Aziz Nabe laid to rest in New Jersey

 By KABS KANU:

Mr. Mohamed Aziz Nabe, another icon of the ruling All People’s Congress ( APC ) North America and a prolific writer and defender of the President Ernest Koroma Government, was yesterday laid to rest in New Jersey after another touching funeral . Yesterday’s tearful  event further plunged  into tremendous grief  a community still mourning the recent passing of the other APC icon, Sekou Dauda Bangura ;  Mr. Ahmad Mustapha, the son of one-time political maverick, Dr. M.S. Mustapha ;  Fatu Dumbuya and Ahmed Tejan , not to mention the fact that   last Thursday, another resident in the person of Mr.Andrew Komeh , passed away in New Jersey.

Mr. Nabe died at the JFK Nursing Home on Monday March 11, 2013 following a long illness.

With grief and sorrow heavily permeating the society following  the recent deaths in the community , yesterday’s funeral started at the Andersen Funeral Home in New Brunswick , where tributes immortalizing the late Aziz Nabe were read . Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the United States , H.E. Bockarie Kortu Stevens ( who was accompanied by  his wife Mrs. Mamusu Stevens)   and a delegation sent by President Ernest Koroma , led by Mr.Foday Mansaray and consisting of the Director of Political  Affairs, Mr. Ajibu Jalloh , parliamentarian Mr. Tunde Lewally and Madam Wotay Dura,  among others,  also read tributes in honour of the late Aziz Nabe.

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THE LATE AZIZ NABE

This was followed by the muslim rites at the Dawatul Islamia Mosque in Somerset. Attesting to the popularity of the late man, both the funeral home and the mosque were jammed packed with mourners . There was hardly a packing space in the whole neighbourhood while in the mosque there was hardly an elbow room. People poured into the mosque to mourn and pay their last respect to a community leader whom many people described as a mentor .

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Delivering the funeral sermon, Imam Sheikh Mohamed Allie warned the congregation about the inevitability of death. He preached that death is an inevitable fact of life  but it is hated by man, though he cannot avoid it. He cautioned that death is however an admonition to man. The cleric  stated that if a man had been admonished for long to change his ways and he would not do it then he has to look to his death. The certainty of death will warn him that this world is not permanent and one day he will die.

He said that the late Aziz Nabe was a devout student of the Koran and he attended the cleric’s class regularly , even reading ahead of him. The preacher said he used to admire Nabe .especially his penchant for dressing to impress. He said that Nabe was a fabulous dresser , apart from being a devout muslim and good father but today he is no more.He warned the congregation to use Nabe’s death as an admonition that they too will die some day.  The muslim preacher said that nobody knows the state of the dead and what they are doing in the grave while awaiting their resurrection . Only God knows , he said  and instructed that this  should caution man to be careful about the manner he lives his life on this earth.

“Why are people proud and arrogant when worms will eat their bodies one day ? Why do people take advantage of others when they know that they will one day end up in the grave ? “, the animated preacher asked. He warned his listeners to repent and move closer to God. “Do not ask yourself when you will die and how.That is not important. Ask yourself what condition you will be in when you die. .That is the most important thing “, he admonished the congregation. “Death is a door we will all have to enter”  and he advised his listeners to try to live their  lives on earth in such a pleasing manner to God that there would not be regrets during death .  The other officiating cleric  included the Chief Imam, Alhaji Ibrahim Conteh and  Alpha Aliru Bakarr . Muslim cleric present were  the Chief Imam of the Jamatul Haq Mosque of Somerset, Alhaji Abdullah Savage and   Sheikh Balla Barrie. The muslim prayer for the dead ( Janaza ) was then offered in the mosque.

Then came the long journey to the burial ground–The NJ Memorial Cemetery at Conover Road, Millstone,  where the late Aziz Nabe was, IN A SENSE,  going to be reunited with other residents of Somerset who died recently : Alpha Ahmad Tejan, Ms. Fatu Dumbuya , Mr. Ahmad Mustapha and Mr. Sekou Dauda Bangura ( whose sudden death was concealed from Mr. Nabe because of his worsening health condition at the Nursing home then ) . Some mourners speculated pathetically that Nabe would be surprised to meet Dauda in eternity because he did not know that Dauda had died , though  Dauda  used to give Nabe rides to social functions and to see his doctor . Even when Nabe’s condition worsened recently, Dauda used to visit him everyday at the hospital. Nobody ever dreamt that the healthy and fit Dauda would have fallen ill suddenly and predeceased the terminally ill Nabe. Dauda’s death remains the most stunning and  Nabe , who had started fighting for his life in hospital , was never told  that his great friend and brother had passed. He just stopped seeing Dauda. It was said that a week before he died, Nabe was always wondering to his wife , Mrs.Halima Nabe , why he had not seen Dauda for a while, which to him was very strange, because Dauda had been visiting him daily at the hospital. Nabe thought that It was quite unlike Dauda  for him to just stop coming to the hospital to see him  . Unknown to him, Dauda had died suddenly. His wife however strictly obeyed the admonition by family and community leaders that Nabe,  in his seriously sick condition ,  be  told nothing about Dauda’s death because of the effect the shock would have on his already frail self. This was one sorrowful subplot to the recent deaths in the community that highlighted the mortality of man. Two great friends who only yesterday were being seen together going here and there have now become deceased, without one of them knowing about it until his own death  and now both of them were being spoken about in terms of a surprising meeting between them  in eternity. Mr. Nabe’s burial a few graves away from Dauda’s  and Ahmad Mustapha’s  also brought lots of tears to mourners yesterday  .

The burial ceremony was followed by a repass at the Eternal Life Christian Centre in Somerset where more tributes were read .  The All People’s Congress Branch of New Jersey , led by Alhaji Allie Badara Kamara and the Presidential delegation led by Foday Mansaray not only  read tributes but  each presented to the bereaved family a purse –in the case of the APC, provided by members and in the case of the delegation from Freetown, sent by His Excellency President Ernest Koroma.

Hon.Tunde Lewally  read President Koroma’s tribute, which was moving and full of concern for the late party faithful and family . In his eulogy , Mr. Jalloh recalled Aziz Nabe’s devotion to the APC and President Koroma and his skills with the pen. He read out some of Nabe’s recent comments in online discussions on the political situation in Sierra Leone and the diaspora and lamented that Nabe will  be DIRELY MISSED  for the passion with which he defended the cause of the APC.

Also present at the funeral were the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Osman Keh Kamara and the Head of Chancery, Mr. Alusine Sesay.

WE WILL BRING YOU A PICTORIAL DISPLAY TOMORROW, PROVIDED BY HAMJAT JOLOMI BAH –WHO IS NOW A MEMBER OF COCORIOKO — AND YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT. PLEASE NOTE THAT THOUGH HE IS NOW A MEMBER OF COCORIOKO, MR. BAH ALSO SENDS  HIS PHOTOS TO OTHER MEDIA. 

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