Why I went into grave-digging, by ex-varsity staff

Except for the sound that was coming from the busy Farin Gada Market and the faint whirl of the dry season wind which has inevitably turned the once-green grass into dry fodder in the graveyard, there seemed to be nothing to hear at the moment. At the entrance of the graveyard was what looked like […]

Except for the sound that was coming from the busy Farin Gada Market and the faint whirl of the dry season wind which has inevitably turned the once-green grass into dry fodder in the graveyard, there seemed to be nothing to hear at the moment. At the entrance of the graveyard was what looked like a ramshackle, purposely built to serve as security post for the Maigadi.

An elderly man was sitting inside with a much younger person behind him. One need not enquire what they were waiting for as they mistook this reporter to have come to solicit a measurement for a dead person’s grave, which is usually the tradition.

The elderly man’s name was Malam Abubakar, born and brought up in Jos, Plateau State. He was the man in charge of the Rusau burial ground where Muslims bury their dead in the area. His face is a familiar one wherever he goes within Jos metropolis.

56-year-old Malam Abubakar’s fame within Jos is very easy to explain, for if you ask  anyone, the person will tell you that he is the grave-digger at Rusau. The grave-digger himself has at many a time been bereaved. “Both my parents are buried here, as is my 21-year-old son and as well as my four grandchildren.”

Malam Abubakar, who has been digging graves for over 19 years, said he first conceived the idea after he retired as an employee at the University of Jos where he worked as an artist. He started as a security man for the graveyard and later converted to a grave-digger. “I noticed over time that when people come to bury their dead, they don’t know how to dig the grave, because then, it was people who dig the graves themselves. But being someone who has worked in the mining industry, I decided to combine guarding the place with digging graves.”

Although his volunteerism was in the first place not accorded with any reward for he volunteered for the sake of Allah to take up the work, some people decided to put Malam Abubakar on a token of N500, then N1000 and currently N2000. “But whenever people come for burials, they give us tokens. We don’t tell people what they should give us,” he said.

According to Malam Abubakar there are different types of graves which are dug for the deceased, “but the most common grave found in this part of the country is the Shakku (two steps), however there are others like the Difino (for children). These are all types of graves that we dig.” He added that the most difficult to dig is the Lihadi, because you first have to dig up to waist level, then make another deep hole by the side which will contain the dead person. “You can finish two Shakku while the person digging Lihadi wouldn’t have finished digging one.”

Asked to highlight the hazards they face in the cause of their work, Malam Abubakar explained that there is no particular one, except that one would encounter snakes now and then. “But you know the thing with snakes is they never attack you, except you cross their path.”

Do grave-diggers see spirits, ghosts and such? He replied: “In the 19 years that I have worked here, I have never encountered anything like that. It is just a myth.”

Malam Abubakar however noted one night which he said he would never forget. “It was about three o’clock in the morning when one man came with a dove in his hand. There was a charm around the neck of the bird.”

Abubakar continued: “After burying the dove alive, he left and I quickly went to the place and unearthed it. The dove was still breathing when I brought her out. I quickly went after the man and stopped him and asked him why he did what he did. At first he was trying to deny doing anything, then I told him what I saw him did. He started crying, telling me that he was asked by a marabout. I preached to him to never do it again and told him to always ask Allah for anything he was looking for. He wanted to go back and unearth the dove but I told him that I had already done that.”

Malam Abubakar further reiterated the need for the Muslim community to come out for the yearly clearing of graveyards, adding that appeals should be made to people to come out en masse.