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Nigeria: 'Oldest' Igabi Man Dies in His Sleep
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
10 February 2008
Posted to the web 11 February 2008
Abdulraheem Aodu
Kaduna
Igabi community in Kaduna State will not be the same again after it lost one of its earliest settlers and the oldest man in the village and its environs.
Alhaji Ladan Musa Igabi was said to be 135 years old, though nobody could really tell when he was born. The man revered by everybody in the community.
Alhaji Ladan, who was a farmer, cattle breeder and religious leader, was said to have been born around 1873 though nobody knows his actual birth date or month. But his family house popularly called Gidan Tsamiya by the people of the area was the first house to be built in Igabi community according to the villagers accounts.
Without any written document to mark his actual date of birth, the late Ladan, his family and elders in the community have been able to use events and happenings around the North including historical events to trace his year of birth to 1873.
These historical events include the succession of the Sultanate of the Sokoto Caliphate, the history of Queen Amina of Zazzau, the establishment and growth of the Zazzau Emirate, events in the Kano Emirate and such other historical happenings in the Hausa-Fulani areas.
The old man who was said to be strong with sharp mind and memory before his death.
One of his great grandsons Abdullahi Ishaq, said, "Alhaji Ladan Igabi was about 135 years before his death having been born around 1873, making him the oldest man in the whole community and one of the oldest men in this part of the state if not the entire state.
"His great grandfather Malam Sambo migrated from Kukawa Village to establish and settle in Igabi in the early 18th century according to the history of the community. Malam Sambo gave birth to Malam Abubakar who gave birth to Malam Ahmadu the father of the late Alhaji Ladan.
"Before his death Alhaji Ladan was a farmer, a cattle rearer and religious leader who conducted the five daily Muslim prayers in the community until about two years ago (2006) when he relinquished leading the prayer to one of his grandsons Malam Garba due to old age.
"He was hale and strong till his death and he could identify anybody within the community even after many years of seeing the person. His sight was still sharp and his voice was clear even after attaining over a century age."
Ishaq told Sunday Trust that the late Ladan did not suffer any protracted illness before his death adding that he was only sick for a day before he eventually died.
"A day to his death he called his eldest son, Alhaji Haruna and informed him that he was not feeling fine and that he should therefore get him some medicine to take. He later told him and his wife that they should stay with him throughout that night which they did.
"After he took some pap and the medicine the next morning he asked for a bowl into which he can pass urine, he then told Alhaji Haruna that he wants to lie on his arm. It was while lying on his son's arm that he gave up," Ishaq said.
His death has thrown the whole community into mourning as they gave account of how good he was and how he used to help them with elderly wisdom during disagreements and quarrels.
While some lamented that they would miss his wise guidance, for others it is the history of late sultans, old caliphates, empires and emirates that he would no longer be able to recount to them that pained them most.
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The deceased according to the accounts left behind four children, 77 grand children and 182 great grand children.
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