Ibraheem Musa
21 November 2008
Kaduna — Alhaji Shehu Musa, Makaman Nupe was so passionate about his religious obligations and how the country is being run that three weeks before his death, he sent a memorandum to the Sec-retary of the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Mahmud Ya-yale Ahmed, Madakin Nupe Abdullahi .B. Umar, a cousin of the deceased, has revealed.
Alhaji Abdullahi was narra-ting what Makaman Nupe did in his last moments to Alhaji Adamu Fika, former Head of Service of the Federation, Ma-lam Musa Bello, a former per-manent secretary and a group of sympathisers at the decea-sed's Inuwa Wada Road family house yesterday.
According to him, Alhaji She-hu Musa called him about three weeks ago in spite of his ill-health. "When I arrived, Maka-ma told me that he has been thin-king about the problems bede-villing this country, especially the Niger Delta crises that have defied solutions," he recalled. The late elder statesman asked him to take down some dicta-tions and "when I showed re-luctance, he asked me to call him my secretary", Alhaji Abdullahi said.
"When I left, he called one of his daughters who took the dictation and typeset the script", Alhaji Abdullahi conti-nued. Afterwards, Makaman Nupe went to Abuja and perso-nally delivered the memoran-dum to Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, before proceeding to his hospi-tal in London, he added.
Malam Musa Bello also said that the deceased was always honouring invitations and visi-ting friends and former col-leagues in spite of his ailing health. According to him, they regularly meet in Saudi Arabia during Umra or Hajj, adding that the late Makaman Nupe took his religious duties very se-riously. Both Malam Musa Bello and Alhaji Adamu Fika prayed to Allah to grant the deceased eternal rest.
Alhaji Hassan Mohammed, the Imam of Yahaya road mosque which is opposite the deceased's family house, also gave testimonies of Alhaji She-hu Musa's devotion to his reli-gion. According to him, the Ma-kaman also prayed five times daily in the mosque even when his condition deteriorated. "During the Ramadan fast, he not only performed the tarawi prayers but also did the mid-night tahajjud prayers," he ad-ded.
Several individuals have been trooping to the late elder states-man's Kaduna residence to con-dole the family. Retired General Zamani Lekwot, former gover-nor of Rivers state, described the late Makama as a dedicated, honest, patriotic and disciplined civil servant who has sacrificed a lot for this country. He told Daily Trust at the deceased's residence that first knew Alhaji Shehu Musa about 30 years ago when he visited Rivers state on an official assignment and since then, their relationship has been warm and cordial.
In the same vein, Alhaji Ahmadu Kurfi, Maradin Katsi-na, described the late Makama as "very honest, very compe-tent, considerate and one of the rare gems that we have." Accor-ding to the former Executive secretary of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDE-CO), "his demise is a loss not only to Nupeland, northern Ni-geria or Nigeria but humanity as a whole."
He recalled that he has known Alhaji Shehu Musa sin-ce 1949 as students in Barewa College Zaria. Alhaji Ahmadu Kurfi said that "we transferred from Kaduna College, and he joined us in Zaria in 1949. He, Umaru Dikko, Ahmadu Ali and so on came into class one while we were in class five then."
Also, Senator Ahmed Makar-fi, the immediate past governor of Kaduna state has described the late Shehu Musa as "an ho-nest, hard working and humble personality. May his soul rest in peace amin."
As at 2pm yesterday, the entire family had left for Bida where the deceased will be buried after Juma'at prayers today.
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