Umaru Yar’Adua
Former Nigerian ambassador urges government to negotiate with bandits
A former Nigerian ambassador to the Philippines and Algeria, Orefo Onochie, has told the federal government to consider the option of negotiating with the insurgents, currently terrorising Nigeria, if that would make the bandits to embrace lasting peace. Onochie who spoke newsmen in Abuja on Sunday said that negotiating with the bandits would prove a wiser option in the long run. According to him, there is nothing wrong in negotiating with bandits if that can end banditry, insurgency and kidnappings in parts of the country. The diplomat argued that Nigeria should not continue to be held hostage by terrorists, especially in the north. He also expressed worry over what he described as the persistent cases of kidnappings and killing of farmers by herdsmen in farming communities in parts of th...
Ex-President Obasanjo: I knew Umaru Yar’Adua was ill
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed he knew the late President Musa Yar’Adua was ill before he supported him to emerge the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2007. He however said he got medical advice that Yar’Adua, who had a kidney transplant, was fit to act as President. Yar’Adua, who later won the 2007 presidential election, died in office in May 2010. Obasanjo, who spoke on Sunday in a virtual interview with academic and historian, Toyin Falola, denied allegation he deliberately put up weak candidates for selfish interests. He said: “Let me tell you the story of Umaru Yar’adua. I knew he was ill and before I put him forward, I asked for his medical report which he sent to me and I sent it to one of the best doctors of our time and a good friend of mine who ...
