NDA immortalises provisions trader
Immortalisation
By Mohammad Tijjani
Kaduna, Sept 22.2018(NAN) The Nigerian Defence Academy(NDA), Kaduna, has renamed its utility centre at Afaka Campus, Mallam Sule Utility Centre.
A statement issued by Spokesman of the academy, Maj. Abubakar Abdullahi, in Kaduna on Saturday said the gesture was part of the institution’s social responsibility drive.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that late Mallam Sule Adamu was a renowned provisions store owner at the academy who sold basic items to NDA cadets for more than 40 years.
Abdullahi said the deceased, who was popularly called Mallam Sule, started selling Kolanut, sweets and cigarettes on a tray in 1967 in and around the academy, shortly after it was established .
According to him, he sold the items to cadets mostly on credit, writing their names on a notebook.
“Thereafter, he moved on to selling more provisions like bread, sugar, groundnuts and garri on a table.
” In subsequent years, he moved on to be operating from a provisions store within the Academy, and then to selling military kits to cadets and officers.
“Malam Sule did this until his tragic death along Jaji-Kaduna highway in July 2016 when he was ran over by a car while crossing the road to visit Jaji Cantonment,” the spokesman said.
He said the Commandant of the academy, Maj-Gen Adeniye Oyebade, unveiled the Mallam Sule Utility Centre at the NDA, Afaka Campus.
The commandant was represented by the Deputy Commandant, AVM Idi Amin.
Oyebade praised the late Mallam Sule Adamu for his industriousness, generosity and kindheartedness.
He noted that though a civilian, Mallam Sule was well known within the military circles because of the assistance he rendered to cadets of the Academy for decades.
He also disclosed that the NDA’s Cadets Brigade Commander, Brig.- Gen Lebonsina Lebo, also extolled the virtues of late Mallam Sule, noting that the honour done him by the Academy was a befitting one on account of how the recipient touched so many lives positively.
The First son of Mallam Sule, Abubakar Sule, who was one of four children present at the official unveiling of the Mallam Sule Utility Centre, thanked the Commandant on behalf of the family for the gesture.
He noted in an emotion-laden tone that though their father was deceased, his name was now alive in NDA.
NAN reports that the utility centre houses provision stores, a laundry mart and tailoring stalls, among other facilities. (NAN)
TJ/AMY
Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf