In the cold hamattan of 1984, Sarki Abba, a Kano Indigene from Science Secondary School Dawakin Tofa did the unthinkable.
He scored nine distinctions (8 A1 and 1 A2) in his West African Senior School Certificate (WASC) Exams. This achievement seemed unrealistic and never happened that the WASC Headquarters in Nigeria, Lagos assumed it was a cheat.
In order to prove their assumptions right, a car was sent to pick up 16yr old Sarki Abba straight from Dawakin Tofa, where he was made to retake the whole 9 exams in the duration of 3 days.
After marking the rescheduled exams, he scored 9 A1 (the only ‘A2’ he had in English Language before the retake, became ‘A1’ resulted to 9 A1)
Faced with shock, the Lagos officials saved face by apologizing and instituting the National Merit Award making Sarki Abba its first recipient.
In 1989/90 school session, also at 21, Sarki Abba graduated as OVERALL BEST Medical Student, OVERALL BEST Graduating Student at ABU, Zaria. Sarki was then invited to U.S.A where he continued his studies, work and lives there since then.
Sarki Abba is presently a Professor of Urology and Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA. Also, MD, PhD, at the John T. Grayhack Professor of Urological Research.
Prof. Sarki Abba’s research program is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer initiation, progression and recurrence with the ultimate goal of developing therapies that interfere with these processes. His work has particularly focused on Prostate Cancer.