By Muhammad Nur Tijani
Kano, Jan. 5, 2023
A renowned Political Economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, on Friday, described the death of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’abba, as a great loss to the entire nation.
Utomi said this when he paid a condolence visit to Na’Abba’s family in Kano.
He said that the deceased was a forthright politician who stood for the truth and the independence of the legislature.
“The late Na’Abba was a parliamentarian par excellence who promoted and defended legislative independence during his tenure as the speaker of the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
“He represents all Nigerians during his time at the national assembly, the season at which we had an independent legislature that government policy could be aligned to the service to the people.”
“We, the civil society organisations, collaborated with him in those days.
“We stood by him to ensure that we have a working system many years afterwards. As we saw the drift, we thought that we needed to create a different way to save the country,” he said.
Utomi said that the desire of all true nationalists was to lift the spirit of the late Ghali Na’abba and make it part of the rallying point for rebuilding Nigeria for the good of all.
“I, therefore, want to commiserate with the Na’Abba family in particular, Kano State and Nigeria in general.
“I pray God to forgive his shortcomings and grant him Aljannat firdaus,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Na’Abba died in Abuja on Dec. 27, 2023 at the age of 65 and has since been buried.
