The passage on Monday of Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Yusuf Maitama Sule, united the nation in grief. The outpouring of tributes from all parts of the country trailing the death of the highly respected diplomat shows that Nigeria has, indeed, lost one of its foremost patriots, nationalists and statesmen.
Maitama Sule, who also served as Minister of Mines and Power in the First Republic, died in Cairo aged 88, and was buried in Kano on Tuesday, according to Islamic injunction. He will always be loved and remembered by all for his great love for Nigeria and Africa, his brilliant oratory and his untiring efforts to serve and project the nation positively in all the positions he held. Sule was a class apart from many in the current crop of politicians who are in politics to feather their own nests. He demonstrated good breeding, and spoke impeccable English, with excellent oratory that wowed his audiences all over the world until his very end.
Sule cut his political teeth under the late Sarduana, Ahmadu Bello, in the heyday of pre-independence struggles, leading up to the First Republic. Their umbrella was the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), which went on to win the independence elections and formed the federal government in alliance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He was known for his fierce loyalty to the leadership of his NPC, but as he confessed on many occasions, he also learnt the imperative of building bridges across the political divide early on.
In the First Republic, Maitama Sule was elected into the Federal House of Representatives where he became Chief Whip, representing Kano, from 1954 to 1966. He was also appointed the Minister in charge of Mines and Power. In that position, he had the rare privilege of setting up the mining and petroleum industry and the enabling laws which have served the country well until now that they are being reviewed. He served and left the ministry creditably, with his reputation intact and his image unsoiled.
Sadly, the First Republic in which he was an active participant came to a sad and abrupt end with the January 1966 military coup. When states were created in 1967, he became Commissioner for Local Government, then that of Ministry of Forestry, Cooperatives and Community Development, and later, that of Information. He also once served as Minister of National Guidance.
Sule was the nation’s pioneer ombudsman as he was appointed the Federal Commissioner of Public Complaints in 1976. He contested with five other persons, including Alhaji Shehu Shagari, for the presidential ticket of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), one of the then five registered political parties at the outset of the Second Republic in 1979.
Shagari, who won the primaries, went on to win the presidential election, while Sule, an unrepentant party loyalist, served the Shagari administration enthusiastically. He was appointed the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and headed the august body’s Special Committee on Apartheid. In this role, he did his utmost best to deal the evil system and the illegitimate regimes it fostered the deathblow.
Maitama Sule was a big voice for unity and national cohesion in the country. Even after the fall of the Second Republic in 1983, he was a much sought after public speaker and motivator at national and international events, and he never failed to impress his audiences and different political interests with his uncommon patriotism, erudition and knowledge of national and world affairs.
Sule’s house in Kano was a Mecca of sorts for all kinds of interests and everyone, no matter their station in life, had access to him. He was a champion of talakawa politics for which the commercial city of Kano is well-known and was greatly loved in return by his people. He was adorned with the traditional title of Dan Massani of Kano and he wore the title with pride and honour all his life.
The Dan Massani will be sorely missed. He was genuinely passionately concerned about the fate of his country and how it can effectively harness its great potentials. He was never tired of preaching this and seeking collaborations to bring it about. He served the nation selflessly in very many important positions. For this, he was greatly appreciated by enlightened Nigerians.
We join other Nigerians in mourning this outstanding nationalist and wish his loving soul a peaceful rest with Allah.