The father of a newlywed lady who married in Jos last Saturday, as well as two other people, were killed on their way back to Bauchi.
WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that they were involved in a fatal accident.
The deceased, Joseph Dadi (62), Gideon Ayuba (39) and Mrs Mary Goddy (31) died in a single car accident last Saturday, less than 30 kilometers from Bauchi.
Mrs Paulina Dadi, the bride’s mother, who was in the Prado Jeep driven by Ayuba, was alleged to have been hurt in the collision and is being treated at Bauchi’s Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH).
Dadi, a retired Personal Assistant to the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Professor Elias Bogoro, served on the Bauchi State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board until his death.
While Ayuba was the personal driver to Bauchi State Governor’s Special Adviser on Legal Matters, Barrister Kefas Magaji, till his death, Goddy was a staff member of SEDO Microfinance Bank, Bauchi.
Meanwhile, tears flowed freely on Wednesday as family members, friends and hundreds of sympathisers converged on the Church of Christ in Nations, LCC Millennium Quarters in Bauchi for the funeral service of the deceased.
Speaking at the service, Bauchi State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mbami Tula, who led the state government’s delegation, while extending Governor Bala Mohammed’s condolence to the bereaved families, urged them and the entire church to move closer to God in such moment of grief, saying only God can truly give comfort.
He declared that the deaths were too many for the people of Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa respectively, assuring them that the state government was with them in such a grieving period.
According to the commissioner, “The governor has asked us to extend his condolences to the families of the deceased. Death is inevitable for everyone but how we die differs.
“And because of this, in every situation we find ourselves, we should give thanks to God because He allowed it to happen.
“For the people of Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa, these are great deaths for us to lose three people at a time, it is not easy. For the close relations of these deceased, only God will comfort you.
“Anywhere such things happen, the government is always with the people because they placed the government in power.”
Also speaking, Governor Mohammed’s Special Adviser on Legal Matters, Kefas Magaji, described the incident as not only tragic but also devastating.
Magaji stated that Dadi was his longtime friend, while Ayuba was his employee for 19 years, declaring that he was devastated by their death but accepted what happened in good faith.
The governor’s aide said, “I feel devastated by these deaths because Joseph Dadi was my close friend for so many years, while Gideon has been my staff for close to 19 years. God has called them and I have accepted what has happened in good faith.”
Magaji narrated that Dadi asked him to give him (Dadi) his (Magaji’s) jeep to use for the wedding ceremony, adding that he asked Ayuba to drive his friend to the wedding ceremony.
“On Friday, my friend, Joseph Dadi, called me that since I won’t make it to his daughter’s wedding in Jos, I should give him my car to use although he has a car but he needed my jeep because of the terrain of where the wedding will take place. I gave him my Prado Jeep and asked Gideon to drive him.
“At about 9pm while I was returning from a meeting, Gideon’s wife called me that her husband was not yet back but I calmed her down that all was well and I told her to go and sleep.
“Just about two minutes later, my friend called me to say that Gideon had an accident and he had died. I couldn’t believe the story, so I entered my house and stood outside for a long time without knowing what to do.
“Finally, I went in and told my wife. But I still didn’t know what to do. I started making calls and I was later told that some of them were in the hospital.
“So I drove to the hospital and as I was getting in, the lady (Mary) gave up. Gideon and Joseph Dadi were brought to the hospital as corpses. But the other lady had a fracture and died the next day, Sunday,” he said.
The Chairman, Bogoro Local Government Area, who also spoke on behalf of Tafawa Balewa LGA counterpart, Iliya Habila, said, “we are here to share in this grief, the painful exits of three people but this is the reality and summary of life.
“From birth to death, they are mysteries, only God can explain to us. These people are no more, we are the ones that are grieved and pained, we must seek comfort from God because there are lessons.”
The remains of both Dadi and Ayuba were interred at the Christian cemetery at Yelwa Bauchi, while those of Goddy were taken to Murai in Bogoro LGA where she was buried.
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