HRH Alhaji Shehu Usman Abubakar: Exit of a caring father

He has departed, with his care and concern, with his fatherly love, with his extraordinary charisma. He has gone. And so it is. We have lost him. He has left us without prior notice, forever. Shi ke nan!!! We can no longer enjoy his wisdom. We will never benefit from his royal guidance again. But […]

He has departed, with his care and concern, with his fatherly love, with his extraordinary charisma. He has gone. And so it is. We have lost him. He has left us without prior notice, forever. Shi ke nan!!! We can no longer enjoy his wisdom. We will never benefit from his royal guidance again. But who is most affected by the loss of this great personality? Is it the Banu Bubayero? Is it rather the entire people of Gombe Emirate?

Or will the loss of His Highness be rather seen as it is; a great loss for the entire people of Nigeria?
While weeping for the sudden departure of Bababa, we must congratulate him for having a good end. What does a person need more than to have everybody saying good about him? What would a leader aspire for more than to have his followers cry for his exit? The way the people of Gombe became shocked and disturbed by his exit is a testimony to the fact that the people truly revere this honourable gentleman. As the Prophet (SAW) said, when a person dies, angels will descend and listen to the comments of the people about him and then use the information to determine his status in the next world. We are, for this, optimistic that the late father of Gombe is, insha Allah, enjoying a comfortable rest in his new accommodation. We are hopeful that insha Allah he is reaping the palatable fruits of the sacrifices he made for the people of Gombe. Here was a man whose time, energy, resources, and everything were all dedicated to the development of the people and the emirate he was leading.
Mai Martaba has done what he was mandated to do as emir. His job was to maintain the good legacies of Bubayero. His task was to ensure the development of Gombe in all ramifications; intellectually, politically, spiritually, economically and socio-culturally. And he performed that responsibility excellently. Sarki Shehu would never hesitate to tell whoever cared to listen that Gombe Emirate, like all the emirates of Sokoto Caliphate, was established by his great grandfather, Modibbo Bubayero, on the principles of justice and knowledge, based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. One night I visited him together with a friend who was doing PhD on topic related to Gombe Emirate. In the course of our interaction, His Highness told us that anything contrary to the Quran and Sunnah is alien to Gombe Emirate as the emirate was built on the foundations of Islam as epitomized by the Sokoto Caliphate. This is one of the things I fondly recollect as far his numerous messages of wisdom. He was able to maintain the relevance of the Lamorde despite the exponential changes brought by modernity. For him, the palace must be unique. It must be relevant. It must protect the interest of people. It must serve as a rallying point for the people of Gombe. It must work towards actualizing the yearnings and aspirations of its masses. It must represent the Gombe of our dream.
His Highness had for long been working to establish an Islamic centre around his magnified palace. His dream was actualized with the construction of the Ultra-modern Modibbo Bubayero Mosque and the Modibbo Bubayero Islamic center located beside it. When the rebuilding of the Modibbo Bubayero Mosque project, which he initiated, was in progress, His Highness could not hide his eagerness and attachment to it. Whoever visited him at the palace, His Highness would take him round the construction site and request him to pray for him to see to its completion and have the chance of praying therein.
Allah has answered that prayer. The mosque is here. The Islamic center is there. It is only up to the next emir to take them to the next level by making them lively.
His Highness would always be remembered as a leader who believed that respect, honour and dignity can only be acquired through knowledge, sacrifice and service to humanity. I will particularly not forget his scholarship grant which he offered to many children of the emirate. When last few months the young men studying in Cyprus under His Highness’s full sponsorship came for break, one of them, Abdullahi Mabudi, told me that when they went to pay homage to His Highness, he admonished them to be more serious with their studies and told them that he had finished all necessary arrangements to take them to UK for their master’s degree programmes immediately after their graduation. It is interesting also that, even when he was on his sick-bed few weeks before his last breath, the Lamido, without request or reminder by anyone, ordered that all the school fees of those Cyprus students be settled. That was how concerned he was about the education of the upcoming generations.
One thing people are almost unanimous about is that Sarki Shehu was a clean-hearted person. He died without harboring grudge against anybody. All those who comment about him say, with utmost sincerity, that they do not know any negative thing about the late king. Whoever tells his story with Lamido Shehu, will make the listener feel he was the most beloved person to him. But that was how he was; he loved all, listened to all, respected all, cared for all, gave to all and, he was, therefore, a leader for all.
As a principle, our dear late emir hardly spoke on issues. When he did, it was full of wisdom. Like all wisemen, before talking, Sarki would gather facts, analyze issues, organize his thoughts and then express himself with his charming eloquence. He was a man of consultation. He was an embodiment of humility. If efficiency is doing things right, then His Highness was an efficient person. If effectiveness means doing the right thing, he was an effective leader. I do not believe, as the reader also doesn’t, that he was perfect. No. He was a human being, far from being perfect. But among the imperfect humans, he was, Alhamdulillah, among the chosen.
With the demise of Sarkin Yakin Sarkin Musulmi, I must say, I have, like many other Gombites, lost a loving father. His dream to see me deservingly addressed as a PhD has not been actualized during his lifetime. Since 2009, wherever and whenever we met, his was a single message; how far about your studies? He insisted that he wanted me to quickly have a PhD and that he wanted that PhD “from abroad”. “Go and look for admission abroad, I will sponsor you”, he would always say. And, I must add, courtesy of the late emir’s generosity, I visited Badr, Uhud, Qubah, Arafah, Muzdalifah and, indeed, the Ka’bah and the Prophet’s Masjid in Medina. I performed Hajj and Umrah and prayed in the holiest places on earth, curtsey of his magnanimity.
What else can he do to prove his love for me? He who doesn’t show gratitude to men, would not be grateful to Allah. I pray that Allah will accept for him all his good deeds.
The 30- year reign of Lamido Shehu would go down history lane as one of the most important epochs in the history of Gombe. It can be argued that more than 70 percent of what has been archived in terms of development in Gombe Emirate was achieved during his tenure. He dedicated all that he had and endured all sorts of difficulties until he ensured that Gombe was listed among the 36 states of the Nigerian federation. And as he departed, he left us with a Gombe that is no more a big village, but an emerging city we are all proud of.
If a nation would weep for losing an elder statesman; an icon of peace; a man of wisdom and charismatic national figure, then Nigeria will certainly be in days of mourning for departing with Shehu.
As I end this piece, I must extend special condolence to okada/achaba riders in Gombe State for losing their father. When last year a decision was reportedly taken by the state government on the advice of security agencies to ban achaba in the state, it was the pro-masses emir who took the big bull by the horn to vehemently challenge the decision. The achaba riders had cried, but none listened. Many of them had already started thinking of alternative engagements which, unfortunately were not forthcoming. And so the banning of achaba was banned. May Allah have mercy on him.
We have lost a great leader. We have lost a caring father. We have buried a courageous elder. We are, indeed in a mourning period, inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun. But despite the pain, despite the agony, despite the grief, as Muslims we are consoled by at least four realities. First is that every soul, according to the Creator of all souls, shall taste death. For each mortal, death is an inevitable destination. His Highness has only taken his share of that reality. Second, Allah’s mercy and divine provisions await all souls that die while testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. His Highness, we are happy, has made the list of the beneficiaries of this divine privilege. Third, humans’ testimony about the dead tells a lot about what the angels will record about him. The testimony of the subordinates of His Highness about him is consoling. And last, though not the least, we are consoled by the fact that His Highness has left behind worthy successors. It was the Dan Masanin Kano who rightly said that “the joy of a dying father is the presence of a worthy successor”. The good things, or rather more appropriately the excellent works initiated by His Highness, will insha Allah be ably continued by his worthy successors. The superb things initiated by His Highness will insha Allah, be competently sustained by his heirs. May Allah forgive his sins, grant him mercy, accommodate him in Jannah and bless his progeny.  
Allah yafo Lamido Gombe Shehu
Abubakar wrote from Ajiya Qtrs, Behind Emirs Palace Gombe. [email protected]