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Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Niger Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago has fulfilled his promise of N250 million gift in honour of Auwalu Salisu, a Kano-based commercial tricycle rider for his extraordinary act of honesty in returning N15 million that he found in his tricycle.

This also includes N50 million in scholarships from himself, President Bola Tinubu, ministers, the APC Governors’ Forum, and the Niger State government.

This was announced yesterday in Abuja by the Chairman of Leadership Group Limited, Zainab Nda-Isaiah, alongside the Niger State government during the inauguration of a trustee board in honour of Auwalu Salisu.

The board consists of representatives from the Niger State government, Leadership Group, the Sam Nda-Isaiah Foundation, and Auwalu’s family to ensure the funds are utilised effectively, particularly for Auwalu’s education and skill development.

At the inauguration, Mrs. Nda-Isaiah praised Auwalu’s act of honesty, commending Governor Bago for his commitment to keeping his promises.

 She said: “Auwalu’s decision to return such a significant amount of money is truly inspiring. The temptation he faced must have been immense, but he chose integrity over personal gain.”

She also shared a personal anecdote about the governor’s pledges, expressing her initial skepticism but ultimately being impressed by his fulfillment of promises without hesitation.

“This event is a celebration of integrity and a testament to the governor’s mandate to ensure these funds support Auwalu’s development,” she added.

The Editor-in-Chief of Leadership, Azu Ishiekwene, highlighted the importance of recognising acts of integrity through the Leadership Group annual conference and awards, and called on others who made pledges to redeem them.

He said: “Every year Leadership has what is called leadership annual conference and award and it has become a goal standard. Like we have done it in the past, we identified, do our research and get extra ordinary act of integrity that is how it happened.

“Auwalu find N15 million in his Keke and return it to the owner and Leadership newspaper find out that the extra ordinary work of integrity and held him up as standard,” he said.

 Auwalu also received a scholarship offer for a PhD programme at Baze University from Mr. Peter Obi, a fellow awardee and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), during the Leadership Annual Conference Award.