The Muslim Congress (TMC) has called on Nigerians especially leaders in various sectors to emulate humility, simplicity, patriotism and honesty of the late former president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
Its President, Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem, said the late Shagari’s death calls for “a moment of reflection for us as well as the nation as we commiserate with his immediate and extended family, as well as the generality of Nigerians.”
Dr AbdurRaheem said: “… while he occupied the highest office in the nation as the president between 1979 and 1983. He was a shining example of hard work and dedication as he rose gradually from being a teacher after having graduated from the Teachers’ Training College in Zaria, Kaduna in 1952, through being parliamentary secretary to the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and eventually becoming the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is indeed a legacy that the youths of today must emulate. You can be what you want to be as long as you aspire and do the toil and learn as you grow gradually. The get-rich-quick syndrome is really unsustainable and leads to nowhere even after having deprived you of your values and integrity.
“In the service of the nation, the late Shagari was not about primitive acquisition for self but rather struggled for the development of the nation. During the oil boom, he launched some road networks across the country. He initiated a programme to foster the use of mechanical machinery in farming which favoured mass production by large scale farmers. He created a low cost housing scheme, completed the Kaduna refinery, and constructed an additional steel plant and three rolling mills at Ajaokuta. He also completed the Delta Steel Complex in 1982 and created the Aluminium Smelter Company in Ikot Abasi in 1983. And with the ‘Green Revolution,’ he distributed seeds and fertilizer to increase nationwide productivity in farming. This is one area where politicians need to emulate the late former president. Politicians need to use the resources of the nation for the development and progress of the people through the provision of infrastructure and amenities that make life easy for all. The greed and self-centredness that today’s politicians display will not take the nation to the promise land.”
According to the TMC leader, the late Shagari was a good family man who believed in the unity and diversity of the nation.
“He married three wives and had many children. He was made the Turaki of the Fula Sokoto Caliphate in 1962 by the Sultan of Sokoto, Siddiq Abubakar III. He was the Ochiebuzo of Ogbaland, the Ezediale of Aboucha and the Baba Korede of Ado-Ekiti. He was indeed a man of many parts who lived a life of sacrifice for the nation that he believed in. If we are all patriotic, honest and selfless and commit hard work and integrity into the building of a new nation-state, it will not be long when Nigeria will be progressive and prosperous and will be celebrated by the comity of nations,” he said.
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