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National leader of the ruling All Progressives (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described his late Chief Security Officer, Alhaji Lateef Raheem, has a forthright, honest and rare professional officer who did his job to the best of his ability.
In a release personally signed and made available to Sunday Sun, Tinubu said he received the news of Lateef’s death as a rude shock on Friday, saying the deceased was in high spirit the last time he spoke with him. “We spoke on Wednesday by phone. He was in fine spirits and was looking forward to resuming work. I felt nothing but profound shock, and then the emptiness of deep loss when I was awakened early Friday that my most trusted security aide had died and that I would never see him again,” he lamented.
According to him, the late Lateef, a 51-year-old Assistant Superintendent of Police, died of complications from diabetes and high blood pressure, adding “the pain of his loss is acute.”
His words: Lateef was a person of strong and resilient character. He never took his work or his valued position as my aide for granted. He knew I relied on him and trusted him explicitly. But Lateef never tried to take selfish advantage of his important position.
“He was forthright and honest to a fault. This man was one who completely focused on his job and doing it to the best of his ability. He did everything with care and devotion. Lateef made sure everything worked well. He was smart, active and always on alert. He was indeed a rarity as a professional and more so as a person.”
According to Tinubu, Lateef, who was a Corporal with school certificate, when he was seconded to him as his personal aide during the campaign for the 1999 governorship election in Lagos, rose through the rank to the position of Assistant Superintendent with a university degree by way of self development.
