Nik Aziz relinquishes MB’S post due to age, health factor — Successor
KOTA BAHARU: PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat relinquished the Kelantan Menteri Besar’s post on his own will and the decision was consented by the party’s central leadership.
His successor, Datuk Ahmad Yakob, who took his oath of office before the Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V, yesterday, said Nik Aziz’s decision to relinquish the post was made due to his age and health factor.
Nik Abdul Aziz, 82, was the Kelantan Menteri Besar for 23 years since PAS took over the state after winning the 1990 general election.
“It is not just the Kelantan people who are shocked, I am shocked too, but it is his request and has been consented by PAS central leadership,” Ahmad told reporters after the oath taking ceremony at Istana Negeri, Kubang Kerian.
He thanked Nik Abdul Aziz for having confidence in him to take over the state leadership.
Ahmad, 63, won the Pasir Pekan state seat.
Panchor Assemblyman Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah took the oath of office as Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar.
The ceremony, which began at 6pm, was also attended by the Tengku Mahkota of Kelantan Tengku Dr Muhammad Faiz Petra, the Kelantan Mufti Datuk Shukri Mohamad and the State Police Chief Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman.
Nine assemblymen also took the oath of office as members of the state executive council before the Sultan.
They are Datuk Anuar Tan Abdullah ( Kota Lama), Datuk Md Anizam Ab Rahman (Kemahang), Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud ( Meranti), Datuk Abdul Fattah Mahmood ( Bukit Panau), Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi ( Wakaf Baharu), Datuk Mohamed Fadzli Hassan ( Temangan), Hanifa Ahmad ( Pengkalan Pasir), Dr Ramli Mamat (Bunut Payong) and Mumtaz Md Nawi ( Demit).
Ahmad, who is also Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner I, was a teacher at Sekolah Menengah Datuk Bentara Dalam, Segamat in Johor, before entering politics in 1995 to contest for the Pasir Pekan state seat.
A syariah graduate from AlAzhar University in Egypt, he was a teacher at Sekolah Menengah Datuk Bentara Dalam, Segamat in Johor before quitting the job to join politics in 1995 when he contested the Pasir Pekan seat for the first time.
He had held several portfolios in the state government since then and was appointed the deputy menteri besar after winning the seat in the 2004 general election.
Meanwhile, Nik Mohd Amar, who obtained his bachelor’s degree in Islamic studies from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ( UKM) and a Masters of Philosophy in Theological Studies from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, was a lecturer at the Department of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science, International Islamic University, before he entered politics. — Bernama