Balarabe Musa laid to rest

The body of Alhaji Balarabe Musa, second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, has been laid to rest in Kaduna.

The body was buried at the Ungwar Sarki cemetery after prayers were held at Sultan Bello Mosque.

The funeral prayer conducted immediately after the Asri (early evening prayer) was attended by many people who came from within and outside the Kaduna metropolis to pay their last respect to the former governor.

The funeral prayer was led by Sheikh Ahmed Gumi.

The event was also attended by two former Governors, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, while Governor Nasir El-Rufai who was said to have travelled out of the country, was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Balarabe Abbas Lawal.

Others sighted are; Senator Shehu Sani, Chief Judge of Kaduna State, Justice Mohammed Lawal, Alhaji Lema Jibril, PDP Governorship Candidate in 2019 election, Hon. Isah Mohammed Ashiru, former executive secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Alhaji Hussaini Jallo, and many serving and former Commissioners and District Heads.

Former Governor Ramalan Yero, who spoke to journalists shortly after the prayer, described Balarabe Musa as a politician with integrity, whose virtues should be emulated by the current crop of leaders.

He said Balarabe Musa demonstrated that leadership and politics are about people.

“What we the current crop of leaders must learn from him is his honesty and consistency in life. If you look at the politicians of today, they keep jumping from one political party to the other seeking position. But, if you look at Balarabe Musa, since 1981 when he was impeached as Governor, he never left his PRP until his death.

“He worked tirelessly for the progress and development of Kaduna state, northern Nigeria, and Nigeria as a whole. So, his death is a big loss to our state, region, and country at large,” Yero said.

Balarabe Musa, a left-wing Nigerian politician, was elected Governor of the then Kaduna state (comprising Kaduna and Katsina states) during the Nigerian second republic on the platform of PRP with a socialist ideology that believes in welfare of the common man, the poor.

He held office from October 1979 until he was impeached by the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) dominated Kaduna State House of Assembly on 23 June 1981.