Rabiu and I: A tribute
By
Wed Feb 24 2021
Any time one loses a relative or a friend, one feels like a part of one has died with that person, especially when that person was as close a friend as Rabiu Garba was to me. We knew each other all our lives as we were born and brought up in the same neighbourhood, went to the same primary and secondary schools in the 60s and 70s respectively.
Rabiu Garba was so many things to so many people, and the people he knew were many, and every person whose path crossed his in life has a positive tale to tell about this wonderful human being. For example, while he was being buried at the Tudun Wada Cemetery in Kano, a friend of his was crying like a baby, and it was I who consoled him. After he calmed down, he narrated to me an encounter between him and the deceased that happened over 30 years ago. He said when he married newly he had no car and his bride was a university student. His dilemma was how to solve the problem of taking her to school an
However, despite the confusion relocating the almajirai generated among state governors, many children are seen in their numbers, in tattered clothes and with begging bowls in the streets of Zuba, Bauchi, Lafia, Kano and Kaduna.
Our correspondent in Bauchi observed an increasing number of almajirai at different markets, motor parks, petrol stations, local food joints and prominent junctions in the state capital particularly Wunti Roundabout, where they spend the day begging for alms.
Almajirai were also seen on major roads, streets, and popular junctions begging for food and money, a situation that exposes them to traffic and other dangers.
Daily Trust recalled that the Bauchi State Government had last year repatriated hundreds of almajirai to their states of origin and received another set from neighbouring states who were reunited with their parents.