Former Nigerian president – Shehu Shagari, who was in power between 1979 and 1983, died on Friday at the age of 93, the country’s current president said.
“On behalf of my family, the government and the people of Nigeria, it is with immense sadness that I received the news of the passing away of the First Executive President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari” in the capital Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement.
Buhari who is a former general had at one time led a bloodless coup against Shagari’s government in 1983.
“Nigerians held him in the highest esteem even when he was out of office until his demise and will forever miss his wise counsels,” the president added in his statement.
Shagari, a Fulani Muslim from Nigeria’s northwest, became the country’s first executive president with full, rather than ceremonial, powers when the country introduced a US-style system in 1979.
