Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday 30 May 2023 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has paid a working visit to the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Memorial Centre, where he was taken on a guided tour of the facility, signed a book of reflection, met with board members of the facility, and planted a tree and unveiled a plaque as a symbol of the shared legacy of public service.
The Foundation was established by the friends, family and associates of Shehu Yar’Adua to honour the legacy of one of Nigeria’s foremost contemporary leaders and inspire future generations with his life of service. The former Vice President of Nigeria, (5 March 1943 – 8 December 1997), was a military officer and politician.
President Bio was received at the center by Mr. Akin Kekere-Ekun, Vice Chairman Board of Directors of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation and expressed gratitude that he was able to make time to visit the great historic center.
He also introduced to President Bio the son of the late man, Mallam Murtala Yar’Adua, who is also a Board Member, along with the Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Senior Political and Economic Officer, Embassy of Switzerland, Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board and the Programme Director and Team Lead, Africa Policy Conversations to President Bio.
During the tour of the facilities, the President was shown and told of the many developmental activities undertaken by the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.
President Bio was taken through the biography of the late man from his time in the military, where he rose rapidly during the Nigerian war for the liberation of Onitsha around 1963. He survived assassinations and at age 36 he was made Major General of the Nigerian Army, becoming the youngest Major General in the military’s history. He was the pioneer of the first-ever military handover of power to a civilian government, signifying the start of democracy in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua has spiritual strength but was more interested in ensuring Nigeria has a democracy where every citizen of that country would be treated equally, irrespective of their status. He was recorded as having described democracy, saying, “Democracy is like a child, and if you give him time, he will grow.”
This statement, according to the tour guards, resonated in the minds of Nigerians that the one-time advocates for the liberation and the clean-up of the Obini land were arrested for staging a protest around an issue that continued to live with the Nigerian people.
President Julius Maada Bio, while speaking after the conducted tour, thanked the board for giving him and his entourage the opportunity to visit the center and to see and hear of the many good works of the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, in particular around democracy, peace, and national cohesion for the people of Nigeria.
“On behalf of my delegation and the people of the Republic of Sierra Leone, I want to say a big thank you to the foundation for giving me the opportunity to see the facility and the history of a great man. I will leave with a very great distinction of impression that you have done a great job to keep the memory of the great man whom very little was known about.
“So, I want to thank all those who contributed to this center and also for the opportunity for me and my delegation to come here today and to learn so much about the gains Nigeria had made. A sister country that has been a great friend of Sierra Leone. So, on behalf of my delegation, I want to thank all of you for this great opportunity accorded me,” President Bio expressed.
For more information: State House Media and Communications Unit
