Below is a tribute written by Governor Kashim Shettima to his former deputy Zannah Umar Mustapha who died on August 15th in Yola, Adamawa state
I can't remember the exact date I gave him that name, 'Mazan Fama'. I had given him series of assignments to undertake, some of them really tasking. All I did was to give him targets. I wanted all the assignments accomplished for the good of Borno but I wasn't expecting them accomplished in one outing! It was typical of what we do in the banking sector where I spent most of my professional years.
In the bank, targets are always given to Banking Executives and in most cases, the targets were raised so high that meeting them may appear unrealistic but then achievable. Fortune favours the brave and the paranoid always survives! I spent years in the bank always under pressure of pursuing ever increasing targets. This is still the practice in banks, meant to keep bankers on their toes, push them to going after customers with the motive of meeting these targets set as conditions for promotions or retaining their jobs.
It was early into our first term in office when I commissioned our Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha to travel to Gombe, Abuja and Lagos with a tall list of deliverables. As he was glancing through the list, I looked at his face, expecting to see him wear a look of anxiety like we mostly wore in the bank any time we had new targets to meet. The Deputy Governor seemed normal. I asked him, have you gone through the list, he said 'Yes, Sir' and pocketed the list. He was then asking if there was anything in addition to the tall list. 'What is wrong with this man?' I said to myself before responding to him. 'No, there is nothing else, Your Excellency, just proceeds with that and please try to return to Maiduguri as quickly as you can' I said to him. He left me immediately. I was confused, wondering if he understood the weight of the work ahead of him, the number of people he needed to meet at some agencies of the Federal Government, with and without prior appointments. The task was really challenging. All I expected was something out his planned trip. My anticipation was somewhere around 50 to 60 percent which would have been okay by me, given the importance of the tasks. Within few days that he left, he was back to Maiduguri unannounced and walked straight to my office. I was rudely shocked when I saw him. I was afraid of asking him what happened. I was so sure he must have encountered a serious setback. But then I asked myself, 'why didn't he call to tell me the problem so I could try to come in instead of returning to Maiduguri?'. I was becoming inpatient as he stood in the middle of the office exchanging pleasantries with a guest that I dismissed on sighting the Deputy Governor. Before he sat down properly, I said to him, 'Your Excellency, hope all is well?'. He smiled but I was too anxious to make anything out of his face. I folded my hands, waiting for a sad news. He brought out an envelope he was holding, brought the list I handed him before the trip. One after the other, my Deputy Governor had convincingly achieved all the tasks I gave to him. He went further to accomplish two others that were related and important but which I didn't note. Then, he amazed me with three words, 'what next, Sir?'. It was that day I nicknamed him 'MAZAN FAMA' which I used in describing him as my 'reliable warrior'. For four years and 78 days, I had such a sufficiently efficient man as my Deputy in Borno before the untimely, cold hands of death came calling on Saturday, August 15, 2015.
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