By Abdulhamid Al-Gazali
I started becoming extremely worried about Mal. Isa Gusau when he gave an account of his health complications last year, which led to a heart surgery in India. Trust Mal. Isa, a thoroughly detailed communicator, his piece left passive readers with high hopes of his recovery and impressions that he had finally beaten whatever disease he was battling with. That piece on January 2023 was his final offering, which he ended with an Indian farewell: namaste—and which only now made sense in hindsight; that he was in fact leaving the world once and for all!
I read the piece but Mal. Isa did not give any definitive explanation of the outcome of his treatment beyond saying that the surgery was successful. He deliberately kept that out but for anyone who reads between the lines, it was in fact that omission that actually betrayed what he had tried to keep out. Perhaps he had even said that the best way to show love to people close to him was to save them the trouble of what he was going through. He did not entirely succeed, because that left them even more worried when everyone waited for him to recover and return to his best, but to no avail.
Shockingly, the wait was ended with the traumatizing news of his unanticipated exit last night. This is a huge loss to his family, associates and principal, H. E. Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum; but no matter how painful it may have been to them, it hits those of us in the media profession much more differently. It was a comprehensive loss. In it, we lost a great journalist, a tactical ‘journalists’ manager’ and a terrifically talented image maker!
As a journalist, his years of practice brought him around the circles of potential power brokers who, having seen his work, made sure he was taken along in their ship. He was entrusted with the job of cutting, and after cutting, managing the image and front end of his allies. An exceptional image maker, in doing that, he burned out the postcard of his own image and used the pieces to create one for his benefactors. Mal. Isa made sure his two principals, VP Kashim Shettima and Prof. Zulum have the greatest public appeal and sensation among their peers nationwide.
At the time VP Shettima became the Governor of Borno, he had the misfortune of coming in at one of the most troubled times in the state’s history; further worsened by a presidency that did little or nothing to help matters and a nation that didn’t even care. It was Mal. Isa who made sure that his principal’s administration was not treated a scapegoat; and even when the presidency was pitching its tent against the governor, who it should have stood with and supported, he made sure he articulated the right campaign to win the public debate. And if any praise would be given to Shettima, his loyal spokesperson must get sufficient credit.
When Prof. Zulum came on board, Mal. Isa, now even more endowed with more experience from the previous administration, had already cocked his guns. Given the gravity of the work ahead of him, a non-aligned politician, Prof. Zulum, to succeed, needed to gain public confidence immediately, especially having been anointed by Shettima to replace him from a pool of over 20 contenders. Aware of that, Mal. Isa made sure the public understands the messianic project, as well as the willingness, zeal and preparedness of his principal, by integrating hitherto unconventional methods to magnify his metrics to the attention of even those who didn’t care to know. This must have been the reason ex-President Buhari once told the governor that he was loved by journalists in the state—to the, I am sure, fulfilled hearing of Mal. Isa.
In the days of social media influencer-ship and monetization of online contents, the following he had forged for his two principals would have fetched him more financial mojo and influence than he could have been ever paid if he had built them for himself. But no, in the work of his principals, he gave up himself; to the extent that you could never have problem with him if you didn’t have one with his principals. As a person, he wouldn’t have any problem with anyone; but in the service and defense of his principals, he was ready to take the gauntlet and the enemies of the people he was serving treated him as one. That was why, beyond his abilities, Mal. Isa’s stints as an image maker was uniquely successful because of his exceptional loyalty and full-time commitment to the causes of his bosses—and he never had one for himself!
Our paths haven’t crossed as much, and where they did, not on strong courses; but my colleagues have always spoken about his kindness. One of such moments— which had clung to my mind ever since—was when one of our colleagues in the press got into a serious trouble requiring huge sums of money to resolve. I was told Mal. Isa reached out and made sure the matter was addressed, much more from his personal efforts than his official influence. He was genuinely concerned about the problem of journalists and always made efforts to address them. May Allah forgive him and admit him into Jannatul Firdauz. May Allah grant his entire family and principals, as well as associates and mentees, who he loved so much, the fortitude to bear his exit.