I’m Proud That PDP Produced A Decent Leader Like Him – Atiku Praises Yar’Adua

Atiku said Yar’Adua’s administration was the only one that did not suffer from executive-legislative tensions

Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has showered praises on late ex-President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Describing him as a decent leader, Atiku said he was proud that his party, PDP, produced a leader like him.

In a statement released on Sunday, May 5, 2019, Atiku recalled that Yar’Adua passed away on May 5, 2010.

Atiku also praised Yar’adua for bringing peace to the former volatile Niger Delta through the introduction of the amnesty programme.

Atiku said:“The late President Yar’Adua was a man I was closely connected to.

“First, because his late brother, the great Tafida of Katsina, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, was my political mentor who taught both myself and Umaru the ropes in politics.

“Obviously, with Umaru, the apple did not fall far from the tree. And secondly, because we worked very, very closely when he was the Governor of Katsina State at the time I was Vice President to our leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“In this period when Nigeria is facing almost unprecedented violence and insecurity, the world will remember that it was President Yar’Adua who bequeathed peace to the Niger Delta through his futuristic and visionary amnesty and rehabilitation programme.”

Apart from the amnesty program which was said to have brought about an unprecedented improvement in the performance of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, the action according to Atiku led to record-breaking five percent Gross Domestic Product growth.

According to the former Vice President, Yar’Adua was an advocate and proponent of the Rule of Law and the doctrine of Separation of Power.