Buhari, Northern Leaders to Attend 50th Remembrance of Ahmadu Bello’s Assassination

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to lead former presidents and other prominent northern leaders to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Premier of the defunct Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, who was killed in Nigeria’s first military coup on January 15, 1966.

The event slated to hold in Kaduna on Thursday, is being organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SAMBF) in collaboration with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Arewa Research and Development Project and the institutions founded by the late premier, namely Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna Polytechnic, New Nigeria Development Company, New Nigeria Newspapers Ltd (NNN), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Kaduna and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Kaduna, among others.

Addressing a news conference in Kaduna yesterday, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SAMBF, Alhaji Shittima Aji Ali, said the three-day programme with the theme: ‘The North: 50 years after Sir Ahmadu Bello,’ is expected to draw dignitaries from across the country, particularly from the northern political class, academia, the business community as well as contemporaries of the late Premier and members of his family.

According to Ali, the substance of the commemoration is to reflect on the enduring legacies of the late Sardauna and his leadership style that engendered unity and progress in the region.

“It will provide a forum for participants to review how far the region had fared in the last 50 years and see the extent to which late Sardauna’s unwavering passion for socio-economic and political development of the region was sustained.

“Participants are also expected to reflect on the challenges of sustaining the Sardauna’s legacies with a view to overcoming them to move the region forward” Ali said.

He noted the immense contributions the Sardauna made to the development of Northern Nigeria during his lifetime, stressing that the late Premier worked assiduously to make Northern Nigeria economically competitive and politically and religiously stable, peaceful and united.