The National Chairman of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has said that the party would ensure a befitting burial for the late Chief Solomon Lar, its pioneer National Chairman.
Tukur, who said this in Abuja when he briefed newsmen, said the party would greatly miss Lar who was “a light in the political firmament.’’
He said the vacuum created by the death of Lar would be difficult to fill “because he was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute.”
The PDP national chairman said Lar as a former Governor of Plateau and one who had always been in the corridors of power, never compromised his stance.
“He started young as a Parliamentary Secretary and was always in the corridors of power and politics but never compromised’’, Tukur stressed.
He stated that although Lar was dead, the PDP leadership would continue to work toward ensuring enduring peace in the party.
This, according to him, was the desire of Lar as manifested symbolically in the white handkerchief he always waved at political meetings.
“It is a pity that Lar had gone, but we will continue to pray and ask for peace which he had already prayed for’’, Tukur said.
He prayed God to grant his soul a peaceful rest and his family, the PDP family and the nation the fortitude to bear his loss.
“All we can say is to pray for his family, friends and associates to take solace because it is very difficult to replace such a giant’’, Tukur said.
Meanwhile, a condolence register had been opened at the PDP national headquarters for the late Lar who died at the age of 80 in a U.S. hospital.
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun has described the death of Chief Solomon Lar, the first civilian Governor of Plateau as “a big blow to Nigeria’s democracy.’’
A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Funmi Wakama, quoted Amosun as saying the exit of Lar had left a vacuum in the political firmament of Nigeria.
The governor said the vacuum would be difficult to fill.
He described Lar as an icon of democracy whose contributions to the enthronement of civil rule in Nigeria would remain indelible in the history of the nation.
“As civilian governor of Plateau, Lar brought development to the nooks and crannies of the state.
“He was a true democrat, detribalised Nigerian and a firm believer in the rule of law, justice and equity’’, the governor said.
Amosun, who commiserated with the family of the late statesman, government and people of Plateau, counselled them to take solace in the fact that the deceased lived an exemplary life.
While committing the soul of the deceased to the care of God, the governor prayed God would grant the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.