By Muhammed Kadade Suleiman
Malam Hassan Rasheed Makarfi was born on the 25th of July, 1969 in the town of Makarfi, Kaduna State. His father was an Islamic teacher who tutored students in the town.
He was fourth in the family. His older brother, Professor Abubakar Rasheed is the Executive Secretary, National University Commission. He attended the LEA Central primary school before proceeding to Science Secondary School, Saminaka.
After his secondary school education, he obtained a HND in Veterinary medicine from Plateau State. He did his National Youth Service Corps in 1997 when Nasarawa State was created out of the old Plateau State during the government of General Sani Abacha.
Despite all efforts to get him to work in the Federal Civil Service, his choice was to work in the Local Government because in the words of the late father to President Umaru Musa Yar’adua “service to people is Service to God” and as such, the local government presented the best opportunity because of its nearness to the people. Until his death, he was a staff of Giwa Local Government’s department of agriculture where he had the opportunity to come into contact with people from all localities. He was survived by his wife, Hajiya Maryam, and 6 children.
The deceased greatly loved his friends and relations and treated everyone with humility and respect.
He had a routine of always feeding people at home and was always on hand to give a helping hand to others.
No doubt, the deceased will never be forgotten because of the love and care in which he interacted with everyone around him. He was in the habit of traveling very far just to visit relations.
I was close to him due to my extended stay in the past where I spent so many unforgettable moments together. His house became my visiting spot every time I visited. We spent moments deep into the night where we watched news together with his bosom buddy, Hadi Tanko Makarfi.
Indeed, the death of Baba Hassan stands out as one of the most painful and unforgettable moments because of my relationship with him. I was closer to him than I was with my late father because I lost my father at a very young age.
He was very religious who treated his prayers very seriously. You could always find him amongst the first people in the mosque.
Through him I interacted with so many people because truly he was a man of the people.
I remember fondly my early days in politics where he called to me how happy he was with my venture into politics but I should always remember that key to success in politics was living in peace with people and respect for elders because the world is a temporary place. This conversation was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the shock news of his death around 9:45pm that day.
He always stood out in conversations because he was a man of wisdom and foresight. You could always tell he was a man of intellectual disposition every time you spoke to him.
It was the moment his death was announced and everyone truly appreciated how much he was loved by the people. Everyone had a thing or the other to say about him. He derived great joy in seeing everyone happy and always ready to stretch out a helping hand when one is in trouble. I have never seen anyone more generous. He always asked questions when he wakes up to an empty house in the morning.
He was very easy going, and Muslims and Christians alike had favorable stories to tell about him.
He had a calm manner of correcting people and always made sure corrections are well taken. Indeed his death is a very big loss and we can only pray for Allah(SWT) to grant his soul eternal peace and give his family the fortitude to bear the loss.
Kadade writes from kaduna and can be reached through: mohdkadade@gmail.com
