20th August, 2021
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja today for the wedding of his only son Yusuf to Zahra Nasir Bayero, the daughter of Emir of Bichi.
Aso Rock will be on shutdown for the wedding as the President yesterday despatched his Chief of staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and five ministers as his advance team.
The wedding, which will hold at 1.30 p.m has for weeks been the talk of Bichi and the city of Kano.
Security has been beefed up, with a special squad flown to Kano from Abuja on Wednesday.
The event at Bichi central mosque, is also preceding the coronation. of the bride’s father, Nasir Ado Bayero as the Emir of Bichi.
Buhari will not attend the event on Saturday, but his advance team will stay back for the event.
In June, Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa led no fewer than six other governors and ministers to the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, the elder brother of Zahra’s father, to seek approval for the wedding.
Yusuf’s bride, Zahra is 20 years old.
She is a final year student of Architecture in Buckingham university in the United Kingdom.
She and Yusuf were said to have met while both were studying.
She is the second daughter of the Emir of Bichi.
Zahra’s mother, Farida Imam, is the daughter of a famous Kano educationist, Mal Abubakar Imam (Imamu Galadanci), a former Executive Director at Afribank Plc.
Her aunty, Farida’s biological sister, is married to the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III.
In an interview with Daily Trust, the Emir of Bichi spoke on how painful it is for him to give away any of his children in marriage because of how close he is with them.
Zahra’s elder sister was married off earlier in the year, he said.
“I’m very close to my children, so sending away Zahra is also an issue for me, but we thank God.
“She’s a young girl, only 20; and she’s in her final year in the university studying architecture.
“I would have loved for Zahra to stay and finish her school and live with me a little longer, but we cannot change what God has ordained, we can only pray and wish them a successful married life,” he said.
The business tycoon turned monarch, who seats as a chairman of the Board of 9mobile as well as several other companies, said he took solace from the Hadiths, especially the part where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, ‘When you successfully raise three daughters and marry them off, Allah will give you a place in paradise’.
“This is my prayer and hope that through them God will give me Aljannah,” he said