Abubakar Saleh Michika


Abubakar Saleh Michika was a Nigerian civilian governor of Adamawa State, Nigeria from 2 January 1992 to 17 November 1993. He was a member of the then ruling National Republican Convention. He worked with the British Bank of West Africa in 1966, then John Holt company before joining politics.
He was born in Michika, headquarters of the Michika Local Government Area, in what is now known as Adamawa State Northeast Nigeria. He attended his primary school and Secondary schools in Yola Middle School and done his post secondary education at the School for Arabic studies. He is married to four wives with 38 children, 17 boys and 21 girls, 105 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, all from his four wives; Hajiya Daudu, Mairama, Aisha and Nana Saleh Michika of Algerian and Nigerien descent from Tamanrasset Province, Algeria. Prominent among his children are , an associate professor of public health, a consultant public health physician, a board-certified epidemiologist of the American College Of Epidemiology, a board-certified physician of the American College Of Physicians, member of the American Association for physician leadership, and an alumnus of the famous , the , and the Walden University U.S.A, And Lubna Jibril, a spoken word poet and motivational speaker, she is also the only person to have translated the Human rights declaration in fulfulde. Among all these, she is a women’s right activists, a Tv/radio broadcaster, a liscenced educationist and she offers free counseling to women.
Saleh Michika created a stir when he said in 1992 that he would be willing to relocate to the neighbouring Cameroun if there were a military coup in Nigeria. Fourteen years later, he made a controversial statement that the solution to the problems of corruption and misrule in the country would be a diarchy, a mixture of military and civilian personalities, with a military head of state.
A pragmatist, before the 1993 elections he refused to meet Bashir Tofa, the presidential candidate of his NRC party, but he was helpful when M.K.O. Abiola, candidate of the rival Social Democratic Party came to his state.
However, in July 1993, after the Ibrahim Babangida administration had annulled Abiola's presidential election, he said "Much as I personally admired Moshood Abiola as an individual, the idea of a southern president was unrealistic".
In January 2002, Michika described the National Assembly members as corrupt officials for whom he had no respect, and warned of the danger of another military coup.
In October 2002, Saleh Michika was a strong contender to become the All Nigeria People's Party candidate for the Adamawa governorship.
In 2005, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the chairman governing council of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi
In May 2006 a police corporal was killed by suspected armed bandits at his residence. However, the state commissioner of police, Alhaji Muhammad Sambo, said the attack was not an assassination attempt. The bandits just wanted to snatch the corporal's gun.
Saleh Michika retired from active politics. He died after a brief illness on the 10 March 2018.