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Tag: Yakowa

  • Jonathan leads FG delegation to Yakowa’s burial

    Jonathan leads FG delegation to Yakowa’s burial

    …FEC holds special session for governor, Azazi

    President Goodluck Jonathan will lead the Federal Government delegation to Kaduna for the burial of late Governor Patrick Yakowa on Thursday.

    Yakowa died in Saturday’s helicopter crash in Bayelsa State.

    Other victims of the crash are the former National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, their aides and two co-pilots.

    They were in Okoroba in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State for the burial of Pa. Obebara Douglas, father of Mr. Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to the President on Research and Documentation

    The president, who spoke during Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting described last Saturday as a black day for the country.

    The FEC  held a special session in honour of the crash victims.

    The atmosphere was solemn at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, venue of the meeting.

    It was also the last FEC meeting for the year. The meeting lasted about one hour and 30 minutes.

    Part of the ceremony which kicked off at exactly 10.15am and was presided over by President Jonathan included a minute silence in the memory of the victims and the signing of two separate condolence registers for Governor Yakowa and Gen. Azazi, by all cabinet members present.

    The Council Chamber was very quite in tune with the mood of the nation, as the ministers wore glooming faces.

    They did all possible to control their tears, but it was difficult as tears freely rolled down their cheeks. Condolences poured in from ministers from the six geo-political zones of the country.

    President Jonathan later announced the adjournment of the FEC meeting till January 9, 2013.

    He described Yakowa as an individual whose politics transcend beyond religion and ethnicity.

    Yakowa, according to the president, was a gentleman who believed in the unity of the country.

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  • Rain of tears as Yakowa’s body arrives in Kaduna

    Rain of tears as Yakowa’s body arrives in Kaduna

    WITH the arrival of former Governor Patrick Yakowa’s body in Kaduna yesterday, the grim reality of his death was fully felt.

    The city was thrown into mourning as the AirForce aircraft carrying the body — and the late Yakowa’s friend Dauda Tsoho’s — touched down at the Kaduna Airport in a golden casket draped in the green-white-green national colours.

    The body was conveyed from the airport through the Nnamdi Azikiwe Western Byepass to the St. Gerard Catholic Hospital, accompanied by the widow and three of their children — all clad in black dresses.

    The airport was filled with sympathisers. Many wept profusely as the plane hovered before landing.

    The huge crowd defied the security barricades and rushed on to the tarmac as the casket was being brought down from the plane to catch a glimpse of it.

    Women fellowship groups and church societies were praying and singing choruses at the airport and when the casket was brought out of the aircraft, they burst into tears.

    While handing over Yakowa’s remains to Governor Multhar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State, the leader of the Bayelsa State government delegation and Deputy Governor John Jonah said the government yesterday held a valedictory executive session in memory of the late governor who he described as a bridge builder. He urged the people to support Yero to enable him carry on with the foundation laid by the late Yakowa.

    Yero praised the government and people of Bayelsa State for their prayers. He assured the people that he would continue with the foundation laid by the late Yakowa for the sustenance of peace, unity and progress in the state.

    The Arch bishop of Kaduna Diocese of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Mathew Ndagoso, Bishop George Dodo of Zaria Diocese and the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah prayed.

    A Valedictory Executive Council meeting will hold today (Wednesday) at the Government House by 10am. The wake-keep will hold at the Government House later in the day by 3pm

    The body is expected to leave St. Gerald Catholic Hospital on Thursday for the Fadan Kagoma, for the interment after a funeral mass at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Fadan Kagoma.

    The bodies of Yakowa and his friend, Dauda Tsoho, arrived in Kaduna yesterday aboard a Nigeria AirForce cargo plane at about 2.45 pm. They were received by Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero and the widow, Amina Patrick Yakowa.

    The bodies were accompanied by former Governor of Bayelsa State and other top government officials.

    Others at the airport to receive the bodies were Senator Danjuma Goje, Senator Bukola Saraki, family members and top government officials.

    The bodies were later conveyed in a St. Gerard Hospital ambulance and driven in a motorcade through the Nnamdi Azikiwe Western bypass to Saint Gerald Catholic Hospital where they were deposited in the mortuary.

    Senate President David Mark and his wife later joined the others at the hospital from where they proceeded to the Government House to see Yakowa’s family.

    Senator Nenadi Esther Usman and the Southern Kaduna People in the United States said yesterday that the death of Yakowa has robbed the state of a bridge-builder and a unifier.

     

  • Yakowa was great, says Dickson

    Yakowa was great, says Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has described the former Governor of Kaduna State, the late Patrick Yakowa as a detribalised Nigerian, who within his short life in government, built bridges of love and unity.

    Dickson, in a tribute at the special valedictory session organised yesterday in Yenagoa by the Bayelsa Executive Council in honour of Yakowa, said: “The late Kaduna State governor was and will remain a great Nigerian patriot, who came to Bayelsa, building bridges of love and bonds of fraternity. He was a dedicated and humble servant of the people of Kaduna State and Nigeria at large.”

    The governor, who described the last Saturday incident that killed Yakowa, Azazi and others as a hurting nightmare, said the day would forever remain dark in our memories.

    He said the country lost two distinguished leaders and dedicated military officers in the ill-fated crash, adding that Yakowa died in active service while visiting Bayelsa as a friend of the state.

    According to Dickson, with Yakowa’s untimely death, “our nation has lost a great leader and democrat who lived and believed in the unity of our nation. Bayelsa has lost a great friend and I, personally, have lost an elder brother.”

    The governor was accompanied to the session by his wife, Rachael.

    He assured the late Yakowa’s widow, Aminatu that the government and people of Bayelsa would remain close to her.

    He said: “We will always be with you now and forever.”

    Former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieseigha described the late Yakowa as a brother, who served the nation and Kaduna State as a deputy governor and governor meritoriously.

    He said upon the emergence of the late Yakowa as governor of Kaduna State, many Nigerians did not give him a chance to succeed as a governor, because of the ethno-religious politics in the state.

    Alamieseigha said: “But by divine providence, he became governor when his erstwhile boss, Namadi Sambo was elevated to Vice-President. Yakowa, then proved his critics wrong by building bridges of love and unity. He was a nationalist and man of peace. His departure should be a source of encouragement to all those who value peace and humility.”

    Secretary to the Bayelsa Government, Prof. Edmund Allison-Oguru, said the valedictory session in honour of the late Yakowa was a solemn moment in the remembrance of a great Nigerian leader, who died in humility.

    He said: “From his name, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, you will see that the various ethnic groups can live together in unity. This is a man who built bridges of love and peace between the Northern and Southern Kaduna people.”

    Deputy Governor John Jonah led a government delegation to escort the body of Yakowa to Kaduna.

    Dickson is expected to lead an enlarged delegation of government and people of Bayelsa to Kaduna today to commiserate with the family of Yakowa, the government and people of Kaduna State.

    The governor said the delegation would also be in Abuja to commiserate with President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, on the death of the victims of the crash.

     

  • Yakowa: NFF commiserates with Kaduna govt, people

    Yakowa: NFF commiserates with Kaduna govt, people

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Tuesday commiserated with the government and good people of Kaduna State over the death of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, CON, saying it was mourning the departed political leader on behalf of the Nigerian football family.

    Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, CON died on Saturday afternoon after a Navy helicopter he was travelling in with other eminent persons crashed and burst into flames in Bayelsa State.

    “News of the death of Governor Yakowa struck us like a thunderbolt. He was a real supporter and lover of Nigerian football and the Nigeria Football Federation deeply grieves at his sudden departure. We recall how he was always there for the NFF and Nigeria football. Governor Yakowa hosted the international friendly match between the Super Eagles and the senior team of Zambia in Kaduna in November 2011 and also hosted the Annual General Assembly of the NFF in December 2012,” recalled NFF President, Aminu Maigari.

    Maigari added: “He was even ready to host the Super Eagles’ FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, but other circumstances conspired to render Kaduna unattractive for those games. He is gone but we believe that Almighty God will grant his soul eternal rest and give his family and the good people of Kaduna State the fortitude to bear the huge loss.”

    Governor Yakowa died alongside former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi (rtd), their personal aides and the helicopter’s pilots.

  • Sir Patrick Yakowa (1948 -2012)

    Sir Patrick Yakowa (1948 -2012)

    Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, who died tragically in a helicopter crash last Saturday in the creeks of Bayelsa State, was a good man. I first met him in 1971 through Mr. Aboki Galadima, his childhood friend who was to become his chief of staff as governor of Kaduna State. I was Galadima’s “fag” as a third year student in Government College, Bida, where he came to do his Higher School Certificate (HSC) from Government Secondary School, Abuja, both in Niger State.

    When I first met Yakowa, himself and Galadima were undergraduates at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. I was a “Basico” (student of then two-year-old School of Basic Studies of the university established jointly by the then six northern states to prepare secondary students from the region for direct admission). When we first met the man struck me as nice and somewhat withdrawn. Thereafter our paths hardly crossed until he graduated the following year to embark upon a successful career as a civil servant which culminated in his brief stint as permanent secretary at the federal level in 1999.

    I got to know him a little bit more when General Abubakar Abdulsalami, the military head of state I served as chief press secretary in 1998/’99, appointed him a minister. This, apparently, was to change his career as a technocrat into an even more successful one in politics. Even then few, if any, could’ve predicted he would end up as governor of his state, once considered the bellwether of Nigeria’s politics as capital of the old powerful North.

    But then God, as they say, moves in mysterious ways. First, Mr Steven Shekari, Governor Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi’s deputy who looked as fit as fiddle, died suddenly in 2005 during the governor’s second and final term. Makarfi replaced Shekari with Yakowa, then the secretary of his government.

    Next, Makarfi’s handpicked successor, Architect Namadi Sambo, retained him as deputy after he and a host of others, including the possibly better connected and certainly more politically ambitious Mr. Isaiah Balat, now being touted as possibly the next deputy governor of the state, lost out in the 2007 primaries of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party.

    Next, God’s mysterious hands took away President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in May 2010 after a long-drawn illness during which attempts were made by many within his kitchen cabinet to stop his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, from acting.

    The sad death resolved the high wire politics that surrounded his illness in favour of Jonathan through the invocation of a little heard of “Doctrine of Necessity” by the Senate. As president his choice of a deputy eventually fell on Governor Sambo. By constitutional progression Yakowa became governor.

    Finally after serving out Sambo’s first term, he predictably won his party’s ticket for the 2011 governorship election and went on, again predictably, to win the election itself. The election proved highly divisive, with the opposition, mainly the CPC, alleging that it was massively rigged.

    As a person Yakowa was a good man. As a politician I am not so sure he was as good. Many, even within his party, had accused him of being highly partisan in his appointments, award of contracts and distribution of projects.

    Last Monday, when I was at my vendor’s to collect my complimentary newspapers and buy others for the day, I overheard a group discussing his tragic death. Uninvited, I offered that he was a good and fair man. Someone in the group disagreed. The Yakowa I knew, he said, was not the same as a governor.

    The man said he was a senior staff in the state’s ministry of education. Before Yakowa, he said, they had eight directors split equally between the Muslim dominated northern part of the state and the Christian dominated south. Since then, he said, the directors had increased to 11 and only two were from the north. Worse still, he said, some of these new directors had neither the requisite skill nor experience. This pattern, he said, was replicated in almost everything the man did, regardless of the impression he tried to create that he was a fair man.

    This claim was perhaps exaggerated, perhaps even false. What cannot be denied, however, is that as a Nigerian politician, he was hardly different from the rest in his determination to get and retain power. This much was obvious in the recently concluded local government elections where the ruling party won an incredible 22 out of 23 local governments. Even the one local government, Kaduna North, which was conceded to the opposition seemed aimed at portraying the governor’s former boss, Vice-President Sambo, with whom he never really had any cordial relationship, as someone no longer of any consequence in the politics of the state; although Sambo is from Zaria, he has lived all his adult life in Kaduna North.

    Whatever may have been his shortcoming as a politician, the one thing I have never heard anyone accuse him of is venality and self-service. Nor have I heard anyone accuse him of lack of humility. In a nation like ours where corruption, selfishness and arrogance have become the main defining characters of its public figures, especially its politicians, Yakowa’s apparent personal integrity and humility made him a rare breed politician.

    Not least of the virtues that recommended him as rare was his apparent disavowal of the First Lady Syndrome, a thing which is not bad in itself but which, as with so many things we copy from abroad, has been turned by the wives of our elected public officers into a sophisticated grand scam. The greater credit for this must go to his wife, Dame Amina, who is probably the most self-effacing First Lady in the country, especially for a woman who is well-educated and from a liberal social background. Some credit, however, must go to her husband for allowing her to be her natural self rather than push her to be like the Joneses.

    As we mourn his death in very tragic circumstances, may his virtues become the guiding principles of his successor, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero. And may the Good Lord give all those he left behind the fortitude to bear his great loss.

     

  • Senate to probe Yakowa’s, Azazi’s death

    Senate to probe Yakowa’s, Azazi’s death

    THE Senate yesterday became the fifth body to indicate interest in investigating the cause of Saturday’s air mishap that claimed the lives of former Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser, (NSA) Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi and four others.

    It adopted a motion mandating its Committees on Navy, Air Force and Aviation to investigate the frequency of air mishaps in the country with a view to finding a permanent solution.

    The motion entitled: “Urgent need to investigate the recent crash of Naval Augusta 109 Helicopter in Bayelsa State” was sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu (Imo East).

    The Presidency, Navy, Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the House of Representatives have all served notices to probe the circumstances surrounding the crash of the naval helicopter in Bayelsa State.

    Senator Anyanwu, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, chronicled the incidences of air mishap in the country.

    She urged the upper legislative chamber to note that on December 15, an Augusta 109 helicopter, belonging to the Nigerian Navy crashed at Okoroba community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, killing everyone on board, including a serving Governor, Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, the former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi, two naval pilots and two aides.

    She also urged the Senate to note that in 2007 and 2011, there had been two crashes of similar Augusta helicopters owned by the Navy.

    The Senate, she said, should be worried at the seeming recurrence of air mishaps not just in civil aviation but also in the Nigerian military, despite public outcry.

    She noted that the Senate should be aware that between March and October 2011, there were three reported cases of air mishaps by the Air Force at different locations in the country, and that the causes of the crashes remained unknown.

    She said the Senate should be further aware that on March 21, 2011, one F7-N1 Fighter Jet, belonging to the Nigerian Air Force that was on a routine training programme crashed in Kano, killing the flight instructor.

    She said: “Between March and October 2011, there were three reported cases of air mishaps by the Air force at different locations in the country and the causes of these crashes remain unknown. The F7 fighter jet, which was reported to have come from Makurdi for a two-week training, was delivered to the Air Force by the manufacturers in China only a few days before the incident.

    “Not quite two months after, on May 11, 2011, the same hideous incident occurred again at Makurdi when another F7-N1 fighter belonging to same Nigerian Air Force, crashed into a Community Secondary School in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.

    “The investigating panels set up by the Air Force to ascertain the causes of the crashes were yet to produce their reports when another Air Force L-39 trainer jet, which was on a routine training mission from Calabar to Uyo crashed barely five months from the last crash.”

    The lawmaker said that on September 17, 2006 in Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State, an 18-Seater Dornier 228 Airforce Transport Plane, carrying senior army officers and three crew members crashed, leaving only three survivors.

    The victims of the crash, she said, were members of a committee set up by the government to reposition the army and were en route Obudu Cattle Ranch where the Officers were to hold the retreat.

    She urged the Senate to be concerned that “the resurgence of air mishaps in the country is suggestive of a deep-seated systems problem that must be unearthed and resolved to avert further unnecessary loss of lives and heavy financial losses to the nation.”

    She said the most recent air mishap has robbed the country of its prominent and valued citizens, who have given long service to the country.

    She urged her colleagues to “condemn the resurgence of air mishaps in Nigeria and the seeming inability of government to unravel the causes of the incidents; “to mandate the committees on Navy, Air Force and Aviation to investigate the frequency of air mishaps with a view to finding a permanent solution; and to observe a one-minute silence in honour of the victims of Saturday’s air crash in Bayelsa State.

    The lawmakers also urged relevant authorities to stop further use of military air craft for civil purpose.

    Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who seconded the motion, urged the Senate to take a decision on whether it would continue to allow frequent occurence of air crashes.

    Makarfi noted that civil and military air craft in the country have not proved to be air worthy.

    He said the Presidential air fleet might not be better, even as he urged the executive to conduct thorough investigation aimed at halting frequent air mishaps.

    Senator Ganiyu Solomon paid tribute to the victims of the air crash.

    He noted that the rate military aircraft crash in the country has put question mark on the capability of the country’s military.

    Solomon called for the stoppage of the use of military air craft for civil matter.

    Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti North) wanted to know who authorised the use of the naval helicopter for use.

    Adetunmbi said: “When the lives of ordinary Nigerians don’t matter, it takes a situation like this for a nation to wake up.”

    He said the government should be held responsible for the death Yakowa, Azazi and others “because government failed to do what it ought to do.”

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu blamed the crash on corruption.

    “If we don’t kill corruption in this country, corruption will kill us,” Ojodu said.

    Senator Heineken Lokpobiri (PDP-Bayelsa) urged the committee to ensure that its investigation was devoid of bias and should not be politicised.

    “We should use this crash to stop others from occurring because this has become embarrassing. So, the committee’s investigation must be total,” he said.

    Senator Danjuma Goje (PDP-Gombe) also advised the committee to make the investigation open and transparent.

    Goje pitched his tent with the position of the Governors Forum that foreign experts should be involved in the investigation.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, said more than 50,000 Nigerians had died in the last two years since the ugly trend of terrorism reared its head.

    Ekweremadu, however, called on the regulatory agencies in the aviation sector to ensure the airworthiness of every plane that took off and landed in the country.

    He also noted the need for the Senate to buckle up and tackle the problem once and for all.

    The Senate set up two committees to pay condolence visits to all the victims of the air crash and observed a minute silence in their honour.

    Ekweremadu said steps must be taken to halt the trend.

  • Senate to probe Yakowa’s, Azazi’s death in crash

    Senate to probe Yakowa’s, Azazi’s death in crash

    … Mandate committee to investigate air mishaps

    The Senate on Tuesday became the fifth body to indicate interest in the investigation of what caused last Saturday’s air mishap in Bayelsa State.

    The accident claimed the lives of Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi and five others.

    This followed the adoption of a motion which mandated its committees on Navy, Air Force and Aviation to investigate the frequency of air mishaps in the country with a view to finding a permanent solution.

    The motion entitled: “Urgent need to investigate the recent crash of Naval Augusta 109 Helicopter in Bayelsa State” was sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu (Imo East).

    The Presidency, Nigeria Navy, Nigerian Governors Forum and the House of Representatives had earlier resolved to probe the circumstances surrounding the crash of the naval helicopter in Bayelsa State.

    Anyanwu, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy in her lead debate, chronicled the incidences of air mishap in the country.

    She urged the Senate to note that “on December 15, 2012 an Augusta 109 Helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Navy crashed at Okoroba Community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, killing everyone on board, including a serving governor, Yakowa of Kaduna State, the former NSA, Azazi, two naval pilots and two aides.

    She also urged the Senate to note that in 2007 and 2011, there had been two crashes of similar Augusta helicopters owned by the Navy.

    The Senate, she said, should be worried at the seeming recurrence of air mishaps not just in civil aviation but also in the Nigerian military despite public outcry.

    Anyanwu noted that the Senate should be aware that between March and October 2011, there were three reported cases of air mishaps by the Air Force at different locations in the country and that the causes of the crashes remained unknown.

     

  • Obasanjo mourns Yakowa, Azazi

    Obasanjo mourns Yakowa, Azazi

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed shock at the death of Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna, Gen. Owoye Azazi, former National Security Adviser, and four others in Saturday’s helicopter crash in Bayelsa.

    The naval helicopter crashed in Okoroba community in Bayelsa State on Saturday, killing Yakowa, Azazi, their aides, the pilot and co-pilot.

    Obasanjo, who is in the United States, told the News Agency of Nigeria on telephone that he received news of the crash and casualty with shock and regret.

    ”This is indeed a tragedy,” he said. “Our nation has lost compatriots whose contributions have been invaluable and who would still have been giving their best to our development.”

    The former President expressed his heartfelt condolence to the families of the bereaved and prayed that God should grant them needed succour.

    ” I pray that God in His infinite mercies grants the deceased eternal rest,” Obasanjo said in the interview with NAN.

     

  • Yakowa’s, Azazi’s deaths: Lawmakers call for thorough investigation

    Two members of the House of Representatives and a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly have called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the crash of the Navy helicopter which claimed the lives of Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa; former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Andrew Owoye Azazi; and four others on Saturday.

    Mr. James Abiodun Faleke representing Ikeja Federal Constituency; his counterpart from Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency 2, Hakeem Abiodun Muniru; and a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Lagos Island Constituency 2, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King, while condoling with the families of the deceased, said only a thorough investigation into the sad event would prevent a recurrence.

    “I was devastated by the news and till now I’m still in shock. My heart goes out to the families of the deceased. I pray God gives them the fortitude to bear the huge loss. This is a tragedy,” Faleke, Chairman of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Ethics and National Values, said.

    The former Chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) said measures should be put in place by the Federal Government to ensure that the Nigerian airspace is safe.

    “There is need for a thorough and urgent investigation into this crash. Not only that the report of such investigation must be acted upon with immediate urgency by the Federal Government, if we are to prevent future occurrence, this is a matter that must not be toyed with,” he said.

    Faleke described the event as a national calamity that will affect the country negatively.

    “These are prominent Nigerians who contributed to the development of this country. Their death is a calamity to Nigeria,” he said.

    Muniru recalled that another helicopter carrying a serving Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, the late John Ahmadu, crashed shortly after taking-off in Jos in March, killing all on board. He lamented that while the country is still waiting for the report of that crash, another crash involving a military helicopter occurred, claiming the lives of a serving governor, a former NSA and four others.

    “We must investigate this latest tragedy and make the report known. It is important that we know what is causing these crashes to enable us take steps to prevent recurrence. It’s a pity that innocent Nigerians are being killed,” he said.

    The lawmaker called on the Federal Government to act fast and put in place measures that will make the Nigerian airspace safer.

    “I pray to God to grant the deceased persons eternal rest and give their families the fortitude to bear the great losses,” Muniru said.

    Alawiye-King wondered why reports of previous air crashes have not been released.

    “There was the police helicopter crash in March which killed the late DIG Ahmadu and others; there was the Dana crash; and now the Navy helicopter crash killing Yakowa, Azazi and others. Where are the reports of the other crashes? We need to investigate and act on the reports of crashes to prevent future occurrences,” he said.

    The Lagos lawmaker said the latest crash should not be swept under the carpet.

    “This calls for a thorough investigation. The Federal Government must act to prevent innocent Nigerians from dying in the air,” he said.

    Alawiye-King prayed to God to give the deceased eternal rest.

     

  • Patience Jonathan weeps for Yakowa

    Patience Jonathan weeps for Yakowa

    … Says ‘He was a peaceful man’

    The First lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on Monday broke down and wept at the official residence of the late Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, when she came on a condolence visit to the family.

    This came just as the arrival of late Yakowa’s corpse to Kaduna was delayed by another 24 hours and will now arrive the state on Tuesday.

    The first lady, who arrived the Kaduna government house at exactly 1.12pm and departed at exactly 2.08pm said, “I am sorry that I cried. I cried because I am a woman and I know what the late governor’s wife is passing through at the moment. We came here to console her and sympathise with the good people of Kaduna State.

    Her words, “Yakowa was a peaceful man. He was everything, a strong and hardworking man. My sister and friend, we seat here with you in sorrow. I want you to know that you are now the mother and father of your children and we will continue to hold you in prayers.

    “It is only God that can comfort because man cannot comfort you. May Almighty God comfort you. It is quite unfortunate because this is the time we need Yakowa most in our lives; but God has called him. My beloved sister, takes heart, bears it and be there for your children.”

    On the condolence register, she wrote, “our dearly beloved Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, we received with rude shock, the news of your sudden and painful departure. We, however, give God praise that you lived a worthy life full of honour and integrity.

    “We are also gladdened that you were a true patriot who was devoted to the welfare of your people without respect for the divides and differences. Our prayer is that God almighty will receive you into His peace and grant your sweet repose.”

    .