Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau on Friday in Abuja, renamed the Plateau State University after Chief Solomon Lar, the late first executive Governor of the state.
Jang announced this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, where the remains of the late politician were formally received on arrival from London.
His corpse arrived at the airport at 6.00 a.m. aboard a British Airways flight BA-O83 from London where he died on Oct. 9, at the age of 80.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lar, who was also the pioneer National Chairman of the PDP, midwifed the formation of the party and led it to victory in the 1999 general elections.
Jang also announced that Dec. 11 to 13 would be observed as mourning days in Plateau to honour the departed.
He declared that Dec. 13, the day Lar would be finally laid to rest, would be observed as a work-free day in the state.
According to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the PDP National Chairman, the vacuum created by the death of Lar will be difficult to fill.
This, he said, was so because Lar “was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute”, adding that the late politician was“the light in the firmament of Nigerian politics’’.
Tukur said that Lar was one among those who openly challenged the military during the military administration in the country.
Mr Danladi Wuyep, a Special Assistant to late Lar for several years, said the deceased preached peace, unity and godliness in his life time.
Wuyep said that even on his sick bed, Lar was worried about the current crisis rocking the PDP and had always prayed that enduring peace and unity was enthroned in the party.
Lar was said to have stood up to the dreaded Abacha regime when he personally handed over a letter from the G-8 (group of eight prominent politicians that formed the PDP) to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
He studied at the Sudan United Mission Primary School in Langtang and later proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he graduated in 1970 with a law degree and was called to the bar in 1971.
Lar was elected as a councillor in the Langtang Native Authority in January 1959 and was later elected to the Federal Parliament on the platform of United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) on Dec. 12, 1959.
He was a member of the first National Parliament when Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and was Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa before the January 1966 coup which brought in the military.
At the start of the second republic, Lar was a co-founder of the Nigerian People’s Party, where he was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate in 1978.
He later won the governorship election in Plateau and became the first executive governor of the state on Oct.1 1979.
The late Lar introduced reforms in the state’s employment laws, abolishing the daily pay and contract systems; and introduced payment of allowances for nursing mothers on maternity leave in the state.
He was appointed as Minister of Police Affairs by the government of General Sani Abacha, a position he resigned when he realised that Abacha seemed not to be serious about restoring democracy.
In February 2010, he was appointed as Chairman of the Presidential Committee, tasked with the responsibility of recommending how to prevent further violence in Plateau.
Lar was described by most politicians as a colourful politician whose symbol was his white handkerchief and a peculiar cap.
The PDP national leadership had earlier said that the party would ensure a befitting burial for him.
His remains were received at the airport by the PDP National Chairman, Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau, Prof. Jerry Gana, Mrs Paulin Tallen and the FCT Minister, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan.
Also at the airport were some cabinet members of the Plateau Government, Mrs Sarah Ochepe, Minister of Water Resources, and some Christian associations.
A brief mass was conducted at the airport in his honour before his remains were eventually conveyed to his Abuja Maitama residence. (NAN)
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