OBJ, Atiku meet, shake hands at Yar’Adua’s remembrance

Idowu Samuel, Abuja - 16.03.2008

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday set aside their political differences in honour of the late Tafidan Katsina, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua whose 10th year remembrance anniversary took place at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

Both Obasanjo and Atiku, who met for the first time at a close range, shook hands at the venue of the event which had President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in attendance, while the entire guests at the venue of the event could only offer deafening applause.

Obasanjo at the event drew another round of applause from the guests during his speech by recognising Atiku, whom he referred to as the former vice president of Nigeria in the order of protocol he read before his address.

They were both allowed to make addresses during the event as the chairman and vice chairman, Board of Trustees of the Yar’Adua Foundation, respectively.

The President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, was the special guest of honour at the National Programme of Commemoration for the late former chief of staff of Nigeria.

In his address, President Yar’Adua had extolled the virtue of the late Tafidan, whom he said offered exemplary leadership as he urged African leaders to emulate his brand of politics.

Yar’Adua lamented the escalating problem of African continent, blaming it on poor leadership. He said there was no escaping the reality that most of Africa’s problems were self inflicted and self perpetrated, opining that the solutions to the problem of Africa could only be found and applied by Africans.

He said it was time African countries began to find the means of installing God- fearing, visionary and patriotic leaders whom he said are imbued with the zeal to drive the liberation of the continent.

The president of Rwanda in his address spoke on the essence of nation building, opining that African countries have ample opportunities to achieve their desired goals if they could implement developmental targets they had set for themselves through programmes such as NEPAD.

Former President Obasanjo had described the late Yar’Adua as a nationalist of the first order for fighting to unite Nigeria with “complete dedication to the idea of a great Nigeria in which fairness and justice will reign.

He added that Yar’Adua “displayed a remarkable ability to build political bridges of understanding across different cleavages that are the realities of Nigeria. When he contested the SDP presidential primaries in 1992, it was thus not surprising that he emerged as a genuine national figure and won votes across all geo-political zones of the country.

This is the kind of spirit we must strive to emulate if democracy is to thrive in Nigeria for all time.”

In his own address, Atiku Abubakar also eulogised the virtues of the Tafidan whom he described as a gallant hero and an extraordinary man with extraordinary capacity for generosity, selflessness, hard work, tolerance and patience.

He said Yar’Adua, all through his life sojourned sowed very good seeds in leadership, which according to him were worth being emulated by the present crop of Nigerian leaders.