Late Sardauna used to call me ‘village man’ – Driver

What was your early life like? My parents moved to Tsarati from Kutigi long before I was born. I attended elementary school in Kutigi where I studied to and then I stopped. As for Islamic education, it was easy for me because my father was a renowned Islamic scholar in the area. He was also […]

What was your early life like?
My parents moved to Tsarati from Kutigi long before I was born. I attended elementary school in Kutigi where I studied to and then I stopped. As for Islamic education, it was easy for me because my father was a renowned Islamic scholar in the area. He was also the chief imam of our village. He thought me without much difficulty.

How did you become Sardauna’s personal driver?
I stopped school at elementary four in Kutigi and went to Minna with the aim of joining the Nigerian Police but Almighty Allah had not planned that for me. I did not meet up with the requirements both in height and size. I was asked to try my luck the following year.
I had never left my village before then. My parents were not aware of my journey because they would have refused. Now, my thought was how to face them if I returned. Instantly, I started crying because I was confused. A Sergeant-Major, Muhammad Wukari who was in charge of Minna, heard me crying. After close of work, he asked his orderly to take his bicycle home while he walked along with me as I narrated my story. That was how he took me to his quarters at the police barracks. He then asked me if I could stay at his place for the period pending when the next police recruitment would take place after nine months. One day, nine newly recruited policemen were posted to the barracks. One of them was Alfa Bida whom the Sergeant-Major asked to stay in his quarters with me.
One day, Alfa asked me to go to the railway station with him. When a train arrived, I saw a military man and instantly developed more interest in the Army than in the Police. I shared my thoughts with Alfa.
The Sergeant-Major gave me a letter to his brother in Zaria for the army recruitment. This was 1951. Not too long after, the recruitment process began and I passed all the tests. We underwent training for seven months. I was posted to Ibadan First Battalion where I stayed for six months and then moved to Lagos. It was in Lagos that I was thought how to drive. After that I came back to Ibadan where I continued my military duties. We were later moved to Kaduna and those in Kaduna to Ibadan.
In those days, after six years, you sign some papers, but I refused and that was how I retired. I took to driving.
Before then, my boss reminded me of the need to do another round of training on how to drive civilian cars. He took me to a driving school where I was thought how to drive cars professionally. It was a seven-month programme after which the VIO granted me a civilian licence and then took me to one Malam Garba. We were taken to Sardauna’s secretary and later handed over to Sardauna who then assigned us duties. I was his driver for fifteen years and travelled across the country with him.

How would you describe the late Sardauna?
He was a very humble person who did not believe in worldly things. He was a patient person. He always wanted to see people happy and also wanted to serve. He had no personal interests. He mostly called me a ‘village man’ because my Hausa wasn’t fluent.
You know we have limits being his personal drivers. We cannot go with him to all places whenever we went out. From our observations, he was always free with people irrespective of their religious or ethnic affiliations. He made sure you are free and happy with him. His major concern was the common man.

Where were you when the 1966 coup took place?
I was inside the house when the coup took place. The military men came in around midnight. Their leader happened to be Sardauna’s boy, Chukwuma. It was Sardauna who took care of him and looked after him in his house. Sardauna was a sports-loving person. He usually went for training in the evening if he was less busy. He trained around Kingsway in Kaduna. That’s where he discovered Chukwuma who was one of three boys who normally assisted with their balls. The boys developed the habit of waiting for him at the sports venue whenever it was five in the evening. That was how he enrolled them into primary school. When they passed out, he took them to England for further studies. After their graduation he took the Nupe boys to Gusau as agricultural officers while Chukwuma said he wanted to be a military man. That was how he was sponsored and after graduation he was commissioned an officer. He was always at Sardauna’s house even after his wedding. Chukwuma’s father was a former military man but he was residing at Abakpa.
The unfortunate thing for Sardauna was that Chukwuma was the leader of that coup. We heard some disturbance in the house in Unguwar Sarki. Before we got there, they had already surrounded the house with heavy weapons. The coup plotters gained entrance into the house and met Sardauna with his three wives with one of his close confidants popularly called Sallama. Sardauna was about going out to check what was going on but his eldest wife popularly called ‘Gwaggon Kano’ pulled him back. Chukwuma had a gun. There was confusion in the house and it was in the course of a struggle that Sardauna was shot. On seeing what happened, we rushed out where we sought refuge with one of his brothers, Aliyu Maga, who was later killed. I also sustained bullet wounds as a result of gun shots.

At the ripe old age of 93, how do you cope with retirement and pension?
It hasn’t been easy. I receive N7,000 as pension from Niger State and N4,500 from federal government. Federal government hasn’t paid it in eight years and Niger State owes for last month. You can see that I had to fence my house with zinc sheets. Thank Allah for His mercies, we get by.