By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned the death of one of his senior friends, Pa Gabriel Igboanugo, whom he called “Daddy” through their years of friendship.

Pa Igboanugo was the Principal Education Officer at Command Secondary School in Jos, the Plateau State capital, and had a close and amicable relationship with the President, who was then the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army in the town.

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The widow of Pa Igboanugo, Lady Margaret Igboanugo, in a private letter to President Buhari, wrote: “My husband, whom you used to fondly call ‘Daddy,’ passed away the way he lived – peacefully and in comfort – in his home in Ihiala, Anambra State. He will be buried there on Friday, November 27, 2020.”

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari mourns Mr. Gabriel Igboanugo, 95, a man he fondly used to call ‘Daddy’ when he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, Jos, Plateau State.

“The President commiserates with the Igboanugo family, urging them to take solace in the fact that their patriarch lived to a ripe old age, and touched the lives of countless number of people that came across his way.”