Jonathan stressed that Yar’Adua governed with sincerity and passion for the people
By Emma Ogbuehi
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday paid a tribute to his former boss, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Yar’ Adua was elected Nigeria’s President in 2007 with Jonathan as Vice President.
The former succumbed to illness on May 5, 2010, allowing Jonathan to replace him as President.
In a glowing tribute to the departed president, Jonathan described him as a soldier of truth and a peace maker who governed the country with sincerity of purpose.
“Twelve years ago, our nation lost a patriot, a selfless leader and a peacemaker who governed with sincerity and passion for the people,” Jonathan said in a statement published via his verified Facebook page.
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“President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua is no longer with us today, but his strides in public life continue to testify for him and keep his memory alive.
“Like a good athlete, he ran with passion, kept the faith and finished the race. Today we can look back and say, as President he won laurels for us in terms of peace and other worthy causes he successfully pursued.
“He was a soldier of truth, committed to justice, equity and other democratic virtues. He was a servant leader and a good man; the type that is hard to find.
“He was my boss.
“President Yar’Adua, we remember you today and will continue to remember the good works that you did in our nation. Yours is a story of patriotism, a life well-lived in service to the people and humanity.”
The late Yar’Adua is on record to have admitted that the 2007 election that brought him to office was flawed and went ahead to put up a electoral reform panel to fashion out ways of giving the nation a credible electoral process.
He equally took on the thorny issue of the Niger Delta militancy, extended amnesty programmes to aggrieved youths of the region, aside creating a special ministry, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to accord institutional attention to challenges of the region.
