WAKE UP: Princess Amina Zakari, Buhari and the unfounded link

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

Yakassai stated that he was responding to a reporter if Zakari was related to Buhari, which Yakassai admitted was not related. “Somebody added something because I did not criticize her or her appointment. She is my daughter and a friend to her father was at one time my permanent secretary. Her mother is a friend to my senior wife. She is a friend to some of my children. I see no reason why I should criticize her.” Yakasai further stated that Amina Zakari’s “neutrality should not be contested on the grounds of familiarity with the president because she is entitled to the post as a Nigerian and a qualified professional.”

I want to give this new resolve to come again on Amina Zakari as subject matter to my close loving reader and encourager, Mr. Frank Taylor.  He is one Nigerian elder who sees me a young media proprietor that must grow, not only in business but also be on ground with noticeable signature in columnist sector of journalism.  He requires more from me about Amina Zakari than being the partisan that I chose to be in my earlier submission titled, “PDP and the Amina Zakari imbroglio”.  I appreciate Nigerians of this nature.

Amaina Zakari’s involvement in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), like I argued in my earlier write up, should not be something to warrant the kind of noise that we have heard.  I insist.  What should matter to any saner mind is whether the woman is qualified to be where she is or not; how did she get appointed, under whose regime and from which background is she really coming.  Why the PDP do not want her is another important area to assess.

Amina Bala Zakari, nee Husaini Adamu, was the former Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commisson (INEC), the Nigerian electoral body.  Her appointment took effect from the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari following the expiration of the tenure of her predecessor, Professor Attahiru Jega, on July 30, 2015 meaning that her days in INEC predated the advent of President Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government.

Zakari is the first woman to be appointed to the position of leadership of INEC and her tenure as substantive Chairman of INEC, if the new government had chosen to make it so, is subject to confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  She however packed out of the acting chairmanship of the electoral umpire when President Buhari appointed a substantive Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, whose name was duly sent to the Senate, screened and approved and then finally took over from her.

Zakari, a pharmacist, is a princess of Jigawa State in North West Nigeria having been born on June 23, 1960 to the late Emir of Kazaure, Husseini Adamu.  She completed her elementary education at Shekara Girls Primary School, Kano in 1971 and had her secondary education at Queen’s College, Lagos.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy with second class upper (Best Graduating Student) in 1980 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.

Princess Amina’s other qualifications include: Certificate in Managing Drugs Supply for Primary Health Care from MHS Amsterdam, Netherlands; Certificate in Project Management, Certificate in Senior Management from Crown Agents London, United Kingdom and Certificate in Business Management from Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.

As a widow, she raised her five children on her own since the loss of her husband, Bala Zakari Kazaure, in December 2000.  Bala Zakari Kazaure, Santurakin Kazaure, was a career banker and economist, who was an executive officer at the Union Bank Plc at the time of his death and prior to that he had held many positions at United Bank of Africa (UBA).

Princess Amina Bala Zakari had her National Youth Service Programme at the then Federal University of Technology, Bauchi between 1981 and 1982, where she set up a Pharmacy and Drug Store Dispensary as her service year project.  She began her professional career at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna as a Senior Pharmacist in 1984.

She was at CVS Pharmacy Hartsdale, New York, United States between 1993 and 1994 as an Intern Pharmacist and returned to Nigeria to join the Consolidated Health Services, Abakpa, Kaduna, where she became the Chief Pharmacist/Consultant from 1996 to 1997.

Zakari worked with the defunct Afri-Project Consortium, Abuja from 1994 to 1999 and played other roles as Senior Consultant/Chief Pharmacist working on PTF-funded health projects across Nigeria. She led the revamp of the national network of Drug Revolving Fund (DRF).  She also helped the FCT Drug Revolving Fund grow from N80 million to N300 million.  Her monitoring background afforded her an opportunity to enforce ethical practice in FCT private hospitals through active registration and inspection.

Zakari served as Special Assistant to the President during the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from 2004 to 2007 posted to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) working at various times as Secretary, Health and Human Services; Secretary, Social Development and Acting Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development.

Her career as a pharmacist Consultant saw her working with the National AIDS and STDs Control Program (NASCP), Federal Ministry of Health 2002, Project Director for National Primary Health care Development Agency in 2003, Project Coordinator for FCT Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) 2003, National Consultant, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) 2004, Lead Consultant/ Project Manager, Songhai Medical Centre Limited 2008, Consultant, Complete Medicare Limited and Accessible Managed Care Limited 2008 and Consultant, Millennium Development Goal Office 2008.

Zakari is a Registered Pharmacist and Member, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria as well as member of Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) and has the hobbies of reading, crafts and traveling.

That is the background from where the Princess of Kazaure, Jigawa State is coming from.  From this background now traced, it is clear that there is no link between Katsina State where President Muhammadu Buhari comes from as his country’s state of origin talk less that she has any trace to Daura that is his home town in Katsina.  That is number one rebuttal to those who claim she cannot be what the INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu appointed her to be as work begins on 2019 general elections. Number two is that, Amina Zakari, apart from being a princess of a former sitting Emir of Kazaure, a very vital position in Northern Nigerian Emirate Council, is not a small fry as far as education qualification and work experience, locally and internationally, are concerned.  Moreso, she is a successful pharmacist and experience in the inner work of government.

Another point to pick here is that, her background in government is not even Buhari but dated back to the Olusegun Obasanjo administration’s second term as Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government. 

It is however clear that Obasanjo was not responsible for her foray in INEC.  Not even Obasanjo’s successor, the short-lived Umar Musa Yar’Adua administration appointed her.  She came into INEC in 2011 following her appointment as one of the National Electoral Commissioners at INEC by then President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan-led, again, PDP Federal Government. Her mandate at INEC includes her political parties’ supervision via the Political Parties Monitoring Committee. Zakari also chaired the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) with responsibility for party system consolidation. Until her appointment as Acting Chairman, on June 30, 2015, Princess Amina Bala Zakari was chairman of the INEC Planning Monitoring and Strategy Committee effective November 2014.

The claims of her relationship to President Muhammadu Buhari however did not just take place as seen recently by the PDP.  The opposition may have been misled by the Nigerian Tribune July 27, 2015 claim, I gathered.  It will be recalled that Buhari’s appointment of Amina Zakari to be handed over to by Attahiru Jega as Acting Chairman of INEC was greeted by heavy criticisms, among which was the Tribune’s editorials.

That claim was widely reported in the Nigerian media as a sign of nepotism by Buhari. The basis of the claim was an interview with a supporter of then President Jonathan, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai in which he said:

“I know the woman from her childhood. Her father worked with me as my Permanent Secretary before later he became the Emir of Kazaure. We maintained a cordial relationship until he passed on. However, the relationship between him and Buhari is something that I know of. Anybody around during that time also can confirm this. He (the late Emir) married the senior sister to Buhari and he (Buhari) started his childhood in the late emir’s house.

“The mother of this woman (Zakari) was either the first or second wife. Aside from that, Buhari stayed with him for sometime in Kazaure. I know that the relationship is true.”

However, on September 8, 2015, in another interview on Channels TV and published by The Mail Express, Yakassai reportedly denied criticizing the appointment of Amina Zakari or about her relationship with Buhari and that his actual words were manipulated by certain parties.

Yakassai stated that he was responding to a reporter if Zakari was related to Buhari, which Yakassai admitted was not related.

“Somebody added something because I did not criticize her or her appointment. She is my daughter and a friend to her father was at one time my permanent secretary. Her mother is a friend to my senior wife. She is a friend to some of my children. I see no reason why I should criticize her.”

Yakasai further stated that Amina Zakari’s “neutrality should not be contested on the grounds of familiarity with the president because she is entitled to the post as a Nigerian and a qualified professional.”

*WAKE UP is opinion column of Prince Bashir Adefaka, media practitioner in Lagos. Reach him via: 08083689552. omope72@gmail.com