HRH (Dr.) Shehu Usman Abubakar, a tribute

Only a thin line exists between life and death. And no matter the risky adventurous life one may live, such a thin line can be crossed only when it is time. But as soon as the time it is, the only act anyone so destined could catch themselves in is crossing that line. Death as it were, is an appointment not anyone misses.

It comes with time and whisks away the so destined; no matter the extent to which they are loved by their relatives, friends or people. By its very nature, death doesn’t consider gender, age or position. Much the same, it doesn’t consider the state of health; ill or hale and hearty. Whenever it is close, it gets closer to the destined than even the closest matter.

It whisks away anyone so destined before they could move even to the closest possible distance. And that was why when HRH (Dr.) Shehu Usman Abubakar got to the appointed time and place; it caught up with him thereby marking the end of a thirty-year reign.

It was Abubakar Sule Bage, Secretary to Gombe state Government who last week Tuesday in a statement officially announced the demise of Emir of Gombe and Chairman Gombe state Council of Chiefs. The news from far away Liverpool came to all as a shocker but was received with total submission to the will of God.

Gone as he is, the pages of history will continue to remember him as the eleventh Emir of Gombe and therefore one of the gallant successors of Abubakar Buba-Yero dan Usman Subande who died in 1841. Apart from the courage and ability he exhibited in administering his domain, HRH (Dr.) Shehu Usman Abubakar will also be remembered by many for his penchant love for royal architecture.

Because of the passion he had for architectural works, many a  person thought the late Emir actually studied an Environmental related course in school. But the late Emir was actually an administrative officer in the defunct Bauchi state civil service before becoming an Emir in January 1984. In 1972, he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Local Government Administration from the Ile-Ife University.

Late Shehu Usman Abubakar was born 3 March 1938 in Gombe and attended Gombe Elementary School, Bauchi Middle School, Barewa College Zaria, Technical College Kaduna (later Kaduna Polytechnic) and ABU Zaria where he obtained a Higher Diploma in Local Government Administration in 1965. He held the National Honors of Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR.

HRH Shehu Usman Abubakar who was a delegate to the 2005 National Political Reform Conference passed on to the great beyond on the 28th of May, instant. He no doubt left a vacuum that was hard to fill. Condolences to Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and the good people of Gombe state. Condolences to Gombe Emirate Palace and in particular Aliyu Shehu of Hassan Ibrahim Gwarzo Old Students Association (HIGOSA), Class of 2010. May the soul of the deceased rest in peace.

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