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Mai Mala Buni, Governor of Yobe State since 2019, was born on November 19, 1967, in the historic town of Buni-Gari to a merchant father.
He started his early education with memorization of the Holy Quran under his parents before moving to other teachers and clerics as it was the tradition and culture of the people of the old Kanem-Bornu empire. He was later enrolled into Buni-Gari Primary School, where he obtained the First School Leaving Certificate in 1979.
Buni continued his education at Government Secondary School, Goniri and obtained the West African Examinations Council certificate in 1985.
He furthered his education by pursuing a part-time degree in International Relations at Espan Formation University in Benin Republic, where he obtained a B.Sc. degree in 2014. He also holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom.
Buni’s political journey began in 1992 when he won a councillorship seat on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He served as the speaker of the council.
The signs of his political greatness started in earnest when, as a Local Government Council leader, he earned the unwavering loyalty of eight councillors from the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), leaving the council chairman with just three councillors from the Social Democratic Party (SDP). This made him the most powerful leader (Speaker) in the state and he performed creditably well to the admiration of all. That first outing, became the springboard that propelled him to the future leadership assignments that brought out the very best in him.
Over the years, he held various political positions, including becoming the chairman of the Action Congress (AC) in Yobe State from 2007 to 2010. He joined the ANPP in 2011 and was appointed Special Adviser on Political Affairs and Legislative Matters to the Yobe State governor.
After the merger of political parties to form the APC in 2013, Buni became the protem state secretary of the party in Yobe State and later the pioneer state chairman of the APC in Yobe State. In 2014, he became the first elected National Secretary of the APC.
The success of APC defeating the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its sitting President brought Governor Buni’s political sagacity and sophistication to bare and was unanimously returned for a second term of office as the National Secretary of the ruling party.
Buni, is nicknamed ‘Peace Ambassador’ because of his rare character of tolerance, accommodation and uncommon humility. His faith and skill in dialogue, negotiation, and peaceful resolution of disputes and disagreements are down to earth and second to none. His character attracted him to both the old and newbred politicians far and near from across the country.
It was not therefore a surprise that Buni thereafter won the governorship ticket of APC for Yobe State in 2019. His election as Yobe State governor was unprecedented and convincing beyond an iota of doubt. He recorded a landslide victory. His success at the polls registered another history as the only governorship election that was never challenged in any court of law by other governorship candidates or the opposition political parties. It was generally accepted because a man of the people was elected as governor of Yobe State.
And few months into office of the governor, the National Executive Committee of the party, unanimously nominated Buni to Chair the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee to salvage APC from the jaws of an imminent collapse.
The tenure of the interim committee/extraordinary convention committee was extended for another six months in December 2020.
As the Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Buni operated an open-door policy to give all stakeholders a sense of belonging and ownership of the party and soon, aggrieved parties who left the party and others planning to leave, returned and stayed back. There was a massive and unprecedented influx into the party.
Buni’s sacrifice to keep the party alive did not come without a price. He was betrayed, back stabbed and sabotaged to fail, but he remained focused to achieve his target of rescuing the party which was achieved with huge success, and keeping faith with the principle of ‘Politics Without Bitterness”.
To his credit, three serving governors of Ebonyi, Engr. Dave Umahi, Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade and Zamfara State, Alhaji Bello Mutawalle, dumped PDP and joined the APC. Similarly, numerous senators and members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies also joined the APC.
Under his leadership, the Caretaker Committee carried out the historic and successful membership registration and revalidation exercise in which the party registered over 44 million members.
Governor Buni has been identified, recognized and appreciated with several awards of Good Governance, Transparency and Accountability, Peace Ambassador and the National Honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
