Former Second Republic President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari died yesterday, 28 December, aged 93.
He was taken to the hospital on Christmas Day and placed on admission.
Alhaji Shagari died at about 6.30 at the National Hospital, Abuja, according to his grandson, Bello Shagari.
“I regret announcing the death of my grandfather, H.E Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who died right now after a brief illness at the National Hospital, Abuja,” the younger Shagari said on his Twitter handle.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Shagari’s home state, also confirmed the death of the elder statesman on his Twitter handle.
He said: “I regret to announce the death of former President Shehu Shagari who just passed away at National Hospital Abuja. May his soul rest in peace.”
His Sama Road, Sokoto residence was in a sober mood as family members received condolences from sympathisers.
Brief History
He was born in 1925 in Shagari village
Shagari was sent to a Quranic school before attending Yabo elementary school between 1931 and 1935.
Thereafter, he attended the Sokoto Middle School between 1936 and 1940 and Kaduna College from 1941 to 1944.
He later trained as a teacher at the Teachers Training College, in Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria.
From 1953-1958, Shagari was a visiting teacher in Sokoto Province.
He joined politics in 1951 and became the secretary of the Northern People’s Congress in Sokoto, Nigeria.
In 1954, he was elected into the House of Representative for Sokoto West and in 1958, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
He was at various times member of the Federal Scholarship Board (1954-1958), Federal Minister of Commerce and Industries, Federal Minister of Pensions, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Works, Federal Commissioner for Economic Development, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (1970-71) and Federal Commissioner for Finance (1971-75).
The late former president assumed office on October 1, 1979 after winning that year’s election on the platform of the now defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
He took over from Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who stepped down in fulfilment of the pledge of the military government that overthrew Gen. Yakubu Gowon in 1975.
Shagari who contested on a joint ticket with the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, was re-elected for a second term in 1983, but his tenure lasted a few months as he was sacked following a military coup on December 31 the same year.
He was detained for several months after he was ousted, and once released, he relocated to Sokoto to live a quiet life.