I have struggled to write a tribute for many years in honour of family members, friends and and acquaintances, but having found myself this morning dominated by the thoughts of the events of 10th September, 2016, when I loss my immediate elder brother; a friend, a close confidant, counsellor and supporter of immeasurable value, I couldn’t resist the desire to pen something about him and the circumstances of his death.
Y. S. Abubakar, a retired Captain of the Nigerian Army was a member of the Air Defence Artillery Regiment, where he served mostly in Maiduguri, Jos, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He was an ardent sportsman, even in service, a boxer, taekwondi, judoka, body builder, hockey player and a great lover and collector of power bikes died exactly 6 years ago at the Cedarcrest Hospitals, Abuja in an unprofessional handling of his medical surgery of Lumber Canal Stenosis with right foot drop, arising from an accident he suffered when he was knocked down while jogging along the road, 20 years earlier, serving in Maiduguri then.
He was different things to different people; uncle Sheikh, brother Sheikh, Yusufu, Officer, Boxer, Youseef, Malam, Tanko (a name he resent, coming after the birth of 4 females) and Yallabai to me. We shared great affinity, partly because we grew up closely together, particularly after the death of our parents in our native town of Jimeta, Yola, first our mother, months after our father and had to move to live with our eldest brother in Samaru, Zaria, a man who was more of a father to us in the true sense of the word; he showed us tremendous love, care, support and much more, Allah ya rahama mashi da matan shi baki daya – Aameen Ya Rabbi!
I will never forget the night our Mum died, I was too young to understand the import of what happened, being the youngest in the family. Everyone was crying and I was consoling them, he shook me repeatedly, saying “Usman, Usman bazamu kara ganin Maman mu ba fa” (Usman, Usman we will never see our mother again) and continued crying, but I said it’s ok and continued my attempt at pleading and consoling them. It was an incredible night that has remain so fresh in my memory till today.
The knocked he received from that accident manifested 20 years after in foot drop with intermittent excruciating pains which usually disappeared after taking analgesic, but it never stopped him from his usual activities in the Masjid, pimping his cars, biking, gardening and daily routine in his outdoor gym, where he had a good collection of self created equipments.
When the pains became a reoccurring problem, we advised him to see an orthopedic doctor at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, where he was diagnosed with Lumber problem and surgery was recommended. We were arranging to take him to India or Egypt when a friend told him to approach the Defence Health Maintenance Limited to finance the treatment, being a retired Military Officer.
He came to Kaduna from his Maiduguri base and we visited the DHML Office in Abuja and I was part of subsequent visits too, but they informed him they don’t finance medical treatment abroad because it is outside their mandate, but are willing to bear medical cost within the country, particularly where they have retenation. They recommended Cedarcrest Hospitals as capable of handling his case. The MD, a fine and great gentleman, retired Naval General was very helpful and supportive. May Allah continue to bless him abundantly.
Yusuf was introduced to the hospital in one of our visits, he was examined, series of tests were conducted, including MRI. They recommended lumber surgery, the Defence Health Maintenance Limited paid huge for the surgery.
Yusuf, as if he had a premonition of dead, 3 times he failed to come for the surgery from Maiduguri. We did a lot of talking, convincing and pleading before he came, arguing in his usual jokes “kar ayi ma mutun allura ya kasa tashi” (what if one doesn’t recover from the anaesthesia), sadly he didn’t recover from that surgery. Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Raji’un!
He was determined not to have the surgery, even after reminding him money has been paid and already on admission the night before the surgery, he was still telling friends he will doesn’t want to go ahead with the surgery, after all he is good and kicking.
I couldn’t go to Abuja with them, for the first time that Friday morning because of some commitments, but quite early that faithful Saturday morning we left Kaduna for Abuja with my son, with no apprehension something bad will happen.
He was in the theatre by the time we got to the hospital, we joined his wife, daughter, son, our niece, her daughter and were later joined by our niece’s husband, waited patiently and in prayers, being an 8 hours surgery. 10 hours after, no words and we became really worried, agitated and started asking questions.
The doctor said he is still in the ICU recovering. Hours after, he was moved upstairs to another room and I was invited by the Indian doctor, where I found him motionless, surrounded by doctors trying to resuscitate him, to no avail. I stepped out convinced we have loss him and said so undoubtedly to family members present.
It was minutes after, the doctor walked into the waiting area and apologetically announced to us his passing away. We went in and prayed fervently for Allah’s mercy for him. The doctor invited me to his office, showed me the pictorial procedures of the surgery, saying it was successfully concluded, but regretting what happened to negligence of the anesthesiologist, possible overdose, arguing it was a minor surgery with no threats to life and in his over 30 years of surgery across the world, he has never witnessed this kind of failure. I thank him, assuring him we are people of faith and strongly believe he was destined to die when he died.
The hospital released the body to us the next morning, we moved him to the National Mosque, Abuja for the Janaza prayers and buried at the Gudu Cemetery.
The hospital denied us the Death Certificate for weeks, fearing possible litigation until the MD, Defence Health Maintenance Limited angrily intervened.
There was pressure from friends to sue the hospital for damages to serve as a deterrent, but as people who strongly believe in destiny we all agreed it will not bring him back and will rather hurt us the more. Mun barsu da Allah.
Yusuf was a very good, friendly, kindhearted, jovial, strong willed and religious person. He was so full of wits, easily appealed to people with his open mindedness and jokes. He was a friend and a darling to many people, even in the hospital. He was was highly principled and can be uncompromising, a factor that might have affected his career progression in the military.
He left behind a wife, 5 children, sisters, brothers, nephews, nieces and cousins. We surely miss him, but he is always in our prayers, Allah ya rahama mashi, Allah yasa Aljannah Firdausi ne makoman shi da sauran magabatan mu – Aameen Ya Rabbi!
Mr Abubakar writes from Kaduna
