Abubakar Garo: Tribute to a great cheerleader and friend

Fahad Garba Aliyu As I walked into the office on May 17, 2021, I saw Aisha crying and asked what happened. She handed over her phone to me and said I should please confirm if what was there was true. After a call or two, it became obvious that the unfortunate demise of our friend […]

Fahad Garba Aliyu

As I walked into the office on May 17, 2021, I saw Aisha crying and asked what happened. She handed over her phone to me and said I should please confirm if what was there was true. After a call or two, it became obvious that the unfortunate demise of our friend was true. A day one of our brightest got called back to his maker. It is a day we will never forget, the day we lost Abubakar Garo – Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un “Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return”.

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How do I start? What should I write about a person that is as close to perfection as it gets? A man full of life, optimism, kindness, humility; a visionary, bold, jovial and rare larger-than-life kind of character – a pillar among his friends and family. He embodies the statement ‘someone every woman would want and every man would want to be but there is only one Abu’. Such a huge loss has definitely created a vacuum, one that suffocates every time one thinks of him. We will remember him daily and pray to Almighty Allah to have mercy on his soul and to reward him with the highest of Jannahs.

Abubakar Aminu Sule Garo was born on September 16, 1990. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the International University in Geneva and a Master’s degree in Construction Management from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was an entrepreneur and businessman. He farms rice and owns a rice mill, is into real estate, produces cooking oil and sits on the board of a foundation in Sierra Leone, to name a few of the things he was working on. He represents the very best of us. A friend that doesn’t know him told me he could see this from afar, truly a loss for all that were proud to see Northerners thrive and he represents us proudly.

A friend told me when she was sick and couldn’t find a good specialist for that particular condition in Nigeria, he helped her find a doctor in the States. From the day she arrived, he picked her up from the airport and took her to the doctor’s every day. Always made sure she had whatever she needed. He treated her with so much kindness. To say Abu was an angel, is an understatement. She can never repay him for what he has done for her. “Abu was there for me when no one else was,” she said.

That’s the Abu we all knew and were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with him during his 30 years on this earth. But his maker had better plans for him, we pray He took him when he was most pleased with him. Abu meant so much to us and will always do. In life, we loved him dearly, in death we will do the same. It breaks our hearts to lose you Abu, the fact that you’re not here will always cause us pain but you’ll forever be in our hearts.

Last I saw him was less than 2 months ago when he stopped by the office; we discussed opportunities and different projects we are all working on and how we can collaborate on some of them, different ways we can complement each other. He is his friends’ biggest cheerleader; he celebrates your success like his own. Abu believes our generation will unleash Nigeria’s full potential.

You get attached to him the first time you meet him – jokes and laughter, as if you’ve known each other forever. There was no awkwardness. You could talk to him about everything and he would listen and give advice when needed. His only flaw if any is he works too much and doesn’t get enough sleep.

We will all die in the end but to paraphrase Stuart Scott, what matters is how you live, why you live and the manner in which you live. Abu lived a wonderful life that had an impact in all our lives. Our lives are better off today because Abubakar Aminu Sule Garo lived and well did he live.

To his parents, siblings and loved ones, I cannot imagine the loss you are feeling and the vacuum he left behind that no one can fill. We pray Almighty Allah gives you the fortitude to bear the loss (rest assured it’s not a personal loss but a collective loss). We will keep him and you all in our prayers today and always. We pray you find solace in the following verses of the Holy Quran:

“And spend [in the way of Allah] from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, ‘My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous’. But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.” (63:10-11)

He (Allah) created death and life that He may test you, to see which of you is the best in deeds. (67:2)

On no soul doth Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. (2:286)

Be sure We shall test you with something of fear, and hunger, some loss in goods, or lives, or the fruits (of your toil); but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. (2:155)

May Almighty Allah have mercy on his soul, forgive his shortcomings and May we all reunite in Jannatul Firdaus.

 

Fahad Garba Aliyu sent in this tribute from Abuja