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Renowned political economist, Professor Pat Utomi has described former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as a committed patriot under whose leadership Nigeria could have experienced a turnaround had he lived.
He stated this while reflecting on an encounter with the late former president, whom he said invited him to join his cabinet after assuming office.
Utomi said he turned down the offer because he believed he could make more impact by advising government from outside.
“Yar’Adua once invited me to the Villa and urged me to join his cabinet as a minister.
“I told him that for me, the issue was not office but impact. I believed I could serve Nigeria better by offering counsel from outside government,” Utomi wrote on Facebook on Friday night.
He said Yar’Adua disagreed, recounting that, “He said, Inside you can make a difference more than what you can say outside.”
Utomi said he eventually told the president he would send seven names of Nigerians he believed could help move the country forward.
He stated that he sent the list through Stephen Oronsaye, who served as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation under Yar’Adua.
Utomi said, “Sadly, Yar’Adua took ill and travelled abroad. I was later told that he never received the list.
“Sometimes I wonder if he died believing that I had simply ignored his invitation.
“Yar’Adua was not perfect, but he was a committed patriot.
“Nigeria would have been a different place had he lived.”
Yar’Adua, who became president on May 29, 2007, died on May 5, 2010.
