Adnan Bawa Bello
The Emir of Katsina, Usman Nagogo (1905–1981), sent a young boy with a letter to the Emir of Kano, Sunusi I (1903–1991), stating that both of the boy’s parents were from the Minjibir district in the Kano Emirate but had settled in Katsina.
He further explained that the parents had passed away within a few days of each other due to a communicable disease. Nagogo requested Sunusi to trace the relatives of the boy’s parents and hand the orphan over to them.
If the relatives could not be located, he asked that the boy be returned to him so that he could raise the child and earn the reward of Allah, as he expressed in the letter.
All efforts by the district head of Minjibir to locate the boy’s relatives proved futile, and the boy was eventually sent back to Sunusi. Maigida Isyaku, who later became Shamakin Kano, advised Sunusi to return the boy to Nagogo as requested since the relatives could not be found.
However, Sunusi said, “Da uwar yaron nan da uban sa an ce dukkansu namu ne na Kano (Head of Palace Slaves). Don me za mu maida shi Katsina? Don me mu ba zamu rike shi, mu samu ladan ba?” (Meaning: “Since both parents of the boy were Kano indigenes, why should we take him back to Katsina? Why wouldn’t we raise him and earn the rewards of Allah?”)
Alkali Abubakar Jakada (1922–2011), who was then the Malamin Larabawa (Emir’s Arabic Interpreter), pleaded with Sunusi to hand over the orphan to him for adoption. Sunusi replied in Hausa, “Sai kayi mana alkawarin zaka rike shi, tamkar yanda zaka rike ɗan da ka haifa.” (Meaning: “You should take an oath that you will treat him the same way you would treat your biological children.”) Jakada responded, “Duk abinda na yiwa fa na a duniya zan yi masa.” (Meaning: “I will treat him equally with my own children.”)
Jakada handed over the orphan to his senior wife, Hajiya Mariya, and made her pledge to treat the child equally with her biological children. Jakada not only kept his promise to Sunusi but went above and beyond, doing for the orphan what he could not do for his children:
1. He gave the boy a house, though he did not give any of his biological children a house.
2. He gave the boy a large farm that had been gifted to him by the district head of Gezawa, Maiunguwa Aminu Yusuf.
3. Jakada paid the dowry for the boy’s wife and sponsored all aspects of his marriage, while his biological sons had to fund their marriages.
Jakada later abandoned his interpreting and scribe work with the Emir to further his education at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where he earned a degree in Islamic Jurisprudence in 1966.
