Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has described the death of Malam Ismaila Isa-Funtua, as a great loss to his family, his friends, associates, Katsina State and indeed, the entire country.
The fomer President who reacted through his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, noted that Malam Funtua’s contributions to the implementation of the nation’s capital between 1999 and 2007 would not go unrecognized.
He also described the late Politician as a well-respected elderstatesman, an accomplished business mogul/publisher and a frontline industrialist whose various contributions to the development of governance and public administration have ensured for him an evergreen memory in the hearts of many admirers and associates.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo also identified his efforts during the administration of President Shehu Shagari under whom he served as the Minister of Water Resources as well as during his membership of the committee of the 1994-1995 Constitutional Conference.
The former President said “our nation also certainly owes him a debt of gratitude for the immense contributions he had made over the years to the development of media industry in the country. He was the publisher of the Democrat Newspapers during military dictatorship, particularly the regime of General Sani Abacha, when decrees restrained freedom of speech and his newspaper thundered against the ills of that era. Until his death, he was the life patron of Newspaper’s Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and his contributions were always that of a committed patriot with a well-developed sense of equity, justice and fair-play.
“For his patriotism, courage, frankness and steadfastness, Mallam Isa-Funtua will be long remembered by those who knew him and those who care about the evolution of a virile democratic culture in our nation”
Malam Funtua, an associate of President Buhari, died on Monday at the age of 78.
