We lost Umar Zubair (Amir)

On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, my good friend, Professor Usman – a lecturer with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) called me in the afternoon and said, “Please get ready for bad news,” to which I replied “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un”.

“We lost Amir this morning and we are in his house waiting for Senator Kashim Shettima for the burial,” Usman said. I was shocked and speechless because Umar Zubair Amir was one of the kindest and harmless human beings I have met in my life. He was a man of the people when we were meeting at our “majalissa” in the evenings at Unguwar Sanusi, Kaduna between 1998 and 2001.

Members of the “majalissa” were Amir, myself, Senator Kashim Shettima, Mansir Kankara and Dr Jafaru Dabai. We were all professionals and gainfully employed, therefore, our discussions were on issues, not trivial gossips of envy. Although we all knew his name but he was addressed as Amir, a name he earned as a leader of Muslim Students Society (MSS).

We had visiting members once in a while like Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi and Jafaru Nahuce. Amir was always listening, at most smiling, not because he had nothing to say but because he was a man of few words.

• Subsidy Removal: Mechanics decry low patronage as motorists abandon vehicles
• Abiola’s death: Children, activists absent at 25th anniversary prayer

In addition to Unguwar Sanusi, we were also meeting at the house of Professor El-Miskin with Amir where the discussions were largely on contemporary issues of Muslim societies and countries. Although it had no formal structure or agenda, it was a forum of intellectual discussions always led by Professor El-Miskin whose vast knowledge on contemporary issues largely shaped our perspectives. Food and tea were never in short supply. May Allah reward him and his family.

Professor El-Miskin was teaching linguistics at the NDA, spoke five international languages and a product of international universities in UK and USA. He memorised the Qur’an (Hafiz) at early age. His family is known for Islamic scholarship, and if you have never heard about the El-Miskin family, you are not from Maiduguri.

Amir was a good Muslim who combined spiritual Islam with the difficult Islam; inter-personal relationships. Of what use is your Islam if you are not a good human being?

He was a natural leader based on superior virtues and loyalty to friends and people around him. Most of the times, when he called, he would ask me about members of our majalissa who he believed were closer to me. At a time when he was working under Governor Kashim in Maiduguri, he came to my house in Kaduna and said “ka shirya mu tafi Maiduguri, Kashim na yawantambayarka”. Although I didn’t make the journey but he cared enough to be linking us with one another.

Amir was known for Islamic scholarship and activism but he was a graduate of Electrical Engineering from the University of Maiduguri. He was also an outstanding staff of NITEL (the company in charge of telephone communications in Nigeria before GSM). The company sponsored him to Germany and many other countries for training on telecommunications.

All of us, members of our majalissa, left Unguwar Sanusi, other than Amir. He lived and died there. Although he was from Adamawa State, he made Kaduna his home.

My condolence to his family and Senator Kashim who is a loyal friend to Amir. He delayed the burial by few hours, for him to attend. Allah ya gafarta masa!