A Voice for Eternity
__________
This poem by Bashir Yahuza Malumfashi pays tribute to Malam Zubair Abdurra’uf Idris the Ɗanmasanin Birnin Gwari on the occasion of his 60th Birthday and Retirement from Public Service (31 July 2026).
__________
Sixty seasons have crowned
Your steadfast brow,
Yet Time has failed
To dim your faithful flame.
You taught the wind
To carry truth somehow,
Till distant hearts awakened
At your name.
Not every voice deserves
The morning air,
Yours rose
Because it carried hope
With care.
From Nigeria’s bustling streets
To Cologne’s skies,
Your words became a bridge
No storm could break.
You gathered scattered stories,
Truths and cries,
And gave the voiceless language
They could make.
Across the continents
Your echoes flew,
Proclaiming home
With every broadcast true.
You carved new pathways
Where young dreams
Could stand.
Through Dandalin Matasa,
Bold and free.
You placed tomorrow
Gently in their hands
And taught that speech
Must serve humanity.
Where silence
Sought to chain
Aspiring minds,
You lit the torch
That generations find.
You made the earth itself
A living page
Through forests,
Rivers, climates,
Skies, and rain.
You showed that wisdom
Is the noblest wage,
When knowledge
Eases ignorance and pain.
Democracy found language
In your art.
Human rights
First blossomed
In many a heart.
When leadership
Invited you to steer,
You chose to build
Instead of merely reign.
You raised institutions
Year by patient year,
Transforming vision
Into lasting gain.
You measured wealth
Not by the power
You wore,
But by the doors
You opened evermore.
Prestige arose
Because you dreamed
Aloud.
Legacy followed,
Waiting for its dawn.
Not towers built
To flatter praise
Or crowd
But beacons
Where neglected
Hopes belong.
The finest monument
No mason sees
Is one
That serves its people
Through the years.
You proved
The press is strongest
When it heals,
Not merely
Chasing headlines
Born of haste.
With WAMAC’s call,
Accountability reveals
That justice blooms
Where honest voices taste.
You listened first
Before you sought
To guide
And walked
With common people
Side by side.
When Birnin Gwari
Trembled under fear
And darkness
Tested every faithful soul,
You would not hide
While danger lingered near;
You chose
The harder path of making whole.
A counsellor
Whose courage
Spoke with grace,
You planted hope
Where terror sought its place.
Though ballots
Offered one unfinished dream,
Your heart refused
Surrender’s empty song.
For service is a river,
Not a stream.
It finds another course
And journeys on.
At NEMSA
Still your willing hands
Proclaim:
A servant’s purpose
Never seeks for fame.
How many voices
Learned to stand from yours?
How many pens
Were sharpened by your hand?
The greatest teacher
Never keeps the doors.
He leaves them open
Wide across the land.
Your finest broadcast
Lives beyond the air.
It beats
Within the lives
You’ve shaped with care.
So let the microphone rest
If it must.
Its message now resides
In living hearts.
For honour is not fashioned
Out of dust
But from the countless lives
True service starts.
At sixty,
Noble Danmasani,
Rise once more!
Your journey
Is not ending at this shore.
The voice
That would not bow,
Nor fade,
Nor tire,
Still lights Nigeria
Like an undying fire.
__________
© Bashir Yahuza Malumfashi
Monday, 12-02-1448 (Hijriyyah)
27-07-2026 (Miladiyya)
