By: Inuwa Bwala
It was like an April Fool joke in June. Most of those who received the news might have felt like coming out of a terrible nightmare. Yet it was true.
It was a combination of shock, disbelief, loss, and grief, immediately the death of Usman Jidda Shuwa, erstwhile Secretary to the Borno state Government was made public.
Those at the scene of the incident must have been shocked. Those who were with him only a few minutes before it happened, found it difficult to believe.
For the Borno state Government it was a great loss: particularly for his principal the Executive Governor of Botno state, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, it was a black Saturday.
In Government cycles there was a sense of vacuum and across Borno state it was a day of mourning.
The Vice President, Kashim Shettima who brought Usman Jidda Shuwa into the Government must have suffered multiple inner riots, as he abandoned the lucres of his new office and rushed down to bury his compatriot. The turnout for his burial was a clear testimony that, Usman Jidda Shuwa was indeed revered and his death without any form of manifest illhealth, was both curious and extraordinary.
He will be missed for so many things and the summation by Vice President, Kashim Shettima,: that Shuwa was an embodiment of intellect, work capacity, humanity, honesty and Godliness, aptly captures the known attributes of the former scribe; all of which shall be missed.
That his death could throw the Vice President and the State Governor to cancell all official engagements to mourn, speak volumes about the reverence with which Usman Jidda Shuwa was held in Borno and indeed Nigeria.
Those whose paths crossed with the late sage could attest to the widely held notion, that he was a friend to all, a selfless personality, a team player and the engine room of the mist boisterious government in Nigeria, makes his death a big blow to the Government which is still plotting to form a team for the second stanza of Governor Zulum’s leadership.
Up to the time of writing this piece, many could not still not come to terms with the reality of his death. Infact questions are still being asked and only time will convince many, that, indeed, Usman Jidda Shuwa, whom the Vice President christened as the “institution”, is indeed gone
Adieu the icon.
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