Turai Yar’Adua: Yar’Adua was a leader not a dictator

Turai Yar’Adua has lamented the precarious state Nigeria is in today, saying that it would not have been so if her husband’s administration had not been cut short by his sickness and eventual death.

The Wife of late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua noted that Nigeria would have been much better if he had finished his tenure but for the lingering sickness that eventually terminated his vision-driven life.

“The situation in Nigeria would have been better had my husband, the late President, survived his ailment because he was a focused, committed and determined leader.

“Although my husband was sick for a long time, he did his very best for Nigeria. Also as governor of Katsina State, he did his best for the state; he is an honest man who believed in service,” she said.

Underscoring the humility of Musa Yar’Adua, she said he once told her that his relatives would quarrel with her after his death as they would think that he had left so much money.

The former First Lady, who spoke at a recent memorial lecture in honour of the late President in Katsina, also said: “The late Yar’Adua was not a materialist leader who believed in accumulating wealth. In fact, he shunned material things as his slogan was service to humanity.

“There was a time he said to me: ‘Turai, I pity you because when I die you will have quarrels with my relatives because they will think I have so much money in my possession’.”

Extolling his virtues as a leader, Turai said the late President would not give out contract without having the money to pay for it.

“There was a time I approached him that people are complaining that the government was slow. But he said to me, ‘people can say whatever they like but I will not give out contract if I have no money to pay’.

“The late Umaru was a kind of leader that would go out and monitor projects. I could recall when I used to join him to supervise hospital and road projects,” she said.