Abdulsalami: Maitama Sule asked me to arrest him after 1983 coup

Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military head of state, has revealed how the late Maitama Sule submitted himself for arrest after the 1983 coup.

Abubakar, who was a brigade commander of the army at the time, said many politicians in the state were arrested.

He disclosed this when he paid a condolence visit to Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, on Sunday.

“I was at my office when Dan Masani (the deceased) came with his luggage. He looked at me and said ‘why should you leave me alone when you have arrested all my associates? I want you to arrest me so that you can unite me with my fellow politicians in Lagos’”, Abubakar said.

“So, you see the kind of struggle by people like late Dan Masani in order to unite Nigeria.”

Abubakar said the nation had lost one of its heroes.

“We have indeed lost an irreplaceable figure. I call on Nigerians to pray hard for the repose of his soul,” he said.

He also said Ibrahim Babangida, former military president, sent his condolence message through him because he could not come to Kano as a result of his health condition.

“You know the health condition of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, that is why he has sent his condolence message through me. He condoles with you, the governor, the family of the deceased and the entire people of Kano state,” he said.

Abubakar called on politicians to imitate the values of the deceased.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan are among the people who have gone to Kano to condole with the people and government of Kano over the death of the elder statesman.

Sule died in Cairo, capital of Egypt on Monday and was buried on Tuesday.