The Speaker, House of Representative, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has said that late deputy leader of house, Hon. Umar Buba Jibrin was an excellent legislator.
Speaker Dogara who was at the burial of the late leader on Friday said, “Hon.. Buba Jibril is one of those people that if wishes were horses, we would wish that he would live forever.”
“Unfortunately, this is a call which all of us who are clothed in mortality have to answer one day or the other and he has answered the call.
“You could see the fighting spirit with which he fought this sickness; I was with him in London and even last week, the entirety of the leadership of the House of Representatives went to the hospital and we sat down, chatted, laughed.
“Apparently, we didn’t know that he would answer this great call today. It’s unfortunate it happened. For us in the House of Representatives, we have not just lost a leader but we have lost a brother, one of those voices of reason on the floor of the House of Representatives, an accomplished legislator – a legislator par excellence – and for me, a die hard supporter and I can assure you that we will sorely miss him.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to do this time and time again, our prayer to God is that God should preserve all of us members of the National Assembly. I don’t think it’s ever happened like this before, where we’ve had to bury – to my quick recollection – about 3 senators and five members of the House of Representatives. On the whole, our thoughts and prayers are with the immediate family members, the people and government of Kogi state and the entirety of the membership of the National Assembly including the management, and his siblings who will miss him the most.
