Inna Lillahi Wa’ina Illaihir raji’un (From Allah we came and to Him we shall return) was my response to an early morning phone call on Sunday, August 24, 2016, from a friend Alhaji Ahmed announcing the death of “Maigida” (Boss), former deputy governor of Kano State, Senator Magaji Adamu Abdullahi, that very morning at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano.
Alhaji Kassim (a former Personal Assistant to the deceased) wanted me (as the former Press Secretary to Engineer Magaji Abdullahi) to place an obituary announcement in all the radio stations in Kano and to specifically include that the funeral prayer would take place at 10am that day at the Engineers’ Lane residence of the deceased situated at NNDC Housing Estate, Sharada in Kano.
I told Kassim that I was in Calabar, Cross River State, for a week-long programme, but will use the modern electronic communication devices, the mobile phone, social media and email to disseminate the information. I did just that, and the story went viral. Many people including Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, his deputy, former this and ex that, the political class, businessmen and others attended the funeral prayer and burial.
The late Magaji Adamu Abdullahi was born on 2nd November 1947 at Tattarawa village in Dawkin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State to the family of late Sarkin Fulani Abdullahi Adamu, the village head. He had his early western education at Dawakin Tofa Junior (1955 to 1957) and Dambatta Senior (1958 to 1960) Primary Schools and proceeded to the then Kano Native Authority Secondary School (now Rumfa College) in 1961 and passed out in 1965 with the West African School Certificate, WASC.
He remained at Rumfa College from 1966 to 1967 and obtained the Higher School Certificate (HSC), later gained admission to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering.
The quest for more knowledge took him to Southampton University in the UK where he obtained a Masters degree in Water Resources Engineering. He went back to the UK in 1976 but this time at Birmingham University for a Postgraduate Certificate course in Advance Management of Water Resources.
On graduating from the university in 1972, he was employed by the Kano State Ministry of Works and Survey as a Pupil Engineer till 1975 when he was promoted to Engineer I.
Promoted Senior Engineer in 1976, he engineered the construction of Challawa gorge dam access road and the design of Kadawa irrigation scheme. Engineer Magaji Abdullahi became a Principal Engineer in 1977 and took charge of Kafin Chiri dam project. He was engaged as Chief Construction Engineer in October 1977 by the Kano state owned Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency, WRECA.
For nearly two years (October 1977 to August 1979), Engineer Magaji was responsible for the execution of all projects undertaken by the agency including Tudun Wada gari, Watari, Magaga, Marashi and Guzuguzu dams in Kano state. Others were Tagwai and Kagara dams in Niger State and Oghedekpe dam in the old Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states), all major water supply projects and feeder roads throughout the old Kano State (now Kano and Jigawa states).
Engineer Magaji Adamu Abdullahi was the Managing Director of the agency (WRECA) for seven years (Sept. 1979 to Nov. 1986) under two civilian (Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi and Aliyu Sabo Bakinzuwo) and five military governors.
He turned the agency to become the largest and most important state parastatal with more than 5,000 workers. Under Engineer Magaji, WRECA was the cash cow of the Kano State government and was responsible for the provision of water supply and other civil engineering works in the old Kano State. At that time scarcity of water supply (for domestic and industrial use) was non-existent to the people of Kano. This rare feat and his generosity earned him the sobriquet ‘Ruwa Baba’ (Father who provides water) from his supporters when he later became a politician.
He was promoted Permanent Secretary in November 1986 and posted to Ministry of Works and Housing where he served till January 1988. On his return from NIPSS in October 1988, he became Director General at the newly formed Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport till February 1989 when he was appointed the commissioner of the ministry.
He left Works, Housing and Transport in November 1990 to become the pioneer Commissioner of Water Resources. During the five month he served in that capacity, he completed all pending major water projects including Rimingado water scheme and the third Challawa Water treatment complex.
In his quest to further serve the society, Engineer Abdullahi prepared for the challenges ahead as the country tried to return to democratic governance in the early 1990s.
He resigned as the Kano State Commissioner for Water Resources and joined the Social Democratic Party, SDP. From then, he held several political and elective posts and offices including Senator (Kano North SDP) from December 1992 to November 1993, member of the National Constitutional Conference in 1995, national chairman of the National Centre Party of Nigeria, NCPN, deputy governor of Kano State under APP (later ANPP) from May 29, 2003 to May 29, 2007, pioneer member and gubernatorial candidate of the All Peoples Party in 1999, pioneer member of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, (2010 to 2014) the All Progressives Congress, APC from 2014 till his death.
Engineer Magaji Abdullahi contested the governorship of Kano State twice in 1991 under the SDP but lost to Architect Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya of the NRC and in 1999 under the ANPP but also lost to Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the PDP.
Although he did not become the governor of Kano State but it is hoped that he took solace in the fact that his former staff Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was twice the governor of Kano State. The APC government did not appoint him minister but his former staff at WRECA, Engineer Suleiman Adamu, is the minister of Water Resources.
As the deputy governor of Kano State (2003 to 2007), Engineer Magaji was actively involved in a project called Fight Against Desert Encroachment, FADE, founded by Chief Newton Jibunoh. The target was the planting of ten million trees in six years.
After Engineer Magaji Abdullahi left office in 2007, FADE faded.
A fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and Member of the National Institute (Mni), he was honored with the 2005 award of ‘Innovation and Dignity of Labour in Water Resources Engineering and Management” by the Plateau State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR.
Indeed Malvalio said in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that “In my stars I am above thee but be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.”
Abdulkadir, Press Secretary to the late Deputy Governor, wrote from Kano.
