Shehu Musa Yar'Adua

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Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (March 5, 1943–December 8, 1997) was a Nigerian businessman, soldier, and politician. Following on his training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England, Yar'Adua's career as a soldier in the Civil War and his determined efforts as number two in the first military government to voluntarily hand over power to a civilian administration in 1979, inspired his vision for the necessity of grass-roots participatory democracy as a means to ensure stability and social harmony in Africa's most populous nation.

He was sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal in 1995 after calling on the Nigerian military government of Gen. Sani Abacha and his Provisional Ruling Council to reestablish civilian rule. He died in captivity on December 8, 1997.

Yar'Adua was a retired major general and former vice president in Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo's military government of 1976-79. Before he was incarcerated Yar'Adua was one of the richest and most powerful Nigerians. However, like many of his fellow Nigerian ex-military leaders the source of his initial fortune remains questionable.