HE and his friends had been moulding bricks for others to build their houses and they made money from it. However, when it was time for him to do same and build his own house, death came calling, bringing tears, and gnashing of teeth to the family of Baba Abdullahi Adamu of Miri village, on the outskirts of Bauchi.

 Twenty-five-year-old Mallam Idris Abdullahi, a father of three, was penultimate Saturday, crushed to death by a boulder while excavating sand with which to mould bricks for his own house. Until he met his untimely death, he had been living with his wife and three children in his father’s compound.

 Idris and his bosom  childhood friend, Nuhu Hamidu, were no strangers to the site of excavation as they usually went there with their diggers and shovels to dig out sand for moulding bricks for commercial purposes, but that day was to be the last for Idris, while his friend is alive today to mourn and equally tell the story some times in his lifetime.

 The Nigerian Tribune gathered that as soon as they got to the site which was not far from their houses, the friends started to dig out sand, moulded some bricks, before going back to dig out more sand in order to mould more bricks. Had they known what fate had in stock for them, they probably could have called it a day after the first attempt! It was while they were digging to excavate sand at the second attempt that Idris met his death as a giant boulder, under which they were excavating, fell on the deceased’s chest, killing him on the spot, while Nuhu escaped unhurt.

 The deceased and his friend, it was learnt, were digging deep under the foot of the boulder before it caved in. Excavation activities going on in the vicinity of the boulder, it was gathered, had rocked its foundation to the extent that the foundation was no longer strong enough to withstand any pressure, forcing it to make way and rolled on the deceased.  A sympathiser, who came to commiserate with the Abdullahis and did not mention his name, told the Nigerian Tribune that, “This was not the first time the deceased and his friends were excavating sand from the site. On that day, they were digging deep under the giant stones and from what we saw later, there was no strong base for the boulder to stand and it suddenly rolled and fell on Idris’s chest and crushed him to death on the spot.”  Another sympathiser informed that it took more than three hours before Idris’s lifeless body could be retrieved from under the rock, adding that, “we had to borrow a tipper belonging to a construction company to dragged the boulder away from the body.

A very big chain was attached to the tipper with which the boulder was dragged away from the body. This effort took us more than three hours, before we could retrieve the lifeless body.”

Speaking on the death of Idi, as he used to call the deceased, the bereaved father, Baba Abdullahi Adamu, who is the ward chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), though surprised at the sudden death of his beloved son, who he said was outstanding among his 12 children, said that as painful as his son’s death was, he had no choice than to accept was befell him as “everything that happened to one in life has a purpose”.

 The 63-year-old Abdullahi Adamu, however, gave thanks to Allah for giving him the late Idris and “who also took him away from me”, saying that the deceased was an obedient child throughout his short but meaningful life. “I have 12 children but Idi was very outstanding; he never disobeyed me throughtout his lifetime. He has been very obedient, doing my wish always. But Alhamdulillahi, Nagode Allah (SWT). Allah ya bayar kuma yakarba (Glory be to Allah. Thank Allah (SWT). It is Allah that gave him to me and He has taken him away from me).”  The bereaved father’s comment on Idris was corroborated by those who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune as they were in unison in their description of the deceased as an obedient person who was hardworking and friendly with everyone he came in contact with while he was alive.   The deceased, who was buried immediately his remains were retrieved from the excavation site, left behind his father and mother, Mama Fatima Abdullahi, who is a 60-year-old; a 21-year-old wife, Hamma, and three children, Musa (4), Amina (3) and Faiza, who is 18-months old.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment