El- Rufai, ACF mourn ex- dep gov as Kaduna declares holiday
KADUNA State Governor, Nasir El- Rufai, has described the death of his former deputy, Barnabas Bala, a. k. a. Bantex, as a great loss to the state.
The governor stated yesterday: “In Bantex, I have lost a dear friend and partner in the service of Kaduna State.”
Bantex was El- Rufai’s deputy in his first term as governor between 2015 and 2019 before he resigned to contest Kaduna South senatorial seat in 2019 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress ( APC). But the incumbent Senator Danjuma La’ah of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) defeated him.
Condoling with the Bantex family, the governor said a befitting burial would be given to the deceased. S IMILARLY, the Arewa Consultative Forum ( ACF) has expressed sadness over the death of Bantex.
According to ACF, the former deputy governor died in a hospital in Abuja, yesterday.
ACF National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, stated: “At the ACF, Bantex was considered an unusual gentleman who contributed in no modest way in stabilising the first tenure of ElRufai’s government. He had served his people in similar manner as Chairman of Kaura Local Council, state and federal levels as a member of the Constitutional Conference 1994 and House of Representatives.
“The ACF condoles with ElRufai, the immediate family of the deceased and the whole of Kaduna State on the loss of the great human asset.”
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ADUNA State Government has declared today a work- free day in honour of Bantex who died yesterday.