The new Kaduna State governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, has revealed that
some people in government would have succeeded in making the late Yakowa
to sack him from office as deputy governor last week.
This
revelation was coming on the heels of remarks by former head of state,
General Yakubu Gowon, that he was to fly in the same chopper that killed
Yakowa and others, but God saved him from the tragic death.
Governor
Yero, in his valedictory speech on Wednesday, in honour of the late
Yakowa, said some few days to Yakowa’s death, the plot to remove him
from office thickened, as some commissioners lied to the late governor
that he was complaining of being marginalised from the running of
government.
His words: “When late Yakowa became the governor
following the elevation of Alhaji Muhammed Namadi Sambo as
Vice-President in 2010, I was still a serving Commissioner for Finance
and I went to congratulate Yakowa as the new governor in his house.
“I
first greeted the wife as customs demand before going to see the
governor, in fact, I went with some people who were waiting for me
outside and he called me as usual, exchequer.
“He brought out a
sheet of paper containing about six or seven names and my name was among
and he said: “These names were given to me for consideration and
advice,’ but that if he didn’t feel comfortable, he could choose any one
he feels.
“My name was there and he said to me even if your name
is not there, I want to work with you, I don’t want the vice president
to take you to Abuja and away from Kaduna State. He then asked for my
opinion and I said let’s leave everything to God and he agreed, I did
not even tell those I came with when I came outside.
“After a
year, while trying to resolve certain crisis, he told me that he was
asked by some commissioners and other people to drop me because of the
crisis and he said no.
“About two to three weeks ago, something
happened and he called me in his office and about the third time, he
said, commissioners and certain people are complaining that I said I was
not being carried along in the running of the state and I said I don’t
know them and don’t want to know them, I asked him to put all these
behind us and let us work together.
“I told him my part where I
felt he has wronged me and we resolved it. There is one problem which is
communication gap between us and he said let us close that gap and put
the people to shame.
“He said, whatever I see, I should talk to
him. I am a happy man that today I am parting with my boss without
holding anything against him or him holding anything against me. On
Friday, he told me that everything belongs to God, and that someday, he
may be no more and that I could be the governor and that he was going to
Port Harcourt, Bayelsa, Lagos and end up in Abuja.”
Yero said he would continue to emulate Yakowa’s patience because it was the secret that propelled him to success in life.
Meanwhile,
former head of state, Gowon said in Kafanchan, on Wednesday, said he
narrowly missed chopper that killed Yakowa and others.
The
Information Minister, Labaran Maku, also narrated how he escaped death
by whiskers, saying “on that fateful day, a number of us were in
Okoroba Kingdom in Bayelsa State to pay last respect to the departed
father of Special Adviser on Strategy and Documentation, Mr Oronto
Douglas. I went there because Oronto has been an old friend of mine and
we have worked in government together.
“When we arrived, the late
governor of Kaduna State, Yakowa and General Andrew Azazi were already
seated. The two of them were full of life, we greeted, we embraced and
later we went for the funeral, unknown to us, we did not know it would
be the last moment we will have with these two distinguished sons of
Nigeria.”
He added: “When we met in Bayelsa, it was a twist of
fate that we did not board the same chopper because on that day, the
Special Adviser to the Vice-President, Sani Umar and myself and Timi
Alaibe were suppose to travel together with the two of them back to Port
Harcourt.
“Somehow, just before we could take off from the
funeral arena, Sani backed out and decided to travel alone. I myself
stood up and was going together with them but by some involuntary
action, I returned to my seat. I said I would wait for a moment. That
was simply the twist of fate that kept us alive.
Speaking in
Bayelsa, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
described Azazi “as an Ijaw tree that supports the people.
“A
big tree has fallen in Ijawland and the clay pot that supports the state
has fallen. For Governor Yakowa, who I met as a minister, he wanted
nothing more than to heal the division in his state. It is clear that
the only sure thing in life is death. We don’t know the time and manner
it will come but it will come.”
As a mark of honour for late
governor, NSA and other victims of last Saturday helicopter crash in
Bayelsa State, Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council
(FEC) ended without treating any of the memoranda slated for
consideration.
Others who died in the ill-fated Navy chopper
crash were their aides, Dauda Tsoho and Warrant Officer Mohammed Kamal
and the pilots, Commander Muritala Mohammed Daba and Lieutenant
Adeyemi O. Sowole.
Meanwhile, today, President Goodluck Jonathan
will lead other top government officials to Kaduna for the burial of
the former governor.
President Jonathan announced that the FEC
meeting would be a valedictory session for the victims as soon as he
stepped into the council chambers, venue of the meeting and immediately
nominated the Minister of Information, Mr Maku, to move a motion to that
effect.
He also said no memorandum would be considered because
of the mood of nation, but that he would attend to any request that
could not wait till January 9, 2013 adjourned date of FEC.
Minister
of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, seconded
the motion, while the president nominated few ministers representing
Kaduna and Bayelsa states, as well as the six geopolitical zones of the
country to eulogize the victims, based on their personal knowledge of
them.
In his remarks, President Jonathan described December 15,
the day of the crash, as a black Saturday in the history of the nation,
as all the victims served their country selflessly.
He described
Yakowa as a different breed of politician who never exploited ethnic or
religious sentiments for selfish ends while believing in the unity of
the country.
As for the former NSA, he noted that he was a fine and selfless officer who served his country meritoriously.
According
to him, “the victims are Nigerians that have served this country. For
Governor Yakowa, I knew him when he became the deputy governor of Kaduna
State. I had some interactions with him and since then, we have been
interacting. Then I knew him more when the then governor of Kaduna State
was moved to Abuja to assist me as Vice-President and Yakowa became the
governor of the state.
The president recalled how he never met General Azazi until in 2004, though they were from the same state.
“For
General Azazi, though we are both from Bayelsa State and Ijaw ethnic
nationality, I never met him until 2004 when the then Brigadier Azazi
was made the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI). I was then the
deputy governor of Bayelsa. Somebody came to me that one of our own has
been made the DMI and that was a prestigious posting in the Army. And I
said I was going to receive him and have a little party for him, and
hosted him one evening in Abuja, in one of their officers’ mess.
“From
that time, we started interacting, then he was promoted to
Major-General and made General Officer Commanding (GOC) One Division,
Kaduna and then he was also made the Chief of Army Staff. That was
another level of our interaction in 2006, then I was the governor of
Bayelsa State.”
Noting that General Azazi left a 90-year-old
mother behind, the President said: “Can you imagine how a 90-year-old
mother will mourn a son who did very well and rose to become a four-star
general in the Nigerian Army.”
Also speaking, Vice-President
Namadi Sambo, who said he received the news with great shock and deep
pain, described the death of Yakowa who, he said, he knew and
interacted with for over 25 years, as a peaceful and selfless gentleman.
He revealed that they first met when he (Sambo) was made a
Commissioner for Agriculture in Kaduna State in 1986 and he personally
requested for Yakowa, a permanent secretary at the time, to be posted to
his ministry because of his thoroughness in doing his work.
On Azazi, he said he was a fine gentleman who he knew from his days as the GOC One Division Kaduna.
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