Ali Magashi Emerges Captain of Old Kano Golf Club

BY GRACE ANYANWU, ABUJA – A new Management Committee has been elected to run the affairs of the over 112 years old Kano Golf Club in the ancient city of Kano.

Those elected include Ali Mohammed Magashi an Aeronautical and Telecommunications Engineering graduate of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, who was returned unopposed as the Captain of the oldest Golf Club in Nigeria.

Others elected members of the new Management Committee which held during the annual general meeting of the club at the club house are; Mr Khalil Muslimani – Vice Captain; Dr Yahaya Tanko – Secretary; M. S. Muhammed – Course Officer; Auwalu Badawa – Competition Secretary; Dr Mustapha Muhammad Lawan – Public Relations Officer; Gambo Muhammed – Handicap Secretary; Rabiu Mohammed Diyam – Treasurer; Kehinde O. Habib – Bar Secretary and Victor Oladele and Kamaluddeen Sani as Committee members.

In his post-election speech, the new Captain, who is an Avionics Engineer, Flight Engineer and a former Instructor and National Examiner on Boeing 727 aircraft and now the Chairman of ASO Savings and Loans Plc, pledged to develop the game of Golf in Kano to the fullest  and will immediately introduce a mandatory in-house weekly kitty and monthly competitions among members and make use of his contacts worldwide to organize regular national and International Pro-Am Tournaments at Kano Golf Club.

A statement the Media Consultant to Ali Magashi, Abdulkadir Ahmed Ibrahim, explained that the new Captain unveiled his plans to give the Golf Course a new face lift and renovate the Club House to meet International Standard adding that the game of golf that has no age barrier, promotes the physical and mental faculties of the players.

He said with the prevailing peaceful environment and the age-long hospitality of the people of Kano, professional and amateur golfers from all over the world will be coming to play at the historic golf course that will in turn boost the economy and develop tourism.

The Kano Golf Club new Captain whose company KITARI Systems Ltd – a Telecommunications and IT firm, sponsored many Golf Tournaments in Kano and Jigawa States commended Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for reappointing an experienced and successful sports administrator, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, as the Chairman of Kano State Sports Commission and pledged to support the Commission and the Government in general in its determination to take the state to its rightful position in sports.

Ali Magashi,  a 13 handicap player, participated at many local and international golf tournaments including the last Zambia Open where he shinned among the over 400 amateurs with an impressive 2-over score on the first day that qualified him for the next round.

He paid tribute to former Captains of Kano Golf Club such as late Air Vice Marshal Mukhtar Mohammed (Rtd), late Dr Colonel Osad Osamwonyi, late Alhaji Audu Lukat, Jim Lloyd Jennings, Nasiru Maitama Sule and Colonel Yakubu Bako (Rtd) for their selfless services and commended the untiring efforts and commitments of the current President of Kano Golf Club, Alhaji Muhammadu Lawan Koguna – Durbin Kano and the Lebanese Community towards the development of the game in Kano.

Kano Golf Club was established in 1908 as one of the sports centres of the British Army after the conquest of Kano on February 3, 1903 by a detachment of the West African Frontier Force led by an adventurous Canadian Officer, Colonel Thomas L. N. Morland.

According to an elder statesman, scholar, historian and a veteran golfer, Muhammadu Uba Adamu (Kantoma), historical documents show that the growth of the European population in Kano facilitated the growth of golf as a game through the participation of members of the British Commercial and Administrative establishment.

It resulted in Barclays Bank now Union Bank to be the first commercial establishment in Kano to organize the premier Golf Competition in 1922, the year Lord Lugard became its Chairman.