“I have not lost anything, Allah has simply taken back what He gave in trust”. This was the philosophical declaration of Alhaji Sunusi Bello, 55, who lost six members of his family, his wife and five children in Kano. Tragedy occurred when a 50 years old mud house he inherited from his late father at Warure quarters in the old city of Kano caved in early Sunday morning.
The tragedy-struck man has, however, continued to display uncommon stoicism about his fate as sympathisers daily throng the home of his next door neighbour where he is presently taking refuge to offer their condolences. Indeed, he maintained a calm and untroubled mien during a chat with Vanguard Metro, VM, on Monday.
Though his face could not betray his hurt, but there is enough reason to believe that deep in his heart is a pain that will take a long time to cure, the pain of losing a family he had spent the last two decades to build. Of importance too was the dream of his 20-year-old eldest daughter, Ruqqayya Bello, who was billed to tie the nuptial bond next month.
“As predestined, the dream of cuddling my grand children crumbled before my very eyes,” he intoned reflectively.
*Debris of the collapsed mud house that claimed Bello’s family
The victims of that Monday tragic incident in Kano included the 45-year-old house wife, Amina Bello; Ruqqayya Bello 20, eldest daughter billed to wed next month; Fidausi Bello 7; Abashiya Bello 6, and the youngest member of the family named after his grandfather, Bello Sunusi Bello 2.
Another youngster buried in the rubbles was identified as Abdul Bello, 3, Sunusi Bello’s nephew, who alongside his father, Mansour Sunusi occupied the top floor of the old structure.
Yet Sunusi Bello who escaped the incident by sheer divine intervention told VM that he has not lost anything, pointing out that the tragic event that claimed six members of his family was destined by God.
Bello stated that he owed his life and his existence to God, adding that his faith was never shaken by the turn of events in that those who died under the circumstances are martyrs.
“I have not lost anything; Allah has simply taken back what He gave me in trust and they have all died as martyrs,” Sunusi Bello stressed.
Sunusi Bello who was flanked by his elder brother, Mansur Bello, 58, commended the prompt response of men of the Fire Service Department and his neighbours who mobilised and retrieved the mangle bodies of the deceased for burial.
But beyond Bello’s tragedy lie the ugly realities of life in an urban slum. Though Warure is located in the sprawling municipal often referred to as Old Kano, but the road to the urban slum is tortuous, accessibility is poor and there is near absence of drainage system in the entire quarters.
Warure, like many adjourning quarters in the ancient city, is a metaphor of government failure in the Old Kano City where many houses dotting the large expanse of land that host one third of over nine million population of the Northern commercial centre deserved to be pull down in order to save lives.
Some observers are of the opinion that successive governments in the state paid scant attention to the lurking tragedy while billions of naira which accrued to the state over the last decade were wasted on frivolities.
VM was informed that the only bold attempt to open up the urban slums in recent years was initiated by the immediate past Governor of the state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau who awarded a multi- million naira road project that was abandoned before he vacated the seat of power.
The present government, it has been argued, needs to give priority attention to the old quarters, and it has to be urgent too as a stitch in time saves nine.
Vanguard online
No comments:
Post a Comment