A former president of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, has died at the age of 93, his grandson confirmed on Twitter, late Friday.
I regret announcing the death of my grandfather, H.E Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who died right now after brief illness at the National hospital, Abuja, Bello Shagari wrote.
Shagari will be buried today (Saturday) in Sokoto, according to the family.
Shagari is on record as the first executive president Nigeria had. He won elections in 1979 to become the country’s sixth president under the banner of the National Party of Nigeria.
Incidentally incumbent democratically elected Muhammadu Buhari – then a military man as responsible for the overthrow of Shagari’s government.
Full name, Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, he served as the first and only President of Nigeria’s Second Republic, after the handover of power by General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military government.
His presidential term spanned between October 1979 till December 1983.
The former leader was born February 25, 1925 in Shagari, in Sokoto.
After his early education, he worked as a teacher for a brief period before entering politics in 1951.
In 1954, he was elected to the federal House of Representatives.
Shagari also served seven times in a ministerial or cabinet post as a federal minister and federal commissioner from 1958–1975.
