…The president Nigeria never had

By Ismail Omipidan

The late Yusuf Maitama Sule, the Dan-Masanin Kano, was a reporter’s delight. He needed no protocol to be interviewed on any subject.  He was sound, exposed and vast in knowledge.

To some people, Sule was the president Nigeria never had, as he lost the opportunity to emerge presidential candidate of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1978, when he stepped down for Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a re-run primary election of their political party. Had he won the primary election, he would have emerged president, as Shagari did in 1979.

However, there was a controversy as to who actually won the NPN primary election. While some people say Sule won, others insist Shagari clinched the ticket neat. One of those who believed Sule did not win the NPN primary election is Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who told Daily Sun that what was in the public domain concerning the contest was not what actually transpired.

According to him, five persons from the party had signified interest in the race. They were: Shagari, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma,  the late Dr. Olusola Saraki, the late J.S Tarka and Sule. He said at the end of the election held at Metro Cinema in Lagos, Shagari came first, while Sule clinched the second position. Ciroma came third, Saraki fourth and Tarka, fifth.

Mohammed, however, noted that going by the NPN’s election guidelines at the time, the total votes Shagari scored was not enough to declare him winner. Therefore, there was a need for a re-run between Shagari and Sule, to determine the eventual winner.

He said Sule appealed more to the generation of leaders who, though, appeared old in age, but were young at heart, adding that some northerners felt the outcome of the contest would humiliate the older generation. While some wanted Sule to step down and not continue with the re-run, others wanted him to go on. It was gathered that  three of the other aspirants have agreed to deliver all their delegates  to Sule, to enable him defeat Shagari  at the re-run.

It was at this point, Daily Sun gathered, that Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Sule’s friend, called him and asked that he should withdraw from the race. Sule reportedly responded: “I will take the decision myself.”  He eventually withdrew from the race, paving way for Shagari to become the NPN candidate and eventual president in 1979.

In the First Republic, Sule were a member of the House of Representatives. He was also appointed minister, being a subordinate of Nigeria’s late Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

Sule was Nigeria’s ambassador and Permanent Representative at the United Nations, UN during the Second Republic for four years.  After his return, according to Dr. Mohammed, Sule was to be made minister of foreign affairs,  after Shagari’s reelection, but some people allegedly sabotaged it. Instead, he was made Minister of Information and National Guidance. The administration was short-lived, as the military struck and sacked the administration.

 In Mohammed’s opinion, Sule would have made a good and resourceful foreign minister, as “he is a born politician, with several national and international connections, right from the time of Tafawa Balewa.”

Mohammed said Sule “represented Nigeria when the OAU, as it was then known, was formed and he played very prominent and important roles in the country’s national and international relations.”

On whether Sule could have been a good president, he said: “I don’t know if he would have made a better President than Shagari, because they are almost the same thing, in terms of discipline.

“Don’t forget, it was Shagari’s seemingly inability to discipline his friends and subordinates serving in government that led to the government’s overthrow by the military. However, Sule would certainly have been a better foreign minister were he given the opportunity to serve in that capacity.”

The late Sule, who, until his death was the chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), is one man who many northern groups would always want to identify with, because of the respectability associated with his name over the years. It is on record that NEF played a very prominent role in opposing former President Goodluck Jonathan’s return bid in 2015. But even at that, the late Sule was never seen or heard losing his cool, in canvassing his position.

Although NEF eventually adopted President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2015, as its candidate for the April 2015 presidential contest, Sule had, in 2014, at one of the conferences of leaders in the North held in Kano, said power could remain in any region, provided the holder would be fair and just in exercising such power. He also called for a stronger unity among the components parts of Nigeria, saying it was the only solution to the country’s socio-political problems.

Sule further noted that while some people were trying to create impediments for the North ahead of 2015 general elections, sustained national unity, as promoted by the late premier of the Northern Region, during his lifetime was what the country badly needed to overcome its existing difficulties.

Sule had said: “Justice and fair play are recipes for the problems facing the country. We want justice. What we are saying is that let there be justice and with it there will be peace. Anybody who tries to bring any division among us in the country is an enemy of the country. Let us come together; let us unite; let us speak with one voice and that is what will save us from this ugly situation we find ourselves. Power can remain in the hands of any Nigerian provided he demonstrates fairness and upholds justice in his actions.”

Sule was born in 1929 in Kano State. He was a schoolteacher before his election in 1954 into the House of Representatives. He was first appointed minister at the age of 29.

In 1958, he became the Kano Native Authority’s Chief Information Officer and a year later, a federal minister, in charge of Mines and Power. He was also a member of the first Nigerian delegation to the United Nations in 1960. When Nigeria created states in 1967, he became Commissioner for Local Government, then that of the Ministry of Forestry, Co-operatives and Community Development and finally that of Information.