Abbas Yushau Yusuf
On March 5 2003 a month to the April 19 2003 presidential elections, chief Marshal Harry was assassinated at his residence in Abuja.
The brutal murder of chief Marshall Harry was greeted with condemnations from rights groups and other top politicians.
Chief Marshall Harry, before his assassination, was a national leader of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party ANPP from Rivers state.
His large political followership from the south-south was very intimidating, he mobilized the region to vote for president Olusegun Obasanjo during the February 27, 1999, Presidential elections.
Dr. Chuba Okadigbo’s Political Arithmetic and how he died Trying To Actualize President Buhari’s Ambition
But chief Marshall Harry decamped from the PDP to ANPP and joined General Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign trail to rescue Nigeria from what he said as the woeful performance of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Chief Marshal Harry declared publicly that the people of the south-south will not vote for president Olusegun Obasanjo but General Muhammad Buhari of the ANPP.
Chief Marshall Harry’s declaration scared political opponents including the presidency.
After the ANPP convention and all was set for the moving ANPP campaign trail, on the night of March 5, 2003, some gunmen stormed Chief Marshall Harry’s House in Abuja, when they can not able to penetrate the House they broke the roof of the House and killed Chief Marshall Harry in the presence of his daughter.
The then Nigeria police force under Mr. Tafa Balogun paraded armed robbers at the Force Headquarters in Abuja as the killers of chief Marshall Harry.
But his daughter dismissed what the police did and admitted that before the gunmen killed her father on March 5 2003, they made a remark and said ‘’You said Buhari for President a Joke’
As destiny beckons Chief Marshall Harry did not witness the April 19 2003 general elections which President Muhammadu Buhari lost to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
late MArshal Harry was an advocate of Nigeria’s unity and was the national vice -chairman of the ANPP South-South.
The question is President Muhammadu Buhari remembering the families and relations of his old political allies who struggled to actualize his presidential ambition like chief marshall Harry, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Dr. Ibrahim Tahir among others?
