Life and times of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua

The Daily Times at 91 remembered and honoured the 13th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua posthumously for being the first elected officer to declare his personal assets when he took office in 28 June 2007. He revealed his assets from May declaring that he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities – a benchmark for comparison later to see if he misappropriated funds, and this he did to set an example for other Nigerian politicians and discourage corruption which was rife in the country at the time. Record shows even now that the polity is still struggling to accommodate this high profile standard to date.

The Daily Times remembers him as an exceptional leader who left a legacy of a clean government which included transparency, electoral reforms and an amnesty with militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
The former chemistry teacher was taciturn and down-to-earth; the one thing that stood in his way was his health. An international media eulogised him as “a leader who achieved many of the reforms he promised mainly because his health had got in the way … but he had achieved something.”

Yar’Adua on assuming office pledged respect for the rule of law, and his emergence marked the very first transfer from one civilian president to another since Nigeria won independence in 1960.
Born into an aristocratic Fulani family in Katsina, his father, a former Minister for Lagos – this same Lagos(!) during the First Republic, held the chieftaincy  title of Matawalle (custodian of the royal treasury) of the Katsina Emirate,  a title which Yar’Adua inherited and sustained through his life time.

He started his education at Rafukka Primary School in 1958, and moved to Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962. He attended the Government College at Keffi from 1965 until 1969. In 1971 he received a Higher School Certificate from Barewa College and attended the Ahamadu Bellow University, Zaria from 1972 to 1975, obtaining a B.Sc. degree in Education and Chemistry, and then returned in 1978 to achieve an M.Sc. degree in Analytical Chemistry.

Professional career
Yar’Adua’s first employment was at Holy Child College in Lagos (1975–76). He later served as a lecturer at the College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria, Kaduna State, between 1976 and 1979. In 1979 he began working as a lecturer at College of Art Science, remaining in this position until 1983, when he began working in the corporate sector.

Yar’Adua worked at Sambo Farms Ltd in Funtua, Katsina State, as its pioneer General Manager between 1983 and 1989. He served as a Board Member of Katsina State Farmers’ Supply Company between 1984 and 1985, Member of the Governing Council of Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology Zaria and Katsina Polytechnic between 1978 and 1983, Board Chairman of Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company (KIPDECO) between 1994 and 1996. He served as a director of many companies, including Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd, 1995–99; Lodigiani Nigeria Ltd, 1987–99, Hamada Holdings, 1983–99; and Madara Ltd, Vom, Jos, 1987–99. He was Chairman of Nation House Press Ltd, Kaduna, from 1995 to 1999.

Political career
Yar’Adua joined the leftist People’s Redemption Party (PRP) during Second republic (1979-1983), while his father was briefly the National Vice Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria.

During the Transition Programme of President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Yar’Adua was one of the foundation members of the Peoples Front, a political association under the leadership of his elder brother, the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. That association later fused to form the Social Democratic Party. Yar’Adua was also a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly, a member of the party’s National Caucus and the SDP State Secretary in Katsina and contested the 1991 Governorship election, but lost to Saidu Barda, the candidate of the National Republican Convention and an ally of Babangida. In 1999, he contested for the same position and won and was re-elected in 2003. Even as a Governor, Yar’Adua was the first to declare his assets publicly.

Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State has attributed the achievements recorded in the state to the sagacity of former governor and late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Why he caught Obasanjo’s attention

It was recorded that late Yar’Adua worked very hard as governor to provide dividends of democracy for his people and after he had left, people were still talking about the good things he did.
He attracted Obasanjo’s attention because Yar’Adua was one of few serving governors with a spotless record, devoid of any suspicion or charges of corruption.

Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua married Turai Umaru Yar’Adua of Katsina in 1975;[8] they had seven children (five daughters and two sons).
He also married Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife from 1992 to 1997. They had two children.