By Henry Umoru 
ABUJA- FORMER  Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe as a cultivated gentleman, just as he stressed that his death was another colossal loss to Nigeria at a point the country needed his private counsel to deal with its current challenges.

Reacting to Akhigbe’s death in a statement by his media office in Abuja, Atiku Abubakar who noted that he took over as Vice President from Akhigbe, who as Chief of General Staff was second in command to General Abdulsalami Abubakar and played a key role in that  regime’s programme for return to democratic rule in 1999, however recalled that Akhigbe’s remarkable contributions to Nigeria’s transition from military to civil rule, which lasted nine months, could not be easily forgotten.

According to him, the late Akhigbe was part of the team that contributed to the successful and faithful transfer of power to civilians on 29th May, 1999, adding, “even from a distance, the late Chief of Naval Staff would come across as a cultivated gentleman. He was a broadminded and patriotic officer par excellence.”

Atiku Abubakar prayed to God to grant his family the fortitude to bear the great loss.