| Ghali Umar Na'Abba | |
| Office: | 8th Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria |
| Term Start: | July 1999 |
| Term End: | 3 June 2003 |
| Deputy: | Chibudom Nwuche |
| Predecessor: | Salisu Buhari |
| Successor: | Aminu Bello Masari |
| Birth Date: | 27 September 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Tudun Wada, Kano City, Northern Region, British Nigeria (now in Kano State, Nigeria). |
| Death Place: | Abuja, Nigeria |
| Nationality: | Nigerian |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Awards: | Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic |
| Mawards: | is not set --> |
Ghali Umar Na'Abba (27 September 1958 – 27 December 2023) was a Nigerian politician who served as the 8th Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria from 1999 to 2003.
Ghali Umar Na’Abba CFR was born into the family of Alhaji Umar Na’Abba, a businessman in Tudun Nufawa, Kano City, Kano Municipal Local Government on 27 September 1958. His father was a firm disciplinarian and an Islamic scholar. His father taught him the virtues of hard work, entrepreneurship, forthrightness, audacity, sincerity, dynamism, liberal disposition, prudence, modesty and strong religious inclination.
In training, practice and expertise, Na’Abba was a political scientist and a policy architect. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979. His early education was at Jakara Primary School, Kano where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1969. He later attended Rumfa College, Kano for his West African School Certificate and was also at School of Preliminary Studies, Kano, between 1974 and 1976, before gaining admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in October 1976.
Na'Abba completed a postgraduate programme on Leadership and Good Governance at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the United States in 2004. He served as Speaker of the House, and led several international bodies in parliament in the wake of the millennium.
Na'Abba also attended, chaired and presented papers at several international seminars, conferences on politics, parliament, development and good governance. Among them were Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments held in New York in 2000; West African Speakers Conferences held in 2000 and 2001 in Ouagadougou and Abuja respectively; Commonwealth Parliamentary Association annual conferences held variously in 1999, 2000, 2001 at Trinidad and Tobago, London and Melbourne, Australia and several others.
In 1980, after his university education and a one-year compulsory National Youth Service but prior to his branch into politics, Na'Abba joined his father's chain of companies. His business interests ranged from importation of goods to manufacturing to publishing. Thus, at first he became, Secretary, Na’Abba Commercial Trading Company Limited and later:
As a Political Science student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, he was elected as an executive committee member of the ABU chapter of the revolutionary People's Redemption Party established in the Second Republic by the maverick politician, Mallam Aminu Kano. As a student of Mallam Aminu school of good governance, nation building and transparency in politics he became a notable politician in Kano state and Nigeria in general.
Na'Abba joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 during its formative period. He emerged the party's candidate in April 1999 National Assembly election in Kano Municipal Federal Constituency of Kano state and won the election to represent the Federal constituency in the House of Representatives. With the victory and support of other House members-elect from Kano and North West geo-political zone, he pursued the role as Speaker of the House. Although he amassed substantial support from his colleagues and party leaders, he bowed to counsel and conceded to Ibrahim Salisu Buhari, who later emerged as first Speaker of Fourth Republic House of Representatives. He was thus appointed the House Committee Chairman on Appropriations.
Buhari's tenure was short-lived. Following his resignation due to certain misdemeanours, the House was thus faced with the arduous challenge of electing a leader that had the capacity and political will and skill of instilling sanity in the House, restoring its integrity and designing and pursuing veritable legislative framework. The mantle of leadership fittingly fell on Ghali Umar Na’Abba. The House collectively struck an unprecedented consensus and made Ghali the Speaker.
Na'Abba was often praised as an influential Speaker of the House. This is on account of his courage, dynamism, constructive outspokenness, resolute pursuit for legislative independence and revolutionary approach towards the running of the House during his era as speaker. Upon election as speaker, Na’Abba made clear his broad roadmap. This included:
To ensure a successful accomplishment of the above enumerated goals Na’Abba, working in a close knit with other principal officers of the House with Hon. Chibudom Nwuche as his Deputy embarked on the following measures:
The executive arm of government, particularly the presidency, did not approve of his leadership. Consequently, greater part of Na’Abba's tenure witnessed grand plots by the Presidency to oust him, so as to replace him with a compromising legislator. This severed the relationship between the House and the Presidency. He survived till the end of his four-year tenure on June 3, 2003. In August 2002, the House gave president Olusegun Obasanjo an ultimatum to either resign or face impeachment action.
As speaker, Na’Abba said the House would not withdraw the resolution. Na'Abba was the leader of the impeachment movement. It was reported that Obasanjo gave members of the House inducements to bring charges against Na'Abba.
Although manifestly dynamic and proactive at home as speaker, Na’Abba ensured that he replicated the same at international level. This accounted for the numerous but particularly critical parliamentary positions he occupied at international level during his four-year stint as speaker. A checklist includes:
It is however on record that based on his leadership attributes, exceptional commitment to duty and towering performance and enhanced results, he was elevated from being the Vice President of the following regional parliamentary bodies - Conference of Speakers of West African Parliaments; African Region, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Africa Parliamentary Union - to president, all in 2000 and 2001. These offered him a rare opportunity to significantly redefine, reshape and drive African parliamentary diplomacy and development, fundamentally desired in the wake of the new millennium in 2000. As the President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Africa Region, he took Nigeria back to the body and thus Nigeria's name was removed from abeyance. Countries that are ruled by the military are put in abeyance by such bodies.
In April 2003, he sought a re-election into the House of Representatives on the platform of People's Democratic Party. The Presidency that brazenly lost the battle of removing him as Speaker extended the animosity to his re-election bid.
The Presidency's fear was that given his level of performance in four years in the House and his high popularity rating, if he should be allowed to win the election to return to the House he would logically re-emerge Speaker. Essentially, this resulted in the regrettable conspiracy to ambush him to lose the election. This time again, the backlash of the perfidy expanded and consumed PDP in the state as the party lost to All Nigeria People's Party.
Na’Abba's idea of a political party is one founded on:
Following the manipulations orchestrated by some of the party leaders which resulted in his loss of 2003 National Assembly election and perceived growing injustice in the party at that time which made the party to fall far short of his idea of a political party as enumerated above, Na’Abba decided to leave the party in protest with other like minds for Action Congress of Nigeria in 2006. When it became obvious that the key leaders who perpetuated the injustice had begun to give way, he returned to PDP, three years later.
As an affirmed progressive politician, the obvious derailment of PDP yet again in 2014 as evidenced in the mass exodus of leaders from the party forced Na’Abba to leave the party after consulting widely and plausibly. He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), a coalition political platform for politicians of progressive bent desirous of positive change. Predictably, APC has succeeded in displacing PDP at federal level and several states.
Na'Abba died at the National Hospital in Abuja on 27 December 2023, at the age of 65.[1]
In recognition of his outstanding record in politics, pioneering parliamentary independence and development of the legislature and profound defence of democracy, rule of law and the constitution, Na’Abba has bagged awards from the government, civil society groups, organized labour, students unions, private business organizations, political associations and even foreign government agencies and so on. These are some of his awards: