Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that his former boss, Umaru Yar’Adua, died for Nigeria.
Mr Jonathan spoke glowingly of his former boss in a statement on Tuesday also posted on Tuesday to commemorate Yar’Adua’s 10th death anniversary.
Mr Jonathan was Nigeria’s vice-president when Yar’Adua assumed office on May 29, 2007. He assumed the top position following the death of Yar’Adua on May 5, 2010 and was later elected, serving a single tenure before being beaten at the polls in 2015 by Muhammadu Buhari.
“It has been a decade since His Excellency President Umar Musa Yar’Adua was snatched by the cold hands of death. On this day, every year, his image fills our consciousness as a mark of his selflessness, typical modesty and exceptional flair,” Jonathan said.
“He was a President like no other who lived and died for the sake of his country. He stood on the side of the people, toiling day and night to make their lives better.
“President Yar’Adua built strong bridges of hope, love and understanding for which he became a force for national unity and positive change across our blessed land.
“In many ways he stood out. He had an accommodating spirit and enormous goodwill that secreted a web around our national fault lines to strengthen the bond; thus leaving for his successors the task of reinforcing the band.
“President Yar’Adua no doubt left enduring legacies in his wholehearted devotion to the ideals of democracy, respect for peoples’ rights, freedoms and reason for living as well as commitment to the rule of law and laws of equity and justice.”
Jonathan said he would continue to remember Yar’Adua as a “colleague and boss who became my brother and friend.”
