It never occurred to me that I would be mourning so soon again, after the death of Hajiya Aisha Ta-kwari of Chikaji – in Sabon Gari Local Government area of Kaduna State. Not even shortly after I lost Aminu Jama’andi, a fellow brother from Danbatta Local Government area of Kano – where my ancestors hail from. I thought I would enjoy a long break from mourning people that I hold in reverence.
Not until the news of Alhaji Yusuf Ladan, a former district head of Kabala, and veteran broadcaster was broken to me by a close friend around noon recently. Another telephone call late evening with his son and my colleague – Abubakar Yusuf Ladan – confirmed my fears about the exit of this former General Manager of Kaduna State Media Corporation (KSMC), whose other special cerebral gifts were well highlighted by the famous and longest-surviving Hausa movie industry magazine – Mujallar Fim – founded by Ibrahim Sheme, another scion of the Nigerian print media journalism, literary goon and biographer.
Before now, I had longed for a private visit to his residence, to ask personal questions about a touching poem that people claimed he crafted decades ago and it became a blockbuster amongst the North’s old school Hausa genre, popularly known as ‘Azizu Danmakaranta.
When I stumbled on him at the Union Bank premises near the historic Magajin Gari Roundabout in the heart of Kaduna, he looked old but not sick at all. Maybe the kind of energy I perceived as I knelt to greet him had overshadowed the inside, too deep for me to even notice his sickness.
Voices in my head were telling me how lucky he seemed to have been so strong at over 80 years. I promised to visit him. Somehow, I couldn’t make it. Occasionally, we would go to his residence at past 9pm and take some ‘heart boosting’ walk around his residence in Maiduguri Road with Abubakar Yusuf Ladan and return for the long drive back to our abodes.
Even in death, the Dan Iyan Zazzau has had his name scribbled in the books of immortality as a man who brought finesse to Hausa radio broadcast, trained not a few young broadcasters, including his younger son, who is already cutting his teeth in the broadcast industry today.
If he was alive, I would have requested for audience one more time, to ask him questions about the poet in him; how his committee managed a thorny issue involving Southern Kaduna’s relationship with their neighbours decades ago. I think the committee was headed by former First Republic Minister – the British-trained lawyer, who was also a Mathematician of respectable standing, the late Dr. Umaru Dikko.
I would have tons of questions for the deceased on why moral rearmament in today’s Northern Nigeria has become comparatively more difficult than it was 80 years ago. I would have asked him questions about the quality of broadcast services during his days as a young journalist and his take on what is obtainable in the industry today.
My wishes of an encounter with him, even if at a private level – as a reporter – would probably have exposed me to some never-heard-before historical facts about my region, our neighbours down south and broadcast media.
Missing this golden opportunity of a professional encounter is clearly a case of destiny and I console myself that it remains so and cannot be reversed by a mere mortal like my humble self, waiting to also breath my last at the appointed time.
Rest on Dan Iya, may Allah in His infinite mercy reward you with Aljannah, grant your family the patience to bear this irreparable loss; along with the broadcast industry, Zazzau Emirate and the rest of us.
Rest on, the quintessential Dan Iya.
N. Dambatta is based in Kaduna
