ATIKKU ABUBAKAR PICKS A RUNNING MATE
WRITTEN BY PROFILE TEAM
REVIEWD BY H D GAMARAJA
JULY 2022
Last year when the People's Democratic Party held its national convention to select the party’s presidential candidate in Delta State, Nigeria; there was unconfirmed report that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will be picked as Atiku’s running mate. Alas as fate will have it, it was Peter Obi, the former Anambra state governor that got to fill that during the 2015 presidential election. It was not a surprise to some of us when H.E.Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, the Executive Governor of Delta State was nominated as Atiku’s running-mate for the 2023 presidential election. When it was an announcement on 12th July 2022 that it was Okowa that was picked as Atiku’s running mate there was mixed reaction across the country. It was generally assumed the second runner-up in the recently concluded PDP presidential primary- H. E. Rt. Hon. Nelson Wike the Executive Governor of River State will be picked as Atiku’s running mate. But in a twist of fate it was Okowa that was picked. The selection of running mate since the dawn of democracy has always been the prerogative of the party's presidential standard bearer, in this instance Atiku Abubakar, the Wazirin Adamawa. It is his discretion to pick any one in the party- whom he feels he has the same political ideology with and also the right chemistry too; so that he would be able to work with him perfectly. The question on the lips of many people particularly in the northern part of the country is who is the man Okowa? He is the present governor of Delta State, Nigeria. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, MD is a medical Doctor by profession and a veteran politician.
He was born on July 8th, 1959. Okowa hails from Delta State, Nigeria: he is a denizen of Owa-Alero community in Ika North-East Local Government Area. He attended the University of Ibadan where he studies MBBS, he graduate in 1981- then works in the defunct Bendel State Hospitals Management Board. He later on moves into private practices at Victory Medical Centre, Igbanke in
1986. Okowa has severed as the Secretary of Ika Local Government Area and later as the chairman of the Ika North-East Local Government Area. He was active in grass root politics in his early foray into politics of Delta State. He join PDP in 1998 and he was Delta North Coordinator of the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) a group that campaign for the then Governor of the state, James Ibori during the 1999 election; it was this platform that raises him to the state level of politics. Okowa has served as the commissioner of various ministries in Delta State: From July 1991 to April 2021 he was the commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources and From April 2001 to May 2003 he was the commissioner of Water Resources Development and From September 2003 to October 2006 he was the commissioner of Health. He was later appointed as the Secretary to the Delta State Government in June 2007 after losing the PDP governorship primaries to Emmanuel Uduaghan.
He quit Public service in other to contest for Delta State North Senatorial zone in 2011 under the platform Of PDP, he won the party’s primaries but the result was challenged so it was cancelled. When the primaries were held again he re-contested and won with wide margin. In April 2011 He was elected as the senator representing Delta North Senatorial zone federal constituency he defeated his major contender Prince Ned Munir Nwoko of the Democratic People’s Party. He contested for the governorship of Delta State under the PDP platform after winning the party's primaries in 2014, he was elected as the Governor during the 2015 election. His Excellency RT. Hon. SEN. DR. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa was awarded “The Man of The Year 2017 award” by Independent Newspaper. {Wekepidia.com}
A man of all seasons -Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu
Written by A B Faniki
Kuyuk Times
April 2022
The English grammarian Robert Whittington coined the phrase a man of all seasons to describe the English statesman, scholar, and juror Sir Thomas More- 1478 to 1535 to encapsulate his numerous facets. Robert Bolt used this phrase as the title of his 1960 play about Sir Thomas More. There few men who are ready to cope with any contingency and whose behaviors are always appropriate to every occasion. When you come across such men like that you will notice that they mostly have numerous professional or intriguing facets. Even though the periods that these men live may differ and the circumstances surrounding them may also differ one thing these successful and talented men of all seasons’ have in common is that they all have many facets.
Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu is one of such men. He is a man of all seasons, a professional, a politician, a Nigerian Statesman, a Technocrat, a Scholar, and an Entrepreneur. Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu is the son of Alhaji Suleiman- who was a Civil Servant- he was born in February 1963 in the City of Kaduna, Nigeria.
Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Bachelor of Engineering- he earns his degree in Civil Engineering in 1984. ABU as it is popularly called is one of Nigeria most prestigious University. It has produced three presidents, numerous Senators, over a dozen Lawmakers, famous people, and many ministers, of which Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu is one of them. Over the last few decades, Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu has proven to be an erudite professional-he won the Nigerian Port Authority prize for the best final year student in Civil Engineering in 1984. He is a member of numerous professional bodies across the globe, such as the American Society of Engineers (ASCE), Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN), and Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), and also a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE).
In 2004 He earned his master's in Project Management from the Reading University, UK.
This scholar and man of all seasons is among the round peg in the round hole that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria- His Excellency president Muhammad Buhari has put in place in his cabinet- he is the honorable minister of water resource.
The Honorable Mister is a veteran politician who was a member of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the National Vice Chairman-North West from February 2010 to March 2013. The Congress for Progressive Change applied to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 26 March 2009 and received official approval and registration on 28 December 2009. It was the 63rd political party in the country. The party's Ideology was Social liberalism, Federalism, and Social conservatism. During the 2011 election, the party's presidential candidate was Muhammadu Buhari, and his running Mate was Tunde Bakare. In the first round of elections held on 9 April 2011- the CPC came third in both Senate and House. Muhammadu Buhari came second during the presidential election with 12,214,853, which is 31.97% of the poll’s votes. The incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP polled 22,495,187 votes and was declared the winner. In February 2013, the party merged with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress.
Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu is the co-founder of IEA, a consulting engineering firm with a global outreach. In 1984 he worked in Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as a project manager; his role was the Supervision of roads and bridges construction; he worked there till - April 1985. He worked in Kano State In 1985 with Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA) - as a project manager, his role was the design of Wudil Water Treatment Plant civil works and Management and supervision of water and dam projects; he worked there till June 1986.
He was also involved in the implementation of several projects in water engineering, land swap, infrastructure development, and feasibility study and report for several clients, including various states, FCT, and the federal government.
Over the last two decade, the astute businessman and public servant have held numerous positions such as: The Principal Consultant to Afri-Projects Consortium; project manager under Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).
Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu As a statesman has played a significant role in shaping some of the government policies. As his first action in office he purged all the boards of the agencies under his Ministry of politician that use the agency for pork projects and as retirement honey pot. Under his leadership he campaign against open defecation tireless- Ob community in rivers became the first community in the country with zero-defecation. In an interview with Business Day in 2020 he is said “‘I knew that maybe the best guarantee I had was four years, but I did not plan for four years when I rolled out the National Roadmap for the sector. I planned for 15 years and hoped that whoever succeeds me would continue to work with the Roadmap. So I made sure that the Roadmap touched all the key issues in the sector to turn around the sector for the good of Nigerians.”
He is also the "Danburam of Kazaure" in Jigawa State and a Member of the Kazaure Emirate Council, Jigawa State.