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Late Rev Dr Shuaibu Byal
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
A former Zonal Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), North-East and the Rector, ECWA Theological College, Bayara, Bauchi, Rev. Dr. Shuaibu Byal has died at the age of 63 barely few months after he lost his son.
He was said to have slumped and died on Friday evening from suspected cardiac arrest due to a long time sickness he had been battling with following a fatal accident he had few years ago which kept him bedridden for more one year.
While Confirming the death in an interview with our Correspondent on Saturday, Academic Dean of ECWA Theological College, Bayara, Rev Matthew Wakili Laslimbo said that, he was full of life the morning before he died saying that he was in the school till closing time.
Matthew Laslimbo who is the State Secretary of CAN added that the death came to the College community as a rude shock stressing however that when death comes, nothing can stop it.
Also, Chairman, Bauchi State CAN, Rev. Abraham Damina, described the death of Shuaibu Byal as, “shocking and a great loss not only to CAN but to the Christendom and the nation at large”.
The CAN Chairman said that, “Somebody called to tell me last night that Rev. Byal was gone. I had to call someone to verify if it was true and it confirmed to me that it was true” .
“He told me that he returned from Toro (town, Toro LGA of Bauchi State) and then he slumped and that was all. It was really a shocking news to all of us. It is unfortunate that we lost that elder statesman,” he said.
Abraham Damina described the deceased, a one-time Executive Chairman, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Bauchi State, as someone who was humble and gentle.
He said: “I knew him even before he became the North-East CAN Chairman. He was a very humble man, he was outspoken, and he was a very nice man. I knew him one-on-one.
The CAN Chairman added that, “In fact, we (CAN) have tried to have a meeting with him before this this happened. We were together about three weeks ago and we had a great time together. He was really a very nice man” .
“Certainly, CAN will really miss him, the Church will miss him, the School where he was the head, the Theological Institute, will miss him, his children, even Bauchi State and beyond will miss him because he was a well-known person”, he concluded.
He will be buried on Monday at a yet to be disclosed location in Bauchi after a Church service at ECWA church, bauchi.
Meanwhile, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir has described the death of Rev Dr Shuaibu Byal as a monumental loss to not only Bauchi State but the entire country considering he selfless service towards peace and peaceful coexistence among adherents of the two religions in the Country.
Bala Mohammed who paid a condolence visit to the family of the deceased on Saturday at Bayara described him as a peace loving Clergyman who spent his pastoral years as an ECWA Pastor in ensuring that people irrespective of religious differences coexisted together.
He said that since he knew him, there was never a time he saw him annoyed or wearing a sorrowful face a divine gift he said is very rare calling on the family to accept the death in good faith as an act of God who gives and takes life.
The Governor condoled the Church and Christians in the state urging them not to mourn but to celebrate the qualities he stood for while alive praying God to grant his soul eternal rest in paradise.
