FORMER Nigerian President Shehu Shagari passed away at the National Hospital Abuja on Friday, December 28, 2018 at the age of 93.
The news was broken by the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, on his Twitter handle.
He was laid to rest the following day, Saturday, in Sokoto.
Below are 10 facts you may not know about the Ex Nigerian President:
- He was born in 1925 in the northern Shagari Village said to have been founded by his great-grandfather, Ahmadu Rufa’i.
- Shehu Usman Shagari started his political career in 1951, when he became the secretary of the Northern People’s Congress in Sokoto, a position he held until 1956.
- In 1954, Shehu Shagari was elected into the first public office as a member of the federal House of Representative for Sokoto west. In 1958, Shagari was appointed the parliamentary secretary to the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and that year he also served as the Federal Minister for Commerce and Industries.
- From 1959 to 1960, Shagari was redeployed to the ministry for economic development, as the Federal Minister for Economic Development. From 1960 to 1962, he was moved to the Pensions ministry as the Federal Minister for Pensions. From 1962-1965, Shagari was made the Federal minister for internal affairs. From 1965 up until the first military coup in January 1966, Shagari was the Federal Minister for works.
- In 1967 he was appointed as the secretary for Sokoto province’s education development fund. From 1968-1969, Shagari was given a state position in the North Western State as commissioner for establishments.
- Following the Nigerian Civil War, from 1970 to 1971, Shagari was appointed by the military head of state General Yakubu Gowon as the federal commissioner for economic development, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
- In 1978, Shehu Shagari was a founding member of the National Party of Nigeria. In 1979 Shagari was chosen by the party as the presidential candidate for a general election that year, which he won becoming the president and head of state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
- Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari was a Nigerian politician who served as the only president of Nigeria’s second republic between 1979 to 1983.
- During the oil boom, Shagari made Housing, Industries, Transportation and Agriculture the major goals of his administration. In transportation, he launched some road networks across the country. He also initiated a program to foster the use of mechanical machinery in farming. This initiative favoured large-scale farmers in order to produce mass products. Shagari also created a low-cost housing scheme.
- Shagari ran for a second four-year term in 1983 and won the general election, however, on 31 December 1983, Shagari was overthrown by Major General Muhammadu Buhari.
