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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
It was testimony time when Mrs Catherine Bitrus, 66, a widow orgainsed a remembrance and thanksgiving service in honour of her late husband, Mr. Bitrus Yayock Duniya, who died 30 years ago in Kaduna due to wrong dosage of drugs.
Giving testimony before the congregation at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Barnawa area of Kaduna city, Mrs Bitrus recalled how it rained heavily on the day her husband died, noting that it was heavy rain again on August 27, 2023, the day of the remembrance service.
Mrs Bitrus, who hails from Atyap community of Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, same council area with her late husband, lamented that she would continue to miss him greatly. According to her, “it is better he is alive and we fight or quarrel everyday in the house than to be dead without seeing him again.”
She also disclosed that men were falling over heels, seeking her hand in marriage because she was 36 years old when her husband died, believing that she could still give birth to more children.
The widow gave detailed account of how her husband died due to complications from wrong dosage of drugs, prescribed for him by a nurse in a government owned hospital.
She recalled vividly how her mother saved her from drunkards, who wanted to violate her after her husband’s death, advising her to relocate to Kaduna city from the village to escape the prying eyes of men.
This was even as she disclosed that she rejected the temptations of remarrying after her husband’s death, though men were falling over heels to marry her. But she told them she was married to Jesus.
She narrated: “My husband fell sick and I took him to a hospital. The first time he went to a hospital in Kaduna for treatment. The nurse, who gave him the drugs, gave him wrong prescription. Instead of taking quarter of a tablet, she asked him to take two tablets. And that day, I had already traveled to the village to bury my cousin who died while delivering a baby.
“By the time I came back to Kaduna, my husband was completely down already. I had to rush him to the hospital and the doctor said it was a wrong prescription.
“He said it was supposed to be a quarter of a tablet, not one, not two tablets. So, they advised that we should go to another hospital and before we could reach another hospital, he went into coma. But after a day, he came out of the coma.
“The second day he spent in the hospital he went back to coma. We were in that hospital for four days. His friend and brother, the then Senator Isaiah Balat visited him in the hospital. Balat is now late also. Balat advised that we move my husband from that hospital to a medical consultant in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital(ABUTH) in Zaria. I took my husband there. He was still in coma at ABUTH for two weeks. That was how it all happened and we lost him.
“I can’t quantify how much I miss my husband. I miss him and I miss him. I really miss him. Let’s assume we are fighting every day in the house if he were to be alive, it is better than to be dead.
“Now, I wake up every day without finding him, nobody to fight with. He was quiet, a loving man, gentle man to the core. He was not the talking type, l am the one doing the talking.”
Explaining how she resisted the temptations to remarry after her husband’s death, the 66-years-old widow said: “I cannot thank my mother enough, she is dead now. She didn’t go to school, but God gave her wisdom.
“It wasn’t up to four months when we came to Kaduna after Women Teachers’ College (WTC). I was posted to Barnawa Government Day Secondary School. When I told my mother I wanted to return to the village after my husband’s death, she asked me, my daughter, why did you want to go back to the village?
“She said I should remain in Kaduna because if you return to the village everybody knows you are a widow, and when some men are drunk, they will come and knock at your door. And whether you open the door or not, they will abuse you.
“But if you stay in Kaduna, how many people know that you are a widow? They will think your husband is working elsewhere. So, just remain in Kaduna and concentrate on looking for money to feed your children. Someday, your children will support you.
“My mother had girls and only one boy. My father would say he will not waste his money to send girls to school.
“But my mother was industrious, she was a business woman. She trained us girls. I went to college, and after my college education, I got married. I still continued with my education to tertiary institution up to degree level before my husband died. So, I thank God for everything.
“I was always pleading with men who came to marry me, not to be annoyed because I have to stay with children and not to remarry. One man got disappointed and announced angrily that nobody could understand me, and that I love my children so much.
“That is God for you because I asked God what He wanted me to do now that He had kept me in this condition when I was just 36. I was still young.
“But God talked to me in a dream: ‘look for money anywhere and train your children.’ And all of them were willing to go to school. All of them are now graduates and none of them gave me headache.
“I lost my first daughter. She had two children. She went to school in New Zealand with her husband. She died there. They brought her body back to Nigeria. So, glory be to God.
“I am now married to Jesus. And I am now very happy. Nothing gets me annoyed any longer. I keep to myself and pray to God always.”
Also speaking about Bitrus at the event, a community leader in Danmadani Atyap, Mr. John Bala Gora extolled his virtue. Hora said: “The late Bitrus Yayock Duniya was a household name. He was a committed individual to the cause of Atyap land. He was a lawyer, who served in the chambers of late Chief Solomon Lar, one time governor of Plateau State. He was a politician. He was at one time a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
“He was a quiet man, gentle and jovial. He was quite intelligent and a good listener. He was a true patriot of Atyap community.
“The thanksgiving in his honour today is very significant in the sense that it was timely. Widowhood in Nigeria is very difficult but Mrs Bitrus Yayaock was able to compose herself, pulled herself together with focus and trained her children in tertiary institutions.
“It is my prayer that the children will take care of her until when God will call her to rest. It is my prayer that she should never have any reason to bury her children. God will preserve, protect and defend them.”
