Friday 18/12/2020 will forever go down in memory as one of my darkest moments in life. The day when we woke up to the sad news of the death of one of our finest elder statesmen and a seasoned administrator, Alh. Usman Faruk Jarman Gombe.
Aged 87, Alh. Usman Faruk was born on 1st January 1933 at Pindiga, Akko LGA of the present Gombe State. He attended Pindiga Elementary School in 1945-1949; Bauchi Middle School in 1949 and proceeded to the famous Barewa College, Zaria between 1949-1955. It was at the Barewa College, where he won the first prize in a nationwide essay competition on the invention of a suitable name and trade mark to be used for the then newly introduced modern fertilizer to farmers—when his entries “TAKIN ZAMANI” (in Hausa) as the name for the modern manure instead of Takin Turai (European manure) and “SHAMUWA” (in Hausa) for the rainy seasonal bird (the white belied stork), as a symbol for the product was adopted. It was for this reason that the then Premier of the Northern region, the Late Sir Ahmadu Bello recommended him for an award of scholarship to study at the School of Agriculture, Samaru, Zaria and Nigeria’s College of Arts, Science and Technology (now ABU) Zaria in 1955-1956 and 1956-1958, respectively.
- 56-year-old Kaduna’s only textile coy sacks 300 staff
- Why we are setting up bioscience lab in Yobe – UK-based Nigerian
Usman Faruk later joined the Nigeria Police in 1958 as a Cadet Officer where he attended a course at Southern Police College, Ikeja, Lagos between 1958-1959. In 1961, he was sent to the United Kingdom for a Detective Police Officer and Senior Police Detective Officer Course at the Wakefield Detective College, Yorkshire, England. On returning back to the country, he served in several elite positions of the Nigeria Police Force.
As a result of his due diligence and commitment to duty, Usman Faruk, now a Detective Deputy Superintendent of Police was named the Commanding Officer in charge of X-Squad of the central CID in Lagos, the outfit in charge of anti-bribery offences which he helped to found in June 1964. Not only that he will be remembered as the first NPF Detective responsible for the use of tape recorders in the Nigerian Judiciary in 1960.
In 1967, Usman Faruk, then an Assistant Commissioner of Police, was appointed as the first Military Governor of the defunct North Western State. He was a Member of the Supreme Military Council, the Nigeria Police Council and also Member of the Interim Common Services Agency of Northern Nigeria, ICSA in 1967-1975.
Usman Faruk retired from active service in 1975, but has continued to live a very peaceful and exemplary life while serving the nation in various capacities. He has touched the lives of many as an entrepreneur, a foremost Muslim leader and a widely acclaimed author of many books, journals and several newspaper write-ups.
Between 1979-1985, he led the 1st Phase of the Movement For the Creation of Gombe State with the support of the Late Emir of Gombe, Mal. Abubakar Umar, Alh. Baba Manu (ABM), Yerima Abdullahi, Dr. Suleimanu Kumo, Haruna Garba, etc. He also simultaneously led the National Association for State Creation Movements in Nigeria, NASMON (an amalgam of more than 38 similar movements).
It was during that period that he set up the Doma Enterprises Ltd in Kaduna with its Head Office in Gombe where more than 200 Nigerians were gainfully employed. In 1994-1997, Usman Faruk was nominated as a Member of the Federal Government’s Transition Implementation Committee.
It is highly gratifying to note that Usman Faruk was one of the foremost Muslim leaders that strived hard in defending the interest of Islam. For a long time he shouldered the activities of Jama’atu Nasril Islam and was instrumental for the creation of independent Islamic schools in the country in 1972 under the auspices of the Islamic Education Trust (IET) a project he achieved along with its Director, Sheikh Ahmed Lemu. In 1974 he assisted Hajj Zabadne (his Syrian friend) to establish the School for Islamic Sciences known as El-Kanemi College of Islamic Theology in Maiduguri.
In 1982, he was selected to lead a 37- man Committee drawn from the North and West African countries that toured the countries and successfully led to the establishment of branches of Islamic Development Bank which attracted considerable investments in many developing countries amongst which is the Jaiz Bank in Nigeria. In 1987, he was again selected to be among the eminent Muslim Leaders that accompanied Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi to receive the King Faisal International Award in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
As a reservoir of knowledge, Usman Faruk was an authority in Nigeria’s contemporary history. He was in possession of highly sensitive documents that relate to the Nigeria Civil War, history of the African Caliphates. The then Director of Arewa House, now late Professor Abdullahi Smith had to admit “I could not find parallel to what Alhaji Usman Faruk had done within the African continent which come to my view”. These highly classified documents have today been catalogued by experts and considered priceless.
He was credited with the publication of many books, among which are: The struggle of the National Association For State Movements in Nigeria, NASMON (1992) My Vision (1995); Family Planning: Islamic Viewpoint (1998) From Farm House to Government House: An Autobiography (2006) The Victor and Vanquished of the Nigeria’s Civil War (2008) The Making of Gombe State: A Historical Panorama (2009) and Rayuwa da Gwagwarmayan Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi (2017)
In their various condolence messages, President Muhammadu Buhari and former Presidents Ibrahim Babangida and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar both described Usman Faruk as a true Nigerian. President Buhari said: “Usman Faruk was an upright statesman who dedicated his life to the unity of the nation. He remained an epitome of kindness and humility”. Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who personally led a powerful delegation to Gombe on 22nd December, described the demise of the deceased as a “huge loss. His fatherly guidance and support had also strengthened us in managing situations in Sokoto State. He was such a great father and leader that we shall never forget.
I cannot end this passage without extending my sincere condolence to the Governor of Gombe State, Alh. Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya; Their Royal Highnesses, the Emirs of Gombe and Pindiga, Alh. (Dr) Abubakar Shehu Abubakar and Alh. Muhammad Seyoji Ahmad, including the wives and children of the deceased as well as my elder brother, Engr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad, Iyan Pindiga, Amb. Yerima Abdullahi, Alh. Gimba Marafa Pindiga and entire staff of former Doma Enterprises Ltd.
Usman Faruk was awarded the National Honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON in September, 2006. He left behind 3 wives and 23 children.
Alh. Mohammed (Magayakin Pindiga)is the MD/CEO Real Pindigs Multimedia, Gombe
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
