Deputy President NGE, Umar Saidu Tudunwada is dead

LAGOS, Nigeria – The Deputy President of Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Umar Saidu Tudunwada is dead. Former Editor of the Punch Newspaper, who announced the development said he died in a car accident, today on the Kano-Kaduna road, while returning from a meeting of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria(BON) in Abuja. 

Umar, a former Managing Director of Radio Kano and General Manager of Freedom Radio Kano. Ggemiga Ogunleye described him as an easy-going fellow, a decent guy and a gentleman in the true sense of the word.

“The last time I saw in was on May the 8th in Kano. When I told I was coming to Kano for a training programme, he promised to visit me at the hotel.

“He kept his word, came to pick me at the Tahir Guest Palace and we went to his house to break the Ramadan fast, in company with his wife, Aisha and Comrade Abdulkadir Ahmed. He was the perfect host”, he said of Umar Saidu Tudunwada.

Their paths crossed about two decades ago at one of the conferences of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

“We kept in touch and became close friends at social and professional level.A thorough-bred journalist, he was at the NTA and was at various times the Hausa Correspondent of the VOA and Deutche Velle- Voice of Germany.

“His wife, Aisha who is a former Deputy President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, daughter and driver are still in the hospital”, he said and wished the family quick recovery.