PDP'S FOUNDING CHAIRMAN PASSES AWAY

Solomon Daushep Lar, one of Nigeria’s longest-serving political godfathers, who led the old Plateau State as first civilian governor in 1979, and later became the Peoples Democratic Party’s pioneer chairman, is dead. He was 80. Mr. Lar died in a United States hospital early Wednesday, after a protracted struggle with an unnamed ailment, Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, said. The former governor had been on life support for days, fuelling earlier reports of his passing. The Plateau governor broke the news of Mr. Lar’s eventual death to the newly-elected speaker of the Plateau State House Assembly, Titus Alarms, who had paid a courtesy visit on the governor shortly after taking office on Wednesday. The governor had said earlier that Mr. Lar died at about 9 a.m. Nigerian time. Mr. Lar was born April 1933. One of Nigeria’s most enduring politicians, he served in multiple capacities at the state and federal levels, in a political career that spanned more than half a century. May his soul rest in peace.