Wing Commander (retired) Lawal Ningi Haruna was military governor of
Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
from August 1998 to May 1999 during the transitional regime of General
Abdulsalami Abubakar, handing over to the elected civilian governor
Mala Kachalla
Mala Kachalla (November 1941 – 18 April 2007) was governor of Borno State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003.
Background
Mala Kachalla was born in 1941 in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
Borno Governor
Mala Kachalla was elec ...
in May 1999.
Group Captain Haruna was appointed administrator of
Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...
in August 1998.
He had to deal with controversy over the question of teaching Christian Religious Knowledge in public schools, which was opposed by Muslim leaders in the predominantly Muslim state.
On 3 November 1998, he announced that separate Muslim and Christian instruction would start in schools with sufficient numbers of Christian pupils, as provided by the constitution. On 11 December riots followed a call from an Imam to attack Christians, with considerable loss of property but no deaths.
In June 1999, Haruna was required to retire, as were all other former military administrators.
In December 2000, Haruna alleged that Lt-General
Jeremiah Useni had planned the killing of Head of State General
Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...
, who had died of obscure causes on 8 June 1998.
References
Living people
1957 births
Governors of Borno State
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