Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria, has eulogised a former head of state, Murtala Mohammed who died over four decades ago, describing him as a great Nigerian who was in a hurry to develop the country.
In a statement he personally signed, a copy of which was made available to BusinessDay, Atiku said: “Forty six years ago, we lost a real Nigerian hero. A man who gave so much to this nation, and paid the supreme price for the love of Nigeria. I remember the great pride and patriotism Nigerians had after his ‘Africa Has Come of Age’ speech at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa, on Sunday, January 11, 1976. He saw the future that he never got to live in.”
According to him, “Murtala Mohammed was in a hurry to develop Nigeria and in his determined progressivism, he planted trees, whose shades he never lived to enjoy, including the new Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the Indigenisation policy, which increased the participation of Nigerians in their own economy, and the purest, objective and most effective fight against corruption that this clime has ever seen.
Read also: Our legacy
“In the end, this pan-African, and pan Nigerian symbol of hope renewed our commitment to the unity of Nigeria, and our zeal for a better tomorrow, via the charisma and singleminded vision that he brought into governance.”
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, also said: “Today, I remember him as always. May his soul continue to rest in peace, and may Almighty Allah grant him al jannah firdaus.”
