On this day in 1997, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, soldier, politician, businessman and elder brother of Nigerian ex-president late Umar Musa Yar’Adua died in prison at age of 54 years.
He was convicted by Military Tribunal for coup plotting in June 1995 against the government of General Sani Abacha and was sentenced to jail.
Tens of thousands of people turned out in Katsina State, his birthplace and where he was buried to give him last respect as one of Nigeria's most prominent political prisoners, whose death in prison was proved to be a stinging embarrassment to the military Government.
Shehu Musa Yaradua, a former general and Vice President, was regarded as one of the most formidable opponents of the military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha. Some weeks before his death, General Abacha promised he would release some of Nigeria's scores of political detainees as part of an avowed move toward elections, which he had set for 1998.
An official statement issued by family members said he had died after a brief illness in Enugu prison.
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