The President added that the late Idiagbon rejected the offer from the King of Saudi Arabia to bring members of his (Idiagbon) family from Nigeria to the Kingdom, as he was his guest at that time, and eventually returned to Nigeria to suffer arrest like he (Buhari) did. President Buhari further enjoined Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal to the country in all their dealings.
For the first time in over three years, President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday spoke glowingly on the memory of his late former Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, Major General Tunde Idiagbon, who was second-in-command during his first coming as Military Head of State.
He said, “The late Major General Tunde Idiagbon was a very rare example of what loyalty to fatherland and to a superior should be.”
President Buhari in handshake with Kwara State APC Governorship candidate, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, in State House Abuja, on Monday 22nd October 2018.
Many Nigerians had hoped that should Buhari develop interest in leadership of this country one day, he would always want to have Idiagbon as his second-in-command but the man second to the sitting President in integrity did not live for that to happen.
“Tunde was strong, loyal and extremely committed to the cause of positively changing the narrative about Nigeria, which the administration set out to do at that time,” the President Buhari has said.
Speaking, Monday, when he received APC governorship aspirants and members of the party from the three senatorial zones of Kwara State at State House, President Buhari recalled how his former deputy, who, while on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when the administration was overthrown in 1985, insisted on returning to the country despite the political uncertainty especially as he had learnt that he, as Commander-in-Chief at that time, had not been killed in the take-over.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja copy of which was sent to The DEFENDER on Monday.
The President added that the late Idiagbon rejected the offer from the King of Saudi Arabia to bring members of his (Idiagbon) family from Nigeria to the Kingdom, as he was his guest at that time, and eventually returned to Nigeria to suffer arrest like he (Buhari) did.
Major Generals Muhammadu Buhari, during his time as Military Head of State, and his Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, Late Major General Babatunde Idiagbon.
President Buhari further enjoined Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal to the country in all their dealings.
“You don’t have to be in uniform to be loyal. What I said long ago in 1984 is still valid today. We have no other country but Nigeria. Others who feel they have another country may choose to go. We will stay here and salvage it together,” he said.
President Buhari thanked the APC stakeholders for the position they have taken to continue to support the party regardless of the outcome of the primaries and assured them that, with the unity displayed so far, APC will form the government in Kwara State after the 2019 elections.
General Buhari and General Idiagbon, left: Memory of a military ruler and his deputy.
