Mr Barnabas Bala-Bantex, immediate- past Deputy Governor of Kaduna State during the first tenure of Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, has died at the age of 64, a family source confirmed.
Mr Banta Bala, eldest son of the deceased, said that the former Deputy Governor passed away in Abuja on Sunday, after a protracted ailment.
Born in December 1956 in Kagoro, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Bala-Bantex attended Tagwai Sambo Model Primary School, Manchok, and Federal Government College, Warri, for his primary and secondary education.
He obtained a Bachelors Degree in Architectuure from the University of Lagos, and a Masters Degree in Architecture with distinction from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981.
He lectured at the University of Jos, before venturing into private practice by establishing Bantex Consortium, a construction firm.
Bala-Bantex represented Kaura Local Government Area at the National Constituents Assembly, and later became a two-term Chairman of the Local Government Council.
He served in the House of Representatives under the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), representing Kaura Federal Constituency.
He became the State Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2014, and in May 29, 2015, sworn-in as the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State.
He bowed out after four years to contest the Kaduna South Senatorial District during the 2019 General Elections, under the platform of the APC, but lost to the incumbent Senator, Dr Danjuma La’ah of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Related Articles
Nigeria Governors’ Forum pays tribute
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat (NGFS) has also commiserated with the government and people of Kaduna state over the death of the former Deputy Governor.
Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the Head, Media and Public Affairs, NGF Secretariat, commiserated with the the government and people of the state in a statement on Sunday.
Bello-Barkindo said that the death of Bantex got to the forum secretariat as a rude shock.
He said the forum particularly condoled with the governor of the state, Malam Nasiru el-Rufai, who Bala served diligently during his first term in office between 2015 and 2019 until he resigned to contest in an election for the position of senator.
He said although Bala suffered a prolonged illness, he was a man the NGF secretariat held in very high esteem and wished he had recovered from an illness to continue the good work that he left the office of then deputy governor to pursue.
“Bantex was a good representative of Kaduna state with all its political complications, having led the people of Southern Kaduna in all representative and participatory capacities through the Local Government system and Constitution Review Committees, eventually becoming a deputy governor.
“In the words of el-Rufai, Bantex served his state with all sincerity apart from giving the much-desired hope to the downtrodden in the state.
“Bantex contributed fully to the debates at the NGF whenever he represented el-Rufai during which he displayed full comprehension of all the intricate issues at meetings.
“He would always give the Kaduna State Perspective to debates as if the governor himself were present,” Bello-Barkindo said.
He quoted the NGF Director-General Asishana Okauru as saying that the forum would miss Bantex’s deep and incisive interventions.
He prayed God to grant the family of the former deputy governor the fortitude to bear the “great loss as we all know how much they love him as theirs but also know that God loves him best.”
