Remembering late Likita Sule Maiyawo

But coming back to why it took me over three weeks to gather the strength to write this tribute about this young, energetic, excellent man that Likita was, I   can’t figure out why, suffice to say that, Likita’s death was one death that has had an impact on me probably like no other in my […]

But coming back to why it took me over three weeks to gather the strength to write this tribute about this young, energetic, excellent man that Likita was, I   can’t figure out why, suffice to say that, Likita’s death was one death that has had an impact on me probably like no other in my entire life. Of course, I had lost my father few months after my graduation from the university after being with him for several months at home on his sick bed. My father’s death made me realise at that early age the futility and worthlessness of this transient, fleeting life. I have also lost a couple of brothers and sisters but none of those deaths had actually touched me like that of Likita which occurred on October 6, 2013, equivalent of 1st Dhulhijja 1434 AH at the Primus Super Specialty Hospital, Abuja.
He had cerebral malaria which had gone unnoticed for probably a long time until it was detected so late. For Likita indeed was like no other. He might be the last and youngest in the family, but to me he was our best because he was like a pillar that everyone had at one time or the other relied on for one thing or the other which he had always done cheerfully, eagerly, efficiently, sincerely and promptly with all his energy.
I first got to know he wasn’t feeling too well on September 22, 2013 when I was seated in our mother’s room at Katsina. He came to the house with his wife and daughter to greet our mum and went straight to the long seater to lie down. After an exchange of greetings, I asked what the problem was, and he told me they were just coming from the hospital and that he had been diagnosed with malaria and typhoid fever. Little did I know that I would be the one to wash his corpse, shroud him and bury him.
After our discussion, we all came out together along with his wife and daughter to see me off.  Later, I tried calling to speak to him on my return to Abuja but his line wouldn’t just go through and at a time I thought he might have switched off his lines to have some rest as I advised. His wife later told me he took the drugs for just about two days after I had left and that he wasn’t eating at all. He was hallucinating and could not recognise even his daughter. When I woke up on Sunday 29th October, I received a text message from my sister in Kaduna that his condition was fast deteriorating and we agreed to bring him from the hospital immediately. To our greatest shock, when they reached the hospital, Likita’s blood pressure had gone down to 70/40. So, we discussed and started making arrangement to bring him to Abuja, but on medical advice, we had to still wait for him to stabilise enough to withstand the rigour of a long journey to Abuja by road.
Fortunately, on October 1, he got better and the BP had now gone back to near normal at 110/65. We then decided to move the following morning. We thought of taking him to either the National Hospital or Primus Super Specialty Hospital, but we settled for the Indian run Primus Super Specialty Hospital because of their expertise and the fact that the resident doctors at public hospitals in the country were to start a nationwide strike on October 2.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. Around 11:30pm on October 1, his wife called to inform us that while she was reading the Quran, Likita fell from the bed, adding that he had been assisted back by some men, but that he could not talk. He was in coma throughout the night. My brother arranged for an ambulance and we left for Abuja the following day.
As we left for Abuja with Likita in coma in the ambulance, his wife and I were in my car and Kasimu. I never thought we could make it to Abuja with him alive. But as God would have it, we arrived around 3.40pm with Likita still breathing, but still in deep coma. We were immediately ushered into the Intensive Care Unit] (ICU) where about seven professionals received him and started their work on him. We were thereafter requested to come out of the ICU and I went with Alhaji Umaru Jibia to register and open a file for him.
Around 7am the following day, our cousin called to inform me that the hospital had just called him requesting that we should come around as Likita had a cardiac arrest, but that they were trying to revive him. As I was driving to the hospital, I had a feeling that we might not meet Likita alive. And that was exactly what happened. He died shortly before we got to the hospital around 7:50am. The consultant physician, Dr Kiran Kumar Kiran, condoled us and said the situation got worst the previous night and they had to even sedate him to sleep, but had a cardiac arrest in the morning and all efforts to revive him failed. We thereafter went to see Likita’s corpse. We closed his eyes and prayed over him and came out to call my wife at home and requested her to hand over the phone to Ummi, Likita’s wife to tell her about the incident and thereafter called other relatives. 
We decided to bury him in Abuja since we, his wife and other relatives including our elder brother, Alhaji Bello, who is at home recuperating from an eye surgery, were all around. All we needed to do was to seek the understanding of our mother in Katsina. She agreed.
Likita’s friend, Aminu Sodangi, told us that before his death, Likita had asked him take his ATM card and get him some money because he wanted to give out some money to the ICU staff who had been taking good care of him. 
We in the family also remembered with admiration how we entrusted Likita to taking care of our late father’s reliable housemaid, Malam Halilu, who had spent 45 years with us. When Halilu was ill, Likita took him to various hospitals in Kano, Kaduna and Katsina, until he died in 2010 in Likita’s warm, compassionate hands at the General Hospital in Katsina.
One of Likita’s last major assignment in the family was about three months ago when he was asked to get a bicycle for our niece, Saadatu who was crippled by the same cerebral malaria at a very tender age. Within a day, Likita bought a specially-made bicycle for Saadatu. Could it just be a coincidence that one of his last major assignments was helping his niece afflicted by an ailment that was also to eventually lead to his own death just three months after?
His peers and contemporaries attested to the fact that from primary one, Likita never took anyone as enemy and would always avoid arguments even if he was right.  He was very polite to all he came across and was always willing to help others in need.  He left behind our aged mother, his wife who is just two months pregnant and one-year-seven-month-old daughter, Muhibbah. We shall forever miss you, Likita.  Allah ya jikanka, ya rahamsheka, yasa ka huta, ya albarkaci abun da ka bari, ameen.
Maiyawo wrote in from Katsina.
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