President Buhari mourns as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe dies aged 95

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the Government and people of Zimbabwe over the passing of the founding father and former President, Robert Mugabe, at 95.

The President, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Friday, commiserated with family members, friends and political associates of the late political activist.

President Buhari noted that Mugabe fought for the independence of his country from colonial rule and lived most of his life in public service.

According to him, Mugabe’s sacrifices, especially in the struggle for the political and economic emancipation of his people, will always be remembered by posterity.

Mugabe died in Singapore, where he often received medical treatment in recent years, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

“It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe,” a post on Mnangagwa’s official presidential Twitter account said.

In November, Mnangagwa said Mugabe was no longer able to walk when he had been admitted to a hospital in Singapore, without saying what treatment Mugabe had been undergoing.

Mugabe, who ruled the southern African nation for nearly four decades since independence from Britain in 1980, was forced to resign in November 2017 after an army coup.

He was feted as an African liberation hero and champion of racial reconciliation when he first came to power in a nation divided by nearly a century of white colonial rule.