Emir of Lere dies five days to 78th birthday

The Emir of Lere Kingdom in Kaduna State, Brigadier General Abubakar Garba Muhammad (retd), is dead.

According to family sources, he died at a private Hospital in Kaduna on Saturday morning.

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The source said his burial arrangement will be announced later.

The monarch’s nephew, Ismaila Lere, confirmed the demise on social media when he posted: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihir raji’un!!! I received the sad news awhile ago about the demise of my dear uncle and guardian, His Highness, the Emir of Lere, Brigadier General Abubakar Garba Muhammad (rtd), OFR mini. May Almighty Allah grant his gentle soul jannatul Firdausi. Ameeen.”

The monarch, who was a president of the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, ascended the throne in 2011.

Born on April 15, 1943, he attended Lere and Soba Primary Schools between 1951 and 1958 before proceeding to Barewa College, Zaria, still in Kaduna, in 1959.

He later attended the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and also the California Polytechnic in the United States.

In an interview with Daily Trust in 2017, the deceased said he was born into the dynasty of Sarkin Lere Abubakar who was his grandfather.

Daily Trust reports that the late first-class monarch had served as a Military Governor of Sokoto State before he retired from the Nigerian Army in 1990.