President Goodluck Jonathan, former military president; General Ibrahim Babangida, and the Governor of Katsina State; Ibrahim Shehu Shema, were among eminent Nigerians that were conspicuously absent at the first Umaru Musa Yar'Adua memorial lecture.
The lecture, which was organised by the Chemical Society of Nigeria (CSN), was held at the Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja.
The event, which started one hour behind schedule, saw the master of ceremony making passionate appeals to the few people in the hall to move forward to fill up the empty space. This man was the president of this country,are we supposed to be talking about "empty space"?
While Babangida was expected to chair the occasion, Jonathan was announced as the distinguished guest of honour, and Shema was to be the chief host. But all of them failed to show up for the event.
All the governors, President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives were also enlisted as guests of honour.
Apart from the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, who was also the guest lecturer, who sent his Commissioner for Education, none of the aforementioned showed up or sent representatives.
However, the Secretary to Katsina State Government (SSG), Muntari Ibrahim, said he was representing Babangida and Shema.
In his words, "I am representing His Excellency, the executive governor of Katsina State, Dr. Ibrahim Shehu Shema, and General Babangida, who is our leader and former Head of State. His Excellency, the governor would have loved to be here in person but because of the exigency of office he could not make it. And there must be a very good reason why General Babangida is not here in person."
He explained that chemistry remains central to the industrial transformation of any society. He also noted that the knowledge of chemistry served the late Yar'Adua well as he made judicious use of his background to dissect and proffer solutions to Nigeria's problems while alive.
In the anniversary lecture, Ahmed said the late President Yar'Adua lived a life of service to the nation. He said: "As a nation builder, Yar'Adua sought to run an inclusive government, one which accommodated all relevant geopolitical interests and prioritized equity as opposed to sectional interests.
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