AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna
KADUNA was agog on Saturday as supporters and followers of Senator Kabiru Marafa stormed the city in their thousands, as the Senator married out his daughter, Aisha Kabiru Marafa, an architect, alongside 13 orphans whose parents were killed by bandits in Zamfara.
Marafa, who played the fatherly role, also took full responsibility of the 13 female orphans as he gave them out for marriage.
The wedding fatiha took place at the Almannar Juma’at Mosque in Kaduna, with Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Mahmuda Shinkafi, former Kaduna State Governor, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, and many other dignitaries in attendance.
The marriage was conducted by the Chief Imam of the Mosque, Dr. Tukur Adam Almannar, who used the opportunity to call on other serving and former leaders to emulate Senator Marafa by also taking care of orphans in their localities.
“The groom to the Senator’s daughter, Al’amin ilyasu Abdullahi, paid 100,000 naira as bride price for Aisha Kabiru Marafa.
Dr. Almannar said the Senator did all a father will do for his daughter as well as the 13 orphans which is commendable.
“The 13 orphans were those whose parents were killed across Zamfara State due to bandits’ activities. We hope and pray to Almighty Allah to reward him for the gesture as we also urged other well-to-do to emulate him by assisting the orphans.
He also prayed to God to bring an end to insurgency in states like Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Senator Marafa, speaking to newsmen shortly after the wedding, said, “My motivation to do this is the support I get from my people all the time. You can see the crowd that gathered here today; it is the demonstration of their genuine love for me, and I am not in office; I am not in control of resources. These are people who love me and believe in my struggle.
“So, I am humbled by this show of love because this wedding ceremony is supposed to take place in Zamfara, but because of the security challenges we decided to hold it here in Kaduna.
“We also decided to hold it in a low-key due to Covid-19, yet people came in large numbers because of their love for me”.
Talking about the security situation in Zamfara state, he appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the resolution that was passed at the tail end of the 8th National Assembly, “where we called on the federal government to extend even if it is a small fraction of what has been done in Northeast, in Zamfara, by constituting a Presidential Initiative Committee on Zamfara State, giving the Committee a seed money of N10bn and same amount to be given every year for 10 years to assist the situation on ground.
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“The situation is that, between 2011 and 2019, conservatively, 10,000 able bodied men were killed in Zamfara State. If those 10,000 men had an average of two wives, that means, there are 20,000 widows in Zamfara, if you give them an average of four children per family, that means, there are 40,000 orphans in Zamfara.
“That is what informed my gesture to sponsor the wedding of orphans, because most of them are grown up, but their families cannot buy them even broom.
“So, I am calling on Mr. President, as the father of the nation, to look at that Senate resolution of 2019 and implement it because that is the only way we can curtail the spillover we are now seeing in Katsina, Sokoto and other places. Because, when people are hungry and someone gives them a hundred thousand Naira and AK47, they will follow the person. But if these orphans are properly catered for and trusted persons are appointed to manage the resources, we can tame the monster called banditry to the barest minimal,” he said.
