•Family silent on cause of death
From Our Reporters
A two term senator from Katsina State, Kanti Bello, is dead.
A statement released by his younger brother, Kabir Faskari said he died in his Abuja residence, yesterday.
He was 72 years old.
Bello, who reportedly battled an undisclosed ailment before his death, served as a senator in the Fifth and Sixth Senate.
Family sources in Katsina declined to disclose the cause of Bello’s death.
“All I can tell you is that Senator Kanti Bello died at about 4:00am on Tuesday),” Sadauki, Kanti’s younger brother told Daily Sun in Katsina and added that “he was down with an ailment for a long time.”
Born on January 14, 1945, Kanti Bello represented Katsina Central senatorial district in the Senate between 2003 and 2011, under the platform of People’s Democratic Party.
Bello served as the Senate Chief Whip in the Sixth Senate
He later moved to the ruling All Progressives Congress where he was before his death.
Bello had revealed in one interview that he was pivotal to President Muhammadu Buhari’s entry into politics.
Educated at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, he was pioneer managing director of Katsina Steel Rolling Mill.
Buhari, who is Bello’s kinsman, led mourners to pay tribute to him, yesterday.
His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, yesterday, said Buhari commiserated with the the government and people of Katsina and the Senate over the passage of one of their own.
President Buhari recalled that the Kanti Bello he knew was “a very outspoken and courageous patriot, who worked hard to ensure that all levels of government in the country were responsible and accountable” and expressed belief that he effectively represented his people at the national level and was committed to the unity of Nigeria.
“He will be long remembered and honoured and will continue to serve as inspiration to many others.”
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and former Vice President, Atiku Abubabar, paid tributes on Bello.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki described Bello as “an outspoken and courageous legislator, who was always guided by national interest and that of his community in discharging his legislative responsibilities.
“During his stay in the Senate, late Kanti Bello was known for his outspokenness, forthrightness and courage in telling truth to those in power without attaching any partisan, religious or tribal sentiments”, Saraki stated.
Dogara, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, described the late Bello as a patriotic statesman, who contributed meaningfully to national development.
In his tribute, Atiku described Bello’s death as a great loss to Nigeria’s democratic struggle.
The Waziri Adamawa, in a condolence message released by his Media Office, in Abuja, said he received Bello’s demise with shock.
He said the role of Kanti Bello in bringing democracy into being cannot be forgotten in a hurry.
Saraki’s deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, also expressed sadness over Kanti Bello’s death.
Ekweremadu, who served with the late senator in the Fifth and Sixth Senate, said Bello was a “cosmopolitan and highly detribalised Nigerian, who worked tirelessly to help solve Nigeria’s leadership challenges.”
“Distinguished Senator Kanti Bello was an elder brother, neighbour, and a patriot in all ramifications.
“He was a fearless politician, who commanded the respect of the high and mighty and the masses because of his integrity, patriotic zeal, astuteness, and development-driven kind of politics.”
“He was a politician, who never minced words in speaking his mind and the truth. And he was certainly a political machine whose reach stretched to every corner of the nation. He understood the nation’s political terrain like the back of his hand.
“I am most saddened that he departed at a time the nation needed patriots of his ilk most in order to arrest the widening divisiveness in the country and help build a nation of our dreams”.