Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 1951 – 5 May 2010) was the President of Nigeria and the 13th Head of State. He served as Governor of Katsina State in Northern Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007. He was declared the winner of the April 21, 2007 presidential elections on the platform of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, and was sworn in on 29 May 2007.
Early life
Yar'Adua was born into an aristocratic Fulani family in Katsina. His father, a former Minister for Lagos during the First Republic, held the royal title of Mutawalli (custodian of the treasury) of the Katsina Emirate, a title which Yar'Adua inherited. He started his education at Rafukka Primary School in 1958, and moved to Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962. He attended the Government College at Keffi from 1965 until 1969. In 1971, he received a Higher School Certificate from Barewa College. He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria from 1972 to 1975, obtaining a BSc degree in Education and Chemistry. In 1978, he returned to the university to pursue an MSc degree in Analytical Chemistry.
Yar'Adua married Turai in 1975 and they had seven children (five daughters and two sons). Their daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State Governor Usman Saidu Dakingari. Their daughter Nafisat is married to Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda. Yar'Adua was also married to Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife from 1992 to 1997 and they had two children.
Early career
Yar'Adua's first employment was at Holy Child College in Lagos (1975–1976). He later served as a lecturer at the College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria, Kaduna State, between 1976 and 1979. In 1979, he began working as a lecturer at College of Art Science, remaining in this position until 1983, when he began working in the corporate sector.
He worked at Sambo Farms Ltd. in Funtua, Katsina State as its pioneer General Manager between 1983 and 1989. He served as a Board Member, Katsina State Farmers' Supply Company between 1984 and 1985, Member Governing Council of Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology Zaria and Katsina Polytechnic between 1978 and 1983, Board Chairman of Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company (KIPDECO) between 1994 and 1996. Yar'Adua served as a director of many companies, including Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd. 1995–1999; Lodigiani Nigeria Ltd. 1987–1999, Hamada Holdings, 1983–1999; and Madara Ltd. Vom, Jos, 1987–1999. He was Chairman, Nation House Press Ltd., Kaduna, from 1995 to 1999.
Political career
During the Second Republic (1979–1983), Yar'Adua was a member of the leftist People’s Redemption Party, while his father was briefly the National Vice chairman of the National Party of Nigeria. During the Transition Programme of President Ibrahim Babangida, Yar'Adua was one of the foundation members of the Peoples Front, a political association under the leadership of his elder brother, the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. That association later fused to form the Social Democratic Party. Yar'Adua was a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly. He was a member of the party's National Caucus and the SDP State Secretary in Katsina and contested the 1991 Governorship election, but lost to Saidu Barda, the candidate of the National Republican Convention and an ally of Babangida. In 1999, he ran for the same position and won. He was re-elected in 2003, and was the first governor to publicly declare his assets.
On 16–17 December 2006, Yar'Adua was chosen as the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP for the April 2007 general elections, receiving 3,024 votes from party delegates; his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, received 372 votes. Yar'Adua's success in the primary was attributed to the support of incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo. Shortly after winning the nomination, Yar'Adua chose Goodluck Jonathan, Governor of Bayelsa State, as his vice-presidential candidate.
President Yar’Adua
After the election, Yar'Adua proposed a Government of National Unity. In late June 2007, two opposition parties, the ANPP and the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), agreed to join Yar'Adua's government. On 28 June 2007, Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets. He swore in his new cabinet on 26 July 2007. It included 39 ministers, including two for the ANPP.
General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar filed petitions to have the results of the 2007 presidential election invalidated due to alleged fraud, but on 26 February 2008 a court rejected the petitions. Buhari and Abubakar said that they would appeal to the Supreme Court. Marred by corruption, many argued that this election was rigged by Obasanjo as well, as he wanted his successor to have the same basic ideals that he possessed as President.
Illness and death
President Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23 November 2009, and was reported to be receiving treatment for pericarditis at a clinic in Saudi Arabia. He was not seen in public again, and his absence created a dangerous power vacuum in Nigeria.
In December 2009 Rotimi Akeredolu, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), stated that Yar'Adua should have handed over power to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan in an acting capacity during his illness, a statement that was backed up by the NBA national executive committee. On 22 January 2010, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the Federal Executive Council had fourteen days to decide a resolution on whether Yar'Adua was "incapable of discharging the functions of his office". The ruling also stated that the Federal Executive Council should hear testimony of five doctors, one of whom should be Yar'Adua's personal physician.
On 9 February 2010, the Senate determined that presidential power be transferred to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, and that he would serve as Acting President, with all the accompanying powers, until Yar'Adua returned to full health.
On 24 February 2010, Yar'Adua returned to Abuja. His state of health was unclear, but there was speculation that he was still on a life support machine. Various political and religious figures in Nigeria had visited him during his illness saying he would make a recovery.
Yar'Adua died on 5 May, 2010 at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, and Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President. An Islamic burial took place on 6 May in his hometown.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umaru_Musa_Yar'Adua
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's on your mind?