NATIONAL: Buhari mourns former senator, Kumo

PRESIDENT Buhari has described the late Saidu Kumo, a former senator from Gombe State, who passed away yesterday at age of 71 as a “pillar of strength” to the ruling All Progressives Congress in his state.

Buhari said this while mourning the deceased senator on Sunday.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President reportedly described the death as “a major loss to the ruling APC.”

The statement was titled “President Buhari mourns Senator Kumo, Abubakar Senior, describes Kumo, late APC chieftain as ‘our pillar of strength.’”

Shehu also quoted the President as saying Kumo’s “defection to the APC in 2019 had energised our supporters for change.”

“I have received the news of the death of Senator Kumo with profound shock and sadness because his contributions to the growth of our party cannot be forgotten.

“Let me put it on record that the history of victory in 2019 cannot be written without reckoning with the significant contributions of the late Senator Saidu Umar Kumo who had brought his enormous political goodwill into our efforts to retain power,” Shehu further quoted Buhari as saying.

He said the President also mourned the death of Madawakin Keffi, Abubakar Senior, a distinguished civil servant and the second in command in the Keffi Emirate Council.

“The President prayed to Allah to forgive the souls of Kumo and Senior, reward their good deeds with Aljanna, and grant fortitude to their families, friends, associates, the governments and people of Gombe and Nasarawa States to bear the losses,” the statement added.