HOW AMINU MU'AZU DIED

It's five long years today since my cousin, Aminu Mu'azu, died. He had been ill for some time following what appeared to be minor injuries he sustained in an accident, which proved to be fatal. 

He had driven his car to somewhere within Funtua when he realized that he had to go back home to retrieve something and return to the same place. He decided to engage the services of a motorcyclist to take him back and forth. Along the way he had the accident that turned out to be the cause of his death. Since that time, he had never been well again. 

Although several tests were conducted, nothing serious was established to warrant his hospitalization. So he kept on, not well enough and not exactly seriously sick, either.

Several months later on the morning he died, he had entertained a few friends who had come to visit him from Bakori, offering them tea. He was seen coming out of his house to buy milk for them and returned. They were the last to see him alive. 

Shortly after they had left, he called his son, Abdurrahim, and told him to help him perform ablution on him, as he wanted to offer the supererogatory prayer of duha (Nawafil) as he was wont to do at sunrise. Since that fatal accident, his son performed ablution on him while he prayed in a sitting position. We had prayed with him several times in a similar fashion. 

After performing the ablution, before praying, he filled out a cheque and told Abdurrahim to go to the bank close to his house and collect some money for him. It happened that there was a mistake on the cheque and the bank staff told the boy to return the cheque for correction. 

The boy found his father sitting on the seat in a prayer position, his head raised towards the sky as it rested  on the headrest, both his hands spread one on each lap, but dead...

I was at the time in Gombe, together with Auwalu Rabilu, on our way to the Airport to convey my Oga, Chris Okoyomoh, who was returning to Abuja after attending a function, when the news was broken to me. It was Alhaji Aminu Muazu 's best friend, Mustapha Bello Anache, who called and told me... 

The previous day, Aminu had called me in the afternoon and we chatted for a long time, cracking jokes and laughing as we usually did. I even recorded our conversation as I was testing a new call recorder I had recently downloaded. For a long time after, I used to play that chat and remember what happened... 

May Allah have mercy on him and forgive his shortcomings.