Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, was yesterday thrown into grief following the news of the death of the state deputy governor, Zannah Umar Mustapha, who died in his hotel room while on an official duty in Yola, Adamawa State.
The late deputy governor, who left Maiduguri for Yola at about noon on Friday, was expected to represent his principal, Governor Kashim Shettima, at the convocation ceremony of Modibbo Adama University of Science and Technology (MAUTECH), Yola. Also on his itinerary during the visit was to put in place measures to facilitate the evacuation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Adamawa to Borno state.
Those with him at the airport at the time of his departure said he was hale and hearty before he boarded his last flight out of Maiduguri.
Sources close to the family said the deceased deputy governor had been managing a heart-related ailment and had recently complained of having some slight pains in his chest.
One of his close aides who accompanied him to Yola, said that, “Oga (boss) was in a normal state all through our trip from Maiduguri to Yola. When we got to Yola, he was still his usual active self till we retired back to the hotel where he lodged. He later informed us that we could go to our respective lodges to rest for the day, with an instruction that we all be ready and back at the hotel premises where he lodged by 7:30am, so that we would set out for the day’s engagement at 8am. We all bid him goodnight and left. In the morning (Saturday), we came back to the hotel and asked the details that were left to guard him if Oga had woken up and they said he had not. In fact, they said he did not even come out for the early morning prayers at 5am.
“So, we waited but when it was a few minutes past 8am, we became worried and decided to go and knock on the door to be sure he was okay. We knocked but no one responded; we continued knocking and there was still no response. Then, one of the security aides decided to go round the hotel to the window of his apartment and tried to peep in. It was then we were able to see him lying on the bed, but not responding to our calls. We again knocked on the window but he still didn’t respond. It was at that point that we called on the hotel manager to open the door using the master key and when we entered, we found him lying face up, clutching a pillow to his chest.”
The aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, since the police in Adamawa have opened investigation into the matter, also said doctors that examined him had explained that the whitish foam mixed with traces of blood which was seen coming out of his mouth, may not be unconnected with suspected heart failure.
The late deputy governor’s wife was on a trip to the United States of America at the time her husband died. She is expected to return home at once.
Meanwhile, sources at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, yesterday confirmed that Zannah died in the wee hours of Saturday. Sources at the hospital said his corpse was deposited at the hospital morgue before it was taken to Maiduguri for burial, yesterday.
The late deputy governor who died at the age of 49 was a Naval personnel before he resigned in 1993. He became the chief executive of a clearing and forwarding business he set up in Lagos. He later joined politics with the return of democracy in 1999 and contested for the position of Chairman of Biu local government council on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost the contest. He later became the Chairman of the National Library Board after the 2007 general elections, when he lost a contest as deputy governor. He attempted running for the same deputy governorship ticket with Alhaji Kashim Imam on the platform of the PDP in 2011; but they both lost at the primaries, after which he decamped from the PDP and formed an alliance with the ANPP, on which platform he became the running mate of incumbent Governor Shettima and they won the election. He re-contested the position in 2015 on the platform of the APC alongside Shettima, and won for a second term.
Zannah Mustapha would be remembered for his legendary loyalty to his boss, his bluntness in addressing issues, both private and public, and for his zero tolerance to failure in every duty he was assigned to carry out.
Before his sudden death, he was appointed this year’s Amirul Hajj for Borno state pilgrims, an appointment he has held in the past three years.
He was usually referred to as the most loyal and most powerful deputy governor ever produced in the political history of Borno state.
His last engagement in the state was the inauguration of the 2015 Amirul Hajj committee in his office on Wednesday, before travelling to Yola, the Adamawa state capital on Friday, where he died in his sleep. He was the first serving state deputy governor to die while in office.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
It was gathered that the death of the late Zannah was announced on Saturday morning at about 9am when his aides made a chilling call from Yola to the Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima, informing him that his deputy had died in his sleep.
According to unverified sources, an immediate autopsy that was carried out at the Federal Medical centre Yola revealed that he died of a heart related ailment.
Governor Shettima was said to have broken down in deep grief upon receiving the news of the man he fondly referred to as Mazan-Fama, meaning Man of Valour, in appreciation of the deceased’s courage and ability to execute all tasks assigned to him.
The flags in government house Maiduguri and other government offices in the state were cast at half mast yesterday, in honour of the deceased deputy governor, whose corpse arrived the Maiduguri International Airport at 4:10pm and was immediately received by Governor Shettima, the deputy governor of Yobe State, Engr Danlami Aliyu and other top government officials of the two states.