It is exactly six years today that late President Umaru Yar’Adua took his last breathe
within the confines of the Aso Rock presidential villa. He became the second sitting
Nigerian leader that did not come out of the presidential villa alive. The first leader that
lost his life at the presidential villa was late General Sani Abacha, who coincidentally is
also from the North-West geopolitical zone.
Though late Yar’Adua did not complete a single tenure, he left an indelible mark within
the short period he presided over the affairs of the country.
Yar’Adua took over from former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the peak of the Niger-
Delta crisis. The zone was a hotbed for criminal activities, especially the destruction of
crude oil related installations concentrated in the region. This resulted to substantial
human causalities and kidnap forcing multi-nationals to flee the region.
Unlike his predecessor who organised series of jamborees in the safe confines of Aso
Rock where he hosted some leaders of the restless militants, Yar’Adua moved his Vice,
Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and other Niger-Delta leaders to the creeks to meet with the
militants and negotiate peace. The peace moves culminated in the amnesty programme
which signalled the end of militancy in the rich oil producing region. The Yar’Adua
administration confronted the problem headlong through the creation of a ministry
dedicated to the region. Yar’Adua on June 25, 2009 came up with an unprecedented
decision, proclaiming amnesty for all militants in the region. This proclamation and its
subsequent acceptance by militant groups brought some measure of peace and
stability.
The Yar’Adua administration confronted other security challenges facing the nation. Also,
a 16-man Presidential Committee on the Reform of the Nigeria Police Force was set up
on January 9, 2008. It was led by a former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed
Dikko. This was in line with the security component of the seven-point agenda.
At his inauguration, Yar’Adua regretted that “despite the transformation the country has
undergone in the last half century, the police force has remained stuck in the past.”
To fulfil a major part of his campaign pledge, he also set up a Presidential Committee
on Land Reform, under the chairmanship of Professor Akin Mabogunje.
Receiving the land reform committee’s interim report, former President Yar’Adua gave an
assurance that his administration would implement their recommendations.
Another major achievement of the Yar’Adua administration was the decision to
commence the dredging of the River Niger. This was after being on the drawing board
for more than 40 years.
The project when completed would revolutionise transportation in the country and allow
ships to carry heavy goods from the ports to the hinterland, thereby easing the pressure
on the nation’s road network.
Another major area that the Yar’Adua administration tried to tackle was the power
sector. He had promised during the campaigns to declare a state of emergency within
the sector. It also embarked on the attainment of at least 6,000 megawatts of
electricity by December 2009.
Perhaps, one area that late President Yar’Adua will be remembered in the annals of
Nigeria’s democratic project is electoral reform. When he assumed office as president
on May 29, 2007 at the Eagle Square, Abuja, before a tumultuous crowd of teeming
Nigerians, he was humble enough to acknowledged that the electoral process that
brought him into office was deeply flawed and promised in his inaugural speech entitled
“The Challenge is Great; The Goal is Clear” that he was going to reform the electoral
system.
On August 28, 2007, late Yar’Adua kept his promise to reform the electoral system
when he inaugurated a 22-man Electoral Reform Panel led by Justice Muhammed Lawal
Uwais, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The Uwais-led panel at the end of its assignment submitted a comprehensive report
which was tabled before the National Council of State. It received their approval, after
which the Yar’Adua administration sent bills to the National Assembly based on the
reform proposals, noting that the bill would address key challenges to the nation’s
democracy.
The stage set by the late president led to various reforms in the electoral process
which guided the conduct of one of the most credible general elections in 2011. Even
within his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Yar’Adua, as the leader of the
party, insisted that electoral reform must begin within the then ruling party. The internal
cleansing initiated by him drastically reduced the impunity that was hitherto associated
with primaries and imposition of candidates.
Late Yar’Adua was born in Katsina Town, Katsina State, in 1951.
He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina, in 1958 and left
Rafukka for Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962 from where he completed his
primary education in 1964.
Between 1965-1969, he was at the Government College, Keffi, in present-day Nasarawa
State for his secondary education.
He then moved to the famous Barewa College, Zaria, for his Higher School Certificate
between 1970-1971. For his university education, former President Yar’Adua attended
the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, from 1972-1975 where he obtained the
Bachelor of Science Degree in Education/Chemistry. He returned to the same university
from 1978-1980 for his Masters Degree in Analytical Chemistry.
Yar’Adua’s working career began at the Holy Child College, Lagos, for the mandatory
one year National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, between 1975 and 1976.
He was a lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria,
between 1976 and 1979. He moved to Katsina Polytechnic as a lecturer in 1979 and
was there until 1983 when he left public service.
His movement to the private sector started at Sambo Farms in Funtua, Katsina State,
as its pioneer General Manager between 1983-1989.
He served as a Board Member, Katsina State Farmers’ Supply Company
between1984-1985, member, Governing Council of Katsina College of Arts, Science and
Technology, Zaria, and Katsina Polytechnic between 1978-1983, Board Chairman of
Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company between 1994-1996.
He 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, between 1995-1999.
Yar’Adua’s foray into politics began as a lecturer when he became an active member
and mobilizer for the defunct Peoples’ Redemption Party, PRP.
During the transition programme of former 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, SDP. 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. He contested the 1991 governorship
election, but lost to the candidate of the National Republican Convention.
At the inception of General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s transition in 1998, he founded the
K34 political association which later teamed up to form the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP. He contested and won election as Governor of Katsina State in 1999 and was re-
elected in 2003.
Governor Yar’Adua is best remembered as the first governor to publicly declare his
assets and promised to do the same again at the end of his tenure.
During his tenure as governor, the state went through an unprecedented development,
culminating in profoundly transformation of the education and health institutions,
provision of rural and urban roads, electrification, water supply and agriculture. Yar’Adua
won the National Primary Education Productivity Merit Award in 2004 and the Central
Bank of Nigeria’s Best Governor Award under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme,
ACGS, in 2005.
He was happily married to Hajia Turai Umaru Yar’Adua, his first wife, who he married in
1975 and later to Hajiya Hauwa, whom he married in the 90s. He had nine children.
Until his death, the former chemistry teacher, who became Nigeria’s third democratically
elected president, was also the first leader to take over power in a civilian-civilian hand
over.
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