‘I join friends and associates to mourn Senator Professor Jibril Aminu with a lot of sadness. He was a giant and excelled in every field he found himself in…be it academics where he was a distinction student in most of his exams @UNIBADAN Medical School gathering laurels, later with a PhD from the Royal College, London and becoming a university teacher, consultant Cardiologist, fellow in Medicine at a very young age and as NUC Executive Secretary and later education minister where he introduced radical policy changes through especially his Nomadic Education program.
“As petroleum minister again, Prof. Aminu introduced radical changes, fought the “oil industry cabal” who had started then to corrupt the Nigerian oil industry officials, for sharp practices especially in the area of refineries turn around maintenance and the export of bye products of the refined crude from the Refineries. He fought them until he left office. Our path crossed then because my very good friend Dr Chu SP Okongwu, another Nigerian patriot, took over from him as Petroleum Minister and I was privileged to be around when he came over to the Ministry of Budget and Planning in Ikoyi, Lagos to brief and handover to his successor.Nigeria was also under his watch then, a respected voice in OPEC, enabling the country get an oil output quota desirable of her standing during this time.
When he joined partisan politics it was clear that a collosus was there in Adamawa, bestroding his Adamawa North senatorial district, which he represented for two terms 1999-2007 excellently Again a patriotic national voice was in the Nigerian Senate at that time. A strong advocate for federal character balancing on many sensitive National issues in Nigeria.
Our path crossed again in 2005 when, I as governor of Anambra State, went with his young friend, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, then governor of Abia and chairman South East Governors to see him on the intractable Anambra political crisis and requested him to advise his friend, the then president to stop supporting felons who had burnt down state government’s property in order to procure a state of emergency through the back door. He obliged us in his usual diplomatic way of approaching sensitive matters and reported back. Prof’s patriotism was unquestionably iron cast.
The world medicine has lost a great doyen and intellectual, who for his love for his fatherland at a time combined his office of Vice Chancellor University of Maiduguri with his lecturership of medical students and management of his patients all rolled into one1980-1985. Before then, he had taught medicine, at Howard University College of Medicine Washington DC, USA, where he displayed his eruditeness at a very young age in 1980, bringing the prowess of Nigerian medical teachers to the attention of the world.
“May the good Lord grant him eternal rest and comfort the family, the Government and people of Adamawa State.”