he National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) Gombe State Office has expressed shock at the demise yesterday, 27th May, 2014, of the Emir of Gombe and the Chairman, Gombe State Council of Emirs and Chiefs, Alhaji Shehu Usman Abubakar, Aged 76, at a London hospital where he was being treated for cancer.
Alhaji Abubakar, who was the 10th Emir of Gombe, a position he held for 30 years, served in various capacities as a civil servant before being appointed the Emir of Gombe in 1984 to succeed his late father, Alhaji Abubakar Umar.
Born on 3rd March, 1938, in Gombe, the late Emir attended Elementary School, Gombe, Middle School, Bauchi, Barewa College, Zaria, Technical College, Kaduna (now Kaduna Polytechnic), and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, from where he obtained a Higher Diploma in Local Government Administration and Native Treasury Accounting in 1965, as well as the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, for a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration in 1972.
Palace sources confirmed to NICO Gombe State Office that the body of the late Emir was being flown to Nigeria from the United Kingdom today, while the burial would take place tomorrow in Gombe, Gombe State.
The Emir was one of the Traditional Rulers invited by NICO to the recently concluded 2-day National Conference on “Culture, Peace and National Security: The Role of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria’s Democracy,” held in Kaduna on Monday, 26th and Tuesday, 27th May, 2014; but he could not grace the occasion due largely to his health condition.
A Delegate at the 2005 National Political Reform Conference and a holder of the National Honours of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), the late Emir is survived by two wives and 16 children, among whom, is the Gombe State Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajiya Fatima Shehu Abubakar.
© Nico news