Elder statesman and politician Maitama Sule died on Monday, throwing the people of Kano State into mourning mood.
The Kano State Government consequently declared Tuesday, July 4 as a public holiday for his burial.
In his over eight decades, the elder statesman played a number of major roles in Nigeria and globally.
Some of his many roles include:
* Maitama Sule became the Federal Commissioner of Public Complaints in 1976; an independent body founded by the Nigerian Government to inquire into public complaints pertaining to any administrative action taken by the federal, state or local governments as well as other public and private institutions.
* He was a presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria but lost to Shehu Shagari in early 1979.
* He was appointed Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations after the return to civilian rule in September 1979.
* While at the international body, he was chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid.
* He was made the Minister for National Guidance after the re-election of President Shagari in 1983, a portfolio designed to assist the president in tackling corruption.
* He was Nigeria’s pioneer ombudsman, a position which saw him represent the interests of the people by investigating and addressing public complaints since 1776 until his death.
Here are some other facts about the late elder statesman:
* He was born in Kano on October 1, 1929.
* He was the ‘Dan Masanin Kano’.
* He died in Cairo, Egypt on July 3, 2017.
* He would be buried at the palace of the Emir of Kano.
* He would have been 88 on October 1, 2017.
