WHO IS ISA FUNTUA?

“They should belong. They should join the party. They want to do things on their own and because they are Igbo, we should dash them the presidency?”
This were the words of Mallam Isa Funtua on 6th day of January, 2020 during an interview with Reuben Abati on Arise TV.

Ismaila Isa Funtua OFR, MNI was a Nigerian statesman who served as a Federal Minister in the Second Republic. He was also a prominent member of the infamous Kaduna Mafia, a loose group of Nigerian businessmen, civil servants, intellectuals and military officers from Northern Nigeria.

He was a business man who refined clients, business associates and friends. He extended his interests beyond the normal scope of a businessman. Funtua is not just an elder statesman but also a long time personal friend and close associate of President Muhammadu Buhari and was a very influential figure in the Buhari administration.
He’s part of the key cabal, if there is any such position in the reality of modern day government.

One key political move that cannot be forgotten about Funtua was his attempt to negotiate an early “release clause” for Omoyele Sowore.

The late Isa Funtua died of cardiac arrest, he was rumoured to have driven himself to the hospital before his death.

No doubt, President Buhari must be feeling lonely and genuinely isolated. Theses are tough times to endure the lose of close friend.