Maitama Sule Dies in Egypt

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

An elder statesman and prominent Nigerian politician, Mr Yesufu Maitama Sule, has been reported dead. Mr Sule was said to have breathed his last in the early hours of Monday at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt.

The former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to United Nation (UN) reportedly took ill last weekend and was flown out to Cairo precisely on Saturday.

According to reports, the deceased was first admitted at the Nasarawa Hospital in Kano, where doctors diagnosed him of pneumonia and chest infection.

He was later flown to the Egyptian capital for proper treatment, but unfortunately, he could not win the battle with death.

Mr was a politician, acclaimed orator and diplomat. In 1976, he became the Federal Commissioner of public complaints, a position that made him the nation’s pioneer ombudsman.

In early 1979, he was a presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria but lost to Mr Shehu Shagari.

He was appointed Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations after the coming of civilian rule in September 1979. While there he was chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid.

After, the re-election of President Shagari in 1983, Maitama Sule was made the Minister for National Guidance, a portfolio designed to assist the president in tackling corruption, his profile on Wikipedia read.