Amid the national grief over the death of the Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, in a plane crash, about five governors on Saturday attended the wedding ceremony of a son of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in Kano State.
Also at the wedding were ministers and federal lawmakers, according to a statement by the media aide of Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
The remains of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Attahiru, and 10 other officers who died in a plane crash were laid to rest at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja on Saturday. The crash occurred on Friday in Kaduna.
The names of the other officers include Brigadier-General MI Abdulkadir, Brigadier-General Olayinka, Brigadier-General Kuliya, Major LA Hayat, Major Hamza and Sergeant Umar.
Others are Flight-Lieutenant TO Asaniyi, Flight-Lieutenant AA Olufade, Sergeant Adesina and ACM Oyedepo.
Their remains were moved from the 44 Nigerian Army Referral Hospital, Kaduna to the National Mosque and the Nigerian Air Force Protestant Church in Abuja for prayers.
Governor Ganduje’s media aide, Abubakar Ibrahim, in the statement, said Abirul-Rahman Malami wedded Aisha Umar at Alfurqan Juma’at mosque in the Kano metropolis.
Ibrahim’s statement said Ganduje was the bride’s trustee while his Sokoto counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, served as groom’s trustee.
Other governors at the event were Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State.
Also at the event were ministers and federal lawmakers, the statement said.Some Nigerians react to the absence of these governors including President Muhammadu Buhari who was absent as well, Ganduje’s former media aide, Tanko Yakassai also commented after images of Borno Governor Zulum at the funeral surfaced online.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike also on Saturday held a political rally in Port Harcourt to receive some prominent members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who defected from the party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike’s political rally coincided with the day and the exact hours Nigeria was holding a burial at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja, for the country’s Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, and six other senior officers who died in a plane crash on Friday.
The jubilant crowd danced to drumming and loud music. They sang the state’s PDP victory song “Stand up for Jesus!”
The PDP Chairman in Rivers, Desmond Akawor, told Mr Wike and the crowd that the rally was “the final burial” for the APC in the oil-rich state.
“Today, the pillars of that party (APC), those who left during the hard times, who thought they would have seen greener pastures, they have toiled day and night and they have discovered that there is no other better place than home, and they have decided to come back home (the PDP) today,” Mr Akawor said before receiving the defectors.
One of the defectors said he went to the APC on “loan” to “save a sinking ship”, while another said that the APC has been destroyed in Rivers because of the “insincerity” of the party leaders.
