It was a sad day as a well-known intellectual of international repute, Dr. Sulaiman Kumo, died yesterday.
The former university don, legal luminary and frontline politician died of pneumonia in Kano at the age of 71.
Born in Kumo, Gombe State, he had his early education in Kumo and taught at Dukku junior primary school. He attended the School of Oriental Studies, London, where he graduated in law in 1963.
On return to Nigeria, Dr. Kumo was appointed a magistrate before he left the bench for the classroom as a lecturer at the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Desirous of academic pursuits and the need to be properly equipped to meet the challenges of the university environment, Dr. Kumo went back to London and to his alma mater, the School of Oriental Studies, to bag a Ph.D in law in 1972.
On his return, he was appointed a commissioner in charge of political and economic affairs, Governor's Office, Maiduguri, in then North- Eastern State. He held the position and performed creditably well until 1975 when there was a change of government by the late head of state, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed.
Dr. Kumo, considered as one of the frontline radical lecturers of ABU, went back to the same institution and became the director, Institution of Administration, Kongo campus, Zaria.
In 1978, Dr. Kumo once again left the university and got elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly, and that marked a turning point in his political career as he joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979.
A highly principled man who endeared himself to the grass roots, Dr. Kumo was nominated for appointment as a minister but was said to have declined the offer on personal grounds.
He became a member of the G-21, a group that fought gallantly for enduring democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria.
Dr. Kumo, who went to Kano to practise his profession as a lawyer, was a one-time director of the NNPC and chairman of many boards.
Known to be God-fearing, with complete disdain for injustice against the weak and the oppressed, Dr. Kumo will be remembered as a kind-hearted family man that was committed to the uplift of his religion, Islam.
His remains were conveyed to Gombe from Kano. Prayers were offered at the Emir's palace in Gombe before his final interment, at 4pm yesterday, according to Islamic rites.
Allah ya jikan shi.
Ina lillahi wa inna illahin raji'un, I'm not sure but was he not the guest of honour that delivered that remarkably fascinating lecture at the last Kanoonline get2gether at the British Council?
Allah ya jikan shi, amin. Allah ya kyautata namu zuwan.
Quote from: *~MuDa~* on May 07, 2008, 08:48:03 AM
Ina lillahi wa inna illahin raji'un, I'm not sure but was he not the guest of honour that delivered that remarkably fascinating lecture at the last Kanoonline get2gether at the British Council?
Yes he is.The lecture about Sovereign National conference.