Salifu Adejo: Five years after
It was one very early morning, shortly after subhi prayers. My poor memory would not allow me to recollect accurately when that was, but it was in April 2011. That morning, like others when I visited home, we would sit on a twin wooden stool buried half-way into the soil in front of one of the old houses in the Adejo family compound in Odagbo-Ojoku, to discuss very salient issues regarding his immediate family and the larger Imooh clan. On this particular, day we did just that, and as usual, it would be brief, because we always avoided prying eyes and curious minds. And after this particular one, my father, Salifu Adejo, then left for the house of his late elder sister, nana Hauwa Adejo, whom we fondly called Ója’. As he was going, I was just looking at him and something just struck me - the thought of death. I took a long but reflective guess at my father, then very hale and hearty. In my mind, it just crossed that one day either he or I would be no more, leaving the other behind. The thought of how one of us was going to cope should one leave the other behind ran through my mind, and I started shivering like a Lilly flower.
Well, the inevitability of death has made all that history now. My father is since gone. It is now five years - February 21, 2018, exactly - my dear father passed on, leaving me and my 15 younger ones behind. Because he was around, I could not keep a loyal friend - I don’t know why - he fitted in perfectly as a friend, so much that the thought of having and keeping a very loyal friend never once bothered me. And with my immediate elder sister nana Hadiza and my immediate younger brother Mustapha all around, and with whom I struck a great, strong understanding, I just thought, and have been asking myself if at all there was any need for a loyal friend. Also, there was my father in-law, Malam Yahaya Abubakar, until October 29, 2015 when he also passed on, I needed no loyal friend. Even with all these people around me, I still missed my dear father despite my age at 52. When he was around, nobody came between us no matter the issue at stake. Our close relationship was more than that of two loyal friends. We talked on and about anything under the sun, sometimes like friends.
Our separation began in 1999 when he retired from over 28 years of a meritorious active service in the Nigerian Army as a Corporal. Before his retirement, he was fond of being nostalgic about a quiet life in the village devoid of the hustle and bustle of city life. The opportunity came after he retired, and did not spend much time. Phew! He was back in Odagbo where he was received warmly by his people. It was like they were waiting for him to return. He immediately assumed the leadership of the Imooh clan in Odagbo. No sooner had he returned than the villagers immediately made him chairman of the home branch of Odagbo Community Development Association (OCDA). Not too long after that, he was unanimously made the chairman of Odagbo Central Mosque Caretaker Committee, a post he held until his last breathe. He was the Secretary General of the Nigerian Legion, Ojoku District in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State. This was someone who thought of retiring home to rest from military service after having participated in the 30-month Nigerian civil war. It was far from that. The only relief was that most of these engagements - except the mosque committee - were all part time. He was a rallying point for his people. Sometimes the community never took very important decisions until they heard from him. And when they heard from him, they took his words, and everybody just abided by it. They would say, ‘This is what Baba-Eakpa (as they fondly called him) has said and that is the way to go’.
He was also to re-launch his pet project, a crusade he started in 1967 against environmental degradation in the community. But that was not to be, because on this one, the villagers were not united as the whole matter was misrepresented and twisted. Because compensation was the central issue, they could not come together on how to go about the whole thing, and he allowed the sleeping dog to lie. Odagbo suffered a devastating environmental damage arising from coal exploration by the federal government. The villagers’ farmlands were seized without compensation for more than three decades. In addition to this, there was some kind of identity theft still by the federal government when a branch of the defunct Nigerian Coal Corporation was to be sited. He was worried when he returned to meet the sorry state of Odagbo as the village had and has no road and other social amenities till this moment. All the scars are still there. With him back in the village and me in Kaduna, we kept contacts almost daily with the advent of the GSM in year 2000. I would call him for morning salutations as we used to do when we lived together in Kaduna, and sometimes to enquire on the general welfare of members of the extended family. And when I was late to call, he would call to enquire not just about my welfare alone, but those of my siblings with me in Kaduna. He would also brief me on very important decisions taken at home, especially the ones that affected the clan, and generally about the village. With that I would feel as if we were always together.
Some decisions were delayed at the family level for my input even when he was on ground. Ordinarily, he would have handled such, but he would decline, on the reason that I am now the eldest among my cousins. I knew from then on, that more responsibilities were being bestowed on me. I would beg him to handle such, and he would oblige but with a warning that I should get prepared for the future. Whenever he talked that way, my heartbeat would skip.
On April 4, 2012, on the wedding day of a younger brother, he broke down with an ailment that gradually deteriorated until February 21, 2013 on a bed in Ika Hospital when he breathed his last in the very early hours of a Thursday to leave me to my own devises. I do not have his kind of shoulders nor wisdom, but my elder sister would always remind me, saying ‘now you are our father, we will look up to you for anything about the family’. And back in the village, my cousins would always call to brief me, and sometimes hold-on on matters pending when I am in Odagbo, matters that ordinarily my father would have handled if he was around. One of the reasons I badly miss him.
His honesty and commitment to the welfare of his relations were unwavering, the reason they like visiting him while in active service. He was a disciplinarian and strict, so, does not take indolence and indiscipline from us his children. His house hold was the place to be to my cousins as he treated all of us equally.
He made sure we learnt Qurán very early in life and observe Kamsu Salawat as sharia prescribed and generally be Islamic conscious. He taught us how to navigate through the vagaries of life through his inspirational counselling using Islam as the medium. Yes, we miss you dear father for your unconditional love. Once more thank you. I pray to Allah to continue to grant him and my late mum Hajiya Hauwa’u Adejo His bountiful mercies and make Aljanna Firdaus their final abode,
amin.