Meet men wey dey eat, sleep and work for graveyard

For di biggest cemetery inside Kaduna state for Northwest Nigeria e get some group of men wey don dedicate dia lives to di service of di place.

Na dis group of pipo about 17 of dem dey dig graves, bury, clean and maintain Tudun Wada cemetery for decades now.

57 year old Abdulwahid Abdulsalam na one of dem and e tell BBC News Pidgin say e don dey do di work for 25 years now and di place don become im home.

“We spend more hours here dan our actual homes and wen we wan chop we dey use cartons wey we use bury corpses to siddon chop or to lie down sleep if need arise.”

Abdulwahid say e dey leave im house around 7:30 in di morning evri day to begin work and na till night time e go return house.

“Sometimes after we close in di night some pipo go call us say dem wan bring corpse and na so we go suspend going home until we help bury di pesin.”

E tok say di work na one wey dem dey wit out any official pay from goment but dem still dey do am to get reward for heaven.

“Why we dey do dis work na because dis na di final resting place for everybody and we dey do am because of God.”

“I get relatives wey dem bury here and most likely na here dem go bury me too so dis na just like service to myself too.”

“Sometimes after burial we go just comot our cap to use beg for alms from pipo wey come and na from dia we dey take feed ourselves and families.”

‘I dey use my work teach my children tins about life’

Abdulwahid co-cemetery worker tok im mind

Im colleague and oga Abdulaziz Ibrahim start dis work 31 years ago and tok say as e dedicate im life to di work e no go mind if any of im children follow suit.

“I go dey happy for any of my children wey wan do dis work because na good tin for dia hereafter.”

Abdulaziz say dem bury im father and im uncle for di place and e dey always visit dia graves to pray for dem.”

“Na here dem dey work too before dem die in fact my father bin dey come work when e get accident just outside dis gate wey lead to im death.”

Di graveyard worker call on support from goment and individuals as even di equipment some of dem dey use na borrowed ones.

“Even di shovels, diggers some of us dey borrow am come work so we need serious support to continue dis work.”

Di procedure to bury pesin wey die

According to Abdulwahid if dem receive call say pesin wey die dem go immediately begin work.

“First tin na di pesin must be muslim since dis na muslim graveyard den afta we go ask pesin wey call us to inform about di death to ask weda di corpse na fat or slim one.”

“Di reason wey dey ask of size and height of di corpse na becos of di measurement becos as pipo different na so di graves also dey different.”

“My job na to make sure say evri tin go according to plan and wen dem bring di corpse na me go put am inside di grave.” E tok.

‘I don dig more dan 70,000 graves’

Abdulaziz tok say since e start work e go don dig graves wey reach over 70,000 considering di number of years e spend.

“Sometimes in a day we fit dig like 20 graves while some days just a few depending on how pipo die dat day.”

‘Feems dey deceive pipo about ghosts’

Abdulaziz yarn say nothing like ghosts dey exist di way feems dey take portray am saying anytime e see am e go just laugh.

“For films sometimes you go see ghosts dey pursue pesin all na deceit because in real life nothing like dat.”

“I don dey work here since July 2nd 1992 and I neva get any single report or see any tin wey go make me fear.”

‘Di day I no go ever forget’

Abdulwahid say di day e no go ever forget for dis work na one day wey accident kill about 18 pipo wey dey travel and dem bring di corpses come dia cemetery.

“Na day wey I no go ever forget for dis work, na accident kill all those pipo and dat day na very sad one as children and women follow join.

Both Abdulwahid and Abdulaziz say dem go like make dia family bury dem for Tudun Wada cemetery afta dia death just like some of dia family members wey dem bury dia.