In memory of Hajiya Maryamu: A tribute

The early morning of Tuesday   June 27, 2014 marked the end of Hajiya Maryamu Idris Legbo Kutigi’s sojourn on this world. If we had been asked,   though Mamanmu was undergoing a painful illness, we will have asked for more time for her. But alas, that was not to be. What we have been left with […]

The early morning of Tuesday   June 27, 2014 marked the end of Hajiya Maryamu Idris Legbo Kutigi’s sojourn on this world. If we had been asked,   though Mamanmu was undergoing a painful illness, we will have asked for more time for her. But alas, that was not to be. What we have been left with this past one year has been the fondest memories of her well-spent life with us.  Whenever we gather in the last one year, we remember her stern admonitions on living with fellow human beings, her gentle mannerisms and her endless patience. Also noteworthy are her stoicism in the face of many odds, her undying humility, perseverance, and above all, her belief in the unending greatness of Almighty Allah.
We remember the multitude of people who on account of her goodness to many, trooped out in their thousands to pay their tribute to Mamanmu. We marveled that if she had been told before she died that men and women of all shades, those who knew her personally, others by reputation and others who had never even heard of her, from the mighty to the lowest, from the highest echelons of the society to the lowest, would congregate to pay tribute to her, she would have waved it away in her characteristic humility.     
Our mother was such a simple woman, who was hailed in death as she was hailed while alive. She epitomized the resilience most often forgotten in marriages of the present times. In her, we her numerous children find the perfect example of how to co-exist in this world, in good times as well as difficult ones.
Mamanmu lived her life to the fullest. She also experienced many of the travails that befall all humans. But through it all, she never allowed her faith in Almighty Allah to desert her. She will always say that Allah always knows what she was going through.
She got married to our father at a relatively young age, traversing with him both locally and internationally, and growing together from when he was a young man up until he reached the pinnacle of his career as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. She was always in the background giving all the support and ensuring the good upbringing of us the children. In the later part of her life, Mamanmu experienced the vicissitudes of old age. And we all rallied around to ensure that she weathered through. The sickness that eventually claimed her life was diagnosed very late. As she travelled for the last time from her Minna abode to Egypt, for the beginning of the treatment, accompanied by some of my siblings, we all gathered to wish her a safe trip and successful treatment. Her return trip only brought her back to Abuja to be admitted at the Nigerian Turkish Nizamiye Hospital. And for the next two weeks, we made that hospital our Mecca, as we all visited, even as the wonderful doctors at that hospital did all they could to save her life. But since Allah SWT had decreed that her time had come, nothing more could be done.
I remember quite vividly the last time I saw Mamanmu alive, which was a few hours before her death. My brother, Abubakar, had given me a call updating that her condition was deteriorating. On my arrival I met some of my siblings, Hadiza, Abdulrahman and Yunusa outside her room and they were all looking gloomy and speechless but nonetheless hopeful. I entered the room to see her receiving oxygen and breathing rather heavily. I uttered a silent prayer and mustered all my strength not to cry. I remember leaving very late that day only to be woken up around 2:00 am. Once I heard the voice of my brother on the line, I knew what the call was about.
In the past year, it has been very difficult to talk about Mamanmu in the past tense. Her abode in Minna was always a beehive of activities, as we, her children, relations from far and wide, her numerous sons and daughters in-law with whom she had a very wonderful relationship, as well as grandchildren, all competed for her attention. As we mark her first year of sojourn, we all know that the greatest tribute we can pay her is to continue to live by the example she left behind. Her husband, Retired Justice Kutigi, the Dujuman Nupe, has carried on where she left off. We the children have two very good examples to follow as we continue to traverse this life. We pray to Almighty Allah to grant Mamanmu Aljannatul Firdausi, to forgive all her transgressions and for those of us left behind, Allah’s blessings in all our endeavours.  
Idris is a staff of Radio Nigeria Headquarters.