
13/01/2025
The fateful days started like every other day on the 26th of December, 2024, but the turn of events made them the most extraordinary seven days of my life. In them, I experienced an old boys event, the wedding of a brother and that of a niece, the loss of a sister, my wedding anniversary, and the birth of my daughter.
The Old Boys
I woke up on Thursday, the 26th of December, 2024, and drove my car to Ringim, where I picked up my brother, Bashir, alongside some former classmates, and headed for Gumel to celebrate our two decades after graduating from Science Secondary School Lautai, Gumel. The event was delightful, and we reminisced about the old memories we shared. New union leaders were nominated, and my brother, Hassan, emerged as our new chairman after serving the union as its secretary for some years. He took over from Aminu Dauda, currently S.A. to the Jigawa State Governor. Certificates were given while our former geography teacher, Mallam Jibo Usman, the current director of the school, gave a remarkable speech. We ate and drank, snapped some good pictures, and reignited our old bond of brotherhood that we had shared for a long time. It is indeed a memorable day.
The Double Wedding
On Friday, 27th December 2024, a day after our old boys’ event, I travelled to Ringim in my car together with an elder brother, Suleiman, and his family, for the wedding of my niece, Asmau, who was partly under my custody since her primary school days. Her mother is an elder sister of mine. Born in Kaduna, she was brought back to Ringim to live with my parents. After her secondary school, I got her admitted into my polytechnic, Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic, Hadejia, where she graduated with a distinction in National Diploma Science Laboratory Technology. She was finally married off to Musa on the day and taken to her matrimonial home in Yalleman town.
A day later, on Saturday, 28th December, I drove my car from Ringim to Rimaye town in Kankia LGA of Katsina State for the wedding of my immediate younger brother from the same womb, Nafi’u. Initially, I didn’t plan to drive, but circumstances made me change my mind and take my brothers for the trip that took us through the heart of the bustling city of Kano, something that I detested, no thanks to Karota, the unnecessary holdups, and the recklessness of the tricycle riders.
34 years old, Nafi’u, a recently admitted PhD Computer Science student at Mautech Yola, who works at Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, was finally married to his long-time girlfriend, Amina.
The Loss of Sister
After driving back to Ringim from Rimaye, and the bride was finally united with her groom in their home, I got a call that I will never forget in my life. I picked up the call in surprise because it came a few minutes before 11:00 pm, only for me to get the shocking news of the death of my sister, Ummi. Innalil-Lahi wa Innah Ilaihir-Raji’un!
Born in the 1990s alongside Nafi’u, Ummi was one of the most brilliant children of my father. She almost made 1st or 2nd position in a class her birthright, right from primary school up to secondary school. She was married in 2008 at the tender age of 18, immediately after finishing her secondary school education. She got married on the same day as her elder sister, Usaina, who also died 3 years ago.
Ummi was living with her husband and their children in Ajaura village, near Gujungu, in Taura LGA. Immediately after receiving the news of her demise, I had to drive her mother and some of my siblings (3 sisters and Hassan) from Ringim to Ajaura around midnight. I and Hassan arrived back in Ringim after 1 am, and I had to drive back to Ajaura early in the morning for the burial rites.
Ummi bore 8 children. I called her last month, and we had a long conversation in which she informed me that she will miss the double wedding because she is expecting another child, and her expected date of delivery is close to that of my wife and the double wedding. I even teased her that she already had enough children, unknown to both of us; it was the labour of the very pregnancy that would end her precious life.
She followed the path of her elder sister, Usaina, who also died during childbirth. Now the surprises: both of them were married on the same day, both were taken to their matrimonial homes in the same LGA (Taura), both died on Saturday and were buried on Sunday, both died at the age of 34, and both died during childbirth. Coincidences? May Allah SWT forgive them all and grant them Jannatul Firdaus.
The Wedding Anniversary
A day after the death of Ummi, on Sunday, 27th December, I clocked one year after my wedding. I got married on Friday, 27th December 2023, to my heartthrob and life partner, Ummukulsum Sabo, in Kaugama. But as someone who didn’t believe in celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries, coupled with the loss of a sister, I didn’t even post it on my WhatsApp status, let alone celebrate it in any form.
Nevertheless, I will forever remain grateful to Allah SWT for blessing me with such an amazing lady as a wife. A woman like no other. She is undoubtedly the best among all the ladies I have known and met before, a deeply religious, very decent, and passionately kindhearted lady who works to save lives and heal the sick as a registered nurse.
The Birth of Daughter
Four days after our wedding anniversary and five days after the death of my sister, on 2nd January 2025, around 11:20 pm, my wife delivered a beautiful baby girl through a Caesarean section operation at Dutse General Hospital, where she works. I welcomed my first child with mixed emotions, partly due to the fact that her mother was bedridden and unconscious after the operation. I held the baby in my hands, prayed for her, and immediately named her after my mother (Hajarah), but she will be called Naylah. May Allah SWT guide and protect her from the evils of this world, Ameen.
The naming ceremony was shifted until 16th January, two weeks after the birth, hoping that the mother would recuperate before then and take part fully in the celebrations of the birth of her first child.
The good and the bad memories of these extraordinary seven days, from 26th December 2024 to 2nd January 2025, were etched in my mind and would forever remain in my heart.