Pioneer National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, has said the late President Muhammadu Buhari was “a patriotic leader” whose spirit will live forever because of his good deeds for Nigeria.
Akande spoke yesterday in Kaduna when he led a delegation of political associates to condole with the Buhari family.
The condolence delegation included Senator Abu Ibrahim; former Youth and Sports Minister Sunday Dare; an APC chieftain, Alhaji Mahmud Abdullahi; the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr. Silas Agara; and the Convener of the Arewa Think Tank, Mohammed Alhaji Yakubu.
They were received by the former First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, and the eldest son of the family, Yusuf Buhari.
Akande said the former President’s passing was a painful personal loss.
He recalled their last meeting in Daura, Katsina State, before the late President relocated to Kaduna.
“I first heard that he died when I was abroad. Before then, I met him in Daura. After our feast, we had a nice time together. He was looking robust; he was healthy, very strong,” Akande recounted.
The elder statesman said his conversation with Buhari on that occasion gave no premonition of his death.
“In a joke, I said I was going back to my village. He, too, said he was enjoying his village in Daura. By the time he moved to Kaduna, I was planning to come and see him here, and they told me he had traveled,” Akande said.
According to him, the news of ex-President Buhari’s passing came as a shock.
“I didn’t ask questions, and I traveled through. But when I was abroad, I learnt that he had passed on. It was very painful; very, very painful.
“When I came back, I thought the first thing I should do was to come and meet the family, commiserate with them and pray with them. And that’s what I have come here to do today,” he said.
The former APC chairman applauded Buhari’s legacy, describing him as a rare leader.
“He was a great Nigerian. He was patriotic. Maybe he was an angel coming in human flesh, and he had done his bit. He had passed,” he said.
Akande stressed that Buhari’s influence would endure long after his death, adding: “His spirit will continue to live forever because of the good work he did in Nigeria.”
