After you returned N1m excess gratuity paid to you, many people were interested in knowing about you…
My name is Alhaji Abubakar Garba. I was born in a village called Ngulde in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, but I have been living in Bauchi State for 43 years now. I have no other home apart from Bauchi. I’m 67 years old. My father, Mallam Garba, was a teacher and also a farmer. My mother’s name was Maryam. I only attended primary school. I went to Central Primary School, Ngulde Division in Askira/Uba Local Government Area.
Why didn’t you finish secondary school?
I was with my father when I was young but I didn’t get to Primary 7, which we had in those days; I left when I was in Primary 5. I had a sister and an elder brother who were living in Maiduguri, so I made up my mind to stay with that elder brother. Later my elder sister’s husband, Ibrahim, asked me to stay with him. While I was with him, there was a lawyer called Mohammed Abubakar Sambo, who was his neighbour and who used to send me on errands. I would buy things like cigarettes, newspapers and many other things for him.
Then he was appointed as the Attorney General of North-Western State (now Sokoto State). Then following the creation of Bauchi State from Borno in 1967, he asked me to follow him to Bauchi because we now had a state. And that was how we came back to Bauchi on April 1, 1967, and he was in Bauchi as the state’s Attorney General. I started working on May 1, 1976, at the Ministry of Justice under him. He was a Fulani man from Gombe but up till this moment, I have not seen an honest and trustworthy person like him. I worked with white men and other people but I still haven’t found someone like him. Then he left the position of Attorney General and became a High Court judge; he was the first Bauchi State indigene to become a Chief Judge in the state. When he became the Chief Judge, he was a gentleman and very simple. He did not oppress people under him. Even as Chief Judge, sometimes, he stayed for one week without money to buy cigarettes and I would have to go to his mother to get it for him. This was someone who could become a millionaire instantly if he chose to, but anything that was taboo or a crime, he was not a part of; he fled from such. Up till when he died, he used to tell us that whatever route we took in life, we should look for what was lawful and clean. He taught us not to cheat people because we would be alone in the grave. That was the same thing my mother used to say. Before I left home, she usually said she would rather die than hear that her child was a thief. That was what she taught me and I have held on to it all my life.
What kind of person were you when you were a child?
When I was younger, my prayer was for God to give me resources that would help me assist poor people around me; that was always my prayer. I always prayed that whatever was not mine, God should not bring it my way because I didn’t need it. Even if I don’t have one kobo but have food to eat with my family, it’s okay. I don’t think about what to eat the following day till that day comes because it belongs to God, not me. And when that day comes, I pray to God to help me and I remind Him to give me just like he did the previous day.
If He doesn’t give me, then I’ll wait for the time He will give me. But for me to get money through dirty means in order to feed my family, I don’t want it as long as it’s not clean, no matter how tempting it looks.
What about your family?
I got married on December 31, 1973, in my village, Ngulde and God blessed us with eight children but one of them died while giving birth to her third child. I have one wife and seven children now alive. My first son graduated from the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi; he studied Civil Engineering. The immediate younger one graduated from the University of Maiduguri, he studied Economics. My third son has a diploma degree in Business Administration from Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, but also hasn’t got a job yet. My fourth child is currently at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University.
When did you retire from service?
I worked for 35 years and retired in 2011 from the High Court of Justice in Bauchi. I left office in July.
You returned N1m that was overpaid to you, how did that happen?
What happened was that, just before the 2019 general elections, my benefit was N1,239,777.45 and when I went to collect it, they paid me N1m and N239,777. 45 was pending. I have been building my own house for some time now; I stay in a rented apartment currently. Some people helped me and rented it out to me and I just give them something as rent. When I collected that money, I went and did some work in the house and the money finished. After some months, I was ill and lying down in my house when I was called to come to the pensions board and I went there. I was told to go to a particular office and I met the officer in charge. He asked me to collect my confirmation letter from my former office to prove that I worked there and to return to collect my cheque. After doing all that, they gave me my cheque but I didn’t even look at it there; I put it in my pocket. I went straight to the bank and requested a deposit slip. When I looked at it, I saw N1,239,777.45 instead of my balance of N239,777.45. I said: “No, no, no, this is not my money, it is not my money,” and I told the bank employee that I would be back. I went back to the office and told them that they overpaid me so the man there asked me how that happened. I told him that I had already been paid N1m. I said since I had got that amount before, it wasn’t right for me to collect my balance with additional money which I had received already. I told them to remove the N1m and give me the balance because anything that wasn’t mine, I had prayed that it should not come to my hand let alone spend it.
Does it mean that you are not in need of money now?
Is there anybody that would say he is not in need of money? There’s nobody that doesn’t like money in this life but the money should come through a clean source. I don’t like getting money through dubious means at all. Even my children, I always tell them to be honest and sincere in everything they do. In fact, I have a son who I think is even more upright than me; he doesn’t go to places that could corrupt him. He finished from the University of Maiduguri and is still at home searching for a job.
You said you have challenges but you still returned the N1m, what are some of the problems you have?
I had so many problems before I was given that money. First, for over two years, my car has been with the mechanic; the underplate is badly rusted. I was asked to bring N350, 000, but I don’t have the money to fix it. The four tyres need to be changed, the engine needs to be changed, the four doors too will have to be changed, the back seat will be changed, and many other things that need to be done on it. The balance of my money, that N239,777.45, is not enough to complete the house I am building. I am even looking for where I can get a loan. I have asked our (local government) chairman where pensioners can get loans and he told me that banks could give me if I opened an account with them. If they can give me N300,000 loan so that I can add it to what I have and use it to finish just a section of my house and move in so that I will stop paying rent, it will be okay. If it is about problems, I have so many of them currently.
Since your retirement, what have you been doing to sustain yourself and family?
Immediately I retired, when my car was still fine, I was using it as a commercial vehicle. I used to move passengers here and there with it, but when it became faulty, that stopped. I used to take passengers to some villages in Bauchi during weekends, and I would get N300 or N500 or even N600. In fact, sometimes, I would return with just N200 because I might not get passengers. Sometimes, what to even eat with my family would not be there; I would then plead with them and go out. I would work from morning till 7 pm and we would use the money I made to buy food. That was about six years ago. That was how we kept on managing until the car became faulty. You know, it would not be good for passengers to be seeing the ground from inside the car; that was why I left it there. Since the car became faulty two years ago, I have not been doing anything. Really, life is difficult but God said in whatever situation you find yourself, take it that it is from Him and because of that, I don’t say that my life is very bad or very good. I thank God for the children I have and people around me who have been helpful; people have been assisting me and assisting my children in school, and because of that, I can’t complain.
Why did you return the money, was it only because of your upbringing?
When I was young, my mother told me if I cheated people, stole from them, even in death, I should not call her mother. Secondly, my boss, Mohammed Sambo, used to tell me that it had never been said that ‘your truth has ended, what is said is that your lying has come to an end’. He would tell me that I shouldn’t be found doing whatever was not clean. But Brigadier General Abu Ali was once the governor of Bauchi State. When he died, instead of the nine children he left behind to be catered for by the government, they were abandoned. He left just a single house in Gombe which he even built from a N35 , 000 loan he took. I knew about it. Instead of such an honest, sincere and trustworthy person to be rewarded by helping his family, nothing was done. The problem is that now when people are not corrupt, instead of their honesty to be rewarded, such would not be done.
Since you returned this money, has the government looked for you or has any individual looked for you?
Really, the government has not looked for me and nobody has looked for me; only journalists like you have come.
Were you not tempted to keep the N1m considering the challenges you said you have?
When I opened the cheque and saw that money, I was afraid. And the first thing that came to my mind was not to keep the money. The thought of keeping it did not cross my mind so I returned it immediately, I didn’t think twice about it. I don’t want to be associated with anything wrong or corrupt; I don’t need it at all. It’s better for me to borrow money than for me to keep that money and use it; I know my children will pay back .
How much is your pension monthly?
I collect N43,000 monthly as my pension and it comes regularly now, though during the last administration, it used to come late.
Credit: Punch
