Musa Alhaji Yamta: A father to all

It was at about 8:15am on one Wednesday morning, when I received a text message from Daddy. He said:  “Wail, Salam, and hope all is fine. Would you please endeavour and accomplish the first phase as it’s essential to reduce work for the few hands?” I said “Ok daddy” and never knew that would be […]

It was at about 8:15am on one Wednesday morning, when I received a text message from Daddy. He said:  “Wail, Salam, and hope all is fine. Would you please endeavour and accomplish the first phase as it’s essential to reduce work for the few hands?” I said “Ok daddy” and never knew that would be the last conversation I would have with my father.
As usual, Daddy would always tell me not to expect his return whenever he travelled, saying he would leave unannounced! And that was how he left on that fateful day.
He once told me after I returned from Zaria, where I took one of my siblings to write the post UTME at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), that I should do same to all, even after he is no more. I promised him that I’ll never let him down, Insha Allah.
It’s one thing to be generous and another to be easy-going and approachable. Some affluent people in the society are magnanimous; many are often stringent, which more often than not, scares people away from them.
Some people deliberately keep “commoners” at bay, not allowing them to get close. But my dear father, ‘Daddy’ as he was fondly called, was one of a kind; a personality who I like to call a man of the people.
He died in a ghastly motor accident along Maiduguri-Damaturu expressway, on Wednesday, September 2, 2015.
While he was alive, Daddy’s doors were always wide open to whoever had a need, be it family members, friends and even strangers.
On the day he died, encomiums poured endlessly from sympathizers, who came to condole the family.
In the midst of his workers, younger siblings and children, you would never believe he wielded such influence and position in the society.
A retired magistrate court judge and lately, an Arbitrator and Solicitor to the Federal Government of Nigeria, daddy was an easy going person, who related freely with anyone, cracking jokes and laughing. While alive, I always see him smile, never hold grudges with anyone and easily forgave.
Though certainly there are, but I have never met a man, who derived so much joy, contentment and pleasure in helping others, and having people around him. Never did daddy ate alone- he always insisted on having someone with whom to share his meals, even if it means sharing with his driver, gateman or anyone available.
Few hours after he had died, I would never forget the wailing and agony of a widow, our mum.
Our father used to make it a point of duty to distribute food items to all neighbouring houses in Abuja, Maiduguri and Biu, our ancestral home.
It’ll be impossible to list the number of relations and non-relations, whom he lend supporting hands to both morally and financially, pulling them to become responsible citizens, successfully independent and self-reliant in life, paving the way for them to build their own families.
He was a unifying force and a bridge-builder, who was constantly preaching on the need for everyone to strengthen ties of kinship. Indeed, he was a Da’I (Islamic evangelist).
Daddy would often help total strangers wherever he met them, offering them shelter, treating them as his very own.  Infact, he was not alone in his ill-fated vehicle when the accident occurred. He had picked his cousin to solve his problem with the university and his niece to give her out in marriage in Maiduguri.
Gladly, the testimony of his driver was that daddy died while reciting verses of the Holy Qur’an.
At his funeral, some slumped and fainted, while many continued to utter in Hausa language “Giwa ta fadi” meaning “The elephant has fallen.”  My hometown, Biu, stood still while the funeral rites lasted. People defied the heavy rain and cold evening breeze to perform the burial, volunteers light up the road to the cemetery, some guiding people away from ditches. This occurred at 8pm, after Isha’i prayer.
An advocate of peace, love, forgiveness, transparency, fairness; a detribalized Nigerian and a man of God has gone for good, Insha Allah.
Farewell, Daddy, and may Allah have mercy on your generous soul. Amin.
Wali sent this peace from Gwarinpa Housing Estate, Abuja +2348065309779