Shettima, Ministers Attend Ex-Finance Minister Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji’s Funeral
From Bashir Rabe Mani in Sokoto
The former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Sardaunan Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, who died on Thursday at a hospital in Abuja, has been buried in Sokoto in accordance with Islamic injunctions.
The funeral prayer was led by the Chief Imam of Sultan Bello Juma’at Mosque, Sokoto, Sheikh Muhammad Bello Akwara.
The prayer was attended by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Also in attendance were the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, and of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu.
The Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Engr. Idris Muhammad Gobir, represented Gov. Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, who is out of the country.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Speaker of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Tukur Bala Bodinga, and other dignitaries from across Nigeria also attended the funeral prayer.
Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1986. He was also a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
As Sardaunan Sokoto, he was a respected elder statesman and prominent title holder in the Sokoto Caliphate.
Tributes poured in at the burial, with dignitaries describing him as a patriot, administrator and bridge builder whose contributions to national development will be long remembered.
They prayed for Allah to forgive him and grant him Aljannah Firdaus.
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