“Those who are afraid of death will carry it on their shoulders.”
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.
No fear in death! To me, you will always be Uncle T.G. A man of purpose, determination and focus.
You and the late Vice Admiral I. I. Ibrahim former Chief of Naval Staff (2011-2013???) were trail blazers in the field of education in the anals of the history of Gora people in Jaba and Kagarko Local Government Areas. You were both the first set of students to further your education beyond Secondary School. You both made it to the tertiary level. You move on to the famous Kaduna Polytechnic, now University of Technology while Vice Admiral I. I. Ibrahim proceeded to the famous Nigerian Defence Academy now a Military University. The rest is history.
Both of you became models to me personally.
Uncle T G, you took your education seriously and it paid off. You were, to the best of my recollection the first Gora man to proceed to the United Kingdom back in those days, to further your education. You made it in your professional work in the Textile Industry to become a Manager at a young age.
You took your work serious and it showed in your steady rise at work deserved recognition and promotions.
You will surely be missed but your legacy will live on. Dead comes to us all. John Donne suggests that the death of one dimishes us all. But death is not the end. In Christ, death is the end of a new beginning.
You are resting at the feet of Jesus. This should comfort Mama Martha and all the precious adorable grown children you left behind.
You were a man of strong character and a disciplinarian, rooted in the fear of God. You had intense and protective love for your children. You bonded well with each of them without offering preferential treatment to one, against the other. They were equal before you.
I have known Uncle TG since my primary school days. In 1975, I moved to Government College Kaduna and you and Auntie Martha invited me into your home and it became my home in Kaduna until I graduated from ABU and relocated to Jos, Plateau State.
You visited me during my secondary schools days in GCK. You encouraged me in my education and motivated me to do more. I did and by God’s grace it paid off. When I finished secondary school in June 1977, you helped me get my first job at the Kaduna Textile Ltd (KTL). My first salary was N95.00 this was big money back in those days. I saved from it and bought my first cassette player and recorder. Some of the money I saved from this earning, I took to my A levels in KCAST, Zaria. Later, I added to it and bought my first 6-Strings guitar, the same 1977.
When I was courting my wife to be, I brought her to Kaduna to introduce to my extended family. Uncle TG received her warmly. Along with other uncles, they went to Ondo to stand in for me. How can I forget these precious memories?
So, you are now gone? Such is life. God knows best and our times are in His hands. May the good Lord comfort and encourage Auntie Martha and the wonderful grown children and grand children you left behind. May God keep all comforted and encouraged in the family.
In a sense this tribute is a celebration of your life. Yours was not a wasted life. I can attest to it.
Funmi and my family mourn your passing but we are comforted in the fact that you have gone to a better place. Let’s take solace in this one fact. There’s resurrection day awaiting you.
‘O Death, where is your sting? . . . God, gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
1 Corinthians 15: 55-58 (NKJV).
“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Adieu Uncle T.G.
The Revd Dr. Gideon & Prof. Funmi Para-Mallam Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
