Another confab delegate dies

Professor Muhammad Nur Alkali, one of the six delegates representing the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) at the national confab, has died.

According to the confab secretariat, the 68-year-old died on Friday night at his residence in Maiduguri, Borno state.

He will be buried on Saturday, August 2, 2014, in Maiduguri, in line with Islamic tradition.

A professor of history and two-term vice chancellor of the University of Maiduguri (1985–1992), the late Alkali was director-general of the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and chairman of the presidential advisory committee under the administration of General Sani Abacha. He was also a member of the committee on insecurity in the north-east.

Conference Chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, GCON, expressed “deep distress” by the sad development.

“On behalf of the conference secretariat and delegates, he has expressed his deep condolences to the family of the late professor and the supreme council for islamic affairs, the platform which Alkali represented at the conference,” Akpandem James, assistant secretary (media and communications) of the confab, said.

“Justice kutigi prays the Almighty receives his spirit and grants his soul sweet repose.”

Alkali’s death is the fourth by a confab delegate, following the deaths of Barrister Hamma Misau (a delegate on the platform of retired police officers) from Bauchi state, on March 27; Dr Mohammed Jumare (a delegate from Kaduna state) on May 5 and Professor Dora Akunyili (a delegate who represented Anambra state) on June 7.