“On behalf of my family, I offer my deepest condolences to the family of former President Shagari as well as the Government and good people of Nigeria.

“The late President Shagari and my husband, former President Dr Hilla Limann shared a unique relationship which commenced as contemporaries in the 1980s.

“It blossomed into a friendship which stood the test of time particularly after the unjustified coup d’etat of December 31, 1981 that overthrew the government of my husband and brought an untimely end to the third Republic of Ghana,” Mrs Limann stated in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.  

The statement said, “We shall never forget the kind hospitality the late President Shagari extended to my children and me in Lagos, Nigeria when my husband was in detention in Ghana.

“We also remember with gratitude, that even in his twilight years, President Shagari led the Government of Nigeria delegation that attended my husband’s funeral in early 1998”. 

The statement said President Shagari’s legacy is an encouragement that posterity would always vindicate leaders who were once erroneously deemed weak because they sought to entrench democratic values, good governance and human rights during tenuous periods in their nations’ history.

The statement said, in keeping with many similarities former Presidents Shagari and former President Limann shared, “they were later recognised by many for their selfless, humble and exemplary leadership; statesmen who were simply way ahead of their time and thus misunderstood and misrepresented to the later regret of their countries. 

“To the family of former President Shagari, we offer our prayers and heartfelt condolences and hope that you will find solace in and be comforted by the fact that he lived a rich and full life worth celebrating. Be consoled that though he has passed on, his legacy lives on. 

“Our message to the Government, and people of Nigeria is that as you mourn the death of the former President, it is our hope that just as about a year ago, the Government of Ghana joined our family in celebrating my husband posthumously, that you will do same in honour of a humble yet great statesman in the person of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the only President of the second Republic of Nigeria.    

“Once again, we humbly offer our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the family of the deceased and the good people of Nigeria. With profound sympathies,” the statement stated.