Deputy National Elections Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Tanko Rashid, has revealed the fascinating story behind his popular nickname, “Computer.”
Speaking in a recent interview on JoyNews’ Personality Profile, Mr. Tanko traced the name back to his days in school, when his remarkable mathematical skills set him apart from his classmates.
“I was the only person who could understand what the lady was doing. Wow. So I was more or less like a PA to her,” he recounted, referring to his mathematics teacher, Madam Katherine. “She will finish and okay, ‘Tanko, come and explain to your colleagues. They seem not to understand what I’m doing.’”
He added that his teacher eventually began calling him “computer” because of his quick grasp of complex calculations. “She used to call me ‘computer’, and I didn’t understand what a computer was, but she was calling me ‘computer’. I’m sure because of the way I used to work maths, and then she will bring the formulas—I’ll even get the answers before we start putting it together and all this. So that’s how the name came about.”
A separate report confirmed this detail, noting that during one mathematics exam, Mr. Tanko scored 98 out of 100, while the next highest student managed only 57. The teacher, reportedly astonished, exclaimed, “This is a computer man.”
“So from that area she gave the computer, computer. She started calling [me] computer, computer, and well, I say I have to just take the name,” he said with a laugh.
