1 month ago
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The Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji, has disclosed that he would sponsor a bill for the establishment of an Inter-tribal Agency in Niger State.
The Speaker spoke with Arewa PUNCH on the sidelines of a conference on Inter-tribal Communities in Niger State that was put together by the office of Governor Mohammed Bago’s Special Adviser on Inter-tribal Matters George Dike.
Sarkin-Daji explained that “What has motivated my insight to sponsor a bill for the establishment of the Inter-tribal Agency Niger State is because of the support we are enjoying from the Inter-tribal community Niger State.”
He disclosed further, “You will agree with me that Inter-tribal has contributed 30 per cent of the vote we have gotten. They are canvassing for votes across the state. They stood for us as APC and as a government and as a people because there is no reason to draw any disparity between the Inter-tribal and the indigenes of the state, we are one family,” Sarkin-Daji declared.
Meanwhile, the Speaker, in an earlier address, did not mince words in applauding the pivotal role that the Inter-tribal community was playing in strengthening the bond of unity in the state as well as its contribution to its economic prosperity.
The event, which also had in attendance the Niger State governor’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Nma Kolo as a key figure, drew a large crowd of the inter-tribal community in the state, including traditional rulers of the various ethnic groups and other dignitaries.
Not a few of the state’s stakeholders told Arewa PUNCH that it was easy to observe that the inter-tribal community in Niger State was cohesive and waxing stronger as most of the attendees spoke eloquently about its activities and how it has mobilised non-indigenes of the state to forge a formidable front.
The event took a dramatic turn when the Speaker took the podium and to the surprise of all called out a participant from the audience, Mr Yakubu Itaboh, citing him as an example of how far reaching the gains of the inter-tribal community relations can go for a state and the country at large.
For the audience who did not immediately get his drift, he explained better, “Let me have the singular honour of recognising someone from among the people in our midst here because I want to elaborate on the importance of inter-tribal community in our state.
“Mr Yakubu Itabo, I don’t know if you are here, Mr Yakubu Itabo, please come forward. I want to set a very good example of the good things that you have been doing, not just for Niger State but for Nigeria at large.
“Some of you will start wondering why I called out this man from among us that are here…
“Please, stand up here beside me, sir,” the Speaker continued as he revealed that,
“Mr Yakubu Ikabo is not from Mariga Local Government Area, which is my local government. He has never known that local government, I believe so. He is not even from Kontagora Local Government, where he resides. He is not from any part of Niger State. Mr Yakubu Ikabo here is from Edo State. Yet, this is the man who has brought me to be what I am today. He was my primary school teacher. He was my secondary school teacher, too.
“He didn’t stop there. At a point when we were supposed to select a subject to decide if we would either fit into the sciences class, arts, or the social sciences as students, that was when we were going to our SS One and Yakubu Itabo called me and said to me, Abdulmalik you are doing better than your other Hausa team. What your community is lacking are professionals. Please go for the social sciences.
“I know you hate math so you can be a very good lawyer.
“Personally, I hate him because each time he comes to class, I’m always the first person he tells to stand up and read. He tells me to stand up and read any page.
“I did not know that Mr Yakubu Itabo at that time was tutoring me to have a very good command of English. Everything that I am divulging now, I didn’t learn from my university days. Rather, I learnt them from him. He taught me literature in English, and he taught me the English language.
“As I am addressing you, Yakubu Itabo would be happy and proud within himself, that ‘yes, this is my boy that I have taught to speak English.’ Not just that, he has taught me to be disciplined, and that is why regardless of my status, if you are elderly I can never have a handshake with you. And if I have to, then I have to bow. That training is courtesy of Yakubu Itabo. Thank you very much, sir, you can take back your seat,” Sarkin-Daji narrated.
Further highlighting the inter-tribal aspect of his early school life experience, the Niger Speaker pointed out, “You can see the impact that the inter-tribal community has done on our society. The inter-tribal community has taught us without sentiment. At that time, he had the reservation to say, ‘Yes, I am an English teacher, let me be selective with the class of students that I should tutor to participate in English. But it was nothing like that. He taught us all unanimously.
“A colleague of mine who was my head boy at that time, who Yakubu Itabo also tutored is now a member of the National House of Representatives in the National Assembly. The same Yakubu Itabo has produced a lot of products in Niger State. He never viewed himself as a man from Edo State. And now he has given us the knowledge. If he wishes to go back to Edo, let him go back, but that knowledge remains with us. So, you can see the impact of inter-tribal community,” the Speaker affirmed.
Itabo, who expressed disbelief at the Speaker’s open display of appreciation, told Arewa PUNCH that he never knew
Sarkin-Daji would single him out for such an accolade.
He remarked that when the Speaker and his colleagues were his students, he did not expect the type of reward he had received from being a teacher in Niger State.
According to him, Sarkin-Daji has so much touched his life in ways that he could not mention, teasingly stressing that a teacher’s reward, after all, is not only in heaven but even here on earth.
“I am overwhelmed by this action of the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly. I was indeed his primary and secondary school teacher, but I was only doing my job. I was not expecting this great show of humility from him. He has done so much for me in this state, and I can even call the state my home. God will bless him.
“Now, I know that a teacher’s reward is not only in heaven but also here on earth,” Itabo said.
