By Aminu Garko
Haruna Bashir, whose wife and six children were killed in Dorayi Chiranchi Quarters in January, was among 1,500 grooms who remarried on Friday in the Kano State mass wedding programme.
Bashir’s family was attacked on January 17 at about 12:10pm while he was away at Dorayi market. His wife, Fatima Abubakar, 35, and children Maimuna, 17, Aisha, 16, Bashir, 13, Abubakar, 10, Faruk, 7, and Abdussalam, 1 and a half, were killed.
Police later arrested three suspects, including Umar Auwalu, 23, a nephew to the deceased wife, who reportedly confessed to leading the attack.
Following the incident, over ₦25 million was raised through crowdfunding in five days. President Bola Tinubu also sent condolences to the family.
During a condolence visit, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf announced support for Bashir to include a new house, sponsorship for Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia, and assistance to remarry and restart his life. Bashir donated his former house to the state government for use as an Islamiyya school.
Bashir performed Umrah and Hajj. He returned to Kano where the state government delivered a new house to him at Amana City.
On Friday, the final part of the pledge was fulfilled at the Emir’s Palace in Kano during the “Auren Gata” mass wedding organised by the Kano State Hisbah Board under Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa.
At the ceremony, Governor Yusuf stood as Wakili, guardian, for the grooms, while Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, stood as Wakili for the brides. Bashir was married to Nabila Kabiru Yunusa with a dowry of ₦200,000 paid by the state government.
The state government said each of the 1,500 brides received ₦200,000 as dowry and additional financial support to start a small-scale business.
The mass wedding was held simultaneously across the 44 local government areas of the state. The government allocated about ₦300 million for the programme.