As if it was yesterday, but it’s been over forty years, I was with your Mother, Hajia Aishatu Magaji (my older sister) at the Specialist hospital in Bauchi, Bauchi State, Nigeria; laying on a floor mat waiting for your arrival. She was in pain and hardly moving her legs. She woke in the middle of the night for me to help her, but I would be deeply sleeping—whatever was close to her, she would throw at me to wake me up.
Your arrival was heralded with great joy. You were beautiful inside and out. You were very cute, and you were showered with so much love by your parents, Alh.
Audu Magaji and your mom. Least to say your grandmother, Mama Maryamu Ibrahim, your great grandmother, Nana Jummai Ali Lubo, your grandfather Daddy Magaji Difa, Your grandmother Kaka Jummai Magaji Difa, many more grannies, grand Aunts, Aunts and more. The day of your birth, I was at the hospital.
I guess I was the first to see you after the midwife and your Mom. Indeed, I claimed you to be mine. I thought you looked like me, even though your wife, Maryam doubts it.
You were about two years when your father traveled to the United Kingdom for his studies where your Mom would later join him. I was left with you and your older brother, Bashir Magaji. We bonded.
You later joined the Air Force Military School in Jos for your high school, I guess following a “spell” of grandmother, mother Mama Maryamu Ibrahim. She always referred to you at a very tender age, as “soja” meaning soldier and to your olde.
