The Tinubu/Shettima Associates and Professionals (TAP-IT) Project 2023 has endorsed the candidature of Senator Barau Jibrin as the President of the 10th Senate.
This was contained in a statement by the Director-General of the organization, Comrade Abdulmajeed Sa’ad in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said, Senator Barau, presently the highest-ranking Senator from the North-West returns to the Senate with vast experience and is a broadminded personality, operates an open-door policy, non-discriminatory and less partisan in his interactions with fellow citizens.
According to Comrade Sa’ad, Senator Barau, who represents Kano North Senatorial District, is also very accessible which speaks volumes about the kind of person he is.
“We encourage such personal with similar characters to present themselves for public service. On legislature platform, Senator Barau was schooled at the International Democratic Institute (IDI). International Republican institute (IRI) among many others,” the statement stressed.
The Director-General pointed out that though, the APC will very soon formally unveil which geo-political zone gets which position at the National Assembly, it is only appropriate to strongly slate the Senate Presidency to the North-West.
“And it is in this regard that we are supporting the candidature of Senator Barau Jibrin of Kano North Senatorial District for the position of Senate President. This is so because, Senator Barau has assiduously worked to earn APC the massive votes it received from the North-West,” the statement emphasized.
Besides, the statement added, Senator Barau comes from the state where APC badly needed them most to remain the leading party in the federation.
It stressed that “In fact, the popular saying that to whom much is given much, much should be expected and the reward for doing good is giving another opportunity to do more cannot be truer than what it is today.”
Nonetheless, Comrade Sa’ad noted that as a reminder, the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu represents the South-West, Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, North-East while the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, North-Central and it now behooves on the North-West to produce the next Senate President.
He said this is due to the fact that the zone gave the APC its largest votes during the presidential election and thus must be compensated to produce the Senate President.
According to the votes, Asiwaju Tinubu got 2,653,235 votes against PDP candidate who get 2,329,802 with Labour Party receiving 350,188 votes. The South-West, Asiwaju Tinubu’s stronghold, got 2,279, 407 votes, 127, 605 in South-East and 799, 957 in the South-South.
“So, without sentiments and based on votes received, the zone which contributed immensely to the overall success in the presidential election should aptly and justly be considered for the position of the Senate President,” the Director-General pointed out.
He was born on January 1, 1960 in Kabo Area of Kano State and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Masters certificate in Financial Management and Pricing, Masters Certificate in Management and Masters of Business Administration (MBA). He also holds a Certificate in Financial Management for business decisions from the prestigious Cornel University, United State of America.
After his initial higher studies, Senator Barau worked briefly in the accounting department of the Kano State Foundation, before he resigned in 1992 to begin his private flourishing business with vast interests in the manufacturing, insurance and the construction sectors of the Nigerian economy. His success in the private sector prepared him adequately to begin a process of championing the cause of his people through the instrumentality of politics.
At the onset of democracy in 1999, he contested in the elections and won the seat of the House of Representatives to represent Tarauni Federal Constituency of Kano State.
While in the House of Representatives, he served as the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations and was also a member of the House of Representative’s Committee on Power.
After he completed his term at the House of Representatives, Barau returned back to private practice. He later served as the Chairman of the Kano State Investment and Properties Ltd, a Company wholly owned by the Kano State Government.
He was one time Commissioner of Science and Technology in Kano State and later in 2001 appointed to serve as a member of a committee set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to review the Nigeria’s Budgetary process.
In 2009, he was appointed by the Kano State Government as a member of the Kano State Business Incentive Committee; a position in which he acquainted himself credibly.
On his return to electoral contest in 2015, Senator Barau contested and won election to the Senate representing Kano North Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
At the Senate, Barau was appointed the Vice – Chairman Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) of the Senate, and subsequently became the Chairman of the same Committee.
He was re-assigned to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETfund as the Chairman of the Committee in 2016.
Barau was recognised with award of “Northern Senator of the year, 2017” by Nigerian Senate Press Corps.