Photos: Man who promised to walk from Lagos to Abuja if Buhari wins, now in Niger

Suleiman Hashimu or ‘The traveller’ as I
prefer to call him is an indigene of
Katsina state, Funtua to be precise. He
was born in Osun state but lives in
Ibadan.
The traveler promised two years ago to
walk from where ever he is to the capital
of Nigeria, Abuja if General Muhammadu
Buhari wins the election in 2015. BBC
Hausa, Voice of America and Aminiya (a
Hausa mgazine) interviewed him. He was
in Lagos when Buhari was declared the
President-elect of Nigeria. He left Lagos
at about 5am the next day and arrived
Ibadan around 6pm.

He went to get a police report to allow for the
smoothness of his journey but couldn’t wait and
so, the D.P.O. gave him his phone number.
Despite several discouragement from friends and
at the same time, inspiration from friends and
loved ones; he continued from Ibadan to Oyo.
Then from Oyo to Ogbomoso.; And from
Ogbomoso to Ilorin with much hospitality at
every stop.
At Ilorin, some people escorted him for some
miles and he stopped at Oloru. Oloru, to border’n
Sa’ada and then to Jebba. He received so much
hospitality from Jebba and unlike other villages
he met a lot of people who had heard of the
traveller. About 20 people set off with him from
Jebba and after some miles, about 18 went back
but the remaining two where determined. They
met with armed robbers close to Makwa and
luckily, he already met one of them in Jebba and
he even gave him 200 Naira for pure water. The
robber told his colleagues that he was going to
see Buhari and he gave him 2000 Naira and then
slapped the two men with him.
He continued his journey from Mkwa to Kudu
and then to Kutigi. He is currently in Kutigi and
will continue his journey to Bida tomorrow by the
grace of God.
I asked him about his encounter with the
different people and he said it was remarkable.
Actually he gets more determined to move on
from the people. He was even treated like a King
in a village in Niger.
They sang tribal songs he didn’t understand and
travellers stop to provide him with food and
company along the way. Most of them are
familiar with him because they travel the same
route daily. Sometimes up to 10 cars would stop
to converse with him. News travelled with the
public transports to different places on his route
and people from several cities, towns and
villages on his route would call to check up on
him and inquire about his journey.
He doesn’t know for sure if Buhari knows of him
but several of his support organizations do. He
intends to reach Abuja by 27th of May and
celebrate with the new president at his
inauguration ceremony.