Mohammed Abba Gana is a 1969 graduate of Electrical Engineering from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and one of the foundation members of staff of the Chad Basin Authority. He was a commissioner in the old Borno State in 1979-83 and attempted to be the governor of the state on the platform of the Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP). In 2001, he was appointed the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), from where he retired.
I would like to start by asking about your early life in Borno.
I was born in Damboa town of Damboa District of Borno Emirate. Damboa is one of the districts in the southernmost part of Borno Emirate, which of course has been under the Shehu of Borno since amalgamation.
I was born in 1943, just before the Second World War ended. In those days, once you reached the age of six or seven, they would give you to some Quranic teachers so that you would at least read some chapters of the Quran to enable you pray properly.
The good thing at that time was that you were not just given away like in marriage to any teacher. I was given to one teacher who lived about one hundred yards from my house. He was also with us during Ramadan Taraweeh and other things and he was the one doing some things for us; so we were very familiar with him.
So, he was like a family teacher?
Yes. After some months, some strange authorities came from the district head to see my father. They said “‘since your son is now with Mallam Ali, the district head has decided that for the January 1952 intake, he will be one of them”.
They said there was also an Arabic teacher in the school, so he would not miss anything.
So, up to that time, the intention was not to send you to primary school; it was just for you to go into the Islamic system, right?
That was the intention. So without intervention, I would have probably become a sheikh! Our life is fate; you are already determined by God; and you can’t escape from destiny. My father said, “Alright, when the time comes, we will see.”
So, in January, they came and took me away with my father. We went to the headmaster in the school and he asked how old I was. I think that was January 1952 and I should be seven or eight years old. They wrote my name and that was it.
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Was it a boarding school?
At that time, junior primary schools were not boarding, only the middle school was boarding.
Did you attend middle school in Maiduguri?
Yes, there was a common entrance to go to middle school and we did it.
They selected some three, four students to go and do the common entrance exam in Maiduguri. The remaining were 30 in the class. In those days, after primary four they would go to cooperatives, police and do other things if they knew how to read and write properly.
I am surprised that right now, after secondary school, people don’t even know how to write a letter. In those days, after junior primary four, you could write a letter properly in English, Hausa and Kanuri.
So, three or four of us from Damboa sat for the exam and passed to go to the middle school.
In 1958, we were in primary seven and we sat for the Common Entrance examination to go to Barewa College, Zaria. At that time, it was called Government College, Zaria.
I think that in Yerwa Boarding Primary School, three of us passed to go to Barewa College, and in the Potiskum area, about four of them. So we were seven from Borno Province. I think we were about the highest in the Northern Region.
How was the experience in Barewa of those days?
Very beautiful. It was designed to produce northern leaders when it was inaugurated by Sir Hugh Clifford, the governor-general of Nigeria. He came to Katsina. It was then called Katsina College in March 1921.
He cautioned the first set of students and said they would be trained as teachers and administrators of northern region; therefore, they must learn how to obey as they were to lead other people.
Every set of students going to Barewa were given this information/advice from the governor-general. It was very important because if you don’t obey others, those behind you will not obey you.
People like Sardauna, Kashim, Tafawa Balewa, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, even among soldiers, were from Barewa, as well as the first northerner to get a PhD in Mathematics, Professor Iya Abubakar. You see, in those days, there was a lot of respect for those who distinguished themselves, so the Northern Region House of Assembly decided to honour him as their son coming from England with a PhD in Mathematics. He was honoured as a special member of the House.
After Barewa you went to Okene for your Higher School Certificate. Was that a deliberate choice or it was arranged and they just pushed you to go? How was the experience?
Well, it was not quite a deliberate choice. At that time, the Higher School Certificate was introduced and those who were good in certain areas were selected through exams for A-Level in various schools. I think they chose Okene Provincial Secondary School. It was actually called Provincial Secondary School, Kabba, but it was in Okene.
Few of us wanted to do Mathematics while some wanted to do Physics or Mathematics. I liked to do Mathematics in the University of Ibadan, just like Professor Iya Abubakar.
We had already decided that we would do pure sciences, mathematics or engineering in our class, and our teachers and others knew.
So, that was why you went to do engineering at the ABU? Was that something you wanted?
What happened was that when my result came, I got A-Level in Applied Mathematics and Physics, so, I could do anything. So I applied to the University of Ibadan to do a degree in Pure Mathematics and was immediately given, seeing that I qualified. But with the crisis in Nigeria at that time, 1966, I got confused.
Meanwhile, like the Americans did, the Soviet Union at that time also gave scholarships. I also qualified. I went to the Bureau for External Aid for Education and was also given the scholarship to go to Leningrad University to do Industrial Electronics or something like that.
But for the Russian scholarship you must do one year at the Lumumba University in Moscow to study the language. Honestly, I got confused.
You didn’t want to waste time?
They said it was seven years, and one year was for language. So, somehow, I went to another older Barewa boy, Alhaji Gambo Gubio and told him that the Russia people said we were going to do seven years, which I added would be too long. I even asked them if I would be allowed to come and see my old father and they said no. So there was no coming back till after seven years. I told him that I was a bit confused.
He did not tell me to reject the offer, but he told me the advantage of doing the degree in Nigeria. He explained that since I got A-Levels, there would be no prelim, and in three years I would get my degree.
And that’s what you did?
And before your colleagues in Russia would come back, you would be four years their senior in the civil service. There was such advantage. “But if you want to go to Russia for fun, you can go,” he advised. And for the civil service, whether you got your degree in Russia, America, England or Nigeria, it was yours, you would be ahead of your friends who went to Russia.
Did you regret your decision to go to the ABU then and do the engineering degree?
I didn’t regret. It was very good because I did three years and finished. As soon as I finished, the civil war was on and three or four of us were enlisted for direct commission in the army as captain.
As an engineer?
Yes. I think General Hassan Katsina was the Chief of Army Staff or something. I came to Maiduguri to prepare and go. That was July 1969. The military governor knew. The governor said, “We have a lot of military officers from the North-East, so I would like you to remain here because I have a lot of rural development programmes that need electrical engineers. I will tell the Supreme Military Headquarters to drop your name. We are going to give you employment tomorrow. Go to the Civil Service Commission, I have already told them”. It was another shock. I wondered what kind of fate I had.
I was immediately appointed a provincial electrical engineer, Borno Province. Maiduguri was the headquarters, so it became very important; everybody would like to see the electrical engineer.
There were lots of development programmes like Ashaka Cement, Savannah Sugar, Highland Tea, Numan Sugar Factory, United Shoe Factory, and lots of other big projects.
What of the Chad Basin where you also had a stint?
I was working, and suddenly, the British Council sent some offer to Borno, I mean the North-east. Two of us were given the opportunity to go to the United Kingdom (UK) for industrial training because as an electrical engineer, it is good to know how things work in practice.
So, I and my friend, also an engineer, went to UK for two years, where we underwent industrial training to satisfy the requirements of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
When I came back, General Gowon established 11 river basin authorities nationwide. The Chad River Basin Authority was one of them. The late Dr Bukar Shaib was the permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and he was very influential and result-oriented. He said that in order that this river basin would take off, we would quickly get people from the civil service to start establishing them. So, they invited the late Alhaji Musa Dagash, a retired federal permanent secretary, who was also the chairman of the Federal Tenders Board at that time. Gowon called him and said the Chad Basin was more important.
He left and came to Maiduguri. There was need for a power station where the pumps and so on would be supplied with electricity for the irrigation.
We were ready-made electrical engineers; they just said we should be seconded to the Chad Basin. That was how I ended up in the Chad Basin for five or six years until Obasanjo commissioned it and we started producing wheat, one of the best in the world.
You suddenly became a commissioner in Borno. How did that come about?
This is another mystery. It had never been in my programme. I was very busy with training the engineers and other programmes.
You were a chief electrical engineer by then?
Yes. Then, suddenly, my friend, the late Mohammed Goni, became the governor of Borno State on the platform of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party and some of us who were old colleagues, like Dr Shettima Mustafa, the late Ibrahim Musa, the late Prof Kyari Tijani formed a group to support him so that we would have somebody to walk to in the Government House without wahala.
Did your support actually translate into your becoming the commissioner or it was just because of your relationship with him?
We had been close, even before politics came. When we were in the middle school, he was two or three years ahead of me. I was younger, but we would go to town together. God works in mysterious ways. We were friends. When he expressed interest, there were a lot of recommendations from people that he would make a better candidate. In fact, he was the best. He had been a civil servant for so many years. He was a district officer in two or three places.
We really had a programme of social justice, such as roads, more schools, plan for districts and local governments – to build secondary schools for boys and girls, as well as teachers’ colleges, water supply, road transportation, incentives. Our social programmes were impressive. And there was sincerity, such that a lot of people believed us when we talked.
What job did he give you to do in the government?
Commissioner for Works and Housing. I was not expecting it. My job as the chief engineer in the Chad Basin was also very important, so I was hesitant and told him to let me talk to my general manager, H. J. K Imam. I felt that the responsibility of the new river basins to revolutionise agriculture nationwide was very challenging. It was a kind of industrial revolution. There were irrigation schemes and other things. So, as a young man and an engineer, professional satisfaction was there. I was hesitant until I discussed with my general manager, also a Barewa man.
So, that encouraged you?
The commissionership job was executive, which you would not get as a chief engineer at the Chad Basin. Surprisingly, they placed me on secondment to become a commissioner so that if I didn’t want it I could come back.
But you stayed as a commissioner during Goni’s first term?
I stayed.
Did you like the job?
Well, it was very satisfying. But it was not a question of liking the job, the trust I had from the governor was so overwhelming that if anybody went to him, he would direct the person to meet the commissioner for works. And he would approve anything I did. He had a lot of trust in me.
After four years as commissioner, did you also aspire to become governor?
No. There was a lot of upheavals and it was very painful. The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and the GNPP all had problems. In the PRP, Balarabe Musa, Abubakar Rimi revolted against Aminu Kano, the founder of the party. In the GNPP, Goni and Barde ( Abubakar Barde of Gongola) also revolted against Waziri Ibrahim.
I was a bit shocked, so I said that with all honesty, I would not follow this arrangement. Waziri Ibrahim spent a lot of resources but God did not want him to become president; however, those of us who benefitted from his investment became commissioners and some became governors. How could we turn around to say that even the national chairman of our party he founded was not good enough?
I agonised on this matter for two or three days. The situation was such that Goni had to leave and go to Awolowo in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Now, even if I followed Goni to go to Awolowo, it would be a betrayal of Waziri Ibrahim. So, I said it was time for my earlier arrangement of secondment to come into force.
Did you go back to the Chad Basin?
No. I had already gotten the permission to stay for as long as I wanted. Meanwhile, Waziri came to Maiduguri and he organised a GNPP congress because Goni had gone to the UPN, and Shettima, who called himself national chairman, was out.
Waziri did not tell me that he would support me, so, I was not aware. Some people said there was a lot of meeting going on with Waziri. He called all the chairmen, secretaries and executive members of the GNPP in the 18 local governments to his house, which was very big. They also had a state congress.
In the evening, news of the NTA just announced that there was a GNPP congress and they had elected me to become the flag-bearer of the party for Borno in the 1983 election.
So, you found yourself having to face Goni?
I had to face Goni, who was the UPN candidate. It was very painful, to the extent that when I went to Damasak, where Goni’s uncle was the district head, I could not do any lecture. The state chairman of the GNPP and others did the lecture and proceeded to the next town because I didn’t like to stand up and say something silly. It was better to sacrifice that town than say something silly. It was painful, so I said no.
Who won that election?
I actually won. Everybody knew that I won; my votes were about 640,000 while the NPN candidate had about 270,000. Our gap was nearly 400,000. Goni was number three.
The NPN did not know how to announce it. Ibrahim Ali, an engineer, was my agent in the collation centre.
They were trying to bring a lot of police to Borno from Bauchi, Adamawa and other places and it took about four days.
Did they announce the NPN candidate as the winner?
They announced it on Radio Kaduna, not Verdict 83 in Lagos. They didn’t take it there. You can see that it was fraud. They announced it on radio as they took time to bring in a lot of police to Maiduguri.
How was it resolved in the end? Did you accept or you went to court?
We went to the Supreme Court.
And you lost there also?
We lost. The late Bola Ige lost in Ibadan while Jim Nwobodo lost in Anambra; only Sabo Bakin Zuwo was allowed in the PRP in Kano.
After the Supreme Court judgement, Shagari called Waziri Ibrahim to Lagos and pleaded with him to take the message that he wanted to form a national government to Awolowo and Azikiwe because the situation in the country was not conducive for running any government. He wanted peace. He promised to give some ministerial slots to the UPN, some to the NPP and some to the GNPP and PRP.
But that didn’t seem to have worked, right?
When Waziri met Awolowo and explained that the president wanted to form a national government because the country was not stable, he said the worst civilian government was better than military, so the UPN would not do anything to undermine him. He said they would support Shagari to finish his four years. Waziri said okay and went to Azikiwe, who asked if he had gone to Awolowo and he said yes. He told Awolowo that he promised not to undermine the NPN government because if there was crisis, soldiers would come and we would go back to square one. Azikiwe promised to go along the same line with Awolowo.
But they didn’t undertake to participate in the unity government?
They said they were not going to participate since the NPN had already been declared winners.
Waziri called me in the evening and said there was a problem. I asked what the problem was and he said both Awolowo and Azikiwe refused to participate in the national unity government, but added that if I wanted to become a minister, he would submit my name. The PRP had already accepted and they had been given. He said the choice was mine. I was sweating.
Were you sweating because there was an opportunity to become a minister?
I was sweating because of the opportunity to become a minister but the situation did not make sense. He said I should go and come back after one hour and if I wanted it he would send my name.
When I went back, I told him that the GNPP, UPN and the NPP were progressives and it would not make sense if the PRP and the GNPP accepted to join the NPN. He said I was a very responsible young man.
So, that was how you didn’t become a minister then?
Yes.
But nearly 20 years later, you became a minister; How did that happen?
What happened was that in 1999, I was again tipped by Borno people to become the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Abdulsalami Abubakar, the then military head of state, did not want to take a long time, so he said politicians should organise themselves so that he would quickly hand over in one year. The political class thought that organising primary elections would be contentious as it would take longer than one year, so they said there should be consensus or whatever.
In Borno, we had a younger person, Ambassador Jidda, who also wanted to become governor under the UNCP, Abacha’s party. And he looked like he had more resources than me.
I never had any plan to contest because I wanted peace in my life, so the arrangement was for me to withdraw for Jidda and we would campaign for him. But at the end, Ambassador Jiddas didn’t win.
They sent three names to Obasanjo for ministerial positions – Ibrahim Bunu because he lost election to go to the Senate, Jidda, because he lost the governorship and myself.
They said they would make me an ambassador but I said no because I could not leave my family. So I said let’s give it to Jidda. I was not bothered about getting jobs. In the end, they gave me the Revenue Allocation and Mobilisation Commission as commissioner and that was it. Then, in January 2001, just after one and a half years, Obasanjo dropped eight ministers, including Ibrahim Bunu from Borno and nobody complained. It was an act of God. All of us were surprised.
I think that Waziri, Atiku and Obasanjo decided that since my name was already there, I should be appointed. Up till today, I don’t know why they dropped Ibrahim Bunu.
Being a minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is supposed to be a very lucrative job, how did you find it?
We were in politics for public service, not business. This is actually why we are having a lot of problems in Nigeria now. People are in politics for business while it is for service. That’s the difference. Did people like Sardauna and his ministers, Tafawa Balewa and his ministers have properties? No.
But people will be surprised that you were a minister of the FCT, but don’t have many properties in Abuja?
None. Even in Maiduguri, I have only one house, and I built it with a Federal Mortgage Bank loan.
But you ought to have a property in Abuja when you were a minister; what happened?
I had a plot but decided not to build while I was in office, but the minister that took over from me revoked it.
Why?
He took it because he liked the place. He said I should be given another place. Then for another place, when I started, they put a red mark that there was a pipeline, and the Water Board of the FCT put up half of the plot, saying there was huge water underneath. So I said I didn’t like anything like that.
This place I am staying is not my house. Somebody close to me said I was important to them and he would not want me to go to Maiduguri, so he volunteered to keep me here. I have been here for four or five years.
So you don’t go to Maiduguri often these days. You are kind of retired in Abuja?
Politics is now too partisan, unlike our days; it is now war. And in Borno, they are APC while I am PDP. Recently, however, there was durbar and a colloquium in the University of Maiduguri, and since the Shehu decided to invite me, I had to go. But during the eight years of Kashim Shettima as our governor, he never called me for anything. And his uncle was my classmate.
Are you still active in the PDP?
No.
What do you do now?
I will be 81 years or so in November, so I have actually withdrawn from politics.
I have six children – five boys and one girl. I also have 16 grandchildren; some of them are in the university. I keep praying to God to give me the sustenance to at least see my grandchildren get their degrees. I don’t need anything more than that.
How do you spend your typical day?
I read. Every day I read Daily Trust, all the pages.
What else do you do, apart from reading?
I don’t have a lot of hobbies. I watch your television and Al-Jazeera. It is interesting; they cover a lot of things about Africa. I also watch CNN once in a while. And of course I watch the BBC and Sky News; that is all.
Do you still mentor and advise politicians?
People come for consultations, but I am just an elder statesman, so I don’t stick to the APC, PDP or Kwankwaso’s party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
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