NAN-H-65
Virtues
By Stanley Nwanosike
Enugu, July 5, 2017 (NAN) Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers has described the death of the late Alhaji Maitama Sule as a huge loss to the African continent.
The Chairman of the council, Ambassador Lawrence Agubuzu, expressed this thought in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday.
Agubuzu noted that Maitama Sule was a man of vast experience in African diplomatic affairs and history.
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“Alhaji Maitama Sule, the Dan Masanin Kano is a big loss to Nigeria and to Africa, he was a visionary and he lived ahead of his time.
“Just like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.
“He loved Nigeria, he was a great patriot and this country will miss him very dearly.
“I was there when he was our permanent representative to the United Nations in New York and he did Nigeria proud.
“He was a great orator. And everybody listened whenever he spoke at the United Nations.’’
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NAN recalls that Sule passed on in the early hours of Monday at the age of 88 at a private hospital in Cairo, Egypt.
NAN further recalls that Sule was flown to an Egyptian hospital on Saturday, after doctors at Kano’s Nasarawa Hospital diagnosed him of pneumonia and chest infection.
Agubuzu, who was a former ambassador of Nigeria to Zambia and Malawi, prayed for the repose of the late septuagenarian’s soul.
Earlier in life, Sule, the Dan Masanin Kano, attended Shahuci Elementary School in 1937, Kano Middle School and Kaduna College (now Barewa College) for his secondary education.
He later taught at his alma mater, Kano Middle School, and played a significant role in social mobilisation, touring villages with the then Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, throughout the emirate.
The tour afforded them the opportunity to carry out health, literacy and tax campaigns.
The late Sule became Minister of Mines and Power in 1954 at 29 and signed deals and contracts with Shell for oil prospecting and exploration in Nigeria.
On the political front, he contested the presidential ticket of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979.
The deceased, widely acclaimed for his oratory prowess, an attribute that endeared him to many Nigerians and politicians across board in Africa, was buried in Kano on Tuesday evening according to Islamic rites. (NAN)
KSN/DOR/YEE
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Edited by Nyisom Dore/Emmanuel Yashim