola.
Extremely courageous and firm in his beliefs, traits, I understand, he inherited from my great grandfather, Modibbo Usmanu (Lanja-Lanja).
Gidado Abubakar was no doubt fearless, forthright and sympathetic to the cause of the less privileged.
He was a martinet who never spared the rod. Above all, he was an umbrella whose shade was enormous; a helper whose enthusiasm was endless. Gidado Abubakar never hesitated to reward hard work, which informed his decision to employ many of his former students into the civil service.
Prominent among them are late Mr Bakari Betso, a retired Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration, Alhaji Hassan Adamu, retired Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, Taraba State, Isa Musa of the Government Printer Jalingo and Yaro Mukhtar of the Taraba State Sports Council.
Eulogies poured in for Gidado Abubakar. The Lamido of Adamawa Alh. (Dr.) Aliyu Mustapha described him in glowing terms as “a loyal son who sought advice where necessary and produced results when others appeared confused and indecisive”.
A great family man, Gidado Abubakar was born in 1944 to Hajiya Hauwa and Likita Bakari. He was educated at Muhammadu Nya Primary School Jalingo, Craft School Numan, Teachers College, Ilorin, Advanced Teacher’s college, Kano, and Leeds University in the United Kingdom.
He served the nation in various capacities. He was Director of Sports in the former Gongola State from 1977- 1983, Chairman Yola Local Government Council, Gongola State. He also served as the first Director- General, Ministry of Works & Housing, Taraba State where he was nick named bulldozer and Construction wizard by many. His achievements in the works ministry still resonate.
Alhaji Gidado Abubakar was a gubernatorial candidate under the people’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress in Taraba state. At various times, he served as Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in charge of Kaduna, Gombe and Adamawa states.
He will be remembered for his belief in the credo that education is a launch pad for a cosmopolitan outlook. For that reason, he gave a helping hand to many irrespective of whether they were known to him or not, to go to school to be able to get started in life.
Bappa, you will ever be remembered and missed for your candour. We all, will soon have to leave this world. Allah Ya haskaka kabarinka. Ameen!
(This article is an updated piece first published in 2009)
Mijinyawa is Special Adviser on Press Affairs to the Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku.
May Jannatul Firdaus be his finals and all Muslims Worldwide. Ameen