The day I was turbaned in place of my father, I wept and realized that he is truly gone, says Gen Bamali’s son
By MOLLY KILETE. Abuja
Saturday, September 15, 2007

•A General interred •Photo: Sun News Publishing

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For the Bamalli’s, life has definitely not been the same since the death of their bread winner and former General Officer Commanding 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Nuhu Bamalli who died alongside 13 other top military officers in the ill-fated air force plane crash on September 17, 2006.

One of the late general’s sons, Naziru, who was recently turbaned as Sarkin Fada, Gumel a position his father held before his untimely death in the ill fated crash, however says the good things said about his late father by friends, relatives and even strangers have helped to energize the family and keep it going.

And to prove that his late father was indeed a good man and lived a good life, his course mates trooped to Gumel, in Jigawa State to witness the turbanning of the son of one of their own and also gave him all the fatherly love that he deserved for the great occasion.

One year after the death of his father, Naziru recalled how the reality of his demise suddenly dawned on him and hit him in the face on the day of his turbanning as Sarkin Fadar as he cried openly and wished that it was his father that was being turbaned while he was receiving and attending to visitor.

I wish I wasn’t the one
"I would have been the happiest man on if I was receiving people and my father was the one turbanned on that day". However, he said he was consoled by someone who saw his tears and came to tell him how lucky he was to have lost his father as an adult because he lost his own father when he was just two years old. He said he was so touched and remembered that he has a brother who was just seven months old when their father died and started to think of what to tell the toddler when he grows up. That thought he says gave him the strength to carry on with the ceremony.
The news of the death did not just come as a shock, but hit his entire family as a whirlwind especially when his wife had just put to bed barely ten days before he died and at a time when the family was busy putting everything together a naming ceremony for the new baby.
That memory he says will forever remain in his mind for as long as he lives. "I can never forget that day even if it takes me another one thousand years because it was on a Monday night and my wife put to bed on Saturday September 9, and I called to inform my dad about the good news but he did not pick the call because he was praying so I had to call my mother who was there with him and she later told him about him and he was so excited about it and called to congratulate me. Later I sent him a text message that he should give me the permission to name my son after him when he was still alive and that I want him to select two or three of his second names that I can call my son with. Much later, he sent a reply and this I will never forget. He said "I really appreciate you naming my grand son after me, you and your wife should feel free to choose any second name you want.
I am very proud of you, may the blessings of God be upon you, greet your wife". That was the last text message he sent to me and that Monday night because we were making arrangements to travel to Kano with the baby for the naming ceremony and he later called me that night to ask why I did not tell him my wife was due for delivery and I was so shy to answer. He said it was okay and then asked how far I had gone with the preparation for the naming ceremony and wanted to take over everything but I told him it was okay but before we got to Kano, he had arranged for everything and told me they will all be going to Obudu with the Chief of Army Staff and all the GOCs and Principal Staff Officers for a retreat and promised to branch to Kano to see the baby and proceed to Ibadan and that was the last conversation I had with him until the news about his death got to us.

Baby after grandpa General
To Naziru, his little boy is the most special thing in this world especially when he remembers his name, Nuhu Nazir Bamalli. He says he feels very happy each time he sees the little boy and prays that he grows up to be like his grand father, Gen. Bamalli, and says he will not hesitate to oblige him all the assistance he would need in life if he decides to join the military.
"I will have no regrets if my son will join the military and let him prosper and I pray to God to live long so that I can still hear that name, General Nuhu Bamalli and I am really looking forward to it".
To show the tremendous love the the children have for their father, he says his other brother who is also a Captain in the army gave birth to a baby boy four months after the death of their father and named him after their late father. "I will never get tired of that name, even if I get ten kids I will still name them Nuhu.

Big responsibility
As Sarkin Fadar Gumel, Nazir confessed that his new appointment has taken him to a new level where he has to be conscious of virtually everything around him and the way he conducts himself.
Nazir says he could be given a district to head and attend to the needs of his subjects. Apart from that, he says the job of a Sarkin Fadar can be likened to that of a principal secretary to the emir as he watches over the affairs between the palace and the outside world and screening people that come to see the emir.
And as a young man he says combining the work of a Sarkin Fadar and his business has not been at all easy, but thanks to the emir of Gumel who has shown a lot of understanding and treats him like his own son.