Buhari Pays Heartfelt Tribute to Associate, Abba Ali 

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday received in audience members of the bereaved family of his friend and decades long associate, late Senator Abba Ali, in Daura who came to share their common loss of a man who diligently served Nigeria. 

The family members, including the children of the deceased, were led to the President by the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar. 

In a tribute, the President, according to a release issued by his spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, described the death of the Chairman of the National Governance Council of the African Peer Review-NEPAD as an irreparable loss of an irreplaceable friend whom he said had “a warm personality and affable manners that won him a lot of respect and admiration. Words are of little solace at this time.”

The family members, in a speech by Alhaji Usman, Tarnon Katsina, said they were all aware of the social and emotional bonds between President Buhari and their late father and thanked him for his support to the deceased following the tragic accident, and the family, after he passed on.

They prayed for peaceful elections in the country and a safe return home for the President after successful completion of his second term. 

In a related development, President Buhari has

sympathised with the Oganah family of Ogbe-Obi, Onicha-Ugbo Kingdom in Delta State over the demise of their matriarch, Ezinne Princess Roseline Obiajulu Oganah (née Uzomah), aged 83.

The President urged the grieving family to find solace in the good works of Princess Oganah, that she lived a warm and elevating life, and touched many lives with her kindness, particularly as a civil servant before retirement.

President Buhari condoled with her family members, which include Prince Austyn Ogannah, who is Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, THEWILL Newspaper and Downtown Magazine.

The President also prayed for the repose of her soul.