The Senator representing Niger South, Muhammad Bima-Enagi, has mourned the death of Prof. Shehu Bida, the first Nupe professor who died at the age of 86 after a protracted illness.
Issuing a statement on Thursday in Abuja, the Senator said “a bright light in the Nupe nation has gone”.
The statement said: “It is with a very heavy heart that I received the news of the death of the Marafan Nupe, Prof Shehu Jibrin Bida.
“The first professor to ever emerge among the Nupe people was a case study in humility, morality, forthrightness, scholarship and public service.
“He was a role model to hundreds of thousands of people. His demise means that a great bright light in the Nupe nation has gone.
“I am therefore commiserating with members of his family, the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar; the governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, Nupe people and Nigerlites in general for the loss.”
The deceased, born in Okene, Kogi State on October 1, 1934, was the first veterinary doctor in the North after graduating from Veterinary College, Tuskegee, Alabama, USA, in 1967.
He received his Master’s degree at University of Kansas, USA in1969 and his PhD from the London University in 1973.
Until he joined the Executive Council of Niger State in 1976, he taught the subject at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He was subsequently a gubernatorial candidate and Chairman of Bida local government area.
