The National Economic Council on Tuesday suspended its quarterly meeting following the death of Yobe State Governor Mamman Ali.
Skip to next paragraph
Photo file
MAMMAN ALI.
Ali died in a United States hospital in the early hours of Tuesday after a prolonged battle with cancer of the blood, which is referred to in medical parlance as leukaemia.
Shortly after news of his passage broke, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan ordered that the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam, be inaugurated as the state governor.
Already, President Umaru Yar’Adua and the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, have described the governor’s death as a shock.
There were, however, two versions of what took Ali to the US.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Usman Adamu, said he went there as one of the special guests invited by the management of the Voice of America to celebrate 30 years of the establishment of the Hausa Service of the station.
Adamu added that the late governor left the state two weeks ago in company with the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, after an official engagement.
The speaker said that Ali was hale and hearty when they last spoke on the telephone two days ago.
But a source in the Government House, Damaturu, claimed that Ali travelled out of the country on Saturday for medical attention.
He was billed to return to the country this week.
The late Ali was born in Jimeta, Adamawa State in 1958. He started his early education in Jimeta and Numan Crafts School in the old Gongola State.
He also attended the Kaduna Polytechnic for his Higher National Diploma and proceeded for the mandatory national service in 1982.
Ali started his working career as a senior engineer with the old Borno State civil service. He served as a Senior Engineer for 15 years with the Ministry of Works and voluntarily retired in 1990.
He later earned additional qualifications in Constructions and Extension from Tuskegee University, Alabama, US.
Prior to his election as the governor in 2007, he had been elected into the Senate in 1999. Ali, who was re-elected for a second term in 2003, served as the chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts and chairman, Finance, Economy and Trade ECOWAS Parliaments.
He is survived by two wives and five children.
When news of his passage was broken to the NEC members in Abuja, Jonathan, who presided in the absence of Yar’Adua who is on vacation, announced the postponement of the meeting.
NEC comprises the President, vice-president and all the 36 state governors.
Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim later told journalists that NEC agreed to postpone the meeting till February 12 in honour of its late member.
He disclosed that items on the agenda of the adjourned meeting included the 2009 budget, the economy and the general state of the country.
Just as the governors dispersed, a statement from the Office of the Vice-President said that Jonathan had directed Okiro and heads of all relevant security agencies to ensure order in the state during the inauguration of Geidam as the new Yobe State governor.
The statement by Jonathan’s Spokesman, Mr. Ima Niboro, said, ”The Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has received with shock and sadness, news of the untimely death of the Governor of Yobe State, Senator Mamman Ali.”
Reacting, Mark described the death as “sad and unfortunate.”
He said in a condolence message to the government and people of Yobe state that “Ali’s short-term tenure as governor witnessed development in all spheres of life, especially revolution in education and massive rural development.”
Source: Punch Newspaper
search the web
Custom Search
