Marcus @60: The Carpenter Who Became Registrar!
BY SIMON REEF MUSA
I feel a profound sense of inadequacy in recalling the early years of a child that was born in Fadan Kaje village in Zango Kataf LGA of Kaduna State on September 29, 1964. This child, who is now known and called Timothy Marcus, is retiring today from the Kaduna State public service after attaining the age of 60 years.
I have known Marcus as far back as 1985. Brilliant and forward looking, Timothy had cleared his WAEC results after completing his secondary school education at the Government Day Secondary School Zango, but for some inscrutable reasons, he chose not to advance forward. Captured by the flames of service to God early in life, he was convinced early in life to tread a life clothed in humility and total devotion to God and man. While drinking from the fountain of this new found faith, he resorted to evangelism and would later deploy his energy in learning carpentry.
Between 1986 to 1992, he devoted his time to carpentry and had to endure the daily trek from Fadan Kaje to Zonkwa, a distance of not less than a 12-kilometre return journey. The young Timothy would turn his attention to books in preparing for an uncertain future. Of all the stories of his past he has shared with me, there is one that inspires me to this day. It is a story that when one laughs at your nakedness, you must pray that God should offer you an opportunity to clothe their own nakedness.
According to him, while walking to Fadan Kaje on a particular day, just close to dusk, he chanced upon an Igbo acquaintance friend, Oyinye (not his real name) engaged in conversation with an owner of a pick-up truck, Ushubal (not real name). On sighting the young carpenter walking, he asked where he was going. Of course, Timothy responded that he was returning home. He persuaded him to wait for his friend who was going to Kafanchan to take him to Fadan Kaje.
After the roadside conversation, Onyinye requested his friend to assist the carpenter to Fadan Kaje and immediately zoomed off on his RoadMaster motorcycle. When he attempted to find a space at the back of the truck, Ushubal asked if he had money. Timothy answered in the negative. The driver refused to allow him to sit in the back of his van without payment. Ushubal left the carpenter to trek home.
That won’t be his last encounter with Ushubal!
Another story of his life that often brings tears to me is the story of a young Muslim driver from Zaria working for the Kaduna State Agric Project in Samaru-Kataf. On many occasions, recalled Marcus, when trekking to Zonkwa from Fadan Kaje, just before the bridge, a van would always stop to give me a lift. The driver, Dan Haske (not real name), always stopped unrequested to take him to Zonkwa where he plied his trade from 1986-1992.
Timothy would one day encounter Dan Haske in the future!
In 1992, Timothy applied to the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, to read English and Geography for the National Certificate of Education (NCE) programme. During the second year of his programme at the college, he got admitted to read BA Public Administration at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1993. He abandoned the NCE programme for a degree programme. At the end of his programme, he got engaged as a school teacher in a Kaduna private school. He was also a private lesson teacher where his bulk of his income came from.
In 2002, he got an employment at the Kafanchan College of Education as an admin officer. It was here he excelled in the learning and practice of administrative skills. Throughout his duration as staff of the college, God gave him the opportunity to reciprocate the deeds of the two drivers, Ushubal and Dan Haske.
On one afternoon, someone lifted the curtains of his office and peered into his office. He was quick to recognise the face of Ushubal. He could hear the voice of the former driver, asking a staff of the college, “The provost directed me to the admin officer, but the person I am seeing in the office is a carpenter”.
Marcus left his seat and walked to the door of his office and invited Ushubal.
“Yes, I am the Admin Officer,” he calmly affirmed his position.
In the office, the former carpenter was face-to-face with the merciless driver. For fleeting seconds, Ushubal took a deep breath and allowed reality to sink in that indeed he was facing a man who refused to show kindness to. The former owner of the truck told the admin officer the purpose of his visit that had to do with certain contractual obligations. The Admin Officer helped him quickly. The carpenter refused to reciprocate a merciless act of the past. When I asked him if he reminded Ushubal of his heartless past, Marcus answered in the negative.
It was the turn of Dan Haske to receive his reciprocation. There was a time the college needed to recruit drivers for permanent and pensionable jobs. The former carpenter ensured Dan Haske was one of those who got employed. After securing the employment for Dan Haske, Marcus called the newly employed driver to his office.
“Do you recall this face,” the former carpenter asked the driver.
“Sir, never”.
“Do you recall the young carpenter you were always giving lift to Zonkwa?”.
“Yes, I recall. So, it is you!” the kind driver exclaimed in happiness.
Both incidents reflect the profound reality of “unless a man can defend the interest of an enemy; he can’t be trusted to defend the interest of a friend”. When it mattered the most, Marcus stood for Ushubal and Dan Haske, not minding the hard-heartedness of Ushubal.
Marcus’ rise to become the Registrar of the College is a story for another day. He is the only the only person that is competent to recall the intrigues surrounding his appointment as the Registrar of COE Gidan Waya. At the height of the contest for the highest administrative office in the college, I asked if he was worried about his chances, “My brother, if it is the wish of God for me to end my career at this present position, so be it. I shall always thank God for bringing me this far. I am sufficiently blessed to be where I am today, even without being the Registrar”, I recalled.
His appointment as Registrar was purely by the Grace of God. However, he’s not unmindful of the role Elder Ishaya Dary Akau, a former provost of the college, who is also celebrating his 78th birthday today, especially placing him in the proper position that qualified him to vie for the position of registrar. Marcus was a victim of stagnation in promotion, and the late Dr. Solomon Ahyuwa Yabaya, may his soul rest in peace, dawdled in placing Marcus on the proper scale, for fear of being accused of ethnic bias. Elder Akau changed that with the stroke of the pen.
The former carpenter, who rose to become Registrar, is formally retiring from the public service today. However, he is still filled with a boundless energy and requisite experience that is imperatives in resolving intractable challenges haranguing the nation’s educational sector. Throughout his service years, Marcus served faithfully and is leaving inspiring footprints worthy of emulation. However, in a zone that has enthroned all sorts of sentiments for personal aggrandizements, the man who ploughs the ground in honesty is never appreciated. Happily, Marcus is aware of that reality that the man in love with public commendation often gets frustrated. He hates the floodlights.
Ours is a society that vilifies its true heroes and exalts despicable oppressors.
Attaining 60 years in a nation where the life expectancy for males is about 50 remains a miracle. The former registrar symbolises the best of us whose story must be told to inspire incoming generations. Marcus is not only a writer, but an orator whose eloquence is never in doubt. Now that he is retiring today after attaining 60 years, I hope Marcus pens his story for the future. He hails from a zone that is a fertile ground for re-awakening the old order that is built on honesty and devotion to a cause.
No doubt, the past has been kind to Marcus. And the future seems set to be kindest to him. Your faithful years of service to God and Mankind can never be in vain. May the endling of your days be brighter and memorable than your beginning! I share in the joy of your wife, Roselyne, and your lovely daughter, Joy, for your 60th birthday. From your extended family, near and abroad and across divides, live long and enjoy good health in the decades to come.
Pastor Timothy, now is time to return fully to the vineyard where your attention is mostly needed after an eventful time of serving Caesar! Your strength shall never falter in whatever duty the Lord shall apportion unto you. Happy 60th birthday to The Carpenter who rose against all odds to become The Registrar!
