Walking as fast as his legs could carry him without any form of support as he approached some plastic chairs stationed at a strategic corner within the expansive compound that wet Tuesday afternoon, Pa Adama Aduku showed no sign of tiredness or frailty. Donning a white attire synonymous with the people of northern Nigeria complemented by a specially designed footwear and cap, there was nothing to suggest that at 101, the old man had lost any bit of the confidence and swagger that served him during his days in the military and over the years. He was full of energy.

Finding comfort in one of the plastic chairs around, the centenarian rolled back the years in grand style, reeling out highlights upon highlights of his over one century on earth. Born to a peasant farmer with two wives in 1918 in the rural town of Abejukolo-Ife under Omaha Local Government Area of Kogi State, Aduku had no idea how his life would pan out while treading the nooks and crannies of his ancestral land as a child. A family of traditionalists, education was never a priority in his lineage; instead, his formative years and those of other children were shaped by farming and the experiences that came with it. Life went on normally for him until one day in 1942 when everything changed.

“I was coming back from the farm one evening when I saw a man who was younger than me at the time beating our village head,” Aduku recalled with nostalgia as he shared his life’s story with our correspondent earlier in the week during an encounter. “The man named Salikawa was a soldier who resorted to beating up our chief for refusing to carry his bag and seeing him off to his house, which was 10 miles away.
“When the matter was reported to the District Officer, the chief was advised to obey the soldier in his own interest or face whatever consequences that resulted from that.

“I was very angry and bitter and I made up my mind to join the military so that I could go back to the village and also beat up Salikawa for humiliating our chief,” he added.

A few weeks after clocking 24, Aduku left his native Abejukolo-Ife and headed for Makurdi, Benue State, to enlist in the army. Beyond the desire to avenge the humiliation of their community head by a much younger fellow, the allure of being respected and feared by his kinsmen also sparked his interest in joining the military. But while he received the blessing of his father and a few family members, others within the household objected to the idea. However, that didn’t stop him from pursuing his goal.

Two years after joining the army in Makurdi, Aduku and others were moved to Eleyele in Ibadan, Oyo State, in preparation for Egypt en route India and Burma (now Myanmar), where they were to fight for the British Army in the Second World War. It is a time the centenarian looks back to today with fond memories.

“In the course of that journey, we ran out of drinking water, so we had to rely on the water from the sea to drink despite it being salty,” he revealed. “By the time we finally got to Egypt, we waited a bit before moving to Bombay in India and later to Kolkota also in that country for the war.

“While over there, we fought with Japan in an intense battle and we were able to defeat them. We also fought against enemies in Burma (now Myanmar).

“After the war, we returned to Ikeja in Lagos in 1946. I came back home with £100; it was big money at the time,” he said with a warm grin.

While still trying to recover from the energy he lost in the war upon his return back home, Aduku faced another challenge from familiar quarters. Having heard horrible tales of women and children, who suddenly became widows and orphans, as a result of their husbands and fathers participating in the war, the retired soldier’s grandmother begged, cried and pressured him to leave the army. She was not the type that would struggle to get anything from him. He was in a fix. A decision had to be taken.

“I didn’t know what to do after my grandmother begged