By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The Governor-elect of Jigawa State, Alhaji Umar Namadi, has been congratulated by Alhaji Hamma Kwajaffa, the Director General of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), over his victory at the Saturday March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
He made this congratulatory message in a special media interview with The DEFENDER in his Lagos office on Wednesday.
According to Kwajaffa in the interview conducted to enable him speak about the former colleague with whom he was known to have worked together, Governor-elect Namadi is too unassuming, diligent and competent at his job since the days they worked together as colleagues at the Board for Community Banks, Minna Zone. For anyone to think that he would be a governor with all the political turmoil won’t be possible but, alas, he made it.
“But one thing I know for sure is that, the prayers of his parents worked for him.
“For the time we worked together at the Board, he would always mind his own business. He would not dabble into affairs of anyone. But he was always reading for his ICAN examination to become a successful chartered accountant, which he now is.
“After that, he went to join the Dangote Sugar Company and later got appointment with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and was never loud.
“Each time I had been together with him and asked him how he is he cope with politics as an establishment man, he just laughed and said his ambition then was to become chairman local government.
“But now that he took part in a keenly contested election like the recent governorship and won, I submit to the reality that whatever Allah decrees, so it shall be.
“It is the reason I am so happy for him. After NHIS, he became Commissioner for Finance in Jigawa State and the outgoing Governor Abubakar Badaru made him his Deputy Governor. Against the usual wrangling between governors and their deputies, Umar Namadi made it through with his governor to the extent that his principal even campaigned vigorously ahead of the 2023 election and, today, he is elected Governor of Jigawa State. Wallahi, I am happy for him.
“And so, on behalf of all of us on the former Board for Community Banks, Minna Zone, I am really happy for him and pray to Allah to make him succeed.
“We pray for his success at surmounting challenges of opposition and wish him a peaceful reign,” the Kwajaffa, Borno State-born technocrat expressed.
To the Jigawa State people, the NTMA Director General urged that they cooperate with him to uplift their state and living standards because, according to him, Umar Namadi has the magic wand as a game changer to turn his state, which has the same demography like Saudi Arabia and Israel to be an agricultural hub in Nigeria like the aforementioned.
To the Textile Manufacturers Association Director General, Umar Namadi, as a newly emerged state leader projected to be an uncommon governor, should not listen to naysayers but be a hero like Aminu Kano of the Talakawas.
