Former Reps Speaker Ghali Na’Abba takes a final bow @ 65

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By Iheanyi Chukwudi

Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, is dead.

Na’Abba who was 4th Speaker of Nigeria’s Green Chamber died at the National Hospital in Abuja around 3 am on Wednesday at the age of 65.

He was born on September 27, 1958, into the family of Alhaji Umar Na’Abba, a businessman in Tudun Wada, Kano City, Kano Municipal Local Government.

He was said to have been taught virtues of hard work, entrepreneurship, strong religious inclination, prudence and modesty by his father, a firm disciplinarian and an Islamic scholar.

Na’Abba was the House Representatives Speaker, as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from 1999 to 2003.

He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 and completed a postgraduate programme on Leadership and Good Governance at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the US in 2004.

He lost his re-election bid to the House in 2003 after falling out with the presidency.

Na’Abba as House speaker, was a constant thorn in the flesh of Olusegun Obasanjo, who was Nigeria’s President from 1999 to 2007.

In 2014, Na’Abba defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and remained a political and public commentator until his demise.