Veteran intelligence officer and politician, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, died in London on Wednesday after a protracted illness, according to reports.

Apart from his political exploits, the late Umaru Shinkafi is best remembered as an intelligence expert.

The late Umaru Shinkafi joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1959, after passing through the Police College in Kaduna. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Lagos and a year later, he graduated from the Nigerian Law School. He was a Federal Commissioner of Internal Affairs in 1975 and later became the head of the National Security Organisation in 1979.

From 1979 to 1983 he was head of the secret police, the Nigeria Security Organisation (NSO), which has been rebranded Department of State Services (DSS).

He was running neck-and-neck with Adamu Ciroma in the race for the presidential ticket of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1992 before the military government cancelled the primary.

The late Marafan Sokoto was the vice-presidential candidate of Olu Falae in the APP/AD alliance in 1999, losing to the Olusegun Obasanjo/Atiku Abubakar PDP ticket.

•Based on an Independent report. Photo shows late Umaru Shinkafi.