By Ben Agande

VICE President Namadi Sambo, yesterday, lost his younger brother, Capt. Yusuf Sabo Sambo, in a car accident along the airport road in Abuja.

A statement by the senior special assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Sani Umar, said until his death Captain Sambo was a pilot who worked with the former Nigerian Airways and the Presidential Air Fleet before his retirement.

Late Capt. Sambo was born in 1956, and died at the age of 58. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and 10 brothers and sisters. Among the early callers at the official residence of the Vice President were President Goodluck Jonathan accompanied by his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, and other principal aides.

President Jonathan urged his vice to take solace in the fact that all humans are mortals. The president who said Nigeria will miss the late captain for his contribution to national development as one of the finest pilots the country has ever produced, noted, “I was in Yenegoa and came back today to hear the sad news of fatal accident which took the life of Captain Sambo. I was shocked. The vice president was in Tanzania representing me at the 58th anniversary of their independence.”

“Of course, we know that we are mere mortals, all of us will surely go back to the earth. Nobody knows when it will happen but it is a journey that we will all make. The time of this incident sometimes worries us, the world is where everybody comes to play his part. Late Sambo played his role very well but I think his death was too early.”

The Vice President thanked President Jonathan and members of his delegation for the condolence visit and explained that late Sambo was his immediate younger brother.

He noted that he heard of the sad news in Tanzania while preparing to return to Nigeria where he represented the president at an official function.

Among early visitors to the Vice President’s house were chief Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu, inspector general of police IGP Mohammed Abubakar, members of the Federal Executive Council, governor of Kaduna state Murktar Yero and former inspector general of Gambo Jumeta among others.

He has since been buried at the Apo cemetery, Abuja according to Islamic rites, in the presence of former military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and several other dignitaries and sympathizers.