Waziri Ibrahim
Waziri Ibrahim | |
---|---|
Tafawa Balewa | |
Preceded by | Ayo Rosiji |
Succeeded by | Moses Majekodunmi |
Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives | |
In office December 1959 – 15 January 1966 | |
Preceded by | position established |
Succeeded by | position abolished |
Constituency | Konduga-Mafa |
Personal details | |
Born | 26 February 1926 |
Died | 1992 (aged 65–66) |
Political party | Great Nigeria People's Party |
Other political affiliations | Northern People's Congress |
Children | 14 children including |
Early life
Ibrahim was born on 26 February 1926 in Yerwa, Maiduguri. His father, Baba Alhaji Ibrahim Ibn Mohammed was an Islamic scholar; he named the new born boy after a friend who was then Waziri of Borno.[2] Waziri's early childhood was in Damaturu where his father was the imam of a local mosque. He attended Damaturu Elementary School (1936–1939), followed by studies at Maiduguri Middle School (1940–1943) and then Kaduna College, 1944–1947. At Kaduna College, he was a classmate of Professor Umaru Shehu; before completing his studies, it was the desire of the then Chief Education Officer of Borno, Kashim Ibrahim that Waziri should enter the teaching service after graduation. However, Waziri did not go further in training after Kaduna College nor did he teach; instead he chose to work with U.A.C. as a trainee manager in 1948. At the firm, he rose through clerical and administrative ranks from acting as a cashier and storekeeper at U.A.C.'s, Maiduguri branch in 1951. He then worked at Jos in 1952 before becoming a labour and staff manager for Benue division in 1953. By the time he left the firm, he was district manager of Kaduna.
Political and business career
In politics, Waziri was initially a member of
In 1962, Nigeria conducted a controversial census that was rejected by political leaders from the Eastern and Western region; the office of the census officer was under Waziri's ministry. Accusations of over counting were made on all sides, with Waziri accusing the Eastern region of inflating population figures while the southern leaders labelled the Northern head count as over-inflated. The controversy generated by the head count led the cancellation of the census results and official figures were never publicly acknowledged.[3]
After the military coup of 1966, Waziri went into private business. During the Nigerian Civil War, he was involved in arms dealing and consultancy and afterwards, he established a defence consultancy firm. Waziri established a group of companies under the corporate name Herwa which included a tin mining venture in Jos and a soap and flour mill in Maiduguri. He opened a 5 million naira Herwa clinic in Kano. He entered the fishing industry after buying out Stephen Tolbert's fishing concern and in addition, imported frozen fish under the corporate name Nigeria Cold Stores.[4]
In 1978, Waziri joined politics again; he co-founded the NPP with members of Club 19 and the Council for National Unity. However, a disagreement arose between Waziri and some party members who were largely disciples of Azikiwe such as Adeniran Ogunsanya. Leaders of Club 19 and Council for National Unity opposed Ibrahim's ambition of becoming both the party's chairman and its presidential candidate. The conflict deepened after the party's first convention in 1978 and subsequently led to his exit from the party.[5] He then formed the Great Nigeria People's Party.[6] He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 1979 election, but was popular in the Kanuri base. His party won the gubernatorial election in Borno where the Kanuri formed a majority, and also nearby Gongola state.
Personal life
Waziri's first marriage was to a
He was the father of
References
- ^ Election Results Archive, Center on Democratic Performance, State University of New York Binghamton. Political Handbook of the World 1980, Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications, 1980.
- ^ Anyaegbunam, N. (1992). Waziri Ibrahim: Politics without bitterness. Lagos, Nigeria: Daily Times of Nigeria.,p37
- JSTOR 159549.
- ^ Forrest, T. (1994). The advance of African capital: The growth of Nigerian private enterprise. Charlottesville: Univ. Press of Virginiap260.
- JSTOR 1166229.
- ^ Falola, T., & Genova, A. (2009). Historical dictionary of Nigeria. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. p160
- ^ "Advisory Board | Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative". iwei-ng.org. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
Further reading
- Paul Mamza. [Nigeria's unsung heroes (7): POLITICS WITHOUT BITTERNESS: CAPTURING THE MESSAGE OF ALHAJI WAZIRI IBRAHIM]. Kwenu! Monday, October 10, 2005.
- Helen Chapin Metz, ed. THE SECOND REPUBLIC, 1979-83. Nigeria: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991
- Shehu Shagari, Beckoned to Serve
- Ngozi Anyaegbunam. Waziri Ibrahim: Politics without bitterness. Daily Times of Nigeria Publishers (1992) ISBN 978-978-2171-00-9
- http://nigerianwiki.com/
- Ben Lawrence. Revisiting Nigeria's Political History. Niger Delta Congress, March 2002.