Abuja –  The National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Thursday said the party would ensure a befitting burial for the late Chief Solomon Lar, its pioneer  national Chairman.

Tukur, who said this in Abuja when he briefed newsmen, said the party would greatly miss Lar who was “a light in the political firmament.’’

He said the vacuum created by the death of Lar would be difficult to fill “because he was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute.”

The PDP national chairman said Lar as a former Governor of Plateau and one who had always been in the corridors of power, never compromised his stance.

“He started young as a Parliamentary Secretary and was always in the corridors of power and politics but never compromised’’, Tukur stressed.

He stated that although Lar was dead, the PDP leadership would continue to work toward ensuring enduring peace in the party.

This, according to him, was the desire of Lar as manifested symbolically in the white handkerchief he always waved at political meetings.

“It is a pity that Lar had gone, but we will continue to pray and ask for peace which he had already prayed for’’, Tukur said.

He prayed God to grant his soul a peaceful rest and his family, the PDP family and the nation the fortitude to bear his loss.

“All we can say is to pray for his family, friends and associates to take solace because it is very difficult to replace such a giant’’, Tukur said.

Meanwhile, a condolence register had been opened at the PDP national headquarters for the late Lar who died at the age of 80 in a U.S. hospital. (NAN)