Bamanga Tukur says the vacuum created by the death of Mr. Lar will be difficult to fill because Mr. Lar “was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute”. Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau on Friday in Abuja, renamed the Plateau State University after Solomon Lar, the late first executive Governor of the state. Mr. Jang announced this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, where the remains of the late politician were formally received on arrival from London. His corpse arrived at the airport at 6.00 a.m. aboard a British Airways flight BA-O83 from London where he died on Oct. 9, at the age of 80.

Bamanga Tukur says the vacuum created by the death of Mr. Lar will be difficult to fill because Mr. Lar “was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute”. Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau on Friday in Abuja, renamed the Plateau State University after Solomon Lar, the late first executive Governor of the state. Mr. Jang announced this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, where the remains of the late politician were formally received on arrival from London. His corpse arrived at the airport at 6.00 a.m. aboard a British Airways flight BA-O83 from London where he died on Oct. 9, at the age of 80.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr. Lar, who was also the pioneer National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, midwifed the formation of the party and led it to victory in the 1999 general election. Mr. Jang also announced that Dec. 11 to 13 would be observed as mourning days in Plateau to honour the departed. He declared that Dec. 13, the day Mr. Lar would be finally laid to rest, would be observed as work-free day in the state. According to Bamanga Tukur, the PDP National Chairman, the vacuum created by the death of Mr. Lar would be difficult to fill.

This, he said, was so because Mr. Lar “was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute”, adding that the late politician was “the light in the firmament of Nigerian politics”. Mr. Tukur said Mr. Lar was one among those who openly challenged the military during the military administration in the country. Danladi Wuyep, a Special Assistant to the late Mr. Lar for several years, said the deceased preached peace, unity and godliness in his life time. Mr. Wuyep said that even on his sick bed, Mr. Lar was worried about the current crisis rocking the PDP and had always prayed that enduring peace and unity was enthroned in the party.

Mr. Lar was said to have stood up to the dreaded Abacha regime when he personally handed over a letter from the G-8 (group of eight prominent politicians that formed the PDP) to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

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Plateau state university to be renamed after Solomon Lar