04/09/2022
FLASH BACK: NORTHERN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SPEAKER WHO REJECTED CAR GIFT
There's this story about UTC MOTORS in Kaduna. It became big because that was where the Northern House of Assembly members were given loans and car maintenance. Many years earlier, Sir Ahmadu Bello was travelling to Kano and his car broke down near Funtua. He was trying to repair it when one white man drove by, saw him and drove back. He told Ahmadu Bello that he was also going to Kano. This young man drove Ahmadu Bello in his car and said he would send some men from his office, UTC to go back and repair the car.
Many years later Sir Ahmadu Bello remembered the young man and sent for him. When Sinnemann was found, Ahmadu Bello requested him to open a branch of his company in Kaduna. The man said he would have to get permission from Europe. When he secured the permission he established UTC in Kaduna and it soon rivaled that of Lagos. The white man was so grateful due to the success of Kaduna office that he took a brand new car to the Speaker of the Northern Regional House of Assembly Alhaji Umaru Gwandu,as a gift.
The Speaker said, "you can see two cars in my compound, one personal, one official. I don't need any other car". This was the character of our past leaders who served with the fear of God, loyalty, honesty and dedication. They were accountable, transparent and incorruptible. They served with the interest of the people first and didn't used positions for wealth accumulation.
What we have today is many of our leaders will negotiate and collect gratification up front. Many of them cannot explain their wealth,living in exotic mansions funded by looting our commonwealth. A people that forget the defining moments of its past would eventually go into oblivion. May God Almighty bless Nigeria with leaders that will work for the people and not for themselves.
Alh Umaru Gwandu, MHA, CMC,CBE,CON.(1913-1974). He was born into the Gwandu ruling house in 1913. After the customary Islamic education at home, he attended the Gwandu Elementary School before going to Sokoto Middle School. He capped it by going through the elite Katsina Higher College. Umaru Gwandu started work as a teacher in the Sokoto Middle School in 1938 and remained there till 1945. That year he was appointed Private Secretary to the Emir of Gwandu and served in that capacity till 1948. He contested and won election into the Northern Regional House of Assembly where his career climaxed in 1959 when he was elected the first Speaker of the House.
He held this position diligently to the admiration of all including even the opposition members of the House until the ugly and unfortunate events of January 1966 which terminated the elected government of the day. In recognition of his meritorious service to the community and the Northern Region at large, he was conferred with the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. George (CMG), Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). After the creation of States he served the North Western Government as a Special Duties Officer in charge of distribution of relief materials to drought victims in drought affected areas. His duties also included devising ways and means of providing portable water for rural communities in the State. He died on the 1st of December 1974 in a motor accident along the Sokoto Birnin Kebbi road.
May Allah Swt forgive all his shortcomings, enlarge his grave and shed light upon him in it and admit him into Aljannah Firdausi.
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