President Goodluck Jonathan said he received with immense sadness and a feeling of immense national loss, the news of the passing away of the former governor of Plateau State and founding National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar.
Lar was confirmed dead on Wednesday by the Plateau State Government.
He was 80.
Jonathan, in a statement by his media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said: “On behalf of himself and the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Jonathan extends heartfelt condolences to the Lar Family, Governor Jonah Jang, the people of Plateau State, the people of the Middle Belt and all others for whom Chief Solomon was a much beloved, charismatic and inspirational political leader.
“The President joins them in mourning the passage of a truly great leader whose eventful and highly successful political career predated Nigeria’s independence, having started with his election as a Councilor in the Langtang Native Authority in January 1959 and continued with his election to the Federal Parliament in December, 1959.
“President Jonathan urges them to take solace in the knowledge that Chief Lar lived a long and most fulfilled life, and that his immense contributions to communal, state and national development have assured him of a place amongst the eternal heroes of the Nigerian nation.
“The President believes that Chief Lar will always be remembered for the exemplary humility, great vision, wisdom and maturity which he brought to political leadership in Nigeria for over 50 years as a legislator, executive governor, party leader and highly revered elder statesman.
“He also trusts that present and future generations of Nigerians will always acknowledge and honour Chief Lar’s role as one of the founders and architects of the country’s current democratic dispensation which he helped to establish and stabilize.
“The President prays that God Alimghty who blessed the Nigerian nation with the gift of Chief Lar’s acclaimed leadership abilities for so many decades, will receive his soul, and grant him a well deserved rest from his earthly labours.”
The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, described Lar as a rare Nigerian who propagated the tenet of democracy and lived to see the actualisation of the people’s will.
Mark noted that Chief Lar will be remembered for fighting for democracy and the enthronement of the people’s mandate against all odds.
He recalled that it was Chief Lar who led the group of G-34, which later metamorphosed into the PDP, which he said has sustained the democratic rule all Nigerians now enjoy.
Senator Mark said: “We owe him a great deal of gratitude. He surely has a place of pride in the political history of Nigeria. Lar was a different kind of leader. He put the people and the nation first before self.
“He was an easy going man. He was calculated, gentle and result-oriented leader. Regrettably the nation has lost one of her shinning stars. We shall miss his robust contributions to national issues. We shall miss his humour.”
Senator Mark urged Nigerians, especially the bereaved family and the PDP, to take solace in the fact that Lar lived an eventful and an accomplished life worthy of emulation.
The Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led nPDP said it has learnt with shock of the death of Lar.
The Baraje led-PDP expressed shock over the exit of Chief Lar in a statement by Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who described the statesman as “a colourful politician of substance, a first-class patriot and an accomplished administrator”.
The statement noted that as a former pioneer Chairman of the PDP, Lar played a significant role in laying a solid foundation on which his successors built to make the party the poster boy of Nigerian politics and in sustaining and growing democracy.
According to Eze: “Chief Lar’s death, coming on the heels of that of another of our former leaders, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, has robbed both our great party and the country at large of a rare voice of wisdom.
“We pray that God Almighty will accept his soul in eternity and grant us Nigerians the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
“We hereby send our condolences to the Lar family, to the Plateau State Government, to President Goodluck Jonathan and to all Nigerians. A great man has departed! Adieu, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar.”
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