Prominent industrialist, Buhari’s ally died after driving himself to the hospital, Presidency mourns

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

Prominent Industrialist and Chairman, Bulet International Construction Company, Ismaila Isa Funtua, has died at the age of 77.

Funtua, who is also a life patron of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, died on Monday.

The business tycoon, who hails from Katsina State like the President, is among those whom critics of the Buhari regime refer to as the cabal.

Funtua, along with the late former Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; and the President’s nephew, Mamman Daura; were described as powerful members in the ‘kitchen cabinet’ of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

His son is married to Buhari’s daughter, Safina.

The deceased served as the Minister of Water Resources in the defunct Second Republic during the administration of President Shehu Shagari.

In the 1990s he set up a newspaper known as ‘The Democrat’ which was headed by the late Abba Kyari.

Born in Katsina, he was a pioneer student of the Federal Training Centre, Kaduna. He trained as an administrative officer at the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and also as an administrator at the Manchester University in the UK.