His Excellency, Engineer Abdullahi A. Sule has celebrated his first year in office by honoring the second Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji (Dr) Aliyu Akwe Doma describing him as: “a historic leader of very exceptional pedigree who was not only an accomplished technocrat and a political titan, but also a cultural legend!” During the buildup to the first year anniversary, Engineer Abdullahi A. Sule described Akwe Doma as: “The very first person in Northern Nigeria to study THEATRE ARTS at the University of Ibadan from 1964 to1966 from where he proceeded to study at the BRITISH DRAMA LEAGUE IN LONDON in1968” It will be recalled that as a young thespian, there was no drum he could not beat and no cultural dance Aliyu Akwe Doma could not dance, such that Akwe Doma became the VERY FIRST CULTURAL OFFICER OF NORTHERN NIGERIA which enabled him to travel the region and study differ- ent Northern cultures in all the villages and ham- lets of AREWA. Late Akwe Doma set about the task to establish Art Councils in Northern Nigeria, and he is also credited with creating THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF NIGERIAN LANGUAGES at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

Aliyu Akwe Doma’s clarion call which resonates through time is the message: “AFRICANS MUST NEVER FORGET THAT WE HAVE A HISTORY AND A CULTURAL ACCOMPLISHMENT WHICH WE MUST ALWAYS CELEBRATE AND PROTECT!” Aliyu Akwe Doma was singularly interested in Kwaghir Tiv culture such that in 1966, he led the Tiv Troupe to represent Nigeria at the First FESTAC, (Festival of Black African Arts & Culture) which held in Dakar, Senegal and he was Artistic Director at second edition of FESTAC ‘77 which held in Lagos, Nigeria. By staying true to the tenets of inclusive gover- nance and naming the banquet hall in government house Lafia after Aliyu Akwe Doma; Governor Ab- dullahi A. Sule has in one fell swoop immortalized former Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma as an enduring political figure and a leading light for the recov- ery of African cultural memory, whose legacy will endure from generation through time.