A former President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Alhaji A.G.F. AbdulRazaq (SAN), has sent his condolence message to the family of the late Brigadier General David Gbamigboye, the first Military Governor of Kwara State, who died last week.
Alhaji AbdulRazaq, who is the Mutawali of Ilorin and Tafida of Zaria, said in his message to the wife and children of the deceased that the death of Gbamigboye left him with a “deep sense of personal loss”.
He recalled his time as the first Commissioner of Finance in Kwara State under the leadership of Gbamigboye from 1967 to 1972 and noted that the deceased was a remarkable leader who was appointed to be the Governor of Kwara State in 1967 at the very young age of 28.
He said: “I had the distinct privilege of serving as the first Commissioner of Finance ( later Health) from 1967 to 1972 in the Kwara State Executive Council under the leadership of Governor David Gbamigboye.
“In my personal and official relationship with him he exhibited sterling qualities of an officer and gentleman in the finest traditions of the military.
“He was a determined, disciplined and purposeful administrator who inspired the cabinet and civil service to performance optimally. He laid the foundations of the new Kwara State in 1968 by establishing a new civil service and most of the basic institutions of state that stand till date.
“These include, the State Secretariat, Kwara Polytechnic, State House, Kwara Herald, Kwara Hotel and basics infrastructure such as intra State road networks, Specialist Hospitals, water and rural electricity and other public utility services in major Towns.”
AbdulRazaq, who was also a Minister in the First Republic and the first person from Northern Nigeria to become a lawyer and a Senior Advocate, prayed for the repose of the soul of the first Governor of Kwara State and that the people of Omu-Aran, where he hailed from, and Nigerians in general will sorely miss his contribution to national development.