Reflecting on her life with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, former First Lady, Hajiya Turai, has said she thank the Almighty Allah for honouring her with Yar’adua as a husband.
“It is the biggest privilege of my life and I am forever grateful to have spent a reasonable part of my life with him,” she she told the BBC Hauaa Service.
Turai who was speaking on the 13th anniversary of her husband’s death, said Yar’adua wanted to be a teacher in his life time, not a politician.
“His life ambition was to be a teacher, come home from school, sit with his family and crack jokes till another day. He never wanted politics or governance but as Allah willed, he joined politics and became president.
“Although he was a president, at that time, his lifestyle hadn’t changed. He never borrowed expensive life and remained simple and an easygoing person,” the former First Lady said
Speaking on her private life with him and how much she misses her husband, Turai said, “I think about Yar’adua everyday, anniversary or no anniversary. I think about him and miss him every single day.
“But I am happy on such anniversary days because the country talks about him, and people across the country come together to say good things about him and pray for him. That truly gladdens my heart.”
She recalled that after he fell sick, she started fasting everyday, and on that fateful May 5, 2010, at iftaar time. “I held his hands and told him I was stepping out for iftaar and he nodded. A few minutes later, I was called back and I met him dead.
“I regretted that day. I blamed myself for going for iftaar. I still think I should have stayed.”
Turai counselled the incoming First Lady, Remi Tinubu, to be patient and tolerant as the road ahead is tough and bumpy, adding that she is convinced the incoming First Lady has what it takes to endure the challenges and help her husband deliver on his mandate.
