Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has described the demise of Hajiya Dada Yar’Adua as a personal loss to him, saying “this woman technically made me who I am”.

Jonathan said this when he paid a condolence visit to the Yar’adua family in Katsina on Saturday over the demise of the matriarch.

“It is really touching to me. It was her son who brought me as his running mate and without this lady you wouldn’t have known my name. So she was like my mother and this is like the death of my mother,” he said.

The former president said he was on his way to Kigali, Rwanda, when he heard about the death and as he returned to the country on Friday, he deemed it necessary to be in Katsina for the condolence.

“It is a very sad moment for all of us. I travelled on Monday because I was going to Kigali. When I arrived at Adis Ababa our head of mission there told me about the sad news.

“On behalf of myself, my team, my community and my state, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the Yar’Adua family and indeed to the peole of Katsina State.

“She was a mother that we lost, but Allah has blessed her. To live that long shows that Allah has accepted her. She was a good woman, she was a blessed woman, she brought children that contributed significantly to the development of our great nation,” he said. (Daily Trust)