Top 4 personalities who died in Aso Rock
The official residence and workplace of Nigeria’s President, the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja has witnessed the death of top four personalities since Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991.
The DAILY TIMES investigation reveals that the first death the most protected presidential house in Africa witnessed in 1998 was that of the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
General Abacha became the Head of State in November 1993 when he ousted the Interim National Government headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan, and died in office in June 1998.
He was famous for making the dawn broadcast of the coup d?etat which terminated the first civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, in December 1983.
As the GOC of 2 Div of the Nigerian Army in Ibadan, he also played a key role in the palace coup detat of August 1985 which ousted the military regime of the then Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (the current President).
Following the successful coup, Abacha served as the Chief of Army Staff from 1985 to 1990, and was named the Chief of Defence Staff/Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 1990 to 1993 when he was appointed the Minister of Defence.
In 1993 Abacha became the first Nigerian soldier to attain the full rank of a four-star general without skipping a single rank.
The second major death incident at the Villa was that of the 13th Head of Government of Nigeria, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died on 5th May, 2010.
He was Executive Governor of Katsina State in the North West of Nigeria from 29th May, 1999 to 28th May, 2007.
He was declared the winner of the controversial presidential election held on 21st April, 2007 and was sworn in on 29th May, 2007. He was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2009, President Yar’Adua left for Saudi Arabia for treatment of a malignant pericarditis. He returned to Nigeria on 24th February, 2010 but did not fully recover until he died on 5th May, 2010.
The third major death at the Villa was that of Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, the First Lady of Nigeria until she died in October 2005
She was the official wife of the sitting President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Mrs. Stella Obasanjo died some weeks ahead her 60th birthday at a private hospital in Puerto Banus, Marbella in Spain following complications from elective liposuction, plastic surgery.
The fourth and latest death is that of the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Abba Kyari who died on 17th of April 2020.
He died at a private hospital facility in Lagos where he was receiving treatment for COVID-19.
The late Abba Kyari, aged 67, was believed to have contracted coronavirus during an official visit to Germany to discuss Nigerian?s power solutions.
A trained lawyer, Mallam Kyari was a former Managing Director of UBA Plc, former editor of Kaduna-based The Democrat newspaper.
