Day Gurdi village head drowned
But the circumstances in which the traditional head of Gurdi Village in Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 87–year-old, Alhaji Musa Isa Ndanusa, drowned in River Gurara on Saturday, August, 7, 2010 still left not only the deceased families in anguish and confusion, but has made the entire people of the community […]
But the circumstances in which the traditional head of Gurdi Village in Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 87–year-old, Alhaji Musa Isa Ndanusa, drowned in River Gurara on Saturday, August, 7, 2010 still left not only the deceased families in anguish and confusion, but has made the entire people of the community to wonder in shock.
However, as a result of this confusion, Sunday Trust took a two hour motorcycle ride on the 45 kilometres road to the community to find out.
The eldest son of the late village head, Malam Halidu Musa, before narrating the incident, led our reporter through the bush path inside a swampy rice farm on bare foot to the River Gurara bank where his father’s movement ended.
Alhaji Musa said his father left home at about 8 am on the fateful day wearing a hat, with a walking stick and a cutlass. His grandson, Tanko, took him on his motorcycle to inspect his rice farm which he employed labourers to weed, and that was to be his last trip, for he did not return home.
According to Musa, the late chief asked Tanko to leave the motorcycle behind and go back home, that he would ride back home as soon as he finished inspecting the rice farm, but Tanko insisted that he would come back and pick him. But the late monarch insisted that he should not bother that he would trek back as soon as he finished inspecting his farm.
“It was after an hour later when Tanko went back for him only to discover that he had taken another direction. When he came back to the house to inform us, we immediately mobilised at about 12 noon to trace his footstep and passed through his rice farm down to the river side and discovered that he slipped near the river side,” he said.
Musa said it rained heavily in the community a day before the incident in which many farms were submerged.
He said it took the family members three days searching for their late father inside the bush near the river side, saying even the cutlass, a small keg containing water, walking stick and hat the late monarch wore could not be found at the river side.
He however, said the family was unable to get any useful information on the whereabout of the corpse of their father, until after one week when the family decided to observe a seven day prayer for the reposed of soul of the late the village head.
“After three days, we even heard that his body was found floating along Girinya river in Kogi State,but when we went there, we couldn’t find it. Even the council chairman gave money to search for the corpse yet they could not find it,” he added.
Musa told Sunday Trust that the chairman of Abaji Area Council, Alhaji Musa Yahaya Mohammed, who was informed the day after the incident, intensified effort to give out money to fuel (ferry boat) in Lokoja, Kogi State to also search for the corpse of the village head, but it was also not successful.
Sunday Trust further gathered in an effort to recover the corpse of the late monarch, the council boss, Alhaji Musa Yahaya Mohammed and the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, went further to also solicit the assistance of the marine policemen in Lokoja, but was not successful.
Our reporter learnt that the council chairman even ordered his security adviser to use a speed boat to search the river from Gurdi down to Girinya, but to no avail.
The late chief became traditional head of Gurdi Village in 1997 and was married to two wives and had 13 children and many grand children.
Commenting on the incident, the Ona of Abaji and chairman, FCT Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, expressed sadness over the circumstances in which the village head died.
“In fact, I received the news of the death of the traditional head of Gurdi village with great shock. What even pained me most was the circumstances which he died,” he said.
Yunusa described the late village head as a gentle, peace loving man who always ensured peace in his domain and prayed for God to forgive whatever were his shortcomings.
Sunday Trust however learnt that Malam Adamu Ahmadu, who is the Madakin Gurdi and a close friend of the late chief, is now handling issues concerning the community, pending when kingmakers will appoint a new village head.