But for his timely intervention, I would for long have
been forgotten or at best I would have become a
disfigured entity. However, Kaile my friend and
course mate was right on time to save me from the
wrath of the two crazy love animals who had thrown
decorum and all civilised etiquette to the wind to, in
the most gruesome manner, extract their pound of flesh
from me. The duo of Ali and his friend were
justifiably infuriated by the frequent ill-treatment
and gross humiliation they suffered from their new
bride Halima courtesy of my relationship with her. It
was therefore not totally a surprise to me when on
that fateful evening, on our way to her tailors at
Tudun Wada; we were attacked by the thoroughly
frustrated, sufficiently humiliated, emotionally
distressed and psychologically tortured husband of
Halima and his friend Isa. Thus, when Isa grabbed the
collar of my shirt, I could vividly see spite, hatred
and viciousness in his reddish eyes. “The bastard
has finally being nailed!” he must have thought.
Amidst his infuriation, he threateningly thundered as
if his flaming eyes would drop from their sockets,
“Mallam do you realise that this is a married woman?”
While he quizzed me, Ali the husband concentrated on
Halima showering her with insults and describing her
as a disgrace to the female race. Before you know it,
the scene had attracted lots of passersby who on
realisation of the cause of the conflict had started
raining abuses on me and some even threatening to
partake in drilling me. Amidst the storm, Halima had
furiously jumped at Ali and torn his gown to shreds.
I had never seen her in so much rage. This singular
act of hers led my captor to ease his stranglehold on
me and swerved his attention to the current plight of
his friend; similar effect was created in the rest of
the threatening crowd. Thus, for a moment I had a
reprieve. It was at the peak of efforts to release
Ali from the hold of the now almost mad Halima that
Kaile, who was riding past the scene on his bike
suddenly appeared on the stage. Of course, he was
very much aware of the relationship, the personalities
involved and the danger lurking around it. It was
therefore with the speed of light that he understood
that his friend was not only in trouble but possibly
on the verge of being lynched. Thus he took advantage
of the commotion caused by Halima which gave me
temporary succour to pick me up on his bike and
rescued me from the unfolding sordid drama.
This event happened at the end of the semester. Most
of the students had already vacated the hostel.
Therefore, when I came into our room, and lay on my
mattress, thinking of my narrow escape, the place was
as quiet as a graveyard except for the fast thumping
of my troubled heart. A thought suddenly flashed
through my mind that the angry guys might trail me to
the hostel and deal with me as they deem fit and since
the school was now almost empty, they could easily get
away with it. Out of the fear of this possible
attack, I packed my belongings and headed for Kaduna
where I lived with my parents.
This incident had terribly scared me. If the ‘mob’
had had the opportunity of lynching me would that have
been my end? Had I not vowed to myself that after
experiencing a lot of setbacks in passing my secondary
school papers, I would literally conquer my books and
handouts the moment I find myself in the higher
institution where I envisaged that the challenges
would be much more higher? What happened to that vow?
I thought of several options on what to do with this
relationship that had caused both Halima and me so
much despair. But I could rarely take a stand.
However, each time such trend of thoughts passed
through my mind, I always get consolation in the fact
that the whole thing wasn’t my fault. God knows that
I didn’t go out looking for this trouble; contrarily,
the trouble looked for me. Besides, it is said that a
person falls in love once in a lifetime. If this was
my own time, so be it! This event had also taught me
the lesson of my life particularly how genuine love
could be ignited by seemingly little things. I now
strongly believe that it was fate that made me stay in
Sister Aisha’s house when I was offered admission to
study for certificate course in Public Administration
in Kaduna State Polytechnic Zaria. As a newly
admitted student my sister Aisha had insisted that I
stayed with her in Hanwa Quarters Zaria from where I
would be going to school as an off-campus student. In
the same year Yusuf, my friend and one of our
neighbours in Kaduna got admission into the same
course and institution as me; so he visited me almost
every weekend at Sister Aisha’s house. And this was
how he got acquainted to Halima, a beautiful girl who
lived in the neighbourhood and who was fond of my
sister Aisha.
One day Yusuf informed me that he was in love with
Halima. And I took the task of introducing him to
her. Though she showed some indifference towards the
proposed affair, we convinced ourselves that her
attitude towards him was but a passing phase. This
was how I became a middleman between the two. As time
passed on, I understood that Halima’s love was taking
firmer roots in the heart of Yusuf and I felt
duty-bound to assist him realise his dreams. Thus,
one evening I sat Halima for a discussion on the
issue. “I call you here so that we can have a serious
(and I mean serious) discussion on the issue of your
relationship with Yusuf. The guy is seriously in love
with you but up till now you refuse to give us a
definite response. Why? Halima why?” She replied
“Magaji since you said this is a serious discussion, I
would tell you the truth; honestly, Yusuf does not
have any place in my heart. Tried as I did, I
couldn’t find a place for him. But you know it is
difficult to tell somebody off just like that. Things
got to be handled diplomatically you know.”
The seriousness of the expression on her face while
uttering these words, really showed that she meant
what she said. So from this moment, I knew that this
would be difficult but all the same, I continued with
my effort. I enquired whether she was rejecting us
because she already had another person to which she
answered positively. “But it may surprise you to know
that the guy is not even aware that I care for him;
neither do I know if he is going to love me too but
one thing is certain that is he is every inch the man
of my dreams.” “But how, I mean how could you do such
a thing Halima? Wake up from this slumber and accept
Yusuf, he loves and cares for you at least you’re sure
of that.” Such was the trend of our discussion. I
spent the whole evening trying to convince her that a
bird in hand was worth a thousand in the bush. But
she wouldn’t hear of it.
As days and weeks scrolled by, her attitude towards
Yusuf began to put him off. After all he wasn’t bad
at all; at least there were girls out there far more
beautiful and intelligent than Halima who would
readily stick their necks out for him. “Well, such is
love”, he would always say. However, because of the
diplomatic manner she handled the situation, Yusuf was
not meant to feel too much embittered. Thus each time
they met they jest with each other and part laughing
heartedly. “Who will marry an albino?” she would say
jesting his complexion while he in turn jests her size
by calling her a bag of garri. Inside me I always
felt happy that the duo did not allow the affair to
degenerate into enmity as most failed relationships
do. Everybody was happy at least in this regard.
Time passed on and there was the Sallah break that was
fast approaching. Yes, one was to have a break from
the academic environment for about two weeks!
However, two weeks came and passed as if it were two
days. The impending examination that was slated for a
week after the break could not allow one completely
take off his mind from academics. Even though from
the results of the 1st Semester, I was not doing
badly, I was determined to keep the pace. Of course,
a GPA of 4.32 wasn’t bad by any standards. Thus
parents, uncles, aunts, friends and colleagues were
all proud of me. It was with the zeal and
determination to maintain, if not surpass the feat
that I went for the Sallah break. You can thus see my
point when I said the break was not much fun to me for
throughout it I was fully engrossed in my studies.
Now school was to resume on Monday and usually on such
occasions, I leave Kaduna on Sunday morning to clean
up my room in Sister Aisha’s house and have little
rest ahead of the challenges of the next day.
However, on arrival I met something unusual. My room
was thoroughly cleaned up and sprayed with sweet
perfume. On my study table stood two food flasks one
filled with costly snacks and the other with chicken
pepper soup; three bottles of chilled Maltina and
three of coca-cola accompanied them. I enquired from
Sister Aisha why she had taken the trouble of doing my
room and also enquired about the festive atmosphere
that was displayed in my room. “Halima did it”. She
replied. “Perhaps because of Yusuf”, I quickly added.
“Or Perhaps…” she cut herself short. If this act of
Halima’s had puzzled me, what I saw under my pillow
unravelled the puzzle. Two love cards and a Sallah
greeting card addressed to me! “What could she
possibly mean”, I thought to myself. Could it be that
the damsel had all this while being in love with me or
was she up to some games. “Well” I said to myself,
“I’ll watch out and see”. In the evening, she came to
the house to chat with Aisha as was usual with her and
I used the opportunity to thank her for putting my
room in order and for the food and drinks. I jokingly
added that I would inform Yusuf to come and thank her
for that. “You needn’t do that!” She said rather
angrily. For three days, I remained silent about the
cards; until when, in the absence of Aisha she had
taken me up on it. I expressed my apology for that
and admitted seeing the cards but was not really sure
if it was from her as the name of the sender was not
written on it. “But Halima you shouldn’t have gone to
that extent. What you did in my room was enough
kindness.” “But are you not happy with the cards?”
She asked rather childishly “Of course I am Halima.”
“Are you aware of the adage that says one good turn
deserves another?” she further enquired. “Of course I
am”. Then, if I must say it, I also need a card from
you.” That evening she talked to me enthusiastically
and love was written all over her; she barely fell
short of saying it. And for the first time in many
years, I found myself getting emotionally attached to
a lady. Back in Kaduna, I had a friend called Joe who
was an accomplished artist. I sent word to him to
design for me a beautiful custom made love card.
“Address it to Halima, from Mu’azzam”, I had
instructed.
In the next one week, the card was ready and trust
Joe, it was more beautiful than I had ever imagined it
would be. The next difficult thing was how to get it
across to her for one thing I wouldn’t like was for my
sister to know what was going on between us; at least
not at this stage. In fact left to me this should be
our own little secret in our own little love world.
Three houses separated our house and Halima’s and her
room like mine had its window on the back which faced
the main street of the quarters. Furthermore, most of
the time, the window was open since it had burglary
proof and mosquito nets. Thus, it was relatively easy
for me to slip the card through her window which falls
directly on her bed. When she got it her joy knew no
bounds for she had immediately displayed it at a
conspicuous corner of her room. “My aunt said that in
the whole of my life I would never be presented with a
more beautiful card.” She had told me when we met
that evening. My hear sank,. “So she knew about us?”
I queried. No, not yet but she’ll soon find out.
“How?” I asked. “Magaji you should understand that
love is like pregnancy it cannot be hidden for long”.
And she was right for in no time, the news of our love
spread like wild fire throughout Hanwa and environs.
We became two inseparable beings. Yes, two people
sharing the same soul. Thus began our love in
earnest.
On completion of my Certificate programme, I went back
to Kaduna and within this period, I had succeeded in
proving wrong the saying that “out of sight is out of
mind”. I had also proved that love is no respecter of
distance. For if anything, I had come to realise that
distance between lovers could only increase the
intensity of their love. Thus, when my results came
out, I immediately put up an application for Diploma
programme in my course. Before this could materialise
however I visited Halima on weekly basis. It was
within this period that something rather funny
happened. Halima’s sister had given birth and on the
day of the naming ceremony she was sent to go get a
big pot from their relatives in Gwargwaji. On coming
back from the errand, and on crossing the Kaduna-Kano
highway, she saw a taxi heading for Kaduna about to
set on its journey. The motor park touts were
shouting “Kaduna one chance; Kaduna once chance!”
Halima had jumped into the car and headed for my place
in Kaduna while the women were left stranded in Zaria
waiting for the big pot. Such was the magnitude of
our love!
When the admission list was released, my name was at
the forefront. I reckoned that this time around, the
battle would be more enormous; thus I planned to be
on-campus and visiting Halima twice a week so that our
relationship does not suffer and at the same time my
academics. Unknown to me however fate had an entirely
different design in stock for me. This was so because
when I informed her of the admission and my plans for
us, she had expressed her happiness and wished me
God’s guidance, protection and success. She also
informed me that she got admission into School of
Nursing but could not take up the offer largely due to
lack of finance. I was very much disturbed about this
realisation for one, the offer had lapsed and even if
it did not, there was little I could do about it being
a student myself who was completely dependent on
handouts from parents, and relatives. But there was
sure to be an alternative. Halima must not waste
away. After all, it is said that where there’s will,
there’s way.
After some days of hard thinking, I asked whether she
would be interested in doing a Pre-ND course in my
school to which she answered in the affirmative.
Thus, I did my best and since she was qualified, she
got supplementary admission. It was easy for her to
decide to stay in the hostel too. The stage was
therefore set for the most memorable campus affair!
In no time the campus was agog with the tale of our
love which all campus lovebirds agreed was
unprecedented. At the slightest opportunity, we would
be together. She had never left anybody in doubt as
to her love, care and affection for me. This sent
clear signals to potential admirers who would sooner
than later begin to swarm around her like ants on
sugar. “No vacancy” was the constant signal such
persons got. It was a school law that no female
visitor was allowed in male hostels but in our own
case, the law had to wait. After all, a law is no law
until it is broken! Tried as they did, the security
authorities failed to stop Halima’s encroachment into
the no go area. “If I cannot come into your hostel,
prepare your room and cook your food, then my stay on
this campus is of no use” she had said, when I warned
that her violation of school laws might land us in
trouble. But even the law knows the overbearing
influence of love on intoxicated victims. Thus, it
became an unwritten law in the school that only Halima
was allowed to visit our hostels. It therefore was
no surprise to anyone, when at one of the school’s
social nights, we were awarded the best couple of the
year! I thus had every reason to be happy with the
situation. For the stage seemed set for me to
graduate with two certificates – the diploma
certificate and marriage certificate. And not just
any other kind of marriage. No, a marriage that is
rooted out of true and sincere love. Yes, if not true
and sincere love what on earth could hold two people
chatting from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and in fact only
to be reminded of the dawn by the persistent crow of
the cocks? What if not true love could make two
hearts beat as one? What if not true love could make
two people share the same soul? Certainly nothing
else!
However, all this was to be threatened during our
second semester break. On vacation one day, we left
the campus on the understanding that I will come to
see her the next weekend. However, on Wednesday,
Kaile who left Zaria that morning visited and in the
course of our discussion, he had told me that Halima’s
wedding had been slated for the next Friday I laughed
over it believing that he was only cracking a joke; an
expensive one though. But the expression on his face
which looked genuinely serious made me had a rethink.
“Kaile, what are you talking about?” He convinced me
that he wasn’t joking. When, out of rage, I started
cursing Halima for treating me like this, he
immediately put in that it wasn’t her fault. In fact
the whole thing was arranged by her parents against
her wish. “If you see Halima you will pity her
condition.” “Oh my God, the same old problem!” I
thought. Why should such unfortunate episode reenact
itself? No, not after we have come thus far in this
relationship.
I say the event had reenacted itself because it had
happened at the teething and certainly blossoming
state of our relationship i.e. during the time of my
certificate course when I was staying off-campus. It
was an aspect of this story that I conveniently choose
to evade for except in the last few years, I lacked
the courage to tell it without shedding tears! Yes, I
could now clearly remember the incident. Halima had
barged into my room on a Friday afternoon with a very
moody countenance. On enquiry, she told me that her
parents had finally decided to give her hand in
marriage to a man who had been proposing to her for
several years now. But she was not in love with him
and did not consent to her parent’s wish. She told me
the story amidst tears and for the first time in my
adult life, I found myself weeping like a child in
lamentation of the impending crumbling of this
supposedly promising relationship; yes, a relationship
in which I had invested a lot of hope and faith.
At the time, it was a tradition for Halima to go to
her family house in Gwargwaji every weekend beginning
from Friday evening to Sunday evening. This was so
because her stay in Hanwa quarters was to assist look
after her aunt’s household during weekdays since both
husband and wife were civil servants. Thus, that
evening she left me for Gwargwaji in a very pensive
mood. At about 11:00 p.m. when she had long gone, I
heard a knock on my door to which I did not respond.
Halima had barged into the room where she met me
sitting on the edge of my mattress with my head buried
between my knees, sobbing profusely. “Magaji” she
said tearfully, “please forgive me for telling you
this unfortunate story”. She had further explained to
me how she had had serious disagreement with her
parents over the issue that very evening and how her
conscience had continued to sanction her for putting
me in such a mood and that was why she came back that
night to seek for my forgiveness and console me. In
spite of this however, I regard this as the darkest
night in the history my life.
The following morning, I had quietly packed my
belongings and headed for Kaduna without the consent
of Sister Aisha, her husband and Halima which was
quite unusual of me. When I did not return home that
night my sister was very much disturbed that her
husband had to leave Hanwa first thing Monday morning
and went to Kaduna to confirm my whereabouts. He was
told that I took off for Zaria that same morning. On
arrival at Zaria, I had gone straight to school and on
closing, I went to the library. I returned home at
about 10:45 p.m. to face the query of Sister Aisha who
demanded to know what was really happening between
Halima and me. “Nothing” I had replied. “More than
nothing!” she retorted. “Both of you looked disturbed
for the past few days and Halima had been here since
you left crying profusely and could not open up to me
and yet you say there’s nothing? Come on brother, I
just hope that you two had not done anything that will
soil our family reputation.” This matter died down
when Halima’s parents decided to rescind their
decision albeit temporarily.
You could therefore imagine my predicament when Kaile
came to inform me that the issue of Halima’s marriage
to Ali had not only cropped up again but that the
wedding had already being slated. In the next two
days, Halima will be another man’s wife. “Kai, what a
wicked world”, I thought. However I was man enough to
control my emotions before Kaile so that the extent of
my misery was not too obvious to him. But now that I
was alone, the matter began to reverberate in my
heart. What was I to do under the circumstance?
Should I forget about this issue of Halima and face my
life? But was that really possible? I doubt. Or in
the alternative was I to forget about the Diploma
Programme and completely avoid Zaria? No, not with
the amount of effort and commitment I had put into
this venture in the last two years. But how do I face
the world particularly the academic community? I knew
that this will be good news to Yusuf and some other
friends who would robustly feast on this misfortune of
mine by having a good time jesting me. Each time I
remember this impending possibility my heart sank.
The semester break came to an end, and I looked
forward to the last and definitely, most tortuous lap
of my stay on campus. The first day for me to resume
classes in the semester was a hard one for me for I
had spent the whole night brooding over the misfortune
that befell me. I had cried throughout the night and
now that it was time to set out for classes, I felt a
certain surge of confidence and determination pervaded
me. Yes, confidence that I would be a man and absorb
the shock of the incident; and determination to place
my academic undertakings far above any emotional
attachment to my now rested relationship with Halima.
But fate was not yet done with me as far as this
relationship was concerned.
Approaching from the hostel, the first set of students
I met were Halima and her two friends Hajara and
Talatu. “Good morning Alhaji Magaji; how was the
break?” Hajara asked smilingly. “Fine Hajara; and how
are you Talatu?” “Fine”, she answered. I had walked
passed them when Halima said “So, Magaji, no greetings
for me; what have I done?” But the for fact that my
eyes were hidden under dark sunshades, the girls might
have noticed the tears standing on them and suddenly I
realised that if I continued standing there I would
explode in the next minute. As I walked away I could
hear Halima sobbing behind and her friends consoling
her.
Aside from this incident, the day was fairly alright.
My friends whom I had imagined would turn me into a
laughing stock, showed total restraint. I realised
that they understood the extent of my love for Halima
and that the incident had really shattered me. My
emaciated physical appearance, the blank look in my
eyes, the nervousness in me all teamed up to portray
the emotional trauma I was earnestly trying to
conceal. Yusuf had called me aside that morning and
sympathized with me over the incident and also
admonished that even though it was not going to be
easy, I should try to put everything behind me. “The
future holds lots of promises especially for a
brilliant young man like you”, he concluded. All
other friends had at their convenient time offered
similar sympathy and admonition. Thus such
counselling enhanced my motivation to put this issue
behind me and forge ahead.
However something happened in the evening which shook
my resolve to forget the issue of Halima and the
crumbled affair. Halima came to our hostels in
company of three of her friends – Hajara and Talatu
(with whom I was very much familiar) and Raliya (whom
I did not know till that moment). Our room number was
called that Raliya wanted to see Magaji. “Is there
any way I can be of help?” I asked expressionlessly.
Before she could answer, the trio of Hajara, Talatu
and Halima had surfaced from the left flank of the
hostel balcony. They said they were on a fence
mending mission. They took the next two hours
explaining to me how the marriage was forced on
Halima; and that in any case, she did not consider
herself a married woman. While the meeting was on
Halima could not utter a word, but kept sobbing. But
how do I go about befriending a married woman? It’s
an immoral act which will cause me condemnation of all
right thinking people and above all that of the
Almighty. Above all, it would provide an opportunity
for Ali who had been my bitter and forcibly submissive
rival to put me behind bars for good. But Halima
wouldn’t hear any of this.
Much as I tried to avoid her, she kept on trailing me
wherever I went until I finally threw all caution to
the wind and began to identify with her partially out
of my sympathy for her (our?) cause and partially out
of my genuine concern for her safety. For I had the
premonition that if I had continued to shun her like
that, her overall health would have been in total
jeopardy which might ultimately lead to something
catastrophic happening to her. Of course my action
attracted the ire of all responsible personalities on
campus. The Amir of MSS was the first to come
admonishing followed by other friends and well
wishers. But all this had little or no impact on us.
Ali was thoroughly in love with Halima to the extent
that even her continued gluing to me did not make him
think of leaving her. On several occasions he came
with gifts which were thrown back at him and love
cards and flowers which were torn to shreds right
before his own very eyes.
It was in the midst of this difficult situation that
Ali and his friend caught us on our way to Halima’s
tailors in Tudun Wada. You could therefore appreciate
the level of my predicament in the hands of Ali, his
overzealous friend Isa and the sympathetic passersby,
not inside the campus where fellow students, in spite
of their reservations to our exaggerated relationship,
served as shield for me against any potential
attackers. “No matter what, the best couple must not
be given away”, they always said. Thus, during the
break, I embarked on prayers and fasting begging the
Almighty to forgive my trespasses of dating a married
woman. I also prayed that He removed from my now
fragile heart that strong attachment to my affair with
Halima. “I confess my sins before Thee, and solemnly
seek Thy salvation, forgiveness and purification from
my sinful acts. Ya Salaam, I know that I lack the
courage to put this issue of Halima behind me but I
hold the strongest belief that nothing is beyond Thy
powers; do it for me in the rights of Your Prophet
(SAW).”
And of course, the prayer-answering Allah did it for
me! For in record time, I sensed remarkable changes
in my emotions towards Halima. No more horrible
dreams and lamentations about the crumbled affair.
Yes, I am now a changed man. On the advice of our
Imam, on resumption of our school, I would seek Ali’s
forgiveness and try to convince Halima to accept the
reality of our situation, seek Allah’s forgiveness and
settle down to family life. Prior to this time, it
would be very difficult for me to believe that such
things will work out. But here was I confidently
believing Allah that it would and everything seemed to
be falling in place.
In the fullness of time, I went to Halima’s house in
company of three of my friends and asked to see her
father. Kaile did most of the talking expressing my
regrets over the unfortunate events of the past few
months. He also implored the father to invite Halima
and her husband and intercede on our behalf. With
surprisingly remarkable ease, the problem was ironed
out and all aggrieved parties were soothed.
After going through all the above events, I came to
the conclusion that the ways of God are unpredictable,
as they are sometimes incomprehensible to ordinary
mortals like us. Or how else could I explain this?
Come to think of it that today, twenty years after the
above events, a delegation has come to seek for
Samina’s (my daughter) hand in marriage and in the
course of discussions, I had come to discover that my
prospective in-law was no other than Bashir, Halima’s
first son with Ali! When the chips were done, the
newly wedded couple was brought before me for fatherly
advice. Of course, I emphasised on the strength of
fate, faith, forgiveness, prayers, reconciliation,
patience, and above all fear of God in all deeds.
Before you know it, the campus affair has turned into
a family affair!
been forgotten or at best I would have become a
disfigured entity. However, Kaile my friend and
course mate was right on time to save me from the
wrath of the two crazy love animals who had thrown
decorum and all civilised etiquette to the wind to, in
the most gruesome manner, extract their pound of flesh
from me. The duo of Ali and his friend were
justifiably infuriated by the frequent ill-treatment
and gross humiliation they suffered from their new
bride Halima courtesy of my relationship with her. It
was therefore not totally a surprise to me when on
that fateful evening, on our way to her tailors at
Tudun Wada; we were attacked by the thoroughly
frustrated, sufficiently humiliated, emotionally
distressed and psychologically tortured husband of
Halima and his friend Isa. Thus, when Isa grabbed the
collar of my shirt, I could vividly see spite, hatred
and viciousness in his reddish eyes. “The bastard
has finally being nailed!” he must have thought.
Amidst his infuriation, he threateningly thundered as
if his flaming eyes would drop from their sockets,
“Mallam do you realise that this is a married woman?”
While he quizzed me, Ali the husband concentrated on
Halima showering her with insults and describing her
as a disgrace to the female race. Before you know it,
the scene had attracted lots of passersby who on
realisation of the cause of the conflict had started
raining abuses on me and some even threatening to
partake in drilling me. Amidst the storm, Halima had
furiously jumped at Ali and torn his gown to shreds.
I had never seen her in so much rage. This singular
act of hers led my captor to ease his stranglehold on
me and swerved his attention to the current plight of
his friend; similar effect was created in the rest of
the threatening crowd. Thus, for a moment I had a
reprieve. It was at the peak of efforts to release
Ali from the hold of the now almost mad Halima that
Kaile, who was riding past the scene on his bike
suddenly appeared on the stage. Of course, he was
very much aware of the relationship, the personalities
involved and the danger lurking around it. It was
therefore with the speed of light that he understood
that his friend was not only in trouble but possibly
on the verge of being lynched. Thus he took advantage
of the commotion caused by Halima which gave me
temporary succour to pick me up on his bike and
rescued me from the unfolding sordid drama.
This event happened at the end of the semester. Most
of the students had already vacated the hostel.
Therefore, when I came into our room, and lay on my
mattress, thinking of my narrow escape, the place was
as quiet as a graveyard except for the fast thumping
of my troubled heart. A thought suddenly flashed
through my mind that the angry guys might trail me to
the hostel and deal with me as they deem fit and since
the school was now almost empty, they could easily get
away with it. Out of the fear of this possible
attack, I packed my belongings and headed for Kaduna
where I lived with my parents.
This incident had terribly scared me. If the ‘mob’
had had the opportunity of lynching me would that have
been my end? Had I not vowed to myself that after
experiencing a lot of setbacks in passing my secondary
school papers, I would literally conquer my books and
handouts the moment I find myself in the higher
institution where I envisaged that the challenges
would be much more higher? What happened to that vow?
I thought of several options on what to do with this
relationship that had caused both Halima and me so
much despair. But I could rarely take a stand.
However, each time such trend of thoughts passed
through my mind, I always get consolation in the fact
that the whole thing wasn’t my fault. God knows that
I didn’t go out looking for this trouble; contrarily,
the trouble looked for me. Besides, it is said that a
person falls in love once in a lifetime. If this was
my own time, so be it! This event had also taught me
the lesson of my life particularly how genuine love
could be ignited by seemingly little things. I now
strongly believe that it was fate that made me stay in
Sister Aisha’s house when I was offered admission to
study for certificate course in Public Administration
in Kaduna State Polytechnic Zaria. As a newly
admitted student my sister Aisha had insisted that I
stayed with her in Hanwa Quarters Zaria from where I
would be going to school as an off-campus student. In
the same year Yusuf, my friend and one of our
neighbours in Kaduna got admission into the same
course and institution as me; so he visited me almost
every weekend at Sister Aisha’s house. And this was
how he got acquainted to Halima, a beautiful girl who
lived in the neighbourhood and who was fond of my
sister Aisha.
One day Yusuf informed me that he was in love with
Halima. And I took the task of introducing him to
her. Though she showed some indifference towards the
proposed affair, we convinced ourselves that her
attitude towards him was but a passing phase. This
was how I became a middleman between the two. As time
passed on, I understood that Halima’s love was taking
firmer roots in the heart of Yusuf and I felt
duty-bound to assist him realise his dreams. Thus,
one evening I sat Halima for a discussion on the
issue. “I call you here so that we can have a serious
(and I mean serious) discussion on the issue of your
relationship with Yusuf. The guy is seriously in love
with you but up till now you refuse to give us a
definite response. Why? Halima why?” She replied
“Magaji since you said this is a serious discussion, I
would tell you the truth; honestly, Yusuf does not
have any place in my heart. Tried as I did, I
couldn’t find a place for him. But you know it is
difficult to tell somebody off just like that. Things
got to be handled diplomatically you know.”
The seriousness of the expression on her face while
uttering these words, really showed that she meant
what she said. So from this moment, I knew that this
would be difficult but all the same, I continued with
my effort. I enquired whether she was rejecting us
because she already had another person to which she
answered positively. “But it may surprise you to know
that the guy is not even aware that I care for him;
neither do I know if he is going to love me too but
one thing is certain that is he is every inch the man
of my dreams.” “But how, I mean how could you do such
a thing Halima? Wake up from this slumber and accept
Yusuf, he loves and cares for you at least you’re sure
of that.” Such was the trend of our discussion. I
spent the whole evening trying to convince her that a
bird in hand was worth a thousand in the bush. But
she wouldn’t hear of it.
As days and weeks scrolled by, her attitude towards
Yusuf began to put him off. After all he wasn’t bad
at all; at least there were girls out there far more
beautiful and intelligent than Halima who would
readily stick their necks out for him. “Well, such is
love”, he would always say. However, because of the
diplomatic manner she handled the situation, Yusuf was
not meant to feel too much embittered. Thus each time
they met they jest with each other and part laughing
heartedly. “Who will marry an albino?” she would say
jesting his complexion while he in turn jests her size
by calling her a bag of garri. Inside me I always
felt happy that the duo did not allow the affair to
degenerate into enmity as most failed relationships
do. Everybody was happy at least in this regard.
Time passed on and there was the Sallah break that was
fast approaching. Yes, one was to have a break from
the academic environment for about two weeks!
However, two weeks came and passed as if it were two
days. The impending examination that was slated for a
week after the break could not allow one completely
take off his mind from academics. Even though from
the results of the 1st Semester, I was not doing
badly, I was determined to keep the pace. Of course,
a GPA of 4.32 wasn’t bad by any standards. Thus
parents, uncles, aunts, friends and colleagues were
all proud of me. It was with the zeal and
determination to maintain, if not surpass the feat
that I went for the Sallah break. You can thus see my
point when I said the break was not much fun to me for
throughout it I was fully engrossed in my studies.
Now school was to resume on Monday and usually on such
occasions, I leave Kaduna on Sunday morning to clean
up my room in Sister Aisha’s house and have little
rest ahead of the challenges of the next day.
However, on arrival I met something unusual. My room
was thoroughly cleaned up and sprayed with sweet
perfume. On my study table stood two food flasks one
filled with costly snacks and the other with chicken
pepper soup; three bottles of chilled Maltina and
three of coca-cola accompanied them. I enquired from
Sister Aisha why she had taken the trouble of doing my
room and also enquired about the festive atmosphere
that was displayed in my room. “Halima did it”. She
replied. “Perhaps because of Yusuf”, I quickly added.
“Or Perhaps…” she cut herself short. If this act of
Halima’s had puzzled me, what I saw under my pillow
unravelled the puzzle. Two love cards and a Sallah
greeting card addressed to me! “What could she
possibly mean”, I thought to myself. Could it be that
the damsel had all this while being in love with me or
was she up to some games. “Well” I said to myself,
“I’ll watch out and see”. In the evening, she came to
the house to chat with Aisha as was usual with her and
I used the opportunity to thank her for putting my
room in order and for the food and drinks. I jokingly
added that I would inform Yusuf to come and thank her
for that. “You needn’t do that!” She said rather
angrily. For three days, I remained silent about the
cards; until when, in the absence of Aisha she had
taken me up on it. I expressed my apology for that
and admitted seeing the cards but was not really sure
if it was from her as the name of the sender was not
written on it. “But Halima you shouldn’t have gone to
that extent. What you did in my room was enough
kindness.” “But are you not happy with the cards?”
She asked rather childishly “Of course I am Halima.”
“Are you aware of the adage that says one good turn
deserves another?” she further enquired. “Of course I
am”. Then, if I must say it, I also need a card from
you.” That evening she talked to me enthusiastically
and love was written all over her; she barely fell
short of saying it. And for the first time in many
years, I found myself getting emotionally attached to
a lady. Back in Kaduna, I had a friend called Joe who
was an accomplished artist. I sent word to him to
design for me a beautiful custom made love card.
“Address it to Halima, from Mu’azzam”, I had
instructed.
In the next one week, the card was ready and trust
Joe, it was more beautiful than I had ever imagined it
would be. The next difficult thing was how to get it
across to her for one thing I wouldn’t like was for my
sister to know what was going on between us; at least
not at this stage. In fact left to me this should be
our own little secret in our own little love world.
Three houses separated our house and Halima’s and her
room like mine had its window on the back which faced
the main street of the quarters. Furthermore, most of
the time, the window was open since it had burglary
proof and mosquito nets. Thus, it was relatively easy
for me to slip the card through her window which falls
directly on her bed. When she got it her joy knew no
bounds for she had immediately displayed it at a
conspicuous corner of her room. “My aunt said that in
the whole of my life I would never be presented with a
more beautiful card.” She had told me when we met
that evening. My hear sank,. “So she knew about us?”
I queried. No, not yet but she’ll soon find out.
“How?” I asked. “Magaji you should understand that
love is like pregnancy it cannot be hidden for long”.
And she was right for in no time, the news of our love
spread like wild fire throughout Hanwa and environs.
We became two inseparable beings. Yes, two people
sharing the same soul. Thus began our love in
earnest.
On completion of my Certificate programme, I went back
to Kaduna and within this period, I had succeeded in
proving wrong the saying that “out of sight is out of
mind”. I had also proved that love is no respecter of
distance. For if anything, I had come to realise that
distance between lovers could only increase the
intensity of their love. Thus, when my results came
out, I immediately put up an application for Diploma
programme in my course. Before this could materialise
however I visited Halima on weekly basis. It was
within this period that something rather funny
happened. Halima’s sister had given birth and on the
day of the naming ceremony she was sent to go get a
big pot from their relatives in Gwargwaji. On coming
back from the errand, and on crossing the Kaduna-Kano
highway, she saw a taxi heading for Kaduna about to
set on its journey. The motor park touts were
shouting “Kaduna one chance; Kaduna once chance!”
Halima had jumped into the car and headed for my place
in Kaduna while the women were left stranded in Zaria
waiting for the big pot. Such was the magnitude of
our love!
When the admission list was released, my name was at
the forefront. I reckoned that this time around, the
battle would be more enormous; thus I planned to be
on-campus and visiting Halima twice a week so that our
relationship does not suffer and at the same time my
academics. Unknown to me however fate had an entirely
different design in stock for me. This was so because
when I informed her of the admission and my plans for
us, she had expressed her happiness and wished me
God’s guidance, protection and success. She also
informed me that she got admission into School of
Nursing but could not take up the offer largely due to
lack of finance. I was very much disturbed about this
realisation for one, the offer had lapsed and even if
it did not, there was little I could do about it being
a student myself who was completely dependent on
handouts from parents, and relatives. But there was
sure to be an alternative. Halima must not waste
away. After all, it is said that where there’s will,
there’s way.
After some days of hard thinking, I asked whether she
would be interested in doing a Pre-ND course in my
school to which she answered in the affirmative.
Thus, I did my best and since she was qualified, she
got supplementary admission. It was easy for her to
decide to stay in the hostel too. The stage was
therefore set for the most memorable campus affair!
In no time the campus was agog with the tale of our
love which all campus lovebirds agreed was
unprecedented. At the slightest opportunity, we would
be together. She had never left anybody in doubt as
to her love, care and affection for me. This sent
clear signals to potential admirers who would sooner
than later begin to swarm around her like ants on
sugar. “No vacancy” was the constant signal such
persons got. It was a school law that no female
visitor was allowed in male hostels but in our own
case, the law had to wait. After all, a law is no law
until it is broken! Tried as they did, the security
authorities failed to stop Halima’s encroachment into
the no go area. “If I cannot come into your hostel,
prepare your room and cook your food, then my stay on
this campus is of no use” she had said, when I warned
that her violation of school laws might land us in
trouble. But even the law knows the overbearing
influence of love on intoxicated victims. Thus, it
became an unwritten law in the school that only Halima
was allowed to visit our hostels. It therefore was
no surprise to anyone, when at one of the school’s
social nights, we were awarded the best couple of the
year! I thus had every reason to be happy with the
situation. For the stage seemed set for me to
graduate with two certificates – the diploma
certificate and marriage certificate. And not just
any other kind of marriage. No, a marriage that is
rooted out of true and sincere love. Yes, if not true
and sincere love what on earth could hold two people
chatting from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and in fact only
to be reminded of the dawn by the persistent crow of
the cocks? What if not true love could make two
hearts beat as one? What if not true love could make
two people share the same soul? Certainly nothing
else!
However, all this was to be threatened during our
second semester break. On vacation one day, we left
the campus on the understanding that I will come to
see her the next weekend. However, on Wednesday,
Kaile who left Zaria that morning visited and in the
course of our discussion, he had told me that Halima’s
wedding had been slated for the next Friday I laughed
over it believing that he was only cracking a joke; an
expensive one though. But the expression on his face
which looked genuinely serious made me had a rethink.
“Kaile, what are you talking about?” He convinced me
that he wasn’t joking. When, out of rage, I started
cursing Halima for treating me like this, he
immediately put in that it wasn’t her fault. In fact
the whole thing was arranged by her parents against
her wish. “If you see Halima you will pity her
condition.” “Oh my God, the same old problem!” I
thought. Why should such unfortunate episode reenact
itself? No, not after we have come thus far in this
relationship.
I say the event had reenacted itself because it had
happened at the teething and certainly blossoming
state of our relationship i.e. during the time of my
certificate course when I was staying off-campus. It
was an aspect of this story that I conveniently choose
to evade for except in the last few years, I lacked
the courage to tell it without shedding tears! Yes, I
could now clearly remember the incident. Halima had
barged into my room on a Friday afternoon with a very
moody countenance. On enquiry, she told me that her
parents had finally decided to give her hand in
marriage to a man who had been proposing to her for
several years now. But she was not in love with him
and did not consent to her parent’s wish. She told me
the story amidst tears and for the first time in my
adult life, I found myself weeping like a child in
lamentation of the impending crumbling of this
supposedly promising relationship; yes, a relationship
in which I had invested a lot of hope and faith.
At the time, it was a tradition for Halima to go to
her family house in Gwargwaji every weekend beginning
from Friday evening to Sunday evening. This was so
because her stay in Hanwa quarters was to assist look
after her aunt’s household during weekdays since both
husband and wife were civil servants. Thus, that
evening she left me for Gwargwaji in a very pensive
mood. At about 11:00 p.m. when she had long gone, I
heard a knock on my door to which I did not respond.
Halima had barged into the room where she met me
sitting on the edge of my mattress with my head buried
between my knees, sobbing profusely. “Magaji” she
said tearfully, “please forgive me for telling you
this unfortunate story”. She had further explained to
me how she had had serious disagreement with her
parents over the issue that very evening and how her
conscience had continued to sanction her for putting
me in such a mood and that was why she came back that
night to seek for my forgiveness and console me. In
spite of this however, I regard this as the darkest
night in the history my life.
The following morning, I had quietly packed my
belongings and headed for Kaduna without the consent
of Sister Aisha, her husband and Halima which was
quite unusual of me. When I did not return home that
night my sister was very much disturbed that her
husband had to leave Hanwa first thing Monday morning
and went to Kaduna to confirm my whereabouts. He was
told that I took off for Zaria that same morning. On
arrival at Zaria, I had gone straight to school and on
closing, I went to the library. I returned home at
about 10:45 p.m. to face the query of Sister Aisha who
demanded to know what was really happening between
Halima and me. “Nothing” I had replied. “More than
nothing!” she retorted. “Both of you looked disturbed
for the past few days and Halima had been here since
you left crying profusely and could not open up to me
and yet you say there’s nothing? Come on brother, I
just hope that you two had not done anything that will
soil our family reputation.” This matter died down
when Halima’s parents decided to rescind their
decision albeit temporarily.
You could therefore imagine my predicament when Kaile
came to inform me that the issue of Halima’s marriage
to Ali had not only cropped up again but that the
wedding had already being slated. In the next two
days, Halima will be another man’s wife. “Kai, what a
wicked world”, I thought. However I was man enough to
control my emotions before Kaile so that the extent of
my misery was not too obvious to him. But now that I
was alone, the matter began to reverberate in my
heart. What was I to do under the circumstance?
Should I forget about this issue of Halima and face my
life? But was that really possible? I doubt. Or in
the alternative was I to forget about the Diploma
Programme and completely avoid Zaria? No, not with
the amount of effort and commitment I had put into
this venture in the last two years. But how do I face
the world particularly the academic community? I knew
that this will be good news to Yusuf and some other
friends who would robustly feast on this misfortune of
mine by having a good time jesting me. Each time I
remember this impending possibility my heart sank.
The semester break came to an end, and I looked
forward to the last and definitely, most tortuous lap
of my stay on campus. The first day for me to resume
classes in the semester was a hard one for me for I
had spent the whole night brooding over the misfortune
that befell me. I had cried throughout the night and
now that it was time to set out for classes, I felt a
certain surge of confidence and determination pervaded
me. Yes, confidence that I would be a man and absorb
the shock of the incident; and determination to place
my academic undertakings far above any emotional
attachment to my now rested relationship with Halima.
But fate was not yet done with me as far as this
relationship was concerned.
Approaching from the hostel, the first set of students
I met were Halima and her two friends Hajara and
Talatu. “Good morning Alhaji Magaji; how was the
break?” Hajara asked smilingly. “Fine Hajara; and how
are you Talatu?” “Fine”, she answered. I had walked
passed them when Halima said “So, Magaji, no greetings
for me; what have I done?” But the for fact that my
eyes were hidden under dark sunshades, the girls might
have noticed the tears standing on them and suddenly I
realised that if I continued standing there I would
explode in the next minute. As I walked away I could
hear Halima sobbing behind and her friends consoling
her.
Aside from this incident, the day was fairly alright.
My friends whom I had imagined would turn me into a
laughing stock, showed total restraint. I realised
that they understood the extent of my love for Halima
and that the incident had really shattered me. My
emaciated physical appearance, the blank look in my
eyes, the nervousness in me all teamed up to portray
the emotional trauma I was earnestly trying to
conceal. Yusuf had called me aside that morning and
sympathized with me over the incident and also
admonished that even though it was not going to be
easy, I should try to put everything behind me. “The
future holds lots of promises especially for a
brilliant young man like you”, he concluded. All
other friends had at their convenient time offered
similar sympathy and admonition. Thus such
counselling enhanced my motivation to put this issue
behind me and forge ahead.
However something happened in the evening which shook
my resolve to forget the issue of Halima and the
crumbled affair. Halima came to our hostels in
company of three of her friends – Hajara and Talatu
(with whom I was very much familiar) and Raliya (whom
I did not know till that moment). Our room number was
called that Raliya wanted to see Magaji. “Is there
any way I can be of help?” I asked expressionlessly.
Before she could answer, the trio of Hajara, Talatu
and Halima had surfaced from the left flank of the
hostel balcony. They said they were on a fence
mending mission. They took the next two hours
explaining to me how the marriage was forced on
Halima; and that in any case, she did not consider
herself a married woman. While the meeting was on
Halima could not utter a word, but kept sobbing. But
how do I go about befriending a married woman? It’s
an immoral act which will cause me condemnation of all
right thinking people and above all that of the
Almighty. Above all, it would provide an opportunity
for Ali who had been my bitter and forcibly submissive
rival to put me behind bars for good. But Halima
wouldn’t hear any of this.
Much as I tried to avoid her, she kept on trailing me
wherever I went until I finally threw all caution to
the wind and began to identify with her partially out
of my sympathy for her (our?) cause and partially out
of my genuine concern for her safety. For I had the
premonition that if I had continued to shun her like
that, her overall health would have been in total
jeopardy which might ultimately lead to something
catastrophic happening to her. Of course my action
attracted the ire of all responsible personalities on
campus. The Amir of MSS was the first to come
admonishing followed by other friends and well
wishers. But all this had little or no impact on us.
Ali was thoroughly in love with Halima to the extent
that even her continued gluing to me did not make him
think of leaving her. On several occasions he came
with gifts which were thrown back at him and love
cards and flowers which were torn to shreds right
before his own very eyes.
It was in the midst of this difficult situation that
Ali and his friend caught us on our way to Halima’s
tailors in Tudun Wada. You could therefore appreciate
the level of my predicament in the hands of Ali, his
overzealous friend Isa and the sympathetic passersby,
not inside the campus where fellow students, in spite
of their reservations to our exaggerated relationship,
served as shield for me against any potential
attackers. “No matter what, the best couple must not
be given away”, they always said. Thus, during the
break, I embarked on prayers and fasting begging the
Almighty to forgive my trespasses of dating a married
woman. I also prayed that He removed from my now
fragile heart that strong attachment to my affair with
Halima. “I confess my sins before Thee, and solemnly
seek Thy salvation, forgiveness and purification from
my sinful acts. Ya Salaam, I know that I lack the
courage to put this issue of Halima behind me but I
hold the strongest belief that nothing is beyond Thy
powers; do it for me in the rights of Your Prophet
(SAW).”
And of course, the prayer-answering Allah did it for
me! For in record time, I sensed remarkable changes
in my emotions towards Halima. No more horrible
dreams and lamentations about the crumbled affair.
Yes, I am now a changed man. On the advice of our
Imam, on resumption of our school, I would seek Ali’s
forgiveness and try to convince Halima to accept the
reality of our situation, seek Allah’s forgiveness and
settle down to family life. Prior to this time, it
would be very difficult for me to believe that such
things will work out. But here was I confidently
believing Allah that it would and everything seemed to
be falling in place.
In the fullness of time, I went to Halima’s house in
company of three of my friends and asked to see her
father. Kaile did most of the talking expressing my
regrets over the unfortunate events of the past few
months. He also implored the father to invite Halima
and her husband and intercede on our behalf. With
surprisingly remarkable ease, the problem was ironed
out and all aggrieved parties were soothed.
After going through all the above events, I came to
the conclusion that the ways of God are unpredictable,
as they are sometimes incomprehensible to ordinary
mortals like us. Or how else could I explain this?
Come to think of it that today, twenty years after the
above events, a delegation has come to seek for
Samina’s (my daughter) hand in marriage and in the
course of discussions, I had come to discover that my
prospective in-law was no other than Bashir, Halima’s
first son with Ali! When the chips were done, the
newly wedded couple was brought before me for fatherly
advice. Of course, I emphasised on the strength of
fate, faith, forgiveness, prayers, reconciliation,
patience, and above all fear of God in all deeds.
Before you know it, the campus affair has turned into
a family affair!
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