When I was young, every Easter was a period of great fun for us children in First Baptist Church, Kaduna. That was the only time we shifted church t
* Government Garden, now Kofar Gamji… A very serene ambience is lost.
In this church, the best church in the world, where I was raised, I was a member of RA, Royal Ambassador, (Does that group still exist?)
A great organisation that should have moved from the confines of the church to a national movement.
There was also the GA (can’t remember the meaning now) and there was the Lydia Circle.
The Government Garden was a serene ambience in Kaduna back in those years. One does not know the true history of the garden but the tale is that it was a place the colonialists enjoyed themselves during the colonial days.
It attracted government’s attention when a historical artefact, the Lord Lugard Bridge was relocated there.
* Under those trees on the left, we sat to have our Galilee… Government Garden, now Kofar Gamji cannot be the same.
The bridge was built by Sir Frederick Lugard in 1904 at Zungeru, the capital of the Northern Protectorate of Nigeria.
After the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates, the bridge was reconstructed in 1920 after it was moved to the garden, now Gamji Gate in Kaduna, which at the time served as the new Northern Headquarters.
On 16 February 1956, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments declared the footbridge a historic monument because it is regarded as the first bridge to be constructed in Northern Nigeria.
One of the places I visited was the Government Garden. I heard the name has been changed to something Kofar Gamji. All the well-flowered road leading to the garden is gone. The mango, cashew, and pawpaw trees are gone. Buildings
have taken over. I didn’t spend five minutes there. I left in anger.
We destroy good things here in Nigeria. I wonder if the Galilee tradition still subsists in that cosy ambience.
We looked forward to every Easter Monday with prodigal enthusiasm and unbounded elan.
Our parents cooked good food for us, we bought soft drinks like Tango, Brahma Guarana, Dr Pepper, Tree Top and Cabin biscuits, and invaded the garden with our mats.
Different Churches gathered in different spots of the garden. Different programmes took place: Bible quiz, Sword drill, songs, drama, etc. The youth leaders would tell us stories about the death and resurrection of Jesus.
keep them in the faith when they are old.
Some Lagos fathers too would rather have their Galilee in drinking joints while mothers take their children to meet Jesus at the beach or stay at home and watch African magic. What a Galilee!
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