How former president, Yar’Adua died – Ex first lady, Turai

Thirteen years after his demise, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, the wife of late former president, Musa Yar’Adua, has disclosed the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband

In a recent interview with the BBC, Turai revealed details of the last moment of her husband on earth and how he later died.

According to her, she had been fasting every day since her husband took ill, and on that particular day that her husband died she was about to go and break her fast but as she was about to leave him, she felt like he didn’t want her to leave his side.

She narrated that shortly after she left her husband’s side to break her fast, she was called back and met the former President struggling to breathe.

According to her, she has never forgotten that moment and even blames herself for leaving his side when she did.

”I was fasting on that day. In fact, I’ve been fasting nonstop from when he fell ill, even after he died I did not stop. So when it was time for me to break my fast, he was lying down looking at me.

“I felt he does not want me to leave. I told him I was going to break my fast. He then shook his head and I left. I was later called and I met him struggling with his breath. That moment still lingers in my mind. I even queried myself on why I left to break my fast, I should’ve stayed,” Turai stated in an interview on Saturday with BBC Hausa.

On how she felt after what happened, she explained that ” I’m a Muslim. I know life and death are realities. I know Allah gives and takes life. So what can I do ? I can only thank Allah who gave me and had taken away. I can’t be angry with Him for taking his life. Praise be to Allah.”

Yaradua was a former Nigerian president who was elected in 2007 but died in office on 5th May, 2010 after a protracted illness.

His death plunged the country into a constitutional crisis as he didn’t formally hand over to the vice president at the time, Goodluck Jonathan, before he departed the country for treatment abroad.

The doctrine of necessity was later invoked to make Jonathan the acting president and subsequently the substantive president after Yar’Adua’s death.