Former Borno gov dies after brief illness

The former governor of Borno state, Alhaji Muhammad Goni is dead.

He died on Wednesday after a brief illness, according to a source.

Goni was a retired civil servant who was Governor of Borno State from 1979–1983 in the Nigerian Second Republic.

Mohammed Goni was born in 1942 in Kareto, Mobbar Local Government Area, Borno State.

He attended Maiduguri Middle School (1953–55), Borno Provincial Secondary School (1956–61), Provincial Secondary School, Kano (1962–63) and the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1964–87), where he gained a BA (Administration), specialising in international affairs.

In 1977, he transferred to the Nigerian National Supply Company.

In April 1979, Mohammed Goni resigned from the National Supply Company and entered politics.

He was elected as the first civilian governor of the former Borno State, on the platform of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), and was in office from October 1979 to September 1983.

He was also part of the Progressives Coalition led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Goni founded the Borno Radio Television (BRTV) to counter the propaganda which was being pumped out of the Federal Government owned and sponsored Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

In retrospect, his period of office was considered one of achievement when compared with his successors.

Before the 1983 elections, Goni transferred to the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), running unsuccessfully for reelection against the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) candidate Sheikh Jarma.

In the case of Federal Electoral Commission v Alhadji Mohammed Goni (1983), the Supreme Court of Nigeria condemned cross-carpeting by political officeholders.