Junaid Mohammed, Second Republic Lawmaker, Is Dead

Junaid Mohammed, a lawmaker in the second republic, is dead.

Mohammed, who trained as a medical doctor, died on Thursday in Kano.

When our correspondent  visited his residence on Thursday night, a family member confirmed the incident.

According to the relative, the former lawmaker reportedly died at an isolation centre, but was not positive for the coronavirus.

He was one of the founding members of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) in 1976 under the leadership of the late Aminu Kano.

He also served as the national deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the north-west.

In October 2018, he was selected as running mate to Donald Duke, presidential candidate of the SDP.

He was known to be very outspoken about political matters, and usually spared no words in his criticism of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

In one of his recent interviews before his death, he had accused Buhari of not basing appointments on merit.

The former lawmaker was responding to a comment by Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto. Kukah had accused Buhari of nepotism.

Mohammed agreed with the bishop’s comment, stating that the president had favoured certain sections of the country over others.

“I have to admit that the core issue he raised about nepotism is real, and of course marginalisation of some certain sections of the country is real, and that nepotism is in favour of people that are close to Buhari, particularly his friends, cronies, relations and in-laws. Over 99 percent of the appointments Buhari made were not based on merit,” he had said.