One of the most erudite scholars to come out of Northern Nigeria, the Talban Bauchi Dr. Ibrahim Ibrahim, died in an Egyptian hospital in Cairo yesterday after a protracted illness, family sources said in Bauchi.

He was 71. Although the nature of his illness was not disclosed, Daily Trust learnt that Tahir suffered from diabetes for many years and was hospitalised at the National Hospital, Abuja for more than a year in 2006-2007.

His remains are expected to be flown into the country today for a burial in Bauchi, according to Muslim rites.

Tahir, who obtained a PhD in Sociology from Britain in 1968, became very well known in the 1970s as Head of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria's Sociology Department and as the very erudite leader of the pro-capitalist academic camp that daily battled the ABU's left-wing camp, headed at the time by Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman. Their frequent clashes at seminars and public lectures electrified the ABU in those days and the impact of their debates rapidly spread through the region and the country.

In 1978, Tahir left the ABU and joined the then newly-formed National Party of Nigeria, NPN. His repeated efforts to become NPN's National Secretary however failed, as the NPN chiefs at the time supported his rival, Alhaji Sulaiman Takuma.

However, governors of the then 10 Northern States appointed Tahir as chairman of the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation [NNDC] in 1980, and President Shehu Shagari also appointed him chairman of Nigeria External Communications [NET], the foreign communications counterpart of the Post and Telegraph [P&T]. During Shagari's second term from October to December 1983, Tahir was the Minister of Internal Affairs. He was the author of several academic books as well as the widely-acclaimed novel The Last Imam, published in 1984. Tahir was for many years the President of the Nigeria Red Cross and in recent years, was the leader of the National Peace Forum, which advocates peaceful co-existence among Nigerians. He also held the traditional title of Talban Bauchi.