UPDATED: Islamic Scholar Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi is dead

The prominent Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, is dead.

News of his death started circulating early Thursday morning.

A former presidential aide to late President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, in a post on X confirmed the death of the revered Islamic scholar.

“It is with a heavy heart and complete submission to the will of Allah (SAW) that we receive the news of the passing of our revered leader, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, one of the leaders of the Tijjaniyya order in Nigeria,” he wrote.

He also prayed for the deceased.

His brief post concluded, “May Allah forgive his shortcomings, accept his noble deeds and grant him Jannatul Firdaus. Ameen.”

The deceased’s son, Sayyadi Ali Dahiru Usman Bauchi, also confirmed his death to Daily Trust.

“It is confirmed. Sheikh has returned to his creator. We are all from Allah and to Him we shall all return.

“It is time for Sheikh to rest. We thank Almighty Allah. Allah has done everything for us to spare the life of Sheikh till this time. Sheikh’s life was well spent. Alhamdulillah.

“I’m right now in Madinah, so I cannot confirm to you where the remains of the Sheikh will be buried; maybe in Abuja or Bauchi,” he said.

Meanwhile, PUNCH Online reports that the family and the Bauchi State Government have yet to make an official announcement.

Sheikh’s humanitarian activities

The renowned preacher also made a name through humanitarian actions in the north and nationwide.

In October 2025, no fewer than 117 beneficiaries from northern Nigeria have departed for Algeria to pursue various academic programmes under a fully funded study scholarship facilitated by the Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi Foundation.

Speaking during a send-forth and orientation ceremony organised for the beneficiaries in Bauchi, the Chairman of the Foundation, Sayyadi Aliyu, explained that the scholarship was secured through the Tariqa Tijjaniyya Islamic Sect in collaboration with the Algerian Government.

His family, marriage

The Sheikh, who was also the Deputy Chairman, Fatwa Committee (Islamic Scholars’ Committee of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Nigeria) told our correspondent in an interview in 2019 that he married his first wife in 1948, and as at then blessed with about 70 children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom are competent in Quranic education.

The then-92 years old Sheikh when asked, what more do he want from life at that age, responded, “No matter what you enjoy in life when you get to my age, all you do is manage life. I see myself as someone who has put his loads at the park and is waiting for a car to come so that he can put the loads inside.

“When it’s time to pray, he goes to pray, when it’s time to eat, he eats and returns to where he kept his things which he would take on his journey to the great beyond.”

Buhari hosts Sheikh

In 2021, former and late President Muhammadu Buhari received the leader of the Tijaniyya sect at the State House in Abuja.

Photos from their meeting were shared on Facebook by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

The revered scholar in 2018 lend his voice to the farmer-herder crisis. There he emphasised that it was wrong to accuse the Fulani of the killings in some parts of the country.

Dahiru, who was fielding questions from newsmen in Bauchi, also said the killings had no religious colouration.

He was quoted to have said, “Fulani are not new and they are not visitors in Nigeria, they are well known as one of the respected tribes. If they are killers, they could have started these killings hundreds of years back, not now.

“The real killers disguise themselves and hide with the intention of painting the Fulani black. Fulani are known to carry sticks and bows and arrows but you are saying the killers have guns. Who gave the Fulani herdsmen guns?”