Kano State Govt. declares Tuesday work-free to honour late Maitama-Sule

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has declared Tuesday (July 4) a work free day as part of plans to honour the passing of Nigeria’s longest serving petroleum minister, Yusuf Maitama Sule who died in a Cairo hospital today.

Sule who was born in the north central, Kano State, died in a Cairo hospital on Monday morning, local media portals reported. As a result of his in-depth knowledge of Kano he was christened “Dan masannin Kano” – which translates to an expert on matters to do with Kano.

He was a presidential candidate in 1979 under the aegis of the National Party of Nigeria, but he lost the election to Shehu Shagari – the country’s sixth president.

Three years before his presidential mission, he was appointed the nation’s first ombudsman – as Federal Commissioner on public complaints. He served as Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations and was the head of the U.N. Special Committee against Apartheid.

Nigeria’s Twitter space has been flooded with messages of his passing.