A call came to me that a colleague of ours died in his sleep during the period of lockdown. He was alone in his house in Kaduna while his wife and children were in his hometown of Kano.
When people were allowed to come out on the usual Tuesdays and Wednesdays to stock up on food, they noticed they have not seen him because he is the kind of person that is friendly with everyone. He never miss the opportunity to poke fun at people.
The neighbours reached out to his family and discovered he was not with them. Eventually, they decided to break the door to his house, only to discover that he’d been dead for 3 days.
He was not sick. At least, not that anyone know of. Scared, they told me they called the NCDC. They said they were told to wait. They waited for hours. No response.
They kept calling. After about several hours. They were told to just go and bury him. The people were afraid. So, no one will go near the corpse.
In the end, and at the risk of their health and lives, the people wrapped my late colleague in a cloth and mat, and took him to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital believing that if the call is from a government owned hospital NCDC will respond. They called. Still, NCDC was no show.
Eventually, they were given two overalls, masks and gloves by the State Government’s Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital and my institution. The men you are seeing in the attached photo are the Imam and one other other person who wore the apparels and loaded him into a truck to the mortuary to see if the NCDC will still come.
Now, we all know that Muslims bury our dead immediately according Islamic rites, but the people in the neighbourhood had the presence of mind to call the NCDC. For Muslims to be delaying burial shows that they are seriously concerned about their safety and other people in the area.
As I got to the hospital as the leader of my academic Union, I heard people (unfortunately), saying that the NCDC only responds to calls from and tests the rich. I don’t even know how to convince them that it is not so.
I and some of my colleagues just stood there like trees while they share such disturbing ideas. It is a terrible thing for people to believe in, let alone openly share amongst themselves.
It is so sad that I cannot deny to these people that if it were a politician, top public official or some business mogul or their family and not a mere lecturer, the NCDC will be there without invitation. I couldn’t help thinking that thought.
In the end, they decided to follow the ADVICE of the NCDC and take him to the burial ground on Bashama Road where I joined them from the hospital. If this kind man is not my friend, senior brother and a member of the Union that I lead, I don’t think I’ll follow them. But I did, as I watch from afar.
May Allah forgive our colleague’s sins, and grant him Aljannat Firdaus. Ya Allah protect us from us!
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