Nigeria Would Have Been Different If Yar’Adua Had Lived — Pat Utomi

Professor Pat Utomi has said Nigeria would have been a different country if former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had not died in office in 2010, describing him as a committed patriot who genuinely wanted to move the country forward.

Speaking during an interview on Csuite Cafe, Utomi recalled that Yar’Adua once invited him to the Presidential Villa and tried to persuade him to join his cabinet as a minister. Utomi said he declined, preferring to remain outside government and offer advice when needed.

Utomi said Yar’Adua insisted that he could make a greater impact from within government and offered to engage members of Utomi’s “shadow government” to persuade them to join his administration and work together to build Nigeria.

The professor said he later prepared a list of seven people from different parts of Nigeria whom he believed could contribute to the government and sent it through former Head of the Civil Service Stephen Oronsaye. However, Oronsaye reportedly fell ill and travelled abroad, and Utomi later learned that Yar’Adua may never have received the list.

Utomi said Yar’Adua “was a committed patriot who wanted Nigeria to move forward,” adding that his death prevented the country from potentially taking a different path.