Retired MWO John Yari Laid To Rest In Kaduna Amid Encomiums

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA— Retired Master Warrant Officer and parishioner of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Kakuri, John A. Yari, was laid to rest in Kaduna on Friday,

.
​The deceased passed away at the age of 77 on September 19 after a protracted illness. He is survived by five children and several grandchildren.

A funeral mass was held in his honor, concelebrated by the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Lucas Zasan Auta, and Fr. Bako Awe followed by the final interment at the family compound in Ungwan Bije, Kaduna, Nigeria.

​
​Speaking shortly after the interment, the parish priest of St. Andrew’s, Kakuri, Rev. Fr. Lucas Zasan Auta, described the deceased:
​”Baba Yari, as I noted when I arrived at the parish, was one of the elders who really encouraged me. Baba was a complete, perfect gentleman. He was a very calm person, and one thing you would easily notice with Baba is his neatness.”

​He continued:
​”And not just his neatness; his neatness was coupled with the way he addressed issues gently, and he was full of wisdom. Baba Yari was a true son of the church. He was very dedicated, and unless something held him back, you would certainly see Yari in church—that was the definition of Baba. We will greatly miss him.”

​According to him, Baba was everything any child would love to have as a father, and every family would love to have as a father and a husband.
​”There are a lot of lessons we can deduce from the life of Baba: his commitment. He was committed to the church; he was committed to serving his God. He loved the Eucharist. Even in his old age, Yari was always there in the church. So, commitment is key.”

​”One of the things I noticed with Yari was contentment. In his old age, he was very content with what he had. You wouldn’t even know he had the kind of children he did, because he was deeply content. And his generosity—I feel Yari was generous even to a fault. The testimonies given about Yari speak to the person of Baba: his contentment, his commitment, his generosity, his humility, his dedication to the church, and his love for the Blessed Sacrament,” he reiterated.

Similarly, the priest-in-charge of Immaculate Conception, Sabon Gari,  Rev Fr. Francis Bako Awe, who is also the late Mr. John Yari’s younger brother, shared his thoughts:
“Late Mr. John Yari was my elder brother. He was a gentleman, a very simple man, and a very prayerful man. We will surely miss him in the family. We will surely miss his advice; we will surely miss his presence.”

​”May the Lord who called him from this world have mercy on him and grant him eternal rest in His kingdom. For us who are still alive, we pray that we emulate and be like him, and that we may one day join heaven and live forever through Christ our Lord. Thank you.”

​Reminiscences from Military Colleagues
​One of his former commanders, retired Colonel Bashir Shetu, stated:
​”John Yari was a very disciplined soldier. To describe him, he was a soldier no officer or commander would meet, or fail to want to take with him wherever he was posted.”

​”I met him in 1975, and by the time I was posted here to Kaduna and met him, I was the happiest human being. I quickly reconnected with him along with some of my unit members, because I knew he stood for discipline—and there was indeed discipline when I was there, and when I left him, discipline remained in the unit.”

​”As a man, I cannot cry, but there is nothing we can do. It is the will of God, and it must be so. So we thank God for everything.”

​Another former commander, retired Colonel Ayyuka Shein, described the deceased: ” He was a perfect and complete gentleman. He was somebody who was neat all the time, and anybody who worked with him would always praise him for his charisma and discipline.”

​Reflecting on how he will be missed in contemporary Nigeria, he added:
​”You know the situation in the country, and having such people is rare—very, very rare. But if we come across them, to God be the glory, and if we miss them, God should be glorified too.”

​
​Representing the family, Baba Yari’s son, Clement Yari, reflected on their late father:
​”He lived a life of sacrifice. We grew up knowing that he sacrificed so much for us actually to be where we are today, and that legacy will live on. We have also come to see how much he loved people.”

​”He embraced even people who were not particularly related to us by tribe or anything; he embraced them as long as they were good-minded people. Baba was very open to embracing people. Friends came from school or work, and he embraced all of them. All of them became part of the entire family. Baba even had reason to adopt people when situations required them to come into our home, and he supported them as much as possible. He always encouraged us to do the same thing: reach out and be a blessing to other people.”

​”So far, how I can describe my father… he lived a life of sacrifice, being patient, not being harsh, learning to look at things from a broader perspective, and not being rash—whether with your answers, in responding to people, or in reacting to whatever happens.”

​Also, General Idi Alewa said Pa Yari was very humble, gentle, God-fearing, and friendly: ” I think he was not just an acquaintance to me, but he became my friend—my close friend, somebody I knew very well and did things together with. The most important thing is that he knew God and feared God. That is how I can describe him. I will really miss him. I really miss a friend.”

​Lending his voice, Mr. Paul Yari said late Yari was both an uncle and a father to him: “He is my uncle, and he is my father. He taught me a lot of things. He taught me how to work, how to be hardworking, and how to be disciplined.”

​A longtime friend of the family, Brother Daniel Ali, reminisced: ” I have been a very close friend to the family for over 30 years, dating back to 44 Hospital and the church there. When I worshiped there, my children were also together with them before I knew their father was serving in Liberia.”

​”Actually, we were very close with the family members and the children themselves, and that is how we started linking up and fellowshipping together. When he returned from Liberia, I grew closer to him since I was already close to the family. When I truly came to know him, I became so attached to him, as we encourage ourselves, in the renewal, Catholic faith and love of God until his demise.”

​The high point of the burial and interment was a military parade, a lying-in-state rite, and gunshots in his honor by his colleagues, in line with military burial traditions among others.