S. Leone mourn with Nigeria

Posted on Thursday 6 May 2010 - 17:05
Murtala Kamara Mohammed, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone joined the rest of the World to mourn with Nigeria following the death of their president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on Wednesday.

The Information Minister Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo and the Vice President Chief Samuel Samsumana on Thursday signed a book of condolence at the Nigerian High Commission on behalf of Sierra Leoneans. President Ernest Bai Koroma has already been informed though he is on official assignment.
“On behalf of the Government and people of Sierra Leone, we would like to express our heartfelt condolence to the Government and people of Nigeria on their sad loss, our hearths are with yours and our friendly ties are firm and enduring,” Kargbo said in an interview with AfricaNews.
Olusegun Ogundeji, editor for one of Sierra Leone’a leading quarterly magazine said on Yar’Adua death: “A friend of mine called me at about 12 am to inform me about the demise... at first, something told me the caller must have something pressing to discuss with me to have made such a call at such an hour considered odd for many of us” and described the death as confusing and a big loss.
Nigeria has maintained a long bilateral relation with Sierra Leone. During the Sani Abacha regime the West Africa most populace nation contributed the bulk of the ECOWAS peacekeeping force which reinstated former President Kabba and helped in stabilizing Sierra Leone.