It was with deep sadness that I received the news of the passage of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in the late hours of Wednesday, May 5, 2010. While the members of family of our departed President are the primary mourners in this grave loss, our nation is itself no less a big loser.
I join all compatriots in offering prayers to the nation and the
family of President Yar’Adua; that Almighty Allah grant him eternal repose, and give his family and the nation the strength to bear this great loss.
Nations rise from the depth of tragedy to make quantum leaps in their stride to the future. This can also be a significant message in this loss, which can provide us the opportunity of a needful national healing.
If we use the opportunity of this passage to dedicate ourselves to the most challenging priorities of the moment: sincere electoral reform as well as a true national economic, political, and ethical rebirth, the president’s stint in office, and his vision for a better nation would not be in vain.
Nuhu Ribadu
Centre for Global Development
Washington, DC,
U.S.A