About 85 people were k!lled, including Mr Abdulrasheed’s little daughter Habeebah, when unmanned drones dropped two bombs on the village in northern Kaduna state.
“The first bomb dropped on us at around 10 pm, close to a tree where women and children were seated,” Mr Abdulrasheed recalled. “We ran for safety, but moments later we gathered to help those inju_red and also called for help, but the second bomb was dropped and it k!1lled more people.”
Mr Abdulrasheed described Habeebah as “the most caring among my children”.
“She would always give me whatever gift she was given, even if I didn’t need it,” he told the BBC.
The 36-year-old was one of the organisers of the annual festival, known as Maulud, held to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
Many of his students were k!lled in the tragedy.
“We saw de@d bodies all over the place as if they were sleeping. Body parts were strewn around the tree branches and rooftops. We had to pack them inside sacks and buried all the de@d in a mass grave.
“There is nothing more devastating than seeing people you invited for a celebration coming to meet their end. I am so heartbroken,” Mr Abdulrasheed said.
As the father of four spoke to the BBC, he sat his second daughter, Zaharau, beside him on a mat outside their home. He gently pulled up her top to show a wound on her stomach.
Four-year-old Zaharau was hit by shrapnel. It took at least an hour to drive her and the other w0unded to the nearest hospital in Kaduna city.
Although she underwent surgery, her wound still hasn’t fully healed.
“When my daughter and the others that got inju_red were at the hospital, they were well taken care of. We thank the government for that.
“But things changed after they got discharged, months later. The hospital has refused to continue with their [free] treatment. They keep giving us excuses.”
Walking around Tudunbiri, there is hardly a family not affected by the tragedy of that fateful night.
Twenty-year-old Aisha Buhari lost three of her younger brothers. She survived, suffering an inju_ry to her left arm that is yet to heal.
Sitting on a stool, she cried and wiped her tears with her hijab as she recalled the last moments of her brothers.
