Ex-President’s handover note to Jonathan hijacked, says brother
Ambassador of the Universal Peace Federation, New York, Prof Sani Lugga, canvassed the adoption of an amnesty programme for terrorists and other non-state actors as an option to tackle the lingering security challenge in the country.
Lugga made the call, weekend, during the 14th memorial of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and the unveiling of the book What Yar’Adua Told Me and Taught Me, a book written by Dr Muttaka Darma.
He said the call became necessary because the military offensive failed to tackle the problem and led to more suffering of the masses.
Suggesting that the amnesty programme be patterned after that of Yar’Adua, which restored peace in the Niger Delta region, the don explained that the amnesty programme was not the same as the dialogue scheme some state governors implemented in the past when trying to address the security challenges in their various states.
“I plead with the federal and state governments to consider adopting an amnesty programme to tackle the security situation in the country. We are aware that the (Katsina) state government has vowed not to dialogue with terrorists; this is the right thing because there is a difference between dialogue and amnesty.
“In dialogue, you call them and negotiate, and that is what some state governors did last time. When you do so, you would be negotiating from a position of weakness and such becomes counterproductive. But Yar’Adua did not dialogue with the Niger Delta militants. He gave a 60-day grace and said that anyone that surrenders his weapon within the period would be forgiven, among other privileges,” the don said.
Lugga, who described Yar’Adua as a “patriotic and committed personality”, said the actualisation of the first community tertiary institution in the state, Al-Qalam University, was among other legacies he left behind.
Younger brother to the late president, Senator Abdulaziz Yar’Adua (Katsina Central), said though the security situation in the country was far from over, “the military is working day and night” to tackle the situation.
On the impasse at the Presidential Villa in 2010 when Yar’Adua travelled for medical attention, he said the late President had written a handover note for his vice, Goodluck Jonathan, while he was in a critical health condition, but it ended up in the wrong hands.
The senator said when he was in Saudi Arabia during the critical moment of the late President, he heard people complaining that his brother (Yar’Adua) did not hand over power.
He added: “I was disturbed that he left the country without handing over power, especially knowing the kind of person he was. When I inquired, I was told that he had written a note, but it was not sent to the right place. This was the reason they resolved to use the Doctrine of Necessity at that time.”
Senator Yar’Adua added that the family, then, had been supportive, even when the Federal Government’s delegation of some ministers and the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF) was sent to assess the late president’s situation on whether to use Section 144b of the Constitution to declare him incapacitated.
He thanked the state government for organising the event to reflect on the good deeds of the late Yar’Adua, which according to him, had made a great impact on the state and the nation in general.
