In Iyima, fun died

I have lost many close relatives, but since a younger brother, Iyima, died on May 1, 2014, the pain of loss became greater. It is not that I was not pained with the death of others, but this singular loss devastated the entire Malikis. Of course, the family was distraught with the passing on of […]

I have lost many close relatives, but since a younger brother, Iyima, died on May 1, 2014, the pain of loss became greater. It is not that I was not pained with the death of others, but this singular loss devastated the entire Malikis.

Of course, the family was distraught with the passing on of my maternal granduncle, Mr Ignatius Igbo Akwuchi in December 1988; my father in February 1989; an aunt, Awusunabi, in 1991; an uncle, Abise, in 2000; my immediate younger sister, Martha, who was a twin, in 2006 and my dad’s elder sister, Atunsha, in 2007. These were all very close relations who passed on at their God’s appointed time.

However, the demise of Iyima seems to have created a larger depression than all put together. And no one in the family could say why. An ardent football follower and a good player in his younger days, Iyima collapsed while watching an English Premier League football match on the night of Monday April 28, 2014 at a friend’s football viewing centre in Jos. He was first taken to the Nigeria Air force Base Hospital, and then referred to the University of Jos Teaching Hospital (JUTH). He never came out of coma. He died three days later. He was buried the next day in his ancestral home, Abinsi, in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. It happened so fast.

Duty never permitted me to travel from Abuja to Jos to check on him while in hospital. I had a strong feeling that he could have survived had I visited. Perhaps it was just mere feeling.

He was born on January 18, 1970 in Kaduna, like me and all my siblings. He attended the Saint Michael’s Primary School, Katsina Road, Kaduna before proceeding to Rimi College also in Kaduna, but completed his secondary education at Government Secondary School, Bwalbwang, Gindiri in Plateau State. He later obtained a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Jos in 1995.

He never wanted the typical nine-to-five job; he preferred his independence. He was a self-made man; an enterprising person determined to succeed on his own, a go-getter. He tried his hands on anything and everything positive that would bring food on the table. He tried selling cars, furniture, supplied sand, gravels, roofing sheets, doors and windows and other fittings for any construction work. He even contemplated becoming a driver together with his bosom friend, Alex Anyefite, whom he fondly called “froggy.”

In fact, sometimes, I marveled at how he went about his “magic.” He could walk to anybody and within a short time table an idea. The next day, work begins. I remember one day in Abuja, he came home and was excited that he had hired a concrete mixer and would be making some profits off the equipment. Few years earlier, he virtually cajoled us into registering a company and in a few months, got a job in the business name with good profit. I was really amazed.

Just as he was not shy about doing any job, he was equally concerned about peoples’ welfare. He took the worries of other people upon himself to the detriment of his own challenges. He was deeply concerned about others. For instance, a friend of his once had a fracture and he made sure he took him daily for medication until he got healed. Indeed, on many occasions, before internet and mobile banking became popular, he would wake up very early to go to the bank just to send money in good time to persons in need. 

Iyima also hated a situation where one promised assistance and would not immediately fulfill such, hence making the person to keep begging. He would rather not make a promise he would not fulfill. He was also always disgusted when someone does a job and payment was delayed for no just cause. On many sites I was privileged to see him supervise, at the close of work each day, the cash for the workers was always handy, ready to be disbursed.

As if that was not enough, he was a good organizer of people and events. If the family had any event, he was the first point of contact. Tell him what you wanted and you get it. He was never lazy at that. Wake him up at 2am for an assignment and he moves without complain.

He taught many things, for instance without worrying to have many clothes. He said one could have two good shoes, lots of shirts and just few trousers. He would buy shoe polish and brush to keep them shiny. Change shirts more than trousers and only few people could notice the less trousers one has especially the dark colours. He was also a good dresser with a good sense of colour combination. 

He was more fun when growing up in Kaduna. Iyima, his immediate elder brother, Ashoke, and I really had a swell time while we lived at Kanta Road and explored the environment adjoining Hamdala and Durbar Hotels, Ramat Square, Rugby, Crocodile and the Golf clubs. Iyima and Ashoke were better swimmers than I was as they had fun at both Hamdala and Durbar hotels swimming pools. In fact, Iyima and Ashoke represented Kaduna State at the swimming event while in primary school at the National Sports Festival in Ibadan in 1979. We also played a lot of football at the numerous fields within the Ramat Square. Whenever we wanted to play full team and there was a short fall of players, Iyima was always asked to be the goalkeeper though he never liked the position. He preferred the right wing. 

One trait that endeared people to him was his sense of humour. He created incredible jokes and funny statements that many always wondered where he got them from. I hear people say some of his jokes many months after. There was a joke he said of a team of footballers going to a nearby village for a match and a soldier held them too long at a check point. One of the players in the bus was furious and told the soldier that he should not delay them as there a captain in the vehicle. Then the young soldier asked who the captain was and the player whom many thought was a captain was identified. He told the soldier that he was truly a captain but that of football.

While in primary school, he was once mocked by our father’s elder sister for not doing well in an examination and he bluntly told her if she thought it wasn’t difficult, she should sit for an exam also. One day while at Rimi College, he came home excited that they were introduced to a new African-American English teacher who pronounces words differently, especially pronouncing “garri” as “gary.” I think he never missed that class as he came home every day with a new “American” pronunciation for indigenous words.

Also, he gave one staff of the Hamdala Hotel the nickname “Danger Mouse” because he said the man walks with even and precise steps as Danger Mouse in the comic series. He also gave someone else “Hitler” because he wore the same moustache as the German dictator.

One day, he started addressing us (his siblings) with the days of the week, not knowing he had found out the days we were born. He would call me Friday; our twin sisters, Mary and Martha, Laraba, which is Wednesday in Hausa; Ashoke, Monday; Ozashawa, Thursday and himself Sunday. I really don’t know how he knew about it.

But, he loved his name Iyimaokurunaka, Iyima, for short. It is an Alago name meaning ‘What the eyes see, the mouth would say.” And he never stopped at that.

His death, indeed, brought “reconciliation”to the larger Maliki family that had some friction. It brought peace and harmony, which I guessed he wished. But in his death, fun died.