She could have become the mother of two presidents in the country, but for the cruel intervention of fate. Only one of her children became the president of the country. The President was of course, Alhaji Umaru Musa ‘Yar’adua. The one who nearly became president long before him, was his elder brother, General Shehu Musa ‘Yar’adua, who had won the primary election of his party the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with a very wide margin over the National Republican Convention (NRC), won by Alhaji Adamu Chiroma.

The elections were annulled by the then strong man and Military President of the country, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the alias ‘Evil Genius’, who with a stroke of the pen followed by a lengthy announcement said that elections were null and void. 

General ‘Yar’adua continued with his life, apparently unperturbed, but with the strategies he was famously known for, until his ambition clashed with that of the person who was then the Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who sent the former to to the Abakiki prison in 1995, where his life came to an end in December 1997. General Sani Abacha’s death was to follow later under mysterious circumstances on June 8, 1980.

Hajiya  Binta ‘Yar’adua married Alhaji Musa ‘Yar’adua in 1950, and bore him seven children, including the two famous ones, in the persons of President Umaru Musa ‘Yar’adua , who died in May 2010, and his elder brother, General Shehu Musa ‘Yar’adua. The General was the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council from 1997 to 1999, when Nigeria was under military rule headed by General Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo.

She died at the ripe age of 102 on Monday 2nd of September, 2024 at her ‘Yar’adua quarters residence. Her funeral prayer was attended by the creame’ de la creame’ of the society, led by the Vice President, Senator Kashim  Shettima, who came with two caps, one representing the President of the country, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the other for himself, the Governor of Katsina state, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, PhD,CON, the Presidential Candidates of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and that of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi in the 2023 election.

Also in attendance were the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Faruk Jobe, many serving and former governors, including the immediate past Governor of Katsina States and one time Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Honourable Aminu Bello Masari, serving and former Senator, serving House of Representatives members, kings, princes and princesses, as well as business moguls, whom include Alhaji Dahiru Bara’u Mangal, other business people, clerics of the Islamic and Christian faiths, and others too numerous to mention, among the leading lights of the country.

She was survived by four children, many grandchildren and great grandchildren, among who is the one man who can be described as the last man standing in the ‘Yar’adua dynasty, Senator Colonel (rtd) AbdulAziz Musa ‘Yar’adua, who is representing Katsina Central Senatorial Zone.

The calibre of people who attended the funeral prayer and those who continue to troop to Katsina to condole with the loved ones she left behind says a lot about who the ‘Yar’adua matriarch was. Almost anybody who is everybody 

was in, or come to, Katsina for the same purposes. It was like Mark Antony said about Julius Caesar, when the former went to bury the remains of the latter, “When comets die there are no stars seen, but the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of a prince”.

Hajiya Binta was indeed not a commoner, but a princess and star of her time. Her death signals the near end of an era, the ‘Yar’adua dynasty era, in which her husband, who served as the Minister of Lagos Affairs during the First Republic, and her two sons, who served as the number two and the first citizen of the country, held sway.

May Allah forgive all the mistakes, errors and shortcomings of Alhajiya Binta ‘Yar’adua, also known as (alias) Dada, and make Aljanna Firdaus her final destination.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.