Wedding party ends in agony
ABDULRAUF Mahmoud Bappa is still at a loss over what must have gone wrong. He is still pondering the ghastly accident which killed 12 of his immediate and extended family members, who attended a wedding party of a relative at the Zyadi-Gyadi Pedestrian Bridge area of Kano at about 11.00 p.m. on last Saturday.
Bappa cannot fathom how the deceased, who were part and parcel of his life, would pass on without the slightest form of inclination. He had hoped the youngsters would live their lives to ripe old age. But, that was not to be.
Looking dejected, he recalled his last moments with some of the deceased on that fateful Saturday night.
” You can’t believe this. I was with them at the Ni’imma Guest Palace at the Nasarawa GRA, nine minutes before the accident occurred. I saw them off in their cars. They were 12 and I recalled that they shared themselves into two – six per each of the cars that were involved on the accident.
I was surprised when I later learnt that they were more than 12 in the cars. Out of the 14 that were involved in the accident, only one of them was unknown to me. He must have been a friend who also attended the wedding ceremony. They were all related to me. Three of them were my blood brothers while the other were either my cousins or nephews or the people who grew up with us. They belonged to us too.”
Abdulrauf, who works with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Kano recalled how he made an effort to save the victims. He disclosed that among the dead were his mother’s last born, Usman Mahmoud Bappa. He died on the spot.
“When I heard of the accident, we rushed to the scene. We met eight of them dead. We couldn’t get close to them because of the scorching fire. The other four died in my hands when we took them to the hospital. They believed in me and thought I could save them. They were asking me for water. I wished I could save them from dying. It was a terrible experience for me because I was like a father and role model to them. They all died before my eyes.
“They usually visited me at the NYSC camp and whenever they came around, I would take them round and charged them to strive to be like the NYSC members, who had completed their studies in the universities or polytechnics. One of those who died had written his WAEC and was waiting to gain admission into the university. His life was cut short in the accident. It is a great tragedy”
He disclosed that among the victims were Bashor Mahmoud, who recently graduated with 16 points (IJMB examinations) from the Kano State College of Arts and Remedial Studies.
The groom, Alhaji Abdullahi Yahuza, whose marriage caused the demise of 12 youngsters, is really devastated by the unfortunate incident.
He told The Guardian: “If I knew that it would end like this, I would have completely forgotten marriage. It has brought tragedy to my family and the entire Kano State. We were happy on that day before tragedy struck. Nobody ever thought that we would all be crying today. We have lost a generation of youths who should be taking over from the aged, in just one night.”
Looking depressed, he lamented fixing the date of the wedding on Saturday, October 17, in the first place. He said that some of the deceased, whose ages ranged between15 to 22, were all his relatives.
“They included Nuaraini, Nura, Abbati, Gambo, Abdulaziz and Adamu, who were all my relatives. They were either my maternal or paternal cousins. In fact, Alhaji Kura, who is still in the hospital, is my brother.”
Yahuza was attending to hordes of sympathizers who converged on Gyadi Gyadi, opposite AKTH residence of former Kano Commissioner for Rural and Community Development, Dr. Mahmoud Bappa.
Two of the deceased were children of the former Commissioner, Bappa, who appeared calm and organized, as hundreds of sympathizers joined him to offer prayers for the repose of his children.
As at 3.00 p.m. when The Guardian visited the scene of the accident, the cars involved in the accident had been taken to an unknown location. Passersby were seen taking a glimpse at one of the pillars of the pedestrian bridge, which was badly hit by the cars, before one of the cars swerved towards the right hand side to hit a container of fuel stored by black marketers, which ignited the fire that caused such pains and agony.
