Foremost national security chief, elder statesman, vice-presidential candidate in the 1999 presidential election, and presidential aspirant in the Third Republic, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, has died at the age of 79.
Shinkafi, who held the title Marafan Sokoto, hailed from Shinkafi Local Government Area in Zamfara State.
He died Wednesday evening at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex in the United Kingdom after a protracted illness.
Sources in the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto revealed that the deceased passed away in the company of his wives, children and extended family members.
Shinkafi’s remains would be flown back to Nigeria for burial on Friday in accordance with Islamic rites.
Born in Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State in January 1937, Shikafi attended Sokoto Middle School and later Barewa College, Zaria. He obtained a degree in Law after his secondary school education, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1974.
After a career in the Nigeria Police Force, the deceased held the post of Federal Commissioner for Internal Affairs before his appointment as the Director General of the National Security Organisation (NSO) – the precursor to the Department of State Services (DSS) – under the Shehu Shagari administration.
Shinkafi is survived by three wives, and five children. One of his daughters is Zainab, wife of Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, and another is Hadiza, the wife of Zamfara governor, AbdulAzeez Yari. Shinkafi would be remembered for his pioneering role in the creation of the National Security Organisation, NSO, the secretive security arm of the Nigerian security apparatus which he headed from 1979 till 1983.
Following his retirement from the police and the NSO, Shinkafi, a trained lawyer, entered into business and eventually into politics and was one of the leading lights of the conservative side of Nigerian politics in the ill-fated Third Republic. His bid for the presidency in the Third Republic led him to the formation of the defunct Nigerian National Congress, NNC which eventually collapsed into the National Republican Convention, NRC.
The NRC was one of the two political parties created by the Ibrahim Babangida military regime to take control of the political parties from the money bag politicians. The NRC was on the right of centre and espoused conservative ideas. The NRC ticket was eventually won by the unknown Kano businessman, Bashir Tofa who was backed by Shinkafi after him and fellow grandees were banned by the Babangida administration from participation. Shinkafi eventually played more of a consultative role in politics and played little role in the politics of the Fourth Republic.
President Muhammadu Buhari, Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara among others on Wednesday, expressed sadness over the death of the elder statesman.
Buhari in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina in Abuja on Wednesday,described the late politician, administrator and technocrat, as an expert whose contributions to the development of the security architecture of Nigeria remains indelible.
He noted that Shinkafi also played frontline roles in the activities leading to the eventual return and enthronement of democracy in the country.
He urged family, friendsand associates of the the deceased to take solace in the fact that the late Umaru Shinkafi played the parts assigned to him diligently , conscientiously and patriotically , enjoining them to emulate the good virtues that he left behind.
On his part, Hon.Dogara in a statement issued by his spokesman Turaki Hassan, described the death of the elder statesman as a huge loss to the nation.
“In all his years in the public service, Shinkafi distinguished himself as a patriot, committed and dedicated Nigerian.”
According to him, Shinkafi was a true democrat who contributed immensely towards the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in 1999.
“He served the nation with distinction as a lawyer, Police officer, federal commissioner of Internal Affairs and intelligence chief in the National Security Organisation before joining politics,” he stated.
