Patrick Adua
As the dispute over the burial of Late Captain Saleh Usman rages on, youths of Sabon Jibir (Hamland) in Sabon Sarki District of Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, over the weekend in Kwoi, venue of the yearly Ham Day celebration protested under the auspices of Gidan Jibir Patriotic Youths against Mrs. Ladi Edward Pati over what they described as “meddling into our family affairs.”
Shedding light on the matter, the spokesperson of the group and a younger brother of the deceased, Mr. Illiyasu Usman, told Journalists after the protest that, Mrs. Ladi Edward Pati is their sister, but she is married and by their culture, her allegiance is to the family of her husband and not longer their family. However, after the demised of our brother, Ladi has continued to interfere with the activities of our family over the burial of our late brother against the opinion of our elders, the traditional institution (Ham) and in variant with the custom and tradition of Ham. So, Ladi Pati desecrates Ham tradition and faces backlash from ham youths.
We want to use this medium to tell Ladi and her co-travellers that the Ham traditional institution have taken a decision and the burial of our late brother have long been settled. They should stop chasing shadows and trying to make a case out of a completely settled matter.
For the benefit of hindsight, there is a subsisting case at High Court 10 in Barnawa, Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State presided by Justice Bashir Shitu Yusuf, which began hearing, Tuesday, 19th March, 2024 into the case filed by the Applicant challenging the decision of the traditional council in Sabon Sarki District, to bury an empty casket against the reposed body of late Captain Saleh Usman and also seeking the court to redirect the traditional council to bury the deceased whose corpse is still languishing in the mortuary.
According to the District Head of Sabon Sarki and Mabudin Kachia, HRH, Mr. Jacob Jeff Dogo, tradition has taken its course and we have done what tradition told us to do and we have done it. No position is more than that. We don’t know any Christie Yori, we don’t know her. We don’t have anybody who bears the name Christie Yori in Sabon Sarki District. We have buried our brother(Saleh Usman) traditionally. We have no qualms with anybody. Certain traditional beliefs and rites cannot be publicised. We are Ham and we have our unique culture.
