Obasanjo’s ex-chief of staff Abdullahi Muhammed dies at 86
By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Former Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Major General Abdullahi Muhammed, has died aged 86.
Muhammed, who was a Chief of Staff to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late President Umar Musa Yar’ Adua, died on Wednesday morning at his Abuja residence.
The deceased, an indigene of Ilorin, Kwara State, was the National Security Adviser during the administration of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and also the military governor of the defunct Benue-Plateau State.
Meanwhile, the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has expressed sadness over the demise of the elder statesman.
Sulu-Gambari, in a condolence message issued by his Press Secretary, Abdulazeez Arowona said that Muhammed served Nigeria diligently in various capacities and extended opportunities to the less privileged in the society.
The monarch described the deceased as “a proud indigene of Ilorin Emirate and a distinguished Nigeria who used his positions, strength and wealth to protect and promote the heritage of Ilorin Emirate and humanity at large.”
“He was indeed a patriotic and detribalised Nigerian whose contributions to national unity and development knows no bound,” Sulu-Gambari added.
The Emir extended his heartfelt sympathy to his immediate and extended family members, governments of Kwara and Plateau states as well as the Federal Government of Nigeria over his death.
He prayed Almighty Allah to grant him absolute forgiveness, accept his shortcomings and grant him Aljannah Firdaus.
