Balarabe Musa, progressive voice in Northern Nigeria, says Afenifere

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Wednesday, described the late former Governor Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State, as a progressive voice in Northern Nigeria.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday, in Lagos, in a reaction to the death of the former Kaduna governor.

Musa, who died on Wednesday at 84 years, was elected Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State in 1979 but was on June 23, 1981, controversially impeached and removed from office.

Reacting to his death, Odumakin said that Balarabe stood for something and pursued it to his death. “Balarabe stood for something and it was not just about making money, and a lot of other things we see politicians doing today. After he was impeached as the governor of Kaduna State, he has been contributing his own quota to the cause of the masses. Now death has come.

“Today he has gone and when we talk about Balarabe Musa, people know what he stood for. He had an idea which he pursued,” Odumakin said.

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He added: “It is not about making money that other people will take over when we die. What matters is the legacies we stood for while we were alive.

“He was a progressive voice within the northern establishment. We have seen him throughout his life as a voice on the side of progress and that was what stood him out.”

Odumakin prayed to God for the repose of the soul of the deceased and comfort for his family.

He was the leader of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), a coalition of opposition parties in the Fourth Republic. Before his death, he was also the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE