Dr. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman; Sullivan Iheanacho Chime; and Major General Godwin Osagie Abbe (retd.) held public positions at various time. They have been off the public space for in recent time hence Blueprint Weekend asks: where are they now?
Salamatu Suleiman
Former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, is a lawyer by profession, with a law degree (LLB) from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and a Masters degree (LLM) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
She was appointed as minister of women affairs in 2008 and in 2010 she was appointed the Minister of State Foreign Affairs.
From 2012 to 2016 she served as Commissioner Political Affairs Peace and Security at the ECOWAS Commission, representing the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Dr. Suleiman has served in various capacities in both the public and private sectors. She commenced her career as a State Counsel with the Ministry of Justice, Sokoto (1982-1988).
She, thereafter, worked with the Continental Merchant Bank Lagos (1988-1996), NAL Merchant Bank (1996-1997), served as Secretary Legal Adviser with the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (1997-2001) and Director Legal Services, Securities and Exchange Commission from 2001 to 2008.
In addition to contributing in the formulation and implementation of various strategic development policies while serving, she actively supported gender and humanitarian issues, particularly the empowerment of women and the less privileged through Alkali Hussaini Foundation, a charity organisation she founded in 2007.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators. Not much is known about after she left the public service hence the question: where is she now?
Godwin Abbe
Major General Godwin Osagie Abbe (retd.) was Minister of Defence from 2009 to 2010. Prior to his appointment he served as the Minister of Interior from 2007 to 2009.
Born 10 January 1949 in Benin City, Edo state, Abbe joined the military in 1967 as a private. He was commissioned second lieutenant in July 1968, and was promoted Colonel in 1986.
During his service in the military he was appointed the military administrator (MILAD) of Akwa Ibom state in 1988 and later moved to Rivers state in 1990, where he served till 1991.
He was also the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division Nigerian Army; Commander, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and Commander, National War College. He retired in 1999 with the rank of Major General.
The retired army officer, who served during the Nigerian Civil War, had earned a Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
He is also a graduate of the United States Army Infantry School Fort Benning, Georgia, Ghana Armed Forces Staff College and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic studies, Kuru.
After leaving the army, Abbe joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999, and became chairman of the party in Edo state.
Following the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007, he was appointed as the minister of interior on July 26, 2007.
As minister of the interior, Godwin Abbe was chairman of a committee that recommended the amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta towards improving output of oil and gas.
He was subsequently appointed minister of defence, a key role in implementing the amnesty, however, as minister he insisted that the Amnesty would not prevent security operatives from going after illegal oil bunkerers, who he said would be treated as enemies of the state.
Sullivan Chime
Sullivan Iheanacho Chime was two-term governor of Enugu state from 2007 to 2015, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Born on April 10, 1959, Chime attended the College of Immaculate Conception (CIC), Enugu, for his secondary education from 1971 – 1976.
He studied law at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, graduating in 1980, and subsequently enrolling in the Nigerian Law School, Lagos.
He graduated on July 10, 1981, and was called to the Nigerian Bar and went into private legal practice in Enugu.
He was later appointed Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, on Legal Matters, and afterwards Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of Enugu state in 2001.
Chime as governor of Enugu state pursued a four-point agenda for development: Physical Infrastructure; Economic Expansion and Employment; Rural Development; education; and Service Delivery.
His achievements in office and preference for sending delegations to public function, rather than attend in person, earned him the title ‘Silent Achiever’. He was reputed to have down well especially in physical infrastructure; security; and health.
He has, however, been criticised for some his administration’s policies including the demolition of the State Secretariat built during the colonial era, which was believed to be needless even as funds required to build the new secretariat could have been invested in other key areas.
While in office there were reports in December 2012 that the governor had died in an Indian hospital, however, the reports were refuted by an Enugu state government official.
After leaving office, the former governor dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May 2017, claiming the move was to provide direction for upcoming politicians in Enugu state.
Chime had on March 16 the same year announced that he had dumped the PDP on whose platform he served as governor for eight years describing his erstwhile the party as “dead and cremated”.
Speaking about his new platform he said APC was the only viable party with national outlook in the country.
“This is the only party that can take any politician to their destination and I pray that what happened to the PDP does not happen to APC.
“I am moving to the APC because a lot of people are looking up to me for direction. I ended my journey in 2015 but I still have my supporters looking for guidance,” he stated.
According to the former governor, he was neither joining the APC to fight anybody nor seeking for any elective position as there was none at the moment.
Chime has been off the public space even as many expect him to be in the forefront of providing direction for the APC as the 2023 general election draws closer.
